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Having paid for the restoration of the inn’s room, Mira and Sasori crossed the bustling city and went back to the warehouse facility.

Like before, they employed Complete Suppression to cross undetected through the magic sensing alarms, entering without much issue. But then…

「Umm, Mira. I’m not sure how to say this best, but I don’t have much strength left to keep moving.」

When Mira was feeling the most confident about being able to break through any defense system with Complete Suppression, Worthramble suddenly pulled her down from her high horse.

「What did you say?!」

Mira was bewildered hearing that, loudly voicing her shock. Worthramble apologized profusely as he explained exactly what happened.

Complete Suppression was not exactly a skill like most, being closer to a loophole in the world’s rules that hid their presence on command. Given its unique nature, coupled with Mira’s contract being recent, Complete Suppression’s usage was severely limited.

Even with Mira’s mana it would take a considerable time for Worthramble to fully recover.

Depending on how much it was used in the future, as well as how their contract developed it could potentially become usable for longer while taking less time to recover, but in their current state they would soon need to take some time off.

Whether it was concealing sound, sight, or magic, each had a separate burden on Mira’s mana as well. Worthramble also suggested keeping a small reserve of mana safe in case they needed an urgent escape.

「Hmm… we really should hurry then.」

Complete Suppression, a way of concealing the five senses as well as any magical signatures or presence. Its power was borderline unfair to use, but it was not something Mira could use willy-nilly every day.

At least they should still have enough time to rescue Johann’s family. Knowing her time was limited, Mira tried to run faster through the warehouses.

Some time later they reached the section under heavy guard where the entrance to the Graveyard of War Memorials was hidden.

There Mira’s sense of direction began to fail her, so Sasori took the lead. They crossed past a couple warehouses before Sasori stopped in front of one without hesitation. Looking through the window they could see that infantile underwear hung to dry, so they were in the right place.

Mira activated Life sensing and confirmed there was an adult and a child inside, seemingly asleep and not moving, which made sense considering it was still night.

「This place looks as suspicious as ever.」

Mira muttered as she looked through the window. Still, there was no concrete proof this was the place they were looking for. Chimera Clauzen was twisted enough to take hostages and force someone to work, that much was clear, but there was also the possibility that they were keeping different hostages there which were not Johann’s family.

But there was little they could do to verify that, and they only had one course of action now.

The two girls approached the door, it was locked. After looking around to make sure no patrols were nearby, Sasori began picking the lock. Complete Suppression had not worn off yet, but Sasori had been trained to always be watchful in those situations.

「Hrngh… it’s not as elaborate as the other one, but it’s still a tricky lock.」

Sasori muttered while glancing at the warehouse housing the entrance to the ruins. That warehouse was protected with a lock one would usually see in a king’s treasury and almost impossible to bypass. This one was less extreme, but still a tough one to crack.

But that did not deter Sasori, she happily took the challenge and opened the box Johann had given her. A lockpicking tool made by his alchemist father was inside. She had been excited to try it out, so she quickly took the metallic rod out and read through the manual under the dim street lamps.

「Alright, I can do this!」

Around a minute later Sasori was done reading, so she folded the manual and returned it with the box to her bag.

Next she relaxed and slid the rod inside the keyhole, silently keeping it there without moving, only sharpening her senses to their limit.

The black rod seemed to split into many branches which began to trace the mechanisms of the lock, signaling its construction to Sasori through the handle. Usually decoding a key like that requires many specialized tools and a lot of patience.

There were many parts to memorize from a lock, all of which had to be found one after another, while also watching out for false sets and dummy pins.

But the alchemist’s lockpick would gather all that information at once. Someone without experience would be unable to understand any of it, while overwhelming those with some knowledge.

But Sasori was different. She knew how to process all that information. A few seconds passed in complete silence before Sasori took a deep breath and turned around. 「Piece of cake」 she said with a grin.

Looking at the door again, Mira noticed it had started to open.

「Nice work.」

Once Mira praised her, Sasori looked at the other important warehouse. 「I feel like I could open that one too now!」 she said with a proud smile.

The inside of the building was arranged like a studio apartment. The only light there came through the window, so it was hard to see anything, but it was enough to tell the place was perfectly furnished for someone to live there. It was like the best place for a recluse.

In one of the corners of the room, away from the window, were the beds on which the inhabitants of the room lay.

「Alright, disable Complete Suppression for now, but keep the room silent.」

Mira double checked the door was closed behind her and gave new orders to Worthramble, trying to extend the time he could help them. Isolating only noise was easy enough for a spirit of stillness like him and could be done for a long time.

「Understood. I’ll change the effect.」

A moment later Worthramble signaled it had been done. There was no visible change, but Mira knew she could trust his word, as weird of a powerset as he possessed.

Knowing it was safe to move again, Mira and Sasori slowly approached the beds. They still had to verify they had found the right people. But then something happened.

「!!」

A dull but deep thump broke the silence in the room, followed by Mira firmly grasping her shin and jumping on one foot. In the darkness she had accidentally kicked a low table that hid in the shadows. Sasori silently commended Mira for managing to stay silent, even though her eyes were brimming with tears.

Once she had recovered, they went to the beds, where they saw what they had hoped for. A young child and a woman who did not look even thirty.

(Hmm, I can’t see too clearly…)