Chapter 19
SCORPION GUIDED MIRA to an imposing stone building.
There were four major shopping streets in this city. The most vibrant among them was adjacent to the inn Scorpion and Snake had been using as their base. However, it seemed Snake had yet to return.
In the third-floor room, Mira sat across the table from Scorpion and discussed the results of her investigation into the sword.
It had indeed been made by Gregor and was a present given to celebrate his son Gregorius’s promotion—right before he had gone missing in the line of duty.
“It happened at the War-Torn Burial Ground,” Mira explained. “And the fragments with the black fog seem to have been looted from there.” She retrieved two mixed berry au laits from her Item Box and offered one to Scorpion. “Want one?”
“Sure!” Scorpion took a sip and sighed. “So, you’re here to investigate the War-Torn Burial Ground, then?”
“That’s right. But I don’t know where the place is. My plan was to have the shopkeeper tell me who’d found those fragments and get them to tell me the location.” Mira chugged down her drink, sank deep in the chair, and looked outside. The sky was dark and still, only highlighting the hustle and bustle of the shopping street.
“So, that’s why you were there…” Then Scorpion puffed out her chest proudly and said, “Then you can leave it to me!”
She and Snake had begun the search for solid connections between Melville Commerce and Chimera Clausen. But they soon realized just how tight Melville’s security was. That was natural, given that their leader was next in line to be the duke…but to Scorpion, it almost seemed like they were putting too much effort into it.
They had an absurd number of security guards surrounding a specific place at all times, constantly on surveillance. She’d learned that the facility she was investigating housed a number of secure warehouses—yet there was never inflow or outflow of goods.
She had found that suspicious, and had kept watch to figure out what was up. Then she’d noticed one of their security guards leaving the area and going into a back alley. And that’s how she’d arrived at the very place she’d met Mira. After bribing and questioning the shopkeeper, she learned that the vial of foggy fragments was sold to the shop by that same security guard.
Believing that familiar black fog might be some kind of clue, Scorpion had come back to the inn to borrow the needed funds from Snake. When she’d returned, she found Mira.
And now here they were.
They’d discovered a facility shrouded in mystery, owned by Melville Commerce, with connections to Chimera Clausen. And now fragments from the War-Torn Burial Ground were being sold by a security guard to a shady back-alley dealer.
Mira organized the information in her mind and grinned to herself. “I see… That warehouse you mentioned has the stench of intrigue.”
“Right?! Super stinky!” It seemed Mira’s testimony had led Scorpion to the same conclusion. “But like I said before, their security is suspiciously tight. I might be able to slip into the warehouse if you give me enough time, but unless we know what to expect inside…”
According to her, they didn’t just have guards patrolling; entrances and other vital places also had security devices that could sense magic. When it came to infiltration and intelligence, Scorpion stood head and shoulders above the rest of the Isuzu Alliance. And now even she was hesitating before the amount of unknowns.
While Scorpion fretted, Mira stood up in excitement. “Eyes and magic sensors, hm? Now that sounds like fun! This is the perfect opportunity to test a certain something!” With a mad grin, Mira promptly created a summoning circle.
Close thine eyes, ears, and mouth. My one desire is all-encompassing calm. Stifle even the slightest stir.
Quietude be my peace, solitude be my companion. Let my name and form fade into the wind.
All of creation, sink into the quiet depths.
[Evocation: Stealth]
When the spell was cast, the summoning circle fell to pieces and disappeared without a sound.
“Wha? Was that was summoning magic?” It seemed as if the summon had misfired, but this was Mira, after all. Scorpion looked around the room to see what she’d summoned. When she looked back, Mira was gone. “Huh? Where’d you go?!”
Suddenly panicking, she began searching every nook and cranny of the room. “Miraaa!”
The summoner smirked to herself, satisfied by Scorpion’s response.
“Right here,” Mira called out.
Scorpion whipped around. “Bwah?!”
Mira had been gone, yet now, there she was. An unfamiliar man stood next to her, as well.
“I am the spirit who governs stealth. Please call me Wasranvel.” He smiled gleefully and bowed to Scorpion, who was frozen, every hair in her tail on end.
“Incredible, isn’t it?” Mira bragged.
The summoning hadn’t failed at all. Mira had simply figured that showing would be faster than telling.
Now Mira explained the powers of the spirit of stealth. She had just made the contract with him, so there wasn’t much she could do yet. But she could use his ability of total concealment from the start. It allowed her to hide light, sound, aura, and even magic. Its effects extended in a radius of about three meters from Wasranvel.
It would make her invisible to allies as well, but as long as she told Wasranvel ahead of time, he could make it so that specific people could see her. They could even converse, as long as the ally was in range.
