All in all, the main operation was what Facade had swirling in his mind, spotting the ways to cope with his task while he veered the car into the right lane.
The impression of the recent disclosure, the one that made Facade believe that Fiver was yet another bearer of the imposed destiny, hindered along with him. Had he not involved himself in a duel of words, he would have been unaware of Fiver's true intentions.
He was just irritated by how easily I flowed myself with this darn system. To heck with that all, I'll just do what it demands to save Jebreel.
He shook his head over and over again, trying to smoke the weight out of his head. "Can't bother." Puffing while he assorted his distorting speculation, he swiftly splashed the wheels through water.
Tsk...my day seemed longer than nights.
While fretting over the exhausted day, his attention subconsciously dropped to his busy wrist. The watch kept its placid pace, hand ticking one heartbeat at a time.
'8:25'
Facade's senses hit a bolt of lightning when he instantly took note of the flying minutes, rapidly realizing that his destination was far from his current location.
Thirty minutes to nine!?
He was supposed to fulfill the deployment task, the mission that Dan had reassigned to Facade after Fiver's refusal, to be operated exactly at 9 o'clock. Skip a second, and the outcome would be inconclusive.
"How the hell could they give me missions over missions!??"
Agitated at the uncalled executions, he was ticked by how his seniors made him run multiple errands. One of them was the recent operation, 'Iron Veil,' that left him with a crease on his forehead. Even though, it turned out to be a blind achievement, the auxiliary mission deserted him with a widespread notice.
Facade pushed the accelerator to max, reaching the speed of one hundred and eighty kilometers per hour. While he blasted forward with full throttle, his thoughts were rewritten into another phase, undertaking the part that was diffused by elapsed events.
Had Jane, Mike, and Watson infiltrated through the route I had supplied to them?
Retorting back to his intellect, he fell back to the main subject.
Jane, Mike, and Watson, the underlings of Facade's evolving society, were grouped to complete their portion of work in 'Operation EAR'.
'E' stood for Eradication
'A' for All and...
'R' for Royalties.
The main objective of 'EAR' was obvious from its unabbreviated form: to eradicate all the royalties who held separate grounds.
But within that three-worded phrase lay a mission to steal the blueprints of royal habitats, as structural awareness was far more significant than invading unannounced.
It wasn't one of the defined rules of the Mansion, but an order from the crown of Opulent Gargantuan, the mansion's sole possessor, Hood.
With that, an untold rumor had occupied the attention of numerous ears, that there were a total of three compositions aside from Book I, The Moral Of The Nights.
The two, whose names were still shrouded in mystery, were not drafted by Hood. Rather, they were scribed entirely by someone else, indicating that the unknown figure had enough supremacy to stand on equal footing with the head of the Mansion.
Apart from echoing gossip and groundless claims came an untold principle.
Section V of Book I, The Moral Of The Nights: When a team is deployed on a mission, especially when it comes to below-ground expeditions, they are strictly prohibited from using the same passage for their retreat.
The clause itself felt like a warfare lesson when recited with severity; however, it conveyed a sense of authority when inked in action.
Facade, once again, overheard the statement from strangers, carving the words in his mind when he found them quite useful in many ways.
Screech!
The car drifted against the flat road when Facade turned a full spin, high momentum grinding the friction to keep its balance.
While deliberately considering the flashed data, he had forged a plan aside from the given deployment mission, one that must be completed in the same interval of time.
'Make the trio take the exit route other than the schemed one.'
But why force the three men into taking another passage if he himself was responsible for designing the entrance and the exit layouts for the escorting mission?
It was all because of the reevaluation of materials, imposing the authenticity of each proposed plan while leaving no room for false exceptions.
The golden stamp of an ancient sun, the same symbol imprinted on the verified files, was important to carry out any proposition given by the members.
And for that to happen, the documents must pass through Hood's eye. Facade couldn't chance his odds to put forward a route that wasn't familiar even to himself, unwilling to collapse his prestige from a mere mistake.
The layout which he had drafted before delivering it to the council delegates outlined one entrance path from the gutter line and one exit path from the utility tunnel.
