Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

"What's this for? Putting freshmen on the field for a sword fight on their first visit—isn't that taking advantage of the newbies?" Kongtai'er said to Bozuhof, "At least let them get used to the atmosphere first, right?"

"Haha, swordsmanship skills are always strongest right out of the academy; don't you know that? As their introducer, it's your responsibility to show them around." Bozuhof replied to Kongtai'er and then turned to Winters and Andre, "Make yourselves at home, and if you need anything, come find me."

With that, Bozuhof nodded to the three men and returned to the living room.

"Come on, let me show you around the manor—it's quite a task to find the restroom here. If you find this place interesting, feel free to come on your own in the future... and you're welcome to bring a female companion." Colonel Kongtai'er grabbed two glasses of wine for Winters and Andre and led the two warrant officers around the first floor of the manor.

Kongtai'er wasn't exaggerating; Bozuhof's guesthouse really did have a well-hidden restroom.

Winters noticed that Kongtai'er was very familiar with the place and silently speculated that the colonel must also be a core member of the dueling club.

In the hall, Colonel Bozuhof tapped a silver key against a glass wine goblet, drawing everyone's attention with a few crisp sounds. The guests in the club instinctively cleared a space in the middle of the hall, forming a circle.

Two swordsmen in full armor walked out and stood in the cleared space in the center of the hall.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to introduce tonight's first pair of competitors," Bozuhof stood between the swordsmen and announced the two competitors aloud.

Winters wasn't paying attention to Bozuhof's words. As all eyes focused on the center of the room, he knew his opportunity had come.

"I'm going to the restroom," he whispered to his friends.

"Can you find the way?" asked Colonel Kongtai'er with raised eyebrows.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to get lost."

Major Moritz hadn't shown up at all that evening so as not to raise any suspicion. He had drawn a complete floorplan of Bozuhof's manor for Winters, including not just the first floor, but also the second floor.

The first floor of the guesthouse was used as a reception and activity area, where all guests could move around freely. However, the second floor, separated by a floorboard, was off-limits. The staircases leading to it from the hall below had been rebuilt and sealed off.

While the downstairs was a city that never sleeps open to all guests, the upstairs was Bozuhof's private space. There was a reception room, Bozuhof's office, and several bedrooms—though Bozuhof did not live there.

Winters' target was Bozuhof's office, where all the documents of the dueling club were stored.

The reason Colonel Field opted for the "steal without being detected" approach was that Bozuhof's manor was purely functional with no valuables. The security was similar to a private residence, or even worse, it was almost undefended.

Winters left the hall without drawing attention to himself, muttering Colonel Field's words in his mind: "A third-rate thief wears dark clothes to steal, a first-rate thief wears a suit to steal. The more composed and natural you seem, the safer you are."

After repeating it three times in his head, he grabbed the protruding wood on the exterior wall of the house and climbed up.

"Nonsense! If someone sees me climbing the wall, I'll still get caught, even if I'm wearing a crown," Winters inwardly cursed Colonel Field.

After renovations, the only entrance to the manor's second floor had a servant guarding it, and only guests very close to Bozuhof could pass. Therefore, Winters had no choice but to climb the wall.

Overthinking was futile. Regardless of whether he was being watched or not, Winters clenched his teeth and exerted all his strength to climb. This was the most dangerous part of the entire plan; if he were discovered halfway, it would be over for him.

Fortunately, no one exclaimed in surprise by the time Winters reached the balcony.

Everything was going smoothly, but Winters' heart was still beating furiously, and he could even hear the sound of his own heartbeat. He took a few deep breaths and carefully examined the balcony.

Everything was as Colonel Field had predicted; the balcony's wooden door was locked from the inside. Following the plan, Winters pulled out a thin, short knife from his boot, slid it into the crack of the door, and easily unlatched it.

Recalling the floorplan Major Moritz had drawn for him, Winters crossed the corridor and reached Bozuhof's office. The office door had a metal lock hanging on it, which Winters forcibly pried open.

Colonel Field didn't expect Winters to rapidly become adept at lockpicking like a burglar, nor did he plan for a stealthy copying of the list. The colonel's intent was to show Bozuhof that they got what they wanted, whether he gave it or not.

So Winters forced his way through the locks and finally pried open the drawer of Bozuhof's file cabinet. The dueling club didn't have a real "core member list;" Bozuhof wouldn't just copy the names of those core members onto parchment.

Field wanted the dueling club's financial statements, donation records, meeting minutes, and any documents that recorded the names of people closely involved with the club.

Winters took out a polished, shiny copper plate and, under the pale green light of the Luminosity Spell, started sorting through the documents, packing up anything that seemed useful.

The job was going too smoothly, and Winters felt his fingers twitching with excitement.