Project: Alternative

Chapter 19: Time to plan (Eru)

The sun was blaring above us while Jun-kun and I were walking down a dirt road. Krusmond would take at least a week of traveling and Jun-kun and I were the ones who were tasked to find Kageyama Shien.

According to Reine's network, a rebel group took over the city. Jun-kun confirmed it with the System Records. The fun part was that the citizens were cooperating with the rebels and even helped them overthrow the lord in charge of the city. Those who didn't want to be part of the rebellion were given a chance to leave. In other words, everyone in the city were enemies.

That was why only Jun-kun and I were the only ones who could infiltrate it. Reine was a well-known noble and we couldn't trust a delicate job like this to her servants. Hoshimachi-san, Oozora-san, and Inugami-san were not trained in combat so having them come with us in this dangerous mission was completely out of the question.

I was a GUILD agent so I had experience in infiltrating bases. However, I was not sure how well I could do in combat. Botan and my parents may have taught me how to fight but that didn't mean I was an expert. All I had was theory and little experience.

"You getting tired already?" Jun-kun asked.

"Don't worry about me. As an agent of GUILD, I am physically fit. Walking continuously for a few hours won't bother me that much", I replied.

"In any case, we'll arrive in a town after an hour or so. At this rate, we'll get to Krusmond in at least three days."

"Are we really going to infiltrate a city?"

"Yeah. We have to find Shien and capture him. After I'm done editing his codes, we can lock him up in prison until the day this Server gets connected with our own. And besides, we can't afford to have a war happen while we're looking for the transported people."

Jun-kun was correct. A war would make things difficult for us to gather the other transported people. It would be a problem if they died because of a war.

"We need information. Sneaking into a city is difficult. Normally, I could use my skills to get the needed information. At the very least, we would want to be able to know Krusmond's layout. Streets, alleys, and even sewers are vital information needed to sneak in", I said.

Jun-kun took two scrolls from his bag and gave it to me. When I opened them, one of them showed the layout of the city's streets and another showed the sewer system.

"The System Records must be very convenient", I said.

"If you need more information, just tell me. We'll brainstorm a way to sneak in once we arrive in a town. I'll trust your experience in infiltration. You're an agent, right?"

"Yeah. All of Botan's raids were successful because I planned them carefully."

"I'll look forward to whatever plan you can cook up."

###

We arrived at a town named Llyn and rented a room in one of its inns. After eating dinner and resting up, Jun-kun and I went and discussed our strategy.

Developer Mode's barrier surrounded our room. Thanks to his abilities, Jun-kun materialized a white board. We then placed the scrolls that contained the city and its sewer's layout on it and began marking points.

"Tell me. What can the System Records know?" I asked.

"Pretty much anything about this Server."

"Does that mean you can have a schedule of the guards?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that."

"How so?"

"I can't just type those exact words in the System Records and expect to have clear results. The best I can do is find a list of those who were assigned in guard duty and map out the areas they are assigned in. If I just try to find a schedule, all I can get is just a schedule. There's no promise that they would follow it. The System Records can't predict the future."

"Alright. Do that then."

Violet screens appeared around Jun-kun and he marked points on the scrolls. He materialized scrolls for each hour of the day and marked the areas where there were guards. It didn't take long until our room was filled with papers that were marked.

I compared each and every scroll and tried to come up with plans to infiltrate it. From what I know, there were five ideal times when we could come in undetected. However, I needed more information.

"By the way, where is our target located?" I asked.

"The Systems Records does not have current information about Shien but comparing the records of those who were close to him, I have an idea where he could be hiding."

He drew a circle over a building that was in the dead center of the town.

"This looks like an important building", I said.

"That's right. This is the town's Guild Meeting Hall. Krusmond is a major city and so, this Guild Meeting Hall is an important place where the Merchant's Guild and the Adventurer's Guild could be found. It's more than 16 floors high and was built like a fortress."

"Why would Kageyama Shien hide here?"

"Like I said, it's a tight defense. The top floor could only be accessed using one staircase and powerful warriors were guarding it 24/7."

"He's an annoying guy as always. I'm curious. How in the world is he involved in this rebellion?"

"According to the System Records, Shien convinced the leader of the rebellion that he can guide them to success. He formulated a plan that easily helped them win several battles and also convinced lots of nobles to back him up. Not to mention that he was the one who convinced the citizens to overthrow Krusmond's government and give him control of the city."

"Wait... How can he convince people when he doesn't know their language?"

"I-It's probably because of Soul Talk. You already know how it could be used since you experienced it, right?"

There it was again. I had a feeling that Jun-kun was hiding something from me. But whatever he was hiding, it probably wasn't important. After all, he wasn't dumb enough to hide information that would jeopardize our mission, right?

After talking to each other and brainstorming, we decided to infiltrate during dusk and mapped out a route. Thanks to the System Records, we also found a place that was perfect to be our base.

We then decided to turn in for the night and headed to our beds. I tried to run the plan through my mind over and over again and find ways to improve it.

The plan I made was solid and the 34 backup plans covered many situations. I never thought I would be able to arrest Kageyama Shien in this world.

"A criminal is a criminal no matter where he goes", I muttered and drifted off to dreamland.