Chapter 111 - Military Industrial Complex (Patreon)

<---Chapter 110 - Discovery   | Table of Contents | Chapter 112 - Preparations  --->

The fumes belched out in never-ending pulses from tall smoke stacks that dotted the landscape, the military-industrial complex of Tenar seemingly having no end, expanding even beyond the ancient walls and encroaching onto the nearby pastures and large expansive fields. Instead of greenery and grass stretching into the horizon, monstrous factories and humongous refineries were the mainstay of the view here, filtering the daylight that spilled out onto the paved streets.

Flywheel generators and gravity batteries towered over sixty meters high in the distance, the residual sounds of clanging and burning dominating the air, a far cry from the peace and tranquility of the residential district. Here, industry seeped into every aspect of life. Sleepy workers covered in soot and grime all over their work outfits rubbed their groggy eyes as they lumbered back to their dorms, snatching every minute of shuteye they could before their shifts started again.

A loud bell resounded through the complex, signalling the start of the next shift as thousands of workers, engineers, researchers and clerks filtered out from their dormitories in dense swarms, congregating on open parade squares situated next to the domineering factories, their oppressive black visage casting large shadows over the square.

[Rollcall!] A foreman shouted into an arctech radio, his voice carried on arctech speakers situated all around the square and prompting assistants to run down the thick rows of employees, counting heads and checking for names. [We only have two weeks left till the Grand Exhibition - projects such as Aurtla and Guryi have not been completed! It is our responsibility to put forward our best foot; Versia is counting on us! Any failure will be a catastrophe for both you and me. Do your part!]

"YES, SIR!" The workers chanted in sync, none of them averting their eyes from the foreman.

[Good. Confirm your assigned role with your team leaders, and remember to get your work card punched.] The foreman had the workers dismissed, the throng of workers dispersing into a hundred swarms as they criss-crossed each other, trying to get to their workplace. Many boarded wagons which carried them to their departments, some situated miles away.

The foreman let out an exasperated sigh as he returned back to his office, going over the attendance list with his assistants compiling the information. Sitting down on a black stool and thumbing through the sheets of paper stacked on his narrow wooden desk, he soon noticed something strange. "Hey, where are the sub-contractors? Why aren't they on this list?" He questioned the assistant nearest to him.

The assistant scratched his head in confusion, eyes darting about thinking that the foreman was talking to someone else, until he met the foreman's gaze again, clearly looking directly at him. "H-huh? Which subcontractor? Glovcal Works or-"

"Huriga Cleaning Services, you idiot! Their whole team is fucking missing!" The foreman scolded. "Get their manager on the radio right now!"

While the assistant scrambled to find their radio, the foreman continued to inspect the list, noticing quite a few employees who were reported late. "Dock Employee 2248 and Employee 5063's wages - dock them an hour for every minute missed." He lazily scribbled onto a slip of paper, handing it over to a nearby clerk.

An hour passed, the foreman looking up at a nearby clock before realizing that the assistant had not gotten the manager on the line. "Hey, what's the hold up?"

"Sir, they aren't responding to any of my calls!" The assistant nervously replied from a desk further down the hall of the office.

"And you only decided to tell me now?!"

"I..."

"You fucking useless-" The foreman was about to raise his voice again but decided not to waste any effort on the dumb assistant, instead pulling up a work chart of all assigned subcontractors and their tasks.

Before the foreman could cancel a line, a group of two dozen cleaners entered the office, wearing dark blue work overalls with the logo of Huriga Cleaning Services clearly emblazoned across their chest and back. They hauled cleaning supplies in a large cart, their manager walking up to the foreman's desk with a pensive smile on his face. "Sorry, Bernard, traffic was pretty bad just now." The manager apologized with a slight bow.

"Bah, don't give me any excuse, you old slag." Bernard clenched his fist while picking up an Euria pipe in the other, smoking. "You've been late more than five times now. How the hell am I going to explain to Harrison? Maybe we should dock your contract." He placed the tip of his pen down on the work chart, about to cancel out their name, when the manager leaned forward quickly, trying to stop the foreman.

