บท 47: Clever Plan

When I arrived at the Captain's Manor the place was still bustling with activity despite the fairly late hour. Some of the guards were assisting the gardeners in bringing plants into the back and a couple of the maids could be seen arranging and organizing different parts of the manor.

Upon entering the central wing I saw Matilda in the common area giving orders to a maid. When she saw me she immediately stopped talking and walked over. She had a kind of purpose in her walk that only people who had been in a formal military possessed.

When she arrived in front of me she said, "Good evening sir, the majority of your requests have been carried out or will be completed by the end of the day."

My brow involuntarily scrunched up as I thought, if she completed most of my requests in one day with just the staff she had this morning they must be exhausted. Then I thought back to everyone I had seen so far. I hadn't really been paying attention before so I didn't notice. The guards seemed out of breath, the gardeners looked drained, and the maids looked tired and worried. It seems I underestimated Matilda's military mindset. She has been running the staff ragged.

I quickly said, "Matilda tell everyone that work is done for the day and have the chef prepare a large meal for them."

"But sir," she tried to say.

"Matilda, this is not the military. This is just a house and you are just my staff. While I do expect my request to be completed, I thought it would take a week not a day. You can't exhaust the staff like this. These people are here for a paycheck, they will quit if you treat them like this everyday."

I sighed, "I know you have a military background and probably spent your entire life in that environment. However, not everything works that way. You must learn to adapt. I don't doubt your capabilities, but not everyone has the mindset of a soldier. You have to learn to see things from other people's point of view."

Matilda seemed to understand what I was getting at, "Yes sir, I will be.... more accommodating in the future."

Even when saying that she maintained a professional bearing. I really hope she is able to adjust.

"Thank you, now go make sure everyone gets a good meal and rest."

Matilda nodded and left the common area.

Honestly, I was impressed by her ability to motivate the staff to the point they would work so hard for her. However, it seemed as if they were motivated through fear. While that can be an effective method in a military environment, it would cause too many problems here.

It served as a reminder that even intelligent and capable people needed time to adjust to a new environment. Many people were placed in entirely new occupations that functioned on different social constructs. I made a mental note of this since my next couple days would be filled with designing plans for the new divisions, a selection exam, all while making my own plans. Just the though of it all gave me a headache. However, things would become smoother after I took care of these things. There won't be too much for me to take care of and I can get back to getting stronger.

This day had been mentally exhausting and I really wanted to just go to bed, However, I had one more thing to take care of before I could. I left the central wing and made my way over to the east wing. I had to check in on our guest.

After arriving I asked the guards, "Have you had any problems?"

They promptly responded, "No sir, she ate the food we provided and we retrieved the utensils as you requested. Her only requests were for new clothes, a book, and a chair."

I nodded, good, everything should be fine.

"Oh yeah, she also asked for makeup, a comb, and a nail file. I guess even female assassins care about their appearance."

Hmmm, I thought it over for a moment, but she is a girl that made sense.

I knocked, "Sylvia, I'm coming in."

"Ok, I'm away from the door," her voice came from the far side of the room.

That's strange she sounds significantly less hostile, almost as if she wants me to come in.

I began to open the door. Wait....

Just as it swung open, I ducked down and raised my arms in a defensive posture. I could hear a click and a whistle of wind as something quickly shot at my head. I felt a sharp pain on the very top of my scalp. A moment later a thud came from the wall behind me. I rolled to the side just as Sylvia leapt out with a makeshift stake and stabbed into the floor where I was just laying. The guards were shocked, but they quickly grabbed and restrained her before she could attack again.

Sylvia stared at me furiously, but I could notice just a tinge of genuine shock in her eyes. She is intelligent and has a knack for attacking when a person's guard is down. I bet she rarely fails, but now she failed twice to the same person. It's no wonder she is a little shocked. Honestly, her plan was almost flawless, if it had been anyone else it would have worked.

However, as someone who was once among the weakest on Agartha my survival largely depended on understanding how other people think. Over ten years I honed my ability to understand how people think as a self defense mechanism. It doesn't work 100 percent of the time, but it has saved me from countless dangers.

After ten years it became second nature to analyze people's actions. I couldn't stop if I wanted to, I would feel defenseless. That's why it stood out when Sylvia suddenly seemed more agreeable. It sent alarm bells blaring in my head. As I opened the door I suddenly realized why she would act that way and why she specifically requested a nail file.

