Char let out an exasperated sigh. “If you want to clean the toilets with your bare hands, be my guest. I won’t stop you. But I think it’s a waste of time.”
“He’s right.” Fouet nodded. “I don’t know why we’d have to rub our faces against the toilets in the first place, but why would we need to bother scrubbing them with our hands when a purification spell can do the job in a fraction of the time?”
“Exactly. And we can always use illusion magic to make it look like we’re pressing our faces against the toilet bowls,” Barre added. “There’s also the option of erasing the captain’s memories. Ah, but since people don’t know we’re mana wielders, we’ll need to be sneaky, so that they don’t spot us...”
“N-No way! We’re finally inside the royal palace! We’re so close to figuring out the truth about the Faith. Please don’t start making trouble again. Magic, magic, magic. It’s always the same thing with you all! Do you want to cause an even bigger uproar? Please do the job I requested you to do!” Thibault exclaimed.
The atmosphere had grown a little tense.
Good grief, could you avoid screaming “magic” in the palace’s hallways, Thibault? Our identity is supposed to be a secret.
I hurriedly used a hushing spell to quieten Thibault, and I turned to the other two new female recruits to distract them. “I’ll clean the toilets, so can you two stand watch near that corner and warn me when the captain and the squad leader have returned?”
“Huh? But...”
They looked at me with concern in their gazes, likely worried they were foisting all the work onto me. Ahn must’ve understood what I was scheming, as she suggested that the other two let me do it. She knew I was a mana wielder.
“There aren’t that many toilets in the women’s restroom, so Lam and I can handle it, just the two of us. Besides, it’d be so cramped inside that we’d struggle to work properly, and people coming to pick on us would make things even more troublesome. So can you stand guard to make sure no one bothers us?” she asked.
“If you two insist...”
The two girls hesitantly went to stand near the corner I’d indicated earlier, and Ahn and I exchanged a nod. She seemed to have an idea of what I would be doing.
I turned to Char and the others. “It’s okay, she—Ahn—knows I’m a mage, so we can use spells in front of her without any issue. Now that that’s out of the way, I’ve decided I’ll tamper with the captain’s memories just a little to make him forget about this whole toilet situation. That way, we won’t have to rub our faces against anything. It’s a bit of a tricky spell, but I’ll take my chance.”
The men didn’t seem to have a problem with my plan, save for Thibault.
I don’t particularly want to start anything with him.
But I had no intention of accepting Gahariet’s irrational demands any longer. The Mercures already had to deal with more than enough of those in the past.
The captain eventually returned, alone. Perhaps the women’s squad leader and the other knights were busy doing something else.
Now!
The moment I spotted him, I flung out my hand in his direction. Since the two other female recruits were a little farther away, they hadn’t noticed that Gahariet was back yet.
Memory erasure!
Before Gahariet could understand what was happening, the subject of toilet cleaning completely disappeared from his mind, the impact of the spell causing him to stop in his tracks, befuddled. His unreasonable demand from earlier had faded entirely from his mind.
“Phew, I’ve erased that man’s insignificant memories. I’m glad it went well,” I muttered.
“Me too,” Char said, relieved. “While we’re at it, let’s get him out of the palace. We should be able to snoop around in peace for a while.”
Without further ado, Char used a forced teleportation spell on Gahariet. The second the magic hit him, the captain disappeared from the spot.
Ahn stared at the now empty air in astonishment. “Lam, was that magic too?”
“It was.” I nodded. “Ahn, we’d like to go look around the palace for a bit. Could you take the other two and return to our room?” I asked her.
Though she seemed a little confused by my slightly odd request, she eventually nodded. “Sure. You must have your reasons. I’ll tell the other two we’re done with the cleaning and leave.”
“Thank you.”
She returned to the barracks with the other two. Despite not knowing anything, she had agreed to help us.
What a good girl. I’ll make sure to thank her profusely later. What would make her happy?
I struggled to come up with an idea, but I enjoyed the time I spent thinking about it.
After making sure Ahn and the other two had definitely left the premises, we began our investigation of the palace. Our goal: find out where the big shots of the Faith were hiding.
It’s only our second day here, and we’re already making some progress, so I’d say we’re not doing too badly. Thibault still looks a little mad, though...
Fortunately for us, the palace of Hanche was built in a way that was quite easy to navigate. There was a huge staircase at its center, and the king and his close relatives lived on the top floor. The story below housed large guest rooms, separated from each other by a long corridor. I had learned all this at the barracks, where a rough plan of the palace had been carelessly left on a table. I was positive it was Gahariet who’d left it there. It had been on his table in the mess hall, stained with sauce.
Thankfully, the map was simple and easy to remember. I don’t think I’ll get lost here like I might in Lèvres’s palace.
And so, we began making our way to the rooms where we thought the upper echelons of the Motar Faith were hiding.