"Really, you know it's not my fault. Johan Street is always chock full of wagons - even if I wanted to arrive on time, it would be near impossible!" The manager pleaded, his grip tight.

Bernard let out a sigh, dropping the pen and scratching his balding head, the manager letting out a sigh of relief while Bernard complained:"You're always getting off easy - just because we're old time buddies doesn't mean I can keep covering for you all the time! You could just come out earlier!"

"Come on, Bernard, it's only an hour!"

"Do you have any idea how many other cleaning crews out there would kill to have the contract that you have right now? For each of your assigned areas, hundreds would kill for such a lucrative payment, especially given the terrible conditions outside Tenar." Bernard chided. "And you barely even look out for me! Why do I feel like I'm getting the short end of the stick, huh?"

"What are you talking about - Of course I always look out for you." Huriga grinned, glancing around with a shifty look before rummaging through his overall's pocket, pulling out a tiny vial, a viscous dark-yellow liquid swirling inside. "On the house."

Bernard's eyes widened when he spotted the vial. "Are you crazy, bringing that here? How the hell did you get it?"

"Like I said, I always look out for you. Free of charge." Huriga slid the vial over, Bernard frantically snatching it and pocketing it before any of the clerks and assistants nearby spotted him. His originally antagonistic behavior faded like snow on a summer's day, his face beaming with happiness instead as if he had never been angry at Huriga.

"I knew you could always pull through, Huriga. You're the best." Bernard had a wide smile from cheek to cheek. "You better get going to the dorm areas - if you get any later, they are gonna get real mad at both you and me."

"Yeah, about that. I was thinking about taking two areas at once."

Bernard raised an eyebrow. "So that's why you've brought so many people. Hmm... I can't have you do two dorm areas now; the rest are already allocated to their own cleaning crews. Why do you even want to do two at once?"

Huriga leaned over, his voice dropping to a whisper. "That vial ain't cheap. You and I both know it. Do me a favor, and I'll get you another one. How's that?"

Bernard squinted his eyes in suspicion before scanning the work chart again. "Let's see here... I only got the mansion here. You're going to need clearance to get in there."

Huriga's face paled slightly at the mention of that. If Bernard had been looking closely, he might have noticed Huriga's eyes trembling for a while before firming up once more. "Come on, Bernard, you know I don't have the clearance for that area. There has got to be another area I can clean!"

"Nope, nothing else here. Rest has been taken up. Seriously, if you wanted two areas, you should have told me the day before and maybe not show up late!" Bernard retorted, but his hand continuously felt the precious vial in his pockets, already thinking about when he could get the next dose. He beckoned for Huriga to come closer, whispering. "If I get you in, two vials."

"Sure, if I get double areas for the next two weeks."

"Deal. Hey, you! These men need temporary clearance for Zone A!" Bernard hollered to the dumb assistant, who quickly scampered over while clutching a stack of papers tightly.

"But, sir, these passes are not to be given out lightly. They'll have to be approved by-"

"By the foreman. That's me, you dingus! Now get me those temporary passes, or I'll dock your pay!"

Within minutes, a dozen of the cleaners had a temporary pass, a simple card pinned to their work overalls. "The pass only last for your allocated cleaning time. Don't overstay - you won't like military jail." Bernard warned the group. "Don't cross any lines, stick to your assigned zones, and don't touch anything that isn't yours. Understood?"

The cleaners nodded, with Huriga leading them out of the office. They split up themselves into two separate wagons, heading to their zones. The wagons rolled through the vast industrial complex, their paths eventually diverging over time with one of them heading towards the center.

Inside the back of the wagon, the cleaners didn't say much, some closing their eyes to get some sleep, while two others muttered among themselves, their voices kept low and hushed. "Hey, you said there wouldn't be any hiccups." One of them whispered angrily, jabbing the other in the ribs and causing him to flinch.

"What the fuck? Of course there isn't. Huriga got us in - what else do you want?" The other rubbed his ribs gently, glaring at his friend.

