Tuesday, February 17th, N.E. 807, 23:02

Michael’s carriage, 5th Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Michael Canyon Fredirin.

For the most part, during the cold winter months, there were few major balls and galas held within the Fredirin Kingdom. Major events would require travel, and considering that most the Fredirin Kingdom occupied high altitudes, the cold would already be a great deterrent for said travel, and if it snowed, even more so.

However, there were still plenty of small events that took place, the world did not just come to a halt due to a few months of cold. In fact, if one was well connected, then there would be an invite to a party practically every night, and this Tuesday night was no different.

The Fischer Family’s youngest son had turned ten today, so they had hosted a party in celebration. The head of the Fischer Family was merely a baron, and the family was not an old one with a long history, but they still hosted a decent sized party that ran from late afternoon until nearly midnight. The guest of honor had already retired for the night and at this point, the party was only for the adults who would continue drinking and making merry, the youth who were invited had either already left, or were on their way out now.

In fact, a carriage was in the process of leaving right this moment.

Early, when the birthday boy was still awake, he would have seen the carriages off, but now, it was the job of his siblings. One of his older brothers would walk the guests out to where their carriage waited, wish them a safe journey, and then return.

However, right now, both of his brothers, his sister, and his father and mother were all seeing this guest off.

This carriage was significantly more ornate than any of the other carriages that had left tonight, and unlike the others who normally had one guard who doubled as a coachman, this one was guarded by a group of heavily armored knights, sixteen of them. Each knight sat atop a large warhorse that was also heavily armored.

“Young Master, thank you for gracing my son’s birthday with your presence today.” The head of the Fischer family, Baron Martin Fischer, said humbly as he bowed his head towards the young man who was walking towards his carriage.

The man was young, not even twenty, but he held himself with pride and self-confidence, so much so that he looked older than he really was. He was tall, even for an adult, reaching nearly six feet. His face still had traces of his youthful innocence, but it was a face that already would make the hearts of women beat faster, even the Fischer Family’s daughter looked away shyly. He had silky soft brown hair, crystal clear blue eyes, and he wore a white outfit decorated with golden buckles inlaid with small and tasteful rubies. To protect him against the night chill, he had a black cloak wrapped around his shoulders that at a glance looked plain, but that was incomparably expensive, it was, after all, a high-grade magic item.

“No, don’t worry about it Baron Fischer, Larry is my good friend, and his brother is my brother.” the young man, Michael Canyon Fredirin reassured the man as he patted his shoulder. “Still, it is late, and I do have school tomorrow. Larry, you do too, so don’t be late.”

Michael Canyon Fredirin winked at his friend, smiled at their sister, who turned even redder, and then alighted into his carriage. He waved out from the window as they set off, heading down the dark streets of the Royal Capital.

“Wooo… I am tired…” Michael said as he removed the cloak from his shoulders, the interior of the carriage was heated magically, so it served no purpose now.

As the carriage steadily proceeded along, Michael took this time to relax a bit, he had woken up early, at dawn, to finish his assignments for school, he had then rushed to school to avoid being late, spent the day in various lectures, returned home only long enough to get changed, and then had headed out. As a member of the Canyon Family, there was a few business within the capital that he was nominally in charge of, that he needed to check in on occasionally. Normally he would do this on a Sunday, but he had been too busy this recent Sunday, and it was likewise the same yesterday. In fact, he was still so busy that he was only able to check in with half of the business under his care, and while there was nothing major wrong, they still voiced various complaints. If there was a silver lining, it was that he had nothing to do other than listening to them, their problems didn’t require any real follow up because they weren’t real problems. And then after he did his rounds, he had headed straight to this party.

He had only slept for about four hours last night, and tonight looked like it would be the same. It would take about thirty minutes to return to the Canyon Estate, he would need to spend some time working on his school assignments before he went to bed, and he would probably need to wake up early again to finish them. Tomorrow too, would be busy, after school he had accepted an invitation from the daughter of the Silver-Bow Family to go see a play, and since he was a director at one of the major orphanages in the city, he needed to go there and take care of some work. Not to mention, he needed to finish his inspection of the businesses under his care.

“Gah… I just want to rest for a day. Why do so many people need me for things?” He sighed in exasperation.

“Young Master is an important and powerful person.” Was the response he got.

The carriage he was in was sealed well, it wasn’t exactly soundproofed, but unless he yelled, his voice would only be a muffled mess, and considering that the wheels and the horses pulling it made noise too, it was impossible that anyone outside could have heard what he said.