However, the layout that Facade wanted to follow was entrance from the gutter line but exiting from a bakery instead of the utility tunnel. He had once taken the same passage to exit a royal boundary, withdrawing after causing much chaos.
Not once, but multiple times. Although it was a single moment that made him realize the utility path wasn't a single one-way-out route; instead, there was a crossroad built inside the straight lane, splitting the narrowed passage into a fork.
It had been totally concealed with an average-sized stone block back then, layered with a dense coat of dust to erase its existence.
Facade was baffled to uncover something shadowed from eyes, confirming that it wasn't a trap to brood over. He had then pulled the barricading rock with all his untapped strength. However, just dragging the hefty rock all the way to a random cavity had sucked his overall energy that time.
He clearly recalled the night when he dozed off in a meeting with Lady Rose, leaving him with a penalty to work twofold the following day.
But in return for all the fined labor and tiring efforts, came a golden fruit, the bestowal of yet another route rich in both minerals and secrecy.
By having minerals meant a boundless fortune rare to stumble upon, and by secrecy meant the route far from Hood's circle of awareness. The latter was a glorious victory to Facade, as the passage ended nearly half a kilometer away from the Mansion, making it the perfect stage for Facade's future schemes.
It was the same underground path that Facade wanted the three men to take as their exit passage, rather than the utility one he had inscribed in the submitted layout.[1]
And for that to happen, he had to block the unwanted path, like he had done by fitting the same stone block to the utility tunnel's route, sprinkling a heap of dust to shroud the trail for the newbies.[2]
Okay then...
After brainstorming enough to revise all the transpired events, he sketched out a list for first-on-hand tasks in his mind.
1. Complete your part in Operation 'EAR' by stealing the Mundand Family blueprints.
2. Destroy the Mundand Family (Personal Initiatives)
3. Let the three baits be caught red-handed (Personal Initiatives)
4. Rescue them and make them serve you (Personal Initiatives)
5. Turn yourself in (Personal Initiatives)
6. Rescue Jebreel (Personal Initiatives)
The first point was already tailored with a straight line in Facade's mental space, showcasing that the task had been successfully accomplished five days earlier. Thereupon, he rode to the next one.
5 Days Earlier.
Location: Inside the Mundand mansion, disguised as a menial servant
Why isn't it going anywhere? These bastards...why should I do dishes for this damned Mundand Family?!
The rage eating Facade from inside was fair. Not only did it take more than a day to exchange fabricated intel with the council members, but Facade had to spend days mingling with the royal servants just to strengthen the level of his fragile trust.
The thought itself was enough to make him realize his hasty mistake to take upon the discarded mission, acknowledging the fact that weighing the procedure was far more important than considering the consequences. Especially, in his case.
Four days passed by in a flash, and Facade was barely triumphant in making his own grounds within the royal walls. The process took days, and so did the chance to steal the item that the patriarch, the head of the house, treasured the most.
"Why? Wasn't it enough what I was paying you?" the royal had asked, filled with disappointment when he was informed about the robbery. Facade, who was akin to an actor playing on the stage, remained shamelessly kneeled on the ground.
The act was obviously intentional, stealing the beautifully engraved ring in a manner that cautious eyes could not nab. And so, a nearby waiter busted him amid the crime, throwing his microfiber cloth to one side just to seize Facade's arm in alarm.
Before Facade's arrival in the patriarch's presence, the head of the servant was enlightened with the disturbance caused by this new servant, who had engulfed the duties into disorder by violating his limits.
Yet, Facade wanted to remain oblivious and play dumb. To expand the game, he presented feeble excuses when asked several questions, making him look even more suspicious in the eyes of witnesses. Although he was glad that they hadn't approached any torturing method, as that would have backfired on them, but rather, held a servant's committee to directly label him as a criminal.
Criminal or not, Facade couldn't care less about both the trivial titles or the rings that gleam their beauty under the sun. He got what he wanted at last.
The attendance of the patriarch.
