170. Illegal Entry: Wiremu.

I entered Beitemark barefoot and in simple pants and a shirt. I was helping a small landholder herd some sheep to market. She was hoping to buy some pigs to diversify her small holding. Tāoke was already inside the city, having hidden in a hay cart. Barefoot was good for me. I now had a stone toe on each foot, and Puia could come and go quietly. The stone finger and stone toes were hidden using Veneer to make them look normal. Veneer needed to be refreshed several times a day as it was only mid-Apprentice Level.

As we waited in the queue to enter, a group of City Watch left in a hurry. The gate watchmen just gave us a cursory look and waved us through. I left the farmer at the stockyards and wandered back through the merchant quarter. I bought a new backpack and some clothes I could switch around for various looks. They were all simple clothes for now. I would eventually need to infiltrate the higher society, but we would start small. I also got some basic weapons, as a low-end mercenary would have.

I chose the name, Varme Ting. A lot of the humans had two names here rather than the dwarf and orc tradition of a single name. The majority of people were human, but when I sat at a tea shop, I saw all sorts of races wander past. Beitemark was not on the coast, so there was no Mer, but just about everything else, including Wolfkin and a Minotaur. Beitemark was a pastoral city with a lot of ranches, so some animal kin would suit the area. Beitemark was only three weeks caravan journey from the capital, Kirghiz, so we are definitely in a more multi-species society.

I needed some ID and somewhere to stay with a couple of backup hideouts. The caravan was only planning to stay for three weeks. I had a to-do list. Firstly I had to track down and assess the consequences of killing Otto. Secondly, were others experimenting like that? Thirdly I wanted to find out what I could about the Duke of Kirghiz to see what awaited us when we arrived. Finally, I was back up and an unseen enforcer for Tabitha.

I had my bank token, which let me access my accounts at the Kirghiz Treasury. The Spiritual signatures matched my signature, so no further identification was needed there. Unfortunately, if I used it at the Mercenary Guild, the signature would link to Sten in their records. It is beyond me to break in and change their records at the moment.

A Spy is all about gathering information covertly. My Spy class is two levels away from specialising. It can specialise in forgery, sabotage, counter-espionage and assassin. There are others as well. I already have Assassin from the Hunter class. I have neglected the skills I need for Spying. My Lockpicking, Detect traps, Disarm Traps, and Sapient Lore are all still Novice Skills. I have been relying on Tabitha too much for those. My Roleplay is also languishing in the Novice levels. I have a lot of work to do.

Firstly I need a place to stay where I can come and go without being seen. A couple of ales and a few questions from the bartenders led me to rent a room from a grumpy old lady. It was just a room, but it had its own door to a back alley. I discovered Beitemark was mostly built above ground, unlike Jern or Obalno. Most places had a basement, but only one level down. Then I learned the dwarves mostly lived together in the northeast part of the city. They built down. I also rented and small shop on the edge of the dwarven area, with basement storage. It is the basement I wanted it for.

If I was close to somebody, I could also concentrate and sense whether they had a bond. Of the fifty or so in the bar, only two had bonds. I don’t know if that is typical. I could get a sense of the bonds and a flavour of how they worked. The flavour was bland after the griffon. There were no affinities or monsters.

The taverns had a lot of rumours floating around about Otto and his death. Rumours told of a Fire Affinity user fighting Otto and a monster snake fighting a griffon. It is exciting news for people, and there is a lot of speculation on how and why it happened. Otto was known mostly for his reputation as a soldier. As a local noble, he didn’t come to the city often; when he did, he stuck to the noble social circles. He did have a townhouse. After leaving the Tavern, I looked at the townhouse, but the City Watch were there. I guess they were trying to piece together what happened and talking to the people staying there. I assume they are relatives. I followed the Watch to see who was in charge of the investigation.