“The concealment is still active, but I’ve made it so that you can see me and speak with me.” Mira concluded her explanation and sat on the chair nearby. She retrieved a wad of cloth from her coat’s inner pocket and spread it out. It was a pair of small black undershorts.
“Ack! My undies!” Scorpion yelped in surprise, then turned her face to the corner of the room. There were two beds; on one of them was her suitcase, wide open. “Whaaa… But I closed it and left it on the floor!”
Scorpion ran over and looked at the lightly packed suitcase. She was indeed missing a set of undergarments—the pair that Mira held with a dubious grin on her face.
“This is another show of my abilities. You didn’t even notice, did you?” Mira balled up the panties and lobbed them at Scorpion before smirking proudly.
The spirit of stealth could do more than just hide one’s presence; it could even conceal their actions, to an extent. But as Mira had only recently made the contract, she was limited to things that required little movement for the moment—like pillaging a suitcase while Scorpion looked all through the room for her.
“Wow! I didn’t notice at all!” Scorpion said in admiration. Espionage was her specialty, as was counterespionage. Despite her best efforts, she hadn’t even perceived that the summoner was in the room digging through her things.
Anyone who knew Scorpion would think that was impossible.
“Right? Don’t you think this would make it easy to infiltrate that mysterious warehouse?”
Scorpion returned her shorts to the suitcase, closed and reopened it repeatedly, and agreed, “Yeah, this should work!”
Opening a suitcase and taking clothes wasn’t a conspicuous act in itself, but it wasn’t something one could normally do right under the nose of a trained spy. Scorpion was certain that the spirit of stealth’s ability could get through the thick mesh of security.
“Couldn’t we have picked something other than underwear for this demonstration…?” Wasranvel muttered to himself, ashamed that his first job had been a panty raid.
***
The shopping street still bustled with light and activity deep into the night. Yet as Mira, Scorpion, and Wasranvel jumped from rooftop to rooftop, they were noticed by no one.
Scorpion led them through the back alleys, the restaurant streets, and gradually away from the city center. Along the way, as they proceeded along an avenue that felt like a red-light district. Scorpion suddenly stopped and gazed forward.
What did she see? Just before Mira could ask…
“Stupid! Dummy! Meat-for-brains! Baldy!” Scorpion suddenly screamed abuse at an approaching adventurer. Due to Wasranvel’s power, the adventurer could not hear her…but she kept on screaming.
The adventurer heard nothing and passed right by. Scorpion continued to hurl abuse at him from behind.
“Ooh, that felt good! What an awesome power!”
“What are you doing?! Good grief.” Mira chuckled and urged, “Let’s hurry.”
“The other day, that guy would not leave me alone. He kept trying to touch me, too. So freaking creepy!”
Remembering the lecher’s advances, Scorpion pouted and glared at the man as he walked off.
“Chew on this, cue ball!” She picked up a pebble at her feet and threw it as hard as she could.
“Ah!” Wasranvel gasped.
The pebble flew in a perfect arc, striking the man on the back of the head. He whipped around, but since they were under Wasranvel’s spell, he couldn’t see them—or so Scorpion thought as she giggled to herself.
“That’s one way to get my attention. You love playing hard to get, don’t you, kitten?” The man grinned lasciviously and began stalking toward Scorpion.
“Huh? Bwuh? How?” Scorpion panicked at this unexpected result.
Meanwhile, the man charged at her with a very clearly perverted look on his face. “I’ve got cuddles for my little kitty!”
“Get away from me!” Scorpion yelped and ran as fast as she could. She used every bit of the three-dimensional mobility she’d displayed at the Citadel of Scales to escape.
But the adventurer was no slouch. He was more agile than he looked, dodging through the crowd with incredible speed. The chase was thrilling.
“What a waste of time. Idiots…” Mira sighed and muttered to herself, watching the two disappear into the red-light district.
Ten minutes or so later, an exhausted Scorpion hopped down from a roof above. Now that she was under the blessing of stealth again, she immediately yelled at Mira, “Why…did that happen?!”
“Well, you see…” Mira explained that moving, talking, and even yelling insults were no issue. But if one directly attacked a target, then the concealment would be nullified the moment the target became aware. “That’s what happens when you go too far.”
“You should’ve…told me sooner…” Scorpion panted pathetically.
“I planned to! But I didn’t expect you to jump the gun.”
The main event would begin with the mysterious warehouse; this was only a showcase of Wasranvel’s abilities. Scorpion had learned the limits of his ability the hard way.
After waiting for the exhausted Scorpion to catch her breath, the group continued running through the city toward the warehouses.
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