"No, no, my majesty. It was enough… really." His strict pose swiftly broke into a normal, eerie one. Sighing out of minute tiredness, Facade stretched his sore back. "I just wanted to know if it's more valuable than the minerals."
"Minerals..." While he stared at Facade's reforming attitude, his mouth flung open in shock. "W-What minerals? What about minerals?" The royal's concern was instantly triggered by the word alone, cutting the topic into yet another freckle of concern.
It was a common response to have from someone hearing the rare word 'mineral' spelled out of nowhere. Minerals, the unique treasure beyond any rarity, meant money worth living two lives. No one in their right mind would grumble upon a stolen ring, losing the opportunity to have even the slightest hint of its whereabouts.
As Facade was on his knees, he, with a sudden jerk, dashed to whisper in the patriarch's ear before the guards could take any action. The patriarch's throat clenched with fear, his heart thumping as his servant uttered in silence.
"Guar—"
"The minerals." Facade cut his bark, continuing the sentence in calm. "I wanted to tell you directly but..." he sighed again. "I wouldn't have met you if I hadn't done all this crap."
The man's face went pale, almost frozen from shock. Facade was his servant, a mere menial servant that he had recently hired for his service, but to know that someone had invaded his abode? And what for, to tell him about the minerals? The setting seemed suspicious from his frame.
However, the patriarch surrendered his intellect over the love for fortune, throwing his palm upward to stop the armed guards from swarming all over the spacious floor. Facade didn't want to rush things either, still waiting to enjoy the looks blinded by wealth.
"Don't worry. I'll tell you. I just need privacy here." Facade snorted, backing some steps to provide room for the royal's lagged breaths. The patriarch waved his already-arose wrist, gesturing for the guards to leave them alone.
"You haven't asked me about this, have you?" Facade's finger swung in his direction, while the remaining guards retreated in hush. "What about this?" The patriarch questioned. "I was sure to have your background check. Why should I ask you then?"
"Who knows..." Facade chuckled in response, completely enjoying the pettiness of the man standing before him.
Another task that bothered Facade in his everyday missions, was the black coverage swathing all over his body, except for his dove-grey hair. While deducting his gloved hands and covered bottom, it was impossible to fool around with a concealed face.
It wasn't a mask that resembled an everyday facepiece, neither could he say that it was impossible to show his true face to strangers, let alone, see it himself. That would make anyone extremely suspicious before Facade could even lay the roots.
But he had already resolved his problem ages ago, by taking an identity of someone whose face was charred beyond recognition, totally burned by fire. There were several identities that were stricken by the same kindred outcome, all handled by Facade to carry out different missions.
'My face was burned in a lab accident. If you want me to roam around without my mask, I'll gladly remove it.'
He had introduced his attached veil as his 'mask.' But still, if someone felt his presence peculiar in any sense, pushing him enough to show what persists beneath his black mannequin-like mask, Facade would straightaway put offense in place of peaceful negotiation.
That was the reason why Facade fails his espionage mission most of the time, reluctant to take part in any similar expeditions. But to fulfil his share of work in EAR wasn't optional; instead, it was a direct heed to all the chosen candidates.
"Call me Facade." He introduced his true name, yet the patriarch was totally uninterested to listen to something insignificant to him. "I'm here to tell you that there'll be infiltration."
"Infiltration?" The royal's corrupted thought punched the reasoning when he heard something uncommon, overwhelmed by the setback of arranged invasion. "Yes, and about the minerals, it's in the secret route. You know, the ba—"
"It's there!??" Eyes almost popping out in astonishment, the royal shuffled forward. "And... how do you know about the bakery?" His movements became sluggish, the back of his hand brushing past his chin in distress.
Oh, how do I know? I could ask the same of you, you rotten brat!
Facade wasn't sure as to how the royal knew about the route of the bakery, pondering over the recent unease.
It could be because of some intersection built deep inside somewhere inside the bakery route that the patriarch came to know about it, or maybe it was a mere coincidence? He wasn't completely confident about either.
