Chapter 55

While I told the story, the first story of Orario, I considered a few things. Just 'back of mind' 'being cheeky' things to go along with my growing fondness for 'mmmmmysterious Kitsunnnnne things. Like tapping my finger in Morse Code silently on the table, or using the tip of my tail to write Kanji in the air.

If the sniper I was most certainly not looking at, but very aware of was paying close attention, he might have caught me saying things to him. Admittedly, my Morse Code would probably be filled with spelling mistakes, and my single tail didn't feel as nimble as my usual ones. So I didn't.

I'd also considered doing one of those cool 'look towards the killing intent' things you see in Anime, where the sniper's target looked them right in the eye at five hundred yards. I might have done something like make a silly face at them instead though.

But I settled on the last option and exaggerated my discomfort just a little.

Miyu, who had been listening just as intently as my children during story time, took advantage of my moment's pause while I sipped some tea to ask, "You seem distracted, is something amiss?"

I set my teacup down and smiled at her, feeling a genuine urge to give her a headpat (even if it would cause some kind of diplomatic incident, or get me shot/stabbed/grappled/yelled at), and replied with, "Experience in the dungeon grants many gifts to go along with the Gods gift of falna. As one gains skill, their senses sharpen. It helps us feel when we, the hunters, risk becoming the hunted." I followed this with a half-hearted attempt at glancing subtly over my shoulder.

Mamina went a little wide eyed, Miyu blinked in surprise, and Kaine shifted her feet just a tiny bit. But again, I held up a hand to stall comment.

"The Gods, who gift us with their blood, rely on us, their Children, to elevate their status." My voice slipped back into the 'gentle storyteller' mode, "More than money, reputation is by far the most honoured currency. If I, as your Guest, were to act out, it would stain not just my reputation, but my God's. Much like the JSDF, who seem to have the backing of the people here, I, and more importantly, my God would lose face with the people of Orario."

Kaine relaxed, "I hope you forgive us for our suspicion. I take full responsibility for any insult."

"There is no insult." I replied, "I am an unknown, similar to the Apostles of your world, and haven't even given you my name. If anything, your caution shows that you respect the information you've received about us, and by proxy, us as Adventurers. Being taken seriously is not an insult, but an honour."

There was a very brief moment of tension where Miyu and I sipped our tea. Then, again with that far too mature for her age manner, Miyu, asked, "If you'd like to continue your story then?"

"Certainly."

Sadly, since I just couldn't help feeling that Miyu was far too young for her duties, story time was cut just a little short. About an hour before lunch, another Maid approached us and as Miyu and I did a synchronized tea sip, she 'ahem'ed politely, then leaned down to say something in Miyu's ear. I felt the urge to punch whomever it was in the head for interrupting story time, but we both had things to do. I was sure the Emissary from Proptor (because yes, I heard exactly what had been whispered to Miyu) had important business, and I needed to be about my super sneaky spy work.

So, out of respect for Miyu, I stood and bowed as she, the new maid and Mamina walked back into the keep, only moving when the nice door had closed behind them. And, because I could, I pre-empted Kaine on whatever she was about to say, "All the stories I told are available in the market." I said, smiling, "Though, it's written in Eastern."

She smiled, nodded exactly once, and replied with "I will be sure to procure a copy." Then her face returned to 'default grumpy' and she added, "To business then. Come along."

I was led back inside, and to the Maid's common quarters. Lunch was already waiting for us on the table there. Kaine motioned for me to sit, so I did, and she actually started to serve me herself. Stew I'd helped with this morning, and a nice not-quite-crunchy bread roll.

"Sadly." She started once I'd been served, then continuing as she served herself, "We are mostly bound to this estate. We are limited to the city itself, since we serve Lady Miyu."

I nodded, because yes that made perfect sense.

"The incident at the bakery however, was taken as an insult towards us, and more importantly, Lady Miyu." She sat, and took exactly one spoonful of stew, her severe face smiling ever so slightly, "And while we cannot hope to match the 'kamira' and 'veedio' of the JSDF, we have done what we can to find and track certain individuals."

