Scarlett listened to the sounds of the winds and rustling leaves outside as her carriage rocked along the narrow forest path. It was a long ride, and it was far from comfortable.

The carriage’s seats were just solid wood, the air was stale, and the cabin was cramped. With no windows, the only light in here was from the glimmers of moonlight that sneaked through the cracks in the plank walls, so without her enchanted glasses she wouldn’t even have been able to see her own hand.

This mode of transport was far removed from what she had gotten used to up till now in this world, but that’s what you get when you’re trying to travel inconspicuously. Spending money extravagantly on a carriage that stood out was the opposite of what you wanted.

They would get rid of the vehicle later anyway, so it didn’t matter too much.

Even though her body might object to that fact. Having spent the last two days traveling around in this thing—as well as sleeping in cheap inns with beds that weren’t much better than a board of wood—she was feeling a lot sorer than she thought she would. It was a minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things, but it didn’t help to soothe her nerves much.

Today was the day.

This night was when they carried out the heist on the Sanctuary of Ittar.

The closer it got, the clearer the differences between this and her plan to deal with the Cabal became. Both were a necessity, from her perspective, and were a gamble in a way. But she didn’t feel as self-assured about everything this time. Apprehensions about what tonight would bring had filled her mind the entire day. She had also been more in control of the situation back with the Cabal. This time, though, there were more unknowns, and most of the actual work was left up to others. She liked to think that was the primary reason she was more nervous now, but it probably wasn’t the only one.

It wasn’t something she liked to admit, but it was also a simple fact that she didn’t have a grudge against the Followers as she did against the Cabal. Her anger at them attacking her home and injuring her people served to motivate her a lot more than she had originally thought. Without that, she found herself spending far too much time thinking about the things that could go wrong.

Which there were a lot of.

She’d made preparations, of course. She felt decently secure in that she could deal with the worst-case scenarios that might pop up. It would cost her, but it was manageable. If the Followers did find out about her involvement in this, for example, there were dozens of places across the empire where she could hide away and grow her power base in other ways to complete necessary quests. The Followers weren’t evil, so it wasn’t as if they would kill everyone connected to her. She had also left a few letters and papers behind that might even allow Evelyne and the Hartford barony to escape without too much harm if she were to be declared a criminal.

These last few weeks had given her plenty of time to read through legal documents and the like to ensure that was possible, too. There were precedents where other noble houses had members commit heinous crimes and the house itself still survived, after all. Abelard and the Withersworths were just one example.

All of that was far from preferable, though. She certainly didn’t want to sacrifice herself. In any way, really. But it also wasn’t right to drag those serving her down along with her. She suspected that perhaps Fynn would not give her much of a choice, but the rest would be fine if she had anything to say about it.

For now, however, such worst-case scenarios were nothing but pure hypotheticals. Unlikely to happen, hopefully. All she could do was wait and see what the actual outcome would be. While she was stuck in this carriage, the Countess and Gaven were currently carrying out the heist itself.

Along with Garside, she had been traveling with the two of them in disguise for the last few days. Originally, they left Freybrook inside a nondescript merchant carriage that the butler had arranged, using the Kilnstone to move to Kilsfell where they had stayed for a day before continuing on to Silverborough. There, they had completed the last of their preparations and slowly started making their way out west, stopping at smaller towns and villages as they stayed under the radar.

Currently, they were maybe a few kilometers or so away from the eastern bank of Rellaria Lake, which lay at the heart of the empire. The Sanctuary of Ittar was about the same distance away.

Gaven and the Countess had left earlier in the day, and Scarlett would be meeting up with Gaven after he had finished his job and escaped with the artifacts she wanted. From there, she would have to locate the Countess before they withdrew completely.

Considering the numbers the Followers of Ittar had, it was possible that they might perform a wide search to catch Scarlett and the ones responsible for breaking into their sanctum, but even their organization would have trouble searching the entire countryside for just one or two perpetrators. Especially considering teleportation magic was a thing in this world. The divination magic the Followers might have access to was likely to be pretty limited, as well. It was something mostly exclusive to the mage towers, and even then, it wasn’t especially powerful.

To be honest, Scarlett had her suspicions that the Followers wouldn’t even try contacting anyone else for help. It would surprise her if they wanted to bring more attention to it than necessary. In the game, even after you did something similar to this, the news of it never got out, as far as she was aware. It was never printed in the Empyreal Chronicle or talked about by other NPCs, at least. This made her think that the Followers would probably choose to suppress the information outside their ranks, which made a sort of sense. A religious organization like theirs wouldn’t want to admit that one of their most holy places was breached, nor that some holy relics were stolen and one of their most sacred personages was vulnerable during the event.

