Our first order of business was to determine the exact location of Princess Rosalinde. Maria only knew that she was here on Altar Island.
Gloria wasn't much as a fighter or agent and Evelyn was just there as muscle so the task of gathering information fell on me and Maria.
Maria used some personal connections and I dived into the more criminal elements of the island town.
"Is this all you have? Cause I'm sure that this is not worth the coin I paid for it."
I was talking with a guy who claimed to know the building plans for the local governor's mansion. But he wasn't offering the plans themselves, only knowledge of how to get them.
This would be problematic. We didn't have anyone who could silently get those things for us and offering someone bribes could backfire. If these people don't take my deals I can't form a contract with them.
"Look, this is not easy information to obtain. The local governor has close ties to the Church and there is a Paladin assigned to him. They take security very seriously. If I had the ability, I could make a copy of those building plans and sell it to you directly. But I don't."
No shit, Sherlock. How do I get those plans? I had an idea and asked.
"Would you happen to know who has access to those plans? Or someone who could possibly get in contact with them?"
The man thought about it a bit and came up with something.
"There is this lass. Hermione. Works as a librarian in the governor's personal collection. Might know where the plans are considering she organizes them."
Better than nothing I guess. To make sure this guy didn't talk to anyone about our little chat, I made a deal with him. He would be paid after he found the info I wanted from him. I made sure to also add his secrecy about the matter and made it compulsory so he would obey the terms of the contract whether he wanted it or not.
This kind of deal, without my Essence, would be very dangerous as the other party could just sell me out to the governor. Thankfully I don't have to deal with that kind of tedious shit.
Anyway, back to work. I had an idea about how to get Hermione to give me the building plans but it requires some finesse. Let's see if this works.
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"AHH! AHH! AH! OHHHHH GODDESS! YES! KEEP GOING EDWARD! I'M ALMOST THERE! AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
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"That was the best night of my life. When can we do it again?"
"We just finished and you are already thinking about another go? Whatever. You want to do it again sometime? Fine then, how about we make a *Deal*?"
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The trio was having breakfast when I walked into our room at the inn and sat down with a leather tube filled with the building plans of the Governor's Mansion.
"I got them."
Gloria stopped chewing her food to look at me and the leather tube container. Then she swallowed her food and asked a question.
"Got what?"
"Mansions building plans."
Maria looked at me then and seemed surprised.
"What do you mean you got the Mansions building plans? I thought those were in the mansion itself?"
"Yeah, and I got them, here."
Once they got over the shock of me getting such valuable intel, they quickly cleared the table and played out the schematics.
Maria was somewhat in a shock still and couldn't help but ask.
"How? How did you get these? And are you sure they are real?"
"Yes, I'm sure they are real. They came straight from the governor's library of personal collections."
"Okay, but how?"
"What did I say to you about the most important thing for a man in my position Maria?"
She got an idea of what I meant but just smiled and didn't probe further. I think she got the hint. Unlike Gloria.
"What? What kind of an answer is that? Seriously how did you get these?"
I face palmed. Deciding that subtlety was lost on this girl I just came out and said it.
"I fucked the librarian Gloria. I fucked her six ways from sunday. I gave such a good lovin' to that girl she passed out from pleasure. From start to finish, I made her moan my name and made her beg for more even after I was done. That's how I got it Gloria. What kind of Princess are you? Did your teachers never teach you subtlety?"
Gloria turned a deep shade of red while Maria tried in vain to keep herself from laughing. Evelyn? She seemed to be the everpresent face of stoicism like always. Seriously, that woman was way too quiet for someone that fought like a beast.
"Look, forget about how I got it. We have it now. What's our plan? Do we even know where they keep her?"
Maria finally controlled her laughter and started looking at the plans while muttering something loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Yeah, sure. Gloss over the fact that you know Gloria is a Princess."
She shook her head and continued.
"Anyways, an associate of mine has confirmed that they keep Princess Rosalinde in house arrest instead of a prison or dungeon, so that makes things easier."
I got curious so I asked.
"Why wouldn't they put her in a dungeon cell?"
"She isn't a fighter or physically capable. They don't believe her to be a flight risk as long as there are enough guards around her."
Right then. The easy part was done. Now the hard part.
How to get her out and leave?