Captain Francis was her name; she had sent her lieutenant out with her best trackers to find out what happened. It would be over a week before they got back. She was notified by the gate when our caravan arrived and went and interviewed Selma, then Tabitha and Modrica. The noble who was sticking his nose into everything was more interesting to me, so I followed him.

I caught his scent. He had a spicy cologne, but underneath was a layer of sweat and fear. He had just been in a room with Tabitha and Modrica. Fear was reasonable. He knocked and was let into a townhouse in a nice part of the city. I took the opportunity to change my jacket and hair colour. An hour later, he came out smelling of sex. He walked to another house two blocks away and entered. He didn’t knock this time, so I figured he lived there. Time to find out who these people were.

By roleplaying a messenger, I found out the first house belonged to Lady Samantha, who was married to Duchess Isabella’s brother. It seems she is supplementing her marriage elsewhere. The man was Lord Gilbert, a minor noble with a small ranch well away from town. Tonight I will investigate deeper.

I decided to start with Lord Gilbert as he is probably the easiest place to break into. If I had time, I would get myself in as a servant or cleaner or something. We are only here for three weeks. Breaking and entering is the fastest way in, except I was not planning to do any breaking. Lord Gilbert left for a night on the town, so I started early, figuring he would be gone for several hours.

The alarm traps on his rear doors and windows were of good quality. Tabitha had a cheat in her Shadow Manipulation that allowed her to disable traps in ways that could not normally be accessed. I had Granite Manipulation, which wasn’t much use on a wooden building. The floor was stone. The walls and doors were wood. I could use Granite Spike on any hard surface, but my Granite Sense only worked on stone. I couldn’t sense where I needed to use the spike to disable the trap. I didn’t want to leave any evidence I had been there. Any use of lava would create evidence.

My Detect Traps and Disarm Traps skills worked in synergy with my Trapping Skill. I knew a lot about traps from my use of them. This trap had a Spiritual component, making it a hybrid Spiritual Trap. Spiritual Traps require Spiritual Materials. Mixing the physical and spiritual reduces the material needed. My Sense Spiritual was tracking the Spiritual flows. It was restricted to the keyhole. The key will have a matching Spiritual signature, and unlocking the door with the key disables the alarm. City traps are different from animal trapping. If I were a Thief, I would start collecting common keys with spiritual signatures as that is the easiest way through this trap.

The lock itself was ordinary iron. Somewhere in the lock was the Spiritual material. I touched the lock. My Granite Sense only worked on rock. However, my new Lava Affinity wasn’t so restricted. Rock was made up of multiple elements. Granite was largely Silica, with other elements in lesser amounts. Metals were a single element and were often included in lava. The Lava affinity enabled my Granite Sense to work in iron, whereas it wouldn’t have before.

I could sense the lock. This enabled me to make Granite Spike into the shape of a key that would unlock the door. This would save me from picking the lock, which is what I would normally have done and what a normal thief would do. Matching the Spiritual signature to disable the alarm was the tricky part. If a thief picked this lock, they would set off the alarm. This is why it is an expensive trap.

I know the granite I create has a spiritual signature. It is my signature, the same one recorded on my bank token. I can’t change my signature. Apparently, not even adding an affinity changed my signature. This is a problem.

How would a normal thief get through here? Does it need a specialisation with a dedicated Skill? A thief is usually not worried about leaving damage. Break in, steal things and get out. Leaving a broken window or door is not the end of the world, as the owner would know they were robbed anyway. Getting in and out without leaving a trace is a whole different level.

I went to look at the windows, it was a trap with no keyhole. There were tiny spiritual flows across the inside of the glass. The trap mechanism was inside the window at the top edge. The window frame was wood. However, glass is made of sand that is melted. Silica sand. I touched the glass at the top of the window in a gap between the spiritual flows, and I very carefully melted it enough to get a small spike through and trigger the switch that turned off the window alarm. I then created a thin spike to slip under the window and release the latch. The window opened. I jumped inside and closed the window. The hole in the glass would be noticed in due course. Could I close the hole? The first try made it bigger. I could close it and managed it on the third attempt. Delicate work is trickier than blasting heated sand at people. My Molten Rock and Thermal Manipulation (Mineral) Skills levelled, as did my Sense Spiritual.

