"Where the hell are these kids?" After thirty minutes of searching, Ivan and his group stopped to think. The area itself was eerily quiet. Aside from guards, no one else roamed the halls. Suspicious considering the palace would usually have maids and butlers bustling up and down the halls. Ivan held a finger to his chin, odds were the rest of the kids were alerted by the weirdness of the knights and chose to flee. He shook his head upon this thought, he had no faith that the self-proclaimed hero Kouki would abandon the kingdom to save his ass.
And if that were the case those enamored by him would also stay along for the ride. That meant most likely all members of the adventuring party were likely at his side. The students too afraid to even leave the palace would also follow him anywhere in hopes that he'd protect them. The last place Ivan hadn't checked was their individual rooms, in that area there was a particularly large quantity of guards.
"How are we going to get past…" Though Ivan didn't intend on dealing with the necromancer until after he caused havoc in the mountain he still wanted to pass on his learnings to Hajime so he could prepare his doomsday plan.
"Hmm, I suppose you must cloak yourself as one of these knights." Tio made a simple suggestion. All Ivan would have to do was take the place of one of the knights that had a helmet on. More difficult than anticipated as the knights that wore helmets indoors numbered less than five if he was correct in his counting on the way here.
If it turned out the knights that wore helmets were of a special rank, then it might work in his favor into gaining access to Hajime's room. The downside is that if one of the knights asked what his tasks were and he was unable to provide proof then his cover would be blown. But who was Ivan not to try, the worst-case scenario they'd be attacking the Divine Mountain after instead of the other way around.
"You all wait here, I'll look for a guard." Without another word, Ivan vanished from his former position. The last guard with a helmet he spotted was about ten minutes back. He was alone and defending a room just by standing in front of its door. The problem Ivan was facing was how he was going to deal with this guard.
"It's difficult to tell if it has the 'devour' with their helmet in the way, what to do, what to do…" The greatest indicator Ivan had gotten in the former test was that the eyes of those under necromancy were completely devoid of life. Other indicators were cold skin and zero pumps of the heart.
Why did all of this matter in this current situation? Hajime said that eighty percent of the knights were turned. That didn't necessarily mean the one in front of him was already dead. The knight was covered head to toe in metal, Ivan wanted to be sure that he could take them down without alerting the whole palace. He needed to open up their helmet and force them to drink a vial of his concoction.
He only needed them to fall asleep for thirty minutes to complete his plan. "Alright, it's time." Ivan fell from the ceiling and landed right on top of the unsuspecting knight. Muffled screams erupted immediately as the knight attempted to buck him off. As Ivan expected, this happened to be one of the few remaining knights that were still alive.
He let out a sigh of relief as he managed to avoid killing someone who was just doing their job. With his left hand, the helmet opened up to reveal the person within. Ivan stared into the girl's eyes for a few seconds before whipping out what he had been holding in his pocket. "Sorry, but I'm going to be borrowing this!" He was already too committed to the plan to back down.
The girl's resistance ended as the clawing at his arms turned to lifeless swipes. And then— her head slumped over. Without a moment of hesitation Ivan dragged her body into the room she was defending. His eyes glowed as he caught sight of the literal treasure that was held within. "Whoa~!" Immediately he dropped her body after locking the door and started wandering around.
It seemed like the king had devised a way to guard his treasure by separating them into separate rooms scattered all around the palace. An interesting method in Ivan's opinion as he was sure the rooms holding the most interesting items were located somewhere ridiculous. Gold coins, luxury furniture, seemingly expensive paintings, this single room was full to the brim of stuff that would set a single man for life.
Not that Ivan needed any of this… it was just cool to see a literal pool of money right in front of his eyes for the first time. And like a certain duck, he drove right in and started swimming. If anyone had witnessed his acts they would have in no way thought he had visited the kingdom to conduct a time-sensitive stealth mission.
"That's enough playing around~!" After a dozen minutes, Ivan jumped out of the pool of money and returned to the unconscious knight. One by one he equipped each piece of her armor as his own. It was incredibly tight but he managed to loosen it up a bit around the joints using alchemy. He thought of the possibility that the plan would go sour and he wouldn't return in time to equip her with the armor, so he left her with some of Tio's clothing.
