Into the Dragon's Den (1)

We quickly left the bustling commercial streets behind, heading toward the residential district. The area we were entering was reserved for nobles, with towering luxurious buildings as large as manors lining the streets. The few people we encountered remained sheltered behind the windows of their carriages, glaring at us with disdain, as if we might bite them. What had we done to deserve such treatment? Was our illusion of being ordinary citizens lacking in refinement? My spirits were already low, and these unpleasant nobles weren't helping. A deathly silence hung in the air, one neither Aurora nor I could break. It had been fifteen minutes of this torment, and I would have done anything to end it.

Still haunted by images of the cobbler’s arrest, I found myself mentally debating the roots of the mutual hatred between the lower classes and the nobles. The mercenary, who had been studying a map, suddenly stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. I accidentally bumped into her.

“Hey! A little warning before you stop would be nice!”

“I think this is the place.”

“Oh, you think?”

She raised her head and examined one of the tall stone walls for a long moment before suddenly deciding to climb it. It took her only three swift movements to reach the top. Reproducing what she had just done seemed easy, but it was an illusion created by her extraordinary agility and strength.

Consumed by guilt, I scanned both sides of the deserted alleys, praying no one would catch us. Aurora had just broken a slew of private property laws, and it made me incredibly uneasy. My mentor discarded her illusory gown and shawl, pulling up her uniform hood instead. She carefully tucked her braids under her clothes and extended a hand toward me, which I hesitated to take.

Hidden under a dark dragon-scale shoulder hood, I couldn’t tell whether the person in front of me was a man or a woman. Not a strand of silver hair, not an inch of skin — she gave no clues. I had first met her in this form, and I can assure you, it was terrifying to know nothing about your attacker. As if my window of time had expired, Aurora leaned down further and lifted me effortlessly in one motion. I flailed in surprise, realizing how little my weight mattered to her.

Beyond the wall stood a black and cream manor, stretching across three broad stories. It was unusually neglected, its plastered paint cracked and consumed by ivy, presenting a grim sight. The window panes had darkened, preventing any view of the inside. What noble would let a residence fall into such a state when he owns an entire city?

"What are we waiting for here?" I grumbled, crouching. "Let’s find a proper hiding spot!"

"Shut up, idiot! Can’t you see we already have one?"

My gaze drifted to the metal gate topped by a stone arch. Was this where she would trap him? Wasn’t it too exposed for that?

"You’ve got to be kidding," I whispered. "We’ll be spotted the second he steps into this alley!"

"I was just about to cast a concealment spell. It works like illusion magic: we’ll be invisible as long as no one detects our presence. So just like before, don’t let anyone get too close."

Invisibility... is that even possible?

Focused on her open palms, held facing each other, she recited a complex incantation that made our skin shimmer. I could still see Aurora, but her body had turned translucent, like it was made of glass.

"When will he arrive?"

She glanced at her communicator briefly before answering, "It's ten to four, we’ve still got some time. We’ll let him enter, and as soon as he closes the gate, I’ll pounce on him, alright?"

I nodded, unable to find the right words. After that, my heart grew heavy. It pounded as if trying to break free from my chest, making me nauseous.

"I’m sorry, but I really don’t feel well..." I admitted after a few minutes.

"This spell will help."

A single touch from her was enough to erase the discomfort that had been consuming me. The pounding in my chest stopped, though the fear hadn’t completely disappeared.

"I... Thanks."

I hadn’t expected her to fix the problem so easily. Deep down, I was hoping to find an excuse to back out, but my plan had failed miserably. Like a bird of bad omen, Aurora kept her eyes fixed on the alley where the marquis was expected to arrive. Her hand had already gripped a long black dagger with opalescent reflections. Seeing her like that, De Ritella didn’t stand a chance.

It must be traumatizing to watch someone get killed right before your eyes... This man deserves what’s coming to him. No matter the reason, killing is unacceptable.

