“It’s here.” Jorik pointed to the house ahead of them.

Mahon, Zac and him were hiding behind a street corner as they observed the house from afar.

“Should we walk slowly in the street and get a better look?” Zac suggested.

“We will, but we’ll have only one passage if we don’t want it to be suspicious. Let me point out the important elements first.” Jorik answered. “You can’t see the guards from there, besides the one at the entrance. Because of the wall, we can’t see much of the property, but once you pass near the gates you can see inside. I’ve been there once already, and it’s your typical rich residence. It’s in the middle of a park, and it’s three-story tall. There are guards touring the park, but probably enough vegetation to be able to pass through unspotted.”

Mahon nodded while listening to the explanation. He actually had the most experience with stealing missions because of the Fada cult, but each time he had tried to keep watch outside to prevent anyone from dying. In the end, he had never broken in himself. He watched the wall surrounding the counselor’s residence and the guard standing at duty in front the gate while Jorik continued his explanation.

“There shouldn’t be any guards inside the manor, they’re mainly patrolling the outskirts of the property. Alas, there is the bodyguard inside, but that’s why I’m here. I’ll probably have her distracted while talking to the Counselor. The only hard part for you is to get into the building, and by then you should be fine. Exiting should be easy too, as you can just outrun everyone and make your stealing known if needed.”

“We should agree on a signal if the counselor tells you something that doesn’t require us to steal anything. Or if there is danger lurking around.” Mahon said.

“Yes, no problem. I guess if there is nothing to steal, I might just call you? And if you need to run, then just… whistle?” Jorik whistled two simple notes, and Mahon nodded.

“Good to me.”

The trio continued to observe the mansion from afar while discussing their strategy. At some point, they walked one by one in front of the residence as if they were like any passerby and tried to see more of what they should expect once they climbed up the wall.

When it was Mahon’s turn, he immersed himself in the Flow and tried to feel what was beyond. His walking became perfect in an almost suspicious way, but the guard at the gate didn’t even glance at him, and Mahon could fully focus on any rhythm coming from the Blue counselor’s residence.

He sensed the guards walking around leisurely and the wind in the garden’s foliage. Deeper into the Flow, he managed to extend his reach to the house, and he picked up the people living there. The house was actually empty except for three people, two women and one man.

The counselor, the backer, and his bodyguard.

He recognized the two latter, as he already sensed them with the Flow during the last mine event. Although he had already seen the counselor before, he had not been Flowing at that time, and he only guessed it should be her.

They were just at the limit of his perception, and as soon as he passed beside the gate, he lost them. He continued walking normally and gathered more information about the patrolling guards. He could have immersed himself even further in the Flow, but then he would have to stop walking at all. His range fluctuated depending on what he was focusing on.

If he stayed still and meditated, then he could reach pretty far, as much as two hundred meters in Nightmare after some concentration. While walking or intensely fighting, his range was more limited, to the point that it barely went below thirty meters or so.

He turned right at the next intersection and continued observing the property from another side. There was no gate on this section of the wall, but the guards were patrolling this area all the same. He mentally noted their path and joined Zac and Jorik, who had passed in front of the house before him.

“So?” Zac asked as he reached them.

“It shouldn’t be much of a problem. I’ve picked up on the patrol paths. Let me show you.”

Mahon explained what he had noticed and confirmed the presence of both the backer and the bodyguard. Jorik had Flowed as well while passing, but he hadn’t managed to pick up on the building. Still, he had been able to sense the patrolling guards and his own insights coupled with Mahon’s ones helped them unravel the probable patrol’s path. After a bit more planning and reverse engineering, they finally agreed on the best way to sneak in.

Once darkness dimmed their surroundings and reduced their sights, Mahon and Zac changed their clothes to black. They gestured for Jorik they were ready, and the noble left for the residence in a calm demeanor.

Mahon entered the Flow and guided Zac to a place at the opposite of the gates where he couldn’t sense any guards coming to. He waited a bit, and when he felt the guards change their pattern to check who was coming at such a late hour, Mahon signaled Zac and they rushed to the wall.

It wasn’t that high, barely towering at three meters, but his surface was smoothed, and there were no easy climbing holds. They weren’t aiming to climb it, anyway, and Mahon positioned himself to throw Zac upwards. He joined his hands for Zac to put his feet in, and letting the Flow guide him, he threw his friend up in the air, at the perfect angle for him to grab the top of the wall.

Zac caught it almost without a sound and quickly climbed over. He sat down at the top with one leg on each side of the wall. He then extended his hand downwards to Mahon while making sure he was balanced enough to help his friend climb up.

