Chapter 56 Hypervigilance.

  Lenna pushed open the door into the Civil Servant Company branch in Vespera. A bell chimed as the door swung open until its tether reached its limit and the door was abruptly halted. Lenna’s first step into the building silenced everyone present. Usually Lenna actively tried not to announce her presence. It made her more approachable and let Isaac take all of the attention that she never wanted in the first place. This time, however, it was on full display.

  There were a few people in the lobby but they all seemed to be waiting for someone so none of them were in front of the receptionist’s desk. On the surface, the CSC did exactly as advertised and then some. Their original main task was to connect wealthy people with servants and other household staff. They would work with well off merchants, fallen nobles, and even high nobles on occasion. They were an employment agency that branched out into the world of suppliers. Someone going to the CSC could find people willing to fill in almost any role in a household as well as almost anything necessary to fulfill those roles.

  Lenna walked up to the receptionist with firm steps that matched her nearly oppressive presence. For normal people, which most of those present were, being next to Lenna felt like standing on the edge of a cliff with a hundred pounds of extra weight on their shoulders.

  The receptionist looked far less uncomfortable than everyone else present. “Greetings,” She began as her olive eyes locked onto the double platinum tags hanging around Lenna’s wrist. Her gaze snapped up to look at where Lenna’s black lenses stared back at her. “my Lady.” She finished with a slight bow of her head. It was generally a safe idea to be extra careful when dealing with high ranking adventurers because power often got to their heads. At Lenna’s apparent level, combined with her dreadful presence, meant that the likelihood of her taking a slip-up personally was high. “What can we at the Civil Servant Company do for you?”

  “I would like to speak with someone capable of fulfilling unusual requests.” Lenna explained. “I do not want to be told that something is not possible, only that it will cost me more.”

  The receptionist nodded with a pleasant smile. “Of course, I will summon someone of sufficient authority. May I inform them of the name of the Lady?” She asked with the full suite of pleasantries.

  “V’Nova.” Lenna replied. She left a pregnant pause hang in the air as if she expected everyone present to know exactly who she was, and was waiting to see if anyone was dumb enough to ask. If one of the random patron’s audible gasps was anything to go by, some of those present hadn’t needed to ask..

  The receptionist bowed her head further than she had previously. When she did so, Lenna noticed a slight shine to her skin that hadn’t been there before. Either Lenna’s presence was getting to her or her reputation preceded her. “Thank you, my Lady.” She said with a smile that looked a bit more forced than it had a moment prior. “If you would be so kind as to wait off to the side for a moment, I will send for someone capable of ensuring your satisfaction with our company.”

  Lenna took one step off to the side and crossed her arms as she settled in to wait.

  The receptionist bowed again. “Thank you, my Lady.” She repeated. The receptionist was a master at maintaining self control under pressure, otherwise she would have crumpled under Lenna’s exposed intensity and direct attention.

  “I have other things to do today.” Was Lenna’s only reply. The entire time, her tone had been completely neutral but not quite flat. Her tone only served to cement the mental image of a controlled natural disaster that most present had in their heads.

  The receptionist bowed again. She was sure that by the end of the day her neck would be sore. She opened a drawer next to her and touched one of the twelve metal plates that were arrayed inside. A moment later the receptionist reached up to cover her one ear and her eyes took a far off look as her mind was busy. She conversed with whoever was mentally communicating with her for only around ten seconds before she lowered her hand and closed the drawer. “The manager will be here shortly.” She assured Lenna.

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  Lenna only gave her a one word response: “Good.”

  —

  While Lenna was finally acting like a V’Nova warrior princess of legend, which she officially was once she had reached level seventeen, Isaac was off exploring. Through a mixture of seeing through shadows, in order to see if anyone was on the other side of doors, and shadow-stepping, he was able to quickly rule out almost all of the first floor as nothing of note. There was an office in the back, however, that had caught his interest. The office was just as open to magic as all of the others until its sole inhabitant left to go deal with Lenna. As soon as the door closed behind him, an antimagic field locked in around the room. Isaac mentally noted it as strange but unless the opportunity arose to check it out, he had other things to do.

