CHAPTER 136
The massive iron-reinforced doors of the manor loomed over me, looking less like an entrance and more like the jaws of a beast. I kept my head down, my hands clasped tightly in front of me to hide the slight tremor in my fingers.
While hiding in the alleyways, I shifted my body to Miera to Clara.
[Analyzing genetic data... 100% match found in blood reservoir. Commencing Morphological Shift.]
With the maid dress I wore, it perfectly blended in as a disguise. The face suddenly shifted and Miera's silky hair became a black hair, the hand became more wrinklier and more older.
During
[Visual confirmation: 100% accuracy. Heart rate, scent, and vocal cords successfully calibrated. Successfully shapeshifted into Clara Becker ]
"New body, Roxy. A few more people you copy will charge you for identify theft."
"Shut up."
I arrived at the royal district of Tata, as expected, it was filled with nobleman's and bandits along the way. While comparing to other districts, such as Merchant and Slum District, this district only accompanied by one singular manor, from which is the Callus Manor.
The Callus Manor was a fifty square yard manor with four stories high, filled with a thousand rooms. This is where, without the doubt, all the Bronze Coin currently lives, especially bandits, criminals and at the cherry on top, Dominik.
Ever since the downfall of Castle Libra, they are currently living in this manor inside Tata, it is the central base of the Bronze Coin Guild, under the protection of Bernard Callus.
The transition from Roxy to Clara Becker was a jarring mental shift; I had to suppress every instinct to fight and replace it with the submissive posture of a servant.
"You're late,"
One of the guards barked, his voice echoing off the stone archway. He leaned on a halberd, his eyes scanning me with bored cruelty.
"I... I'm deeply sorry, sir. The market was... it was so crowded today. I beg your forgiveness."
I whispered, my voice sounding thin and fragile, the perfect mimicry of the girl I had left in the inn.
The guard let out a scoff and waved me through with a flick of his hand.
"Just get inside. If the head housekeeper catches you slacking, it's your neck, not mine."
As I stepped into the dimly lit servants' corridor, the mana-stone in my ear hummed to life.
"Roxy, hold your position! The moon is still too bright, and the wall patrols just doubled their frequency. Wait an hour before you move for the side gate. The walls are heavily guarded." Mochi's voice crackled, low and urgent.
I ducked into a small alcove near a linen closet, my teeth gritted in frustration.
"Well, what am I supposed to do until then?"
"Well... do chores, I guess, blend in. Don't just stand in a hallway looking like a suspicious maid. Try to look busy."
The connection cut off with a sharp click.
"Chores, I came here to burn this place down, and I'm going to end up scrubbing the floors of the man I hate."
I muttered, looking at a heavy wooden bucket and a lye-stained mop leaning against the wall.
I picked up the bucket, the weight of it familiar yet alien. I began to move deeper into the manor, the smell of expensive incense and stale wine filling my nose. Every shadow seemed to hold a guard, every corner a potential discovery.
I was inside. I was the ghost in the machine. Now, all I had to do was survive the next sixty minutes of servitude without snapping and strangling a nobleman with my mop.
"Roxy, back to cleaning, I guess?"
"Shut up, Plasma."
The scent of stale ale and old sweat preceded them. I kept my head down, focusing the rhythm of the mop against the cold stone, but my knuckles were white around the wooden handle.
My right arm, now soft, warm flesh thanks to the shapeshifting, felt strangely light, lacking the familiar hum of the mechanical gears. It made me feel vulnerable, stripped of my primary weapon, but it was the only way to be Clara.
The heavy thud of iron-shod boots stopped right in front of my bucket. Before I could move, a rough boot kicked the bucket over, sending the grey, soapy water swirling across the floor I had just finished cleaning.
"Watch it, you clumsy rat!" a voice rasped.
I was shoved hard from behind. I let myself fall, my palms stinging as they hit the wet stone. I made sure my knees hit the ground with a pathetic thud for dramatic effect.
"I—I'm so sorry, sirs! The floor was slick... please, forgive my clumsiness."
I stammered, my voice trembling with Clara's forced timidity. I kept my gaze fixed on their muddy boots.
One of the bandits, a man with a jagged beard and the Bronze Coin insignia tattooed on his thick neck, stepped closer. He leaned down, his shadow swallowing me whole.
