“Sneaks and infiltrators rarely become the subject of tales sung by bards, but that’s how it’s supposed to be. You wouldn’t be a good sneak if you’re found out, after all!” - Peshawan’el Nalin, Leader of the Death’s Hands of Ptolodecca, circa 303 VA.

There was an art to sneaking around unnoticed.

In general, there were two approaches that spies and other infiltrators would make use of when they tried to hide their presence. The most simple – and effective – approach was to simply look as if they belonged wherever they were. People generally do not question those that look like they belonged, so pretending to just be another local was easily the most effective way to hide one’s presence.

That said, when it came to the manor of Baron Deyos, such an approach proved impossible for Aideen to adopt. For some unknown reason, be it personal bias or preference or anything else, the Baron only employed Therians in his manor, and Aideen couldn’t exactly disguise herself as a therian convincingly. That naturally left her with only the other approach as an option.

The second approach was much simpler, yet much harder. Simply do not be seen.

To that purpose, Aideen had dressed in dark blues – to better blend in with the darkness of the night – and covered most of her face, leaving only her eyes exposed. Similarly, her hair was wrapped under the cloth so as not to give her away. Fortunately the Baron’s manor was left relatively poorly lit at night, as most therians had better night vision compared to humans and thus need far less light to go around.

Between the dark clothing, a special potion that effectively made her scentless – always a crucial factor when sneaking around in a therian-heavy territory since their sense of smell tends to be a lot sharper – and how she easily regulated her body temperature to match the air around her, Aideen effectively made herself invisible to most senses as long as she took care to watch her surroundings.

Like a shadow, she snuck out of the guest room unnoticed, taking advantage of a moment when Oleg briefly called away the guards he had posted there to give them some instructions. Celia and Kino remained in the room and made some chatter, specifically for anyone eavesdropping to hear, so people would not suspect Aideen being missing.

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While Kino did not have a clear idea on the location where she used to be kept in, the girl still gave Aideen some information which she could interpolate with the mansion’s general floor plan to get an estimate. The girl’s clearest memory was during the last outing when she had been brought to the wing of the manor that later collapsed, so Aideen backtracked her way from there on the map in her mind to find a general region where the girl was likely sequestered in during all those years.

By her best estimates, that would roughly be around back regions of the manor, under the area where the private rooms that belonged to the Baron and his family were situated. She knew that it was almost certainly underground since Kino recalled climbing a flight of stairs, so the issue was mostly finding her way to the region of the manor and then finding the entrance to the hidden basement area.

It was easier said than done.

Likely because of Oleg’s visit, the manor had more guards patrolling than usual. Whether that was to ensure the visiting high noble’s safety or to prevent him from finding out anything wrong, nobody could say, but either way the increased patrols did make things more difficult for Aideen, somewhat. Fortunately the manor had many decorations that provided convenient hideouts when she had to evade such patrols.

Aideen leapt down noiselessly from behind a statue she had just hidden herself with after a pair of guards walked by while chatting with each other. Fortunately for her, boredom remained a constant enemy for guards in the late shift, and they were not the most alert. Then again, considering they were patrolling the inside of the manor, it was somewhat justified, as those outside were expected to warn them beforehand in case of intruders.

Quietly she crept her way into the back regions of the manor, hiding herself from time to time to avoid passing servants or patrolling guards. Apparently the Baron’s daughter was a spoiled one who demanded snacks late at night, from the muttering she heard from some passing servants that headed upstairs, so she chose to check the kitchen area first while it was vacant.

While there was nothing in the kitchen that directly led to any basement or the likes, Aideen noticed that there was a small contraption – the sort that’s used to deliver food to a different floor – that was not connected to the upper floor where the Baron’s family lived, but towards the bottom instead. That pretty much confirmed that there was a basement being hidden somewhere, so she continued her search.

The back region of the manor was quite large, but in the end, it turned out that finding where the entrance to the basement was hidden was easier than she expected. One of the rooms had a pair of guards standing in front of it, despite how there shouldn’t be anything there that would need such a guard presence. It stood out like a sore thumb, and naturally attracted her attention.

For Aideen, the guards posed little problem. She struck both therians down before they could react, with blows to the nape of the neck that could have easily been fatal, had she not then fixed her own handiwork and ensured that the pair would remain unconscious for at least a couple hours. She then posed them against the wall so that it would look like they were still standing on their posts from a distance, before she went into the nondescript room they had been guarding.

What awaited her inside the room looked like a private library at first glance, but a quick search found some discrepancy on how the floor sounded when stepped on. Sure enough, when she pulled a rug aside, she found a trapdoor leading below hidden underneath.