A man was watching the mansion from atop the wall with a pistol-type Gemgun in his hands, wandering like a warden.
Days of work had dulled his guard, planting the dangerous thought that they wouldn't be attacked by anyone today, and that it would stay that way. After all, yesterday had been just as peaceful.
So when someone climbed the wall from behind stealthily, he didn't notice anything until his head received a blow from behind, sending him into slumber.
I caught the man before his body fell and slowly laid him on the ground. I pocketed the man's Gemgun.
"Who would have thought they'd be able to equip their men with a Gemgun. I should be careful, then..." I muttered while checking the Gemgun.
It was a budget model. Its compact chamber held a single mini G-bullet — a pressurized shard of Elemental Gem. While its kinetic force barely matched traditional gunpowder, its efficiency was lethal; one gem could discharge twenty elemental bolts before shattering.
I got 5 spare mini G-bullets from the man. That was 100 more shots after the 20 already loaded in the Gemgun.
"Nice, nice."
With this, I would no longer have to face The Rats unarmed. I activated the safety before I strapped the Gemgun to my waist.
Then I gestured for Tizmilly and Carole to climb. With Levitation on them, they could scale the 6-meter-high wall with ease.
The man I'd just taken down also had a dagger with him, so I gave it to Tizmilly for a weapon.
"Let's go," I muttered before I led them to jump down from the wall into the yard after I made sure no one had noticed our entrance.
"The entrance is always guarded by five to seven men — five outside, two inside. We won't be able to sneak in through it. We'll aim to get in the mansion from the back door that subordinates like me used when exiting and entering the mansion. They only place two to four men there."
With Carole guiding the way at the front, me guarding her in the middle with the pistol Gemgun in hand, and Tizmilly watching the rear, we advanced onward.
The yard was rather wide, since the mansion was built for a nobleman before it was abandoned by him and reused by The Rats. There was even a knot garden here, and by the look of it, The Rats may not have taken good care of it. We lowered our postures and used it as cover as we stealthily circled the yard.
Tizmilly kept glancing around, while Carole was shaking as she walked at our front.
They were inexperienced in this kind of situation, so I could understand why they were so nervous, but getting too overwhelmed wouldn't be good.
"Calm down, guys. As long as we can get Timmy, and maybe even get some notes of their illegal transactions, it will be simple then. Just focus on our current goals, and stop worrying about other things."
My words didn't instantly stop them from feeling nervous, but from what I could see, they could now control their feelings better. Still nervous, but at a manageable level. Good.
Ten minutes passed without any guards spotting our presence. Finally, we reached the end of the knot garden. A gap of about 20 meters separated us from the side of the mansion.
From here, we could see five men walking around at the entrance of the mansion with weapons in hand, guarding the place with relaxed attitudes and light conversations. Unfortunately, there was a man standing while facing toward the side we needed to cross to reach our destination.
"Wh-what should we do?" Carole asked while crouching beside me.
Tizmilly clutched her bangs and seriously pondered the matter.
"If only we had a way to attract their attention elsewhere..." she muttered.
I analyzed our team's combat prowess.
Among us, I was undeniably the strongest. I could move faster, and had better mastery in using my Magic.
Tizmilly, while lacking in real combat experience, was the top student of the Academy. She could handle those people with ease even without me.
And Carole was the weakest, since she wasn't even a combatant in the first place. If someone had to become a decoy, then it was obviously me.
"Then I'll go face those five. While I'm at it, you two go to the back door and enter the mansion."
My sudden statement surprised the two.
"Wh-what!? That's too dangerous!" Tizmilly whispered.
"A-are you sure you can handle them by yourself? I know that The Rats aren't that strong. They have numbers and money at most, but they aren't weak, you know? The others might even come to surround you later..." Carole warned me hesitantly, showing her deep understanding of The Rats.
But if it was only a group of men without a Gemgun with them, then it wouldn't be a problem for me.
I grinned.
"Don't worry. As long as I take them down swiftly, they won't be able to surround me."
Before they could voice any more complaints, I immediately grabbed a stone from the ground and threw it toward those guys. The stone fell near the man who was facing our way.
Noticing the stone, he looked at it curiously, leaving this side without anyone watching over it.
"Now, go!" I whispered before I jumped out from the cover of the knot garden.
I cast Levitation on my body, so I jumped pretty high — at least high enough that they didn't notice my presence.
