Chapter 15: The Drug Drop

Somehow I find myself back in the same room that I was picked up from, the same dark closet filled with the scent of freshly washed clothes.

There, before me as I lift off the brown cloth covering my head, lay a bag of unsuspecting nature.

It’s simple, and blended in the mix of the clothes that lay before it. However, I do not pick it up right away.

While I know what is inside of it, there is no telling how bad it is. So, before touching it directly, I wore a pair of gloves.

< "While you’re at it, get the..." >

’Thankfully this is the servants’ closet.’

There were a few useful things here, so before I went out, I picked a few clothes and detergents from the side along with some small accessories.

< "Alright I got everything." >

Beth was going to use these things so I don’t know what they are for, but I did as she asked.

The ribbons or these accessories were random things in most of our eyes but for someone who knew how to extract useful things from them, they were necessary treasures.

< "Spot, did you get the bird?" >

< "I did. I will modify it so that they don’t find it. You get to the drop location." >

< "Copy." >

I couldn’t just take these things out so I stored it all in a basket, covered it with some clothes, and walked out.

-Step. Step. Step...

While going through the long corridors of the palace, I got tired and placed the basket down to take a breath.

"Hey there."

"Hello hello. How’s the day going~?"

Some people were already present in the corridor so I wasn’t alone here.

The people saw me coming here with the basket, they saw me putting it down, and some closely watched me until I shooed the bird sitting on top of my basket and walked away to my destination.

I was going to bring the basket to the other side of the palace where they wash the clothes so, while I was walking, I felt some eyes following me. ℴ

Most of them belonged to the two groups that were here for the prince while some belonged to the same people who had abducted us just now.

I’m not affiliated with either of them. And right now, I’m not affiliated with the palace guards either.

< "I got the drug samples." >

The bird had flown back to where it needed to go.

< "The basket has been left in the drop area as well." >

Getting the drug sample to Barn was easier than getting the rest of the things. Thankfully, Spot had analysed the occasional blind spots of the palace’s security system and knew a good way to transfer things without getting noticed.

"Hello. Can I leave it here?" I was going to leave the basket in the laundry room.

From there, a chain reaction would start.

"Haaaa. That’s a heavy one."

The servants in charge here would take the basket and bring it to the other side after seeing the upper layer of clothes that are for the women.

Following that, they would place it in the laundry queue.

"Chirp! Chirp!"

"Oh? Quite a birdie we have here."

Before the maid who’s supposed to pick it up from there, she gets distracted by a peculiar bird that she just happens to see.

"We are working! Get back to work." Her coworker would scold her but she’d be so mesmerized by the bird that she’ll end up making a mistake.

"Eh?"

Instead of putting the things in the washing pile, she’d directly put the basket into the drying pile.

’She didn’t do it coincidentally though.’

Her senses were tricked because of the fresh smell of the clothes which, specifically this maid, sniffs before organising them.

All clothes are washed and dried in the machines which have been washing all the clothes within the palace for generations.

"Are these done?"

"Yes~."

The basket would then be picked by a different maid who would see the tag on it first.

"Annex building, hmm."

She would then place the basket in the pile that’s supposed to go to the annex building.

The clothes would be folded there and ironed if needed. But, before that happens, the one transporting the clothes, in this case, my Beth, would collect the things she needs from the basket.

’She’d store it all in her bracelet.’

She had gone to look for a piece of clothing that her ’friend’ had lost when she came to the basket room.

But she ultimately got her stuff.

< "I’m going to need a few hours to finish my analysis. Can you two handle the other thing?" >

The drug was a complex synthetic substance. Even with the best tech, one would have needed a few days to analyze the drug.

But even though she only had a few tools and detergents, she was saying she could do it in a few hours.

< "We can do it. You focus on what you are doing." >

She’s going to work in the toilets and the common work station in the kitchen area to avoid suspicion.

She’s going to be taking quite the risk already so, we better let her do her thing.

< "It’s going to be the two of us once again darling." >

Spot was supposed to be my partner but since she wasn’t directly connected to the drug distribution, she wasn’t abducted like the rest of us.

She was safe for the time being. But we don’t know what might happen to her.

Thankfully, things are going to get worse soon.

< "Let’s not do anything rash this time either." >

We both activated our (Contradiction) rings and our existence itself became unclear to the world.

It wasn’t just stealth or concealment, these rings were the life-work of a Grandmaster of (SSS) rank, a craftsman that no longer exists in this world.

Each one of us has this ring. A total of nine exist in this world. And currently, we own six of them.

Anyways, the princess was talking about a meeting and according to the little invisible birdie that has been tracking her, she has gone to the highest part of the western wing.

It used to be the palace mage’s office in the past but since the last official palace mage passed away thirty years ago, the place had been empty, awaiting for a new master.

’But few people know how that place was filled a decade ago already.’

The palace does have mages, but the official mage is a position that holds as much power as a margrave.

On paper, a mage of that scale doesn’t exist. But in truth, the palace has three such mages.

And one of them is so scary even we have to be worry of his gaze.

< "Let’s hope Seraph isn’t here." >

< "..." >

She said it but I had my fingers crossed already.

It won’t jinx even if it was going to.