Is this the room? Fat Sky told me to come here to report to the guard captain that I’m going to the Gates of Hell to aid the crown prince.

“…lucky that your injuries are only physical. Your meridians were left intact, and your cultivation was unharmed, but your organs are a mess. Continue taking these pills every day before you go to sleep and refrain from using qi for the next three weeks.”

Yup! It sounds like this is the room. The door opened, and a man with a white beard and white robes stepped outside. He frowned at me as his eyebrows slanted, almost touching each other in the center of his head. “The patient is severely injured and needs his rest. Go back and come see him tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Before, the old Lucia without the necklace of intelligence would ignore the man and barge into the room anyways. But the smarter and improved Lucia isn’t as stupid! I love this necklace.

“Aren’t you going back?”

“I’m waiting for you to leave first, so I can ignore your advice and see him without you judging me.” That’s right! I’m considerate now. This necklace is telling me that life’s easier with less enemies. And to make less enemies, you have to be considerate. Mhm. So hurry up and scram, old man! I’m a busy person.

“Well, I’m just a doctor,” the old man said and shook his head. “Your captain will punish you appropriately.” He reached over to the side and retrieved a white bag which he slung over his shoulder before closing the door. As he made his way down the hall, he called out, “Remember, Captain Fire, refrain from using your qi for three weeks if you want a full recovery.”

Once the old man rounded a corner, I kicked open the door and hopped inside. “Lucia Fluffytail of the Shadow Devil Sect reporting for duty!” Inside the room, there was a bed with something that looked like a mummy on top of it. It was completely wrapped in bandages, but there was a tiny gap for two black eyes to see out of. Once the eyes saw me, they rolled up and turned white as the mummy twitched and spasmed. And, somewhere, a heart devil grew. Hmm. “Guard Captain Fiercey? Is that you? I’m here to report for duty!”

There still wasn’t any response, so I went over to the side of the bed and reached out to gently shake the mummy awake. He screamed when I touched him. “Have you come to finish me off!?”

Eh…. Don’t tell me he’s seen through my disguise! “What are you talking about, Fiercey?” Fat Sky told me the guard captain’s name was Fierce Fire, but Fiercey sounds so much better, no? “This is the first time we’ve met.”

“W-what do you want from me!?” Tears poured out of Fiercey’s eyes, soaking the bandages on his cheeks. “Haven’t you taken enough!? Kill me! Just kill me! Is that what you want? To see me die!?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Captain Fiercey, you’re overreacting.” It doesn’t seem like my plan is working…. Where did I go wrong? I’m wearing my pink and black robe instead of the Bloody Bull Sect’s grey robes. Neither Ilya nor Softie are here with me just in case he recognizes people as extremely conspicuous as them. And my hammer’s not … oh. I forgot to put my hammer away. Ahem, let me just store that in my interspacial ring and … done! “Ah, that hammer was, uh, I picked it up off the ground! It was just lying there, so I took it. You know, finders, keepers. I’m Lucia Fluffytail of the Shadow Devil Sect, and I’m in no way, shape, or form related to that crazy Bloody Bull Sect person who beat you up. Look! Here’s my royal crest that I got from winning the King Province Exchange. See? See?”

Fiercey stared at me, but he didn’t say anything. Though, a yellow patch did start spreading throughout the bandages on the lower part of his body.

“Anyways…, I’m here for my earth-realm-ranked sword! And the second prince, Fat Sky, told me to come here to tell you that my squad’s been assigned to the Gates of Hell under the crown prince’s command.” I looked around his room, but there weren’t any signs of any swords. There’s a bookshelf with some books in the corner of the room. There’s a desk with a pretty, shiny rock on top of it. Ahem. Shiny rock? There wasn’t a shiny rock on the desk. There’s just a desk. There’s a wardrobe that I rifled through but didn’t find a sword inside of. And there’s a chest at the base of the mummy’s bed that was filled with clothes. I took the underwear. “So, where’s my sword?” I already looked through his interspacial ring back at the restaurant, but there weren’t any swords inside of it. I did take the sword he stabbed through my heart, but that was his sword, not the sword reserved for me.

“G-go to the armory…,” Fiercey said.

Hmm? The armory? I guess an army should have one of those, huh? I should’ve gone there first, what was I thinking? “Okay! Which way is that?”

“When you leave, take a left. It’ll be the second building on your right.”

Mm. Got it! With this bone of focus and necklace of intelligence, memorizing directions like these is completely a piece of cake! Take a right when I leave, and it’ll be the second building on my left. Easy! I can’t count the number of times I was beaten in the army for failing to follow instructions correctly, but now I won’t have to worry about that anymore—not like I had to after getting Durandal, but still. “And I’ll say you sent me, right, Fiercey?”

“Please, refer to me as Guard Captain Fire….”

Oh? How dare he not like the name I gave him after spending so much time and effort thinking it up?

“F-Fiercey’s fine too,” Fiercey wailed. “Please, hurry up and leave! I, I never want to see you again!”

There we go. Durandal’s handy-dandy staring trick works everywhere! It’s time to rob a treasury with the owner’s permission. Hmm, hmm, happy days. I never get permission to take everything; I knew being considerate was the way to go.