I landed silently behind them. Before the first man could even turn his head, I had already deactivated the safety. Five quick pulls of the trigger — the Gemgun didn't roar; it hissed. Each discharge was a sharp, muffled _psshht_ as the elemental mana pierced the air.
Five holes, cauterized by elemental heat, appeared on their backs. They collapsed like puppets with their strings cut. No screams, only the heavy thud of bodies hitting the dirt and the faint smell of ozone lingering in the air.
I spared the man guarding the wall before, but I couldn't do the same with them, since it would be too risky.
"Sorry, but you can only curse your choice to join a criminal organization like The Rats..."
I glanced toward Tizmilly and Carole, and they were already gone as we had planned.
"I'll leave the task of finding Timmy to them, while I will try to collect as much evidence as I can..."
To destroy a criminal organization like The Rats that had operated around Dungeon City until now without the Guard Corps ever daring to touch them, we needed solid evidence of their crimes and strong political power.
Currently, we possessed neither. However, with my and Tizmilly's statuses as The Academy's students, we could let The Academy handle the problem with the lack of political power. But even the Academy wouldn't be able to move without a clear reason, so...
I turned toward the main door of the mansion.
"Let's finish this quickly."
We didn't have much time before the other group of thugs that were chasing us earlier returned.
These people were armed mostly with swords, so I didn't take any of their weapons with me. But I still took one dagger from them, just in case.
Time was ticking.
Killing people was not my style, but well, if the situation forced me to do so, then I wouldn't hesitate.
...
I pushed the door open just enough to create a small gap. I peeked into the building through the gap. There was no one inside, at least not near the entrance. Maybe that was obvious, since if there had been someone inside before, they would have immediately rushed out after hearing the sound of shots from my Gemgun.
With the Gemgun's muzzle pointed at the ceiling to avoid misfire, I carefully entered the building.
There was an intersection after the entrance. A corridor to the left, a corridor to the right, and a staircase leading to the second floor. The right corridor and the staircase were empty — I confirmed it with my hearing. However, the left corridor was different. There was the sound of footsteps coming from that direction.
The footsteps came slowly, leisurely — a sign that they hadn't noticed our infiltration.
I leaned my body against the wall and waited for them. The moment he entered my vision and my reach, I immediately yanked him and hit him on the face with the Gemgun's handle, instantly putting him into a sudden slumber.
After confirming that the corridors were empty now, I decided to go to the second floor.
There was a big door after the staircase. No one was guarding it, but I could hear vague voices of people from outside. There were people inside.
_Four... Or more,_ I estimated.
As expected, their guards were very lax. They were having a lewd conversation about the styles of Red District's girls instead of actually guarding the place. Days or years without conflicts must have made them complacent.
That was bad news for The Rats, but also good news for us. Now, I could attack them without worrying about the scenario where they were actually some very dangerous criminal organization or something.
After taking a long breath, I braced myself and kicked the door open.
""!?""
I raised my Gemgun and aimed the muzzle.
The weapon vibrated in my hand, releasing a bolt of compressed heat. The sound was no louder than a heavy book falling onto a carpet.
"Intruder—" One of them immediately opened his mouth to shout a warning to his comrades, but my shot was faster.
One by one, they fell. The _spit_ of the Gemgun was consistent, a deadly rhythmic whisper that ended their conversations forever before the echoes could even reach the hallway.
After that, I advanced forward.
I killed those who had seen my face and would certainly remember that someone was intruding their base if I only knocked them unconscious.
When I encountered a room, I entered it and started looking for Timmy and maybe even notes about their crimes.
But of course I wouldn't be able to find an important document like that so easily from a random room.
It was only after I stumbled upon a room on the fourth floor with ten men guarding it that I thought that maybe, I would find it there.
I deactivated the safety of my Gemgun after I reloaded it with a new mini G-bullet, preparing myself to kill them and check the room. However, before I could even take a step forward, the door of that room opened with a creak.
A big, tall man exited the room.
My eyes widened seeing his grayed hair and his muscular build.
I knew him.
Indeed, he was not a big villain in the game, only a subordinate of a big boss at most, but still, I had never expected to meet a named character from the game here.
Roygerd Fotavich.
The Commander of The Abyss Knights from the Abyssal New Gate.
A villain known for how resilient he was. A cultist knight that was quite tricky to defeat in the game. Not hard, but time-consuming.
Fighting him would clearly waste a lot of time.
I would rather avoid him if I could.