Mahon stepped back from the wall and then started running towards it. He quickly accelerated and jumped exactly on time when the distance was right. The Flow helped him place his foot on the wall and push on it to get the last centimeters he needed to reach Zac’s hand. His perfect jump made it more than easy to catch it, and Zac pulled him up as soon as they had grabbed each other.

They stopped once they were both on top of the wall, and Mahon focused on his surroundings. When he was sure no one was in the vicinity, he jumped down on the other side, and Zac followed a second after. The thud sound of their fall didn’t seem to attract anyone, and Mahon gestured the ‘all good’ sign to his friend.

The duo crouched and moved in the residence direction while Mahon led them onto the safest path. At one point, he got close enough to sense Jorik had entered the property and was walking in tow of the counselor. The woman had dispatched the guards, and they were now heading back to their house. He couldn’t pick what they were saying, but the conversation seemed relaxed given their calm rhythms.

“Jorik had managed to get in.” He whispered to Zac. “Let’s go.”

Zac nodded in answer, and Mahon continued to walk closer to the building. They were close to its rear when he picked up a patrol coming their way and gestured for Zac to hide low.

He laid down beside his friend, and they silently crawled under a little tree out of sight. They waited there for the guards to pass, and once they went away Mahon gestured for Zac they could get up.

The duo pursued his path towards the house and stopped once they were a meter away from it. They had targeted a window on the first floor that looked easy enough to be picked up.

The wall wasn’t smoothed this time, and they had an easier time climbing to the window. Zac spent some time trying to open it, but it wasn’t actually as heavily locked as they had feared.

Mahon was keeping watch on their surroundings with the Flow, observing the patrols but also Jorik and the counselor. They had settled for a wide room somewhere on the ground floor and their discussion still appeared calm and measured.

He picked up the backer signature somewhere on the same floor, but the man hadn’t yet joined them. Mahon then checked for the bodyguard, and he noticed that she was immobile somewhere on the second floor, far away from their actual position. It seemed she was simply resting in her room.

That will have to do.

A click could be heard as Zac finally managed to push open the window, and the two friends slipped inside. They carefully closed the window behind them without making much noise before they observed their surroundings.

Mahon’s Flow couldn’t actually pick up the inanimate objects if there wasn’t anything moving beside them. It was like his vision was dulled, and thus he couldn’t decipher the place’s settings.

They walked slowly so as not to make any noises and started to explore the place. They entered the nearby rooms and gestured to the other what they discovered.

Mahon opened a door and glanced inside the piece. It was just an empty living room with a few pillows on the ground and nothing else. There wasn’t much light, but he could at least see that much. He gestured to Zac there was nothing interesting, and the noble mirrored his gesture.

The duo walked forward and repeated their actions in the next rooms. The counselor’s mansion was actually very big, but the rooms were too and thus they didn’t have that many rooms to check. Instead, if the manor had been set up just like Zac’s family one, it would have been a nightmare to check everything.

Here, at least, the floors and rooms were relatively simple, far from the maze of Zac’s house. They were looking for an office or whatever could hold any important document, but the more they looked around the floor, the more they realized there were few chances they would find an office around there.

It was just a leisure floor with water rooms, living rooms and an immense library. At first they had thought the library would be a good thing to check, alas it has literally just been bookshelves after bookshelves with no table or way to take notes nearby. Just endless rows of bookshelves.

They reached the last part of the floor they hadn’t explored yet, but they had almost given up on finding anything worthy on this floor. Mahon entered the last room, but it was just empty. Completely empty. Not even a table or a decoration. Not wanting to debate the counselor’s choice of furnishing, he closed the door behind him and gestured to Zac for another nothing.

“Up or down?” Zac whispered to him while glancing at the nearby stairs.

Mahon held back a sigh. He checked for the position of the other occupants of the house, but they hadn’t moved much. If they went downstairs, they wouldn’t be able to check half of the floor because of the presence of Jorik, the counselor, and the backer. Mahon also doubted the counselor’s office would be there, as he had mostly picked up wide rooms when Jorik had moved through the house before.

If they were going upstairs, they would probably find what they looked for. The presence of the bodyguard suggested there were bedrooms, and that meant personal stuff being nearby. It was their best shot, but it also brought them a lot closer to the bodyguard than Mahon wanted to.

The woman was able to Flow, and if she just tried it and focused outwards, she would find them immediately. The farther away they were, the less chance she’d detect them if she Flowed. And they would have more time to run away as well.

Mahon glanced at his friend. They had brought a shortsword each if things turned sour, and they would probably be able to fight off the bodyguard long enough to run if it ever came to it, but that was their last option. Thinking about it, they could probably fight their way off the residence without too much of an issue.

They came in to look for answers, and the answers were probably on the second floor, so Mahon didn’t hesitate much longer to reach his decision.

“Let’s check upstairs.” He whispered back to Zac.