Thus it could be concluded, that there was another person in the carriage with him, and in fact, there was.

In the far corner was a thin woman, appearing to be in her mid-twenties, she had black hair and gray eyes that looked, well, dull. The simple maid outfit she wore, a black top and skirt with a white apron, and a brown coat on top, made her look even more inconsequential. She was very easy to overlook, but Michael had known she was there from the beginning.

She was called Shannon, Daughter of Jerry, as a commoner she lacked a true family name. And she held a rather unique position as Michael’s executive maid.

Servants, maids included, had various ranks. They weren’t hard and fast guidelines, but at the lowest, there was the apprentices and trainees, and then above them were the full-fledged servants. After working for a few years at the same place, a servant would become a senior servant. And then all of these servants would fall under the command of a head servant, usually a head maid or a butler. For low ranking nobility and merchant families, senior servants would generally be the highest ranking servants they would have, but for the upper nobility, they would often split the servant jobs into sections, there would be chefs and other kitchen hands, gardeners and landscapers, cleaning crews, and maintenance workers and handymen. With clearly defined roles like this, there would be department heads that would then report to the main head. And for the largest families, there would often be deputy department heads that would share the responsibility with the true head.

Shannon however, was an executive maid, a rank that didn’t match up with the normal rankings. In fact, the position of executive maid was something that Michael had invented, and as far as he knew, Shannon was the only person who held it in the world. Shannon was a mix of a senior maid, responsible for assisting Michael throughout his day, and a secretary. She not only kept track of his schedule, but she also acted as his liaison to many people he dealt with.

Her commoner background did create some hassles when he had hired her nearly two years ago, but her competence, along with his insistence, had silenced most of the naysayers. In reality, there would always be detractors, and Shannon would need to get used to that for their future.

“I wish I wasn’t.” Was the answer he finally gave.

“Yes I know that young master, but as you know, wishes are worthless.”

“I wonder who said such heartless words.”

“As if the young master doesn’t know.” She said dryly.

“Yes yes, it must have been some heartless bastard. Oh, that is right, it was me, wasn’t it?”

“It is good that the young master remembers his words.”

“Haha,” Michael laughed, some of the stress leaving his body.

Shannon did not laugh, but he could recognize a slight glimmer within her eyes that indicated she was enjoying herself.

“Young master.” Shannon waited until he had stopped laughing to speak up. “I have taken the liberty to change the return route, we will be going through Toris Park.”

“Er? Why?” Michael asked surprised at the seemingly pointless detour.

“This path will take fifteen minutes longer, but it will be a smoother ride, and there will be less noise.”

“Yes?”

“Since the young master can only sit and wait during the ride, I thought it would be best if the young master could rest for the duration of the trip, after all, there is still much work to do tonight.”

“Hmm…” Michael mumbled as he thought about her idea.

It wasn’t too late to change the route back to the original so he could get home faster, which would allow him to jump straight into his school assignments, the sooner those were done, the sooner he could get some proper sleep.

That said, a difference of fifteen minutes would make little difference, and his work assignments will be easier to complete after some rest.

If there was a problem, it was that napping on a moving carriage was not exactly easy. Even with Shannon’s attention to detail with diverting to a more peaceful route, it was debatable if he’d be able to fall asleep.

Suddenly though, he had a thought, a fun thought.

“It would be nice to get some shut-eye while I can, I’m not sure if I could sleep in the carriage…” Michael steeled his face as he said that, he couldn’t let her pick up anything being amiss.

“I see then, I will tell the driver to take the original path.” She responded with no sign that she was upset that her goodwill had been rejected.

“Sorry to bother you…”

Shannon stood from the bench she was resting on and moved towards the door to the carriage, she would need to at least open it a crack and relay the message to one of the knights, who would then pass it on to the driver. There was a window that could be opened to allow them to directly talk to the driver, but that window was large, and in the front of the carriage, opening it would allow cold air to flood in. The door would be a much better option, and while she would have to cross in front of Michael to get to it, the interior was spacious enough that she wouldn’t need to bother him.

That being said, maneuvering about on a moving carriage did require a certain amount of finesse, and it could be said that Shannon had more than enough ability to do so, but even then, when the young man, still seated, launched his arm out, the ever capable executive maid was caught off guard. Before she could even utter a surprised cry, the hand on her wrist has pulled her towards the seat. Even as she tried to regain her balance, a second arm had wrapped around her waist. Gently, she was seated down on the same bench as the young master of the Canyon Family.

