CHAPTER 411: Evening

When we returned to the academy my first stop was not a bath, it was at the headmasters office.

"Sir!" I saluted, as did Helena, who joined me. My undead were here as well and we didn't just take up a lot of space, we might have also brought a certain amount of smell with us. Erik didn't seem to mind, or perhaps he had expected it.

"Koyuki, why are you wearing a maid uniform?" He asked.

"Sir, I changed with Hatsumi to fool some assassins and it worked, I had no time to change back before reporting." I said.

"Assassins, yes, I got a report from the guards. Why don't you tell me what happened today?" He asked.

I dutifully reported our whole day, including Kaito starting his own investigation once I had been attacked. Erik listened patiently and only interrupted a few times to ask for clarifications.

Once we finished Erik was silent for a bit, then he said: "I hadn't expected them to sabotage the runes, my apologies. For now you are no longer required to work in the sewers."

"Sir, you said you didn't expect the runes, so did you expect a different attack?" I asked.

"Considering your enemies there was no way to rule it out. You have dealt a blow to the local thieves guild, Ilestria is still after you and at least a part of the Brotherhood wants you dead, likely to claim your undead." Erik said. "However, that would be the case even if you weren't on sewer duty. There is no point in keeping you locked up inside the academy and every time you go out for a meal, or a drink, the same could happen. Your actual route every day should have been a secret."

"What if someone had followed us from the academy, sir?" Helena asked.

"They could see where you enter the sewers but wouldn't know your path underground. Honestly, it should be harder to track you inside the sewers without being seen, since there is no crowd to hide in. Someone following you inside the sewers would be obvious, they would have a hard time contacting anyone above ground without leaving and there are enough turns that they wouldn't know where you go next." He replied. "But it seems that I was mistaken, I will look into the leak and I will ignore the fact that your undead took over a government office."

"Sir, there was no harm done to anyone and surely you would agree that Koyuki's wellbeing is more important than a minor inconvenience." Kaito stated.

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Erik looked at the dullahan. "Most people are concerned when an unsupervised tier three walks into their office, accompanied by a horde of assassin goblins, and tells them not to leave."

"I can assure you that I explained to them that they would be perfectly fine." Kaito replied.

Erik looked at me. "Uh, I shall tell my undead to be a bit more restrained in the future, sir."

He nodded. "Ok, you are free to continue your own investigation and I will tell the guard to support you. Perhaps the blood you have found will be helpful, however I still expect you to not create any new tier threes. If you need any help, talk to Irene, I will task her with looking into the sabotage. Now have a bath and get some rest, dismissed."

We saluted and left. Our first stop was the baths and it felt really good to get clean again. While the dorm showers were no hot tub they still felt rather nice after a cold day. As we went to the mess hall we ran into Skadi and Cassie.

"So, how was your sewer day?" Skadi asked, as we sat down.

"Sewage, exploding runes and assassins." I said.

"Explosions?" Cassie asked. "I mean, I am glad that you are fine and I see everyone else here, so explosions?"

"Everyone is ok?" Skadi asked.

"Everyone is fine." I replied.

"Hatsumi did get shot with a crossbow, after switching clothes with Koyuki." Helena said.

"You switched clothes? Did you infiltrate something, a manor, a party?" Skadi asked.

"Oh, did you find a den of secret vampires and Koyuki pretend to be your blood puppet?" Cassie asked.

I looked at my friends and sighed. "No, let me tell you what actually happened…"

So I told them about our day. Once I finished, Skadi said: "You know switching clothes was really smart, I think you are onto something by sowing doubt about Koyuki's looks."

"If you found some poison on that arrow, or that corpse, I can have a look." Cassie offered. "I can also help you if you want to look for them. I might be busy with my brewery but I am never too busy to help a friend hunt an assassin."

Skadi nodded. "I will help as well."

"Thanks! We will have to see what we can do tomorrow. There is one lead, the woman that might have been involved. Honestly, the adventurers didn't seem like the most credible source and they haven't seen her do anything wrong, but she is our only lead." I said.

"Maybe the captive will talk, or maybe we can question everyone who could have accessed the schedule?" Helena said. "If we can let Hatsumi and Rose have a sniff of a few people it might help."

"Oh, you can change clothes again and Hatsumi can pretend to be you, Koyuki! Then she can have a sniff while interviewing them!" Cassie said.

"Why are you so obsessed with us switching roles?" I asked.

"It's just a classic in stories, it makes it sound really exciting. You are like a spy, or something." Skadi said.

"And she is a vampire, vampires infiltrating a place, or a party, just makes for a good story! But Hatsumi really should seduce someone…" Cassie mused.

I looked at Hatsumi. "Don't read any books they give you."

"But they might provide valuable insight, so I could serve you better, Mistress." Hatsumi said.

"I am doomed." I concluded.

"It's ok, you are the maid, you get to seduce Helena." Skadi teased.

I sighed although I had to admit I enjoyed the banter. It was good to have friends.