"Just listen, don't ask. Affix the IR trackers in the first half of the passage. The moment you get reported of someone's trespassing, send a team to immediately mine out your riches. But be sure they are within the bakery's zone. And make sure…" He flicked his finger in a circle, "…the screws are tight."
"What?"
"You don't know what screws are?" Facade retorted. "No, I—" The royal presence was washed away with puzzlement, confused by the things that conveyed no sense.
Why would he embed IR trackers, and for whom? For the people who'll infiltrate his esteemed household? Why was the man in black mask telling him all that?
He would probably demand something in return, without a doubt.
"What do you want?" The patriarch's thoughts spilled out of curiosity, bracing himself to spare even a penny from his golden heap. "Me?" Facade dusted his shaggy cloak, looking down on the tainted nobility. "I just wanted you to repor—never mind. Make no legal papers for mining. It's all that I want in return."
What!? He had given something worthy to conceal all for nothing but mere chore?
The patriarch's skin crawled with perplexity, aware that the situation contained a degree of threat, something that had to be an unannounced blow. Only those who had false intentions demands nothing in return of something, that was how the nobility survive the droughts.
His bejeweled hand quietly slipped under his lavish gown, reaching for his hidden dagger for fighting unpredictable assault.
"I'm talking sense here. Have I threatened you in any sense?" Facade's eyes that were fixed upon the crawling hand, hinted the royal's motives, unwilling to constrain it by brute force. "I'll let you know one thing." He remained still. "The dagger won't do much, well, actually, nothing to me."
A gasp escaped the patriarch's lips, figure instantly tensing up from Facade's unexpected statement.
H-How could he see? I was too wary to make any noise!
The royal was almost startled from the tossing facts, unable to make out how the completely masked man saw through his movements. "But this, mister royalty." Facade, who was oblivion to what was swishing inside the nobility's consciousness, rattled his hand in his side-pockets. When his finger finally caressed the edge of a visiting card, he pulled it out, instantly tossing it on the patriarch's way.
"This will finish you off." The eyes that were blanketed with ignorance went dilated with anxiety.
"The Forces? You're threatening me. Me!? What do you think—"
"You're dead if you ask me more." Voice strained as always, Facade totally dropped his reluctant style to a sinister pitch. His legs functioned on their own, instinctively finding himself circling around an affluent individual.
A gap of silence filled the room for minutes, the noble figure before him shrouded in a blend of shock and awe.
"I—I'll do anything." The patriarch finally shattered the muteness with his apprehensive manner, quietly chocking his temper. "But please…" Facade stood before the luxurious back of the patriarch's gown, heavily embroidered with gold and silver, when the royalty gradually kneeled on the polished marble. "Please." He bent his head in subservience, reluctant to pledge his services to a mere stranger.
He was aware of what could happen if he hadn't regarded the matter akin to a brittle glass.
A complete destruction.
Facade had always doubted how a lowly peasant like the so-called patriarch reached the ranks of royalty, but it would be foolish to think that one couldn't approach fame and fortune unlawfully, especially not when a person is someone who could sell his soul before eminence.
"That's more like it." Facade halted right in front of the man knelt in plead, carrying nothing but to nod in agreement. Smirk covered his feeble lips, witnessing the nobility's last golden moments in scornful regard, sure that he'd be the one to destroy his dignified glory just in two days.
[1] Utility tunnel's route is an exit underground passage that you take when you retreat from the royal boundary. Its the only exit passage given to anyone infiltrating the royal territory. Here, despite the fact that Facade had submitted a plan for Jane, Mike and Watson to take exit by the same utility passage, but in truth, he wanted the trio to take another exit route that Facade accidentally found in his former days. The one that exits you from the trapdoor of an abandoned bakery. This passage was known only to Facade, and the fact that it contained minerals inside it, made it even more special.
[2] The only thing that could make the trio crawl through the bakery's route was blocking the utility's exit route. As Facade found an average sized rock blocking the bakery's route for the first time, he decided to fit the same rock in the utility tunnel's route, hiding trail with additional dust. As the three men were just underlings, it was impossible for them to notice the difference. The light underground was dim too, so the only way the trio would take, was the bakery's route.