The Name's Agnus... Bell Agnus

"Thank you for your service," I said with sincere gratitude.

"No problem, young master. Anything for you. Are you sure you don't need our assistance? If you command it, we're prepared to lay down our life for you," said the one in charge of the group.

For a split second, I honestly thought about accepting the offer. But I shook my head, remembering why I was here and what it meant for the person I was trying to redeem.

"No," I politely declined. "That's a tempting offer but I don't want to risk the church finding out about you guys for the family's sake. Keep yourself hidden as always. Remain in the shadows."

"Will do. Your wish is our command," he bowed.

The ten men and women from the Facold family who had been assigned to the baron's manor to observe him under my request, I was dismissing them, ending their mission a little earlier than they expected.

As they quite literally melted into the darkness and became shadows, the skill of the Facold bloodline, I stood just outside the baron's manor, waiting patiently for the night to swallow the land completely.

Thoughts or rather simulations were running through my mind.

Using the detailed map that my people had created for me, I used it as a reference for what I was going to do once I entered the baron's territory.

Alone, sitting on a bench while scrolling through my phone, someone sat down next to me.

"How'd it go?" I asked them.

"In a few minutes, all able bodies nearby should be arriving," said the bishop who was out of his religious clothing and was wearing a suit.

"You look good in a suit," I complimented him.

"Thank you."

"Why don't you wear it more often?" I asked.

"I find it uncomfortable. I only wear it when I have important business outside the church," he replied.

'I think the religious outfit you were wearing before looks way more uncomfortable to wear but... whatever floats your boat.'

"Then am I correct to assume that what I'm doing, you consider it to be important?"

"If what you say is true then yes. Agnus of Bell, I hope what you say is the God-honest truth. Otherwise, the recovery of the ruby won't be enough to save my neck if all of this is for naught," he sighed, rubbing his palm against his nape.

The two of us sat there in silence as the wind grew stronger. Our hair was covered in a thin layer of snow that continuously melted from our body heat.

Stretching while standing up, I began getting ready.

"Is it time?" he asked.

I nodded as I picked up my sheathed katana from the bench. It was gifted to me by Ichiko but since it had no special properties other than being a good blade with history behind it, I didn't feel like I was bringing a cheat with me to battle.

"Once again, sorry that I'm not able to command my people to assist you directly."

"That's fine. Just getting them to barricade the perimeter is more than I could hope for. I'll see you in a few. Thank you, Bishop. For believing in my words."

"No need to thank me Agnus of Bell. This is simply a deserved payment for helping out the church. Just consider it a fair transaction between yourself and us," he smiled as he shook my hand.

Putting on a mask to cover my face, I crossed the street and was met with a large fence that covered many acres that made up the manor.

Most rich people had their manors established in the countryside or parts of cities where there were fewer houses.

The baron was a special case as his manor was in the heart of the city where buildings of all shapes and heights surrounded it.

The reason for this was that he wanted to be surrounded by as many sacrifices. It made him feel empowered to feel like he was on a pedestal that others had to tilt their neck to meet his gaze.

The bench I had been sitting on was one of the few locations that the security cameras didn't catch because there was a tree that directly blocked it.

Completely dark outside, I could see all the lights beyond the fence of the guards that walked and patrolled the area with their flashlights.

These people weren't just hired bodyguards. They were the baron's men and they were practically members of his cult and they viewed him as a deity that would one day take over the world.

If only they knew how weak this so-called "deity" was compared to the villains that would appear later on in the novel.

The fence wasn't the only measure to keep people out. There were heat sensors as well as invisible lasers that could detect intruders.

The Facold members had already informed me of where they all were, so with swift movements and the contortion of my body at times, I was able to get passed the first layer.

Stepping on the baron's grass, I made my way to a tree as a flashlight pointed in my direction.

I was actively keeping my mana and presence concealed meaning that unless they were actively trying to catch me, they wouldn't notice that I was hiding behind there.

As the light pointed away from me, with footsteps that were close to silent, I got a little closer to the mansion in the middle.

Like a game of "Red Light, Green Light", I hid whenever a flashlight came in my direction and made progress toward my destination whenever it pointed away. I also had to take notice of the security cameras so the only path I could take were ones where the blind spots existed.

"Why do fathers take an extra pair of socks when they go golfing?" asked one of the baron's men.

"Why?" replied his partner.

"In case they get a hole in one!"

"Hahahaha."

"Hahahaha."

The two of them laughed as if it was the funniest joke that was ever made.

If you didn't know the truth about how brutal these men were to people that they captured, tortured, and killed on behalf of the baron, you could've mistaken them for innocent bodyguards who were just working an honest living to feed their families.

"Did you hear something?" asked another one of them as they quickly spun their body as well as their light towards my direction.

I had made it all the way to the entrance of the mansion; quickly, I rushed to the statue and posed my body to fit perfectly behind the cover of the statue.

"Obviously, I heard something. The wind is so goddamn strong. I can barely hear my own thoughts."

The other person with the light aiming around my hiding spot, spent half of minute or so looking around until he finally gave up.

"I'm just tripping, huh?"

