I do not own or maintain any rights to Rising of The Shield Hero they belong to One Piece Books and Aneko Yusagi. I am just playing in their sandbox for a minute.

Chapter 10: Infiltrator

I left the next day at noon. Junoir was kind enough to lend me Coal to use for the time I would be away. He made quick work of transporting me back to Castle Town. I had never imagined that filolials were so fast when they had a single rider. What had taken Naofumi and me a whole day to do Coal accomplished in only a few hours. I dismounted him a ways away from the outer walls in a copse of trees to try and remain unseen.

"Stay here and wait for me to come back," I told him as I pulled my equipment from his pack.

Coal turned his head to look at me and gave a gentle "Caw," which I decided meant that he had understood what I had been trying to tell him.

"You did good work today," I said, patting him on the beak. He preened at the attention. "Here is a reward for your hard work," I said, letting him take a large strip of porcupine jerky from my hand.

Coal snapped it up quickly with what looked like a rapturously happy expression on his beak. He emitted several quiet humming noises as he gnawed on the well-seasoned meat.

"There is more in it for you if you can stay here and be undetected until I get back, okay?" I said, giving him a scratch under his chin. He trilled happily and nodded his head up and down rapidly.

Seeing has Coal was going to behave himself, I finished getting his saddle off and concealing it in the brush before I started walking to the outer walls. I had made sure to hide Coal in the outcropping of trees and make an effort not to approach from any gate into the fortified city. Keeping an eye out for any spotters, I swiftly reached the warm stone of the walls and pressed myself to them. The walls themselves had been well maintained, but their base was slightly overgrown with shrubbery.

I paused for a moment and became as quiet as I could when I heard the footsteps of a guard patrolling the wall overhead.

"Damned Shield Hero's got ev'ry one on high alert, I tell you," The guard said to a second person in a sort of lay English accent.

"Down, let him stick a bee in your bonnet Micah!" The second man responded with a boisterous laugh. "From what I hear, the Shield Hero has already left the area, good riddance I say! I hope he that the bizarre man with em." He finished as he spit a wad of brown spit over the wall.

I crinkled my nose as the offending wad of tobacco spit rolled down a leaf, 'No wonder so many of the guard's teeth are stained,' I thought.

"Aye, I hope so too. You see the way he talked to the king? Acted like an officer 'e did, 'e's a bad sigh 'e is," the guard Micah drawled, walking away from my hidden position.

Seeing that the risk of being detected had been mitigated, for the time being. I crawled under the brush hugging the wall to remain unseen from the sides and above. I was looking for any way to infiltrate the city without having to cross one of the checkpoints at the gates. I was crawling along for a short while when I came across a possibility. It was a shallow dip next to the walls with a grate set into the stone. I figured that either sewage or a water supply had passed through it in years past.

Seeing as the light was shining from my side of the wall, I waited with one ear pressed against the stone for any indication that someone could see me if I were to look through the grate. After a few minutes passed, with the only sounds being a market I could hear well in the distance, I peeked around the corner. I could not see anyone on the other side of the grate, not to mention it was difficult to see much of anything as it looked to run underneath the town. I examined the bars for any sign of weakness to plan how to breach the obstruction and enter the passage. The top of the bars still looked sturdy enough and was mounted straight into the stone above. The bottoms that had been once mounted into the same stone had been corroded by the flow of water and passage of time.

I crouched in front of my entrance and pulled firmly on the bottom of one of the bars, it did not give way to my attempt, but it was wobbling where the metal met the crumbling stone. I pulled an extra shirt from my pack and fed it through the bars. I guided it behind the bars until I was four over from where I had placed it. Pulling the opposite end threw the oping between the bars back, and I tied it to my spear. I tied the other end onto my spear as well before I started turning my spear over and over again until the coiled shirt pulled it to the bars. Using my spear as a lever, I continued to turn the spear end over end until it had no more slack or stretch on the shirt. I slid my hands away from the center of the spear to its ends and turned it one more time with considerable force.

The metal bars that made up the grate groaned under the force of my improvised jaws of life as the force on them continued to increase. With a loud shriek, the metal finally tore free from the already crumbling stone, and the bundle of my shirt slid off the bars. I inspected my work to see that three of the four bars I had tried to break could be removed entirely from the wall, with the fourth being pulled out of its base. I waited to see if the banging had summoned any guards before I finally slid my pack through the opening and slithered in after it. As I got through the grate, I turned around and did the best I could to reset the bars and make it look like no one had ever been there.