All of that aside, the time for worrying and overthinking all of this really was over. Things were already in motion. There was nothing that could be changed now. To shift her thoughts a bit, she waved a hand in the air—the action was largely unnecessary—and summoned her status window.

[Name: Scarlett Hartford][Skills:[Greater Mana Control][Greater Pyromancy][Superior Pyrokinesis][Greater Hydromancy][Superior Hydrokinesis]][Traits:[Dignified August][Supercilious][Cavalier][Callous][Overbearing][Conceited][Third-rate Mana Veins]][Mana: 4998/4998][Points: 30]

[Skills Menu:Upgrades[Superior Pyromancy] (25 points)[Major Pyrokinesis] (50 points)[Superior Hydromancy] (25 points)[Major Hydrokinesis] (50 points)[Superior Mana Control] (25 points)New skills [LOCKED]]

Due to her not clearing any dungeons or quests these past weeks, she hadn’t gotten many skill points lately. The weeks of relative calm had, however, given her plenty of time to practice more with her magic, as well as to increase her mana stores. She was also getting more used to what [Superior Hydrokinesis] was capable of. The skill wasn’t fit for combat quite yet at her current skill level—at least not her pure-hydrokinesis-based attacks, like the water whips—but she could see herself reaching that point, eventually. When she did, there were a dozen other things she wanted to try as well.

As for the skill points she’d saved up, she had been considering what to do with them for a while now. She could just have used them to upgrade her Mana Control or Hydromancy. That would definitely help her out a lot in her current efforts at becoming more familiar with her magic, as well as improving her hydrokinesis control. But that wasn’t the only thing she needed. She had been vying between doing that, or waiting until she had enough points to upgrade [Superior Pyrokinesis] to [Major Pyrokinesis].

She wouldn’t quite say she had mastered [Superior Pyrokinesis] yet, but she had gotten pretty decent at handling what the skill had to offer. That said, waiting a bit longer to upgrade it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea, so that she had as stable a foundation as possible when she actually did. She wasn’t in dire need of the immediate power boost, so it was tempting to focus on the ‘auxiliary’ skills instead.

But the truth of the matter was that she wasn’t entirely satisfied with her current progress. Call her greedy, but she wanted things to move faster. Now that they were going through with the heist on the Sanctuary, if they succeeded, she would get her hands on one piece of the puzzle required to complete the main quest. After that, she only needed to get the second piece, and that meant actually getting Arlene to accept her as a real disciple and learn from the woman until she was ready.

Upgrading her pyrokinesis was likely to be the quickest way to achieve that, judging from what she knew from the game. Even if she rushed things, Arlene’s proper guidance could probably make up for that. And since she had already spent weeks not using the skill points she’d saved up, it felt like even more of a waste to use them on something else now.

Scarlett observed the status window for a while longer, letting her eyes wander over the text as her thoughts strayed. Eventually, she dismissed the window and leaned back against the wall. The bare wood pressing against her back once again reminded her of how much she disliked this carriage.

If it was up to her, she would never go on a trip like this again. She had severely underestimated how much of a difference having decent transportation made.

Evelyne and she had actually been in several talks recently about what they would do with the large influx of money they were having at the moment, and getting new and larger carriages was part of their plans. A decent sum of money had also been put aside for Evelyne to use in matters related to the barony, but even in their most pessimistic estimates of how much they would have after selling all the items in their current cache of loot, there would still be plenty left. They were still in the process of selling what they had retrieved in Autumnwell and from the latest Zuverian ruins, and would soon receive the money that the Withersworths had promised them—which they had recently gotten a letter informing them would be closer to five hundred thousand solars instead of four—so they were looking at well over one million solars filling their coffers soon.

Evelyne had already been in contact with a workshop that would supply them with two carriages. In addition, they were also looking into getting somebody to rebuild the mansion’s courtyard, and Scarlett had tried finding someone that could help her construct a pavilion in the back garden, where the [Obedience’s Solitude Loci] had its home. For the time being she’d just had a simple stone column moved there for the Loci to rest on, but she was considering inquiring with one of the mage towers or another expert she could find if there were any other useful things she could do to possibly empower the artifact in some way.

The carriage suddenly jolted as it hit something on the path and Scarlett’s shoulder struck the side of the cabin before she could react. She pressed a hand against the wall to avoid falling over, clenching her teeth as she waited for the vehicle’s rocking to calm down again.