"Yeah. That's why I told you not to take the gravedigging job. Yes, the baron pays well for that job but when you're constantly burying bodies, the dead tend to leave their presence around you. You're just being paranoid right now because of that. I was the same last year."

It felt like they were trying to give exposition to uninformed readers.

Busy in their conversation about graves and ghosts, I was able to sneak in during that time. The door was locked and there was a security camera pointed directly at it so inside of going there, I headed towards an unlocked window.

I knew it was unlocked because according to the reports, the workers would oftentimes open up all the windows to ventilate the smell that came from the basement.

Not aware of what the smell was, most of these hired workers were just innocent employees that didn't dare investigate because they were being paid to mind their own business.

It was so convenient that the baron would hire innocent unknowing employees when the job could be done by his men — almost as if the plot in the novel demanded there to be easy flaws to exploit.

One of the reports stated that the window I was standing outside of tended to remain unlocked because one of the workers had suspicions about the smell and liked to leave a few windows unlocked around the mansion so that in case of an emergency, he could escape through them in a hurry.

It was smart of the worker to leave himself exit spots and it also gave my people easy access to the inside of the mansion which allowed to them survey the place to report back to me.

Sliding the window open, I made my way inside the room, then quickly closed it.

"I don't think so," said a voice outside the room and towards my right.

"Why not?"

"Because his defense sucks. Yes, he can score and give you thirty points a night but what's the use if he's allowing sixty points to be scored on his head?"

"You're exaggerating. He's not that bad at defending."

"Yes, he is."

"No, he's not."

The two voices were directly in front of the door.

"Alright. Next time he plays, let's watch the game together. Let's count every time that somebody scores while he's guarding them. I guarantee he's giving up at least thirty."

"I thought you said sixty last time but sure. How much do you want to put on it?"

"Two grand?"

"Bet."

"Shake on it."

I heard the two voices getting further left and waited until it got fainter before even taking a step from where I was.

Looking at the watch on my wrist, I waited until it was the exact time I'd been waiting for before opening the door slightly and peeking into the hallway.

As if I was driving a car, I looked left then looked right then left again.

Using the map in my head, the one where I had memorized all the paths that the indoor guards took as well as when their shifts were.

It was now at this exact time every day that they were changing shifts and there would be a weak spot in the mansion that wasn't covered temporarily.

Currently, there was no way for me to avoid the security cameras completely and if there was, the Facold hadn't discovered it yet and I didn't know what it was.

No matter how careful was, whatever the case may be, a quarter of my body was bound to be caught by the cameras.

I just had to be as quick as possible so the guards looking at the security footage didn't take notice of the weird moving blur on their screen.

Taking a right as I stepped out of the room, I sprinted down the hallway and reached the staircase but instead of walking up the steps, I made my way over to the wall and jumped up, catching the railing and pulling myself up to the second floor.

I repeated this two more times until I was on the fourth floor.

Why was I here on the top floor of the mansion?

Because I had my suspicions that a certain someone was on this floor with me.

It was around this time that the baron was away from his room and he wouldn't return until it was almost time for the sun to rise from the horizon.

That gave whoever it was that wanted to find something incriminating in his bedroom the opportunity to go through it.

If she wasn't there then great, but if she was, I had to get her out of the bedroom immediately because there was nothing useful for her and she'd just be wasting her time there.

I also needed her assistance elsewhere if she was here in the mansion with me.

'Only if she's here. This is another gamble I'm taking,' I sighed. 'She better be here after rushing my plans.'

Quickly, I hid behind the corner, waiting for the security guards to pass me. If they just took a quick glance to their left then they would've seen me but they didn't because there was no reason for them to do so.

This was just a mundane routine for them and going out of their way to add additional steps to their routine was too much effort.

It was the comfortability of routine that ended up causing them to fail at their job which was to survey their surroundings.

Quickly I rushed to the end of the hallway before the guards could turn around.

Opening the door of the bedroom at the end of the hallway, I entered and closed the door before they could take notice of any strange sound or shift in the air.

I pretended to look around the room for a bit before letting out a sigh of disappointment.

Taking off my mask, I scratched my hair in falsified frustration. "Where's the keycard?" I uttered quietly.

A gasp could be heard around the room. It was extremely quiet and brief; if you weren't trying to take notice of any sounds, you would've probably missed it.

In a fake panic, I placed my mask back on and began to look around. I made it seem like I was panicking before slowing down and catching my breath.

"Nobodies here," I uttered. "Then where did that sound come from? Am I imagining it? No, that sounded too real. Is someone here with me that I can't see? It... it couldn't be. Maya, are you here in this room with me?" I asked.

A figure revealed itself in front of me.

"Who are you?" I asked quietly as I pulled out my katana, the tip of the blade pressing lightly against her neck.

"It's me," she responded in a hurry, moving her head away from the blade. "Maya."

"Maya? Then why do you look like that?" I asked, pretending to be confused about why her face and hair looked nothing like her real self.

"It's just a face mask. And a wig," she answered.

'Obviously,' I internally rolled my eyes.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I should be asking you the same thing. What are you doing here Bell?"