Back when Mira was testing out Sense Sync in the Tower, she discovered that the information gathered with it would not be passed on to the Spirit King and Martel. That also meant that Worthramble had no way of knowing anything that Mira had just learned.
She briefly filled him in while they headed to regroup with Hattori Nyanzo.
“Things will only get worse if we waste more time without getting any results. If we go back now we’ll just get off with just a small punishment. And you know how a̲n̲a̲l̲ the boss is about giving constant updates. We’ll just be delaying the inevitable.”
Somehow, they were still discussing whether they wanted to go back or not. Two of them seemed especially hesitant to see the boss.
(Who cares about all that. Just take me there already.)
Mira did not care if the three were punished by their boss or not, she was just fed up that they still refused to move.
“Okay, okay, let’s do it this way then.”
After some more discussion, the one who first mentioned going back to their hideout came up with a compromise. He would report to the boss alone, and the two could stay out if they wanted.
He seemed to be something like a mentor for the other two, and wanted to watch out for them. That kindness had no effect on Mira’s opinion, they were all wicked assassins in her mind and deserved no pity.
At least, the three finally came to an agreement that way, so Mira and Worthramble went on the move, tailing the assassin from a constant distance. Mira also sent Popotwise flying overhead to keep an eye on him, their formation making it impossible to lose sight of the target.
A small shadow also ran off in a separate direction. Hattori Nyanzo had been given a new mission, to head to the imperial palace in the center of the city to warn their friends of Nirvana about the assassins.
The Oracle that could see the future, an organization that disliked that and sent assassins, all of it were matters best handled by the government of Nirvana. So it was best to report directly to those higher up.
To make that happen, Mira had sent Hattori Nyanzo with a certain medal on top of the message. That medal had been given to Mira by Solomon, and symbolized that the carrier was working directly under Solomon.
It did not matter if it was late at night and that it was a strange cat carrying it, the medal would surely allow Hattori Nyanzo to get into the imperial palace, and Mira’s friends there would listen to everything he had to say.
With their assistance pretty much guaranteed, Mira felt comfortable storming the hideout of the assassins, and any mess she left would be taken care of by them. Mira was mostly excited about the prospect of a fight, as she had many new abilities she wanted to try out, so she grinned widely as she continued tailing the assassins.
Worthramble’s powers also once again proved their worth, as none of the three noticed them.
After around twenty minutes of following them, they reached the alleyways of a new district. There, the assassins began to act strange, looking around much more, until they lowered their stance and ran across a lawn of a nearby mansion.
(It looks like we’re finally here.)
The way they acted made it clear that the mansion was their hideout. Mira checked it out with Life Sensing and saw at least twenty people inside too, so it was quite a big group hiding there.
Mira and Worthramble were around ten meters behind the three, so they had to hurry up their pace to follow them into the mansion. Popotwise remained outside, keeping watch over the mansion from high above.
(This mansion is quite nicely built.)
The premises were quite large, with a twenty meter gap existing between the outer fence and the actual building. There was nothing offering cover when crossing that garden, so anyone trying to sneak in would be spotted immediately.
But that was no barrier against Worthramble’s power, and together with Mira, they followed the three assassins all the way to the front door, which was left unlocked, so after switching to Complete Suppression for just a moment they entered without being noticed.
“Ah, you’re back. How did it go?”
“Still nothing, nothing at all. The boss isn’t going to like it.”
“Aw man… I’ll be praying for you then.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
The three seemed to have a rather high position amongst those inside the mansion, as everyone they passed bowed to greet them…and remained oblivious to Mira’s presence.
The power of stillness kept her hidden even while deep in enemy territory. This was partly because so few knew about Spirits of Stillness and their powers, let alone how to detect or counter them.
Eventually, they reached what looked like a storage room deep within the mansion, with miscellaneous things strewn about randomly.
“I’ll be going then.”
“Okay.”
“Break a leg, or two…”
After exchanging a few words, one of the assassins snuck his hand into the mouth of a lion statue in a corner of the room. A mechanical click followed, and the floor opened up.
(A hidden switch, huh. I guess that’s par for the norm in mansions like this.)
Mira had seen such gimmicks a lot in the past, and thinking about that, she attempted to continue following them, only to be stopped by Worthramble.
“Mira, we’re almost out of time.”
“Oh, let’s find a place to hide around here then.”
Hearing that warning, Mira decided to interrupt her chase and instead went to hide in a corner of the room before Worthramble’s powers wore off.
All of Worthramble’s abilities could only be active for a limited time, which was an understandable restriction considering how convenient his power was. That also meant that his powers had at least one weakness too. Currently, there was a half an hour time limit when using two abilities at the same time, with a ten minute cooldown.
She checked what was past the hidden corridor with Life Sensing and saw around ten people, including the three she had followed. The boss they had mentioned was probably also there. Mira wasn’t sure how skilled those people were, and she feared that visual camouflage alone wouldn’t be enough to conceal her.
If there was a skilled sage down there, they would also notice her presence much faster, putting her in danger. It would be even worse if they could use Life Sensing, so she needed to employ both visual and presence camouflage simultaneously to avoid detection.
“Let’s wait and see for a bit.”
Mira decided to survey the movements beneath them with Life Sensing until the cooldown period was over. She saw the three assassins making a straight line to another reading, presumably the boss. It was hard to tell with Life Sensing alone, but judging from the size of the readings, the boss seemed to be quite larger compared to the three.
Just around that time, she received information from Hattori Nyanzo, who had gone to the imperial palace.