Finally, after the carriage had traveled for a while longer, it pulled to a stop. Movements could be heard from outside as a horse neighed and soon, the cabin door opened.

“My Lady, we have arrived,” Garside’s voice sounded out.

Scarlett used her [Charm of Expeditious Change] to switch into a dark set of robes and pulled the hood up as she exited the vehicle.

“Thank you, Garside.” She looked over at the elderly butler, who stood with mud up to his ankles on the side of the path. He was wearing a dark leather jacket that was tied loosely with a string at the top left side, as well as a brown cap that covered part of his thick grey hair. The usual refined air that he held was almost completely lacking in his current appearance, though some of it shone through in the way he spoke to her.

The man had been the only one she trusted to join them on this job. Mostly because she had needed someone’s help in arranging the trip, and involving some stranger just to drive the carriage was far from optimal. Garside also appeared to be unusually experienced with some of these things, so she suspected this wasn’t the first time he had done something like this.

“Find a suitable location to hide the carriage and wait here until I return,” she told him as he held out a map to her. She received it and inspected it for a moment. The moon was out in full strength now, but most of its light didn’t quite reach through the thick canopies looming above their current location. Not that it mattered much while she was wearing her glasses.

“Are you certain of this, my Lady?” Garside asked from the side.

She glanced up at him. “…I am. I will be fine on my own, if that is your concern. Your presence is far more important here, for when we need to leave later.”

They were far enough away from the Sanctuary of Ittar that they wouldn’t run into any Followers. And while she did trust Garside, she didn’t want to involve him in this more than necessary. He didn’t know exactly what they were here for, and she wanted to keep it that way if possible. It made it easier for both of them.

That said, it wouldn’t surprise her if he still figured out parts. But there was only so much she could do about that.

The butler gave a stoic nod. “Then I wish you good fortune, my Lady.”

He walked over to the front of the carriage, taking the reins of the large draft horse that had been pulling the vehicle and caressing its mane.

Scarlett returned her attention to the map. It took a while to orient herself and figure out roughly where they were on it. The map had been bought in one of the nearby villages from a local who had spent the time to jot down some of the trails in the area on top of a larger map of the region. She more or less knew where the meeting place was supposed to be, and Gaven had seemed certain he could find it without issue as well.

After confirming the direction with a compass she brought out, she scanned the forest line. Then, she began making her way eastwards, locating a thin trail that led off from the forest path and seemed to align with what the map said. She kept her eyes and ears peeled as she moved through the dark forest, the minutes passing by as she did. With nothing else to think about and a conclusion to tonight soon approaching, her worries from before wormed their way to the surface.

Even after meeting up with Gaven, the hard part would be locating the Countess in time. It would go faster with Gaven’s help, but there were still plenty of risks, and they would have to hope the woman was in a cooperative mood. Having Fynn’s aid here as well would have made things a lot easier, but involving the young man in this was far too dangerous. And it wasn’t only because he was terrible at keeping secrets.

After maybe half an hour or so of walking, Scarlett eventually reached a large clearing in the forest. The grass was short here, and a trail of smaller rocks and soft mud ran through most of it. It looked like a shallow stream might have once flowed through the place.

She moved towards the center of the clearing, her attention aimed in the direction where she expected Gaven to come from. Then, she waited. She didn’t know for how long, and the disquiet in her gut only grew as time passed, but eventually, she spotted movement near the forest line.

A hooded figure in black clothing soon sneaked out from among the trees, heading towards her. Their hood was pulled down to reveal Gaven’s rugged appearance as he neared her.

The sight relaxed her somewhat. Then she noticed there were dark red spots on his clothes, as well as a large wound on his left shoulder.

“Figure meeting you out here in the woods.” The man greeted her with a beat smile.

Scarlett frowned.

“…Dispense with the frivolity.” Things clearly hadn’t gone as quietly as expected. “Were you successful in your assignment?”

Gaven shrugged, only showing a slight grimace because of his wound. “Ran into a hitch or two, but no plan ever goes as expected. I’ll admit, despite things, this is probably one of the smoothest jobs I’ve been part of that hasn’t been just me on my own. Though maybe that says more about the sort of people I work with than anything else.”

The man held up his left hand, where there was a small ring on one of his fingers. It glowed a pale blue as he touched it with his other hand, and a rectangular metal plate appeared in his palm. Its center was a piece of strange glass that had an array of colors moving within.

