Chapter 25 – Sneaking into the Lion’s Den

【Alfred PoV】

The Empire’s border wall was absolutely ridiculous.

I crouched in the treeline about two hundred yards out, studying the fortifications through a pair of enchanted binoculars I’d stolen from a very surprised merchant three towns back. The wall stretched in both directions as far as I could see, fifty feet of smooth stone with zero handholds. Magical barriers shimmered along the top, defensive wards that would fry anyone stupid enough to try climbing.

And that was just the physical security.

Mana scanners swept the area in overlapping patterns, invisible to normal sight but glowing like searchlights to anyone with magical senses. Guard towers punctuated the wall every hundred yards, each one manned by knights in imperial armor. The main gate funneled travelers through checkpoints where officials checked papers, scanned mana signatures, and generally made everyone’s life difficult.

Welcome to the Empire. Please have your identification ready and prepare to be violated by bureaucracy.

“This is going to suck.”

I lowered the binoculars, mentally running through my options. Option one was walking through the front gate like a normal person. Except I wasn’t a normal person, and my name was definitely flagged in the imperial database. The moment I showed legitimate identification, alarms would sound and I’d be in chains before I could say “awkward reunion.”​

Option two was using my Nori disguise. The masked contractor persona had worked great in the ruins, but masks at border crossings screamed suspicious. Guards tended to stab first and ask questions later when dealing with masked individuals.

Which left option three: crime.

I was going to have to infiltrate illegally, sneak past imperial security like some kind of budget fantasy protagonist. The indignity of it all made my teeth hurt. I used to work for these people, used to design their security protocols. Now I was breaking them like a common thief.​

How the mighty have fallen.

I stripped off my outer cloak, replacing it with a drab brown traveling coat I’d bought specifically for this. Merchant disguise, humble and forgettable. I messed up my red hair, rubbed dirt on my face, hunched my shoulders to change my silhouette. Basic infiltration technique, the kind they taught on day one of operative training.

Then came the hard part.

Suppressing my mana signature to absolute zero.

Most mages couldn’t do it. Mana was like breathing, constant and automatic. Shutting it down completely required focus and technique most people never learned. But I wasn’t most people. I was the cosmic janitor who’d spent years hiding from magical detection.​

I closed my eyes, feeling my mana circulating through my body like blood. Then I started compressing it, forcing it inward, wrapping it tight around my core until nothing leaked out. The sensation was uncomfortable, like holding your breath underwater, but it worked.

The scanners swept over my position and found nothing.

Perfect.

“Alright, Alfred. Time to be a ghost.”

I moved toward the wall using Wind Step, staying low and quiet. The technique let me glide across the ground without disturbing grass or leaving tracks. Silent, invisible, exactly how I’d operated for years before everything went sideways.​

The wall loomed closer, massive and imposing. I couldn’t scale it directly, not with the wards active. But walls had weak points if you knew where to look. Drainage systems, maintenance hatches, sections where the magical coverage overlapped and created dead zones.

I found one near the eastern tower, a gap maybe three feet wide where the wards didn’t quite meet. Sloppy work, probably budget cuts affecting maintenance. The Empire was rich but even emperors got stingy about magical upkeep.

I slipped through the gap like smoke, pressing flat against the wall’s shadow. Above me, guards patrolled, their boots scraping stone. I waited for them to pass, counting their steps, timing my movement to their rhythm.

One. Two. Three. Now.

Wind Step carried me up the wall in complete silence, my hands finding tiny imperfections in the stone. Forty feet, forty-five, fifty. The top approached, wards humming with deadly promise just inches from my head.

I rolled over the edge right between two ward nodes, landing in a crouch on the wall’s interior walkway. The guards were twenty feet away, backs turned, talking about something boring. Shifts, probably. Or lunch. Guards always talked about lunch.

I dropped down the interior side, using Wind Step to slow my fall. My feet touched ground without sound, and suddenly I was inside the Empire. Past the first layer of security, invisible and undetected.

