Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, when I hear the word ‘disguise’, I remember the Mission Impossible movies with the rubber mask that allows them to look like anyone they wanted. I also remember how they would carelessly rip the mask off and throw it away--but in real life, they are quite annoying to make.”

 

Well then, let’s find the culprit.

 

Opening the map, I search using the term: ‘Fiend Drug’.

 

Three points appear on my map, the first two are Adventurers, the last is most likely my target. There are nearly 100 Fiend Drugs stocked there--it’s the mansion of one of the nobles that I just met during Viscount Shimen’s dinner the other night, Sir Sokel.

 

I thought that it may belong to Baronet Dyukeli, but I was incorrect.

 

Zooming the map in, I check the details on Sir Sokel’s mansion, and confirm that the drugs are definitely within a hidden room. He also has slaves with the Compounding and Alchemy Skills, who are all in the hidden room with the Drugs. I mark Sir Sokel, his servants and slaves--a total of 20 people--among which is in the downtown, hanging out with people who have various bad things listed in their Rewards and Punishments.

 

The people belong to a Guild called Goblin’s Claw, a large Guild with around 60 people, marking them all would make my map too cluttered, so I only end up marking the boss and three of the higher-leveled ones.

 

They’re probably going to destroy evidence and kill the witnesses, so Besso and others in the dungeon will most likely be in danger--more danger than usual.

 

But I don’t care that much about Besso and his cohorts, but I would like to get the carriers and slaves, who are trapped in the Labyrinth, to safety.

 

However, it should be fine if we don’t act right away, since it will still take some time. I had searched for the Lost Thieves hideouts, and they’re quite deep inside the Labyrinth. If they could prepare a force to assault a place like that, they would have directly attacked the Guild and killed all witnesses.

 

The Alchemist in Sir Sokel’s mansion is also in danger, but it is unlikely that they will kill him that easily; he’s an important person who can create the Fiend Drug, so they should be able to easily replace him.

 

Now that I’ve finished searching for the culprit, let’s leave it to the Guildmistress to take care of them. I snuck into the Guildmistress’s room using Invisibility; leaving a note which read: ‘The culprit is Sir Sokel--read attached’, and attached a document which described the hidden room and how to get into it.

 

After finishing my business at the Guild, I lead Lulu out of the Adventurer’s Guild.

 

***

“Master, where are we going?” Lulu asked me.

 

“We’re going back to the Mansion.””

 

It’s still 2 - 3 hours before evening and there’s something I want to do before visiting the Marchioness.

 

It looks like the children were doing some work in the front yard, and they saw the carriage approaching, so they ran out to greet us. After stopping in the front yard to let me off, Lulu passed the reins to Kitona, who had climbed up onto the coachman’s stand and sat next to her, and they went to the stable so she could teach Kitona how to operate the carriage.

 

“Welcome back, master.” Miteruna greeted me at the door.

 

“Thanks. So, how are the children doing?”

 

“The five children who were bedridden have recovered enough to do anything except manual labour. Roji and Annie still have problems with their speech, but they have good memories and are full of motivation.”

 

After receiving some more reports, I go to the basement--I also instructed Miteruna to not let anyone come down there because I needed to concentrate.

 

I shut the door, and locked it with a iron bolt, and teleport to the Mansion of Ivy--I then remembered to alert Lulu with Telephone.

 

***

“Huh? You’re not with Misanalia, br-Tek?””

 

“Yeah, Mia is currently training in the Labyrinth, I’ve come to use the Workshop.”

 

After greeting Leriril, who almost calls me brat, like usual, I go down to the workshop.

 

“Artificial skin huh? Why would you need that?”

“You will find out in a bit.”

 

I came here to make a disguise, using artificial skin. People will almost always doubt a masked person, even if it’s deep down--they will have trouble trusting someone who won’t show their face.

 

Therefore, I decided to make a disguise set, a new face under the mask. I could remove the mask if I had to, and they still wouldn’t know that it was me--obviously I would only use this for something which required use of extreme power.

