Chapter 184

The sensation that immediately followed the realization that I had been tricked was an interesting feeling. A part of that was no doubt unpleasant, like being hit by a surprise water attack without the slightest hint.

Yet, just like water hitting one’s face in the middle of a hot summer day, it was invigorating. With everything that was happening, I was starting to believe that, at least in Silver Spires, everything was under my control. And being wrong on that aspect was dangerous, but there was one thing certain.

It was not boring.

As I continued kissing her, I carefully examined the structure that kept her face hidden, careful not to disrupt the structure, trying to understand the difference it had caused.

The first thing I noticed when I expanded the energy was that her face wasn’t the only thing that was behind that disguise. Her body was also affected. The good news was the changes were pretty minimal, just enough to bring me a particular memory.

The princess, stepping out of her carriage with four other handmaidens, each looking eerily similar.

Maybe there was more to the princess’ choice of handmaiden than just aesthetics. It would certainly help to use them interchangeably depending on the situation, especially with the freedom to adjust their skills.

I wondered which of the four handmaiden’s mouths I was currently ravaging mercilessly, before pulling back a few seconds later, giving her a chance to catch her breath. For a given value of pulling back, as one of my hands still lingered on her back, preventing her from moving back, while the other was still on her breast, caressing and squeezing in equal measures.

To her credit, even under the assault of pleasure, she managed to keep her objective in mind. “About my request...” she whispered.

“Yes,” I murmured before leaning forward, stealing a lingering kiss from her neck. “About your request...”

“We need a little help, from a brave soul who’s proficient in combat. Someone better than the average soldiers in our employ.”

“Oh, I would have thought the Royal Procession would have enough elite soldiers to handle such a threat?” I said, though made sure to sound like I was making a dig rather than an actual question, while still forcing her to explain.

“We have good soldiers, but true elite... They are hard to find, and even harder to convince,” she answered, her voice beautifully gaspy, the way she gently caressed my cheek leaving no doubt about exactly what she had been talking about.

It caught my attention, leaving me curious about the reason for going that much effort into just asking for some military assistance. One thing was certain. The explanation she implicitly gave, that it was just a regular mission from the Princess, was a lie.

If I wasn’t aware of their unique ability to change their skills, adapting to their need, I might have believed that they lacked a true combatant even after seeing the impressive performance of their thief, but knowing that they have a modular ability to adjust their skills, that was clearly not the case.

Which meant that the situation wasn’t as simple as requiring a strong combatant. It could be a personal plan from Delia — or not-Delia, if we were being accurate — trying to use me for a personal project without asking the Princess, though I didn’t believe that.

A part of that was the fact that she had optimized her skills before arriving. And while it was technically possible that whatever they were using to change their skills was something they could use without alerting the Princess, it wasn’t very possible.

They wouldn’t let such a dangerous strategical tool casually accessible.

And, even if changing her skills without asking the Princess was possible, she wouldn’t have handled that operation in Delia’s room, when all the guards had noted my presence here. Not the most concealed way.

Which meant the operation was approved by the Princess, and they wanted me to handle a mission that they could do themselves. I was sure they could do it themselves. I didn’t have any indication that they were as strong as me, but they were certainly stronger than the strength and combat capability I had displayed for them as one of the ancillary members of the headmistress’ team.

Maybe it was the danger, so they preferred to send a nominal ally than one of their members. Technically, I might have assumed the critical work they had assigned me would be enough to remove the possibility of a betrayal — but the more I learned about their interesting disguise abilities and fake skills, the less I trusted that possibility.

Their ability was not limitless. If that was the case, they wouldn’t have bothered to reach out to an expert for their crafting process. However, my own experience with crafting and magic gave me the reason why they did, coming up with a design from the scratch using a ruined artifact was not a simple affair.

Modifying a design from a working starting point, however, was much simpler.

Strength: 46 Charisma: 63

Precision: 40 Perception: 42

Agility: 40 Manipulation: 45

Speed: 39 Intelligence: 49

Endurance: 39 Wisdom: 51

HP: 6528 / 6528 Mana: 8000 / 8000 ]

SKILLS

Master Melee [100/100]

Master Tantric [100/100]

Master Biomancy [100/100]

Master Elemental [100/100]

Master Arcana [100/100]

Master Subterfuge [100/100]

Master Craft [77/100]

Expert Speech [75/75]

PERKS

Mana Regeneration

Skill Share

Empowerment (0/1)

Teleportation

COMPANIONS

[Cornelia - Level 22/26]

[Helga - Level 22/26]