Thirty minutes of insufferable waiting was all it needed to enter Blacktear. By some measure of luck, the city's guards did not check too deeply into the back of the cart, rather, they closed it after seeing it was filled with food and not jewelry.
"Navigator, give me a holler when we've reached our destination." Elliott quietly told Andrea.
"Sure thing. The cart you're one is headed for the Merchants Guild, directly over to where the granary should be."
A few more minutes of silent waiting, and the cart eventually stopped. Waiting a bit until the coast was clear, Elliott forced himself to get out from the area he was in.
After getting out, he stretched for a few minutes, having been worn out from staying in such an awkward position.
Looking around, Elliott could now see that he was inside some sort of building. There were other carts stopped a few meters away from the one he was in.
It was dark, but he could still make sense of the general layout. After using his detection skill and finding out that there was no one nearby, Elliott began looking for a way to escape.
"I don't see a way out, besides the big door in front of me. But that's probably gonna alert the people outside."
"Tell me, Deadeye. How big does your detection skill go, and does it go through walls?"
Not understanding what the point of the question was, but still wanting to humor her, Elliott answered. "About fifty meters, and yes. Why?"
"Then that should be perfect. My map of the city says that the granary was built inside a sealed compound, with walls that stretched quite a few meters high. Opening the door shouldn't draw any unwanted attention, if your skill really does go through walls."
Elliott smiled at this. "This is why I like you, Navigator."
"I'd much rather accept your thanks than your feelings." She replied indifferently.
"What a way to turn a man down."
Having been given the green light, Elliott walked towards the granary door. Then, with all of his strength, he pushed it slowly.
Not much sound was made from it, and he was able to eventually move it enough such that he could squeeze through the gap.
"Finally, I'm outside. What's next?"
"If we're going by my information, Pablo Domasos should still be inside his mansion. If you were to go in now, it would be difficult to even make it past the entrance. I suggest you wait till the next time he goes out for business, which should be… eight hours from now."
"Hot damn. Then why the hell did I get here so early?"
"It was the most efficient means of entry I have devised. You would've missed the caravan and have had a harder time entering."
"Don't worry," She continued. "Once the merchant caravan has set up its stores, almost every Blacktear inhabitant will head to the Town Square to buy goods. That's how much they desire their products."
"Well, if it's like that, then I know of a perfect place to have fun!" Elliott grinned, staring at a certain place.
As she was on audio call only, Andrea couldn't see what he was talking about. "Wait, we're not here to have fun!"
"Come on, it's just a little. Who can resist having a few drinks at the bar?"
***
The bar at this time of the day was still pretty much empty. With most of the town's inhabitants having sighted the merchant caravan entering the city, they all headed outside in hopes of getting the best merchandise.
First come first serve, yes. But it was thanks to this saying that Elliott was able to walk around the streets without gathering much attention.
The faint sound of a bell ringing entered the cowboy's ears as he pushed open the door to the bar.
He was right; the bar was basically empty. The only other patron currently present was sitting on a chair on the far edges of the room. It was a figure that looked feminine, but had a robe covering their entire body. And as such Elliott wasn't sure if it was a man or a woman.
Still, it was none of business. Instead, he headed for the front and sat at the stool directly in front of the counter.
"Hey. What can I get you?" The bartender, a bald man of average height, asked him.
"Whatever's on stock. You got any brandy?" Elliott replied.
"Aye, here." Taking a bottle of brandy from under the counter, the bartender began pouring a whole glass of it.
"Thanks." Raising the glass to toast, Elliott instantly downed half of its contents.
A few minutes of silence passed. The only sounds present was Elliott sipping up the brandy like it was juice, and the constant wiping of a wipe against glass by the bartender.
Eventually, the bartender was the first to speak up. "I've never seen you here before. First time at Blacktear?"
Just as Elliott was about to raise his hand to make a thumbs up gesture, he was stopped by Andrea's shaky voice.
"Don't! My contract with Dignitas states I shouldn't let any of you die!"
"Wha…? *hurk*"
"No time to talk, use your dynamite if you want to live!"
Noticing the hurried tone in her voice, Elliott pushed through the dizziness and instantly called forth a bundle of dynamite in his hand.
Willing it to explode, the dynamite followed his orders. The entire bar was swallowed in a fiery explosion.
In the blink of an eye, a flash of smoke had overtaken every corner of the building.
It was only after twenty or so seconds that the smoke began to clear up. Elliott emerged from the rubble perfectly fine, but he was coughing.
"Hot damn, how'd I get out of that unscathed?"
The explosion was somehow able to sober him up, and bring him back to normal thinking state.
"I had to use my skill for that, you know. I hope those people weren't able to get anything from you."
"Skill?" Elliott asked.
"Aegis' Benevolence. It's my unique skill, it allows me to manifest an unbreakable barrier around a person for a few seconds."
Much like there were Skills and Spells, Styles and Arts, there were variations of these techniques, aptly dubbed Unique Skills.
These were used to refer to skills that only that single person in the world possessed. You wouldn't be able to find the same thing anywhere, except for a set few that resemble them in terms of what they do.
Aegis' Benevolence in particular had no range to it. Andrea merely needed to think of the person in her mind.
"Well, I'm damn grateful that worked. Why'd you tell me to do that anyway? You know, use my dynamite."
"It was merely a hunch at first, but I eventually noticed how similarly the old man looked to Usbern, the head of the Rogue Guild."
"I won't explain everything, but just know that if you stayed there for even a second more, you would've been killed. They can mask their killing intent so easily, that you'd only notice them in the last few moments before you died."
"I'm glad you saved me when you did then. But what about 'em? Did they escape?" Elliott asked.
"I'm not sure. I can't sense any mana signatures in the vicinity at the moment, but I suggest you move spots immediately. That explosion did not go unnoticed, to say the least."
"You don't have to tell me twice." Slapping the dust off his pants and shoes, Elliot quickly disappeared from the area under the cover of the soon-to dissipate smoke.
"Thankfully, most of the population is centered towards the merchant caravan, so only the curious ones came to the site of the explosion." Andrea remarked.
"How are you getting this information, anyway? Don't tell me you can monitor both me and the city at the same time?" Elliot questioned as he hid behind a box.
"Don't underestimate The Unseen. We have eyes everywhere. Even right now, I have two of my subordinates following you, watching your every move."
"Makes you wonder why Dignitas didn't just send them to the mission instead of me, heh."
"His wallet simply can't afford it, haha." Andrea giggled. "Anyway, you should focus on heading towards the Domasos residence."
Silently agreeing to Andrea, and having had his fill of alcohol for the day, Elliott continued on to his original destination.