Finishing my task of erasing my entry point, I was able to stand crouched in the space I was now in. I walked further into the passage to get away from the light shining into the tunnel so my eyes could adjust. When my eyes had adjusted, it looked like my initial theory was correct, and I was in some kind of drainage tunnel. I continued along the tunnel for what I estimated was seventy-five yards when I came across a vantage point into the outside work. I looked through the small crossed iron covering to see what looked like the roofs of the fancier buildings near the castle. I tried to see if there looked to be another opening in the tunnel I could walk down to make my exit.

I ducked back into the shadows as a horse and buggy passed overhead. Looking around in the tunnel, I saw another spot of light twenty-five yards to my left. I quickly got to it and repeated my earlier process. I could see part of a wall covered in ivy and the back of one of the houses. I listened intently for a moment to make sure I was not about to crash a dinner party before I wiggled the grate I was standing under. Unlike the bars into the tunnel, it twisted easily in place after tearing the roots that had overgrown the cover. I listened again for a moment before I pushed the circular grate out of its holder and carefully moved it out of the way. Grabbing the sides of the hole, I silently lifted myself out of the small tunnels and into the backyard of a fancy house. I quickly grabbed my pack, replaced the grate, and made sure to erase my presence again before exiting the backyard.

I made sure to memorize the house that had the grate into the tunnels behind it before I walked away down the streets. I stepped into the first alleyway I saw and disguised myself as best as possible with the tools at my disposal. I dirtied up my clothes and hair. I dug my fingers into the side of the house I was next to scraped up some ash that I then mixed with a bit of water. I applied this concoction sparingly under my eyes to make it look like I had never slept. Using the rest of the mixture, I rubbed it roughly into any exposed skin then washed it away to give the illusion of deep-set wrinkles. I slung my pack off and retied all the exterior pouches to make them hang looser but still be secured. I pulled a blanket out of my pack and removed the sharp end of my spear that I sheathed, and placed it back in to make the bag sag at the bottom. Pulling the blanket around myself like a shaw, I hefted the pack onto myself and picked up my now depointed spear. Using the spear like a walking staff, I hunched over and shambled out of the ally.

I stopped by a puddle that was acting as a mirror to check out my appearance. Just like I had intended, I looked like a dirty old beggar. I studied my appearance for a moment and decided that I could pass off as what I wanted them to see from a distance but not if they were next to me. I should also not look anybody directly in the eyes. Mine were too bright and vividly colored and would give away my disguise if I looked at somebody too long. I was making my way out of the nicer district when I had my first interaction with another person.

"Oi! You, beggar! What do you think you're doing in this neighborhood?" One of the noblemen citizens yelled as he accosted me.

I kept my face in the shadow of the blanket and spoke without looking at the person who addressed me. "I'm sor'y m'lord," I said, replicating the semi Scottish accent of the guard Micah and using some old English terms. "Was only passin through I was." I finished making sure to keep my voice soft to sound older.

"You better make yourself scarce! We don't take kindly to your kind roaming about!" He yelled, drawing the attention of a few people around. "You should stay in the slums where you belong, Beggar!" The noblemen hollered, pointing across town to the slums.

"I be leaving then, m'lord," I said and started to hobble off in the direction his shadow had pointed.

"See to it!" He said as I moved away from him. "Can you believe the nerve of these beggars now? Come around this area! Propsturios!" I heard him say to someone else.

I was quick to leave the upper-class area as I did not want to interact with the citizenry more than was absolutely necessary. I spent part of the day hanging around under the eaves of a shop near the market where Naofumi and I had bought our supplies, and I knew that Erhard had his shop in. I was watching the people in the area with the guise of being asleep. I was eavesdropping on the conversations around me when I finally heard something interesting.

"Did you hear that the king has temporarily removed all the slaves from the castle?" I saw a lady in a tan top and pink dress asks the woman in gray next to her.

"No, why would he do that?" The gray-clad woman responded.

