《The King is Back》Chapter 24 - The Bodyguards
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The city of Neversummer, Capital of the Kingdom of Estalia, 1800 hours
In an area where only the most affluent of nobles live, a particular large mansion the size of a small castle stand tall towards the twilight sky above. The sunset was directly behind the castle, giving it a mesmerizing purple glow. But there was something currently happening in the mansion. Thousands of distinguished guests were currently going inside the mansion on a red carpet—disembarking their various fancy carriages pulled by the highest breeds of Ogruns. They seem to be exclusively Estalian nobles although there seem to also be foreign nobles in the mix. In order to ensure the safety of the guests, the owner of the large mansion has increased the security surrounding the perimeter. In addition, many of the incoming nobles were also bringing in their best knights with them.
Behind the huge mansion, there was a small forest owned by the nobles living inside that mansion. The forest seems to be used for morning walks or hunting—as there exist some harmless herbivore creatures here. The night seems to draw a lot of wind around this area as the leaves move back and forth in unison with one another. In one of the trees, a group of four individuals was standing as if waiting for something.
"Hey, Chandra, how are we looking?" A gruff voice belonging to a bearded man in his 50s with his hair tied up in a bun said to no one in particular.
"Leader Toziro, all is clear, the location of the kidnapped girls are still in the basement of the mansion. But...because of the event, they have added several layers of securities...why are we doing this in the middle of the national celebration day again? All the nobles from Estalia are in this city for these two weeks...seem like we're creating extra challenges for ourselves" A heavy voice can be heard from the earpiece that Toziro is wearing.
"Hahaha well that's exactly what we're doing...but not really. Troy already told us about this. Right, Troy?" Toziro asked over the voice communication again.
"Yes...I told you guys...THREE times...the national celebration day will bring extra securities sure, but with all of the guests here, they will be too preoccupied with guarding the distinguished guests instead of guarding the basement. I am certain that those extra securities near the basement consist of the weaker knights that were told by the Duke to not let any guests wander into the basement...they are not expecting people like us. Leader...I think you should just brief them one more time." Troy answered over their voice comm. sounding annoyed.
"Well I'm too lazy to do that as well...okay, just the short version then. Duke Erlington...someone I already didn't like, has been reported by the citizens to have kidnapped some city girls he found attractive to be his private sex toys in his dungeon.
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But these were just rumors and the Duke have silenced some people who spoke out, including some of the girls' family members. Although these kinds of...atrocious acts are already very in character for a noble to do, Duke Erlington doesn't want people to know the truth because he's also trying to get his son, William Erlington, to be a marriage candidate of the crown princess...and you all know the current crown princess will refuse the marriage if she gets wind of this.
So...since we're in the business of embarrassing nobles anyway, let's rescue those girls and reveal the Duke's wrongdoings. But we definitely won't be able to reveal our identities as mercenaries this time. We're acting outside the law here so we have to wear these...tacky masks." Toziro briefed the mission.
"Hey! I made those masks!" A woman's voice in the voice comm. complained.
"I have to agree with Leader, Qey, these masks you made could have been a bit more...dark." A male voice beside Toziro spoke.
"That's just you and your edgy taste, Bima! Your fucking nickname is Reaper. You can't seem to get out of your teenage edgy phase!" Qey rebutted over the voice comm.
" *whispers* why are you people squabbling with one another? Are you guys in position?" A deep voice of a man can be heard over the voice comm.
"Haha...sorry Tobias. Have you gotten rid of the sentries on the roof? Putra would have been able to shoot them normally but the wind tonight is too strong" Toziro looked over his shoulder to see Putra, also known as Ace, looking very focused.
"I'm working on it. You guys sit tight. I and Qey are inside the mansion." Tobias answered.
"Alright. This is Toziro, Kamila, Bima, and Putra standing by for infiltration outside of the mansion. Please report once you're done. Over and out." Toziro said over the voice comm. and turned it off for now.
An awkward silence ensued.
'Great...I'm stuck with these fools. Kamila never talks, Putra is just too focused on the mission, and Bima...well he's always a bit too eccentric...I guess I only have him.' Toziro thought.
"Hey, Bima, want to play cards while we wait?" Toziro asked.
"Hehehe.....I'll beat you this time, dear leader..." Bima replied with a very creepy voice.
'Great...' Toziro said in his mind.
Inside the mansion, the party was underway. The guests were so many that they had to use several ballrooms to accommodate everyone. The party was very fancy with accompanying music from renowned musicians and food from the finest chefs in the city. A lot of alcoholic drinks were served this evening and the nobles were already getting tipsy.
