“Sometimes, the best disguise is to just be yourself.” - Old folk saying.

As it turned out, Oleg’s idea to get them into the Baron’s mansion was one that was simple and obvious in hindsight. Oleg just chose to “pay a visit” to the neighboring baron on his way to what he claimed was some business in Sabaya, and he brought Aideen’s trio with him, with them posing as his private retainers, riding in the same carriage as himself.

There was no way that a Baron would have dared to inspect the Erstgertsog’s personal carriage, especially when there were people implied to be the high noble’s favored retainers or mistresses inside. As such, the Baron’s guards could only respectfully invite them into the Baron’s mansion while they lined up in welcome.

They were absent – and dressed in a manner that concealed their faces quite a bit regardless – when the Baron made his obeisances at Oleg’s visit, and was led by some of the manor’s servants to guest rooms respectfully. None of the servants seemed to question it when Aideen asked if the three of them could have one room together, and indeed, the servants led them to such a room, one with a bed so large it would have easily accommodated half a dozen people.

“Didn’t expect for us to be able to just waltz in through the front door like that,” admitted Celia after they were sure that they had been left alone in the room. The younger unliving woman had just flopped face-down on the large, soft bed so her voice was a bit muffled by the bedding. “Also, that Baron seems to like to enjoy life, if he has this sort of thing for his guest bedrooms.”

“Probably a bit too luxurious, if you consider the small size of his domain,” replied Aideen as she took a closer look at the soft silk bedsheets. Silk was always a favored fabric by nobles and other rich people, but they were rather hard to find in Elmaiya, as most of the silk there were either imported or were of the extremely rare and precious variety. “This bedsheet is imported silk of good quality. Honestly I’m not sure a small baron would be able to afford that much less for a guest bedroom.”

“The room I was in… had this sort of bedsheet too,” added Kino with a slightly troubled look on her face. “Does that mean a bad thing?”

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“Not for you, but it does paint our Baron’s finances in a rather questionable shade, especially if this had been going on for generations,” replied Aideen as she rubbed Kino’s back in a reassuring gesture. “Nobles mostly earn their wealth from the taxes their people paid to them, and they offer a portion of that to the Imperial Family in Sabaya in turn.”

“This Barony is too small for the sort of wealth and opulence we’re seeing, is what Miss Aideen is saying,” added Celia even as she checked a candle-holder set beside the bed, one that seemed to be made out of silver. “It would have perhaps made more sense if the Baron’s family had their own business, or maybe merchants affiliated with them, as the source of more income, but we haven’t seen anything of that sort while we had been here.”

“It’s too easy to notice the difference given how we’ve just been from Oleg’s place. In his case, his family is definitely more than rich enough to afford this kind of opulence, given that they’ve been hereditary lords over the largest region in the Empire for generations now,” added Aideen with a nod. “He kept his mansion mostly on the humble side, though, in line with what Khaer Ul and Lucea encouraged.”

The previous Emperor and current Empress of Elmaiya had encouraged their nobles to spend less on needless things, given that they started their reigns ruling over an Empire that had not only suffered from civil war, but was also recovering from the plague. As such, most nobles tried to cut down on their personal spendings and instead donated more to the rebuilding that the nation required.

It had been nearly two centuries since that time, however, and clearly some of the younger generation of nobles had started to revert back to their old ways once more, something Aideen knew would likely annoy Lucea off to no end. Even considering that, however, the opulence and wealth displayed in the Baron’s mansion was suspicious, as it was something likely far beyond the barony’s ability to fund.

The three women stopped their musings when they heard a knock on their door, and Aideen bid whoever was there to enter. To their relief, it was Oleg who entered the room, carefully closing the door behind him. Aideen spotted that Oleg had apparently stationed two of his guards outside the door as well, likely to keep any servant from eavesdropping.

“Apologies that I had to disguise you this way, Aunt,” said the Erstgertsog with some embarrassment. While nobody had said it outright, they had still framed the conversation in such a way that it implied that Aideen, Celia, and Kino were his mistresses, which was something that still left the high noble uncomfortable. “It was the easiest way I could think of to bring you in without getting your identities checked.”

“Eh, it’s fine,” replied Aideen as she finally removed the gauzy veil that had been obscuring her face from sight and loosened the too-tight bodice she had been wearing. Celia and Kino also removed their veils when they noticed Aideen doing so, though they refrained from going further as Oleg was present. “Did you leave a message to not disturb us for the night like I asked?”

“It has been done. I’ll also station a couple of my guards by your door for the night, so the servants shouldn’t be able to get close enough to the room to notice anything missing,” replied Oleg. While he had the position to condemn the Baron for crimes committed, he still needed evidence to do so properly, so Aideen had proposed to sneak around the mansion at night to look for just that.

After all, she was the one with the training and experience to do that sort of thing anyway.