The inner court was the living area Laims had set aside for private use.
It was highly secluded, under normal circumstances, even the personal guards were not allowed to enter at will.
Only the trusted maids could come and go there.
And among those maids were quite a few skilled fighters.
For example, Noah had once appraised several maids at Laims's side and discovered that, in terms of raw ability scores alone, nearly all of them were already at the level of seasoned adventurers—even if only lower-tier ones.
In truth, in the world of orario, ordinary people could also grow stronger through brutal physical training.
A god's Falna was merely a supernatural accelerant.
Not having a Falna did not mean one lacked ability scores altogether, it simply made them visible and promoted their growth.
If ordinary people relied on training alone to raise their ability scores, then even if they devoted their entire lives to it, their greatest achievement would probably only be around Rank D, and usually in no more than two specific parameters.
One could imagine how brutally these maids must have trained to reach the level they had now.
A small number of them could even rival particularly strong Level 2 adventurers.
At that point, effort alone was no longer enough—natural physical talent was also required.
For an intruder to sneak this far in without being detected by those veteran maids, it also showed that the other party was highly capable.
Noah manipulated gravity and leaped lightly upward, arriving on the rooftop as well.
But compared to the intruder, he landed without making even the slightest sound, like a feather drifting onto the clay tiles, disturbing no one.
When Noah caught up, he found that the intruder had already stopped above the bathhouse.
The figure moved with practiced agility, hooking the wooden eaves with the tips of their feet and hanging upside down, seemingly preparing to slip into the open bath window below.
The maids' cheerful splashing and chatter had not stopped.
Apparently, they were completely unaware of the anomaly overhead.
'This person...'
'Could they be some kind of peeping creep?'
Noah was momentarily speechless.
Still, the kind older girls down there took good care of him on a regular basis.
There was no way he could just stand by and let them get hurt or spied on.
As for the intruder's identity, they were wrapped up too tightly in dark cloth.
Other than the stealth outfit, there was almost no useful information to see.
Noah approached soundlessly.
Before the intruder noticed anything, he grabbed one of their boots with one hand, locked onto the ankle, and yanked hard.
In that instant, the figure hiding their entire body let out a startled cry.
Everything had happened far too suddenly.
From having their ankle seized without warning, to being whipped through the air like a rag under massive acceleration—almost anyone would panic for a moment.
"Eek!"
It had only been a brief cry. But Noah definitely heard it.
'A woman?'
Noah raised an eyebrow.
So at least this wasn't a man lusting after women... though, then again, that didn't necessarily prove anything.
Different people had different tastes, and even from a woman's perspective, the maids here were all pleasant beauties to look at.
Holding the intruder up with one hand, Noah aimed for the open space in the courtyard and flung her away as easily as tossing a toy.
In midair, the woman twisted her body frantically and barely managed to land on her feet.
But her posture was unstable, and after touching down she staggered backward more than ten steps before finally smashing a blue brick in the courtyard with a loud crack.
"Damn it! Who—gh!"
She turned upward furiously, trying to find the one who ambushed her.
But the only figure in sight was someone utterly unexpected.
Her pupils contracted.
For a moment, even her breathing stopped.
Then she simply stared blankly at the young figure standing above on the roof.
Noah observed her reaction.
But because she was wrapped up so tightly, aside from some meaningless flailing, there was little else he could read from her.
The boy jumped down from the rooftop and landed lightly in the courtyard.
"Thief," he said, "the view ahead is certainly nice, but I can't allow you to see it. If you have some compelling reason, you may start explaining now. This is your last chance."
The woman fell silent for a moment.
Then she asked in confusion, "Just now... you were the one who threw me tough...?"
Whoosh.
It was as if her cheek had been lashed by a coarse whip. An invisible attack ripped a wide gash across her face.
The woman cried out miserably and collapsed to the ground, clutching her cheek as hot blood poured between her fingers.
Noah lowered the hand he had raised and warned her, "If I had hit your carotid artery, it would've been fatal. You can't dodge it. If you understand that, then hurry up and tell me your purpose."
Extracting memories through the Soul Corridor was similar to soul-searching techniques in cultivation stories—it damaged the target's soul, or rather, their spirit.
If one was unlucky, the target's soul could collapse before the process was complete, and then he would get nothing at all.
"Ah..." The woman's wail was only growing louder.
Noah crouched in front of her and raised a finger.
"Shh."
In an instant, the woman froze. Even the pain was momentarily cast aside.
Because of the bizarre phenomenon taking place.
'Eh? My voice?'
'I... can't make a sound.'
The woman panicked and grabbed at her throat.
It hadn't disappeared, and she could still breathe just fine. But that did nothing to reassure her—if anything, it deepened her fear.
'What had this boy done to me?'
'He could actually steal someone's voice? What kind of power was this?'
Noah casually tore away the many layers of cloth wrapped around the woman's head.
Under all that heavy disguise was a fairly attractive young face.
Seeing the wary look in her eyes, Noah decided not to waste any more words.
As long as he could touch her physically, speaking wasn't necessary.
He grabbed her by the head and activated Appraisal.
[Altai]
21 years old
Female
From the Capital
True identity: intelligence operative
Public identity: shop clerk of the Capital Silk Merchants' Guild
At this level of physical contact, someone like Altai practically had no secrets left in front of him.
"So you came here to relay urgent intelligence to an accomplice... an accomplice?"
Noah frowned slightly.
The next moment, two flying needles entered the range of his sense—then were blown aside by the airflow.
Noah turned and glanced at the poisoned needles embedded in the dirt ground.
Poisoned needles.
But at most, they would only render someone unconscious.
And they had not been aimed at any vital points.
"What is the meaning of this?" Noah looked toward the girl standing there in a single bath towel, panic written across her face.
She was the youngest of the maid sisters.