“I changed my mind, a nap sounds good,” Michael said with a smile to his maid, who only showed a slightly annoyed look on her face. “And I think you could probably use some rest too.”

“Haaa… Young Master, I do wish you would have just asked.” She sighed as she spoke in a flat tone.

“Well Shannon, if I had asked, you would have said no.” He replied while still keeping her wrapped with one arm and grabbing his discarded coat with the other.

“If you know that, why do you still act?”

“Hmm… Good question?” He said as he made the cloak into a makeshift blanket and wrapped it around them. “Comfy?”

“... no, there is no pillow…”

“You will have to make do with my shoulder,” He repositioned himself a bit to make it more comfortable. Shannon was still wrapped in his arm, but he had begun to lean into the corner and pulled her along with him so she was partially leaning on his chest since she was shorter than him, her head rested perfectly on his shoulder.

“...”

“Well? Is this better?” He asked when she didn’t say anything.

“Haa… You know Young Master, I sigh a lot more when I am around you.” She said, but she still stifled a yawn.

“I’m sorry Shannon, I know your work is exhausting.”

“No, I know that you work much harder than me. I wish I could do more…”

“You do plenty. Just being here, is enough.” He said sincerely.

For a while, neither spoke and the only sound was the creaking of the carriage wheels and the steps of the surrounding warhorses.

“Shannon, are you still awake?” He asked lightly.

“Hmm…? What… is it… Young… Master…?” her voice was low and drowsy, her eyes were already fluttering.

“Thank you.”

“Mmm…”

Tuesday, February 17th, N.E. 807, 23:51

Canyon Estate 1st floor hallway, 3rd Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Michael Canyon Fredirin.

Michael Canyon Fredirin was a young man, mature for his age, that shouldered an incredible amount of responsibility, and he lived up to those responsibilities. With his behavior and looks combined, no one would think he was only a young adult of fourteen years.

However, in some places and some ways, he was still a boy at heart. When in private, he could be surprisingly childish, and like most boys, he had a fondness for teasing the girl he liked.

“It’s cold. So very, very, very, cold.” He said with a deadpan tone.

It had been less than five minutes since they had arrived at the Canyon Estate within the royal capital, a utilitarian series of buildings made of a simple gray brick. It had also been less than five minutes since the two had woken up.

“Well, it is winter, but still, it is so cold.”

Michael slept surprisingly well, and his mood had improved considerably. That was, however, only to be expected, Michael had received a warrior’s training, and one aspect of that included the ability to fall asleep quickly, and in inconvenient circumstances, and also to stay asleep. Michael slept like a log, he would normally sprawl out to some extent and then remain almost entirely motionless as he slept.

“Really, it is cold.”

Shannon for her part, was still being trained to be a bodyguard, and a guard’s sleep was different, she needed to be able to sleep efficiently, but also to be able to wake up immediately when any sounds were made. Of course, her training had only been going on for a little under two years, and all of her maid duties were also lumped into that training, so she was still far from that ideal.

“I might even come down with an illness from this chilliness.”

And unlike Michael who's sleeping posture which appeared as if he was a corpse, Shannon was the type that curled up into a ball when she slept, a fact that Michael found rather cute. Shannon had few personal possessions, and rarely splurged with her salary, but the one thing she had bought for herself, was a large bed that dominated her room, a room that was already a bit larger than what a senior servant would have. Her bed was a mass of blankets and pillows, appearing as less of a bed, and more like a nest for some animal to hibernate in. Even curled up as she slept, she often latched onto her pillows and wrapped around them.

“If only I had a cloak…”

As they walked throughout the Canyon Estate, Michael was lacking his black cloak, it had been handed off to a servant to be laundered.

“At the very least, if only I wasn’t… damp…” Michael couldn’t help but smirk as he said that, he knew Shannon couldn’t see him, but he also knew that she could tell he was smiling from the tone of his voice.

And as he mentioned, not only was he missing his cloak, but there was a conspicuous damp spot on his left shoulder.

“......”

Shannon probably wanted to say something, but she was smart enough to know that nothing she said would convince Michael to give up his taunts.

“I do wonder how this happened though.”