I made sure to swallow my mouthful before asking, "Have you had anyone attempt to infiltrate the Manor?"

"Of course." The tiny smile she had turned cold, "We deal with them accordingly. Sadly, the last one had little information to give us about anything past their orders."

I considered that, and it fit. Zorzal was hiring professionals, and to no one's surprise, they were being professional. This sucked, since I needed someone just above 'agent' status to really get started. Someone who was giving orders.

"That's unfortunate." I replied, then paused, "Ah, little isn't nothing."

She nodded in approval, "All that was extracted past that was a place in the city."

"Do you know if it's been compromised?"

"Likely, but even so, after the incident at the bakery, any intelligent ne'er do well would flee, quickly." Kaine said, "The JSDF call themselves peacekeepers, but their justice is swift and long reaching." She then clapped her hands once, "Aurea."

As if she'd been waiting, a door opened (a brief look inside showed me a couple of beds, so maybe it was their sleeping chambers?) and out stepped the pink 'haired' medusa who'd gone to visit Orario. "Yes, Ma'am Kaine?"

"Show her." She said firmly, before going back to her food.

"Yes ma'am!" She replied cheerfully, stepping towards the table. Once just outside of arms reach of me, she bowed like a proper maid, "Hello, my name is Aurea, and I am..." She did a cute little thoughtful frowny-face, complete with a singe finger touching her chin, "The spy executioner." She finished brightly.

Maybe it was me being in the shape of a cat-girl, but I wanted to boop all of the snek snoots. It took a moment to drag my attention away from her 'hair', but I nodded and replied, "Pleased to meet you. I am... here on a job, to find out who caused the 'incident' at the bakery a little while ago."

Much like Weine it seemed, the medusa had a very mercurial personality. "That made me very sad." She pouted, "They made my favourite snacks."

"Aurea..." Kaine said from behind a napkin.

"Oh! Sorry. Um..." Aurea got back on track, and put her hands behind her apron. There was a ruffle of paper, "Before he died, there was one clear image of a place in the city." She put a yellowish folded up square of paper on the table, then backed up to just out of arms reach again.

I made sure my hands were clean, and unfolded the crisp parchment. It was a simple drawing of what looked like a shady back alleyway someplace. There was a simple wooden door, a rectangle window, and an old sign hanger above the door. The hanger however had no sign, and one of the hooks was missing.

I didn't know where it was of course, but the details weren't lost on me. "Interesting. You know where this is?"

"We do. But it is outside of our duties to go further." Kaine said crisply.

"May I keep this?" I asked.

Kaine nodded, dabbing her lips with her napkin one last time, "I must return to my duties. Aurea, show her the city map." She paused after taking a step away from the table, then looked to me, "Your uniform should be dried soon."

I nodded, standing and bowing to her, "Thank you for your time, Ma'am Kaine."

Aurea and I watched her leave, and we both did a little sigh as the door closed behind her. "This way please." the adorable medusa directed, "Um, please don't tempt my snakes?"

I looked at her, then looked back at my tail. "Sorry." I said, trying to will my tail to behave, then just reaching behind myself and grabbing it.

I was led out the same door Kaine had gone, but in the opposite direction of the head maid's retreating back. A short walk down the nice carpeted hall and through an impressive double door later, we arrived in what looked to be a war room. Right out of an old movie set or re-enactment, it was well lit, had a big table in the middle and all kinds of places for people to sit. On that table was a map of the city, and under that, was what looked like a map of the area around the city itself. Holding the map down at the corners were small wooden blocks that had been carved into the likeness of horses or soldiers.

Yup, super basic war logistics room.

"Are you very familiar with Italica?" Aurea asked.

I took a moment to look at the map, "We're here... The market is here... The gate I entered is... here." I said, pointing to various places after getting myself oriented, "But that was all our 'report' gave us before we came here."

"Oh you're good at this!" She cheered quietly, "Okay... so we're here, in the Fromel clan's castle." She poked the map, "Because of that, all the rich people are in this area too." She drew a little circle around the keep's outer wall, "Over here though... close to the wall, is where the... unfortunate people live."

