Chapter 93

The tavern "Topaz" employed five young men and women as servers.

They walked briskly through the dimly lit interior, and from their movements, it was clear they were not combatants. The man with golden hair and green eyes, who appeared to be in his late thirties and was behind the counter, probably had some combat experience.

There were five bodyguards pretending to be customers, lingering in the seating area. Their faces occasionally changed. Including the bodyguards who seemed to be in the back room, there were always ten on standby. According to Red Robin's information, the number of guards increased to twenty during the gambling hall's operating hours.

I am now in the bar, wearing a black wig and dressed as a commoner. This is my fourth visit. Jeff was initially among the bar's patrons, but in recent days, he has been frequenting the underground gambling hall on the second floor.

He stands out with his physique and silver hair, and his muscular build reveals that he is either a soldier or a knight. Therefore, he is operating under the guise of a nobleman visiting incognito, separate from me.

Sometimes Jeff comes down to the bar between gambling sessions, and the female servers quickly approach him, smiling and chatting. Jeff is handsome and well-built, so it's inevitable that women would be drawn to him.

I sit at a corner seat near the back of the bar, occasionally observing the interior.

As far as I know, Mary never comes down to the bar. When she goes out, she uses the outside stairs instead of passing through the bar.

Tonight, I'll wrap up soon. I've gathered the necessary information about the building's interior. As I stand up, the bartender calls out to me.

"Leaving already?"

"Yes."

"Be careful."

"Thank you."

As I walk toward the hotel, Mills appears from somewhere and follows me at a distance. There are no other tails besides Mills today. It seems that the bodyguards Mary employs are not very skilled.

Eventually, I arrive at the hotel and enter my room. Jeff returns shortly after.

The hotel where we are staying is right next to Mary's bar, a few blocks away from the Gold Letter Small Cargo Delivery Office. In one of the rooms of this hotel, Jeff and I discussed what we had learned about Mary's routine over the past ten days.

"Mary hardly goes out."

"She seems to entertain guests in the underground gambling hall until late at night. Occasionally, she goes out for dinner in the evening, but that time is when there are many people around, and she only goes to busy areas. It's impossible to target her then."

"True. We should enter her bedroom. How about tomorrow?"

"I have no problem with that."

I stood by the window, looking down at the city at night. There were hardly any people around due to the late hour.

From other patrons' conversations, it seems that "Topaz" has recently increased its security. They might be afraid of retaliation from me. If so, they shouldn't have messed with me in the first place. Mary continues to act impulsively.

When she finds herself in an unexpected situation, she tends to be swayed by her emotions and makes poor judgments.

Her excuse for failing when acting on a whim is always, "I thought I should be flexible."

Flexibility is important, but her snap decisions often lead to bad outcomes. It seems her intuition is poor.

Mary managed to graduate from the training facility and become an agent without being expelled, so she must have had the required skills. However, compared to other agents of her age, she was never given significant missions.

"Anna, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, really. She sleeps from around three in the morning until ten in the morning. Her bedroom is separate from Silas's. She occasionally goes out for lunch, but the places she visits vary. As you said, it's impossible to ambush her."

"From what I can see, the bodyguards at the bar and the gambling hall are not very skilled. I can handle them alone."

"Those kinds of men use dirty tactics, you know?"

Jeff smiles reassuringly.

"Don't worry, leave it to me."

"Alright."

We repeated the plan in our heads multiple times and discussed several escape routes using a map.

"Let's do it tomorrow."

"Let's finish it quickly."

"Okay."

I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep, but I fell asleep soundly.

The next morning, Jeff and I headed to Topaz. The bar was closed, and the staff had gone home. The underground gambling hall had been closed for some time. Mary should be asleep now.

Jeff and I climbed the external stairs to the third floor, with Jeff keeping watch. I unlocked the door with a specialized tool and quietly made our way down the corridor toward Mary's private room. We had confirmed that Mary's room was at the western end of the third floor, at the end of a corridor.

Before turning the corner, I peeked and saw two men sitting in chairs with their arms crossed in front of Mary's room. Both had their eyes closed.

(Just two of them)

I turned to Jeff and used my fingers to confirm (I'll take the one in the back, you take the one in the front). Jeff nodded and raised his long fingers one by one. On the fourth finger, we both lunged forward.

The two men collapsed silently from their chairs. Eight guards remained.

Jeff moved the fallen men to clear the door. I worked on the lock.

The lock clicked open. I slowly opened the door and entered alone. Jeff was to keep watch and handle the guards.

I opened the door to the inner bedroom, and Mary, half-sitting up with her elbow on the bed, opened her eyes and looked at me with a dazed expression. Too bad. She must have sensed something.

As I ran toward her, Mary quickly grabbed a knife from the side table and pulled a rope hanging from the ceiling to the side of the bed.

Somewhere in the distance, a high-pitched bell rang.

Mary slowly got out of bed and stood on the other side, still holding the knife.

"Chloe, I knew you'd come here..."

I didn't let her finish and lunged at her.

Mary threw a glass water pitcher at me with her left hand. I dodged it and approached. We faced each other across the bed. Mary's face was twisted with hatred.

Holding the knife, Mary slowly moved around the bed. I closed the distance. The sound of heavy footsteps running down the corridor could be heard. It was Jeff's turn to act.

Mary, in her white nightgown that reached her ankles, opened a door leading further back. The sound of Jeff and the guards fighting fiercely could be heard from behind. The grunts and groans were from the guards; Jeff was silent.

Mary opened another door in the back of the bedroom. A simple bed in a small room held a sleeping girl, likely a servant. Mary pounced on the girl, roughly pulling her arm to wake her up.

"Ah!"

The girl screamed. As she frantically raised her head, Mary wrapped her arm around the girl's neck and dragged her off the bed. She glared at me and pulled the girl to her feet. The girl looked to be around fifteen.

"Throw your knife on the floor. Or I'll stab her eyes out."

"Hmm."

"Throw it away, now!"

"You're still scum."

The girl, confused and frightened, was breathing heavily and her legs were trembling.

I threw my favorite dagger to the floor. Mary kicked the dagger's handle, sliding it to the side of the room. All the while, she was moving backward with the girl. Even though there was a wall behind her.

"Still the same hypocrite."

With a twisted smile, Mary pushed the girl toward me and jumped into a wardrobe in the corner of the room. I rushed over and looked inside. The wardrobe had no bottom, and a hole led down, with air blowing up from below.

"Such a thing..."

"Are you okay?"

I turned to see Jeff, covered in blood, standing with his sword in hand. He quickly glanced at me and the hole in the wardrobe.

"I'm fine."

"It's an escape route. The gambling hall is directly below. I'll go after her."

"I'll stay here."

Jeff ran off silently. I picked up my dagger and entered the wardrobe, leaving the frightened girl behind.