Before the Treasury Raid

Going through the belongings of the four robbers, there isn't much as far as miscellaneous pocket goods go. Each one of them had their own storage rings, but Astur was only able to look into three of them. In the three she checked, there were the research documents and blueprints for the various magitech devices they had, many of which hadn't even been made yet. But the ring that Karl had wasn't able to be opened.

"What's up with this one? I can't see what's inside no matter how much energy I inject," Astur complains.

"Let me see it," Illsrvati says.

Taking a look at the ring, Illsrvati quickly identifies the problem.

"This is a rare type of storage ring that can identify the user. Without permission from the original owner, you won't be able to do anything about it. For dealing with this there are only two options I know of in the event the original owner is unavailable. The first is to find a blood relative, and the second is the break the ring. But breaking the ring will cause all the contents to flood out, moreover actually breaking it is incredibly difficult without proper equipment. Higher-end rings often have defensive spells built into them that can counterattack anyone trying to break it."

"And is this a high-end ring?" Astur asks as she takes back the ring.

"I wouldn't know unless we try and break it," Illsrvati shrugs.

With a sigh, Astur lights up a new cigarette and takes a bottle of wine out from her storage. Shaking her head, Astur mutters, "How useless." Turning back to Illsrvati, Astur asks, "Where can I set off a lot of explosives without anyone noticing around here?"

"Why do think such a convenient place exists?" Illsrvati just looks at Astur as if she's an idiot.

Walking over to Astur's side, Ystur takes a moment to admire the craftsmanship of the ring. Ignoring its practical functions, the ring itself is a work of art with a variety of beautiful magic engravings carved into the silver-painted ring.

"Is there any other way to open the ring up? It would be a shame to destroy it," Ystur asks.

"Well there is one way, but it can't be accomplished in this city. You'll probably have to go to the Royal Capital and find an accomplished mage who specialises in enchantments and engravings, they would also need to know how to create storage rings. Trying to find someone who can create a high-grade storage ring isn't easy," Illsrvati says.

"For what it's worth, I can create storage rings," Astur says. "Space manipulation is a speciality of mine. I made the bag Ystur carries and it can fit quite a lot in there."

"I've seen the ring you wear and I've looked at the bag Ystur has. I will say, they are very impressive, I'll give you that. But they work on a different principle compared to normal storage rings. Your creations don't cause any fluctuation with the mana in the air like how other storage rings do. Storage rings work by creating a hidden isolated space with magic then it's stabilised and tied to the ring through the engravings. But this isn't the case with yours, is it?" Illsrvati asks.

"Yeah, mine are fundamentally different. Whatever, I'll just find a place to bomb the ring later. That should break it, right?" Astur asks.

"Most likely. Now I'll take my leave, the next event is your stage and I'll be watching."

Illsrvati's body dissolves into an uncountable amount of spiders and they leave through the vents in the room. Ystur takes a few steps back as she hides behind Astur, but Astur and Kretea are mostly unfazed by the slightly disturbing sights.

"I thought this when we first met her and I still think this now, but she's creepy. I don't think I can bring myself to like spiders," Ystur says.

"You know she can probably still hear you. Who knows where her spiders are hiding," Astur shrugs as she walks to the door. But just before her hand reaches the door handle, she stops, "Wait, we should clean up in here first. Grab the bodies and stuff them into a storage ring and clean up the blood."

The cleaning process didn't take too long as there wasn't too much blood thanks to Kretea's clean method of killing. Thanks to Astur's durable body, most of her wounds were superficial scratches and the only bits of blood she shed dried up quickly as her injuries healed as she was getting hit. Illsrvati, Kretea, and Ystur had been taking cover, either behind a wall or a shield, as such, they weren't injured. Yet despite the short time it took to clean up, they didn't leave the room for several hours.

After they cleaned up the blood, Astur suggested waiting a bit. Although she didn't give a reason, Kretea and Ystur didn't object, although the latter quickly became bored. The reason behind Astur's suggestion wasn't anything complicated, it was simply to wait until Astur was able to temporarily unseal one of her abilities to let them leave the room without anyone noticing.

By the time they returned to their suite on the top floor, it was a couple of hours past midnight.

"If things go as expected, then the car will be repaired within the next 14 hours. After we move the car to someplace near the Treasury and we can make our move," Astur says, laying on the bed.

What's the plan? Barge in with force? Or are we going to sneak in?" Ystur asks.

"I think sneaking in at first and then leave with force is the best choice. There should be some sentries within the actual vault where the Count keeps his wealth. There are also likely to be some form of countermeasure for teleportation magic as well. Not to mention the obvious case of security cameras. So we sneak in first then act fast and grab whatever we can and then we force our way out since we'll have likely been discovered by this point anyway," Kretea suggest.

"That sounds about right. There's also the part where Illsrvati tipped off the police about an incoming heist on the Treasury, so there will be upped security as well. This would make forcing our way in more difficult. I've got plenty of ways to get us in without being noticed, so this plan is definitely better," Astur says, turning over on the bed to sleep.

"She really went to sleep. Is she not worried in the slightest about something going wrong?" Ystur asks.

"Lady Astur doesn't believe it will be overly difficult so it probably won't be. My Father places a lot of trust in her and so do I. Even if her methods are a little strange or questionable at times, the outcome always benefits her or the Holy Oulvgar State as a whole. Her reasons might have inherent selfishness behind them, but it doesn't move from the fact that her actions often benefit the Demons of Vopal as a whole. Right now, for the first time in recorded history, does Vopal have a unified state comprised of non-humans. Even now, although she will undoubtedly take some for herself, the money we obtain here will likely be used for the Holy Oulvgar State. And even then, the money she takes for herself will likely be used to indirectly assist the state. I don't believe Astur will put the Holy Oulvgar State at risk, as such there shouldn't be any real danger in this operation. In the event something does go wrong, I believe Lady Astur is prepared to deal with it," Kretea says.

"Even so, I can't help but worry. I hope nothing goes wrong tomorrow."