She seemed a little childish, but not insensitive. "We have slums as well, in Orario." I nodded, "Go on."

She switched back to being cheerful, "The place in the picture is around here." She said, poking the map someplace just inside of the city's outer wall. It's not a nice place, but since the Green Men came it's gotten a little better." She did a hand under elbow, finger of the other hand in air thing, "But you should still be careful!"

Faced with such fierce kitten(snek) determination, I nodded seriously, "I will be careful." I hmm'ed, looking around the map for a moment or two longer, "Is that bridge the only one into the Capital?"

I pointed to the road that went between the two hills at the back of the city near the Keep we were in. "It's the only one that leads into the city itself, yes." She nodded, "There's another bridge... um..."

She stopped, went to the edge of the room, and got a stool. Placing it at the table edge, she stood on it, then moved the city map over so we could see the 'bigger picture' around the city itself. But then she moved that one too, revealing that the table itself had a hand carved map of the continent etched into the old weathered surface. Helpfully, I moved the paper maps over some more, and stood beside her again.

"Okay!" She pointed to a spot that said, I think, 'Sadera'. "This is the Capital of alllllll this... mostly." She made a wide armed gesture that indicated the entire map. "Here's Italica." poke, "And Alnus!" poke. "This river here." She traced a thin little line that was east-north-east of Italica, "Runs to the Blue Sea." poke.

I nodded, noting that Sadera looked to be partially on the coast of the Blue Sea. Smart planning that.

"Here." She poked a spot, "And here." Another spot, "Are little um... village forts! Yeah. Not really towns, but they have bridges that cross the river here." She poked another spot, "There was one up here." This was north of Italica, towards Rondel and the Row Stream that Akira had said was 'the border' of their zone of control.

"Mining town?" I asked.

"Oh! How did you guess?" She smiled, "I think I remember hearing it was a dead town now. No metal, no point, grumble grumble give me another mug..." She shook her head, as if to clear away a bit of confusion, "But there was a bridge there too."

I wondered what that little comment was all about, but didn't ask. Instead I hmm'ed at the map a little more, "What about bridges leading over the Row Stream?"

She shook her head again, just enough to make her 'hair' flick their tongues at her, "I don't know. I just know the local area, cause it's where I work!"

"Well thank you very much." I smiled, almost tempted to give her a headpat, "This should be enough to start for sure."

She gave me a 110 percent sunny smile, then switched back to super serious mode and moved all the maps and paper weights back to exactly where they were when we started. "There! Um..." She paused, "Oh! Laundry needs to be brought in!"

"I'll help." I smiled.

Kaine, through some arcane and secret magic that only a head maid could have, found Aurea and I at the exact moment we brought the baskets of neatly folded, air dried laundry inside. Without comment, she followed us into the Maid's common room and assisted us (several other maids appearing from thin air it seemed) in sorting it.

Once done, and those same maids took the smaller baskets of peoples personal laundry out of the common room to deliver them to the residents of the keep, Kaine motioned for me to follow her again, my own maid outfit in her arms.

It was a door next to the 'sleeping quarters' I'd seen Aurea step out of, and it revealed itself to be a very small single room. Aha, the head maid's chambers. A single bed, night stand, small window, thin carpet on the floor... This was only a couple steps over a Monk's quarters! The only 'exceptional' things she had in here were a dresser with a mirror, a big wood wardrobe and a bookshelf.

She placed my clothes on the spartan little bed. She was quite humble, despite being in what was probably the highest paid 'civilian' job in the city. I actually wondered if she got paid... The information Nanami gave us said the Fromal clan Maids were 'exceptionally loyal'. And I had no trouble believing it.

While her back was turned and I went about swapping maid uniforms, Kaine opened up the wardrobe and reached down the nice little 'turtle neck' of her uniform to take out a key on a string. She stepped out of sight behind the door of the wardrobe, but I heard her open something inside.

I was just getting my own outfit over my head when she closed the wardrobe again and started putting things down on the bed next to the uniform I'd borrowed (and folded properly!).