In preparation for this job, Scarlett had arranged a spatial ring for him to use exactly for this purpose. Spatial items in general were relatively hard to come by, and money wasn’t the only thing that mattered if you wanted one on short notice. Fortunately, Gaven had a contact in Freybrook that helped them procure a small one. The price had been inflated, and the ring itself couldn’t hold much—its storage capacity couldn’t be compared with Scarlett’s [Pouch of Holding]—but it was enough. She only needed three items.

“You know, I had to fight pretty hard to stop myself from just nabbing this and running off on my own.” Gaven tossed the metal plate up into the air before catching it on its way down. “Don’t ya think a bonus might be in order just from the sheer amount of loyalty shown here, eh? Even took a wound for the job as well.”

She scowled at him.

He wasn’t completely wrong. The value of what she had him retrieve exceeded what she had promised him. But if he did betray her, he would never get the information he wanted on where he could find the remaining pieces of the locket he always wore. It had been part of his background in the game, and she knew it wasn’t something he could ignore that easily. Besides, she was still paying him more than enough to live in luxury for quite some time, as long as he didn’t go around trying to buy a mansion or something.

Instead of answering him, she turned her eyes to the plate itself.

[Tablet of Sovegrephor (Legendary)]{Within lies the unbridled power of change, harnessed and controlled}

These things were always useful to have. It wasn’t anything she needed, but she had remembered it being in the Sanctuary, so she had thought it good to get it when she had the chance. There were plenty of things to use this on in the future.

She reached out and took it, placing it into her pouch. Then Gaven’s ring lit up once more and a crystal ball appeared in his hand. It shimmered with an otherworldly glow, its smooth surface seeming to pulse with the energy inside. Within its depths, it held a rainbow of colors that swirled around like an ocean beneath a deep nebula of orange miniature stars.

[Ittar’s Genesis (Divine)]{“And Ittar proclaimed: ‘Thy light shall never falter, as long as this fire burns’” — Book of Canon: Cisirne 4:3 }

She stared at the ball for several seconds. There was a beauty to it that was difficult to describe. When Gaven held it out to her, and her fingers touched the cool-yet-warm crystal surface, she could almost feel the storm of power churning within.

She paused for a moment, then finally took hold of it and focused. Like any other artifact, the connection formed easily. It was supposedly a holy relic, but it didn’t seem to care much about who the user was.

She glanced to the side where a small line of text appeared at her prompting.

[Mana: 24998/24998]

Finally, she had an answer to one of her largest problems.

If only this wasn’t an item that others couldn’t know she had in her possession.

“And for the last one.” Gaven made an exaggerated flourish with his uninjured arm as he brought out the last item. The ring on his finger glowed, and a gleaming gold-colored metal sphere appeared in his palm this time. Intricately carved lines wound and looped around its surface, and between those lines were lines of celestial bodies—suns, moons, stars—as well as glyphs that Scarlett recognized as Zuverian symbols.

[Sphere of Serendipity (1/2) (Unique)]{An item far out of the ordinary, it seems to call out for its twin, awaiting a reply}

She moved [Ittar’s Genesis] to her left hand as she received the sphere with her right hand, turning it around and studying it. Unlike the crystal ball, she couldn’t even describe how this felt. It was like there was a lack of sensation in the parts of her hands that touched the item. A numbing lack of touch.

The other two items were useful to her, especially [Ittar’s Genesis], but this? This was essential. It wouldn’t work without its twin, but this was her key to completing the main quest.

“That’s all,” Gaven said, clapping his hands together. “With this, we’re done here, yeah? I’ve already taken care of that Countess lady, so you don’t have to worry about that whole mess either.”

Scarlett froze. At that moment, several lines of text appeared before her.

[Quest completed: Raid on the Sanctuary of Ittar]{Skill points awarded: 10}

[Side-Quest completed: Wily machinations with the rogue]{Skill points awarded: 6}

[Side-Quest completed: The Empyreal Princess and the Lunar Pauper]{Skill points awarded: 6}

She didn’t pay any of the messages any mind, turning to look at the man. The uneasy feeling that she’d been feeling reared its head once again. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Repeat what you just said.”

He gave her a long, indecipherable look. “Like I said, I took care of that crazy woman. You had no need of her anymore, yeah? And she was likely to get us both offed, so I dealt with it.” He pointed up to the injury on his shoulder. “Didn’t go quite as planned, but I got the job done. That’s what matters.”

The blood in Scarlett’s veins ran cold as she stared at him. “…What?”