But it’s not fair! These honest people will lose their homes, their families, their jobs, their freedom...! They need help!

I hated Aurora for dragging me into this mess and keeping me passive. I really didn’t want to witness this massacre, even though I could still turn away. I wished I had never heard about this mission. Never seen the misery that plagued Cerem. I hated feeling weak, like I was stuck in a dead end.

If I were in charge of this country, things would never have gotten this far, I thought, as I often did when things didn’t go my way.

How could that crazy Aurora expect me to stay calm while witnessing a murder? It was utterly against my principles. There was no way I was going to become her accomplice. Even less so to let her drag me down into depravity. And yet, here I was, stuck waiting for our target...

Shouldn’t we leave it to the royal justice to carry out his execution? No, the government is turning a blind eye to this matter. It has to be done now. Who are we to decide who deserves to live?

All the people of Cerem want him dead. Isn’t that enough of a tribunal?

I’m not the one killing him. There’s nothing I can do. I’m just a hostage.

I didn’t have to feel guilty about anything because I was a victim who never asked for this.

He’s no noble. He’s unworthy of being Asyrian. Death is far too easy an escape—I hope he suffers.

I was shocked by this sudden thought that seemed to come out of nowhere. The anxiety was clearly making me delirious. I ran a hand over my face to clear my head.

It’s just a bad moment to get through…

Without a watch, I had no idea how long we’d been waiting without any sign of him. The pressure was slowly easing, and I began to let myself be lulled by the rustling of leaves brushing against each other in the wind. My partner kept checking her communicator every minute. Eventually, she lost patience, "Ugh... what is taking him so long? Did our clients lie to us, or did he change his plans at the last minute?"

"Maybe he changed his plans and came before we got here. Shouldn’t we check?"

Aurora spun around abruptly to face me. She stood there, deeply thoughtful about my suggestion, pausing for a long time.

"Why not? If he’s not here by now, he’s not coming anyway..."

I could feel the weight of her disappointment in those few words. Normally, she wouldn’t have considered my opinion. But this time, either out of impatience or misjudgment, she let her guard down.

Just this once—one time too many.