"I'll admit to being very curious as to what these things do." She said as I started to replace the various alchemical vials into my maid uniform's hidden pockets. "Your world seems similar to ours, yet..."

I made a point to look behind me at the closed door, then back to her, "The difference, I think, are the Gods. From what I hear, the Gods here are... cold. They offer no guiding hand or example to follow. Like an absent parent, they say 'no' without offering alternatives."

She gave me a passive, calculating look. "I asked Lord Itami once, about the Gods of his world. He simply replied with, 'What Gods? We only have books about them'." She sighed, the first 'show' of her age since I'd arrived.

I tried very hard keep the pity I felt from my face. Kaine, with her absolute loyalty to someone she was old enough to be the grandmother of, would have gone far in Orario. But no. She was born in this world, where the Gods basically sucked. "It sounds like a cold place." I said, "Thank you, Ma'am Kaine, for your help."

Obviously no stranger to the topic change! She nodded and started towards the door, "I hope you catch whomever did such a thing. And if you can, hand him over to us." Her face was stone serious, "We do not tolerate such things in Lady Miyu's city."

I stepped past her, turned, and bowed, tugging at the corners of my dress, "As a show of gratitude for your help, I will try a little harder to bring them in alive."

She nodded tersely, then looked at the nearest maid, "See her out please. Then make ready to go to the market."

The maid escorting me out just happened to be Persia. As we made our way towards the front gate, she did a little sigh, "Nyaa... does being an adventurer give you some power to not flinch when Ma'am Kaine looks at you?"

"I find that not doing things carelessly avoids most of those looks." I smiled, Persia flinching as if my words stabbed her, "But, if you wished to maybe gain a little favour from her... One of our wagons sells muscle ointment. It helps with stiffness and sore feet too."

She perked up, her ears sticking up straight and tail freezing in mid swish, "Really?"

I nodded, "Just ask for it, and the nice lady there will know exactly what you want."

I returned to the Orario caravan as if I hadn't just been away from very early morning to someplace before dinner. The Adventurers didn't know my face and maybe thought I was a Civilian, while the merchants knew I wasn't one of them, so they didn't bother telling an adventurer what to do with her time. My time away had been quite productive though, and I was eager for the scheduled meeting time.

In the mean time though, I went back to working for the dye seller. He had been doing very brisk business it seemed too. Not very surprising, but good to see all the same. It was there that I worked until the sun was starting to fade from the sky, and my stomach started to make grumbly noises.

Mikoto, just as her job dictated she do, 'pinged' the little crystal network we were on just as the shop keeper and I started to close up the shop for the night. A simple function that was quite popular, you just had to tap the crystal twice to make all the other crystals on the same 'network' vibrate for a half second. It wasn't a 'call' but a 'reminder' to find a place without anyone nearby.

So, I waved good night to the dye seller as he left, and hopped up on top of the wagon to do my 'job' of protecting his merchandise. Dinner could wait just a little longer.

One of the things I knew and understood, were the properties of sound. It was a wave that needed a medium to travel through. In space, no one could hear you scream, because there was no 'medium' for sound to travel, yet, if you touched your spacesuit helmets together, you could hear each other.

Since I knew this, and was very aware of just how sharp eared a Warrior Bunny (or Hume-bunny) could be, I simply took my communication crystal and put it in my mouth. The sound it made would muted to the outside, but also travel through the bones of my skull so I could hear it.

While it sounded a bit like I was underwater, I was just in time to hear Mikoto speak a single word. "Ready?"

One at a time, Ryuu, Maki, Kaede, Shinkage and myself replied, "Receiving."

"Boss, you sound a bit weird." Maki said.

"I'm on top of the dye merchant's wagon, the crystal is in my mouth." I said without moving my jaw, "Still have appearances to keep."

So, in order of dungeon experience, we made our reports.

"I have taken a place on the bluffs behind the city." Ryuu said quietly, "I can keep watch over the entire city from the forest up here." I could hear the smile in her voice, "It's quite nice up here. The people I've seen lead reasonably calm lives, and I noticed no crime while up here. There has been a lot of traffic along the road to the bridge towards the capital as well."