I left the alarm off in case I needed a fast exit. It was time to have a look around. I envied Tabitha’s Skill which meant she could sense what was above and below without going there. I had to do it the old-fashioned way, room by room. I was not without my own Skills. Sense Treasure was only mid-apprentice, but it would pick up what I considered to be a treasure more now. It used to only sense what might be valuable.

Three area’s highlighted to me. One on this level, one above me and one below me. The one on this level turned out to be a locked drawer in a desk. A wooden drawer in a wooden desk. The lock was iron, and there was no spiritual trap this time. A Granite Spike in the shape of a key opened it fine. It was paperwork. I skimmed through the correspondence. Most were about his ranch and business dealings. There were invitations to social events from several women. Lord Gilbert was a ladies' man, it seemed. The more I looked, the more he got around. I wonder how many he was sleeping with. Did they know about each other? I made a note of the names.

There was also correspondence about a ranch purchase. Apparently, he was pressuring his neighbour to sell to him so he could expand his ranch. There was a series of letters from his neighbour complaining about stock thieves and his ranch hands causing damage to fences, a suspicious grass fire and diverting a stream. He had noted in the margin to give his manager a bonus. I noted some details down and then locked the drawer again.

Upstairs was a hidden stash of coins. I left them alone. Downstairs was safe. It was a small, spiritually enhanced safe with a rune lock system. I could only get in by ruining the safe. That was obvious and would defeat the stealth so far. I left it and headed back to the window. I punched a small bit of stone through the wood above the window. The curtain would hide it, but it would enable me to manipulate the Granite from the outside the enable and disable the alarm. I slipped back out the window and let it latch. Then I manipulated the granite in the wood to switch the alarm on and then brought it back flat to the wood. It shouldn’t be noticed, and I had an easy way in for the future. My, Detect and Disarm Traps Skills all went up a level. This would get easier.

Lady Samatha had a similar setup. One person must be the key supplier to the nobility. That is convenient. The problem was Lady Samantha was at home with a maid. They didn’t retire for the night until after midnight. I left it another hour and entered the same way I did at Gilbert's. I left the spike above the window the same as well. Then I went exploring. My Hearing Aid was telling me Lady Samatha, and her maid were sleeping in the same room, probably in the same bed. These Nobles were a highly sexual lot. I wonder if that is normal. I also wonder if the maid is there of her own free choice. Where was her husband?

Treasure Sense gave me two points of interest, one on this level and one in the basement. The one on this level was a courier bag with the Duke of Kirghiz's coat of arms on it. Inside was a letter addressed to “My dearest cousin Sam,” It was signed “, With love always, T.” The tone of the letter strongly hinted that they had been more than the usual platonic cousins. What is it with these people?

The letter was interesting. It outlined that the Elemental Traders had swindled him out of his resort, Razkošje in Dohovno, and they could not meet there for their annual retreat. He would be very grateful if she could help get the resort back while dealing with those vile swindlers. Duchess Mojca was being very obstinate in her rejection of his legal rights. He hoped she would be able to visit the capitol soon as the Royal Theatre would be hosting the Comedic Rhythm, and it was fast booking out. She was always welcome in his private booth, of course, etc. etc.

There was a reply started on the desk. With the basics that the Elemental Traders had arrived and that they were linked to the Comedic Rhythm. The letter had barely started, so that was all.

The downstairs point was another safe like Gilbert’s. I think a visit to the maker of this model of the safe was called for. I left without disturbing anything else.

Sense Treasure levelled, and so did my Spy Class. One more level to go to get to the Journeyman level. This was a difficult level to get past.