Chapter 304 - Suicidal Infiltration (2/2)

“Of course, and we have to know who she is! And what she wants!”

By the time of her last word, Felina’s voice had become icy cold, the Red Dragon armor appearing on her body.

…

Duke Osiris’ territory.

Link was currently sneaking into the castle.

It wasn’t that he wanted to die, so he was playing hide and seek with a powerful Red Dragon. This was a mission that he’d decided on after careful planning and ensuring that it was safe.

The dragon duke wasn’t at the castle at the moment.

One day ago, Link had had someone send a letter to the castle. He had forged some information regarding the Dragon Temple in that letter. Half a day later, the dragon duke was tricked into leaving.

Link estimated that he had two hours of relative safety. If he couldn’t find any information within those two hours, this mission would completely fail. He’d have to retreat and run to the Dragon Temple for refuge.

The dragon duke would definitely know that someone had broken into his castle and could find Link quickly. Only the Dragon Temple could protect Link from being killed.

Two hours was not a lot; time was tight.

It was three o’clock in the afternoon, and the sun was hanging high in the sky. It was very bright and difficult to sneak in. Thankfully, Link was skilled in the Invisibility spell. The security around the castle wasn’t very high either. Five minutes later, he and Nana successfully slipped into the castle’s garden.

The garden was filled with lilacs. No one could discover them bent over in the flowers. Here, Link whispered to Nana, “I’ll go in to investigate. You stay here and come to me immediately if I’m discovered.”

Two people were too big of a target and too dangerous. Link was also worried that Nana couldn’t complete such a difficult infiltration mission.

“Understood.”

Link nodded. Bending over, he walked along the small path in the garden, sticking to the blooming flowers. After around 300 feet, he was by the castle’s outer walls.

There was a ring of bushes around the castle. Link dove into it and used the bushes as cover. He crawled around 60 feet in the grass and reached a door.

To ensure the success of the infiltration, Link had circled the castle many times from afar and had analyzed the castle’s structure in detail. He might be a bit off about the inner structure, but there would be no problem with the outside.

For example, he knew that this door was the back door. Entering from here, he would reach the castle’s kitchen. He’d seen servers move groceries into here. At mealtimes, smoke would come out from a nearby window.

It was already past lunch now, so entering from here should be safe. However, the door was closed. He couldn’t just open it for no reason, but he also didn’t have time to wait for it to open.

Link squeezed some leaves, and there was a faint magical flash. The leaves turned into a cat with a silver swordfish in its mouth.

The silver swordfish was a precious ingredient. It was definitely a waste if a cat got it.

Then Link flicked his finger. The “cat” jumped onto the kitchen windowsill and started meowing.

A few seconds later, angry yells came from the kitchen. “You damn beast. I’m gonna kill you!”

A fat middle-aged man ran out of the kitchen, yelling. Link immediately made the cat jump down and run into the garden. The man wielded a stick and ran after it.

Using the Invisibility spell, Link ran in through the opened kitchen door. The infiltration’s first step had succeeded!

The castle’s kitchen was spacious. There were chefs working inside, but Link easily followed the aisle out. Behind the kitchen was the dining room. It was furnished with black carved wooden tables and wall paintings. There was no one present.

This was even safer.

Link stuck to a wall and walked out the kitchen. There was a long hall after that and a staircase in the middle. Across from the stairs was the lobby of the first floor.

He hid in the dining room’s doorway and stuck out his head, carefully investigating the hallway. He could see two fully-armored guards at the base of the stairs. From their auras, he could sense that they were two Level-7 Red Dragon Warriors. They’d blocked off the passage to the second floor.

Huh, it’ll be hard to bypass them! Link thought.

His goal was the library on the second floor. If he wanted to find evidence, the library would definitely be the first destination. But how could he get to the second floor?

Just as he was racking his mind, another problem occurred.

A black-haired woman in a long dress walked down the stairs. “Guards,” she said. “A rat has infiltrated the castle. Find him!”

Seeing the woman’s face, Link’s heart shuddered. He felt heart palpitations and shrank back like lightning, but it was too late. He’d been discovered.

Immediately after, he heard the woman’s voice come from the stairs. “Huh? Guards, look over there. There’s something amiss!”