Mikoto, who had more adventuring time than I, spoke next. "The room I've been given is the attic of our merchant's dorm while we are here. There are some JSDF here as well, but they have kept their hands off us, and simply stand watch. There are no other guests here, so I've been unable to gather much information about the people save for that of the merchants interactions. Those seem quite favourable, and they've had no problems save that of needing a translator for everything."

I was next, "The Maids came through for us. I have... a lot to cover."

Mikoto exercised her rights of communication officer, "For last then. Maki-san?"

"Got to the Capital without issue." She said, "At least... the outskirts. This place is like the Maze back home except with more mud. I thought about hopping the wall into the city proper, but I'm getting a good feeling from the slums just outside of it." There was a pause, "Lots of places to hide here, and I think I saw the Madam, Misery a little earlier."

Misery... Ah! That would be the angel-folk who ran the 'entertainment' in the Slums outside the Capital. Nanami had didn't have any real info on her, just 'angel-folk', 'top prostitute' and 'worked with the JSDF to help clean up the slums'.

"She won't have any obligation to help." I said quietly, "But she'll have her ear to the ground for sure."

"No harm in trying." Maki said, "Oh, and the food in the slums sucks."

This only reminded me that I had skipped dinner, and sleep...

"Kaede-san."

"The little mining town was happy to see me." She started, sounding a little... off. Nervous? "The soldiers here are apparently not very reliable, and someone eager to fight whenever there's fighting to be had earned me free drinks at the tavern. They didn't care that I was underage either..." She sighed, "Still tasted like water, and Mo-chan's sake is far stronger-"

"Focus." Mikoto said sharply.

"Sorry... I also had to brush a few hands away after a couple of mugs. That made me a little unpopular, so tomorrow morning I'm going to see if I can find some animal to 'donate' to the tavern. Show I'm serious about working with them until I get bored." She chuckled very quietly, "Cause we should be trying to kick the JSDF out and all that."

Well, at least she remembered her lines. I wondered about her sometimes, the little battle maniac bunny was just as bad as the Warrior Bunnies here.

"Shinkage-san?"

"As planned, I got 'lost' during the tour this afternoon. I will have to do something nice for the Guild employees for not noticing my absence. Otherwise, I am on the second floor of one of the city gate's stables, the one facing Alnus, but not the one we entered from originally. I am thankful I have no allergies, and the horses don't mind me."

That covered everyone. We were all in position to do something and it was my job to find out what I could so we had a clue what that something might be. "So here's what I found out." I started.

So I went over it all. Just the important bits, since they didn't need to know how much I wanted to give headpats to the Lady of the Italica, or the super cheerful medusa, or how disappointing the scullery. I gave them the description of the picture Aurea had given me. The locations of the bridges across the Row Stream. Various other things I'd learned, and finished it all off with...

"Any ideas come to mind?" I asked. "Aside from the obvious and looking into the place on the picture."

Maki replied with, "That abandoned mining town you mentioned... Most of the time when people leave a place like that, they just take what ever isn't nailed down and walk away. If the place didn't get torched, there would be shacks and minor infrastructure there."

I hadn't really thought of that. But if you weren't planning to live there long, a small group of people could live in a dusty place like that without issue... "A bridge of that size, even broken, could still be crossed." Ryuu added.

Maki continued, "It would be a great place for smugglers. Out of the way, has food, water, shelter, and if you didn't mind a bit of swimming, a route into the Capital."

"I could go there if you wanted." Kaede offered, "Doesn't sound too far."

I hmm'ed, "Not yet. Give it a day. Stick to your act for now, and move on tomorrow evening if nothing bites."

"Sure."

"Would you like some company to examine the slums?" Ryuu asked.

"I wouldn't mind going either." Shinkage said.

"Take a little walk around midnight." I said, "Keep watch over her."

Shinkage, then Ryuu said, "Very well."

"I'll take a look for that place after my shift and I get some food." I said, "I'm not expecting much though."

There was a bit of silence, then Mikoto said, "Very well. Adjourned until tomorrow night."

