Ch. 293
[Master, can’t you just have Zekarda steal it for you? He’d be much better suited for thievery.]
[Forget it. Stealing doesn’t suit me.]
Stealing something owned by the Royal Palace could blow up into a major incident, but if nothing went missing, then there wouldn’t be a problem.
‘My plan was perfect. So far.’
[But killing people does?]
[Shut up. I’m going in, looking at a book, and coming out! That’s all. The ancient sages said that thirsting for knowledge is not a sin!]
[You only bring up the ancient sages when it’s convenient… You usually treat them like old geezers!]
I decided to take this opportunity to thank the ancient sages for providing me with an excuse.
“A fine idea. Heidrike is a city with little crime, so security is generally lax. A good place to hit. What’s more, the festival just ended, so everyone’s let their guard down. In many ways, it’s the perfect time.”
“That’s some great information you’re sharing.”
“We have a map of the Royal Palace in stock, so I can prepare it right away. For which date should I procure the guard shift schedule?”
“……Tonight?”
Even as I said it, I wondered if it was too soon.
“Tonight? But that’s in a little while, isn’t it?”
“If it’s impossible to get it right away, tomorrow’s is fine too.”
“Nothing is impossible for us. We can bring you the information you want within the hour. I was just suggesting that it might be better to be a bit more methodical.”
“If I were a methodical woman, I wouldn’t be here.”
The urge to strike immediately was partly my impatience, but it was also because Ash, who volunteered to be my leash, was away.
On top of that, Rovenin, who watched my every move, was also gone.
And with Chad, Enk, and Gale—who lacked the power to stop me but had more than enough energy to go tattling—all absent, tonight was the perfect opportunity.
With only Rai and me left, this city was practically our world.
[Right, right! The Master is impulsive, reckless, and an ignorant person who solves everything with force! Plus, he has no sense of guil—… he’s a good person. You should let a Spirit finish his sentence, Master.]
[You’re dead.]
[I’m just so excited! I was wondering why you were being so quiet in this city!]
[Right? That would’ve been a letdown, wouldn’t it?]
[It would! Kehehehe!]
[Ohohoho.]
I slaughtered slave traders in droves. There was no way I’d be afraid of something like this.
How could a person live their life doing only good things? Was this feeling that I could do anything arrogance, or just youthful recklessness?
All I knew was that it wasn’t so different from confidence.
===
Under the cover of dawn, the place I infiltrated was rumored to be the most beautiful in the city. You could even call this a form of tourism.
As befitting the Royal Palace, security was tight, but there was no way mere knights could spot me flying in from the sky.
I flew as high as I could, then descended as slowly as possible toward my target.
[Master, should I set you down on that building?]
[Put me down by the window, Undaine.]
I cast invisibility on Undaine, put on black clothes that covered my entire body, and turned Rai black as well. That was all the preparation I needed.
Rai, transformed into a black snake, was black down to his eyes and even the inside of his mouth, blending in so well with the darkness that he was almost invisible to the naked eye.
Because he had eaten the Dragon Heart, his scales had a faint golden sheen when the light hit them, which couldn’t be helped, but it was a relief that he didn’t glow on his own.
After landing on the narrow ledge in front of the window, I sent Undaine away and checked for any presence nearby once more.
[Master! There’s no one around.]
[What about inside the building?]
[I think I’ll have to go in to know for sure… Should I go check?]
[Go. And get rid of the glass.]
In an instant, the glass disappeared from the arched window, which was much taller than me.
While Rai, who had devoured the glass in one gulp, went inside first to check for anyone, I held onto the now-empty window frame and kept watch outside.
[Master! Come on in. It’s just us!]
Since the window was so large, the opening left behind was more than enough for me to pass through.
I ducked my head and stepped inside as carefully as possible.
I’d expected the Royal Palace library to be much larger, but maybe because it was only used by the royal family, it seemed about the same size as the central library at Drike Academy.
As if it had been built with aesthetics in mind, the walls were covered with windows all the way up to the ceiling, and the moonlight streaming through them provided enough visibility.
It was pretty, like a greenhouse, but the structure seemed vulnerable to intruders—and terrible for preserving books.
‘Sunlight is the mortal enemy of books!’
[The guards will be here in two hours. Rai, start timing us now.]
[Yep.]
[They said there are bookshelves with security magic on all sides, so be careful. The alarm will go off if you pass in front of them.]
[But we don’t know which bookshelves they are, right?]
[That’s why we have to move along the tops of the bookshelves. Come here.]
Rai quickly slithered back, coiling around my arm from wrist to elbow and settling in place.
He made himself as light as possible while clinging to me—so stable that if it weren’t for the faint squeezing, I’d forget he was even there.
I’d chosen this window as my entry point because, according to the interior map, there was a bookshelf directly beneath it. If I moved along the top of that shelf for a short distance, I could go straight to the secret vault.
I started moving slowly along the top of the bookshelf.