Her name was Maki.
Though she was the youngest among them, she was already fourteen years old.
When Noah's gaze settled on her, Maki reacted just as she always did: her feet shrank back half a step almost instinctively.
She never had much confidence, no matter the situation.
The first time Noah had met her, she had been the same—standing farther back than the others, without even being aware of it herself.
The moment Noah looked away from her, Altai sprang up.
She chopped at the back of his exposed neck with her hand.
But it did not do anything.
She stared in bewilderment at her palm, which had stopped in midair no matter how much force she applied.
Her attack was still around two centimeters away from the back of Noah's neck.
But some powerful resistance was pushing her hand back.
No matter how hard she tried, she could not press down any farther.
'This is... an invisible wall?'
In that instant, Altai recalled what had just happened.
The boy had merely raised a hand, yet her cheek had been torn open.
So this too was the work of that invisible power.
'Seriously, what even was this?! What an absurd technique!'
Altai kicked off the ground and moved with the agility of a rabbit, spinning once in midair.
Her toned leg came crashing down from above like a battle axe.
Noah didn't even look at her.
He merely raised his left hand.
In the next instant, Altai felt a force explode against her abdomen, blasting her away.
Before she could hit the ground, Noah clenched his hand slightly, and countless currents of wind wrapped themselves around Altai's body, binding her tightly to a tree.
Altai struggled several times, cold sweat pouring down her face.
It was bizarre.
There was clearly nothing there, yet she could feel herself tightly bound.
Her arms were pinned against her sides so firmly that she couldn't raise them at all.
What in the world was going on?
This boy was way too strong!
Could this be... the power of an Imperial Arm, like the rumors said?
Noah looked at Maki and asked softly, "If the others notice you're gone, they'll worry."
He didn't question her immediately. Instead, he considered things from her perspective first before speaking.
Maki looked startled.
Then, with something like self-mockery, she gave a faint smile and said, "It's alright. I made everyone fall asleep for a while."
She held up a gray bead with both hands.
"Because... this is something very precious to me."
"A tool that can put people to sleep... I see."
Seeing how frightened the girl was, Noah sighed helplessly.
"Let me ask you something first, Maki. Were you planning to do something to Laims?"
"To... to the master? N-no, how could I ever..."
"Then let me ask you something else. What did this woman make you do for her—or rather, for them?"
"..."
Maki bit her lip, but said nothing. Her body was trembling.
She was afraid!
In other words, she still refused to speak even like this. Which meant she wasn't doing it for herself.
'She had a younger brother, didn't she?'
"I see. So it's for your little brother."
Noah muttered it almost like he was talking to himself.
But those words seemed to shatter Maki completely, and she dropped to her knees, her face turn pale.
"N-no! It has nothing to do with my brother!"
"Calm down, Maki. The ground is dirty and cold, you'll catch a cold."
Noah's tone was as ordinary as ever.
Even though this was basically a case of catching a traitor and she was the spy who had been caught.
In a situation like this, it wouldn't have been strange for her to be treated far more harshly.
So why...
Why was he still being so gentle with her?
Maki stared blankly at Noah.
"Lord Noah...?"
"Oh, I know that you were telling the truth when you said you had no intention of harming Laims. And I also know you agreed to help this woman because of your little brother. So let me say this first—I'm not planning to do anything to you, Maki."
"Eh?"
It was probably difficult to understand.
But for Noah, none of this really had much to do with him.
Maki probably thought that now that a noble had caught her betraying the household, she was finished.
But the reality was simply that Noah had mistaken Altai for some sort of bathhouse peeper, only to discover something he hadn't been meant to see.
As long as Maki had never intended to harm Laims, he honestly wasn't interested in much else.
"Was it money, or something?"
Noah noticed that Maki's status had changed somewhat.
Her body had risen slightly, and she had also learned some new combat techniques.
Like those flying needles just now.
To use throwing needles properly required not only sufficient strength, but even more importantly, considerable precision and technique.
And yet Maki had reached that level within a single week.
Frankly, that was impressive.
Calling her a genius might be a bit much, but she was certainly a rare talent.
Of course, that only referred to her learning ability.
Her other traits weren't enough to support her becoming a truly excellent intelligence agent or assassin—timidity, for one.
And the way she tensed up too easily.
"My brother... fell into debt... I-I didn't have that much money."
"And they told you that if you agreed to act as an inside agent, the debt problem could be settled within a few days?"
"Eh?" Maki stared at him in shock. "H-how do you know all of that so exactly?"
...
Because it was too cliché.
When a naive girl like Maki got dragged into this sort of thing, this was usually how it went.
So it seemed she knew very little.
As expected, the real issue lay with this woman named Altai.
"Maki, go look after everyone. As for the money problem... let's see, how about this?"
Noah crouched down and dug into the ground with his hand a few times, then lifted out a clump of dirt.
He rubbed it a few times between his fingers, then blew lightly on it.
The dirt on the surface scattered away, revealing a brilliant golden color beneath.
"How about this? Is this enough?"
He had just made it on the spot and had no idea what the current market price of gold was, but in every world he had visited so far, gold had always been hard currency.
A lump like this, slightly smaller than a fist, ought to count as a fortune for ordinary people.
"A-a gold nugget?"
Maki stared wide-eyed as the dirt in his hand became gold.
"Th-this...?"
Just a moment ago, it had clearly been nothing but a clump of earth.
So why had it turned into gold in the blink of an eye?
Turning dirt into gold.
It was just like magic—No, alchemy.
"Could it be... Lord Noah, are you actually an alchemist?"
Maki looked at him with open admiration, making Noah feel a little embarrassed.
In truth, all he had done was manipulate the gold element and replace the earth element.
If he wanted to, he could create gold or even diamonds from nearby materials on the spot!