Shannon, true to form, had curled up in Michael’s embrace as she fell asleep, she cuddled into his chest, latching onto him, and onto his cloak. In fact, while she had slept, the edge of the cloak had ended up in her mouth, where she had seemingly chewed on it.

When the two had awoken, not only was the cloak ruffled and wet, but she had drooled onto his shoulder, leaving a decently sized wet splotch.

“So… Sooooo...Cooooold!!” He wailed dramatically.

“Young.... Master… please…” Shannon whimpered.

“Hmm…” Michael thought to himself for a second. “Shannon, you’re good at math right? How about you do my math assignment, and I will never speak of this again?”

Without even looking at her, Michael knew she was torn about her decision. On one hand, she adamantly refused to do his assignments or to allow others to do it for him, after all, it was his assignment. But on the other, she knew he would torment her for days for this, and worse, she couldn’t even get annoyed and claim he was overreacting, even now, his shoulder was still damp.

“Shannon, it is just the math assignment, and you know I am capable of doing it myself, it will just take up my time.”

This was true, Michael didn’t particularly enjoy math, but because of his position in the Canyon Family, he was proficient in it despite his dislike. What the school was teaching was material he had already learned.

And while he did feel bad about taking up Shannon’s time, he knew that she was already overbooked, her maid training was days, if not weeks, behind. If she didn’t do the math assignment, she would instead be completing more of that training, and frankly, she was vastly more valuable to him as a secretary than as a mere maid.

And furthermore, he didn’t like her completing any more of that training. A fundamental aspect of training as a maid was being humble and obeying anything the master said, Michael did not want Shannon as a subordinate, but as a partner. So if she skipped that, then all the better.

“Fine, I will do your math assignment. But! Just this once.” She finally caved in and agreed to his demands.

“Good, then we shall never speak of this again.” He said solemnly, but then added, “At least for now”

“...”

“Well, I am sure this will be a fun story when we are older.”

Wednesday, February 18th, N.E. 807, 1:06

Michael's Bedroom, 3rd Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

Michael Canyon Fredirin.

“Hooo… Finally.” Michael let out a breath of air and leaned back in the padded chair in front of his desk.

They had arrived back at the estate a bit before midnight, and it had been nearly two hours since then, and he was just finishing his assignments.

However, this was actually better than what he had been planning on.

The nap in the carriage had left him feeling refreshed, allowing him to go further tonight before turning in, and with Shannon taking care of the math, the part that would have taken him the longest, he was able to sit down and muscle through the assignments, getting them all done tonight. The original plan was to get as much done now, and then wake up early tomorrow and finish it. Now, while he did stay up a bit longer than he intended, he would still manage to get at least six hours of sleep tonight.

“Young Master, good work.” Shannon had left her spot, wrapped up in blankets on the sofa, and had brought him a mug of warm goat milk that she had already prepared.

“Thank you, and I should be saying the same to you too.”

“Mmmm” She nodded and then went back to her pile of blankets.

“Will you… sleep here tonight?” He gently asked.

“No, I am still in my uniform, I need to go back and get changed.”

“You do know, I keep several sets of your night clothes here.”

“... Young Master, it isn’t appropriate for me to sleep on your sofa, I don’t want any more rumors to spread.”

“First of all, who said anything about the sofa? As long as you promise not to drool…”

“Young Master, we had a deal.”

“You are right. My apologies. Still, the offer stands. And as for the rumors, who cares?”

“I do, and you should too. I do not want to be a weakness for you.”

“Shannon, no matter what weakness and vulnerabilities you bring me, it will all be worth it. I can one hundred percent guarantee it”

“Still, it isn’t appropriate for an unmarried couple to spend the night in the same room.”

“So if we get married?”

“Stop joking!” Shannon said harshly.

“... You know I am not joking.”

“The Young Master is someone who will go to great places and do great things, and you will have a splendid wife in the future.”

“You are right, at least about that last part, I think you overestimate me for the first half. And my splendid wife will be you.”

“I… I wish you wouldn’t say that. I know I am not suitable, no matter what you might say, and what I might want, I am not suitable to be your wife.”

“Shannon, one day, I will either make my Father the next king, and then I will withdraw from the competition myself, or, if I don’t think Father can win, I will give up at that time. Regardless, with no expectations, I will be able to marry whoever I want.”

“The Young Master should not speak like that.”