A member of my team in my past life used to have a weird hobby. He loved making weapons out of ordinary objects. He could make spears, axes, bows, just about anything. He said it was so if he was ever captured he could fight his way out. One thing he always said, was that the hardest part was finding something you can use to cut and shape things with. He said a small knife won't get you far in a fight but you can use it to make something better.

In order to stay prepared he kept sandpaper strapped to his under garments. He was a bit of a strange guy. He said sandpaper can sharpen any piece of metal with an edge into a blade. He would say the first thing people do when they capture someone is take away their weapons, so keeping a knife on you is useless. You have to be able to make your own. He mentioned that ceramics, leather, and even cardboard could be used to sharpen metal into a knife.

Ceramics and cardboard haven't been produced in Agartha yet. However, sandpaper has because carpenters need it for their work and it's simple to make. All you need is paper, sand, and glue. Paper is already made, sand is available at Lake Lyenas, and glue is already being produced from the cartilage harvested from local beasts.

Sylvia asked the guards for a nail file. While not widely available Sauer had kept some for his ladies of the night and a nail file is essentially a finer form of sandpaper. The guards got it for her because the request seemed harmless and I told them to fulfill any reasonable request.

In the moment I opened the door all of these facts came together like a light bulb going off in my brain. I wasn't sure how she would attack, but my instincts told me dropping down was safest. I guessed she would follow up with another attack which is why I rolled to the side. The whole process might have lasted a second.

While the guards kept Sylvia restrained I went into the room. Just as I guessed, she made a crossbow. When I heard the click and the sound of something hitting the wall behind me, I figured that's what it was. I studied it for a moment. She had used the curved backing of the chair to make the front limb a notch carved out where the bolt would pass. She used one of the chair legs as the barrel with a straight line carved out for the flight groove. The string I assumed came from the disassembled clothes strewn across the bed. The latch that held the string in place was a carved out piece of wood from the seat of the chair. Another piece of string ran from the latch to the door and the whole crossbow was propped on top of the dresser with the book wedged underneath so it would be aimed at my chest.

That's why even though I ducked it still managed to nick my scalp. I placed my hand on top of my head. It stung a little and when I looked there was a small amount of blood. Just a minor cut nothing to worry about. It looked like requesting the makeup and comb was just to cover for the nail file since they were untouched on the bed.

I walked out of the room and looked at the bolt stuck in the wall. It was drooping down but was still stuck in the wood. It's shaft was made from the spindle that held up the arm rest of the chair. It had a notch on the end were the string would go. The arrow head was a sharpened corner from what I think was a bracket used for the bed frame. It was lodged in the spindle and tied with string. She must have used this to carve everything before attaching it here.

She must have known the bolt didn't have enough power to kill me, she just tried to stun and injure me so she could kill me by stabbing me with the stake. I was incredibly impressed with the cleverness and ingenuity of her attack. What kind of training did she receive to be capable of doing this at her age?

Between her stealth and tracking techniques as well as her ability to pull off an intricate multi-layered surprise attack, I had to admit she was extremely talented. However, even though I appreciated her talent, I was furious that she constantly tried to kill me just because I killed her brother in self defense! It was the only thing I couldn't understand about her. Why would she obsess with killing me? She had to understand that I didn't set out to kill her brother. I had originally planned to try to talk to her about this, but now I wasn't in the mood.

I walked up to the guards who were still restraining her, "From what I can see she had to have made tons of noise preparing this attack. What were the two of you doing? Did you not check on her once?"

The guards looked stunned, "We.... We.... Just assumed she was throwing a fit like yesterday."

"Morons! Next time check on her if she makes so much noise! Be careful though, she's dangerous."

Sylvia was still glaring at me with her arms locked behind her back by the guards.

I glared back and said to the guards, "Hold her here for a moment."

After a while I returned with Matilda.

"Matilda, I want you to oversee this. I want her room removed of anything that can be used to attack and I want her to be restrained. You can turn this room into a cell."

I had already told Matilda what happened and we agreed that letting her go wasn't an option. However, I didn't want to kill her because I thought she might be useful and Matilda seemed to feel some empathy for her. We agreed to keep her here for now, but we didn't want to mistreat her. I had faith Matilda could accomplish this while minimizing the danger she posed. Surely, through her time in the military she understood how to best handle a situation like this.

"I understand, she won't have the chance to attack you again," Matilda responded.

"Good."

I left, I needed rest. I knew the next couple of days would be exhausting. Although, I was a little excited. Not everything was going exactly as planned, but i was getting closer and closer to my goal.