"Cairon, you sure this is not a trap?" Vynn asked. "This seems like a deliberate trap. Maybe he has a safety protocol or something."
Cairon, considering Vynn's thoughts, replied, "It might be , Stay sharp. We go in fast, grab the Aetherbind, and leave.
You stay outside, and we'll devise a plan in case someone comes so that you can signal me to evacuate."
"Today's lesson shall be breach and extraction.
Damn, you're lucky to be getting private, personalized tutoring," said Cairon jokingly, intentionally trying to ease any pressure or worry Vynn might have.
Vynn smiled and snickered. "And I'm getting taught by the master himself, Cairon Averin."
Cairon rolled his eyes.
"You're talking too much to Rae. Gotta stay away from him , His madness has rubbed off on you."
Arriving at the upper parts of the Lower District, near the walls going up to the mid-levels, they reached the address Ignis had written for them on a piece of paper.
It was a two-story mansion, looking bizarrely out of place in contrast with the surrounding buildings.
Exasperated, his mouth open, Cai said, "As expected of a gang boss, living like a drug lord in a fancy mansion in a poor neighborhood."
As they went closer to the building, they scanned everywhere, looking for any onlookers or Coilbloods in the perimeter, as they divided and searched the surroundings for any possible guards.
Cai had a thought.
"Should I try using that power? Let me concentrate. Maybe I might hear around if anyone talks. I might hear something?"
Closing his eyes and steadying his breath, he started doing what he always did before any mission.
This was what had triggered the power the first time.
A couple of seconds passed.
Nothing.
Still nothing happened.
"This gotta work," he said, as he tried once more.
He concentrated on his breathing, making it deeper and deeper, slower and slower.
Soon, as his heart rate slowed, he started having the feeling he had before, as if he were going underwater, submerged, his surroundings becoming foggy.
He heard a woman's voice and a boy crying.
"Shush, shush, baby."
"Sorry, your mommy can't feed you for now. We're barely scraping by. I just got enough shillings to pay for the rent. Just tolerate it. It will end soon."
Cai, realizing that wasn't the sound he was searching for, concentrated again, imagining the sound as a point of light and navigating in the opposite direction, trying to pull himself away.
As he kept trying, suddenly he heard footsteps and heavy breathing.
"Hmm, no one here either. This part is also clear."
It seemed it was Vynn. He had gone to the west side of the building, meaning the woman and the child were to his east.
So he concentrated toward his north.
"The building should be that way."
Now being more confident, he dived forward, putting all his focus to his north.
He couldn't hear anything.
Nothing.
Suddenly, he heard two people talking.
"Man, where the hell is Lord Ignis? I'm telling you, he probably died in the explosion. There's not a trace of him. He should've come to his estate by now."
The other replied, "I know what you're doing. Stop. You said it ten times from the morning. If we go inside and, by chance, he comes back alive, we're both dead. You know how strict he is. Just him looking at us makes my heart stop."
Cairon, listening to the two guards, couldn't help but twitch his lips.
"Are these two talking about the same Ignis in our base?"
"No way they're talking about the same person. Have I really hit him that hard?"
Knowing it was highly unlikely, he brushed it off, then waited for Vynn.
As Vynn came back, he reported, "There's no one suspicious or of any importance around. It's all clear on the west, and before that, I checked the east part. There was no one around there either."
"Good. Then we're heading towards the building. There are only two guards, who don't seem that clever," Cairon said, as if sure.
"Huh? When did you check that place?" Vynn puzzledly mumbled under his breath and didn't dig into it.
"Follow behind me. Take light steps and watch where you're going," Cairon instructed and went first towards the door.
As they got closer to the main door, he told Vynn to go into the bushes and stay put.
"If anyone comes, come to the west part and try throwing small stones, just enough to barely hit the window glass. I'll run out through the window."
Vynn replied, "Okay, boss."
Going apart, Cairon, wearing his hood and mask, slowly walked towards the main door.
With the two guards standing on either side of the door, he said, "Hello, guys. Working hard, I see."
One guard said to the other, "Shoo him off."
The other one said, "Uhhh, another airhead."
He said toward Cairon, "Go away. This is private property. You won't like what happens if you come any closer."
Cairon said back, "I just wanna show you this silver coin I found around this street. This was the only place that seemed to afford a silver coin."
Intrigued and greedy for the silver coin, as the silver coin was worth 100 shillings, the man waited for Cai to get closer his eyes glued to the coin held up between his fingers.
As he was just a few steps away, suddenly he started running.
Caught off guard, the guard tried to slide his hand under his coat for something, but Cai was faster.
He crouched down, went past him, kicked behind his knee, and went for the other guard.
He grabbed a metal ball and threw it towards his face. As the guard tried to defend against the ball, not knowing what it was, Cai threw a punch and threw him to the ground.
He turned around and went for the first guy, who had fallen to his knee.
Cai pulled out something from one of his pants pockets and tied it around the man's neck.
It was a wire for strangling, a thin metal wire.
As he tightened it around his neck, the guy's face went pale and his limbs went limp.
After stopping his struggles a couple of seconds later, seemingly satisfied with the result, he let go of the man.
Checking that the other guy was unconscious, he whistled for Vynn to come out.
"Vynn, go to the west side and wait for me."
"Roger that, boss," Vynn replied.
Cai jumped over the main door and went inside.
"Okay. Ignis said his study is on the second floor, the room in front of the stairs, with a window to the west side of the house."
Going inside, he saw a house with wooden antique decorations, with the smell of wood and tobacco, and burnt incense.
He said, "His house looks exactly suited for a character like the one the guards were talking about."
He quickly went for the stairs.
As he went to the second floor, he moved towards the room in front of the stairs.
Ignis's study was full of books, scrolls, and antiques.
The antiques were made of stone and metal, in all shapes and sizes on a table…
"Okay," he said. "He said the Aetherbind should be in the second drawer behind the desk, under its base."
As he opened the drawer and pushed under it, a small wooden sheet came out, revealing a leather wristband with a circular metal piece on it.
The middle of the metal part was like a rubber tube, with four holes around it.
It looked like something that either blew air or sucked it in.
"Got it."
He was satisfied with the result.
"Okay, let's see if he has any other useful things."
He went to the table and skimmed through the items on it, as he was convinced everything looked like normal antiques and quite ordinary.
Something caught his eyes.
It was a blue stone, carved into the shape of a water drop.
Something about it attracted him, as if calling him...