“Hahaha,” Michael laughed. “You have no idea how much I hate this. Or, I guess you do? I do complain about it all the time after all. Nothing would make me happier to give up on this madness. The stress, the work, the distrust of my cousins, even my siblings. We may all be working together now, but if we win, and Father becomes the next king, then my brothers and sisters will need to compete, our children will go through the same thing we are going through now. Even if Father were to win, I would not wish this on my children.”

Following Michael’s slight outburst, there was a moment of silence.

“Young Master, I know this is hard on you, and… despite what… what… I…” Shannon shook her head and then stood up. “I will take my leave. Good night Young… Good night Michael.”

She sent him a slight bow, before she exited the room, leaving the young man to sit there in thought until fatigue overtook him and he headed over to his bed and fell into it. He still wore his outfit from the day, and the shoulder had long since dried, but he still drifted off to sleep with a smile as he remembered the carriage ride home.

Wednesday, February 18th, N.E. 807, 2:33

Canyon Estate 8th break room, 3rd Circle, Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

????????.

Where the Pine Estate was a sprawling compound infused with the feeling of nature, the Canyon Estate was a bland, unfeeling structure with a few annexes nearby. The main structure was little more than a three-story rectangle, the windows were old-fashioned, gated, and covered with shutters. The halls were stone with reinforced wood floors, most of which were covered with wool rugs. The Canyon Family seemingly eschewed the more common fur rugs used in the Fredirin Kingdom, opting for the wool creations that their territory is known for. And because the one building took up the majority of the estate, that building had several waiting rooms and break rooms that were almost exclusively used by the servants.

Most visitors to the Canyon Family Estate find it difficult to get comfortable and describe the building as a modified fort, and they wouldn’t be wrong.

In one break room used by the servants, in the center of the building on the third floor, there was a large table surrounded by several cushioned chairs and couches, and upon these pieces of furniture, were various pillows.

Since it was currently a few hours before dawn, the room was vacant, the last servants that used it had left hours ago, while Michael was still at Baron Fischer’s party.

But now, at the deepest part of the night, something stirred in this room.

On a nondescript chair near the wall, a pillow began to wiggle, seemingly under its own power. After a few seconds of squirming, there was a sudden snap, and then suddenly, a blackened blade was thrust through the pillow from the inside. Tearing sounds followed, and after a few more seconds, silence had returned.

But from the torn pillow, the form of a sheep, one covered with burnt and mottled fur, emerged.

The sheep's form didn’t allow it to stand upright like a human, but it could still hunch over and walk on two of its legs. And in fact, this was necessary, since the sheep held in one of its front hooves a sharp black dagger that was about six inches long. The blade was flat, thin, and straight, but it was also incredibly sharp.

Strangely enough, the sheep also had a belt strapped diagonally across its body, and on the belt were various pouches and an empty sheath that formerly held the knife.

The sheep looked around a bit, taking in the room, before nimbly jumping down from the chair to the floor. While the jump itself was nimble, the landing was not, it stumbled and fell, the knife even slid out of its front hoof and clattered across the floor. Without a moment’s hesitation, the sheep reclaimed the dagger and then promptly slid under another one of the chairs.

The sheep waited for five minutes, and when no one came to investigate, it slowly crawled back out, now covered in dust. From one of the pouches, the sheep pulled out a small length of thin silken rope, it barely reached four feet long, and at one end was a hook covered in cloth.

Like an expert, the sheep swung the hook to build up some momentum, before letting it loose, sending the hook back up onto the chair where the torn pillow was. It only took two tries to hook the pillow and pull it down to the floor towards the sheep.

With the pillow still hooked, the sheep turned and went towards the only door in the room, all the while dragging the pillow behind it. Once at the door, the hook was extracted from the pillow, and again, the sheep expertly threw the hook, this time towards the doorknob. If the knob had been a handle or latch, the hook would have been sufficient to allow access, but since it was a knob that needed to be turned, the sheep had to perform an extra step. It placed its dagger back into the sheath, double checked that the rope was secure, and then placed its leg upon the door, and then kicked off the ground, and like a mountain climber scaled the door.

When it reached the knob, it was able to turn it, but, the door opened inward to the room, and the knob was too far from the edge of the door for the sheep to push off of the wall. If there was a piece of furniture nearby, the sheep could throw its hook, latch onto that, and then pull the door, but sadly, nothing within four feet would work.

