Chapter 204

Soon a classic ambush was arranged along the road, and the presence of people did not give away anything, except the smell, but there were no sniffers in the squad that followed the dusty summer road and slowly approached the fateful point. The bandits tried not to move, afraid to scare away their prey with any careless sound, for the ataman would not be spared for such a thing.

The approaching detachment was not a merchant caravan or a batch of smugglers. They were noble men. A couple of carriages, carts with chests and less than two dozen soldiers of the guard. Glorious booty. And seemingly completely unintimidated. The front three riders were almost asleep and made no attempt to look around. The fallen log blocking their way seemed to be such a big shock to them that none of them even tried to resist.

The other guards showed more enthusiasm in doing their job and by the end of the fight more than twenty bandits were lying in the road dust. Such heavy losses only angered the attackers. The surviving men were executed right there, the women were raped for a long time, and when they had had enough, they were tortured.

Looking at the young maid without hands and tongue, dying on the ground, the ataman only grimaced. Again they did not ask anyone who they were and where they were going. Just like with those smugglers who were carrying a huge shipment of peanuts. After finishing the girl with a strong kick in the temple, Leaf went to the horses.

The booty had been counted and now it was necessary to sell it. And to do this most profitable in the capital of the duchy. And of course, you can still wait for retirement. After all, money just comes in handy.

Crawl on the roof without making a noise? There is nothing easier if the roof is covered with metal tile and has a slope of only a few degrees. And if the roof is covered with some clay tiles, some of which have already collapsed? If the slope of the roof is sharper than a spear? That's just it. The scout who was carrying out this task had cursed more than once the day he had accepted Sergei's offer and joined the ranks of his service.

What could be easier than sneaking into a priest's dwelling? But there are pitfalls, too. In this world, the church is also about money. And money is usually better guarded than lives. That's what the vampire tried to overcome, not for the first time recently. Now, for a change, through the neighboring roofs, one house has such a good parapet and if you jump from there, then ...

Having estimated the distance not from below, but sitting directly on the parapet scout almost in a voice swore. From the ground it seemed easy. But the day and the poor eyesight caused by the abundance of light played a cruel trick. No amount of jumping, even the best one, would help him cover the distance - the roof of the church building was not suitable for landing. He would have to try again through the sewer tunnel. Damn the day he'd taken the job! It all seemed so interesting.

Crawling through the filth to the grate was almost routine. It had been done before. No one had yet been able to get beyond the grate. The incomprehensible magic was as clear to the vampires as the stars in the sky.

But even the archmage's memory didn't answer the question - what was it that was hinged on this weak grate? The man looked at the corroded bars with displeasure and thought that he would have spared magic for such a blatant junk. Why would he put some kind of spell on it if the grate was dying and needed to be reinforced, not guarded?

"Reinforcement!"

If he could, the man would have danced. They seemed to be too cautious, and when they saw the magic on the object, they assumed it had a security function, which was natural given the parade of super security spells that had been cast on the church and its buildings. But here's where it seems the vampires outsmarted themselves and started blowing on the milk.

The scout cast reinforcing spells on the bars. The previously cast spells happily absorbed them. Bingo! They're identical!

The vampire crawled further away from the hated grate. They'd been sitting in front of it for almost a week! They could have figured it out right away! But no matter how big this small victory was, unfortunately the tunnel was no cleaner, wider, or fresher. It was still a thin and smelly sewer pipe. At least a human could crawl through it.

And here was the real protection spell. Or rather, one of its strands. They had been encountered before, and overcoming them only required some time and concentration. It was necessary to carefully break the thread and still supply magical power to each of the ends. The spells remained intact and undisturbed. Both easy and simple, but extremely exhausting.

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