Chapter 98: A special way

In the cover of the thick shrubbery and the treeline, the group of three were making their way towards the western section of the city walls. 

If someone were to look at the trio, they would probably think they are some sort of attraction in a circus. The youth in the middle, a man with long ebony hair fluttering in the gentle wind, was wearing a white, oval-shaped faceless head mask. His golden eyes practically shined through the two small eye holes. 

To his right, an elderly lady was following along wearing red, ragged garbs. She had a large dark red patched hood providing cover to her face. 

To the left, a middle-aged, feminine figure could be seen, who was half a head taller than the boy. Similarly to him, she was wearing a black faceless mask, similar to the color of his eyes, making the mask the perfect cover of hiding every feature of her face. The dark blue suit she was wearing was very tight-fitting, unable to hide the modest curves she was blessed with. The cloth belt that tied together her tunic and pants gave her a unique and distant feel to it. 

(AN: I just realized 98 chapters in, that I never really described Number 3's battle dress, only her casual clothing. Imagine her in traditional "Japanese" assassin (aka ninja) garbs. Haori for tunic and Hakama for pants. She is not wearing the Tabi, as that would fit well with the setting, but the rest of the dress is pretty much what I was aiming for.)

Leaving the cover of the trees, they increased their pace, and not long after they reached the city walls, continuing, seemingly searching for something. 

After a couple of hundred meters, the feminine figure on the left halted her steps causing both the elderly lady on the right and the boy in the middle to follow along.

Looking at the woman, the boy in the middle asked in a low tone.

"Is this it?" 

To him, there was nothing special with this particular section, it looked and felt just like the rest. 

"Hm." was the curt response from her. 

Walking a few steps ahead, she faced the city wall and in quick succession, she touched several bricks seemingly randomly. As soon as she touched the last, the bricks she gently pushed on, slightly subsided against the rest, while the ground in front rumbled, as a hidden panel revealed a set of stairs leading underground to a dark tunnel.

The boy and the elderly lady watched in astonishment as all of this unfolded before their eyes.

"Interesting… Does your group have similar entrances to every city in the kingdom?" the elderly lady asked with a tinge of shrewdness in her tone.

"Does it matter? What's important, is that now we have a way into the city." the figure replied with annoyance, as she walked ahead, slowly descending into the darkness ahead.

The elderly woman did not reply, and even if she was cunningly smiling under the cover of her baggy hood, nobody could see. 

The boy silently followed after the figure, with the elderly lady in the rear.

"Try not to lag behind too much, there are multiple routes you could take and end up at different sections of the city. I will get us into the Slums." The feminine figure, Number 3, in the front said.

She followed it up after a brief moment of silence while they continued their path along the long, dark corridor.

"Also, we have another problem."

"What? Did something happen to Lily?" The boy, Aiden immediately asked with concern and agitation in his voice.

"No, nothing like that, calm down Aiden. The problem is different in nature, and I wasn't sure if I should mention it… actually I'm still not sure if it's a good idea, but I don't want to keep information from any of you." She answered. 

Halting her steps, she turned around, and while there wasn't any light, Aiden could clearly see her with his [Dark Sense]. Granny also stopped as if she also weren't entirely blind…

"What is it? Please tell us, Master!" Aiden asked, looking at the feminine figure.

"Huh, interesting, I never knew you could see… Anyways, the problem, or it's better to say, the potential problem I was referring to was that there's a second artifact in the city."

"Second Artifact? What do you mean?" Aiden asked.

"Ah, we have no time to explain what it means. Just know that there is another person in the city with a similar item, that I gave to Lily. The problem stems from the fact that this person can also locate the amulet, and obviously us as well. These items have a special connection with each other: they react when there's another in their close proximity. We will need to be careful."

"Is this person the one that hurt Lily?" Aiden asked, clenching his fists to subside his rising anger. Every time he thinks back to the desperate plea that woke him up, he could feel the rage quickly overwhelming him. 

Number 3 shook her head, as she answered.

"No, that person was close to the city gates when I tried to locate Lily. I guess he or she was just on his way to leave the city. We should be fine, at least for the time being, but we can't waste any time. The method I used to find Lily, was probably felt by that person as well."

After the brief discourse, they continued making their way through the underground tunnel system that covered most likely every district in the city. There was no source of light at all, making the entire journey rather daunting, but neither Number 3 nor Granny seemed to have a problem with it. 

While Number 3's expert navigation could be explained as she had a good chunk of experience with the underground system, Granny's ease of traverse did surprise Aiden. 

'Hmm… Granny still has some interesting secrets it seems.' he smiled to himself.

A bit later they arrived at a cross-section that branched to 3 directions seemingly going the same way. 

Without hesitation, Number 3 chose the rightmost one and walked into it. Aiden and Granny followed, and as they entered, Aiden couldn't help but ask.

"How did you know which one to pick? All 3 routes look exactly the same and seemingly goes the same way as well."

Number 3 chuckled at the question, and while keeping their pace, she replied without turning around.

"Hehe, I wondered if you would ask about it, Aiden. There are hidden markers that only us, higher-ranked members of the organization can decipher. Rest assured, we are going the right direction."

Hearing her response, Aiden frowned under the mask but didn't reply, only nodded. However, as they continued their journey, he couldn't help but think about her words.

"Hmm… I didn't notice anything on the walls though. Wonder why…" Aiden mumbled to himself. Although it wasn't intentional from his part, Number 3 could hear his words, causing a smile to creep up on her face, under the cover of her mask.

A short while later the same event happened again: The path branched to three distinct routes, all heading the same direction, and looking exactly the same. This time, Aiden focused on the routes but still, he couldn't spot any difference, as Number 3 picked the middle one this time.

Number 3 hasn't said a thing, they silently continued crossing the underground system. Shortly later, the event happened once again, and even though Aiden tried to spot anything that could be out of place all his efforts were to no avail. 

As Number 3 picked the rightmost path among the three seemingly identical, he just grumbled to himself in frustration. 

Number 3's bell-like laughter interrupted his thoughts. 

"Ahahaha, oh my, that was really, really good Aiden! Don't be so mad, nobody can spot the markers, they were created that way by the Grandmaster himself. We have a special method to spot the correct path, even I can't see the markers, nobody can." After she managed to calm down, she tried to console the fuming boy.

"Anyways…" as she said that she abruptly halted her steps. They arrived in front of a dead-end. Placing her hand on the muddy wall in front of her, the eyes of the skull-faced ring on her hand flashed red briefly, and a moment later, the wall moved back by itself, revealing a set of stairs that led to some sort of room above ground. 

The lighting was dim and murky, Aiden couldn't spot too much. The tunnel led to a room, or perhaps a small hut. He wasn't familiar with the city at all or how spread out it actually is. 

"...we have arrived. Follow me. After we leave the tunnels, I will need to cast the spell again, to pinpoint Lily's location."

As they left the tunnels and entered the dimly lit, unfurnished room, they realized they were in a run-down shack somewhere in the city. 

While they waited for Number 3 to prepare and cast the spell that would locate Lily, they didn't know that the person they talked about just a few moments ago, was rushing towards their direction. After he felt the hilt of his sword resonate once again, he immediately turned around and ran towards the Slums...