By the time Akari and Dean woke up from their love play and took a nap, it was already deep into the night. Dean and Akari quickly and quietly got dressed in black clothes and with Akari's wind magic, they left through her window and flew over the city.

There were still some people out on the streets, as the all the pubs were open and the women and men of the night were still working. The red lantern alley was the only place that was lit up brightly. As if it was welcoming wandering travelers into their nest of pleasure and warmth.

Akari landed them on top of the Redcorner Bookstore. Their soft steps hardly made any noise as they landed on the roof.

Akari followed Dean as he quickly found a hidden door.

"It's an illusion." Dean whispered to Akari as he waved his hand in front of the illusion. "Only a high power mage can create such of an illusion."

Without her mage eyes, the hidden door would have just seemed as if nothing was there. But because of Dean and her mage eyes, they saw right through the illusion and slowly opened the door.

To Dean's surprise, there were no other magic barriers that was set up. Who ever placed the illusion on the door, must be really arrogant to think that it would be enough of a barrier to keep people out.

Dean and Akari slowly made their way down the stairs. The top floor had four bedrooms. The closest bedroom to her right, Akari could feel a presence breathing softly and steadily. Her nose recognized the old man's scent as she came close to the door.

Dean took out several sleeping incense as Akari lit it with her fire magic. Dean quickly place the incense under the door. Each door that they passed, Dean placed another sleeping incense under the door.

When they reached the stair again, they quickly and quietly made their way to the first floor. They kept to the walls as they moved to the back of the bookstore, where Akari last saw the mysterious woman. They finally stopped in front of the bookshelves and one by one pulled out the books to see if there was a hidden lever to open the hidden door.

Dean and Akari quickly worked together from opposite ends of the bookshelves and met in the middle. When the last book was pulled out and pushed back in, still nothing happened.

"There must be a hidden lever somewhere." Akari whispered. "She couldn't have just disappeared into thin air!"

Dean kept looking at the shelves that met together. If it wasn't a book that was the key to open the hidden door, it must be something else. His eyes kept going back to the corner shelves. Why was one shelf made thicker than the rest? Why did this one shelf hold less books then the others?

Dean reached out and felt the inner side of the wooden shelf. When his finger ran over a slight bump, he hooked his finger and brought the lever down. With a soft click, the left bookshelf opened slightly.

"You're a genius!" Akari said as she smiled.

Dean lead the way as Akari followed behind.

"Should I close the door?" Akari asked.

Dean turned around and saw that on the inside of the hidden door, the latch was a visible latch that they could quickly undo if they needed to get out of there.

"Yes." Dean told her.

Akari closed the door tightly and soon they were surrounded by darkness. Suddenly, the hall was lit up in with a luminous pearl. Dean handed one to Akari as he held the other pearl.

Akari had never seen a luminous pearl before. It was as big as her hand and shined brightly. Dean gave her a soft velvet bag to hide the luminous pearl, just in case they need to hide it.

Dean lead the way down the hall. It ran long and steep, as if it was leading them underground. After an hour of walking, they could see light at the end of the tunnel. Hiding the luminous pearl inside of the bag, they made their way towards the light in darkness.

When they came closer to the light. They could hear two men speaking to each other.

"I can't believe I'm on night watch!" The first man said to the second man. "What did I do to make the Mistress mad?"

"You should be lucky to be alive." The second man said. "Just one wrong look and your life could have ended."

"True." The first man said. "Although I hate night watch. I would rather do this than watch over the prisoners."

"You're right about that! The smell! Ugh! How could they stand it over there?!?"

"Have you seen the new one that came in the other day?"

"We have a new one?"

"Yep, came in late with the Mistress. A real looker that one. Poor bastard. With that face, he'll be her pet. And you know what happens to her pets."

"Let's pray that this pet life is longer than the last one. And doesn't die as tragically."

"Yeah... that last pet... I still have nightmares from that day."

Both of them shivered in fear from their memories. They were too lost in their thoughts to see two shadows quickly advancing towards them before it was too late.

Both guards had their necks broken. Dean and Akari positioned them so that both guards would look as if they were asleep sitting on the ground. When Dean and Akari searched the guards body, they found a set of keys on one of them. Taking the keys, Dean held Akari's hand as they made their way deeper into the underground building.

No one spoke as they snuck in. With the keys, Dean could open the doors on the first level. Inside of each room was storage for food, clothes, bedding, cleaning supplies and extra furniture. When they reached the end of the hallway, there was yet another set of guards who were speaking. This time however, Dean and Akari did not listen to the guards before attacking. They attacked swiftly together, without a word. They did not need to speak to know what the other one was thinking.

After looking behind the doors on the second level, they found that it was a training center. There were four large rooms. Three rooms could hold about 50 people each. The first room was for hand to hand combat training. The second room was for word training. And the last room was for bow and arrow training. The last room was an armory.

As Dean and Akari entered the hall that lead them down to the third floor, they did not hear anyone speaking. However with their enhanced mage senses, they could hear the breathing of two guards. When Dean and Akari attacked, Dean took care of the left guard, while Akari took care of the right guard.

"How deep do you think this underground training center goes?" Akari asked as Dean began to open the other doors on the third floor.

"I don't know." Dean told her truthfully. It had been a long time since he integrated himself with society. The last couple hundred years he stayed on his little mountain and hid from the world. The only people he really saw were other mages that he visited, however those visits were only if he really needed advice or guidance on any issues he may have. "Whoever made this underground base could be considered a powerful mage."

"It would make sense if the person behind Kiko is a mage." Akari told Dean as they closed the last door. "The possibility that the King teamed up with a mage to target the Noboru Clan is not small."

"True." Dean agreed. "However, what if it's not the King?"

"What do you mean?"

"You once said that Duke Obara and the King grew up together. Their bonds of friendship and brotherhood can not easily be broken or betrayed." Dean whispered to Akari as they stopped to speak. "What if it is someone that is from the royal family, but not the King."

"Like who?"

"How many Princes are there fighting for the throne?"

"Four." Akari said as her eyes widen in surprise at Dean's thoughts.

"And how much money does one need to not only raise their own army, but bribe the ministers and scholars to be on your side?"

"Alot."

"And by targeting the Noboru Clan, one can sweep in, plant fake evidence, take a portion if not all of Noboru finances and hide it as corruption."

"If someone is heartless enough to kill for the throne, one is also heartless enough to set up a friend of the King, a loyal Duke, a wealthy and noble family."

"To get what they want, nothing is impossible."