"Are you blind? There's a new girl here! Why is there a new girl as part of the crew?" The first motioned with his chin towards a lady sitting at the other corner of the wagon, her clear eyes looking out the back at the scenery passing by. She wore a tight mask that covered her skin from the nose down, the work overalls hiding her outline.

The other cleaner scoffed. "What's the matter? Want to date her?"

"Fuck no - I've seen what's under her mask. Also, I've been going steady recently."

"Hah! You? Steady? You're joking. Nerves getting to you."

"I'm serious, you asshole."

"What, that girl selling horse milk at the end of Asha Street? Brother, you've been cheated - that girl is dating four guys right now!"

"Wha- how do you know?"

"She's dating me right now, too!"

"WHAT?!" The first exclaimed loudly, his voice raised and attracting everyone's attention, even the girl at the back. He quickly calmed himself down, taking a few deep breaths to control his rising temper, before continuing: "Firstly, that's not the girl I'm going steady with."

"Then why the hell were you so shocked?"

"I..."

"Hey, you don't need to lie to me. I know you dated her before."

"If you know there are so many people dating her, then why are you dating too?"

"Just because there's five players in the game doesn't mean I can't join the game too. There's no player limit, is there?"

"Wha- look, you're not focusing on what we got to do. That new girl is a liability - simple as that. We should find a way to make sure she doesn't interfere with what we have to do."

"Nah, she's not going to do anything - she's brand new!"

"Exactly why a single fumble from her could screw up everything! Do you even understand the importance of what we're trying to do? Our lives in Versia depend on this!"

"Alright, alright, relax. We can assign her to refill the buckets; that'll keep her away for long enough."

Soon, the wagon crawled to a halt, a thump along the side of the wagon prompting the cleaners to get up. The new girl looked around blankly, her expression naive, before one of the other cleaners tapped her on the shoulders. "We need to get out for a security check."

The new girl nodded, dropping down to see Huriga chatting with a Versian sergeant while other soldiers boarded the wagon, checking the cleaning supplies and equipment to make sure there was nothing dangerous. The Versian sergeant spotted the girl, squinting in suspicion. "Who's the new girl? You hiring comfort women now?"

"They aren't that cheap to hire, you know. At least, not for how much tenars I earn." Huriga grinned. "No, the girl is just a new cleaner. I promised her father to take care of her, so there you go."

"Then what's with the mask?"

"Trust me, you don't want to see what's behind it."

"Try me. I'm not going to let anyone past this checkpoint without seeing their faces."

"Don't blame me - you asked for it." Huriga motioned to the new girl to pull down the mask, the cleaners all immediately averting their gaze. The Versian sergeant eyes bulged, before his reflex instinct cause him to gag. He staggered to the side, vomitting out his breakfast in its entirety with a loud retch. As soon as he recovered, he too averted his gaze from the new girl, waving frantically at Huriga and shaking his head.

"Painful accident. Lost her voice." Huriga shrugged, signaling to the girl to cover up once more. "Look, I'm already behind schedule. I'll treat you to lunch next time I come around."

The Versian sergeant gasped for air as he stood back up to his full height, taking deep breaths. "You better treat me to lunch and breakfast for that fucking atrocity!"

"Hey, that's not fair, you asked for it!"

"... Fine. Lunch."

The soldiers got off the wagon, reporting to the sergeant. "All clear, sir. No bombs or funny arctech."

"Good. Alright, let them through!"

The checkpoint gate opened to reveal a large, expansive road with well-manicured bushes planted along the side with exceptional accuracy, the distance between them immaculately in both pattern and calculation. The grass on the rolling lawn that spread out beyond the edges of the road was trimmed well, too, showing clear signs of regular gardening on a daily basis. The road snaked up a slight slope, curving around and leading to the front of a large mansion, its prestigious white pillars glinting in the distance while the sheer number of windows made the first-time cleaners jaws drop.

