Chapter 37: Midnight Infiltration

“Thud—”

Midnight struck, the heavy toll of the bell echoing through the streets as it signaled the final closure of shops and the changing of the guard at the orphanage. Imeline, cloaked in an invisibility mantle, slipped into the orphanage during the guard shift change.

The orphanage was more heavily guarded at night, ostensibly to protect the children and prevent theft, but in reality, it was likely to deter anyone from uncovering its secrets. Having learned from her earlier experiences, Imeline moved with caution. Her eyes glinted with a violet magical array—the True Sight, a common spell among magic users, capable of capturing elemental traces in the air and revealing hidden wards.

Imeline activated True Sight as soon as she entered the orphanage. During the day, she had not anticipated such powerful wards, and her carelessness led to her not using the spell. She hypothesized that if there were wards at the entrance to the basement, there might also be wards in the courtyard, activated only at night. Therefore, she turned on True Sight immediately upon entering.

As suspected, hidden magical arrays were discovered in the corners where guards did not patrol. Though she couldn’t discern their exact functions, Imeline decided to avoid touching them to prevent activation.

Soon, Imeline was back in the main hall. From her daytime observations, she had noticed that the magical array on the basement door was connected to the one at the stairway, allowing the staff to disable the ward from the hallway and release her. However, this was merely her visual observation, not necessarily the actual mechanism of the magical arrays. Breaking the array would likely trigger alerts to other connected arrays, and if not, subsequent inspections would reveal the damage. Should this be reported to the Crimson Family, they might destroy the evidence or conduct counter-surveillance, leading them to Imeline.

Thus, Imeline decided not to destroy the array. She planned to bypass it; with the right calculations for distance and coordinates, she could use spatial magic to teleport through. The invisibility mantle made it easy for her to evade the staff’s patrols. She reached the end of the hallway, preparing to calculate the spatial magic distance at the iron door, as shorter distances were easier to compute for spatial magic. Crossing a single door was almost risk-free for her current skills.

However, as she approached the stairway, she saw a small figure already standing before the iron door.

“Don’t… don’t touch!”

Imeline, seeing the figure about to place a hand on the doorknob, quickly whispered a warning and rushed to the door, grasping the person’s wrist. Imeline had no idea why a little girl would be there at this hour, or why she was at the basement entrance. She decided to stop her, fearing that triggering the ward would ruin her night’s investigation.

Imeline quickly assessed the girl, determining that she was not from the orphanage, as the children there would not wear such a lavish Gothic dress. The girl was probably not part of the Crimson Family either; if she were, she would know about the ward, and Imeline’s True Sight had shown the ward was still active. If the girl touched the door, the ward would engage and trap her.

“Oh… um? You… you are?”

The girl’s body trembled slightly, startled by the sudden appearance beside her. The invisibility mantle caused Imeline to materialize when she touched someone, surprising the girl. She managed not to scream, her expression turning to surprise upon seeing Imeline’s face. The girl recognized Imeline; they had met before and spoken.

The girl was Lovelenica, or rather, now known as Nikola. After failing to obtain blood bags from Elena, Nikola decided to steal them from the orphanage under the Crimson Family’s management. The hospital would have tighter security, more traps, and additional magical arrays and wards, so Nikola chose the orphanage, waiting until nightfall to sneak in. Guided by her sense of blood, Nikola believed the blood bank was in the basement.

“Shh.”

Imeline raised a finger to her lips, signaling Nikola to be quiet. Instead of revealing her identity, she inquired about Nikola’s.

“Tell me who you are. I don’t need your name, just your identity.”

“I, I am a witch hunter.”

Nikola showed her witch hunter emblem to Imeline. She was relieved she had registered as one, making the explanation easier.

“A witch hunter this young? Never mind, it doesn’t matter. I’m an apprentice of the Magic Users’ Guild. I won’t ask your name, and you won’t ask mine. Since we’re both here, our purposes might be the same.”

Recognizing Nikola as a witch hunter, Imeline quickly realized that witch hunters were likely on a mission from the Witch Hunters’ Guild, possibly a secret investigation into a family’s enterprise. Such missions were usually not publicly disclosed, and Nikola was likely commissioned by someone mysterious for this task. Imeline decided not to question further.

“This iron door has a magical array. Touching it will trigger the ward, trapping you in the stairway and stripping your elemental magic. That’s why I told you not to touch it.”

“I see… thanks for the warning. I almost fell for it.”

Although Nikola thanked Imeline, she internally mocked her. Of course, I know there’s a ward! It’s so obvious, and I’ve read the original, knowing you discovered it. I wasn’t planning to touch the door; I was just trying to turn into red mist and pass through!

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