"Look at this pathetic thing, Dominik really needs to raise his standards. We're supposed to be running a fortress, not a nursery for weaklings."
The thinner one laughed, a sharp, grating sound that echoed in the empty hall. He reached out and grabbed a handful of my borrowed hair, forcing my head up just enough to look at his sneering face.
"Hey, pretty thing. Maybe instead of mopping, you should be useful for something else tonight? You should be an onahole instead rather than just cleaning."
My stomach churned. Every instinct I had as the innocent lady screamed at me to grab the mop handle, snap it over his windpipe, and drive the splintered wood through his heart. My hand twitched on the floor, itching for the steel of a blade.
Instead, I let a tear well up in my eye.
"Please, sir... I have so much work left... the head housekeeper..."
The bearded one scoffed, leaning back and spitting a thick glob of phlegm right onto the hem of my apron.
"Forget it. She's too scrawny. Probably break if you breathed on her too hard, get back to work, you worthless piece of trash. If I see a single footprint on this floor when I come back, I'll make sure you're scrubbing the dungeons with your tongue."
They walked away, their loud, mocking laughter bouncing off the vaulted ceilings. I stayed on my knees for a long moment, staring at the dirty water and the spit on my dress.
"Roxy? You still there? I heard that. Stay calm. Don't let them get to you." Mochi's voice whispered through the earpiece, sounding tense
"I'm fine,"
I whispered back, my voice vibrating with a cold, murderous promise that Clara Becker could never make. I grabbed the mop, my fingers digging into the wood.
"But when the sun comes up, Mochi... those two are the first ones I'm finding."
I began to soak up the mess, my eyes following the shadows of the two men as they disappeared around the corner. They thought they had just stepped on a maid. They had no idea they had just insulted a ghost.
A soft, warm hand reached into my field of vision. It was covered in fine, golden fur, the pads of the fingers delicate but calloused from work. I looked up, and for a split second, my heart skipped. The golden hair and feline ears reminded me so much of Mochi and Mya, but this girl's face was rounder, her eyes a bright amber.
"Clara, are you okay?" she asked, her voice like a soothing balm after the bandits' venom.
I took her hand, allowing her to pull me up. My borrowed knees felt shaky, not from fear, but from the sheer weight of the role I was playing.
"Thanks... for that," I murmured, brushing the wet dust from my skirt.
The girl tilted her head, her ears twitching.
"Don't bother with them, Clara. Those bandits are just doing what they're paid for, being monsters. But you look pale. Did you... did you forget my name again?"
Ice ran through my veins. A close friend. This was the one thing DNA couldn't give me: memories. I felt a surge of panic, my mind racing for a lie that wouldn't get me killed.
"I... I'm sorry, I've been having these spells. Terrible amnesia. Everything goes foggy. Please... remind me. I feel like a middle-aged woman whose brain has finally quit on her."
The cat-maid let out a soft, melodic laugh, patting my arm.
"Hahaha! You're funny, Clara. I completely forgot how much you have on your plate. Raising five kids in the slums alone... it must be exhausting work. Even if you are a mother of five, you still have such a youthful face. People would swear you're just a teenager."
She smiled warmly, her tail swishing behind her.
"It's Joy. Remember? We started in the kitchens together."
The air left my lungs. Five kids. The girl I had drugged up in the inn wasn't just a maid, she was a lifeline for five souls in the dirt.
"Roxy, you feel guilty about Clara, am I right?" Plasma said
"I agree, I should've drugged another maid besides Clara, I felt bad."
I felt a sickening pang of guilt, the hero didn't usually care about collateral damage, but the thought of those children waiting for a mother who might never come back made my stomach twist.
"Joy, right. Thank you, Joy. I... I just need to finish this hall."
"Don't work too hard, we have to survive this shift so you can get back to them."
As she walked away, the earpiece crackled to life.
"Roxy, snap out of it, I felt your heart rate spike. You have 30 minutes until the moon is obscured. Clear your head. You have a job to do, and if you fail, Clara won't have a home to go back to anyway." Mochi's voice was stern, cutting through my guilt.
I gripped the mop handle until my knuckles turned white. I couldn't afford to be Roxy right now, and I couldn't afford to be a sympathetic mother. I had to be a ghost.
"Thirty minutes, I'm ready."