After the last warnings were said and done, Fang and I were prepared to set off.
The location we're headed for, the connected space to this teleportation array, was pretty close to Cleaver Kingdom's castle gate, similar to this one. And since activating teleportation would release a large blast of bright light, it would be difficult to hide them.
"So, instead, we'll be accompanying a messenger into the teleportation array while in hiding."
I explained the steps to Fang, who hadn't really listened to the explanation before.
The purpose for which we're going there isn't an offering anymore. After all, they already made their spies move. It's pretty useless to use me as bait now, as they'll probably just kill me on sight.
We're going there now as spies! As our status changed, so did our objective. In summary, we only have three main objectives during this short mission.
One: Stay alive. This is the most important one, as my death would mean Noir gaining the System's Crowned Successor title once more. Although it was risky, there was a reason why I needed to go there personally.
Two: Place one or two high figures under the Servant Contract. This is the main reason that I need to go there. If, for example, I could turn their first prince into a Servant, then we would have more power over the Cleaver Kingdom during the next meeting.
And last but not least, three: To watch over Noir's actions and to scour for information about his true aim for helping with the Cleaver Kingdom's plan.
Soon, the messenger that was supposed to bring the "important" communication came and nervously stood before the teleportation array. Fang and I used [Shadow Movement] and hid under the shadow of his large hat. Since there'll be a bright light emanating from the array during teleportation, that was the only place other than inside his clothes that we can stay.
Soon, the messenger took a large step into the array. A bright light illuminated the surroundings, but we couldn't see it since we were inside the shadow dimension.
"Will, be careful out there."
Zeshion's worried voice echoed as we vanished in a flash of light.
A floating sensation, followed by a sudden chill. I don't know why, but as soon as we reappeared on the other side, I felt like nowhere was safe. It's definitely me being anxious, but due to the fourth regressor, Death's instinct sends subtle warnings to me.
At the exact moment that the light faded, when the shadows connected with the dark surroundings of the night, Fang and I quickly moved out of the way and into a nearby tree, staying quiet and hiding our presence.
Fang was using the technique of Seimei's Shadows, melting her presence into the surroundings perfectly. Even her energy signature was now unnoticeable at a glance.
I, on the other hand, lacked that skill... But I had a lot of different ones that I honed during the training with the regressors and also from past instances that I couldn't fully recall. I watched all my energy gather into a small spherical area near my navel, what the regressors called the "lower dan tian."
Just with that, my presence wouldn't vanish, but now that I have no energy radiating around me, most detections wouldn't be able to pick up on my presence. For my presence, I used something that I didn't know I could actually use before, a technique that was aptly adapted from the Japanese Ninja art of Invisibility.
Unlike Fang's technique, which uses a pretty complicated Energy flow to eliminate her presence, this one only requires personal skill and training to use. I emptied my mind and let my presence dissipate into the surroundings, making it seem like I was nothing but a little tree in a forest of trees.
The clincher here is how to mold your presence to match the surroundings, which requires a long time of training.
As the two of us were completely invisible from the enemy's surveillance, the messenger nervously approached the gates and knocked. It only opened slightly, making it difficult to even see the faces of the guards, but it was more than enough to have a long spear slip through the gap and skewer the poor messenger.
Coughing up a bucketful of blood, he fell to the ground with his face filled with confusion and fear. A few seconds later, as his heart was pierced, he died.
"..."
Fang and I watched the scene without so much as a twitch. Although I felt pity for the messenger who died, I'm not that close to him or know his name, so I was able to just wave it off like a sad accident. After the guards behind the gates confirmed that the messenger was dead, they came out and started rummaging through his belongings.
They took the bag where the scroll containing the "message" was. After that, they just kicked the body off, letting it roll into the deep moat around the castle's walls.
After the guards left, we patiently waited for a few more minutes just to make doubly sure that they were gone. After making sure, Fang and I got out of the Shadow Dimension and crouched behind the bushes and trees.
Without wasting time, Fang and I applied layers upon layers of presence concealment and other stealth techniques. About ten were overlapped together, completely shutting down detection from heat, light, noise, vibration, and even obscure ones that detect life force.
From there, I started walking towards the castle walls while Fang entered my shadow. It's harder to find one intruder than two, after all.
When I reached the wall, I turned to glance at the dead body floating over the water in the castle's moat. I just bowed my head lightly and muttered a very short prayer for his soul before starting to scale the walls carefully.
Why didn't we enter through the gates? Only idiots would do that. The gate should be pretty well protected, and there's also the possibility that there's some form of detection device that can pass through all our concealment and recognize us.
Of course, the part of the wall that I scaled wasn't the one with the main gate, but the one to the left of it. Looking around, it was the one with the least number of guards, making it a safer vantage point for our infiltration.
The walls were tall, about five to seven meters, depending on the elevation of the ground. Although it was high, it was easy to scale since there was a pretty wide gap, enough for my fingers to squeeze through, between each of the wall's stone blocks.
One block at a time, I climbed. Stopped during moments where guards were nearby and continued after they passed. I felt like I was playing a stealth game for some reason, but I quickly shook the thought out of my head.
As I reached the top, the first thing I did was look for my next target location. Based on our objectives, we should be heading either to the underground area where Noir went or to someplace that seems to house an important figure.
The latter choice was, of course, not feasible yet. I have no idea where the entrance leading to the underground was, after all. But for the former, it was easy to identify.
I looked around, looking for places where there were a lot of guards nearby but not too close. Such locations usually house important figures, after all, since they wouldn't place guards nearby otherwise.
'That one...'
I quickly identified one, which looked like a third-floor room attached to a balcony. It had about two dozen guards staying nearby, which was a lot compared to the other rooms around.
Without waiting for the guards to return to this side of the wall, I jumped down and landed with a soundless thud. After all, the barrier was killing all the sound and vibrations. It was to the point that there was not a single footprint left behind.
I ran to the place just below the balcony and looked around. It was hard to jump that high without using energy, but the walls luckily had a pretty gothic design with a lot of decorations jutting out of them.
Using those as stepping stones, I quickly climbed towards the balcony and landed without letting anyone around me realize it.
The room beyond the balcony was separated by a pair of glass windows. I just walked straight to them, pushed them open, entered, and closed them behind me. No sound was released, as even the hinges of the window were within the range of the noise-cancelling barrier.
I slowly walked towards the tall bed with curtains surrounding it. Seeing the design, it seems like I hit the jackpot. This person must be a high-standing individual at the level of prime minister or something.
After parting the curtains, I was shocked.
Sleeping in the bed was one of the VIPs that was introduced to me by King Leonard before through a portrait...
"... Queen Thalia...?"
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