So, I let the crystal slip out of my mouth and tucked it under my maid collar.

Now that the 'Italica information gathering' step of the mission was done, I felt like I could relax just a little. Instead of going immediately to find the location in the picture, I instead followed the 'first watch' shift of adventurers back to the inn we were supposed to be housed in. It was kind of weird to walk among them, yet have no one know who I was. Like I was hiding among friends. I even knew most of the adventurers! I mean, not on a first name basis or anything, but I'd seen them around, knew their Familia emblems, said hello to a couple of them at one of the 'big parties' at the Manor...

I almost felt sad I had to decline their friendly offers to share a table. I still had almost no tolerance for booze, and the without basic mass filtration methods the only options for drinks that wouldn't risk anything were boiled water, or booze. Sure, I'd have to try really hard to poison myself, but that limited what was served to the masses.

So, after a very disappointing mug of tea, some almost tasteless slab of charred meat and vegetable soup, I went right back out onto the street. Aisha would laugh at me for sure. I was just as spoiled for silks and cottons (and fur) as she was, and I didn't want to risk the common beds of the inn. I mean, sure, I wasn't at risk for any diseases bed bugs might have given me, but that didn't mean I wanted to scrub them out of my tail and hair later.

The 'slums' of Italica weren't all that terrible. Overall, it seemed to be just a little worse off than the rest of the city. The rooftops were a little more weathered, the thin plaster you pasted over brickwork to keep the water out was missing in more places, a window here and there was broken... That kind of thing. The light level was also much lower. There were lamps all over the city, much like Orario, but they relied on lamp oil, not magic stone, and well, if you were poor and cold, the nearest street lamp would be easy pickings for a bit of light and heat.

The streets of Italica were well planned and the buildings were sorted in nice clean blocks. This was both helpful, and hindering. It was harder to hide in a dark alleyway, when there were almost no dark alleyways. But since I knew the location I was looking for was in a dark alleyway, it really narrowed the search. I could have sent my foxes out to look, but I didn't even have a nice rooftop someplace to hide while they went scouting.

I was also dressed like a maid. I kinda stood out like a sore thumb. But, the entire point of being an adventurer was to challenge yourself. I could use my magic, my strength, my overwhelming power to just flip the city upside down and shake things loose... But that wouldn't be challenging.

So, instead, I did a simple circuit of the 'slums'. Just a single walk around it, avoiding eye contact with anyone I saw, and once I'd spotted the broken sign from the picture, I simply made note, finished my once around, then headed towards the city gate where Shinkage was.

"You should be napping." She said when I'd found her.

The horses under us made a couple of little noises, probably telling us to keep it down. "Feeling homesick and couldn't sleep." I said quietly, patting the hay she'd been sleeping on a little then sitting next to her.

She sat up, gave me a sleepy raised eyebrow, then wiggled a little closer to me. Unable to help myself I fussed a bit with her hair to get the clinging hay out of it, "You're going to make me work, aren't you?"

"If you don't want to, I'll just nap here too. But I found the spot in the picture, and this would be a perfect time of night for your act."

I could see it on her face, that she was weighing her choices. She could go back to sleep, and thus make sure I slept as well. Or, she could help move the mission forward, and get us all home faster... maybe.

"Very well... Since Maki isn't here, do I break in, or do you?"

Shinkage walked down the same street I had a little while ago. Dressed in nice 'upper class' clothing, she walked with a mild limp, her cane helping her along slightly slower than a normal walking pace. I'd hopped up on a rooftop at the very end of the street before the slums, the starlight and torches on the city wall giving my eyes more than enough light to keep track of her.

To my surprise, there was very little motion on the street aside from her. A few street sleepers who might have rolled over in the half hour I'd been away. A couple of people who were wobbling around down other streets, likely drunks returning home. A single guard standing under a lamp post and looking bored at the edge of the slums...

It seemed too quiet, too simple, too easy. Was there simply no enemy in the city now? Had the attack on the bakery been one last hit before vanishing? No... this was a major hub. If this Zorzal guy was as smart as he'd been acting so far, he wouldn't abandon a major hub of activity...

