As two guards stood in front of the gate that led into the secret mansion, a horse with two people walking beside it came walking up. They saw them approaching for a while, and had already unsheathed their swords. However, the two people and the horse seemed non-threatening, so they waited until the people were close enough that they could see them before speaking.
“This is private property! No visitors!”
“Huh?” I called out. “I’m not a visitor? Then where am I supposed to transport this wine?”
One of the people was me, and the other was Miki, who was dressed as my servant and slave. Technically, she was my slave, so this wasn’t too challenging to pass off. Plus, her thin, pale form gave her the appearance of someone who couldn’t put up a fight. Compared to the other girls who all had various levels of athleticism, she pulled off a simple servant the best. Her ability to set the mood, decreasing suspicion with just her presence was only a plus.
“I already said, no – ow, what?” As one guard tried to dismiss me again, the other one hit his chest.
“What wine is that?” The guard asked with interest.
“Ah! Only the best wine in Aberis!” I declared, pulling out a jug from the horse’s saddle.
I had about 100 liters of wine in jugs, enough to throw a pretty good celebration, sitting in my storage ring. I didn’t drink very much, but a lot of places seemed to expect gifts, and wine was the gift of choice for most, so I had bought them in bulk cheaply in Chalm where I could take advantage of my Hero status and my Barter Skill for some pretty cheap wine. It had been found in the underground cellar of one of old Chalm’s taverns. The wine was actually a better quality than most in Chalm could afford.
Since Chalm needed money, and I needed bribes and gifts, I bought up all the wine to help the local breweries. I didn’t expect to ever go through it all, but in a time stop ring, it would last. Then again, didn’t wine taste better with age? I didn’t really know that much about these things, but this stuff was already extremely valuable, and I got it for a very good deal.
The guard who had spoken also seemed to have good taste, and he could see that the wine I had pulled out looked to be the quality stuff. I popped open the cork of one bottle, all while running a spiel like I was a wine salesman. I was just a transporter, so this was probably very suspicious if anyone thought about it for too long, but thankfully, the guards didn’t appear to be very bright. After pouring a glass for each of them, they drank it without even wondering if it was poison or anything.
Of course, it wasn’t altered in any way. For Miki to do her magic, it was enough if I could just get most of them inebriated. In theory, she could probably manage it without any of this pretense, but as men fell, other men would become more alert, and it risked becoming a race between when Miki’s mana ran out or the last few men managed to band together and start fighting back. I didn’t want to leave anything to chance.
“This is definitely great stuff. Sell me a bottle!” The guard said with a smile.
“Ah… as I said, it’s already paid for.” When he gave me a questioning look, I handed him the bottle I opened. “This one’s on the house?”
He was a bit stupider than even that. I was beginning to realize I was giving a bunch of guards in a world without an education system too much credit. Perhaps some of the people in the manor would be a bit more challenging.
He opened the door without question, and while the other guy was a bit suspicious, he followed along and stepped aside.