Instead, the sheep withdrew from another pouch, a piece of woven reeds. It was only a square about two inches by two inches, and it was also thin, but despite being thin, it was stiff and sturdy. The sheep turned the knob, and then rammed the woven reeds into the gap between door and wall. It was just barely able to reach, but the reeds prevented the latch from moving back into position when the sheep released the knob. Finally, the sheep undid the hook, and then jumped back to the ground, it stumbled again, but, didn’t fall this time.

And finally, on the ground, the sheep replaced the hook and rope and withdrew a very small crowbar, maybe only six inches in length. It was thin enough that it slid under the door, and grabbed onto the far side. The sheep simply pulled it, and the door swung open. The woven reeds did fall out, but since they were simply reeds, they made nearly no sound as they fell.

The sheep listened a bit to make sure no one was walking down the hallway, and when it heard nothing, I poked its head out. Seeing no one, the sheep again grabbed the torn pillow and moved with a surprisingly level of speed into the hall. Before shooting down the hall away from the room, it used the crowbar to pull the door shut, quietly.

It took the sheep only ten seconds to traverse the twenty feet from the break room to the first intersection. It would have been faster, but it paused at each door and listened for a moment, and after hearing nothing moving, it would continue on.

It paused at the intersection, checking for any servants or guards, and then turned right and continued on at a fast pace.

Twenty seconds later, it came to a stair landing. It was a large space, a bit larger than the break room from before, but worryingly, it opened directly into the stairwell, allowing anyone who came up the stairs to immediately see anything and everything taking place in the landing.

The sheep listened at the entrance to the landing, and again near the stairwell, and when it heard nothing, it scampered under the few decorate pieces of furniture here towards its current goal, the fireplace directly adjacent to the stairwell.

Without hesitation, the sheep plowed right into the fireplace, knocking some the burning embers and coal about. It even drug the pillow in with it, which started to smolder a bit at the edges.

Ideally, the fireplace would have had a real fire, instead of just the embers left behind, which would have ignited the pillow immediately. But, the sheep was prepared for this, and reached into another pouch, and withdrew a small flask of liquid. Popping the cap, the sheep poured the contents, a mixture of oil and alcohol, onto the pillow. Within seconds, the fuel ignited, and the flames began eating through the pillow.

The sheep, seeing that the flames were stronger, and more importantly, brighter, than it had expected, quickly grabbed the pillow and shoved it down into the glowing embers. Partially buried, the flames consuming the pillow were now a lot less noticeable. Even then, the sheep was still concerned and covered the flames with its own body.

It took nearly five minutes for the pillow to be reduced to something that was mostly indistinguishable to the surrounding coals, and besides wasting its time, the sheep was none the worse for wear.

With that done, the sheep turned towards its true goal in entering the fireplace, the small shaft in the back.

The Canyon estate had air vents built into the stone walls, they lead to several openings in halls and rooms, which allowed heat to spread through the building. They also gave a route for smoke from the fireplaces to escape to, greatly increasing the quality of life for anyone within the building.

The vents had several access points to allow servants to clean them. This was needed because the vents were far too small for a human, even a child, to enter, they were only six inches wide and about four inches high.Not relying only on the small size, several metal grates blocked the vents, and while they did open up into some less important rooms when they connected to an important room, they did so only through an existing fireplace. So even if someone with nefarious intentions could overcome the small size and the grates, they would still exit into a fireplace. This was an effective method of stopping assassins from using snakes, bugs, or even poison gas to hunt their targets.

However, for the sheep, the flames meant nothing, it’s body was impervious to flames of this scale. And when the sheep reached the grate, it simply placed its front hooves against it, and then bent the bars until there was an opening wide enough for the sheep to slip through. It did bend them back, and while the finished product wouldn’t look wrong at a glance, it wouldn’t stand up to any real level of scrutiny. But none of that mattered to the sheep, it would be long gone before any investigation even began.

The sheep didn’t know where any of the access points were, nor did it know what the rooms that the vent went into were for. It didn’t have a map, and as it turned out, the vents were a veritable maze. It knew where it needed to go, the southeastern corner on the first floor. And while it had no map, it would never get lost, it was just a matter of time until it found its goal.

Some thirty minutes later, a dirty and soot-covered sheep finally found its target. It bent the bars just like it had countless times already, and then entered into another fireplace that was filled with lightly glowing embers.

