Chapter 680: Chapter 680

“And this for a job well done.”

Mira downed some Matcha au Lait once she finished wrapping everyone in Arresting Cloth, celebrating her victory in the secret basement. That drink was also a staple of Nirvana, a place known for growing a wide variety of tea leaves.

With everyone fully restrained, she thanked Worthramble for his help before sending him away, leaving her as the only person moving around the mansion. Her next step was to check the various bags and sacks the men had tried to take out of the mansion.

“…Maybe I should’ve picked weaker ones…”

Since they had been trying to escape the mansion, the assassins had packed the most valuable items to take with them, from amongst the already luxurious items stored there. After the brawl, most of those items had been shattered to dust.

The Magic Bomb Sealing Stones she had thrown into the room at the beginning had done most of that.

Still, there was a decent number of items that had survived, which were mostly sturdy high quality weapons, and pieces of art the men had reflexively covered with their bodies.

To Mira’s eyes, each one of those would sell for at least a few million Rils.

At a glance, she calculated there were around a hundred million Rils worth of items that had survived, a sum that would grow many times over when factoring everything the assassins had decided to leave behind.

Sure, most of that was likely stolen goods, but she could not stop herself from looking at it as spoils of war, or at the very least compensation for her work.

After some time loitering like that in the basement, she finally noticed something important.

“Hmm…I didn’t think about this before. How do I get out of here now?”

She recalled hearing one of the assassins mentioning blocking off the entrance, and when she went to check the stairs they were certainly blocked off. Mira was trapped in the basement.

There was still the exit the boss and his men had tried to use, but she did not know where it would lead her, and the path would be destroyed some time after she pulled the lever.

(It’s not the first time I’ve heard of an escape route that also traps in any pursuers.)

It was a common trope in spy movies and such for buildings to auto destruct and erase any evidence in them after the villain escaped, and that could very well be the case for the mansion as well. So as long as she did not know the extent of the destruction, she could not pull the lever so haphazardly.

(I just have to find a way up then.)

She could try to break the basement’s ceiling to make her way out. As far as she could tell it was built of stone, so it was worth a try.

But she soon noticed that it was rather sturdy stone, and no mere explosion would be enough to break a hole.

A more powerful blast would do the trick, if only she could think of the right means to produce it. Sadly, all that came to mind would be far too powerful and would destroy everything on the floors above as well, which was not something she wanted to deal with.

With no other options coming to mind, she began to seriously consider it…checking if there were still any unconscious men on the floors above.

‘Commander, the reinforcements are almeowst here!’

She had almost forgotten about the First Lieutenant when she heard his voice in her head, announcing that the real assault platoon was about to arrive.

‘Ohh, I see. Could you tell them something for me then?’

With her allies on top, she could no longer blast her way out of the basement, especially as they would witness her destroying all sorts of valuable evidence in the process. Instead, it was wiser to communicate her predicament to them through the First Lieutenant.

“And that’s the situation, meow.”

The assault platoon, riding as fast as they could, arrived at the mansion. The First Lieutenant was with them too, firmly held onto the shoulder of their leader.

“I can hardly believe they’ve been taken down already… I can see why the Spirit Queen is so admired.”

Their leader was called Cecilia. She was a highly talented knight, who had become the leader of the assault platoon at her young age, and answered directly to Nirvana’s Twelve Apostles.

(I was under the impression that she was just another adventurer, but I’ve never seen Lady Esmeralda get so flustered. Just who is she…)

Cecilia had been together with Esmeralda when the First Lieutenant arrived at the palace. Esmeralda was one of the Twelve Apostles, so Cecilia was really surprised to see how flustered and nervous Esmeralda got at the sight of the First Lieutenant.

And now the same person who did that had just single handedly taken down the whole mansion of assassins.

(Don’t be rude…don’t be rude…)

Now Cecilia was also starting to get nervous, recalling Esmeralda’s instructions to politely invite Mira to the palace. Fighting against bandits and assassins was one thing, but the intricacies of noble etiquette was something Cecilia constantly struggled with, as she had grown up in the countryside.

It was quite late at night, and only a few windows were lit up on the houses in Ratnatraya’s new residential district. Usually, those were tranquil streets with nothing special to see, but this time, there were many people peeking out the windows to see what was happening. Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on novel⁂fire.net

What was especially curious was that the center of attention was a mansion that had never stood out before.

There were plenty of rumors for other places, like a house said to be used for strange rituals late at night, another where eerie voices were occasionally heard, others frequently visited by menacing figures, and even one that appeared inhabited though no one had ever seen anyone enter or leave.

But this time, none of those were the center of attention. Instead, something was happening at a seemingly ordinary mansion, one that had never stood out before.

That fenced mansion was eerily silent this time, surrounded by strange white knights, which also had an unsettling appearance.

People began looking out of their windows, speculating with their neighbors about what was happening, but none of them dared approach the mansion. Then they all began cheering as they saw the assault platoon arriving in their galloping horses.

“Look, it’s Knight Cecilia!”

A certain gentleman with binoculars to admire beautiful women announced loudly.

“What a platoon…they’re all elite knights!”

Another man, who was enthusiastic about the army, also shouted in excitement after a glance with his binoculars. He could see the best members from across all units in Nirvana’s army gathered there, which was like a dream come true for a militia aficionado like himself.

Usually, nothing much happened on those streets, which only made that change in scenery all the more exciting for the people there.

‘Yes, that’s the place. Then just go a bit more…there, the entrance is right there!’

Meanwhile, beneath the mansion, Mira had stopped trying to break herself free, and instead had decided to rely on Cecilia to get her out.

All of the assassins in the mansion had already been taken down thanks to Mira, so all the assault platoon had to do was investigate the building for evidence, and take everyone into custody.

After Cecilia finished giving orders to her men, Mira spoke with the First Lieutenant to guide Cecilia to the room with the hidden staircase.

Once there, Cecilia said that maybe she would be able to break through.

Mira had been too afraid of causing too much damage by attempting that, but if the person in charge did it, then at least Mira would be able to wash her hands off the matter if things went south. Having taken a few steps back, she gave the signal to the First Lieutenant to begin.

There was a moment of silence as Mira looked attentively at the sealed entrance.

Then there was a short metallic sound, which repeated various times, and then silence again. That was interrupted by the sound of a small chunk falling from the basement ceiling, quickly followed by a crack that spread from that spot, and then it all fell down.

“Now that’s really impressive too…”