Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Once the horses had been stabled and everyone had changed their distinctive Imperial armor for plain armor from the cache, except for a few guards who had been unlucky enough to be assigned the first watch, the rest of the party had split up into the various tunnels.

Each of the tunnels led to a small room, which had a bed, as well as a bathroom. The water and heat were supplied through magical devices, and since Mana Crystals didn't lose their energy over time, everything was still functional.

However, there was no bedding, as it had all rotted away over the years, the people who had founded the cache had not thought to enchant the bedding. But the bedrolls that the guards carried on their horses were more than enough to cushion the beds that were carved out of the rock itself.

And so, the entire group was now asleep, with the exception of those on the first watch. After almost two days of being awake, fighting and then riding for a day straight, they were all exhausted, and so slept soundly.

The entire underground cache was now quiet, with quiet murmurs coming from the pair of guards who had been posted next to the hidden wall, in case the locations for the caches had been leaked.

As the others slept, deep within the tunnels, Simon had also unrolled his bedroll, but he was not planning to sleep, even after so long awake.

In front of him, laid out on the bedroll, were his set of dark clothing, his short curved blade, and the many smaller blades that were all set into a belt.

Simon pulled on the dark clothing, and slung the belt that held the smaller blades over his shoulder, tightening it, so it fit snugly around his chest.

The curved blade, about half a meter long, had a thin belt that wrapped around his waist, the sheath laying horizontally across his back.

All the blades had sheaths that were padded, so that there wasn't even the slightest hint of noise when Simon drew them. 

Simon removed the false nose that he wore as Scholar Piatt, as well as the inserts he put inside his mouth to make his jaw appear larger.

Then, he took his curved blade, and a small vial that was concealed within his bedroll, dripping a thick yellow fluid along the edge, rubbing it in with a scrap of cloth, that began to smoke upon contact with the liquid. 

Finally, Simon wrapped a length of dark cloth around his head, completely covering his bright golden curls and pale skin. 

Then, Simon paused for a moment, channelling his mana to cast his Invisibility Spell, still unfamiliar with this version.

Of course, there were many types of Invisibility spell, some used Elemental Mana, while others were Elementless, and they all varied in difficulty, based on the degree of mana control required.

Simon, after years of training, had only recently been able to learn a more difficult version of the spell, and as he cast it, there was only a vague shimmering where he had stood.

Before, when he cast the previous version, someone would have been able to see a blurry silhouette where Simon stood, but not anymore.

Simon took a deep breath to compose himself, and padded out toward the main cavern. 

"You really think we can push these Ursten invaders back?" The two guards posted outside were having a quiet conversation, even as Simon crept out of the tunnel and towards them. 

"I don't know man, they've allied with the Tribes, and my Pa, before he passed, used to always tell me war stories about the war with them, and from the stories he'd tell me, I'd say they're quite tough." The other guard shook his head at the first, both of them talking in quiet murmurs, they stood next to a small covered Magic Crystal powered lamp, set on the floor in between them, both of them standing just outside of its light to maintain their night vision. 

As they continued to talk, Simon slipped two of his smaller blades out from the belt on his chest, and paused for a moment, channeling his mana.

Then, he threw the blades. They sped through the air, shimmering and twisting as they found the two guards necks.

The blades slipped through the tiniest gap that was between their helmets and the breastplates they wore, slicing clean through the small curtain of chain mail that was supposed to protect their necks.

There were two quiet strangled grunts, but Simon's blades had found their carotid arteries, and great gouts of blood sprayed out from them as they fell, painting the entrance of the cavern red with blood.

The two of them fell to the ground with a soft thump, and the murmurs from the two guards fell completely silent.

Simon started to move toward the tunnel that he had seen the Emperor walk down.

"Jean! Ned!" A hoarse voice called out through the darkness, with a distinctly worried tone.

"S****" Simon swore under his breath, Captain Jeremiah was still awake. It was just like him to remain on guard even while his men were posted, and even after being awake for so long.

From all his time infiltrating the Imperial Court, Simon had learned that while he wasn't too gifted in his combat ability or in his grasp of strategy, Captain Jeremiah was ridiculously loyal.

Simon walked toward the sound of his voice, and then he spotted him. The glint of Captain Jemriah's eyes due to the small amount of light from the lamp.

"Lads! This isn't the time to be joking around with me. Come on now, come into the light, so I can see the pair of you are fine." Captain Jemriah's voice was growing more and more worried.

"Sorry, Cap. We were just having a bit of a muck around. Didn't mean to worry you." Simon called out, slipping another blade for his belt, his voice almost perfectly mimicking the first of the two guards that had spoken.