Tobias and Qey have disguised themselves as nobles. They are playing as Viscount Rory and his wife, Angelica, nobles from a remote region. Their real faces were known throughout the city as famous mercenaries, but Qey had used her make up skills to turned the two of them unrecognizable, transforming them into another person.
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These two were drawing a lot of attention within the crowd. Qey's voluptuous body made the wives of the nobles jealous and their husbands aroused—to their wives displeasure. And Tobias, despite being in his late 40s, looks like a man in his 30s with charming looks and a muscular tall body. Their usual brownish skin was already turned white due to Qey's make up skills.
"Miss Angelica, may I inquire where you live?" A noble asked.
"Miss Angelica! I'll leave my wife for you, what do you say?" Another noble asked.
"Hohoho...that sounds great and all but I already have my husband here." Qey grabbed Tobias's shoulder and puts it in between her breasts, which caused a lot of jealousy from the male nobles.
Tobias's situation was no different. Many female nobles were also hitting him up.
"Viscount Rory...are you still accepting concubines?" A female noble asked.
"No! I'll be his concubine!" Another female noble complained.
"Now now, settle down ladies...I have to be somewhere else now..." Tobias smiled charmingly and started to whisper to Qey.
"Alright. You go inquire information from the Duke and his son while I remove the sentries above."
"Ok, darling" Qey kissed Tobias on the mouth and pushed him away.
"Fuck!" A noble male barked.
Tobias left the ballroom to find the stairs. He found two knights guarding the stairway.
"I'm sorry dear guest but this area is off limits." A knight said.
"The Duke is still upstairs, right? He's expecting me." Tobias said with a hasty tone.
"May I inquire your name, Sir? I'll ask the Duke first." The knight asked.
"Is this the treatment of the Duke's knights? Refusing me!? Duke Marriot of Vanderholm Kingdom? I'll have you reported when I meet him" Tobias changed his voice into an entitled noble.
"I-I-Please no, Sir! We'll take you to him!" The knight was scared of the intimidation used by a foreign kingdom's duke. He was also scared because Duke Erlington was known for his treatment of his guests. If something were to ruin that reputation like right now, that person who did it would have done something worse to them than just a simple murder.
"No need. I just need one of you to lead me the way." Tobias answered.
"Then I'll do it!" One of the knights volunteered to bring him upstairs.
The mansion consisted of five floors in total. The Duke's room was on the fourth floor but Tobias needed to get to the fifth floor to get to the roof. They were walking on the third floor, about to go upstairs, when Tobias suddenly asked the knight.
"I think I need to use the toilet first. Lead me there first." Tobias ordered.
"O-of course honored Duke!" The knight complied.
There were a lot of knights guarding each floor. Tobias had to find an opportunity like this. The knight led him to a bathroom.
"It's here, Duke. Please enter" The knight opened the door.
Tobias entered the bathroom. After a while, Tobias called out to the knight from inside the toilet.
"Knight! Enter right away! There's something here!" Tobias called out with an urgent tone.
The knight took the bait and entered the toilet.
"What is it!?....*falls unconscious*" The knight can barely react before Tobias puts his hand on the head of the knight. With his unique battle force, he could bring people to sleep for a long time and do other things as well.
"I'll be borrowing your armor," Tobias said. He started to wear the equipment of the knight. The armor hid the face of the person inside.
Tobias left the toilet and found another knight nearby who saw the previous knight coming in.
"What was wrong with him?" The knight asked.
"*sigh* He saw a rat and got scared. I took care of it. He said he needs more time inside so he told me I could go back to my station." Tobias answered.
"He's scared of rats? What a coward. Alright, you should go back to your station." The knight said.
Tobias went on his way towards the fifth floor and on to the roof of the building. When he arrived, he saw around 10 knights guarding the roof.
"Who are you? what station do you belong in? Why are you here?" A knight who seemed to be the squad leader asked Tobias.
"I have news from the Duke, everyone please gather here so I can announce the news," Tobias said with a loud voice.
All ten knights started to gather near Tobias to hear the news.
"What is it? Spit it out we can't leave our guarding posts for too long" A knight said with a hurried tone.
"The news is that....you guys will now fall asleep," Tobias said and waved his hand.
"What!?....*falls unconscious*" A knight muttered before falling asleep. The rest of the knights were asleep as well.
"Heh." Tobias snickered.
Tobias went to the edge of the roof and looked towards the direction where Toziro, Kamila, Bima, and Putra were waiting in.
"This is Tobias, codename Hitman. The roof is clear. You may approach the mansion and handle the guards below." Tobias said over the voice comm.
"Finally!" A loud voice of Toziro can be heard from Tobias's ear.
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