Perhaps sensing Ainola’s murderous intent, Spark quickly spoke up.
“Aha~ The sow at home is giving birth, gotta run, gotta run!”
Without giving Ainola any time to react, she swiftly vanished from sight.
“Damn it…”
Ainola ignored Spark and instead pulled the large door open a crack, slipping into the rear section of the church.
“Not a soul in sight, late at night.”
Normally, there should be quite a few patrols behind this door. She didn’t know what was going on today.
Ainola observed her surroundings, cautiously feeling her way forward.
Since she wasn’t familiar with this place, she had no idea where Anderson’s room actually was.
Coupled with the large area, finding Anderson’s residence in a short time was proving quite difficult.
Thinking this, Ainola sighed inwardly.
‘I should have asked during the day. Then I wouldn’t be groping around in the dark like this, searching everywhere.’
But there was no helping it. Some opportunities, once missed, were gone. Ainola could only steel herself and continue the search.
Looking at the rows of rooms, she began her investigation.
Some rooms had names written on them, so she could rule those out directly.
But some rooms had no identifiers at all. Ainola could only sneak inside to check.
This method, no different from finding a needle in a haystack, was of course terrifyingly slow.
A full hour passed, and Ainola still hadn’t found Anderson’s residence.
Left with no choice, she decided to take a risk and use a bit of magic to aid her search.
Using magic would undoubtedly greatly increase the chance of her whereabouts being exposed, but Ainola had no other option.
After releasing her magic outward, Ainola made an unexpected discovery.
To her southeast, there were two sneaky figures.
“Could they be… accomplices of those assassins from before?”
Ainola hadn’t expected that merely a day later, these assassins would be back at the Temple Knights’ headquarters.
They were really going all out, sending two more people this time, and their strength didn’t seem weak either.
So it was best to avoid conflict if possible.
Just as Ainola was about to take a detour, Spark popped out again and said.
“Ainola, their target is probably the Eye of Wite. Following them, we might gain something.”
“Good idea.”
Ainola thought for a moment and felt Spark’s suggestion was quite sound.
Although the other party were assassins with strong counter-surveillance abilities, she wasn’t a pushover either.
“Let’s go.”
Following the trail of magic, Ainola quickly located the two assassins.
Though called assassins, the way these two were sneaking around right now made them look more like thieves.
“I think you look quite thief-like too, Ainola.”
“If you didn’t talk, no one would think you’re mute.”
Ainola rapped Spark on the head and then focused her attention on the assassins.
By now, she had withdrawn her magic, concealed herself in the darkness, and was eavesdropping on their conversation.
“Silver Fox, something feels off to me.”
“What’s off now?”
Silver Fox said impatiently.
“Lion, can you stop being so paranoid?”
In response, the assassin named Lion argued his analysis logically.
“There are so many guards outside, but so few here. The key point is the door isn’t even locked. Don’t you find that strange?”
“Probably just their oversight.”
Silver Fox said with some irritation.
“Team A forced their way in before and got wiped out. According to our intel, Judge Anderson came here. So be careful, stop muttering, and hurry up to find the key.”
“Fine.”
Faced with Silver Fox’s urging, Lion couldn’t say much more, and the two continued forward.
Unaware that a little tail was now following behind them.
“Those two probably know the location of Anderson’s bedroom. We’ll just intercept them once they reach the door.”
“Of course I know that.”
Ainola whispered, then continued following the two.
These two moved quickly. Because they knew in advance the location of the key to open the barrier, they didn’t need to search everywhere like Ainola had earlier.
“See, this is what professional assassins are like, Ainola. You should learn a thing or two. Wouldn’t doing some preliminary intelligence work be good?”
“I’m a solo assassin. How could I possibly afford intel?”
Although Ainola had intel from her contact, her contact was still investigating, so naturally, she came in blind.
Anyway, she considered it scouting and casing the place, which was better than sleeping at home.
With the two assassins leading the way, Ainola soon arrived at Anderson’s bedroom.
At this moment, Silver Fox used a Peeping Spell to check inside the room and said.
“Great opportunity, the Judge isn’t in!”
Saying this, Silver Fox took out two wires and fiddled with the lock, trying to pick it.
But unfortunately, his skills were truly too lacking. Silver Fox messed with it for a long time but couldn’t open this encrypted door.
This made him a bit irritable.
“Damn it… Let’s just pry it open.”
Saying this, Silver Fox took out a crowbar, preparing to force it.
But how could Ainola let them make noise?
It would be troublesome if they attracted the Temple Knights.
So Ainola walked up behind the two and said.
“Picking locks? I’m good at that. Would you mind stepping aside?”
Hearing Ainola’s voice, Silver Fox and Lion were greatly startled. Lion, who was supposed to be guarding the perimeter, didn’t even know when Ainola had arrived.
However, their surprise didn’t last long.
Ainola raised her hand and brought it down, swiftly dispatching both of them.
The absolute gap in strength, coupled with the unpredictable ambush, left these two assassins with no room for resistance.
“Does this count as using them as tools?”
Ainola remarked with a sigh.
“Use and discard. I really am a heartless person.”
“That’s true. But what do you plan to do with the bodies?”
“Toss them out the window.”
But before throwing them out, Ainola needed to search their belongings.
After all, she was poor. Every penny counted.
From the two, Ainola only found two hundred-Gold Coin coins and a pile of small change, totaling just over four hundred coins.
“So little.”
She also learned which organization the assassins trying to snatch the Eye of Wite from her belonged to.
“The Moon Shadow Society?”
Ainola clicked her tongue.
This was a very famous assassin organization within the Glory Empire. Going up against them was indeed a bit tricky.
“Such a large organization, I wonder why they’d set their sights on a single key.”
Ainola scratched her head in puzzlement, then easily picked the lock and entered the bedroom.
Anderson’s bedroom wasn’t messy. It didn’t even look like a boy’s room—clean, tidy, with a faint scent of tea.
Spark, sensing the surroundings, said.
“Ainola, it seems Anderson is about to return. You’d better hurry.”