The next morning there was no training or long sleep sessions. Everyone got up and were already gathered in the living room.
The living room was crowded with everyone gathered in the centre of the room and Gideon standing near the door, facing his team.
"I will be back by tomorrow morning so be back here by then" Gideon said as he slowly closed the top button of his clock.
"The execution is in the late afternoon so we will most likely be here by today's evening," Ben replied with a big smile on his face.
The sun was already high as everyone was ready to depart. Sweat dripped from Arthur's head out of nervousness but the excitement to see one of the 8 great cities with his own eyes was even greater.
"Now let's get going, we would need to do some reconnaissance of the city before strategising a plan for the rescue of the lieutenant." Quint spoke as he walked to the front in a plain white tunic shirt.
Even the greatest of strategies need the variable of environment to be considered. Nothing is more unexpected than life and the environment itself.
"You should leave too captain" Emeliya spoke politely.
Gideon nodded silently and gave one final look to Matilda and Arthur who were standing silently before walking out of base, leaving a closed door behind him. He had complete trust in his team so he didn't worry much. The only thing that bugged him was Arthur.
"Should Arthur go on this mission? Icarus is not a simple man. He must have prepared somethig" but this thought was quickly dispersed from his mind.
"No, this will be a good experience for Arthur and he will be able to integrate better into the team after this experience. No lesson is more valuable than one's own experiences"
With these thoughts Gideon's figure disappeared as he used amplification sigil on a paper to teleport directly to Grayland.
"Alright we should get going too. Everybody ready?" Quint asked as he faced downwards and performed multiple hand signals before strongly slamming them on the wooden floor.
Arthur braced himself for the teleportation like the one he experienced with Gideon. Fists closed tight and eyes determined to not vomit again in front of everyone.
A great silver light emerged from under the floor and rapidly increased in radius. The silver light engulfed the entire room in a matter of seconds.
At one point the silver light grew into a blinding light making it impossible for anyone to even open their eyes.
Arthur could only imagine the brightness of light as he could see redness of his eyelids instead of darkness when he tightly shut his eyes.
But as soon as the light skinned the brightest at its peak it slowly died down.
"Alright, we are here" Quint spoke as he dusted off his hands.
"This quickly?" Arthur thought as he slowly opened his eyes his vision turned blurry because of tightly shutting his eyes and he slowly regained his vision but the scenery wasn't changed a bit. It was the same old living room where they all had gathered up.
"Bu… but isn't it the same room where we originally were?" Arthur quietly asked Ben. Who stood beside him with hands behind his back.
"Haha… yes it is but let me tell you something. Quint have drawn a large swap array under the floor of the room. So whenever he activates the array the room is swapped with whatever room he marked earlier without any regard of distance. So even though the scene from outside of both the rooms hasn't changed one bit, the inside of both rooms is swapped. So if someone does reach the room back at our base in the southern mountains of the central continent during our absence and opens the gate then all they would find is a dusty old room. Abandoned for ages"
Ben explained calmly to Arthur as he continued to smile slightly.
"Wow, Quint have some really great mastery in arrays" Arthur murmured lightly in amazement and in a bit of admiration.
"Yes, he may not like it but he is equivalent to a rank 4 mage specialised in arrays" Ben spoke loudly to make sure that Quint hear him.
"What do you mean by - he may not look like it" Quint asked in an irritated tone as his expression changed from stiff to mocking.
"Alright everyone, stop joking around and get out for reconnaissance and meet back here one hour before noon." Matilda spoke. She wore the same clothes that she did when she first met Arthur but this time she also had two long white clothes wrapped around both her fists to give herself an edge in hand to hand combat.
This was not training and just one overconfident decision can not only get her killed but put the entire team's life at risk and Matilda understood it clearly. Though she is a battle maniac and craves adventure in fight, she doesn't lack brains.
"Ben and Quint you both go and check in commercial district and ask around with people discretely"
"Emeliya you go to Greenleaf wine shop and try to use your hypnosis on some of the troops who are already drunk in there. It's morning time so people don't often come in groups but the one who are addicted to alcohol come to start their day with a quick shot before heading for work."
"And Arthur, you are coming with me to Black Market."
Everyone silently nodded as they understood their positions.
This was a complete information loop as it basically covered every place from where information can come in or go out from.
Matilda didn't assign the positions on a whim, Ben and Quints were sent as a team because the commercial district was enormous and it's pretty easy for a single person to be overwhelmed by just the sheer size of the district. Two people on other hand can coordinate better and escape discreetly on any mishaps.
Emeliya on other hand was only assigned to Greenleaf tavern which was quite easy for a single person to blend in and her being a young girl can give her an edge in interrogation by making them drop their guard and use hypnosis.
Arthur on the other hand was new and doesn't know any better so it's important and almost necessary for him to be accompanying her.
"But where is this room exactly? Isn't it possible that someone might accidentally open the door when we are not around and report it" Arthur asked one final question before everybody departed.
"It's a clockroom. Under the city's clocktower." Matilda answered. "No one will find it since it's underground. The entrance too opens in city's sewage system through a tunnel that's carefully created and hidden by Quint and Gideon so there is no need to worry"
At this point a wicked smile emerged on Ben's face as he took out a cloth with a small sigil embedded on it and lightly tied it around his face. "Though you should worry about your nose."
At this time everyone else took out their pieces of clothes too.
"Huh? What's this?" Arthur asked as he didn't have one.
"This sigil on cloth purifies air and prevents bad smell from entering" Emeliya explained with an awkward smile. "Everyone made one for themselves after their first visit here"
"Here you can have mine. We should have told you sooner. Sorry, it didn't cross my mind" Emeliya politely offered her piece of cloth. Willing to bear the smell herself.
"No, it's fine. The smell won't be so bad and i will think of it like a ceremony to enter this city." Arthur politely declined her offer.
Since Arthur has been here, emeliya have been so nice to him that he didn't feel good to accept her goodwill this time.
"Alright everyone then head out" Matilda spoke as everyone finished tying their piece of cloth around.