"Why are we doing this now?" Ayre asked me as we hid behind a cluster of tall flower plants,
"Because this place is only a short distance from Madcrest city." I kept my eyes on the big house with many windows in the distance. We were in the spacious yard of the rich man Darren had told us about. "So, I think the sooner, the better."
"It's not that, your majesty."
I'm still looking for a guard. "Why don't I attack this house right away? Well, I don't want my actions to have too much impact on the future, so I try to minimize big incidents."
Ayre took a deep breath, and I looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't you think there should be something after the kiss?" She asked without looking at me. "You know, maybe some kind of continuation?"
Again, I got unexpected words from her. "Sorry, I didn't think that far. I just want to quickly return to our era."
I didn't even suspect that she wanted that.
Instead of responding to my words, she pointed in a direction. "Maybe we can use him."
I also looked at a torch-bearing guard who was strolling and yawning. Seeing his lazy face, I knew this would be easy.
With a swift motion, I jumped out of hiding, spread my wings, and flew toward the guard.
I then pulled him to my hiding place while holding the torch so it wouldn't fall.
"Silent." Ayre hissed with the hideous form of a one-eyed, sharp-toothed monster. "Or die."
"Listen." I pressed the guard down to the ground. "We can…."
"Master Albert is in the east room of the house! On the third floor! Second from the right!" The guard babbled without daring to look at us.
I have yet to ask him anything. Looks like the rich man who owns this house is wasting money by hiring people like this.
I put my mouth close to his ear. "I hope you're not lying. I'm a good boy today, so I don't want to do anything to you."
The guard could only nod and keep his eyes closed. With one blow to the nape of his neck, I knocked him unconscious.
Then, I flew while carrying Ayre to the window of the room the guard was referring to. It didn't take much effort as I smashed the lock on the window with one hand.
I opened that window and found a bald man sleeping with a woman on the bed. He seemed oblivious to our presence.
After ensuring no one else was in this room, I sneaked into the bed and covered the owner's mouth. He almost jumped when he saw my horned and winged form.
"Mr. Albert Garlington." I put my index finger in my own mouth. "Don't do anything unnecessary, or my friend will make you his dinner."
That man called Albert glanced at Ayre, who was next to me. This time she adopted the werewolf form and let out a muffled growl.
"You understand me, right?" Slowly, I released my hand from his mouth. "Relax. I only have one request from you."
Albert nodded with a trembling body.
"The point is, don't do anything stupid." I signaled him to stand up. "It's not just about your life."
Albert glanced at the woman who was still fast asleep on his bed.
***
Albert gestured to his two guards, who were patrolling a hallway. Those guards bowed, then just walked away.
"Excellent, Mr. Garlington." I walked behind the man. "It seems you have completely understood what will happen if you tell them what really happened."
Ayre, wearing a hoodie covering her head, growled again. It made Albert cringe in horror.
"I can give you other things." Albert dared to speak, despite his body still shaking. "How much do you ask? I will prepare it."
"Well, it will ask for your money too, but the most important thing is that Mythril item." I tapped his shoulder.
The nobleman looked back slightly. "What do you want to do with that thing? Its size is tiny. Maybe it can only be melted down into a knife…."
Ayre growled once more, and Albert kept his mouth shut.
We passed through a secret door behind a shelf and walked down the stairs leading to the basement. Ayre made her hands glow with magic to illuminate this place.
"You really love that thing, don't you?" I surveyed the narrow and stuffy stairwell. "If not, you wouldn't put it in place like this."
"You don't understand." Albert Gulped. "Since childhood, I have been fascinated by the color of Mythril metal. So, I searched for it for years and finally found it in another country… Even though it cost me a lot."
I let out a cynical laugh. "Just because of the color? Is that what made you mold it into a flower? It's the strongest metal in the whole world, you know?"
"I know it." He stopped at a metal door, then opened it with a large key. "But I don't care. I just want to enjoy its beauty every day."
As soon as Albert opened the door, I found a metallic blue object in the shape of a rose. That thing was sitting on a silver table, and it looked gorgeous indeed, but not to the extent that it really amazed me.
"You have a lot of interesting collections, too, huh?" I approached the metal flower while surveying this room. The size is about three times of a tennis court.
There are many exotic objects there. Statues of naked women of various sizes, shiny urns, colorful weapons, and so on. I even found a set of armor similar to those worn by Japanese samurai, complete with a scary mask.
"Let me open this thing's magical barrier." Ayre touched a kind of pale white dome-shaped transparent sheath surrounding that thing.
And that's when I heard a strange clicking sound from the ceiling. When I looked up, I saw a lot of white liquid falling on Ayre and me.
"Watch out!" I jumped while hugging the shapeshifter general's body.
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