Chapter 359: Chapter 359: Faction Personnel

The clothes I was wearing now were the uniform of Lichtenberg’s orderlies.

They were total dumbasses for wearing their master’s uniform while committing a crime, but I guess that’s why they were given such dirty work.

That guy was a great noble, so he had a lot of servants. As long as I stayed inconspicuous, I could easily slip inside.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Using the Illusion Ring, I changed my appearance into one of the kidnappers. This should have significantly lowered the chances of them doubting me.

Moreover, with this illusion, I could walk in while wearing my gauntlets and no one would suspect it.

Given Lichtengerg’s status, he should’ve had a teleportation jamming device installed within. If that was the case, it was possible that it would get in the way of summoning my gauntlets when I needed them.

I gave a slight nod to the guards protecting the mansion and confidently walked in.

“Hey, Fred. You done with your business?”

The guard called me out casually. Considering his words, apparently, the person I was disguising as was frequently away from the mansion. I guess the reason he was wearing those clothes was that he probably slipped out during his work hours.

“Yeah, I’m done.”

“I see. Still, don’t leave your post so often, you hear? Our reputation is already as low as it can get.”

“I know.”

Returning a curt reply, I passed the gate. If I stood and talked too much, they could suspect my speech and conduct.

That said, there was no need to deceive them for long. I planned to finish this tonight. It would be fine as long as it lasted until then. It was already evening now, so only a few hours were left.

“Now then…”

I slipped into a place with no people and did a light stretch. I could go and assassinate him right away, but if something happened, slipping out would be a pain. It was more convenient to wait until the nighttime to avoid people’s eyes, after all.

Besides, I had other things to do before that.

The first was to ascertain my target, Lichtenberg’s location. Then the mansion structure. And finally, secure the evacuation route.

To secure it, I first need to thoroughly inspect the place. However, the structures of noble’s mansions were often kept in absolute secrecy due to all the valuable articles that were stored inside.

Moreover, some nobles also had secret paths built for emergencies, so it was a big pain. I had a painful experience with that during the Tarkashire matter from before.

If Count Serwa didn’t manage to escape then, no harm would’ve come to Cortina either.

“Thinking back, I should’ve tormented that b?a?s?t?a?r?d? more.”

Well, with Gideon getting in the way, I didn’t really have any leeway for that, but my blood was rising now as I looked back.

As I loitered in the mansion, a finely dressed knight addressed me.

“Fred, what are you doing here. Didn’t you say you were going to train until night!”

“Huh, eh?”

“What is foolish expression. Don’t tell me you have forgotten your master’s face!”

The knight raised his voice in irritation as he glared at me.

Hearing the word “master”, I finally remembered that the guy I was disguising as was supposed to be an orderly.

The orderlies served under knights, aiming to be knights themselves. They were apprentice knights, so to speak.

“I-… Um, something urgent came up and…”

“I never heard of that. Come, I’ll beat your lazy attitude into shape!”

“Eeeh!?”

I wanted to escape, but doing so would also be problematic. Let’s just take them on without standing out too much and deceive them

It wasn’t in my nature to announce myself and attack head-on. Even so, I was strong enough to handle a knight of this level as is, now.

That said, doing so would just be too conspicuous, so it was quite troubling.

“Damn you, you seem to have gotten quite stronger huh!”

“No, not at all?”

I lightly warded off the knight’s frontal slash. It would be too suspicious like that, so I pretended to lose my posture.

“Hmph, but you still have ways to go! An opening!”

Why are you announcing it! I barely endured yelling back in response. I wanted to warn him to just take the opening and attack without saying anything.

If I took on the slash of the sham sword that had a lot of force into it, it would get in the way of my activity. That said, if I didn’t, the training would just keep on going forever, so I was pretty lost on what to do.

I swung my leg from my broken posture and kicked the back of the knight’s hand. Missing its mark, the knight stumbled forward, his neck being full of openings.

I could probably decapitate him three times over in this instant.

Still, it was pretty sad that he was a knight with only this level of strength. Considering that the knight’s previous defensive battle wasn’t bad, this showed clearly how shallow Lichtenberg’s faction was.

Perhaps Lichtenberg desired Michelle so much exactly because of how low his soldier’s level was.

After repeatedly getting slashed and dodging it for thirty minutes, the knight finally ran out of breath. It would be too suspicious if I didn’t break a sweat so I started panting unnaturally.

“Y-You’ve become quite something. To cause me so much trouble.”

“No, I’m still not as good as honored knight…”

“Honored knight? Do you not always call me Lord Antonio?”

“Ah, no. I meant to say, not good enough to be a knight.”

So this knight was called Antonio, huh? I’ll remember it… Just for tonight.

“Still, I cannot admire you using kicks and punches in a sword fight. It has to be fought with swords alone, fair and square. If you are aiming to be a knight, correct that part.”

“Y-Yes.”

I see, no wonder Lichtenberg is short-handed. When a dumbass like him is a knight, it practically shows that he has no talented personnel.

Or well, I guess that was also the reason why he also had people he could give such dirty work to like this Fred guy.

“Um, Lord Antonio. May I retire for now?”

“Y-Yes. Right, it is already time for a meal.”

Antonio stood up while holding his trembling knees. I was about to retort to him, but managed to hold it down. I sure have grown accustomed to holding back

Looking around, people were giving me surprised looks. It seemed that enduring Antonio’s attacks was an unusual event for this Fred.

Still, this practice wasn’t for naught either. These training grounds were located behind the mansion, so there were surprisingly few human presences aside from knights.

It would even become deserted once night hits. I decided to use this place during my escape.

Thus, I managed to free myself from the knight and decided to hide while I had free time.