[Randall's POV]
'I shouldn't be doing this. Not without preparation.'
Each step led me further into the place's perimeter. The two fools from earlier stumbled around, with not a singular ounce of shame displayed at any time.
The crops quickly welcomed my presence, and allowed me to blend in with relative ease. As long as someone holding a lantern doesn't pass by, then I'm good.
'Alright… So, I have to "scout the mills," according to what the task list said.'
Right. I suppose I have to sneak into them… But how? Should I just open the door?
I can try. If it doesn't work… Well, I'll cross that bridge if the time comes.
Either way, crawling along the room-temperature dirt really gave me a close look at the plants cultivated here.
Tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions, potatoes, amongst a few others I couldn't identify. Though, without exception, most grown plants lacked colour. Tons of it.
Putting the food aside, moving like this slowly led me to a nearby windmill, which looked exactly as one would expect: Wooden structure, four rotor "wings", a door and a keyhole.
The door, which I attempted to open at least five times, wouldn't budge in the slightest. 'Maybe I can find another way in?'
So I attempted that, and inspected the exterior of this thing. And stumbled upon both good and bad news. Good news is that I found a window.
Bad news? It was locked. No way of opening it without breaking it, which I couldn't afford to do.
This is supposed to be stealthy and ghost-like, after all.
'There's probably a key somewhere…'
I could just leave now and come back another day to finish the job.
'But do I really want to do that?'
… Not really.
Thus, I went back while brainstorming for a possible solution. Most ideas, like breaking into the structure through a shattered window, were ditched early on. Others, like stealing a key from one of the guards, also had to be discarded.
I didn't know if they were safe enough.
'They might not… Eh?'
A voice reached my ears. A strange, but particularly unstable one coming from… the east?
"Why… key…"
Before, it had my curiosity… Now? It caught my attention. I went over to their location, and spotted a very good scene.
The drunken duo from the earlier platform. Both struggled to walk properly, but still seemed to have a set destination in mind.
"Come on, we can't reach the storage room if we don't… hicc."
Absolutely worth it. Time to go.
I trailed the idiotic duo while withstanding the mass of nonsense pouring out of their mouths akin to waterfalls.
"W-what if there are ghosts…?"
"We'll call Rodion, he can kick their asses and their butts."
"But he's always asleep… Even now, he's napping in the cabinet…"
"Stop being such a bit– hic..."
Of course, one was acting brave. Ah, but when they actually reached the destination?
The scaredy cat hid behind the supposedly brave demon, whose body shook like a dishwasher breaking down. He even drew out his medium-sized stick before advancing forward, with the cat behind him.
A detail worth mentioning is the key in the horrified demon's hands.
'These guys are terrified… it's definitely worth using to my advantage.'
Marching on towards the open building, a smile appeared involuntarily on my face. For I knew what was about to happen.
To start off, I silently snuck into this place.
Each step I took led me further into this barely illuminated place. Yet, my sight adapted rather quickly to it.
The two guards also moved on with shaky steps.
"W-will we be good?"
"It just the tool storage, we-"
The sound of something falling reached our ears. None of us made a single move.
One of them finally worked up the courage to ask away a question.
"Nico… W-what was that?"
"P-probably noth-"
Another bottle fell off, further instilling that feeling of fear in the duo. They fell back, and bumped into a box casually close to my position.
'Now, my turn.'
My body slowly rose, my shadow wrapping itself around the bodies of these two guys.
And then, four limbs tore my flesh apart and made their appearance.
"Raaah!!"
And then it happened.
"AAAH!!!!"
"EEEK!!"
The two of them dashed out the door as fast as their bodies allowed them two. A few sounds of objects falling reached my ears, in spite of the physical pain of the morph.
"There's a ghost!!!"
"Bella, save us!!!!!"
I managed to recall the two wings, and bent over to pick up the one fallen key. Sadly, there wasn't much to be done about the claws.
'Almost flawless.'
I ran out and rushed towards the first windmill, where I found nothing. The exact same procedure was repeated for the other four windmills. Still nothing.
'I wonder if there's really anyone here… Eh?'
There were two floors. On the one I'm standing on, the complex structure of the mill… well, did its thing. Not much worth mentioning here, so I moved to the upper level. Where I found two sets of brown clothes with armored plates on the chest and some other body parts.
They do resemble a raider's uniform.
'Armored plates, a clean weapon, some pillows… There's even food and water bottles.'
I suppose the rumours were true. There are bandits occupying a mill in the farm… Though, I'm not sure if this serves as evidence that the owner of the lands has an alliance with those raiders.