I thought these things as I watched Shinkage pause, look around like a little lost girl, do a 90 degree turn and hobble down the alleyway from the picture.

Then I saw a shadow peel itself from the wall across from that alleyway a few seconds after Shinkage had vanished from sight.

So, I tapped the communication crystal twice to 'ping' the others, and more importantly warn Shinkage she had a tail, judged the distance from this roof to the one across the street, and hoped it wouldn't collapse when I jumped across...

I dropped down into the alleyway about twenty seconds after I'd sent out the ping, and wasn't surprised at all by what I saw. Shinkage was standing over a man who looked just like all the other 'unfortunates' in the area. The obvious difference being that this one was now in much rougher shape. He was curled up a bit, with both hands over his shin, and foaming slightly at the mouth.

"You need to be more gentle." I whispered, spotting a lump forming on the man's forehead.

"Et tu Brutus." She mumbled back. "No words, no threats, no screams. Professional."

She watched as I took out one of my paralysis pills (from the Best Spider Ever inc.) and fed it to the man. He wouldn't get up for a while as it was, but when he did, he'd be unable to do anything. He also wouldn't feel the titanic headache he was going to have, so I was really doing him a favour.

"How about the door?" I asked, checking the man's pulse. Yup, super nap time for him. You know, I'll just curl him up over here like he's sleeping off a night of drinking...

"I hear nothing from inside." There was a little rattle, "hooo, barred from the inside as well."

"Report." Mikoto said, her voice quiet, "Who sent the alert?"

"Shinkage and I caught a thug. And we might have a little luck with the place from the picture." I said very quietly, "Sad you're not here Maki."

"Just be careful." Maki said, sounding a little sleepy, "Might be a loaded crossbow on the other side of the door."

"yawn does this world even have crossbows?" Kaede mumbled, "I'm gonna tell Hime-san you're skipping sleep."

"We all are." Ryuu said. "But be careful."

There was a 'ping' from the crystal, and we all went silent again. So, I looked to Shinkage, and we both shrugged to each other, "She's right though. Don't force the door." I said quietly.

This was apparently the only door to the building. That in of itself was a bit weird. Most places, even here in this primitive world, had front and back entrances. But a quick and quiet tour of the outside showed it had only one door, and the small window next to it. The second floor had two windows, but both were wood shuttered and closed. Hmm.

Sure, we could force the door, break the window and see if we could undo the bar holding it closed, or any number of things. But that would make noise, and wake up the people sleeping on the street. And, sadly, I didn't think to make some kind of strong acid to melt through the wood of the door.

"Any ideas?" I asked Shinkage.

"Give me some of your cloth." She said after a moment, and lift me up a little... the window is too high."

So, using magic for the first time, I made a towel sized sheet of my black mana-cloth. I then lifted her up so she could peer into the window, and after a moment of fiddling about with the cloth she covered her head, shoulders and part of the window.

Then very quietly, like a slow leaking hose, let out a long breath of fire on one of the window panels. Quickly, the cheap glass heated up, blackened, then melted away from the frame, making a head sized hole in the glass. She then reached her arm in, flailed about for a moment, then said, "aha."

The door rattled a little, and there was a 'clunk' of a plank of wood hitting the floor inside. "lost my grip, sorry." She said.

We stood in silence for a moment, but heard no new sounds, inside or out of the building. So I set her down, dispelled the cloth, and gave the door a timid push. It swung open freely, on hinges that were strangely well oiled. No wires or mechanisms attached to the door it seemed. So, with one looking low, and one looking high, we entered.

NOTES!

Sneaky sneaky fire breathing dragon! I'd actually considered all kinds of ways a trap could be placed on the door.

Daeore on Ko-fi for art and to support me if you want.

Daeore on Inkitt (for that book I hope people read, Were Too?)

And now on Discord, aKAQg4bnYu (with all kinds of sorted channels and everything!)

And Azur lane, Kodori (Washington server) 268452286 for my guild there. :) Or even if you're in a guild, be my friend. My friend list is very sad...