บท 30: Office
"Haa... Haa..." Victor gasped.
His knees gave way as he suddenly returned to one of the quiet corridors on the third floor of the castle.
"Ahh... I... I'm back..."
Victor put a hand to his face, frustrated and a little embarrassed at having lost to a boy.
"If I'd known Olyno was a divine blessing user in the first place, I wouldn't have tried to fight him from the start." Victor muttered.
In this world of monsters and hunters, there were beings who were a few levels above other creatures. These beings, although they may once have been human or similar, began to be worshipped as gods for their incomprehensible power.
As a reward for devotion and sometimes at their own whim, these gods began to grant powers that did not respect common logic to a few lucky creatures, and these powers, although supernatural, were not like magic, spells or enchantments, which could be learned with talent and effort. These powers, known literally as divine blessings, unlike magic, didn't require a wand, staff or grimoire, and could be used with bare hands, so fighting a divine blessing user was something that any ordinary person would avoid as much as possible.
When Victor stood up, he got cold shivers just remembering the moments before he went back in time.
"Brrrr! I think that was worse than being poisoned to death. It felt like all the blood and air in my body slowly froze." Victor hugged himself coldly.
Soon, the sounds of troops of guards moving through the castle corridors reminded him of where he was and what time it was. Victor then hid, and the guards passed in a corridor parallel to the one he was in. As soon as they were out of sight, Victor breathed a sigh of relief.
"Luckily I'm back here, already in the castle. It would be terrible to have to flee the dungeons again. However, it also makes me realize that I urgently need to learn how this power's checkpoints work. The first time, I went back a couple of hours, the second time less than three minutes, and now, it seems, fifteen minutes..."
Victor looked at his right hand and remembered Wanda's small hand holding his.
"But that doesn't matter now. It's good to be back, because I need to find another way to end all this." He closed his hand into a fist. "I tried to fight the first time and I even tried to argue, but Olyno wouldn't listen. I bet if I try to challenge Steegar directly again, the same thing will happen. I need to learn from my first attempt and try something completely different from what I did, I need to get proof of what Steegar is doing."
So Victor started moving through the corridors again, but unlike the first chance, he now wanted to get into Steegar's office.
As he had already found the entrance to the office before, it didn't take him long to find that eye-catching wooden double door at the end of the corridor again.
Victor approached the imposing doors of Steegar's office with caution. He knew that going in there was risky, but it was also the only chance he had of finding out more about his enemy's plans.
Carefully, he turned the handle and slowly pushed open one of the doors.
The office was revealed in front of him, illuminated by the pale moonlight coming through the large glass windows.
Victor took a few cautious steps inside and closed the door.
When Victor turned to look at the office, he saw how luxurious and sophisticated the environment was, reflecting Steegar's high status within the city.
There was a large solid oak desk near the windows on the left. Piles of documents and parchments were laid out on the desk. On the walls, shelves upon shelves were crammed with books.
But first, Victor went to the windows and began to close the curtains.
A guard who was patrolling the walls around the castle saw the curtains in Steegar's office close and the lights come on.
"Hey, why would the Councilor be in his office during all this commotion?" The guard asked his colleague next to him. "Isn't that dangerous?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Why, the curtains in his office have just closed. Didn't you see?" The guard pointed to the three large windows on the third floor.
"Ah, that must be his assistant. It's certainly not Councilor Steegar, because he's the only one capable of holding Olyno in the throne room and preventing him from going after the intruder on his own."
"Eh? Does the Councillor have an assistant? I've never seen her. I wonder if she's pretty."
"Dude, stop being so obsessed with women for once in your life."
For his part, Victor walked silently around the office as his eyes scanned every corner for clues. He approached the desk and began examining the documents on it.
There were reports of battles involving the city's soldiers, such as a request from a city outpost for the castle to send soldiers to kill a griffin that was tormenting a nearby farm. In this case, the griffin managed to decimate the entire force sent, but fled far away and stopped tormenting the wheat farm.
Despite this, battle reports were few, with trade agreements being the most common documents on the table.
"In the end, Kozáni is still a market town." Victor whispered to himself.
Rummaging through the desk, Victor found a locked drawer and gently punched it to break the lock. Inside the drawer were more confidential documents, such as detailed maps of the region with old trade routes and a list of the shifts of the guards on the walls.
However, among these documents, there was nothing that could denounce Steegar's illegal actions, but Victor found something intriguing: a list of financial transactions with exorbitant amounts, and next to these amounts there were other names and numbers. It was clear that Steegar was involved in shady and illegal dealings, using the castle's resources and his position as practically a duke regent for his own benefit.
As he carefully read each page of these documents, Victor heard footsteps approaching from outside the office. His heart raced, and he quickly hid behind one of the large curtains, keeping still and breathing as quietly as possible.
The office doors opened and a person walked in. From the silhouette, it was a short woman. This woman closed the door and quickly made her way to the desk, but when she stood next to the chair, she stopped moving because she saw the drawer of the desk had been broken.
"Don't move another muscle and if you dare scream I swear I'll rip your head off." Victor whispered with the tip of his sword at the brown-haired woman's neck.
*
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