"I think it was because of the Heroes being summoned. You know, maybe it was because they only wanted humans waiting on the Heroes," I could hear the tan women snarl at the end. "I can't stand those filthy demi's. I swear the one my husband got to do all the housework always has fleas," She finished haughtily.

"I had not noticed, honestly," The other responded. "Although did you see the Heroes? Not a scrap of dirt on any of them!" She said excitedly. "I wonder what their home I like. They all must be fantastically wealthy to afford such outfits."

"I have half a mind to pursue one of them myself," The tan woman giggled. "What Tobias doesn't know won't hurt him."

"Oh shush you!" Her friend responded. "You should be nicer to your husband. He buys you such nice things after all," She said jovially.

The woman proceeded to giggle for a minute before tittering on their way. I was not getting anything else considerably noteworthy from the market, so I decided to tail the women. I was able to stay unnoticed by almost everyone, with the only people who saw me quickly looking away after spotting me. They walked around the market for a little bit before they finally said their goodbye to one another and parted ways.

I kept on the trail of the tan one as she started to make her way back up towards the nicer part of the city. She never once acted like she thought that there was someone following her. She made her way through the streets, utterly oblivious to her surroundings. I knew this because I quickly realized that I was not the only person following her through the city. A hooded man was about halfway between myself and her. Seeing as she was going to follow the main avenue, I took a shortcut through an alleyway that I knew would put me in front of the direction she was heading.

I peeked around the corner to see that she was indeed still head for where I was. I waited for her to get to where she could see me before I called out to her, "Alms? Alms for a poor old beggar?" I said as she passed me. I could see how she noticed I had spoken and pretended to ignore me. She sped up on her way be to where I assumed her home was. It was not much longer before the man I saw following her had also made it to where I was. This time I stepped into his path.

"Alms? Alms for a poor old beggar?" I said again, stopping him so abruptly that he took a step back because we were so close.

"Move, old man!" He whisper hissed at me and tried to walk past.

Once again, I blocked his way, "Please, sir, I don't ask for much, only a copper or two."

"I said move!" He almost yelled as he tried to shove me.

Fast as a viper, I grabbed his arm and yanked him off balance and into me. I wrapped took advantage of his flailing to wrap him into a chokehold and drag him into the ally. "You know, You should really be much kinder to the impoverished," I said using my normal voice and standing upright for the first in a hot minute. I could see how the man's clean face was beginning to turn blue, and his feet were barely scraping the ground as I held him aloft. "Let me make something clear. I want information. Answer my questions, and I will let you go. If you try to scream, I will crush your throat; if you try and fight, I will crush your throat. Are we clear?" I asked him without letting up the pressure. His face turned purple as he attempted to nod.

I relaxed my grip enough for him to breathe, and he gulped in the air greedily for a moment before speaking. "Who are you? Your no beggar!" He hissed.

"Who I am is not important right now so much as who you are," I responded. "Now that you want to talk, I want to know a few things," I whispered into his ear. "First, who are you? Second, who is that woman, and why are you following her? And thirdly, where is Beloukas?" I finished menacingly.

"I am not giving you my name, but I am a member of the thieves guild," He hissed as he tried to turn and look at me. "The bird I was following is Lady Theophania. I was following her because she owes us money. And I don't know where Beloukas is right now, but the slave market is set up in the slums. He will be there tonight! I swear!" He said, wiggling around to try and break free.

"Tell me exactly how to get to the slave market," I ordered him as I squeezed his throat again to take some of the fight out of him.

He quickly rambled off turn by turn directions starting from the main market on how to get to the slave market in the slums. "Big yellow and red circus tent! You can't miss it!" He finished.

"Good," I said as I dropped him.

He fell to his knees instantly and huffed in air. "You were going to strangle me over directions?!" He panted out, confused.

"Yep," I explained as I smacked him over the head with the cudgel end of my spear. He face-planted into the cobblestones, completely out cold. I started to head off in the direction of the slave market as the sun began to set.

Authors Notes

I'm not dead! Yay! Thank you for sticking around to this part. We are finally at the point in both of my stories where we are about to get into the actual storytelling past the introductions. Updates on this might be a little haphazard as right now, most of my motivation to write is for my other story snapped, which is just more fun to write for me. I will still try to provide updates on this as my time allows. Thank you for reading.

~Sobe James