My remark seemed to awaken her criminal appetite: what could be more tempting than a mansion full of mysteries?

~~~~

We jumped down from the wall, landing on the grass. Its faded color and overgrown height suggested that no one had set foot here in years. As I took a step forward, Aurora blocked my path with her arm.

"Wait. I need to check something first."

The blue gem from the brooch on her coat glowed brightly when she unfastened it and waved it toward the manor. The object sent out a magical wave, revealing several magic barriers that were otherwise invisible to the naked eye.

"Strange… there are a lot of protections. From what I can tell, there are ten level-eight barriers in front of us."

I had the same oval-shaped jewel on my own uniform. I focused my attention on it.

A magic detector? I guessed.

"I don’t mean to sound obvious, but our mere presence here proves that he was right to install these high-level defenses."

"Fair. But good mercenaries only do what their clients ask in the contract. If we came here to kill, we won’t steal. He’d be better off protecting himself than this old dump."

Aurora deactivated the barriers in a small perimeter, just enough for us to pass into the garden.

"There are only two ways to get rid of a magical protection: either you convince the magician who cast it or the owner to deactivate the barrier, or you place an even stronger barrier over the first one, then deactivate it to pass through. A spell with more concentrated energy will dissipate the magic placed earlier."

My tutor began chanting incantations that were beyond my understanding. One by one, she conjured magical barriers just large enough for us to pass through. She didn’t use a single grain of incantation sand, even though she was wielding very powerful magic. Each barrier required one or two minutes of intense concentration. Soon, a tunnel formed through the invisible walls. As our detection brooches automatically lit up near magic, the obstacles revealed themselves within a certain range around us. Eventually, we reached a turret attached to the manor. From our vantage point, the two stories standing on tall foundations looked immense. Refusing to use the main stairs, Aurora climbed the moat and vaulted over the security fence that outlined the terrace. We found ourselves on the front porch that stretched the entire length of the manor. The overhang cast a shadow over us, like we had just entered another world—more dangerous and uncertain.

I shivered, "Won’t we be spotted if we go through the window?"

"Watch before you speak."

Without even touching the grime-covered glass, my partner made it vanish as if it had never existed. The dirt, suddenly without a surface to cling to, formed a cloud of sparkling dust. Moments after we entered, the glass reappeared in its original place.

Quite a clever trick...

My thoughts were cut short by what lay in front of us. Or rather, what didn’t.

"What the hell? This isn’t a noble’s house—It’s empty!"

Indeed, there was nothing to see on the entire floor. The only piece of furniture within sight was a fireplace built into one of the room’s corners. A chandelier lay smashed on the floor. Pieces of paneling had fallen from the ceiling, scattered here and there. Dust had whitened the hardwood floor, and the cobwebs were no longer even trying to hide. Since there were no walls dividing the large living room, we could see the windows draped with heavy curtains on the other side of the manor.

"Are you sure this is the right place?"

Aurora unfolded her map, turning it every which way. "I couldn’t have made a mistake. The clients’ information must be wrong. What a waste of time… I’ll check the first floor, you go inspect the second. Just in case."

"Uh, alright…"

We used the spiral staircase deployed in the turret. The inspection was shorter than I had imagined. My floor had only five rooms, including a bathtub and a dilapidated piano.

"Nothing here," the mercenary huffed upon returning downstairs.

"Same on my end. It's uninhabitable."

A great silence followed. We were completely unprepared for this.

"What would De Ritella be doing in a crumbling house? And why all these magical protections if there’s nothing to protect?"

"I honestly don’t understand..."

"Well, I'm calling Justine. The mission is ruined for today."

Aurora pulled out her communicator and held it to her ear. For a bit more privacy, she turned away from me. I felt as though my earlier wish had been granted. I wouldn’t have to face Death for now. It almost felt too good to be true. But if we didn’t deal with the marquis, it meant his reign of terror would continue unabated... What about that couple of cobblers? Was my safety worth their lives?

As I lost myself in the intricate patterns of the parquet flooring, something caught my attention among the debris. I crouched to examine it more closely.

"Wait, there are some strange marks here!" I pointed out before she began her call.

Dust had left footprints. They were fresh and came from the front door. Intrigued, my supervisor lower her arm and put away the device into her pocket. She crossed the large room, following the ghostly trail I indicated. They stopped right in front of a wall, the one separating the staircase from the living room. The numerous back-and-forths had created a path among the shards. The fact that this path ended abruptly at the wall left us perplexed.

As we approached the faded and torn plum wallpaper, the gems in our brooches began to glow. We exchanged glances, sharing the same thought. Without a word, Aurora passed her hand through what turned out to be an illusion. Her body slowly melded into the wall. I joined her on the other side, a thrilling excitement gripping my gut. It turned out the spiral staircase didn’t stop at the ground floor... The descent down the spiral stairs was filled with unbearable suspense. My mentor generated a bright light in her palm, but it wasn’t enough to reveal what awaited us. A wine cellar? A network of tunnels? The hideout of a secret society? An underground cave?

"Do you see that little red dot blinking Edwoyn? That’s a magical video scope. As long as we stay invisible, it won’t record us. Just avoid knocking anything over, okay?"

"I'll do my best."

Aurora found a large toggle switch on the wall. When she flipped the lever, we heard a magical generator activate. Gradually, the lamps began to light up. The room was gigantic, and the ceiling was much higher than we had anticipated. This display of yellowed light plunged us into a gloomy atmosphere. Some magical crystals were drained, making the bulbs flicker as if to herald a bad omen.

"But what the...?"

What we discovered in this basement surpassed our imagination. Dozens of rows extended endlessly. On all these storage shelves, an invaluable treasure lay dormant. Only a dragon could have amassed so much gold and artifacts…