The wagon soon rolled up to the porch, and five armed Versian guards immediately approached the wagon. The cleaners hopped off again one by one, intimidated by the large arctech knight armor that each of the guards wore, their height nearly 2.1 meters from the sheer amount of metal infused into its structure. Huriga's usual charisma faltered, and one of the armored guards walked up, each step clanging with domineering metal. "Business?" A somber tone spoke from behind the armored helmet, his stern eyes only shown through a slit on the faceplate adorned with the emblem of Versia.

"Huriga Cleaning Services. We've been assigned this area by Foreman Bernard."

"Passes?"

Huriga frantically motioned to the rest of the cleaners, getting them to line up and brandish their temporary passes pinned onto their work overalls. A few of them trembled as the armored guards inspected them thoroughly, checking their pockets and belongings. None of the guards flinched even as they pulled down the mask of the new girl, though they were quick in covering up her again.

"Stay on the first floor. The second floor is off-limits. Anyone crossing will be shot on sight." The armored guard warned once more, stepping aside to allow Huriga and the cleaning crew to enter, lugging their buckets, mops, clothes, and other essentials up the grand steps that numbered about a dozen up towards the main door.

A butler greeted them at the main door, though his expression was clearly cautious. "Good to meet you, sir Huriga, but I don't recall any cleaning crews being assigned to this area."

"I don't know anything about assignments; I just follow wherever the foreman tells me to go." Huriga shrugged, but his eyes were already captivated by the elegance of the door's construction. Ornamental gold lined every edge, and white slivers marked the edges of the carvings in the ancient oak frame; the details and precision were marvelous to witness. Even the cleaners were stuck with awe, gaping with their mouths open along with hushed sounds of exclamation.

"Are you going to stare, or are you here to clean?" The butler sternly glared at Huriga, causing Huriga to shake himself out of his stupor, quickly stepping through the opened main door and entering the main hall proper. The main hall wasn't any better at making Huriga focused on cleaning. Its glistening rails and stairs that looked like a palace staircase were too eye-catching, not to mention the dazzling chandeliers hung precariously above that were larger than some of the rooms the cleaners had slept in the day before. Countless rooms and echoes of other guards' footsteps vibrated through the polished marble floor that stretched the entire length of the mansion, each stream of light pouring through the windows and reflecting off the tiles like a mirror.

"You'll be cleaning this main hall, along with every other room in the mansion on the first floor." The butler informed in a matter-of-fact tone. "Should you require additional supplies, we do have the necessary equipment to clean everything."

"Thanks, we can take it from here." Huriga gave a genial smile, acting professional though the cleaners behind him were already murmuring among each other, hardly listening in.

"My god, why do they even need us? Whoever owns this mansion could buy out a hundred maids if he wanted to!" One of the cleaners exclaimed in awe.

"The master himself is currently at the Versian Parliament, and the other servants have all been summarily executed by firing squads for stealing relics from the mansion. You would be wise to keep your hands to yourself. As well as your comments." The butler noted sternly before leaving them alone in the main hall. Two guards eyed the group of cleaners from the second floor's railing as they got to work, mixing soap with water and soaking cloths, mop, and rags alike.

They split up across the hall, each area designated by Huriga who oversaw the whole operation, eyeing the guards carefully. Soon an hour passed, the cleaners having scrubbed only half of the wide hall, the six of them barely enough to get the job done fast enough. They took breaks in-between, chit-chatted and generally did their cleaning without too much complaints. The guards were already bored of watching their menial tasks and repetitive motions, instead bickering among each other.

Huriga whistled as he snacked on a piece of bread, careful to make sure no crumbs fell to the floor. He leaned against a nearby pillar, where two other cleaners were sitting, looking off into the distance. "You see those guards?" Huriga spoke through the corner of his mouth, trying to avoid suspicion.

"Yea. Rotates every thirty minutes or so."

"How long does the shift change take?"

"Five minutes, more than enough."

"Good. I've already ascertained Harrison's office location. On the second floor, all the way at the end on the right with the bronze handles and ox-ring door knocker."

"Got it. What about the butler? He's too observant." One of the cleaners motioned towards the stern-looking butler, who was eyeing them intently but clearly out of earshot on the second floor.

"I'll handle him, don't worry." Huriga winked.

