218. Exaltation - 11

218. Exaltation - 11

" How about it, Dahmut. It was fun, right?" I asked even as I had pulled myself out of the crate, watching as the newest member of my Heroic Party pressed his trembling feet on the ground after bursting out of a barrel, his legs shaking as rice spilled all around him.

"We have different understandings of what's fun, boss," Dahmut answered. "Even with the boost to my abilities after the Heroic Party, this was not exactly fitting my understanding of fun. I felt like we could get caught any moment."

I didn't blame him. Sneaking into the capital of Ralum, even if our target was the huge outer city, had been stressful. We had managed to smuggle ourselves into a food cart that had been already checked by the guards once we arrived at the Ralum capital, bypassing the security check.

It had been harder than contacting some of the local criminals and gaining access to the city, but I preferred our approach. I was intimately familiar with how criminals think, and it was impossible to prevent them from selling the mysterious access to someone else and that was assuming the security forces didn't have agents in place already, making sure no one truly dangerous was smuggled inside.

Most people had assumed that the criminals and the government were mortal enemies, which couldn't be further from the truth. Governments always kept an eye on criminal activity, and only the stupid criminals tried to deal with every government agent.

Without any information, the government got anxious and when the government got anxious, heads rolled.

Of course, there was a chance that I was making a mountain out of a molehill, and the royal family was too arrogant to use the tricks the governments of Earth had perfected, but it was better safe than sorry. After all, accessing the city itself had been easily solved by the sheer advantage of our stats, even when I had to smuggle Dahmut with me.

Normally, the real service the criminals would have provided was the mana-forged identity plates.

Luckily, we had an excellent blacksmith, Launara, and an even better mage, Zolast. More importantly, we had a backdoor in the form of the princess. Zolast used the information she provided to arrange our identity sigils. But, since he did all the casting himself, even the Princess didn't know the fake identity we would be assuming here, removing a potential vulnerability.

Making sure the princess was highly dependent on our help was paying incredible dividends.

"Now, let's go over your background," I said.

"I'm one of the woodworking apprentices. I have an expert skill, and I'm working hard because my god has yet to allow me to access my third promotion," he said. "But now, I managed to win big, so I'm going to open a woodworking shop, hoping to earn enough to buy an Ability."

He didn't have the skill, which, normally should have prevented him from working as one. Not a problem for Dahmut, as he could easily fake competence through sheer Stat gap.

Also, even in the capital, level sixty and supposed Expert skill were enough to establish a small business. Dahmut was level ninety with a rare class.

"Good," I said as I stretched my Perception, checking the location of the patrol. They were still near. "Do you want to lead our escape?"

"No thanks, boss. That's not me," he argued.

While we avoided the patrols around the warehouse district and got out easily, considering the guards were more interested in catching thieves coming from outside than checking for spies appearing inside he used our connection to repeat the details of his background. Though, I stole a nice piece of rare wood while we were moving away.

"You're supposed to be a woodcarver. Carve a staff for your helpless old grandfather," I said as I threw the wood at him, and he started working.

"Yes, very helpless," he chuckled as he pulled a magic dagger shaped for this exact purpose, and his hand danced around it, shavings flying around. Merely a minute later, I was holding a Vitality-infused wooden staff.

"Not bad, you're learning," I said as I grabbed the staff, and we moved around a bit more. Once we reached the public streets, he presented his arm. "Grandfather," he said.

I leaned against his arm, my weight split between his arm and my staff as we moved forward, my legs trembling with each step like I was an invalid while we walked the streets, looking for a cheap inn.

It was a good role. It allowed me to stick close to Dahmut and observe his communication with the citizens, sprinkling his background many times as we moved. He even stopped to help a couple of people as we moved, while I played the cranky old man unhappy with the delays.

Those little stops were not pointless. If I was trying to establish Dahmut as an operative spy, that would have been counterproductive. Most successful spies followed the gray man prototype. Boring, unremarkable, and seemingly weak, such men blended in the background, hard to remember.

Dahmut's mission was different. He was going to set up a ring of agents rather than going alone, which was why the expert woodworker with an affable personality would work well. His personality would mean he would have many guests, so a few extra visitors would pass unnoticed, and his decorative pieces would give a reason for the occasional servants of the noble families to visit him.

Not only would it allow him to contact his assets easily, but it would also allow him to use his ability to catch lies along with his Perception to see if he could get some information out of the servants that would visit him.

The servants wouldn't reveal the secrets of their masters easily, but not all important information was secret. Just learning that their master left the capital for a mission might be immeasurably precious under the right circumstances.

Altogether, it was a simple setup, but considering a proper undercover organization required years to set up, simple was inevitable. At least, it worked well with Dahmut's personality.

After a long show around the streets, we arrived at a cheap inn. Dahmut talked with the innkeeper for a while before he returned. "I have found a couple nice shops we can buy, grandfather. Why don't I bring you to your room, then I'll go and see if I can buy any of them."

"I'm not invalid. Go and deal with it yourself," I answered with a grouchy tone, and started climbing the stairs with great struggle, leaving him behind.

"Old people, right" he said to the innkeeper and they continued chatting. Meanwhile, I arrived at the room, looking at the window.

Since I was already at the capital, there was no harm in testing the defenses of the palace.

Who knew what I might find?