He'd pity her if he never returned and she had to roam these halls naked.
As a safety measure, he even stole her status plate. He would be screwed if they asked him to speak but it was extra insurance he didn't lose on bringing. Ivan speed-walked through the halls, not a single guard he passed by spoke to him or even sent him a glance. They each just stared in front of them without any vigor.
In a matter of minutes, he made it to the student dorm wing. His eyes darted around the hall as he tried his best not to seem suspicious to each of the knights that stood in front of each student's door. And soon, he made it to Hajime's room. This time he stared daggers into the knight that stood on guard.
'Another 'devoid' huh…' Throughout this entire wing, Ivan hadn't met a single knight that wasn't devoid of their emotions. It seemed the necromancer was smart in keeping tabs on all of her targets. Without another word, Ivan pulled out the status plate he had stolen from the girl in the treasure room.
The guard only stared at it blankly before taking one step to the right. Taking that as a sign to reach out, Ivan moved forward and knocked on the door.
BANG BANG BANG
Three knocks. That's all Ivan did. He listened to the sound of approaching footsteps. Not answering a single time as Hajime asked who it had been that sought to speak with him. For a second he had half a mind to not just bust open the door and punch the guy for being so weird when answering the door. As a NEET he should know how to answer the door when his parents aren't home.
CREAK
The door slowly creaked open as Ivan stared into the eyes of the figure demurely peeking from within. Or rather, the figures… That's right, two sets of eyes peered out of the door. For a second Ivan failed to respond as the last thing he was expecting was a scene like this. But who knew if they were going to answer the door next time, and so he sent a friendly wave toward them.
"Yo…" He spoke as quietly as he could without the guard standing nearby hearing. Though it seemed like rather than his words it was his actions that lowered the guard of the two students hiding within. The door opened just about enough for Ivan to slip in, an opportunity he took as he slammed it shut behind him.
"Hajime and Kaori huh… My classmates grew up so fast~!" Ivan wiped a faux tear from his metal helmet while ignoring the weirded-out stares of the two accompanying him. Hajime only stared at the helmeted knight for a few seconds before his face shone with acknowledgment.
"Classmates…? Y-You're!" His explosion in emotion caught Kaori off guard, who had under his instructions kept one of the few offensive spells in her arsenal on the ready. The figure only spun while wrapping the cape that came equipped with the armor around his body. Upon reaching a high velocity he came to a sudden stop, the ground skidding.
The suit of armor disappeared and all that remained to cover the figure was a cape But soon all of that changed, as the figure spread open the cape swiftly and revealed his features to the two in the room.
"That's right! Tis' I, Ivan~!" Ivan was one to go along with the spectacles. And seeing the perfect opportunity to make a reappearance in their love story, who was he to decline?
"Y-Y-You?!" This time it was Kaori's turn to be shocked. The classmate who she thought had been dead for months suddenly reappeared before her in a knight's suit of armor. If Hajime weren't by her side then she would've fainted on the spot already out of shock.
"H-How… But you… Why?" Suddenly she started speaking like a robot, well that's if you took out the occasional stutters. Thankfully Hajime was there to calm her down as he patted her shoulders repeatedly.
"My, oh my. Well, ain't you two just close. Gooood going there Hajime~! Hmph, and I thought by your letter that you were facing a life or death situation… But everything seems fine here. Well, I won't get in the way of you two lovers anymore. I'm going home, cya~!"
All the skulking and sneaking around was starting to get on Ivan's nerves. What better way to relieve stress than to tease one of your only friends about their love life? He made playful steps toward the door before placing his hand on the handle.
"W-Wait!!!" Hajime immediately grabbed onto his waist, pulling him back as he was pretty confident that Ivan would have done that just for the sake of following his bit.
"...' Lovers'..." Kaori on the other hand just stood there dazed, her hands cupping her cheeks as a blush adorned her face. She repeatedly muttered a single word to the point that it made Ivan who possessed enhanced hearing, shudder.
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Snnnakeee eaterrrr~! That song has also randomly popped in my head. I think imma go eat brunch with my grandmother today but I ain't sure. She might be busy today. If that's the case then I truly have no idea what imma eat... Hm, there is that salmon that's been in the fridge for a week. That might be fine with some white rice.
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