Volume 9 Chapter 19 (Sunny Holiday) Investigation
"Al, wear this."
Barbara handed Al a dirty hooded cloak after receiving a security magic tool from her.
"What is this?"
"We're heading south from East Fourth Street. If we look too nice, we'll stand out. Plus, if things go well, they might underestimate us and attack."
It seemed like Barbara was aiming for that.
It's true that Al found the 'Floating Eye' spell watching the Levy merchant guild and overheard Patricia planning an attack. But there wasn't enough proof to involve the guard team. Even if they shared the info, it would likely be ignored, just like the people who support Naresh's brother Sanjay and dislike the Levy merchant guild, as Guildmaster Levy hesitated to do. People avoiding the Levy guild might cover it up, or it could get used in some political game, and Tempest's spies might hear about it.
Instead of doing all that, it seemed better to let them attack first and then fight back, involving the familiar guard team. They might even think that getting attacked by the Levy merchant guild would cause less damage.
"Isn't that going too far? I just think it would be good if we could investigate without being noticed."
"Well, that's up to how things go."
Barbara grinned and said that. It felt a bit suspicious, but at this point, there was no choice but to go along with it. Al also steeled himself and put on his cloak.
* * *
As they went a little south from East Fourth Street, the surroundings changed dramatically. A sour smell of filth and something rotten filled the air, and the only light came from the windows of what seemed to be a tavern. When walking down the street, they had to be careful not to step on garbage or unknown objects. There were people sitting in the shadows of the buildings, hard to tell if they were homeless or just drunks.
There were quite a few people passing by, but many of them wore clothes even dirtier than Al's cloak, looking like laborers. Some were shouting loudly, probably because they had been drinking.
The 3 of them stopped about 30m (� 98.4ft) away from their target, the Sunny Holiday Tavern. Following Barbara's instructions, they moved to a nearby shadow. This was to check the response of the magic tool. Al kept watch in the area while Reginald and Barbara took out their security magic tools. They glanced at them while marking something on a piece of wood and comparing it to a parchment they held.
"How is it? Did you get a response?"
"Yeah, I'm calculating it now. There are 4 green light spots here; this is the third floor of the Sunny Holiday Tavern. It's probably this room. Since the light spots are only here, it's likely that the magician Al mentioned is in this room."
At Al's question, Reginald showed him a piece of parchment. It was a blueprint of a building. The largest room was on the third floor, facing south. This was probably going to be his room. At that moment, the security magic tool lit up with red and green dots at the same time.
"More invisible magic things have appeared. It could be the Invisible spell, the Floating Eye spell, or the Conceal spell."
Al nodded at Reginald's words. He had also carefully checked how the security magic tool displayed things. Strictly speaking, the Conceal spell would only show a red dot for invisibility and not a green dot for magic, but he decided not to point that out.
"For now, they might notice us and try to investigate. Let's hide the security magic tool for now and move to a place where there are no people."
Barbara looked tense but a bit happy. It seemed things were going as she hoped. To avoid being detected by the opponent, who was likely using Detect Magic, Al only cast the Magic Sense spell on himself. Even if the opponent was invisible, he should be able to find them with this, but he felt uneasy since he wasn't using Sensory Boost. He might miss something in the darkness of the night.
As they kept an eye on their surroundings, the 3 of them started moving down the street. After about 50m (�164ft), Barbara signaled them to turn into a side alley. They went another 10m (�33ft) through a narrow path and ended up in a small square. It seemed like Barbara knew this area well. They leaned in closer together.
"How's it going? Can you tell if anyone's following us?"
Barbara asked in a quiet voice. Al hid his face with a hood and looked around carefully. A pale blue light that reacted to his 'Magic Sense' floated above the alley they had just come from.
"They're here. I think that small ball is the 'Floating Eye' spell."
The 3 of them pretended to discuss something for a while. It felt like someone might come close to them at any moment. The tension was high. Barbara took off her hood and listened carefully to the sounds around them. But after a while, the small ball of pale blue light suddenly disappeared, and nothing else came their way.
"Tch, maybe we didn't lure them in enough."
Barbara said with disappointment.
"I don't think they would just attack anyone with a magic tool."
"That's why I showed my face. They must have realized I'm from the Levy merchant guild. Even so, they didn't attack. That means there are only a few of them. They're probably waiting for reinforcements. We should definitely suggest another attack to the head."
Al tilted his head. From Guildmaster Levy's tone, it seemed like an attack was unlikely. However, if reinforcements were coming, doing nothing could be quite dangerous. Barbara's opinion might be the correct one.
Al wondered what he should do and let out a big sigh.
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