Second World

Jack looked at Sinful who had equipped the hooded cloak and mask, "do you want to do this? If you bail, I am fine with it. This quest is a phony, after all."

"I am still here, you know," Yilus said.

Sinful replied, "I'm already in costume. Don't worry about me, this is not the first time I did a shady quest."

"Really? Well, I did play thieving games before, but not my favorite activities," Jack said.

"If you are unsure, follow my lead then."

"Sure. I bet your Silent Step skill is perfect for this."

Jack looked at the map drawing again. He then asked Sinful, "There are two entrances. I guess the main entrance is not the best option. So, we enter from the back?"

Before Sinful answered, Yilus said first, "Well, I wish you two the best of luck. I will go and send the instruction for my people inside to start deactivating the alarm and have all the servants scarce. Wait half an hour before starting your infiltration." He then hurriedly scurried away.

Jack watched the merchant's departing back for a while before returning his attention to Sinful.

"It's not just two entrances. We can always try the windows," Sinful said.

"You think they will be unlocked?"

"With a house this big, usually there should be a few that were forgotten to be locked. The ones on the upper floors will most likely ones not locked. We can climb and check them if the ones below are all locked."

"Despite the darkness, there were many lightings outside the mansion. We will easily get spotted if we climb the wall. Another thing, you can still climb with those short arms and legs?"

"Don't look down at me just because I am a dwarf. I can beat you in mountain climbing anytime."

"I am sure you can. You know, I can't believe we are discussing breaking into someone's house illegally."

"Hehe, take it easy, man."

They discussed a bit more about their approach while waiting for half an hour to pass. Jack also used his spare time to eat Sweet Dumpling and applied Poison Salve as usual.

"You really plan to fight?" Sinful asked after Jack answered his questions about the salve's effect.

"If it is the only way to get the key," Jack answered.

Once enough time had passed, Jack looked on his radar to check his surroundings before giving Sinful the signal to go. During their talk, Jack had informed Sinful that he had a tool that detected others' presence in the vicinity.

The two of them crossed over the street and entered the courtyard. Jack took a low position as he walked. Sinful did not need to do that since he was already short despite standing straight. They didn't cross over the courtyard directly but took a roundabout way near the edge of the courtyard's where there were many trees and shrubs for cover.

They arrived at the front wall of the mansion and started pushing or pulling on the numerous windows along the wall. They were locked. Jack even tried to open the front door. It was locked also. They then decided to split up. Jack went to the right side of the mansion while Sinful went to the left.

Jack continued checking the windows on the sidewall. All of them were locked. Jack sent Sinful a message, "any luck?"

"Nope. Heading to the back wall now," Sinful replied.

Jack looked up at the second and third floor's windows. 'Do we truly have to climb up?' He thought.

When they got to the backyard, aside from trying the windows, Jack still went and tried the back door. It was also locked. Jack thought about trying to use his lockpicks on the backdoor while Sinful continued to check the rest of the windows. When he wanted to tell Sinful about his plan, he looked up and saw one window that was in an open position.

Jack whistled to Sinful and pointed at the opened window. Sinful gave a sign that said 'good eyes'.

Luckily, the backside was not facing the main road so they were less likely to be noticed when they climbed, but Jack still checked on his radar to make sure there was no one at the backside of the estate who could see them climbing. He also checked his radar to make sure no one was in the room with the opened window.

The mansion's wall was not flat but full of irregular surfaces, so there were plenty of handhelds. Sinful was just about to climb them when Jack gestured to him. Jack made a low pose with his hands clasped together, indicating that he would give the dwarf a boost.

Sinful complied and put a foot onto Jack's hands and readied himself to jump. When he made a jump, Jack gave a strong boost. Sinful was a bit unprepared for Jack's enormous strength. He made a low yelp as the boost sent him flying all the way up onto the sill of the opened window.

Sinful grabbed tightly at the window sill while he looked down and gave Jack a stare, but Jack couldn't see the stare due to the mask.

As for Jack himself, he put a little distance away from the wall before he ran at it. When he was close, he jumped as high as possible. His foot touched the wall and he used the momentum to run a couple more steps up before he grabbed onto something. He was also close to the window already.

The two of them climbed into the room without difficulty. The room seemed to be some kind of a study room. They checked the map of the mansion again. This was one of the rooms where Yilus' brooch was probably being stored in.

Jack checked the map. There were two clusters of white dots and two lone white dots. Jack surmised that one of the clustered dots should be the servants while the others the slaves. The two lone dots should be the guard and the noble's son.

The layout showed that the staircase was right outside the room. Jack told Sinful to go search the rooms on the third floor while he searched the rooms on the second. This way they could cover the ground faster. It was not certain how long Yilus' people might keep the servants in check. The sooner they found this brooch, the better.

Once the brooch was found, Jack planned to ask Sinful to take it out and he would head down and try using his lockpicks to free the slaves. He had a large enough stockpile of lockpicks and he was pretty certain a basement lock should not have a higher difficulty than a gold treasure chest, right?

Sinful agreed with the plan. Jack also told him to pay attention to his message, Jack would let him know if anyone came near his position. Jack made sure that none of the two lone dots were nearby before he sent Sinful out. Afterward, he started searching around the room.

Jack had an easier time searching since his monocle would notify him if there was anything valuable. Yilus mentioned his brooch was super rare grade, so he just needed to pay attention to one marked with orange color. Well, if there was any, Jack would have taken it even if it was not the brooch. Who would leave super-rare-grade items lying around?

He still opened up any closed drawers and cupboards. There had been instances where his monocle didn't pick up anything when a valuable was inside such compartments. He finished checking the room not long after. Nothing of high value, there were a few items marked by his monocle, but only green color, signifying common items.

He went out and headed to the next potential rooms marked by Yilus. The mansion had a very large center hall which was open from the ground floor to the ceiling. Jack stayed low as he traveled. He saw a white dot moving in the direction of the center hall. He peeked out from the second floor and saw an armored man with two sheathed scimitars on his waist walking towards one of the doors at the side. That must be the level 40 special elite guard. Jack used Inspect on him.

Keiran Zango (Special Elite Human, Bodyguard), level 40

HP: 135,000

This bodyguard went to a door at one side of the hall. The door was a sturdy metal door with a huge keyhole. Keiran used the key which was hanging by his waist to open the door. Behind the door, Jack saw stairs going down. That must be the door leading down to the basement where the slaves were located.

Jack continued to watch until Keiran closed the door and Jack heard the door was being locked from the other side.

'Later,' Jack said to himself. He had promised Yilus that he would take care of the job first. He went to the next room and continued searching again.

After going through three potential rooms, he still had no luck finding the brooch. No report from Sinful yet so he guessed his partner in crime didn't have better luck. The next room he came into was a very large bedroom. He figured this must be the master bedroom. This place should have a good opportunity to find the brooch. He could see already a couple of items at the other side of the room marked with orange color in his monocle.

When he was about to start checking those items.. He noticed one of the white dots was approaching his direction.

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