Rise of The Holy-Realm Rebel

"How did it go? Did he agree?" A tense Eiko asked, her eyes looking at me in desperate expectation.

The events of my interaction with her brother traveled through my mind, and I ended up averting my gaze to nod. This confused Eiko but she remained too busy sighing in relief to probe.

It was good enough that she only knew he agreed, and not how or why he did.

I shook myself from guilty thoughts, allowing my eyes to dart around the room for a bit.

We had moved to a different inn for discretion's sake. We planned to stir up an incident after all. Though, in truth, a part of me hesitated.

Before I left, Seinaru had given me a breakdown of the mansion's security, and the more he spoke the less confidence I had in our success.

There were three Hill-Stage 'Rebels' assigned to the mansion, and there were about a hundred of the Empire's foot soldiers.

I did not doubt Eiko's ability to deal with the foot soldiers, but the same could not be said for the Hill-Stage 'Ragi'. Her core was still healing, so much that I doubted she could unleash her flame-craft.

Nevertheless, the world had not abandoned us.

Apparently, all three of them always left the mansion for a meeting that occurred at the same time every week— Which happened to be tomorrow.

They also would not be back until after sundown. Meaning, we had a limited time to do all we could do, but a chance nonetheless.

I explained all this to Eiko and a pensive atmosphere befell the three of us. Nura mostly listened since she did not have much to add, and I could see she had started to hate that detail.

Despite the scary odds, we were going ahead with the plan, forcing us to go over the details I had gathered. Unlike me, Eiko had only seen the mansion from a distance.

We eventually arrived at the topic of how we'd actually take Seinaru and not have our actions linked to Yukov.

That aspect of the plan had obviously been delegated to me, and I explained it to the two sisters, who winced at the thought of it. I even saw Nura's face grow pale and she swallowed hard.

I dared not tell Seinaru since no one in their right mind would allow such to be done to them.

Thankfully, he had no idea that my asking him to show me around the portions of the mansion he was allowed in; would prove useful for that very task.

"Will it work?" Eiko asked, a difficult expression written on her face. She needed a guarantee. What I prescribed was too dangerous. I knew it was.

Sensing palpitations in my heart due to uncertainty, I steeled my resolve and voiced a response.

"It would."

With that, the night rolled away in pain-stacking expectation. I barely had enough sleep when the sun rose, and I set out for what I hoped would be my last day cleaning horse dung.

That task held the title of the dirtiest job I had done in my long-long life. My friends would have given anything to see me work as I did.

Fun days.

I returned to the mansion as usual, by this point I did not even need a soldier to lead me in. And they too let me in the moment I appeared before the entrance.

The gate, which acted as the only access and exit into the mansion's courts, stretched seven meters in height.

Made of solid iron at least three inches in thickness, the average person had no hopes of bursting through it.

Plus, there were fifteen men posted as entrance guards. Wooden attachments had been built into the tall stone wall for their sake, and at no given time were the attachments empty of armed men.

Despite this, I did not count them as worthy opponents for Eiko. She didn't even need to tear the gate down to gain access. A simple leap was all she needed.

However, the numerous other soldiers within the mansion's walls were a different story. There were four positions where soldiers gathered.

The Empire had ensured that no part of the mansion was left unprotected. And the only reason I and Seinaru could be alone on the training ground; was that no one wanted to be situated close to the stable.

Soldiers patrolled the insides of the mansion too—From its kitchen to its pantry, its halls, rooms, living areas, and library.

No spot was left unattended to. But this would also end up working for me. Because for my plan to work, I needed a witness.

Nervousness caused my heart to skip beats multiple times. I tried my best to go over the plan, but that itself remained a nerve-racking experience.

'How the mighty has fallen!' I exclaimed inwardly, not daring to open my mouth for fear of having horse dung shoot into my mouth.

I currently scrapped a heap's worth of dung, and the stench had long forced me to get a piece of clothing to cover my nose and even my mouth. Still, I shut my mouth beneath the cover, like my life depended on it.

I truly felt like it did.

The group of soldiers that sparred every day arrived as usual, but this time I took note of their faces. They were the ones closest to Seinaru, and could not survive till the next day due to that detail.

At some point, they all sat to refresh themselves and I stepped outside to lock gazes with Seinaru who nodded with his eyes and continued.

They resumed and so did I, but when sundown approached and they began to leave.

I hid myself inside the stable and pulled out the blade I had smuggled in with me.

Yes, the guards had not searched me—A foolish thing to do, but months of guarding and no trouble, had dulled their cautious side, allowing for that reality.

They had not searched me the other day either. After all, they expected that I had connections with Devon's family and would never try anything foolish.

"It's time," I muttered at some point, emerging from the half-clean stable. It did not matter anymore. I met up with Seinaru and we made our way into the mansion according to plan.

Eiko would be here any time soon.