 

Information on and instructions how to create Artificial Skin is recorded in Trazayuya’s documents.

 

First, mix the culture fluid. Which was just World Tree Sap, diluted 100 times by water, so it was completed incredibly quickly and easily.

 

Next, a drop of blood. Since Leriril looked really bored, I took took a drop from the tip of her finger. She squeaked in surprise as the thin needle penetrated her skin, and looked at me with a glare.

 

With a grin at her, I operate the culture tank, which has now been connected to a super-advanced looking Alchemy instrument. It’s pretty easy to do though, since all of the details required for the procedures are written in the document. Since it needs 30 minutes to complete, even with the rapid culture growth, I decide to do something else.

 

First, the wig--I make white hair that’s long enough to cover my eyes. Only the bangs are black, since I its purpose is to leave an impression. There’s still time, I decide to make the clothes and shoes next.

 

I take some dyed Yuriha cloth from storage, black of course, and lay it out according to the blueprints that Arisa drew up for me. It’s a black suit, with white gloves--and I decide to follow the design of a certain butler, and a demonic vampire, sewing pentagrams into the back of them. The thread is green silk that has been dipped in Magic Circuit Liquid, which causes it to glow blue when I put in Magic Power.

 

It’s a butler outfit, and Arisa drooled as she imaged me wearing it, while she was drawing up the blueprints. I hope I did it justice, and I am pretty sure that she will be wanting me to do some role-play with a certain pair of guns…she asked Mara to make them. The guns wouldn’t actually fire, but they look authentic.

 

By the time I finally finished sewing the clothing, the Artificial Skin had finished growing. I’m in a bit of a hurry this time, so I will only make one mask, but when I have spare time, I will make another 4 - 5.

 

Since making another person’s face from scratch is very difficult, I base it off a foreign star--a certain god of thunder.

 

The Artificial Skin won’t change the bone structure or musculature of my face, so I use a fiber that can expand and harden when Magic Power is inserted into it as the frame of the mask. Leriril had been diligently helping me during the work, preparing the instruments or cleaning fallen materials.

 

It suddenly occurs to me I could use this to manipulate my figure as well.

 

That might be a good idea.

 

I can’t make anything like that right now, because I don’t have enough Artificial Skin or time. I will make it later--and I may even be able to make a body double using a remote controlled Living Doll.

 

***

Now then, lets wear the mask and newly completed clothes, and arrest Sir Sokel.

 

I open the map and see that there have been some changes.

 

The Lost Thieves, beside the executives, have been moved to the Labyrinth Army’s dungeon, maybe as a precaution against a raid.

 

Besso and his friend are in a back alley downtown, the two of them seem to be hurt. Using Clairvoyance, I saw that they are being chased by a group of thugs, who seem to be members of Goblin Claw. They are also being chased by some of the Guild Staff.

 

The most vital change is that Sir Sokel’s mansion has been surrounded by the Viceroy’s soldiers. Since there are also some Guild Staff in the mansion itself; it seems that the Guildmistress, who has looked at the document I left her, and has urged the Viceroy to take out his armed forces.

 

Still, I didn’t think that she’d raid the mansion of a noble without more proof than a mysterious document. I don’t know if the Guildmistress is just quick to act, or if Fiend Drug is too dangerous.

 

They have gathered all of the mansion’s servants, and the slaves, in the entrance hall--but Sir Sokel isn’t among the gathered people.

 

From the marker on my map, I see that Sir Sokel and his butler are currently in a carriage, outside Labyrinth City. The Alchemist is also with them.

 

They seem to be going northwest, which leads to the town with a coal mine, or if they head a bit further north, they will end up in the Eluett Dukedom.

 

Since they’re outside the map, I use Clairvoyance and see if anyone is pursuing them. There are the Viceroy’s soldiers riding five kilometers behind them, they will probably catch up before the carriage reaches the mountain road.

 

Well, it seems that there’s no need to use the disguise, even though I took the trouble to create them.

 

As I sat there feeling exhausted, I got a signal from Lulu--it seems that I need to return to the mansion.