Chapter 911

Lily chapter

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Once Lily had recovered it was beyond easy to sneak into the manor. The windows around the top of the main hall were all just left open. Presumably to allow for the smell to leak out. With wings, it wasn’t even hard to get up there. No fancy tricks just a bit of flying. The main hall served as both an entrance hall, and a classroom. It had what were basically chem lab benches set up around the room with a large podium at the front and an oversized desk. Along the walls were equipment not too unlike those you’d find in the modern day, if you had the skill to recognise them.

Lily padded along the floor, looking around carefully for more guards or inhabitants of the manor but wasn’t seeing anyone just yet. This room seemed to be more for lecturing then serious attempts at alchemy, but it was very bright. Lily couldn’t rely on the usual darkness to hide herself if someone wandered by so she kept her ears listening for any sounds. Sadly, the mansion almost certainly used sound dampening inscriptions around each room. Both to keep sound in, and prevent it getting out.

Lily checked one of the two doors on the right side of the room. A quick look under the frame showed a dark room filled with shelves. A quick transformation later and Lily was pushing it open. Inside was a basic storage room with rows and rows of ingredients laid out for the taking. Lily wasn’t sure how valuable they were, so she just relayed things back to Kat who was still pretending to be calm on the outside while her emotions boiled under the surface.

A better look revealed that there was another door at the end of the room, certainly just taking her back out to the main hall, and a number of doors across the top of the room alongside a thin balcony. Lily was wondering why there was no stairs only to realise the obvious. *They’re cultivators. A one story jump is child’s play for them. Though... why is there a set in the main hall? For cleaning staff perhaps?*

Lily decided to follow one of these new doors instead. The main room did have other exits but it was just so large with mediocre places to hide. The desks weren’t great places to hide, too reliant on blocking sight lines and it was so bright that standing out in the open was just asking to be spotted. Another check, and door opened later and Lily found herself standing in a bare hallway with a rather lavish carpet over it. Silenced her footsteps really well. Glancing into the closest room, Lily could see it was a lab of some kind. The fact that it wasn’t locked... well she was starting to question the security in this place.

.....

There wasn’t anything interesting though. It was just a basic chemistry lab with a fantasy bent. An even quicker check of the other rooms in the hall revealed the exact same thing, with only one of them having anything unique at all. It was as furnace that seemed to be currently simmering away. A quick check with Kat revealed it was a pill furnace. She was told to just leave it. Interrupting the pill formation process could result in anything from basic dust, to a large explosion and they were trying to be sneaky after all.

Lily made her way out of the hallway and back to the main room, now at the top of the staircase. *Hmm... were do I want to go. I can head back down... or I guess I can just check on the other stuff upstairs?* Lily nodded and slinked her way into the other half of the building. Lily almost hissed out when she finally met someone. Well ‘met’ was perhaps a bit of a strong way of phrasing it.

Peaking under the doors revealed a messy room with box strewn everywhere, a large desk and an undersized bed. There was a person she couldn’t see the full details of collapsed at the desk with the lamp blazing brightly right next to the... girl’s face? Lily really couldn’t make out the details from so far off so that one was more of a guess. The next room was similar, though a bit neater and the occupant had managed to actually make it to the bed. Two more rooms, two more people.

*Hmm... I don’t think it’s worth checking these right? Xuena isn’t just going to be up here in a normal room right?*

[I don’t know? Maybe? Did any of them look like Xuena?]

*How should I know Kat! We’ve never even heard a proper description of her, or at least, if I have I don’t remember it at all. Even if that wasn’t the case, I can’t get a good look at any of them. Most are actually in bed with covers over them so I can’t even tell if they’re girls or not. The one I am certain is a girl is passed out at her desk. Even that’s a guess though because of the long hair.*

[Can’t you like... smell the difference?]n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

*Kat this place still smells like herbs! Just because I’m inside doesn’t mean it’s any better. In fact, it’s worse. I’m beyond thankful that first freak out seems like a one-time thing because I’m really just not sure what I’d do otherwise. So no. Sadly, I can’t tell by scent alone and a small sliver of a room what gender they all are.*

[Sorry... um...]

*No Kat. I’m sorry... I... I’m still quite frazzled because of the smell. Even now that I’ve recovered a bit my instincts are telling me quite a few contradictory things. It’s safe, it’s dangerous, I’m in danger, there’s food here. I’ve been able to just push it all into the back of mind but it’s still niggling at me. I’d like to be out of here as soon as possible, but I obviously don’t want to MISS Xuena.*

[I’m still sorry. I’m a bit agitated as well, for similar reasons I guess. I’m just worried. Um... let me just double check with Ron...] Kat quickly relayed what Lily had found to the group, and Ron gave a nice summation of his thoughts. [Ok. Ron thinks the answer is ‘probably not’ in any of those rooms. The sect can’t afford to insult it’s disciples like that, having her live with them even while she’s a hostage. Doesn’t mean she isn’t in the house, just that she isn’t going to be in the student dorms. You should be safe to leave without checking them thoroughly.]

Lily nodded and sent back feelings of warmth as best she could towards Kat. They were of course tainted by her agitation, both with a lack of progress and the smell, but it was the thought that counted. Probably. Considering they were in fact, just some thoughts.

Lily moved downstairs behind the podium to find another row of dorms, these ones packed with servants. Double bunks on both sides, with a kitchen at the end of it. Lily just ignored them as well. Xuena wouldn’t be in a big group. On the other half of the room though... there was a storage room for non-alchemical ingredients, and one final door. On the other side of it was a set of bars blocking of access to the basement. No trouble for a small cat.

Lily slipped through them without trouble and headed downwards. At the bottom was another set of reinforced bars that were probably much more useful against regularly sized thieves. It was as simple as a normal jaunt for Lily. Not even her horns caused any trouble getting through. The first two rooms on either side were basic prison rooms with a cot, a bench, and a bucket. Clearly they weren’t for anyone of note, or temporary at best.

The next room though, Lily could here something. Sliding up to the door she found it was wooden with an access window at the top. Transforming she peaked in to find a nicely furnished room. Alchemy equipment on one end, bed on the other. The floor wasn’t terribly clean and it was an ugly, stone thing but the furnishings were quite high quality. The room was actually about twice the size of the ones upstairs, perhaps a bit larger and filled with alchemical gadgets. The most important thing though... was a teenage girl.

She seemed completely unbothered by her incarceration. She, Xuena hopefully, was hunched over the desk and scribbling into a journal. The lamp by her side was shining on half of her face, and she was wearing clothes that seemed nice enough. Really, the only thing that stood out to Lily as a bit of a problem was the fact that both her feet were chained together. Sure the chain was padded to keep from harming the girl, but they were thick, heavy metal things. Heck, they were as thick as Lily was long. *Guys? I think I might have found our girl. She looks like this...*