182. Augntation - 24
My decision to et with the city lord imdiately had led to a waiting room. It was stocked well with food and drinks, and there were two servants ready to serve for any need that might have been prepared already.
But, I was kept waiting for hours.
It wasn't a surprising developnt. I didn't have any friends in the city, only enemies; including the city lord himself. If it wasn't the veneer of honor that had defined most of their life, they might have actually tried to kill .
Of course, their honor was more costic than anything, so I expected several attempts against my life. Otherwise, I wouldn't have delayed my visit until I reached level eighty, confident enough to avoid and escape any thod they might try on .
The door to the waiting room opened almost four hours later, and a man entered. This ti, not even a knight, a calculated insult to test my limits. "My lord, I'm sorry to inform you that the city lord is dealing with a last-minute ergency, and he won't be able to et with you today. He asked to convey his apologies."
I said nothing for a mont, but tensed up with a pure, burning anger covering my face as I grabbed the edge of my seat. The poor man flinched, ducking his head like that would prevent from cutting his head. Then, I took a deep breath, and the anger was stuffed back. "Bring to my residence," I said, acting like I had barely held myself back.
Naturally, I didn't care about the so-called insult in the slightest, but they expected to react. My incredible success during the battle clearly brought so expectations to them, and playing into those would make my life easier.
To my surprise, the man didn't imdiately start moving either. "T-there's a problem in your residence as well, my lord."
"What happened?"
"There was an accident, my lord. So servants triggered a defensive ward by accident, and it damaged several residences." I paused and took a deep breath, like I was trying to keep my fury down. "But, we have arranged an inn for you?"
"Where?" I asked.
"I-in the middle ring, my lord," the guy said, trembling badly as he spoke. Poor guy. The worst thing, his fears weren't unfounded. I could kill him without a word, and it'd only be moderately troubling. A fine, maybe so other punishnt that was rely a slap on the wrist, and that was with the city lord and the other nobles being determined to cause trouble for .
"Just describe the location and I'll handle it," I said.
"You can't go around without an escort, my lord," he replied.
"Really?" I responded, my voice cold. This ti, I used my Charisma to reinforce the ssage, the combined weight hitting him hard to make him actually tremble in fear.
"I-it's not appropriate for a man of your stature to walk around without an escort, my lord. We can't guarantee your safety."
"It's not a problem," I answered, confident and daring even as I walked away. It was a relatively simple trap, one that was supposed to absolve them from the bla if soone attacked . However, while it created so kind of plausible deniability for them, there were limits to it. For example, it wouldn't be enough to explain my death.
My best guess: they wanted to create an excuse to test my limits.
Listening to Marquis Somaton had already revealed to that a Domain was sothing important. I might not know exactly what it was apart from it being sohow linked to Stat Awakening, but its significance was clear, considering that, just by showing progress toward it, I had forced the Kingdom of Somaton to change their strategy.
I was happy to grant them an opportunity. I left the inner ring, but I didn't go toward the inn they arranged for . Instead, I went toward the port, which was the most important target of my visit.
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I needed to set up a smuggling ring.
I wasn't planning to smuggle anything. I just needed to create one so as not to reveal our secret forges. Of course, I wasn't naive enough to think that we could hide their presence forever. Sooner or later, their presence would be revealed.
Later was far more preferable.
As I walked toward the port, quite a few people around gossiped about my presence, so smart enough to do so from a distance, where they were sure that I couldn't hear them but my Perception allowed to detect it while the others recklessly did it where I could hear, their words just insulting enough to feel deliberate.
Their presence had the fingerprints of the city lord on it.
I gave occasional signs of anger. Nothing more obvious than a twitch of a finger or a tense expression, enough to convince my hidden observers their presence caught as easily as the gossips at a distance that I was bothered by the constant annoyance, but failing to do so.
I expected sothing more direct to bother before I arrived at the port, but I had been allowed to move without a problem. Even the guards that were defending the gates allowed to pass after checking my sigil, and I found myself in the port area.
I stopped for a mont to examine the layout of the port which represented the only access point between the border colony and the rest of the world.
Both the port and the attached marina were more compact than I had expected. The port area only allowed ten cargo ships to be unloaded at the sa ti. Which, at first, felt small, but as I watched the speed the ships were being unloaded, that disbelief faded.
There wasn't a need for complicated cranes or other bulky equipnt when dock workers could easily lift crates that weighed in tons. Strength was convenient for more things than just battling. The dock workers moved with a surprising speed as they removed crates from the ship, filling the assigned wooden carriages, which then went to one of the three gates.
The sa applied for the visitors as well. The ships not only brought on cargo, but people. So were directly brought away by the soldiers, but a majority were gathered into so kind of temporary dormitory that clearly also functioned as a recruitnt office. People arrived with appropriate permits to recruit people from there, so easily finding a job, the others waiting desperately.
Another nice vulnerability for to exploit in the future.
Then, they went to visit one of the three gates, just like the cargo, and the guards examined them carefully, trying to understand their level, class, and their divine patron.
Of the three gates, two of them were connected to the outer ring. The third one which I used was connected to the middle ring, though it had far fewer carts lining in front of it, and they were going through a more detailed check. Not just in terms of dangerous objects, but to make sure the content matched with the permits.
Smuggling was treated as a serious problem.
It wasn't too much of a surprise. The sea trade was the primary way the royal family exerted their control. Add in their attempt to suffocate the princess' new duchy before it could start operating, and it surprised that the security hadn't been tightened even more.
After watching the gate guards going through the delivery contents for a while and identifying several ways to bypass their standard procedures I turned my attention to the next stage.
The defenses.
The first thing I noticed was the security system of the port being partially shared with the city. The wards of the middle ring extended to cover a part of the marina, exclusive for the use of the royal fleet. Both the military escorts, and the cargo ships that belonged to the military.
Another, bigger marina extended from the port, which wasn't connected to the city wards, but surrounded by an additional bubble of mana. It was strong enough to keep back a few Lord Beasts if they attacked the city despite the patrol ships that moved back and forth a mile away from the city, but not enough to defend against a stronger beast wave.
The sea trade might have been a profitable business, but it was risky, even after they arrived at their destination.
Their misfortune was an opportunity for , as I could see it wasn't impossible to sneak through said ward, though not easy either. It would require a combination of stats: Concealnt to avoid the sentries and patrol ships, Intelligence and Attunent to breach the ward without triggering an alarm, Speed to let the breach disappear in less than a second to make it look like so kind of a glitch.
It was a pity that I didn't dare to do the sa against Oniphia. The city wards had too many mages maintaining it to pull the sa trick unless I was willing to dump my unused stat points into Intelligence and Attunent, which wasn't sothing I was ready to commit to.
I had all that was necessary, and more, making it a reasonably achievable heist once I approached it from the sea. I stayed at the port, walking around while I carefully morized the important details about the port by using my Perception and mory to the limit. So simple, like which companies employed which worker; so more complicated, like which guards were receiving bribes to bypass so of the security checks.
Perception extended my range, true, but it was a lifeti of smuggling experience that allowed to catch the signs that others might have dismissed as ordinary, giving the founding blocks of a fake smuggling heist.
The operational details were gathered. Now, all I needed was a patsy to take the bla.
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