"Oh? If it isn't the lord's son. You should have let me know that you were coming over."
A shrill voice pierced the air attracting the attention of Asher, the commander of the area, Luther and Aaron.
A lanky middle-aged man in a yellow robe walked toward the group. At the back and front of his robe was a blue tree that had its branches stretched out wide. The colour of his robe signified his rank while the colour of the tree showed his family's position in the clan. The man was a yellow-robed elder of the Arnhaunt family from a branch family. In the Arnhaunt family, blue signified branch members while purple was for side family members. The clan's official grey was for main family members.
A yellow-robed elder was one of the highest-ranked elders in the family, and the authority they wielded was worth taking note of.
The man before Asher was the elder in charge of the Vermont mine. Although it was said that the commander and his troops could be largely attributed to the repelling of enemy forces, this elder was also a pivotal character in this achievement. This was because the man was a seventh-stage Guardian; one of the few characters at such a level in the Arnhaunt family. There were only about 3-4 such figures in the family left. From this, one could see the amount of importance that was attached to the Vermont mine.
"I didn't want to stress uncle." Asher bowed slightly as he spoke.
A glint flashed through the man's eyes, but he recovered himself as he chuckled.
"Haha. You must be kidding. I don't do much here so in what way would you be stressing me?"
'Of course, you don't.' Asher sneered inwardly.
While it was true that the man's presence was part of the reason that the Vermont mine was safe, Asher felt that there was more to the story. Living an extremely long life had its advantages, one of which was the ability to read one's character; a social skill that could only be gained. With a single glance, Asher was able to notice that the man's friendly attitude was all fake. However, this wasn't what had Asher looking at him differently. After scanning the man with his psychic abilities, Asher discovered something about the middle-aged elder's strength. Unlike the Decadon back in the hidden corridor in his house, the elder's mana looked unstable. In other words, the elder's seventh-stage Guardian mage abilities were much weaker than the Decadon's. This was a sign of forced progression through the use of external items and once one realized that he was the head of the mining activity in the Vermont mine, putting two and two together, one can easily realize that the man was most likely smuggling magic crystals for his personal use.
Darius was a busy man and with the constant harassment by the Terreans, he barely had enough time to pay attention to the mine or whatever was happening around it. As for Ol' Fang, he was technically still an outsider, although he was Darius' right-hand man. Being very much aware of the fact that some of the Arnhaunt higher-ups looked at him differently because of this, Ol' Fang avoided sensitive topics when dealing with them. For this reason, it was hard for him to pass orders or shift personnel in the mine, as such, he always avoided topics related to it. So, even if he knew that this elder was sneaking out magic crystals, which he possibly didn't, Ol' Fang could do nothing about it. Reporting to Darius might sound like a smart option, but for the middle-aged man to have got his position here, he had to have some background support in the family, and the only one capable of rivalling Darius would be Elijah.
'In summary, he's probably one of Elijah's men.' Asher thought, but his face remained calm and displayed no emotions.
"So, what brings you here, young lord?"
The yellow-robed elder asked.
"Nothing special to be exact. I'm just on inspection duty at the request of my father." Asher smiled.
"The duke?" The man paused strangely.
"I see. Well then, I would try to be of service as much as possible, but for now, I have to complete my task for the day; it also happens to be time for me to begin my inspection rounds of the mine. Warran, please show the young lord around. Keep him company till I return, alright?"
"Yes, milord." Warran, the commander of the guard regiment in the area, replied.
Asher didn't disagree with the arrangements and simply left with Warran.
" 'Nothing special to be exact' my a**. How can an inspection on the orders of the duke be described as such? Sh*t. I have to hide those documents or else they might find out what I've been up to here." The yellow-robed elder mumbled with a frown on his face.
Asher was right. Just as he had suspected, the elder was guilty of embezzlement and had been making use of those crystals to level up his strength. Without Darius making any inspections of the mining rates and data, the man could do as wish. So long as the Vermont mine sent the required quota of magic crystal back to Red Maple city, there would usually not be any inquiries.
'I need to inform him about this development. At the same time, I need to handle that kid. They say he's quite smart so if he gets his hands on the data, chances are that he would spot an irregularity in them.' The man narrowed his eyes.
'I have to keep him busy and flood him with useless data. Without my knowledge or guidance, he won't know which is which, after all, he grew up in a mansion and is still a kid. No matter what, there's a limit to what a genius at 12 could achieve.'
. . .
"Where is elder Randel's office."
Asher suddenly said right after he stepped into the administrative building that was beside the excavation pit.
Randel was the name of the yellow-robed elder in charge of the Vermont mine's operations.
Warran paused a bit before replying.
"On the third floor. It's the most conspicuous room there is as it occupies almost a third of the space."
Although Randel said that he was to entertain Asher, Warran knew that he meant for him to watch Asher's movements. Despite being a commander, Warran had a sensitive and suspicious nature. During his time here, he was able to discover that Randel was looting magic crystals from the warehouse. However, because his rank was lower than Randel's, he could do nothing about it. Warran was against Randel's actions and now there was an opportunity for Randel to pay, there was no way he would hinder the procedure. While he couldn't lead Asher to the office, to prevent himself from getting in actual trouble, he could still point out its location.
"Thank you." Asher smiled as he walked ahead.
Even without Warran saying it, he could easily guess why he did so.
'It seems like that fella Randel is too arrogant. At the very least, he could have done his acts in a more concealed manner or gotten the guards to side him, but he didn't care. How foolish.'
With the token in his hand and his blood as a main family member and the young lord, Asher would be able to proceed smoothly to the top floor. However, to prevent anyone from spotting him and notifying Randel, Asher moved in stealth and had Aaron keep a lookout for him.
'Hmm?'
Just as Warran had said, Randel's office was pretty easy to spot. It directly faced the entrance of the staircase and had a pretty impressive door. It occupied a huge part of the floor that there was only space for two other offices, one of which was meant for his secretary. Asher seemed to be in luck as the secretary's office was empty at the moment while the other room was a storage room for documents.
Asher ignored the storage room as he believed that if Randel had anything incriminating to hide, there was no way he would leave it there. The best place to place such would be his private office. Even so, when he approached the door, he realized it was locked.
A flat rectangular surface was just below the handle of the door. This was a typical high-security magic lock that could only be unlocked by displaying the appropriate token or fingerprint. The token Asher had in his hand could not work on this token and only Randel had the key.
'Should have paid proper attention in magic tech class.' Asher sighed.
"Any ideas?" Asher asked Luther who had accompanied him.
"A fingerprint type lock with an assigned token. Unless we can mimic the token's physical and magical structure, we would need to then create a copy of Randel's fingerprints." Luther replied.
"No other option?" Asher's face winced.
The two alternatives Luther had raised were all difficult to pull off, if not impossible. This was especially so for the first one, which required them to copy both the physical and magical structure of the designated token, an item neither of them had seen. The second option was doable, however, it was only in the condition that they obtain Randel's fingerprints in some way. If Asher had come into contact with Randel's hands, via a handshake or something, he might have been able to copy them using a low-level spell that was quite popular in his past life. Sadly, Asher had not come into contact with Randel's hands.
"Unless we know the patterns of the mana inflow and outflow of the device, its magical structure and pathways as well as the complete structural design of its physical components, then there's none."
With each requirement Luther mentioned, Asher's face twisted and crumbled till Luther concluded. At that point, Asher could only sigh in disappointment. Even though he wanted to find evidence of Randel's theft, what stood between him was an immovable obstruction in the form of the magic lock. Unless he could find a way to open it, he would not be able to achieve anything here.