From within fireplace, the sheep surveyed the room. There were shelves on the far wall, three doors at various locations led to other rooms and the hallway, but since they were all closed, the sheep didn’t know which was which. There was a desk near the shelves, a small sitting area consisting of a table and two chairs, a sofa with a bundle of blankets piled upon it. There was a suit of shiny scale mail on a mannequin, and there were several weapons, swords, spears, and bows, on the wall near it. And near the fireplace, was a large and simple canopy bed with cloth sheets, likely wool, covering it.

And, there was a person sleeping in the bed.

The sheep exited the fireplace, and carefully headed to the foot of the bed. Once there, it took out the hook attached to the rope, and then took out a second, identical one, and then it removed the cloth wrapped around the hooks. It threw the first one up towards the bed, specifically at the thin cloth that made up the canopy. It took one try for the hook to pierce into the canopy, and once it was sure that it was sturdy, the sheep climbed up the rope. Afraid to even lightly shake the bed, the sheep didn’t use its lower legs, and only pulled itself up with its front legs, one hoof over the other. When it reached the hook, it used the second one to reach further up the canopy, and then having disconnected the first, it climbed higher.

Eventually, the sheep reached the top, the wooden frame that the canopy was affixed to. Now here, it replaced the hooks after it put the cloth back on them, and then it pulled two longer pieces of rope. Like the ones connected to the hooks, this silk-like material was sturdy but thin, and these ropes were closer to twelve feet instead of the former’s four.

The sheep tied one end around the wood where it stood, and then it circled around the frame to the other side where it tied the other end of the rope down. Now, there was a cord of the thin rope spanning the center of the bed.

The sheep shimmied across the rope until it was also in the center of the bed too, and then it looped one end of the second rope around the connecting first rope and then wrapped the remainder around its torso. It then slowly descended towards the bed by unwrapping the coiled second rope.

The sheep had long since confirmed that the person within the bed was Michael Canyon Fredirin, its target, so it didn’t hesitate any only stopped its descent when it was a few inches above the sleeping man.

If the sheep were a living, breathing, human, the man would have likely detected it at this distance, but the sheep was not alive, and as long as it remained motionless, it produced zero sounds. It did, however, smell of burning coal, and that would sooner or later alert the sleeping person.

The sheep withdrew both the black dagger and also a small think flask. It dipped the dagger into the flask, and when it came out, it was coated in a black viscous liquid that was almost darker than the blade itself.

Finally, the sheep took one last look at the man, double checking to make sure he was, in fact, asleep, and checking to make sure he didn’t have any form of hidden armor or magical items on.

And unfortunately, while the sheep couldn’t detect any magic, the target was wearing a normal set of clothing, he seemingly had fallen asleep still in his daywear, and there was no way for the sheep to tell if there was a mundane armor plate hidden within it.

As long as the armor wasn’t Mithril, Orichalcum, Adamantine, or some other legendary metal, the sheep could probably break through it with brute force, but there was both a risk that the blade would break, and that the impact would make noise.

Giving up on a strike to the heart the sheep considered its options. The neck was an option, but it would be messy, and it might not be instantly fatal. The only other real option was through the eye and into the brain, which would be instantly fatal, assuming the small and thin knife could reach far enough and hit something important enough.

There was actually another option, one that despite its downsides, the sheep was considering. A direct strike to the forehead to punch through the skull and go directly into the brain. Even if the stab wasn’t fatal, the impact would inflict injury, and the bone fragments from the shattered skull would cause further damage.

The only downside would be that such a method would leave a trace of the killer, punching through a skull would require quite a bit of power and strength, which would be somewhat revealing.

But, since no one would suspect the murderer to be a stuffed animal, the sheep considered it fine.

Finally, the sheep extracted another tool from its pouches, an eight-inch long wand decorated with silver and electrum, a grade four soul extractor.

With both tools, the wand and dagger, the sheep aimed its strike, and once it was confident, it dropped from its rope directly into Michael Canyon Fredirin’s chest.

Wednesday, February 18th, N.E. 807, 6:58

Royal Capital Arvas, Fredirin Kingdom.

The first of the sun’s rays were cresting the horizon, bringing daylight to the royal capital.

From the Seventh Circle where a bloody and soot-covered stuffed sheep was slipping into a seemingly abandoned warehouse, to the northeastern side of the Third Circle where Pamela and Timothy Pine Fredirin were just waking up,to the southern edge of the Third Circle where a woman was shrieking in despair after finding her master murdered in bed, the sun illuminated all.

Night had ended and a new day had begun.