*** Yuki, M after she left Alzi's room ***

  FUCK! How did I fuck up that bad? Now Alzi wants me to give up. I didn't poison all those women for nothing. I'll skip the st two guards. Worst case, they are on duty, and I just have to assassihem. Maybe I get away with killing one and sneaking around the other. Leaving a few alive would be good to keep my sve alive anyway.

  Just o get through this stupid dahen be on my way.

  I just o find two files and leave. There is no reason for the guards to care that much about me.

  ...

  After I finish up my dance I leave the brothel heading to the headquarters in the middle of the city. With some luck, I'll catch a guard ge, a me know if I'm going to have a dead guard or ohat I didn't poison.

  I won't wait too long for them to show up. In an hour, the handler shift will ge. I want to sneak in then and try to blend in. Maybe I ride the coattail of someone who is allowed into the basement. Most likely, I'll have to sit around by the door for an hour, breaking the wards. Then, I'll have to do it all ain when I get to where the records are stored.

  Reag my destination, I headed to the same spot where I waited yesterday and decided to give it an hour. If I don't see any guards s by then, I'll just enter.

  Nearing the end of the hour, I spot my sve ing down the road, weaving through the people deg where to eat for dinner. Her dress is purposefully made to cover the colr I put on her. I stay put as she nears the building, ready to move once I see who she repces. I'll have at least one guard I don't have to worry about, and with some luck, she'll repe of the ones I didn't get to poison.

  A few minutes after she ehe st woman I poisohe previous night, the family with the damn trap in the er es out looking a little pale. Good, the guard Nakuma poisoned should be dying soon as well. The others I poisoned seem to be close to succumbing as well.

  I head towards the employee entrance, getting out the identification sto'll mark me as a janitor. Without special magic, most things only be ed so much before the normal magic stops w. Certain fabrics 't be ed without damaging them. Living things are the one exception to the ing so much. It was found our cells get repced often enough that the spell ts us as a new persoime we use it.

  The stone is really a neckce, but only the stone on the neckce is o pass the ward without triggering the arm. With it around my neck, I head down to the basement of the building and find the right door. I walk through without i and go down a set of stairs.

  Passing a few random members, opped the lowly janitor. The rank the handler gave us was only good at spot ing, something our illusion magic could cover up until we left.

  I searched around with my mana, trying to find the uards, but so far, they evaded my dete, or the poison got to them. I 't do the best search. If I spread my mana too far and thick, the guards would likely be the first to pick it up, or eveher assassins looking to pick up some missions.

  I pass the back door, doing a quick s to see if there may be an easy way through. I find nothing, but I keep my search for the guards going. I'll do another circle, then try to get out of sight and go invisible to begin crag the door.

  The walls are just as b the sed time through them. B grey on all sides. The occasional sign to point to the front in case you get lost, not that the building is much of a maze. Most hallways are y degrees from each other. One way leads to the front, the other to the back stairs. Closed doors lihe hallrivate offices for the high assassins, maybe hiding the guards, ste, and perhaps a few bs to make poisons and healing potions. The rooms aren't beled; whatever stone unlocks the door must also direct you to the right room as well.

  There aren't many people back here, but they seem to cover the entire space. I'm not given more than a sed before someone new es into view. I don't need long to go invisible, but if I do it slightly te, I'll be spotted disappearing.

  Making ara pass, after trying again to find a simple fw in the door, I decided to find a bathroom to disappear in. I only have two halls I haven't been down, so I pick the one closer to the front. The handlers need somewhere to go, and I doubt they would be happy walking far just to use the restroom.

  "Hey! Janitor, I need something ed. Spilled a bit of ink on the floor here," gets called as I turn the er.

  "Yes, miss. ing," I call back. Well, maybe I ge once I leave whatever room she's brought me to.

  The caller is a human woman with short brown hair and a loose dress that hides her figure. I meet her in the middle of the hall, and she turns and moves a few doors down.

  She lets us inside a normal office, a wooden desk in the er with paper and a quill and a simple chair. Shelves cover another wall filled with books, the covers hidden, not letting me see what they are about.

  "The stain is here by the table leg. Not much fell, but I don't want to get charged for damaging the carpet. They get picky about the damage when the lease is up," she instructs.

  "No worries, I'll get it out a you tinue your work," I say with a smile.

  The spill is really small—a si on the bck rug. The slight ge in color from the bk is almost impossible to see.

  The carpet has likely been ed a lot with the normal ing spell, but I give it a shot and find the ink stays. So, I just cover it up with a short-term illusion. In a few hours it'll fade, but I doubt this girl will even notice the ge in color even if the guild's check finds it.

  "All ed up. I'll let you be now."

  "Yes, thank you."

  With that I leave the room, carefully closing the door behind me. I take a quick peek in the hallway and find I'm alone.

  Without a sed thought, I make myself invisible. I do a quick check to see if anyone saw the switd find the hallway still empty. With that, I make my way back to the door.

  I do o make sure I gh the right door; they may have pced a fake door with a bunana to capture arying to sneak down.

  I carefully i it for any illusion magic, then do what I to check the stairwell behind it.

  After half an hour, I e up empty, letting me know this is the real door.

  I o be close, so I find a spot o the door so that aering or leaving wouldn't run into my invisible form.

  Right as I sit down, one of the guards es down—one I didn't poison. As long as she stands a bit away from the door, I keep w. My goal is to tinue ued now; there is o get into a useless fight. But with my sve around, I could do it if needed.

  When I face the door, the guard stays at one end, to my left. She does look towards me but doesn't react to any of my movements. So I sit back down and start iigating the wards pced on the door.

  Whoever they got to make the wards went for quality over quantity, and they didn't try to cover them. I guess they didn't think anyone would get a lot of time sitting in front of the door, being stared at by a guard.

  Despite how plicated the wards are, given enough time with them, I figure them out.

  Minutes passed us by as I studied how they worked and how to bypass or remove them. Half of the wards were t an arm, either making a loud noise or alerting specific people. Likely the guards and a few higher-ups. One was even to make the door easier to open. Bit of a waste when it seems they were limited on the number of wards they could have on the door. The weight robably the old security system. Make it heavy and hard enough to open. Only those with mana could open it.

  The rest were the standard log meisms and identity checks. The identity checks were the easiest to fool, just make the janitor stone I had an authorized user.

  The problem is log wards. They obviously spent the most time creating those. Nothing is stopping me from breaking the door down and walking in except the arms, not that the stupid guard would let me do that. I could kill her and then break it down.

  Not ready to take the nuclear option, I kept w at the log wards, slowly unraveling them. I had to be careful with my mana usage. I've been invisible for a while now, and I still o get through another door after this one and the out. I'm still a little over half, but it's never good to go below that and not be on your way out. But I won't have a choice here.

  I get the first log ward disabled and start up the sed of the three. The guard still looking over my shoulder.

  "Hey, Hazel, is there a janitor hiding around here? I spilled some tea on my desk. The stone is saying one should be in this hallway," a newer asks the guard.

  "No, I've been here for an hour or so, and you're the first person I've seen in the hallway. Find another janitor. I'll go searg for the stone; one's probably hiding ihroom or something, hoping nobody would e here looking for her."

  "Alright, the other one seems to be busy, so I'll check the bathroom. Thanks," the bitch says. Well fuck, guess I'm going to kill the guard after all.