"What are we doing?" she whispered.
Liora and I were crouched behind a bush, staring at the estate. It was by the sea, a beautiful beach home. But evil lurked within.
"Inside of that home is the man who is trying to kill me. A crazy cult leader."
"Wooow... what's his name?"
"Uhh... Malafactor, I think?"
"Wooow... so what are we doing?"
"...There's no we. You're going to sit in this bush and I'm going to break in and vanquish my enemies."
"Huh!? All by yourself? Why? I'm your accomplice!"
"I'm confident in myself. You're just gonna die. Or get me killed. I'm not risking it."
If I lived and she died, Alwyn might decapitate me on the spot...
"No way, you don't have to worry about me getting hurt. I swear, I'll be fine!"
"...You know what? You can help. You have a very important job, okay?"
"What is it?" she said excitedly.
I removed my hat and shook it.
Stop being so stubborn!
I shook it more, and Lady fell out, hissing.
"NYAW!"
"Calm down. You can't go in with me, so Liora will watch you."
There was no real reason for me to leave Lady behind besides creating a reason to get Liora to stay put. Someone as simple as her would surely fall for it.
"Do you think I'm stupid or something? You're just making a dumb reason to keep me behind."
Oh... that didn'twork?
"No, there are people trailing me. Lady knows their scent, so she'll alert you when they're near. Your job is to stop them from entering the manor and following me."
That'll do it...!
"Really? You should've started with that!"
Liora leapt to grab Lady, but the cat jumped out of the way.
Will they be fine together?
I rolled down the small hill we were sitting atop of and crept along the estate's gate, looking for an opening. I spotted a small opening, too small for any normal sized human.
For the first time in my life, I feel lucky to be small...
I squeezed through the hole and stealthily crept to the side of the estate. There were few workers roaming around, and there wasn't a guard in sight.
How am I gonna get inside?
I spotted a large wagon full of what I assumed were boxes of food. One servant was periodically bringing a cart outside, filling it, then bringing it inside. I ran to the side of the wagon and waited for the perfect moment.
When the servant came outside and went into the wagon to retrieve a box, I placed my hat underneath the cart and crawled inside.
"Haaah... why do I always get stuck on produce...?"
I heard the cart rolling into the house. The sounds of light chatter and commotion filled the hat.
Is this the kitchen?
I poked my head out of my hat, looking around.
Why are there so many people in the kitchen..!?
"Yo Tony, what's that hanging under the cart?"
Uh oh...?
"Under the cart?"
The servant took my hat from underneath the cart.
"This looks like a wizard hat. Wait... you don't think?"
Do people know wizards can hide in their hats!? Is that common knowledge!?
"Oh, maybe it belongs to that big shot wizard that visited the lord earlier this week!"
You're kidding. He must be talking about Alwyn, right? Why was he here? Did he know this whole time?!
"Did he wear a hat like this? Maybe... I can't remember. Why would he forget his hat here, though? I thought wizards were all like... smart."
"Who knows? Maybe he has multiple hats. Either way, you should probably bring it to the lord."
What? Jackpot!!!
"Hold on," a new voice said. "I'll take it to the lord. You should get back to work."
I didn't like the sound of the new man. And he was an asshole to the servants...
I heard him carry me through the hallways, footsteps echoing. He made a sharp turn and opened a door, and I waited in anticipation to meet their leader.
But nothing happened.
"Oh? Did you think I would bring you right to the Lord Seer? Haha, how foolish, little wizard. Unfortunately for you, I'm not so uneducated like the peasants at this estate."
I'm totally caught...
I jumped out of the hat and quickly aimed at the man.
"Tân!" I shouted.
The fireball flew towards the man, but he swiped it aside. I took a moment and looked at what he was wearing.
No... there's no way!
"Using a chant to cast a fireball? Are you sure you're the apprentice of that guy?" he laughed.
He pointed at me and a ball of water materialized. It turned into a butterfly which flew towards me.
"What the hell is that!?" I yelped.
I tried to avoid the butterfly, fearing what it could do to me. Despite spending a while with Alwyn, I'd actually not seen a lot of unique magic at all.
The butterfly landed on my chest. I tried to squash it, but when my hand came down, it exploded into shards of ice.
Oh great, I'm completely screwed.
I was trapped from the neck down in a block of ice.
"What are you going to do with me?"
"I don't know... I think the Lord Seer would definitely reward me. But... taking the life of one of his apprentices is almost irresistible."
"Pffft, what? Apprentice? Not even! I've not learned one bit of magic from Alwyn."
The man slammed his hand into the ice.
"Alwyn, Alwyn Alwyn Alwyn! He hasn't taught you any magic, you say?"
"Nope! None!"
"SO ISN'T YOUR TEACHER!?"
