The party walked towards the sound they heard.
Emile assumed that a fight occurred which caused lots of people to gather. His assumptions were incorrect.
In the distance, they could see the city. People walked around and yelled random things These people were apart of a few groups of people.
These groups were all the adventurers who lived in the city. They gathered to boycott and decrease the price of the items.
Most adventurers would go broke with the new prices.
The party walked into the city and asked someone nearby about what took place.
"They want to decrease the price of repairing their equipment and decrease the price of common potions."
Why are the prices so high in the first place?" Emile asked.
"The Alchemist Guild and the Blacksmith Guild left the city due to unknown reasons. They're the one who repairs, create armors and create potions. I heard even the Tailor Guild wants to leave the city."
"Thank you," Emile replied as he walked into the crowd.
The mayor didn't make any statement about the rapid change in the prices. These people were all scattered throughout the cities holding signs to show they wanted a change. They didn't understand that the mayor couldn't do anything about it, other than buying the potions from other cities and reselling for more.
They needed money to operate the city. These steps required the mayor to ask a neighboring city for supplies. He didn't want to seem like a liability. The Alchemist guild could support one city with their potions, supporting two or more was futile unless they took in more alchemists.
There was one main solution. Ask all the cities for a small amount of their potion stock each month. That way a city could support him without it feeling stressed for more potions.
The mayor's character was all about keeping his reputation intact. That was what he cared about the most. He would never go out of his way and ask the 14 cities about these potions. Increasing the price was a temporary solution. (1)
Emile and the party wanted to enter the mayor's tower to see what was going down. But the mayor's bodyguards blocked them from entering. The crowd yelled for the mayor from outside. Holding signs and some even wanted to fight it out.
"Lily can you sneak in and give us intel on what's happening on the inside. Also, try to convince the mayor to accept our help," Emile messaged Lily in the party chat so that the everyone could see the plan.
They all knew Flower Queen would sneak into the building and the other's would cause a distraction.
They began distracting.
"Hey, dude why is there a great light coming towards us from over there," Emile said as he pointed towards the sky.
The bodyguard looked over with fear. They learned about what happened to Pyaka City. Mentioning the light was enough to scare them.
The man looked back at Emile with annoyance after spotting nothing.
The other party members created their ruckus to get attention and make Lily safely enter the building.
While the distractions took place, Lily activated sneak and waited patiently. She waited for an opportunity to use her burst movement skills to move fast and enter the building.
Soon, the perfect opportunity arose when the bodyguards attempted to calm down some of the ruckus created by Emile's party and other people.
Lily ran forward with soft steps to not alert the bodyguards. She didn't appear in the line of sight of any bodyguard.
Lily entered the building and quickly hid behind a small flower pot with giant flowers in case there were more bodyguards. And like she suspected, there were. With the wall behind her back, she felt secure.
She peered through the fake green leaves, waiting for the moment to arrive. She didn't have a plan in mind, so she created an improvised plan after her careful analysis of the surroundings.
These bodyguards stood still watching the insides for anyone that got in, and they checked the front entrance to view what was happening outside. The outside was as hectic as always.
Flower Queen got lucky when she entered the building since the bodyguards didn't check the front entrance during that time causing her to get in. They were patrolling the side hallways.
Hiding behind the plant pot allowed her to blend in and obscure herself from view.
Taking the elevator was an idea thrown out the window since the bodyguards stood near it. Also opening and closing the elevator doors would take too long. It was too risky.
She had to find another way to the top.
There was a reception desk which was empty. The reception desk didn't have anyone sitting in it. It could be used as a hiding spot to gain distance.
In most buildings that had elevators, there were bound to be stairs that led up to the top floor. It was also a high-class building since it held the mayor meaning that the chances of stairs existing were at an all-time high.
Flower Queen watched the bodyguards move in a pattern. She waited for a few minutes continuing to watch and make sure they didn't walk randomly.
Soon, she found a small opening which would serve as a way to run towards the reception.
Lily was patient and waited to see if the opening was a coincidence or if there was a set pattern. She waited to make sure the opening existed by waiting for the same pattern to play out a few times.
After confirming herself, she waited patiently for the next opening.
The opening appeared and she ran for the reception desk. She made sure to step lightly onto the ground so that the guards couldn't hear her footsteps.
Lily arrived at the desk and hid underneath it and waited. She didn't have a good vantage point to see the guards movement.
Lily could only peek out during times when she knew the bodyguards weren't looking. She memorized most of the walking pattern by watching them.
She peeked out a few times to look for the stairs. The two passages on the left and right had bodyguards walking around. There were lots of miscellaneous item on the side of the corridor which could be used to hide from view.
In the distance of one of the corridors had a staircase. There were seats and plant pots which would serve as cover for her.
Flower Queen counted in her head for the best opportunity.
Lily ran out of the desk ran towards the stairs. She didn't want to risk the journey to the stairs in one attempt, so she quickly hid behind another plant pot. These plant pots had tall plants so they hid her decently well. She made as minimal movement and held her breath as she watched the man walked past her.
The bodyguard took no notice of her and continued walking in an oblivious way. The person didn't believe that anyone could get with the heavy security that they planned beforehand.
Flower Queen ran forward and hid behind one of the sofas. These sofas server a lounge for people visiting the mayor.
She decided to lay low behind the sofa until the second bodyguard passed her. The second bodyguard did his job meticulously and looked around as he walked.
He didn't notice Flower Queen who was obstructed by the sofa. After the soft footsteps disappeared into the distance, Flower Queen peeked out to check what occurred.
The bodyguards were walking towards the front entrance and reception desk. Flower Queen didn't dare to miss her opportunity and ran towards the stairs.
During her run, one bodyguard turned around and saw her cloak. The bodyguard turned around and told his colleagues.
Someone snuck in!" the bodyguard said as he pointed in the direction where the stairs were.
The other bodyguards quickly turned around to see no one in the hallway like he mentioned. The bodyguard who spotted her turned around and saw that she wasn't there anymore.
"We need to chase after that guy," the bodyguard said.
"You can bring a few people to chase after the person if that person truly exists like you've mentioned. I'll stay here to prevent any others that enter." The bodyguard who said this didn't believe the other guy.
The other dude believed in himself and walked towards the staircase. He checked around and climbed the steps to the top.
As he ascended the steps, he felt a quick jolt of pain in his neck. He fell unconscious on the steps. Lily had heard his voice from the distance and hid nearby. The man didn't spot her which allowed her to get behind the man and knock him unconscious.
Lily walked up the steps one step at a time.