Trying not to topple it, I was reminded of my terrible sense of balance and dropped to my knees to crawl.
[I feel like a thief.]
[You’re not stealing anything, but you’re still a thief, aren’t you?]
[Shh. It’s all in how you think about it. If you don’t think you’re a thief, you’re not a thief.]
[Even if you’ll be a thief the moment you get caught?]
[Shut it, you devil!]
[Kyakakaka!]
We were probably the only ones who could be this relaxed while breaking into the Royal Palace.
Maybe it was because our goal wasn’t as grand as assassinating royalty, stealing state secrets, or pilfering treasure like other intruders.
Still, the risk was the same. If we got caught, we’d be framed for one of those things anyway.
Little by little, I reached the massive portrait that served as the secret vault’s entrance.
Covering an entire wall, it depicted someone with a book and a key resting on their lap—the sign marking the vault.
[That’s the portrait! I can feel the vault behind it.]
[This is going way too smoothly.]
I’d planned things carefully, but with everything going easier than expected, a surge of good humor rose in me.
‘Do I actually have a talent for this?’
‘What is it that I can’t do?’
[How are you going to get down?]
At Rai’s question, I glanced down, measuring the bookshelf’s height. It was about twice my height, so jumping down was out of the question.
‘Right. I can’t jump down from this height.’
[Let’s see… Rai, transform into a slide and connect it to the front of the portrait. Be careful not to pass in front of the bookshelf.]
[A slide? What’s that?]
[Ah, you wouldn’t know. Then make a staircase.]
[I’ll try!]
I didn’t often have Rai transform into objects, and the reason was simple.
This guy’s sculpting ability was terrible.
[You’re really bad at this.]
It was at the level where you couldn’t help but comment while watching.
Rai, still in snake form, leaped down in front of the portrait and swelled up, turning into something like a huge lump of clay.
After wriggling a few times, he managed to form a staircase connecting the top of the bookshelf to the floor in front of the portrait, but it was so shoddily made it looked like a kindergartener’s craft project done half-asleep.
[Ugh… You can’t draw either, Master! The cat you drew looked just like a mouse!]
[Why are you bringing that up! This is different!]
[It’s totally! The same! Or you could feed me a staircase!]
[There are no metal staircases.]
Metal was rare and difficult to work with, so it was never used for stairs.
That was one of the reasons it was used as currency. It was hard to replicate.
That was only true when a Metal Spirit wasn’t around, of course.
It looked like shoddy construction, hastily slapped together with cement, but after I climbed down the sturdiest staircase in the world, a thought hit me.
[Ah. I should’ve just had you grow huge in your snake form and ridden you down. That would’ve been a slide.]
[I don’t know what a slide is, but that sounds more comfortable for me too! If all I have to do is get bigger.]
Unlike becoming a staircase—something he had never absorbed—maintaining the form of a wolf or a snake, whose structure he knew for sure, was much easier. And within those forms, he could freely change his size or color.
Turning into a wolf or snake the size of a house was a hundred times simpler than turning into a staircase.
In fact, when Rai took on his wolf form, he made himself about a handspan smaller than his main body. That was to make him look more like a dog.
[Rai, find the device to open this.]
The giant portrait was merely the first door hiding the vault.
Rai, who had shifted back into a snake, slithered once around the frame and found the hidden mechanism.
Click.
With a soft sound, the portrait—about the size of two bookshelves—swung open effortlessly.
Behind it, a complex-looking vault awaited me, but it was just as useless before Rai.
In the blink of an eye, it was wide open, its contents exposed.
I walked into the vault without lifting a finger.
“Easy.”
It was so easy I almost felt sorry for whoever built it.
Could he have known a Metal Spirit existed? If it weren’t for Rai, I wouldn’t have even dared to come this far.
[Ahem? Ahem?]
“Yeah, you did well.”
As if seizing the moment, Rai climbed onto my shoulder and diligently rubbed his round head against my right cheek. It was his way of asking to be petted.
He’s a cheap one.
A snake’s head fit perfectly in one hand, so I could rub his forehead and chin at the same time, and Rai liked being petted more as a snake than as a wolf.
As I stroked him lightly, I looked around the vault, but it was too dark to see anything. Unlike outside the portrait, no light came in here at all.
[I don’t think there’s a separate device to turn on a light. Should I go find a candlestick?]
“No need for that. I can just call Ador.”
[That guy! It’s been a while.]
Groping around a bit, I could tell the vault was large enough for two or three adults to stand in, and all four walls were filled with books.
To find and read a book in here, I’d need a strong light.
“Rai. You go wait outside the portrait. Close it so no light leaks out, and open it when I give the signal. Keep a good watch for anyone coming.”
[Yep! You can count on me! Master! The best Spirit of this era, who’s good at picking locks, good at standing guard, and good at listening!]
“……You’re acting suspiciously reliable…? What are you plotting?”