Chapter 217

Behind the Lines (I)

How many missions has he been on? Kramer wondered silently as he walked through the pearly gates of the massive compound, under the detailed scrutiny of the surrounding guards. He, however, didn’t even flinch; he was too used to this, too accustomed to being behind the enemy lines, never knowing whether that day would be his last or whether he’d get to see yet another day.

His expression was indifferent, as was Sigmund’s; despite the off-the-rails personality, when it came to missions, the man was a proper soldier. Kramer sighed inside while memories of the past began trickling. Though it felt like ages, in reality, his last assignment was just two years ago.

All his adult life, all he knew was moments akin to this one -- where it felt there was a knife tightly pressed against his throat, and a single wrong move would cause it to move ever so slightly, nicking the artery and ending his life. In order to remain even remotely safe, he was forced to sacrifice a lot, to give a great chunk of himself away. Mission after mission, it felt like tiny chinks began appearing in his armor, and he had to continuously discard worn-out parts until only the rudimentary steel beneath remained.

He never complained; after all, he didn’t know any better. He kept on moving forward, taking the ever-increasing mountain of losses in stride, trying his best to complete the increasingly more difficult and insane missions.

Standing here, waiting to be ‘approved’ and sent forward, restored the sharp mentality that was beginning to wane. Despite the fact that the Tower was in many ways far, far more dangerous than any mission he’d been on, it was different. He had strength, power, tools beyond reality in here; out there, when a single, commonly-owned kitchen knife could end his life, everything was high-stakes.

However, standing here and knowing that, despite his individual strength, he’d be swallowed instantly, returned some of the edge he’d felt slipping. It was the return to his origin, to who he was when he first stepped into the Tower.

“You may enter,” one of the guards said indifferently. “Master A’drin is expecting you. Steward will escort you to him.”

“Hm.” Kramer nodded indifferently, not even looking at the guard; there was an image he had to project, and noting the flashing anger in the guard’s eyes, he was doing well with it.

His entourage proceeded forward casually while his eyes veered slightly to the side where, despite not being able to see it, he knew Cain and Daniel were sneaking out and dispersing toward the opposite sides. Though the plan seemed simple on the surface, even rudimentary, it was very difficult to actually execute.

The most difficult part, though, would be sneaking out for either Cain or Daniel, whoever encounters the Princess. While alone the two would likely be fine, dragging another person along, especially if she turns out to be even a little bit uncooperative, would become a nightmare. Alas, that wasn’t his worry, Kramer mused; he just had to sell a few items and front a few fake smiles for a couple of hours. Like a proper merchant.

**

Cain kept moving forward, crouching, using as many natural obstacles to shade his figure; after all, unlike Daniel, he didn’t have true stealth, but rather a set of Skills he used to mask his presence and appearance. They were far from foolproof, and if someone even casually scrutinized the spot he was hiding at, he’d be found out without a doubt.

As such, he had to be extra careful, avoiding patrols and even maids and stewards as much as possible while moving toward the left wing of the compound. There, a set of brick-cast buildings arose along a slight curve, chimneys billowing out smoke into the air above, lanterns and gems alighting the darkness of the underworld.

He paused abruptly, his eyebrows arching as a strange look emerged in his eyes; he looked sideways, beyond a cobblestone pavement where a ring of bushes surrounded a copper statue. There, a pair of eyes was looking directly at his -- however, rather than panic, he felt mostly confusion as a bitter smile emerged on his lips.

Looking around for a moment and noting there was nobody else there, he quickly crossed the pavement and ended inside the bush where Senna was crouching, looking at him.

“I’m surprised you spotted me,” she said.

“With how intently you were staring at me,” he said. “I’d have been a dead man a long time ago if I didn’t spot you.”

“...”

“The heck are you doing here?” he asked. “Wait--did you miss me that much? Aww...”

“I had a feeling you’d be consumed by greed,” Senna said. “And just ignore the Princess while trying to break into the treasury.”

“...”

“Wait...”

“I--I wasn’t gonna ignore her!” Cain defended himself, wondering why she knew him that well. “I was... khm, I was gonna hope she isn’t on this side and then maybe try and see whether there was anything interesting in the vault and such...no, wait--first, how did you even sneak in?!”

“I flew over the wall.”

“...”

“...”

“And you just happen to fail to mention that as a possibility when we were planning?!!” Cain hushed a scream.

“Yes, ‘cause I was planning on using it myself.”

“...”

“...”

“When we get out,” Cain said. “You’re grounded.”

“H-huh?”

“For two--no, three months! Three months of no Tower, no, uh, no phone, and you’ll have to chat with me for at least an hour every day!”

“W-what?! No!! Are you insane?!”

“No, I’m not insane! I’m your dad, and one of the few joys and privileges I have in my life is grounding you!”

“... you do realize that’s like, super insane?!”

“Yup!”

“Ugh... fine, fine, whatever, you can ground me...” seeing Senna capitulate, Cain felt slightly weird; she was becoming less and less rebellious, yet somehow more and more charming.

“Anyway, now that you’re here, there’s no point in both of us looking for a princess...”

“Dude, seriously?”

“Hey! I’m not looking for items for me, but for all of us, okay? This quest’s gonna be hard and I want us all to have the best items possible for when shit hits the fan! Is that so wrong?”

“... you just have an answer for everything, don’t you?”

“Na, not everything,” Cain shook his head. “For instance, ‘do aliens have bigger genitalia than humans’ -- I do not have an answer for that.” Senna’s cheeks flushed as she glared at him for a moment, eventually sighing in defeat. “Anyway, chin up! I hear Princess is about your age.”

“... meaning?” Senna asked, frowning.

“You might want to pork her.”

“Dude!!”

“What? Don’t give me that ‘I’m a girl I don’t do that’,” Cain said. “As your dad, all I want from you is to first wait to fall in love, and be safe about it!”

“How--how is your head not exploding from embarrassment right now?!!!”

“Sheesh, you really don’t know anything about me, eh?” Cain grinned. “When we get out, your daddy will share some tales of my relative youth. Whoo, you’re in for a surprise. Anyway, if you do find the Princess, if she’s being whiny and bitchy and such, just knock her out and trigger my Mana Imprint on you. I’ll immediately come find you and we can escape together.”

“I honestly think I’d be safer without you,” Senna said, sighing. “Alright. Let’s get moving; we’ve already wasted so much time...”

“What do you mean? Talking with you is never a waste of time, no matter the circumstance.”

“...” with reddened cheeks and an angry glare, Senna humphed and snuck out of the bushes, carefully threading around the growing grass and the surrounding decorations before reaching the roofed ‘tunnel’ of sorts combining two separate buildings.

Thinking for a moment how she looked like a hamster, Cain shook his head and dispersed the thoughts, turning his gaze toward the central building while licking his lips greedily. It was time he awoken one of the skills from his past life that he had left slumbering ever since he came back -- his ability to steal thing from other people and make them bleed through it. He didn’t relax, however; there was no doubt that the merchant’s treasury was likely beyond well guarded, not only with manpower, but also with glyphs and runes and such. It won’t be easy, but he was confident; after all, this was just the second floor. There was no way the runes would be anywhere as complex as they were on much higher floors, boosting his confidence to succeed considerably. He took the first step with anticipation, heading off in the opposite direction of Senna, unable to completely stifle his excitement.