Dorothy squinted her eyes, gazing at the building from afar. As usual, guards were seen patrolling the surrounding area in their armour. On the surface, slipping through the security net may look like a daunting task. But, it poses no problem to her though.
For the first two months she was accepted as a maid, Dorothy has spent a fair share of free ti learning the patrol route and guard movent patterns. It wasn't an easy task, as if she has to collect strewn hidden pieces of the puzzle and put them back together.
Instead of infiltrating in the middle of the night, the guards are mostly sleepy and lethargic early in the morning. It serves as another reason to make her move at the current ti.
Ti is ticking. She has yet to make any move. Her eyes, however, never left the entrance of the building, waiting for an opening to appear. Guards begin to move away from the main entrance. A door of opportunity arrives for her.
'Now!!' She screams inwardly. While maintaining her steady breath, her feet took a quick step without making any sound. Despite the mounting nervousness she felt, Dorothy quickly unlocks the entrance door with her nimble hand. Years of burglary go unwasted.
Clank—
Dorothy swiftly stepped through the door, into an opulent lobby of the administrative building. Every ti she laid her eyes on this place, a sense of awe always took over her.
As usual, not a single soul was here early in the morning.
Hopefully, it stays this way until she finishes scurrying around.
When Dorothy infiltrates, she always considers a crucial aspect, unexpected presence. Doing the sa activity at the sa place and at the sa ti may lead your body to consider it as a routine. Consequently, your body began to relax due to the familiarity of the surrounding area. Your sense of awareness starts getting dull and you'll eventually let your guard down. And this is when you get caught.
Dorothy moved to the first floor via the staircase. A clerk was located here to handle the paperwork. Harford is in charge of them. They handle dostic affairs within the palace. From logistics, material and food procurent, staff managent, and financial managent of the royal mbers.
She had targeted this place when she started her operation months ago. It's a good place to learn about the ongoing affairs of the palace.
However, Dorothy doesn't prioritize them too much. Her admirer works here. So, all she had to do to make him blurt out is as simple as showing her interest in him, going on a dinner or sothing. Plus, news travels faster through the maids.
Don't underestimate the maids' network. Their intel may not be accurate or only a rumour level at best. But still, there's a weight in their words. She can use two sources to validate the intel.
Without wasting any ti, she moved to the second floor. This floor holds details about the regional situation in the entire Barlia. There is so much juicy intel here but she had already checked things out on the second floor last week. She bet there's currently nothing new for her to obtain.
Her objective today is the third floor, Prince Baldwin's office.
Arriving near the stairs leading to the third floor, Dorothy took a peek at the entrance of the dim lit hallway.
Sigh—
Thankfully, no guards were spotted. Since their shift is almost over, they're most likely slacking off.
Dorothy rushed up to the third floor.
After two minutes of climbing the curvy fancy-looking staircase, Dorothy was finally in front of the riskiest part of the administrative building.
This was her first attempt at breaking into the prince's office. Under normal circumstances, Dorothy rather works her way up and gains the trust of her superior first. Never would she dive into this level of danger early on.
However, the representative of Blande ca to visit Barlia last month. She initially thought of it as a normal visitation. Later that night, an order ca from her superior, old man Dunn. He asks her to focus on finding out the details between them.
As such, Dorothy spent the entire two weeks making preparations such as learning the layout of the third floor, the number of security, and possible escape routes.
The bad news is there's only one entrance to Baldwin's office which is through the empty narrow hallway.
Dorothy basically has no place to hide or leave in case soone arrives later. Therefore, she needs to unlock the door fast. As a forr burglar, this posed no problem for her. She had infiltrated noble houses throughout her five years of career until she got caught while trying to break into the Ryntum's treasure room.
Nonetheless, her pride prevents her from backing out just because of one failure.
"Hello there, my old enemy," Dorothy said while inspecting the embedded level tumbler lock she failed previously. "I would be very happy if it was a warded lock though. This is going to consu a lot of ti."
The lever tumbler lock has a set number of levers to restrict the bolt from moving into a locking chanism. To open it, one needs a key with a specific height to raise the lever and move the locking bolt. The lock may look intimidating but Dorothy is confident in her technique.
At last, Dorothy finally had a chance to use her tools. Ever since she joined SIN, her equipnt got a massive upgrade.
She took out the lock-picking tool that she hid nicely by strapping it on her thighs. Apparently, it was called a magic key. On one side, the ridge was flat and on the other side, the ridges were jagged with different heights. It was developed by a group of scholars in the research centre.
Dorothy inserts the magic key. This is where experience plays a major role. From this point onwards, she had to rely on her senses.
She tried to turn the key. It failed.
She tried to shake the key up and down. It failed.
She inserts it a bit deeper and repeats the process. It failed again.
"Co on..." The beats of sweat ca out of her forehead. Dorothy tried one more ti.
She started to get a grasp on this.
Clank—
It was a success.
The door was successfully opened.
Hurriedly, she entered the room and closed back the door. It's a bit dark inside but Dorothy is used to it so her eyes can adjust fairly quickly.
"Woah!" She looks around the room. It screams elegance from every corner. The entire floor was covered by brown fur carpet. Even the window fra was plated with gold. Like a typical rich man, a drum-shaped chandelier was hanging on the ceiling.
She snapped out of her srization and focused on her purpose.
"Let's get to work."
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