  Isaac had sent Shamesh to the second and third floors to look around while he took the first and the basement. The two uppermost floors were usually open to normal public business so Isaac doubted Shamesh would come across anything worthwhile but it was worth the time to look around anyway.

  Once Isaac was sure that there was nothing else going on in the back half of the first floor, he moved on to the basement. The basement entrance was located in the back near the manager’s office and the backdoor. Isaac passed through a dozen wards as soon as he entered the hallway and took a moment to get a feel for them. At first glance it was obvious that they were just copies of the ones that lined the inside of every city wall. They were all spells that cancelled teleportation magic, invisibility spells, and spells to disrupt the spells that disrupted said magic and spells. Not one of them was violent or even properly subduing.

  Isaac moved down the stairwell into the basement and slipped past someone on their way back up with an employee leading the way. The person looked like a merchant with money to burn. Her dress was elegant and used at least ten times as much fabric as it needed to and was adorned with real gold thread. She had diamonds around her neck and hanging from her ears but none of that was what truly caught Isaac’s eye. She had a bracelet that was set with a violet sapphire and absolutely covered in gold filled engravings. Isaac realized what spell was set into the three inches thick bracelet almost immediately; Teleportation.

  ‘I think we have a lead on the merchant Alexander was talking about.’ Isaac told his retainer as he attached a strand of shadows to the space between some of the woman’s dress’s layers.

  ‘I will make note of it.’ Shamesh replied. ‘Should I inform Magus Alexander?’

  Isaac sent the feeling of him shaking his head back to Shamesh. ‘Wait until we have more information and are far away from this place. Something tells me that there are hidden wards here somewhere. It seems far too easy to break into at the moment.’ Isaac instructed him.

  ‘As you say.’ Shamesh sent back with the feeling of a bow. ‘I am also inclined to agree. I have seen nothing beyond normal alarm wards on every window. The only difference between the second and third floor is the expense of the hospitality. People more willing to give this company money are taken to the uppermost floor and given pastries and foreign teas while conversing. Meanwhile, people on the floor below are offered simple cookies and locally grown tea.’

  ‘Be careful.’ Isaac warned him. ‘Don’t let your guard down just because everything else has been an open book.’

  ‘As you say.’ Shamesh said again. ‘I will maintain a state of hypervigilance.’

  ‘Good.’ Isaac replied as he continued on his way.

  The first basement level was almost an exact mirror of the upstairs levels. There were a few hallways lined with doors that lead to small conference rooms, there were even employees that worked solely in the basement levels making tea and delivering baked goods. The handful of customers were all there for the same thing however, slaves. There were no slaves on hand but instead the employees, helping the rich find one-time purchase labor, had booklets filled with information and professionally done sketches. Occasionally the customer would also require things like common drugs, usually aphrodisiacs, but most of their time was spent picking out slaves. What Isaac didn’t understand was why so many of those present weren’t even from the area. There were nobles from neighboring countries down the coast, not up because that was Ruler’s domain, and even someone from across the sea.

  Before Isaac moved on to floor negative two, he left shadows on one other person that had a magic item that stood out to him. Unfortunately though, Isaac was at his limit. He was so close to his regeneration equilibrium that, if he hadn’t practiced and trained so much while walking that specific tightrope, then he wouldn’t have known if he was gaining or losing mana. He did know that he was slightly gaining mana but he doubted that would last for much longer as those he was tethered to got further and further away. Once he was content that he understood everything that was going on in basement level one, Isaac returned to a mildly frightening doorway that he had noticed quite early on.

  The door frame was warded with the same wards as the basement access but that was expected. What Isaac hadn’t expected was four copies of the infamous Poison Bubble magical trap combination. Each one was loaded with a different deliverer of death inside of it. The first one was the classic version with actual poison gas. The second had another spell that Isaac had recognized, because of their adventure under Sapphirestone, the Phosphoric Tornado. The third looked like a super juiced up version of the Ocean in a Bottle enchantment which Isaac assumed would just immediately flood the inside of the bubble with water. And the fourth was one that Isaac recognized because it was one of the ways to actually kill him, ice. The spell inside the fourth set was Ice Storm. Freezing solid couldn’t be healed even if the bodily damage from being frozen could be. Once he was turned into an Isaac shaped ice cube and shattered, there was nothing he could do.