With the break over, they continued cleaning, albeit at a much slower, methodical pace, intentional to a fault. Huriga kept his head low as he used a mop to scrub the tiles clean, though from the peripheral of his eyes, he could tell that the butler was getting frustrated.

By the next break, the butler was already descending the main staircases, making a beeline straight for Huriga. "You're far too slow - the mansion must be cleaned by nightfall, and it's already lunchtime! I can see that some of your cleaners are clearly slacking in their work."

Huriga shrugged as he sipped on a flask of water. "Well that's because we're not allowed to clean the other rooms yet. Too many cooks spoil the broth, we can't have that many cleaners in the main hall. If you want it to go faster, its better if I divide my cleaners up to tackle multiple areas at once."

"Out of the question. Who would supervise you?"

"Relax, relax. You're too stuck up - how long have you been holed up here?"

"What does that matter to you-" The butler leaned in close and sniffed Huriga's breath before recoiling in shock. "Are you drinking wine right now?!"

"Nothing in the contract says anything about not being able to drink on the job. I'm still functioning. Just a sip to keep me going, you know how it is." Huriga swirled the wine in the flask, watching the butler's eyes tracing the flask intensely. "Want some? It's good."

"As the head butler, I could never-"

"Who's going to find out? Hmm? Look, have the whole flask." Huriga took a sip from the flask before handing it to the butler. "I don't need it anymore - you need it more than me. You could drink this right now and be sober before your 'master' returns, and no one would be any the wiser."

The butler grasped the flask with both hands gleefully, though he carefully kept it close to his chest, stuffing it in his inner suit pocket out of sight of the patrolling guards. However, he soon felt something suspicious, as if Huriga had planned all of this. "You're not going to poison me, are you?"

Huriga chuckled with an incredulous look. "Poison you? Are you insane? Where would I escape to if you were found dead? I don't even have a weapon to fight these guards!" He jabbed his thumb over his shoulders to the fully armored guards decked out in arctech knight plates. "And I drank the flask too! Look, if you don't want it, I'll-"

"I'll take it, I'll take it." The butler clutched his suit close. "Your cleaners can go to the other rooms, but you're not allowed onto the second floor."

"Of course, of course." Huriga waved to the butler as the butler retreated sheepishly before darting towards his accommodations further down the hallway, no doubt drinking the flask as soon as he could. Looks like our client was right about the butler being an alcoholic. He'll be sleeping the rest of the night off. Maybe two. Can't have me sleeping now though. He reached into his pockets and took out an antidote pill, popping it into his own mouth as he strolled back into the center of the main hall. He gave a hand sign to the cleaners, two of them following him immediately while the rest stayed outside and continued cleaning the main hall.

They marched down the first hallway with a cart of cleaning supplies, walking down all the way to the end towards a room before gingerly opening its door to reveal a standard library, hardly used, with its bookshelves still regularly dusted by the butler. There was no one within, and the room was illuminated by the two large windows that showed the exterior of the mansion.

Huriga began to unload the cleaning supplies, revealing a strange arctech machine that looked like a circular plate of sorts, its diameter wider than his shoulder's width by a good margin. One of the other cleaners brought a ladder; Huriga climbed it and placed the circular plate right on the ceiling, ascertaining the distance between the door and its placement. "Ok, we're good. Synchronize watches."

All three of them took out a pocket watch, gathering around to fiddle their timings to be the same. "When the minute hand hits five, crash the cart of cleaning supplies into the pillar or wall or something priceless."

"You got it, bossman." The two cleaners left, leaving Huriga alone in the room as he took out an arctech fuel pack that had been disguised as a carton of soap, extending a dormant energy tube and plugging it into the very center of the circular plate. He waited patiently at the top of the ladder, counting down the seconds to go on his pocket watch. Three, two, one...

He activated the fuel pack on the dot, the energy surging through the tube and powering the circular plate. A bright flash illuminated the circular plate, the edges grinding through the ceiling's material itself in a perfect circumference. At the exact same time, Huriga could even hear a loud crash in the main hall, prompting the guards to respond as soon as they could.