Too easy.

Seriously, the Empress’s security was slipping. I’d expected more resistance, more challenge. Maybe seven years of peace had made them complacent.

I moved through the border town quickly, keeping my head down. Merchants hauled goods, farmers drove wagons, normal people living normal lives. None of them noticed the ghost walking among them.

That’s when I felt it.

A familiar mana signature, sharp and disciplined and way too close. I froze mid-step, my instincts screaming danger. An elite Imperial Knight was approaching, full armor and combat-ready. Not just any knight either.

I knew that signature.

Captain Melissa Thorne, one of the Empire’s best, someone I’d trained with back when I was still playing soldier. She’d always been too observant, too skilled at reading people. If anyone could spot me through the disguise, it was her.​

She walked past my position, her armor gleaming in the afternoon sun. Her hand rested casually on her sword hilt, but I could see the tension in her shoulders. She was hunting something.

Hunting me, probably.

I needed a distraction, something to pull her attention away before she got close enough to recognize my gait or my breathing pattern or whatever ridiculous detail would give me away.

A merchant’s cart sat nearby, loaded with crates of something that smelled like spices. I channeled the tiniest amount of mana, just enough to create a minor illusion. Nothing fancy, just the sound of crates toppling.

Crash.

The merchant yelled, diving to catch his falling goods. Melissa’s head snapped toward the commotion, her knight instincts kicking in. She moved to help, stepping away from my position.

I slipped past her in the chaos, putting buildings between us. My heart hammered against my ribs, adrenaline singing through my veins. That had been way too close.

The border town gave way to farmland, and I found what I was looking for. A cargo wagon heading toward the capital, loaded with grain sacks and driven by a sleepy farmer who wouldn’t notice an extra passenger.

I climbed into the back, burrowing between sacks until I was completely hidden. The wagon lurched forward, wheels creaking, beginning the slow journey toward the heart of the Empire.

Toward the capital. Toward her.

I allowed myself a small smirk, feeling pretty proud of my infiltration skills. Crossed the border, avoided detection, escaped a close call with elite security. Not bad for someone who was supposedly out of practice.

“Too easy. The Empress’s security is definitely slipping.”

I settled into my hiding spot, listening to the farmer hum off-key tavern songs. The capital was two days away by wagon, which gave me time to plan my next move. Find where they were keeping the Missing Hero, extract them quietly, get out before anyone noticed.

Simple. Clean. Professional.

What could possibly go wrong?

Everything, probably. Everything always went wrong. But I was committed now, riding straight into the lion’s den with nothing but my wits and my increasingly concerning luck.

The wagon rolled on, carrying me toward my past and my future and all the complications I’d been running from for seven years. Somewhere ahead was my son, growing up without me. Somewhere ahead was the Empress, waiting with patience that felt more like a trap than forgiveness.​

But I wasn’t thinking about that.

I was thinking about the Missing Hero, K.R., whoever they were. They were my priority, my job, my responsibility. Save them first, deal with personal drama never.

Perfect plan. Absolutely foolproof.

The wagon hit a bump and I bounced against the grain sacks, wincing. This was going to be a long two days. But at least I was inside, undetected, completely invisible to imperial security.

I had no idea that the gap in the wards had been left open intentionally.

I had no idea that Melissa had let me pass, her orders clear from the top.

I had no idea that every step I took was exactly where the Empress wanted me to go.​

I was a ghost slipping through shadows, thinking I was still in control of my own story.

When really, I’d been dancing on her strings the whole time.

But that revelation would come later.

For now, I settled into the grain sacks and started planning phase two of my brilliant infiltration.

“Next stop, the capital. Grab the Missing Hero, avoid child support, and get out before she smells my cologne.”

The farmer started singing louder, something about beer and lost love.

I closed my eyes and tried not to think about how badly this was going to go.

The wagon rolled on toward destiny, carrying one very doomed cosmic janitor straight into the spider’s web.