Turning back, Fang Chu returned to the city and walked through the streets with ease. After residing in Kalafrana for a period of time, the redhead knew how to find her way in the maze-like structure of the capital’s roadways. She was wearing a travelling cloak and some old baggy garments that made her inconspicuous in the crowd. Her destination was the central district, where most of the noble manors were built. After passing in front of the Esin household, Fang Chu couldn’t help but smile when she saw a small Tori gate on the garden.

[Maybe I ought to visit Albek once before leaving. I could introduce him to Lawrence and see how that goes. Having a noble’s backing would sure help their plans.]

Her assumption was indeed true. Having the backing of house Esin would sure make things smoother for Lawrence’s movements and was something Ben considered asking Fang Chu’s help on. However, after remembering she wasn’t in fact a noble herself and that one of those so called “noble acquaintances” of hers had sent men to capture her and kill them, Ben saw little hope for cooperation. Thus, he never asked her to set it up.

Fang Chu shook her head and cleared her mind before proceeding onwards towards her target, the Melis mansion. The mansion was a three-story stone building with a front yard surrounded by a metal fence. The perimeter was heavily guarded, with most troops concentrating around the front gate and the backdoor. The windows were barred with metal rods, making for an impenetrable house to any thief (if there were any thieves bold enough to steal from a noble).

The redhead closed her eyes and let herself follow the rhythm of the crowd as she looped around the manor a few times. She was concentrating her senses and trying to detect if there were any large concentrations of mana somewhere on the building. If there were, that would indicate the presence of a defensive magical contraption or maybe an alarm of some kind. As she expected, there were none. The Melis mansion in the capital didn’t have a single defensive magical enchantment on its doors, windows or outside perimeter for what she could tell.

Of course, there were ways to mask such signs in order to fool an observer. For instance, when they were trapped in the mausoleum, the only time Fang Chu managed to sense something was when they encountered the metal pillar. Every other magical contraption ended up evading her perception. This went to show that the owner of the tomb was much more proficient than her in regards to the understating of mana and its applications.

However, she believed that this wouldn’t be the case here, thus she was unafraid. Fang Chu had been traveling through Balt for a good while now and she could say with certainty that they were far behind her home nation of Zahur when it came to most things. Most applications of magic she found here were straightforward, finetuned specifically for combat and direct confrontation. The few enchantments they had were rather simple and crude ones, like sharpening, precision and toughening. She hadn’t seen any defensive spells meant for safeguarding buildings yet. Perhaps only the royal palace would have some. Balt was so backwards that she was sure the only reason Zahur hadn’t tried to conquer it was because of the Impregnable Mountains and the constant infighting between the sects.

[Now for a way to get inside… If I was alone and in top condition, I could just barge in through the front door, make a mess and then run away afterwards. But I can’t be this reckless anymore… the others are still waiting for me nearby.]

Therefore, Fang Chu decided to take things slowly. She spent two days casing the manor and was able to notice quite a few things. The guards had long shifts and their alertness would drop after long hours. It was also easy to track were Richard was at night. Few rooms would be lit after dusk, and they were mostly illuminated by the faint light of candles. Only a single room on the third floor was constantly lit by the bright glow of a light gem for most of the night.

[So that’s where you are tonight, you little bastard. Just you wait, this lady will give you a good scare in a moment,] she harrumphed. After casing the place for two days, a simple plan was already formed on Fang Chu’s mind. The redhead stretched her limbs and chuckled with anticipation.

“It’s been a while since I used mana, it should be okay if I exert myself for a little bit,” she murmured.

A crystal orb appeared on her hand out of thin air and she powered it with her mana. An invisible field extended from the orb, covering everything within a one-and-a-half-meter radius inside. The world suddenly went silent. It was like the invisible field from the orb separated her from the outside.

“This should hold out for long enough,” she exhaled as she pocketed the orb into her clothing.

Fang Chu looked around the dark and cramped alley she was in and, after making sure there was no one around, climbed the houses on her left side with agile movements until she reached the rooftops. She looked towards the Melis manor and aligned herself with that bright window on the third-floor. From her calculations, she would land on the window below it, which was currently dark. That would do nicely. She regulated her breathing and prepared for the long jump.

Once she was ready, the redhead ran till the edge of the roof and jumped in a high arch. The air rushed by her, rustling her hair and clothes as she quickly approached the manor. She extended her hands, grabbing the iron rods that blocked the window and planted her feet against the wall, bending her knees to absorb the momentum from the jump.

Anyone passing by would have a hard time detecting anything that had just happened. The moon was covered by dark clouds, so most of the city was enveloped in darkness, making impossible to detect a shadow flying through the air. Sound, which was usually more pronounced in the quiet of the night, was also not present. Not when she ran across the rooftops or when she latched on to the manor. The invisible field created by the crystal orb was a sound barrier. Sounds from outside couldn’t get in and sounds from inside couldn’t get out. It was a charge based magical item her father gifted her when she was small. Use it when you want to gossip or exchange secrets with your friends, he’d said with a smile. In the end, she never used until now.

Fang Chu looked up and saw that the bright window was just on top of her. She climbed against the manor wall and positioned herself besides it, taking a quick peek to see inside. Richard Melis was sitting at his desk, reading a book. His back was turned towards her and there was no one else in the room.

The redhead giggled evilly and grabbed the iron bars. Faint blue wriggling markings appeared on her face as she used tremendous force to bend them, making enough space for a person to squeeze through. Once that was done, she kicked the window, breaking it completely. Glass shards and parts of the frame fell inside the room, but the only person that could hear its loud noise was Fang Chu. She quickly squeezed through the opening and set her feet on the floor.

The faint blue markings on her face disappeared, leaving her countenance a bit pale and a small amount of blood trickled down her nose. She conjured a handkerchief from her ring and shoved it up her bleeding nostril. Her appearance had nothing of graceful or refined at the moment. Fang Chu slowly approached Richard. Soon, the noble was inside her sound barrier, though he’d no idea about it.

“Hi Richard, did you miss me?”

“What?!”

The young noble was startled and turned around with a jump. In the brusqueness of the movement his chair was shoved aside and fell to the floor. Upon seeing who’d called him (and her current appearance), Richard was dumbstruck. Behind her he could also see the broken glass and the window’s iron bars that were warped beyond recognition.

“You! What? How?” he exclaimed in a single breath.

“Youwhathow? What the hell is that? Don’t you know how to speak? Aren’t you happy to see me? After all, you did send mercenaries at my heels to capture me, no?”

“GUARDS! Get in here!”

“Tsc, tsc. Sorry but they can’t hear you at the moment. We are in our own private world right now. Wow, that’s so romantic!” she responded with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

Before he could say anything more, Fang Chu punched at his two shoulders, dislocating them and swiped his legs. Richard fell to the floor while grunting in pain. The redhead nonchalantly conjured a piece of rope from her ring and began to tie up the noble’s arms and legs, preventing him from running away or acting up. Once that was done, she picked the chair from the floor and sat the young man on it, while she sat on top of his desk.

“Richard, Richard, what should I do with you…”

Richard eyed his former muse through his scowl of pain. Her eyes were cold and the handkerchief sticking out of her nose made for an odd sight. No matter what though, he couldn’t comprehend what was going on. How did she managed to get inside? How come he never heard the window breaking? Also, the guards hadn’t responded to his call, just like she said. Where they truly isolated? Upon thinking that, he started to sweat.

Fang Chu put her hand inside her tunic and took out a dagger from her ring. She toyed with it in front of Richard, who accompanied its movements with worried eyes.

“Tell me, Richard, should I kill you for your transgressions?”