The butler, too, came out from his accommodation, wondering what all the fuss was about until he saw one of the cleaners coated entirely in soap, laughing it off with his fellow cleaners. With the guards standing around on high alert, the butler did not care too much any longer, deciding to retreat back to his abode once more to finish his half-drunk flask, his body becoming slightly lethargic.

Huriga held his breath; his ears perked for any approaching guards. When he was convinced no one was coming, he slowly lowered the circular plate, a perfect cutout of the ceiling and, subsequently, the floor of the room above. Carefully climbing down the ladder and placing the cutout on the ground, he clambered up again, this time reaching through the hole and pulling himself upwards.

The room above was pristine and immaculate, and the carpet was perfectly clean with no signs of tampering at all. Huriga cautiously observed every single facet of the office, the memory ingrained into his brain for when he needed to set everything back where it belonged. However, his attention was suddenly distracted by the near priceless relics that were mounted on stands within a golden display cabinet, his mouth instinctively drooling. Jackpot!

He hurriedly lifted himself out of the hole, tiptoeing across the room towards the glass cabinet, keeping an eye out for any potential traps. As he reached the cabinet, he noticed a taut red wire strapping the glass cover down, the red wire leading somewhere unknown. Huriga knew if he snapped it, it could lead to something bad.

Instead of trying to avoid it, Huriga cracked his knuckles and took out a flat knife. Keeping a tight grip on the wire with one hand, he placed the knife on the surface of the glass cabinet before grabbing the other side of the red wire. He rubbed the center of the wire against the edge of the knife, slowly fraying it before it snapped. Just as it snapped, Huriga pulled hard as well, ensuring that the red wire stayed taut.

The entire cabinet jerked a little, the red wire seemingly connected to a trap door in the wall. Huriga carefully put both ends of the broken wire in his left hand while using his right to rummage through his pockets for a vial of horse glue, sticking the ends of the wire to the nearby wall and making sure it stayed taut. With the trap diffused, he carefully lifted the glass cabinet, the treasure right in front of his fingers.

He shoveled every relic of worth from the cabinet into a small sack, stuffing it full till it was bulging at the seams. As soon as he was done ransacking the entire cabinet, he quietly dropped the sack down the hole onto the ladder, himself clambering down as fast as he could, only to hear shouting from guards outside. "Someone triggered the pressure plates in the main office!"

What?! Huriga didn't recall his client telling him anything about pressure plates. Shit, it was a trap! His mind raced, trying to come up with an alternative plan as he stuffed the sack in the cart. His two cleaners barged into the room, one of them still covered in a few soap bubbles. "Bossman, they are coming here, fast! We need to hide!"

"Fuck, there's no time to hide!" Huriga cracked open the other cleaning supplies, revealing dismantled rifles that had been smuggled in, too. "We'll be caught eventually - we have to break out!"

The two cleaners hurriedly grabbed the parts from the cleaning supplies, assembling the rifle hastily. "What about the others?"

"Screw them, we'll use them as bait to buy time! There's a backdoor we can get out from, come on!" Huriga hurriedly left the hallway, instead spotting two armored guards already charging down the hallway towards them.

"Dammit! Quick, out the window!" Huriga reversed his course, rushing back into the library and smashing his way out through the window, the glass shards shattering and attracting all of the guard's attention.

The trio sprinted through the lawn, ignoring the calls to stop, and the pellets shot at them, running as hard as they could.

Inside the main hall, the other cleaners were stunned by what happened. They had been part of the operation, too, but were clearly left behind. Immediately, they began to scramble, trying to get out of the way. Some cracked open other smuggled weapons in a separate cart of cleaning supplies, using the rifles to fight back and hole themselves up in the rooms as the guards tried to force down the barricades. The butler stumbled out of his room, clearly drunk and intoxicated by the laced wine, staggering on his feet as he grabbed the nearest armored guard. "What's going on?!"

"The cleaners stole Harrison's collection!"

"WHAT?! Then what are you still doing here?"

"But their accomplices are here in these rooms!"

