Enslaved by the Crown: The Weakest Slave Has the Strongest Ability

Eldrin remained beneath the trees, watching the entrance from a distance.

Two guards stood beside the gate. Neither seemed particularly alert. One occasionally glanced down the road while the other checked the permits of workers coming and going.

He waited.

A group of workers eventually approached from inside the district. The first guard stepped forward to inspect their permits, leaving his partner alone at the entrance.

That was enough.

Eldrin stepped out from the trees and walked toward the gate.

He kept his pace steady. Not too fast. Not too slow.

He was almost past the first guard when the man raised a hand.

"No permit, boy."

Eldrin stopped.

His eyes moved briefly toward the second guard. Still occupied with the workers.

Then back to the man in front of him.

He had already considered this possibility.

If Veil wasn’t enough, perhaps Silver Tongue could do what it had done before.

Eldrin focused on the guard.

You forgot something.

The thought pushed against his mind.

Just a small change in what the man believed he already knew.

Eldrin spoke calmly.

"You forgot. I have work inside."

For a moment, the guard simply stared at him.

Eldrin waited.

Then the man’s expression changed.

"Ah."

He lowered his hand.

"Yes. You can go."

The second guard glanced over.

"Everything fine?"

"Yeah. He’s working inside."

"Alright."

Eldrin continued through the gate without another word.

He didn’t look back.

Only after the walls and guards had disappeared behind him did he finally allow himself to breathe.

It worked.

A small smile touched his face.

Silver Tongue had worked.

Eldrin reached for Shade.

Veil spread quietly through his body.

He wasn’t sure how well Veil would function inside a military district. The people here were more disciplined than ordinary city guards, and some of them might notice things others wouldn’t.

Still, even a little help was better than none.

Eldrin kept walking.

Whenever someone approached, he naturally shifted his path or slowed down, making himself part of the movement around him rather than trying to disappear in plain sight. It was easier this way. Veil didn’t have to carry the entire burden.

He needed information.

That meant watching.

The first thing he noticed was how much movement went through the district at night.

Supply carts rolled between buildings. Soldiers carried sealed boxes from one warehouse to another. Messengers moved between offices with documents tucked beneath their arms.

And every few minutes, someone passed through a checkpoint.

Eldrin had expected this part of military district to be quiet after dark.

Instead, it functioned like a city that never completely slept.

He followed a supply cart for a while, mostly because its route took him toward the larger administrative buildings.

The cart stopped outside a long stone building.

Two workers unloaded several wooden crates.

Eldrin slowed as he passed.

One of the crates had a small metal tag attached to its side.

He couldn’t read the entire marking from where he stood, but he caught the first characters.

J-

He nearly stopped.

Instead, he kept walking.

A few seconds later, he turned down another street and disappeared behind a row of buildings.

Only then did he look back.

The workers were still unloading.

The tag was too far away to read.

So it is used here.

That alone was enough to change his understanding.

J7 wasn’t a building.

It was some kind of designation.

But what kind?

Eldrin spent the next half hour following the movement of supplies rather than searching buildings randomly.

He noticed something unusual.

Ordinary supplies moved constantly.

Food.

Weapons.

Clothing.

Training equipment.

But certain crates were handled differently.

They were never left unattended.

They were recorded twice.

And whenever one of them moved, a soldier accompanied the workers until it reached its destination.

Eldrin watched another such transfer from across the street.

A sealed iron container was taken from a storage building and loaded onto a small wagon. A soldier checked the accompanying document before allowing it to leave.

Eldrin couldn’t see the writing.

But he didn’t need to.

The soldier looked at the document again before handing it back.

Then he said something to the worker.

Eldrin couldn’t hear the first part.

The final words carried across the street.

"...J7 transfer. Keep it sealed."

Eldrin’s attention sharpened.

Transfer.

So J7 wasn’t simply a storage designation.

It could be a category of material that required special handling.

That raised another question.

Why would his father’s remains have been placed under it?

He pushed the thought aside before it could take hold.

There were too many possibilities.

He needed proof first.

The wagon disappeared through another checkpoint farther south.

Eldrin followed at a distance.

He was beginning to understand the district’s layout now. The ordinary warehouses were concentrated closer to the main roads. The more restricted buildings were deeper inside, separated by checkpoints and guarded entrances.

Eventually, the wagon stopped before a low building surrounded by a stone wall.

There was no large sign.

Only a narrow metal plate beside the entrance.

Restricted Storage — Authorized Personnel Only

Eldrin remained across the road.

Two guards stood outside.

Another was visible through the doorway.

He considered using Silver Tongue again.

Then dismissed the idea.

It had worked once, but that didn’t mean he could keep walking through every restricted area by talking his way past people.

One failure was enough.

He needed another way.

His eyes moved across the building.

Windows.

Roof.

Drainage channel.

A narrow gap between the storage wall and the neighboring structure.

Possible entrances.

But none of them were safe.

Eldrin was about to move closer when voices drifted from behind him.

He turned slightly.

Two men were walking down the road, talking quietly.

One carried a document case.

The other wore a dark military coat.

Eldrin lowered his gaze and allowed Veil to pull their attention away from him.

They passed without giving him more than a glance.

Eldrin waited until the two men had disappeared farther down the road before turning his attention back toward the storage building.

He circled around the storage building, keeping well away from the entrance. The rear wall was less exposed, though it offered little in the way of an actual opening. There were no windows at ground level, and the few higher ones were narrow enough that getting through them would be difficult even if he could reach them.

He looked upward.

The roof extended slightly beyond the wall, creating a strip of darkness beneath the edge.

That gave him an idea.

Eldrin stepped back until the building across the narrow passage blocked the guards’ view. He waited for a patrol to pass, then moved quickly across the open section and pressed himself against the wall.

Veil continued to drain his mana.

He could feel the loss now.

Not enough to force him to stop, but enough to remind him that every minute he remained inside this district had a cost.

He reached toward Shade.

The shadows beneath the roof were connected to the darkness around him.

Normally, Shadow Step needed a distinct destination. Here, however, the narrow strip beneath the building’s overhang gave him exactly what he needed.

Eldrin focused on the darkness above.

Shadow Step.

The familiar sensation pulled through him.

For an instant, his body felt weightless.

Then his boots touched the narrow ledge beneath the roof.

He crouched immediately.

No alarm.

Below him, the guards continued their conversation.

Eldrin slowly raised his head until he could see through the narrow upper window.

The room beyond was dark.

Rows of sealed containers filled most of it.

And on one of the walls, several metal tags had been arranged beneath a heading.

He couldn’t read everything from this angle.

But one designation was clear.

J7.

Eldrin’s pulse quickened.

He had finally found it.

....

...

..

.

[3 Hours Later]...

Eldrin had already considered retreating for the night.

Under ordinary circumstances, it would have been the sensible choice. He had learned enough to know that the building was important, but he still had no idea what kind of security protected it or how deeply he would have to go before finding anything useful. Returning now would also give him time to study the district and find a safer way in.

The problem was that he had already used Silver Tongue at the main gate.

There was no guarantee that he could fool another checkpoint the same way.

He stayed beneath the overhang, studying the narrow upper window and the stone wall beneath it.

There has to be another way inside.

The front entrance was impossible without a legitimate reason to be there. The ground-level walls were solid, and the upper windows were too narrow for an ordinary climb. Shadow Step could get him onto the ledge, but that only solved the problem of reaching the outside of the building. It didn’t tell him how to cross the wall.

He was still considering whether there might be another entrance when movement on the road caught his attention.

Someone was approaching from the direction of the main gate.

The figure walked alone.

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