"Not at all!"
The man leaned back.
"Ha... I was just joking. I wouldn't steal the kill from the Lord Seer for anything. Stay nice and tidy here, will you?"
"Wait! Why? Why did you kill that man, Illian?"
"Illian? Who the hell is that?" he laughed.
"The winner of the lantern festival!"
"Sorry, I don't know about any of that. We had nothing to do with the lantern festival, boy."
The wizard turned around and left the room, leaving me alone.
What? They weren't the ones who killed Illian? Then who...?
I looked around, looking for a way out. The room wasn't large. I didn't really understand its purpose, so I decided it must've been one of those useless wastes of space like in Marielle's home.
So cold... I might freeze to death before I get executed! Wait... it's ice.
I would've facepalmed if I could move my hands.
"Tân..."
The ice exploded off of me.
I did it! I need to get out of here before the psycho comes back.
I looked at the ceiling and saw a loose panel. I dragged a chair over and climbed on it to get access. I jumped into the ceiling.
"Aur y goedwig, cod fi'n uchel; Cysgod a gwynt, agor y nef."
From the ceiling, I moved the chair back to its original position. I then looked around in the crawlspace.
Does this go throughout the entire manor?
I started to crawl through. I wasn't exactly sure where I was going, but anywhere was better than waiting for that wizard.
Underneath me, I heard the wizard.
"Lord Seer, I swear, he was right there! I trapped him in ice and immediately came to get you!"
"Mmmm... Cornelius. Ice?" the smooth, unnerving voice spoke.
"Yes, you know that's my specialty!"
"Ice. Right after he cast a fireball, you said?"
"That's right!"
"It's clear why you weren't accepted into the tower. I should kill you right now. But I won't. Go find him, now. If you fail again, I won't be so forgiving!"
"Yes, Lord Seer!"
I heard the creepy lord walk off and I tried to follow the direction he was going in. I lost track of his movements though, and was stuck at a forked path.
Left or right...? Which one do I choose?
I continued right, because right is right. I wish I could say it was a tight squeeze up there, but it was actually quite comfortable, almost like it was meant to be traversed in by my people of my size.
"Behind you."
I squealed in surprise. I flipped over, kicking the strange man in the face. I kept kicking him over and over.
"Stop! Stop it! I'm not going to hurt you!"
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I'm one of the servants of this estate."
"Okay, why are you up here!?"
"I'm doing my duties. I maintain this space, it's my job as the dwarf of the household."
"...Dwarf?"
"That's right."
"But you seem larger than I am...?"
"No... that can't be right, can it?"
"..."
"Well, regardless, you're looking for the lord, aren't you?"
"That's right. You mean to help me?"
"I do."
"But why?"
"The lord treats us servants terribly. The rest are brainwashed, believing in the saint's salvation. I am not part of The Septry of Saint Pischt."
"So? You don't have to be part of a specific septry to believe in the saint, do you?"
"No, but I can see through the madness. The lord has gone too far."
"Too far?"
"He's been sacrificing his own townspeople in the name of Pischt. No one seems to care. Besides the duke, that is."
"The duke knows about this!?"
"That's why he sent The Everflame Wizard here. But it didn't seem like anything came of it. It's been days without any word."
So it was Alwyn, after all!
"So where is he? The lord?"
"The next left, take it. Then you take a right. Crawl a while longer and you'll be right above his room. It's a very large room, you're sure to fall into it."
"...Thank you, man." I shook his hand in the now cramped space.
I left him, following his directions. When I got to what I believed was the destination, I removed the tile and peered through. I almost jumped down before I noticed something was off.
"When will that brat get here? That dwarf didn't mess up, did he?" the wizard muttered to himself, strolling in.
The dwarf guy was a total snake!
"Oh? What do we have here?"
Hm?
The wizard beckoned something in the hallway from out of my sight.
"Come here kitty kitty... psst psst!"
Kitty? It can't be.
The cat came into my view. A black, beautiful cat with bright orange eyes. She hissed at him.
If Lady is here, that means—
"Oh? Who are you?" the wizard perked up.
No... no no no...!
"Where is Linnie!? What've you done with him!?"
"Ahhh, that explains the outfit. You're Alwyn's other apprentice, aren't you!"
"That's right, and I'm here to blow this place to smithereens! Tâ—"
"Alright, that's enough. I won't make the same mistake twice."
The wizard snapped, and an uncountable amount of water droplets surrounded Liora. Before I could react, they stretched into large, piercing icicles. From a radius of 360*, Liora was impaled.
"Nm—" I nearly shouted, slapping my hands over my mouth.
I clenched my teeth in horror as I watched her body twitch. The dimness of the room made it hard to make out fully but all the more terrifying.
Liora!