'If even I, someone who barely has experience in sneaking into places, could slip here without much issue, then it shouldn't be surprising that more experienced people can do the same.'
The clothes remained under my watch for a few moments.
'One of the goals in Jack's list was to bring back a set, right?'
So this should count.
'... No, it'd be better not to.'
I've managed to be quiet for the most part. And with the exception of the two drunk demons, I haven't been spotted by anyone.
In fact, the duo isn't even a threat… They were too drunk.
Now, all I had to do was return the key to where I found it, and hope no one was nearby. Something that was actually possible, if the guards' personality served as a hint to be considered.
I rushed past the fields, and overheard a conversation.
"Bella, there was a ghost in the tool storage!"
"Help us vanquish it!!"
"Piss off, you two. You… ugh, reek of alcohol."
Yep, she's not moving a finger anytime soon. And neither are those two.
…. The rest of my journey turned out to be quite peaceful. Maybe a bit too much.
'Here we are.'
The still darkened room. Nothing had changed, except for the amount of moonlight pouring into the room.
My feet led me to the spot from earlier, which fortunately wasn't too hard to find due to the amount of nearby boxes. 'Now, I throw the key and bolt away.'
I did just that…
However, something had changed.
A yawning, white-skinned human stood by the door.
"... A worm slipped in."
Blue threads appeared on his hand, only to quickly blend together and create a stick. It increased in size until it reached the height of a club.
"I'll beat you, then bring you in." Even as he spoke, his mouth was unable to hold back a yawn.
Of course, I also manifested my rapier. Oddly enough, I did it on the first try.
'Interesting… He seems to be tired.'
"I doubt you want to do that."
"No, I do," voiced the youth, whose black hair fluttered slightly with the first few steps he took. A yawn betrayed his intent, though.
At this point, I recalled some of the guard duo's words.
'So, a guard named Rodion was asleep… And this guy is dressed like a guard.'
Fuck it, let's give it a shot.
"You really don't, Rodion."
His steps froze momentarily. A slight, upwards arc drew on my lips.
"Unless you want everyone to know you as the sleepyhead, that is. Otherwise, you wouldn't have fallen asleep earlier."
If he looked plainly unnerved earlier, now he took a step back. The arc in my face evolved to an actual smile. "Let me go, and no one hears a thing about this. I haven't stolen anything, either…"
Though, I did consider it. Then again, he doesn't need to know that.
"... How do I know you'll keep your word?"
"You don't. But a "maybe" is better than a 100% in this case."
He almost flinched. "Shit… I agree with one condition."
"Fire away."
"Pat down. Gotta make sure you're not stealing."
I agreed, we both recalled our Egos, and he came over. This helped me to notice a slight detail about him: He's not actually a human. That's a spectre. 'Their resemblance to humans is scary.'
Rodion started off with my feet, and moved up until finished with my torso. "Not a lie… Odd. Leave."
I merely walked away from the storage room, with my scarf still covering most of my face.
***
[Violet's POV]
As it is right now, my body stood near one of the most important places in Nevound, Teutonia. The same spot where a critical event of our country's history took place… Mere minutes ago, that is.
… The Frun School. Or the remainder of its once gorgeous glory, now down in ruins and destruction.
When I stumbled upon this, my first instinct was to find someone… Or at least a document. But nothing had appeared.
Only my fellow scholars lay dead, all around me. No matter who it was…
A young apprentice who barely started out… a herald prepared to go out with his fellow journeymen… And even the Apostles.
None were spared by the bastards who wiped them out.
"ha…"
My ears caught that, and I looked around in desperation. 'Someone's alive…!'
Then, I saw him.
"Tim-"
… No. He just gave his last breath.
Not even the kids were spared from the slaughter…
"Hah! Take this, Frun scum!"
What… Did I just hear?
I may have walked over in that direction… And perhaps, I might have found those guilty for this.
Five demons, three titans and two spectres, furthered the damage done to the already falling empire by kicking it down. Or throwing fire bombs at the remnants of my home.
"Shit…!"
"Queen Violet's here!"
"F-fools, she's not the Queen, this whore is just a member of a fallen school! We can take her on!"
"… You all."
I really didn't feel like myself right now. But it didn't matter. All that was relevant to me was that these peop– no, bastards.
Paid for their sins. Here with me, and later in the Afterrealm's Round Table.
"You better hope that the books of the Demon King von Prefcher have mercy upon you…"
"Glory to Adam Vellie-"
My claws sprouted from my hands. Not even a second later, two heads had fallen to the floor.
Alongside the dozen slices of a third corpse.
"Because I won't."