"Do they have the collection?"

"No, sir, the thieves with the collection are running towards the complex now."

"THEN WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? SEND EVERYONE TO GET THEM!"

In the midst of all the chaos, no one noticed where the new girl had disappeared. With the guards chasing the escaping thieves and trying to pacify the remaining cleaners, she easily slinked her way towards the library, her movement suddenly as swift as a bird before she leaped upwards into the cutout hole in the ceiling, finding herself in Harrison's office.

The empty golden display cabinet hardly bothered her - instead she headed straight for Harrison's office table, where a stack full of documents were piled up. She filtered through the stack of paper, trying to find any critical information before holding her hand up to her neck, activating an engraving. [Sir, are you in range?]

[I am. Read out the documents to me.] Kyle's voice entered her brain directly. [Don't move the documents too much; we want all the blame to be pinned on the others.] Sasha was the perfect candidate because none of the documents would have been shifted, and it was as if Kyle himself was there. However, Kyle was naturally not going to endanger himself. Furthermore, if Sasha were to be caught, she would be unable to leak any secrets due to her being mute.

Sasha nodded and began reading all the information. Some of the blueprints were far beyond her understanding, but she methodically read each one of them out to Kyle. Many were letters of correspondence by Harrison to other dignitaries and company personnel, but surely enough, Kyle began to get a better picture of what Harrison was aiming for. [Sir, there's a letter from Count Leon to Harrison.]

[What does it say?]

[It says Count Leon will be attending the Grand Exhibition with a gift.]

[A gift...Are the Barons attending as well?]

[No. However, the Count of Kregol and the Count of Perlis have rejected the invitation.]

[Good information. Keep on searching. I need to know what else Harrison is planning to do in the Grand Exhibition.]

Most of the other documents were basic designs and scribbles of mathematical formula, something Sasha could hardly read out properly. Soon, she came across an interesting document. [Project Aurtla and Project Guryi are the main two showcases of the Grand Exhibition.]

[What?]

Sasha squinted her eyes, her brain reeling at the complexity of the blueprint. [There's no description for Project Aurtla, except it looks a little like a... tree? A tree with two solid, thick branches sticking out, but the branches have no leaves. It's quite strange. I don't think I've ever seen anything like this.]

[A tree with two branches... what about Project Guryi?]

[Project Guryi... says here that it will rival the heavens with a full suit of armor. I'm seeing drawings that look just like the armored arm of the Nest hitman that killed Gunther. ]

Kyle immediately fell into a silence. This Harrison... he's planning to unveil a full exosuit? He assumed that the exosuit would not be a Galactic Era one, but one that had been remodeled to function off Arcia instead, just like it had been for the prototype exosuit arm. Still, being able to construct the armour in its entirety was no small feat - Kyle needed to grab that information. [Where is the suit now?]

[Not stated here, I could-] Sasha swiveled her head towards the sound of approaching footsteps, getting closer and closer to the office. [Sir, I'm about to be compromised. Do I keep reading? ]

[No. Hide now and return when you're ready. You've done enough.]

She quickly slid back down the cutout hole, descending to the first floor of the library before dashing out of the room. With the guards still completely preoccupied with other cleaners fighting back, she could easily sneak out the back of the mansion and into an unguarded gardener's shed, where she crouched and waited patiently for nightfall before planning her escape.

At the far side of the complex, Kyle and Yona sat at a bench facing the road, watching wagons and pedestrians walk past. "Judging from your expression, I assumed the plan worked. It was easy enough to drop an anonymous contract for Huriga to snatch up as long as he had the information. He wouldn't even think twice about who he's stealing from as long as it makes him rich." Yona smiled to herself, though she never made eye contact with Kyle. She had been the one to put up the contract deal and get Sasha to join Huriga, further emboldening him with information on the complex details.

"Not until Sasha gets out," Kyle muttered. "However I will admit your plan got me far more information than expected. This Grand Exhibition is going to be very interesting."

<---Chapter 110 - Discovery   | Table of Contents | Chapter 112 - Preparations  --->