As Nem was complimenting the boss in his mind, he also got down from the building by literally jumping off it's roof. He couldn't afford to be seen here after all, and this was a standard house at floor level, so the fall was easily mitigated even without a roll.
Since he made some noise again, Nem chose to run away immediately from this place and he quickly made it to the site of the manor, where both Mannie and Mal had gone into already.
He came from the side, and looked for a window first. There were a lot of them at ground level, but it seemed they all led to a corridor, at least on Nem's side. He also couldn't find a way to open them from where he was and didn't want to risk getting closer for now.
'Since this is such a big building, there is probably a back door somewhere, right ?'
Nem started carefully circling around the building, trying to get as close he could. The truth was that there wasn't anybody acting as a guard around this place at all, but Nem couldn't be sure of that.
'Such a large building probably needs cleaning personnel... No, I suppose one would call them servants in this world... Well, it's not like I can disguise myself as them... I just need to be extra careful to avoid them.'
His eyes finally stopped on a large door, which was still a lot smaller than the one Nem saw at the front.
'Going through there really seems like a great way to get caught...'
Nem's mind spun for a bit before ultimately shutting down. He was never good at planning for unknown things. Shrugging, the little boy just walked in the open and pushed the door open.
Back on Earth, Nem would have never done such a thing. In fact, he wouldn't even have the courage or more accurately recklessness to try and survive on the streets of a dangerous city as a child, not even mentioning spying on criminals in person. Although he did the latter on the internet regularly at some point. Anyway.
The reason he was able to be so crazy was that... well, he WAS crazy. Back in the monastery, after becoming Cursed and curing his fatal mental illness, Nem had become stuck in a place with no entertainment and an extremely low tolerance for boredom. Hell, they didn't even have the right to speak for the large majority of the day.
Sure, he would do plenty of exercises and learn new things that could help in his survival, but the only real escape was meditation, the occasional teasing of his fellows and the pleasant feeling of his Cursed powers. It was what held him together in a semi-mindless state. Now that he was finally out, Nem realized that he simply couldn't go back. In his mind, the monastery was like a prison, and he a criminal on the run, determined to not get caught again.
He missed that feeling of always living life to the fullest that he had when he first came to this world. Sure, that mental illness was killing him and forcing him to be happy all the time, which was positively repulsive, but he still felt that it was somehow part of him for a reason.
This was why, without even putting it into words in his mind, Nem had chosen to do the things he wanted to do without bothering about the danger or the potential bad outcomes. Unless it was clearly suicidal or extremely stupid, of course. He wanted to use his body and mind enough that he would feel even more alive than before he was Cursed.
Another explanation was that he was crazy. It was up to debate.
***
Unexpectedly, the door opened normally, and with it came the soft sound of a bell. Nem glanced up and discovered that he had knocked the door against a string hanging from a small silver bell.
'Someone will probably come check.'
His dark-red eyes took in his new environment greedily, noticing as many details as possible. This particular power worked best on living beings, but it was still enough for Nem to familiarize himself with his surroundings in a short period of time.
Behind the backdoor was a small room with a painting of a yellow fruit hanging from a grey wall, a few leather chairs and a house plant. A few oil lamps provided the light to what seemed like a reception room for guests with low social standing. The chairs were too thin to hide behind, the plant not even close to suitable and the painting was hideous.
Nem frowned when he heard footsteps. He pulled out a knife and turned to where the sound was coming from. It was the only other door in this room, which probably led to a large corridor or another room with more space. The door was made from sturdy wood and wasn't too tall, but definitely very thick. Judging from its position and the marks on the ground, it would be pushed open from the outside.
While thinking, Nem positioned himself on the side of the door, such as if the person didn't push it open completely, he would be hidden behind it.
'This doesn't seem like a gamble I want to take... If the guy is in a hurry, he might just knock me out with this big-ass door.'
Suddenly, Nem seemed to have an idea. He grabbed the house plant, which was residing in a large clay pot and placed it on the side of the door, where he previously was. He then jumped on the side of the pot, putting extra effort to keep his balance. He only had the time to take a deep breath and focus before the handle in his sight was pulled down, followed by the wooden door was slowly pushed open.
'Indeed, it is quite thick and very sturdy, this should work. If not I guess I'll need to threaten them with death or directly kill.'
Little by little, the door was pushed open. When it was almost touching the clay pot, Nem suddenly jumped up, gripping the top of the door with his fingers. Like the rest of his hands, Nem's fingers were enhanced by the Curse, gaining new strength. The noise and vibration should have definitely attracted the newcomer's attention, but at the same time, the door collided with the house plant and the large clay pot, making a clear sound.
Not wasting a moment, Nem rested his palms on the top of the wooden door and pulled as hard as he could, bringing his light body upwards swiftly. At the same time, the newcomer came into the room to look behind the door wondering was he had hit. Nem was a little too busy to look at what the person looked like, however. He could only hope that they wouldn't look up for no reason.
'It should work, right ? Who looks at the ceiling of a familiar room they go to every day when there is a perfectly good explanation right under their nose ?'
At the time he was having this thought, Nem was still rising in the air, progressively making his body horizontal, entirely supported by his arms on the top of the door. With the large number of muscles contracting to pull this exercise off, Nem could feel himself trembling slightly, but he still rotated his neck a bit to glance at the person below him.
It was a man dressed in cheap but elegant clothes. He had the typical black hair and dark skin of the South and his short and thin stature made him particularly nonthreatening. Nem couldn't see his face, but he still observed his body language to determine whenever or not he should knock him out.
'This might make too much noise if I jump on him from there and his body falls on the ground.'
Making this conclusion, Nem waited, regulating his breathing as much as he could. Fortunately, the ceiling was high in this room, and he would have no issue even if he sat on the door with his back straight.
After the man checked the house plant behind the door, he started to look around the room, puzzled. Muttering something, he started to walk towards the backdoor. Nem made the observation that his stride was quick and straightforward, even a bit infuriated, which probably meant he was going to open the backdoor and look outside. The problem was that after that, he would surely come back and from this angle, he wouldn't have any problem spotting Nem in a very awkward position. Not to mention that by then, his arms would seriously hurt.
Taking another deep breath, Nem started rotating his body little by little, bringing his legs on the other side of the door. He then made his feet go down slowly, relying on his grip strength and nimble body. When he heard the backdoor open, he hurriedly dropped down on the ground, looked back at the man to make sure he wasn't looking and grabbed the wooden door's handle to pull it back, closing it behind him. It was heavy and slow, and he wasn't able to avoid making a loud noise when completely shutting it, but it was fine.
'Hopefully, this guy will pull something out of the NPC playbook and tell himself it was just a gust of wind.'