"So..." King creased his brows as he looked at the map in my hands, "Why exactly do you want me to bring you to this place you speak of?"
"It's going to be a long story, so I'll tell you as we travel," I said as I got in the passenger's seat of King's car. "But, since you really want to know, the short story is that I'm going to steal something. And I need you to be my getaway driver. It would be best if you can find a different car to use and park this one in some other place."
King gave me a certain look of scepticism.
"...You're going to steal something from a rather wealthy area of the city. How are you going to keep yourself from getting caught?"
King handed me my map and continued, "The Mages of the Valorous Guard have spells such as Aura Tracing, Residual Mana Identification, Spiritual Sense, Traceback, and more. Although my tech can cover most of your tracks, it would be a challenge when you are physically discovered by anyone."
As he started the car, he gave me a word of warning.
"You're still F rank. If you trespass and get caught... you're dead."
I chuckled, "There are things that can injure people at E rank and D rank. Even if I'm simply an F rank, I just need to be smart about which dangerous objects to make use of."
Explosions were the most useful tool in injuring those higher in rank. Like, actual explosions from steam engines, mana engines, and other energy-filled objects. Not my spell, Explosion.
Although explosions from engines and such would lose a lot of their effects on those who were at C rank, a nuclear bomb could still kill.
Perhaps only S rank and A rank beings could survive an explosion of that calibre. Any B ranks would need to be specialised in defence to do so.
Though, I wasn't planning on making any explosions today. I was simply going to rob a house in broad daylight. I was going to do it through stealth and stealth alone.
If I blew up the building I would be infiltrating, well, I would have to survive that explosion first. My only offensive spell that could trigger such an explosion was short in range. Thus, I would have to be ridiculously close to the source of the explosion.
A bit too close for comfort.
I did not learn Fireball, after all.
The next problem with going aggressive would be the fact that I was there to retrieve something fragile. I could not risk damaging the item that I wanted.
Thus, stealth was my preferred approach.
"Whatever you say, Caelum." King shrugged, "I'll prepare a getaway car for you. How long will your operation take?"
"It won't take long. Just wait outside the location." I answered as I recalled the layout of the mansion I was going to sneak into.
...
Half an hour later, I was staring at the mansion in question. It was in the form of a medieval castle, with four towers on each corner of a fancy square-shaped wall. Guards wielding cold spears and razor-sharp swords patrolled the walls. Their expressions were focused and fierce.
All of these people were at least at the peak of E rank. Unfortunately, making it to D rank would require quite the sum of mana, making it difficult for regular people to make any breakthroughs.
I was currently within the territory of a classmate of mine. Allyas de Nuantra. Rank 4 among the first years, and one of the little sh*ts who keeps sending idiots to challenge me. She was silently observing my capacity and analysing whether or not I could be torn from my throne of Rank 1.
This mission of mine was a little payback for those foul intentions.
"Hehe,"
I couldn't help but let out a cackle as I pressed on a few stone bricks on the southern wall of the de Nuantra castle.
"I'm going to borrow one of your castle's escape routes, my little creations~"
This place I was in was more or less concealed because of the concrete jungle that spread out to the castle's south. A hundred stores and what was essentially a long mall complex spread out behind me as I pushed open a small pathway into the castle.
Just as I stepped inside, I noticed someone looking at me.
A woman, around her twenties, was looking at me suspiciously, and I couldn't help but wave at her.
I watched as she shivered, swiftly turned around and scampered away. She probably didn't want anything to do with what I was doing.
The people of Aelthrie were real assholes at times, but they were more or less prudent with what they did. Not smart, but prudent.
Always the right things at the right times.
When it was time to bully the weak, they would do so with vigour. When it was time to praise the strong, they would worship them like gods.
And when it was time to mind their own business, they would not act as witnesses to help those noble bastards who pushed them around and worked them like slaves.
It was a beautiful cyclic battle between the masses versus the elite.
Spite, hatred, and vile dislike were a wondrous combination of sentiments that the demons would love to offer up to their god.
I couldn't help but laugh as I disappeared into the darkness of the de Nuantra castle wall. Of course, since I was a good burglar, I closed the door behind me. I carefully placed all the stone bricks back just in case someone would notice it before I escaped.
I then made sure that all the devices that I borrowed from King were functioning properly. I double-checked the effects of the spells I had engraved on my body and practised standing so incredibly still that I became invisible.
"Hmmm," I looked at my camouflaged being. "This is good,"