After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

Making such an arrangement means that the plan of the imperial expedition must have been known to a considerable extent by the demons.

Second, these two guys must have sneaked in after the morning roll call, which means that the Faceless Men must have their own base in this city.

We must take this opportunity to follow the clues to find out and then catch them all in one fell swoop.

"Okay, leave it to me."

The witch nodded, then walked to the window and released her owl-shaped familiar, which worked with the cat to attack the two faceless men.

After taking a short rest, Aize continued to connect his senses and monitor the movements on both sides.

However, he soon realized that this job was not easy.

It was already dusk, and as this was a frontline city, there was a curfew, so the residents rushed to the streets to buy the various supplies they needed, and many of them went straight into the pubs and drank heavily.

There are too many people.

The one pretending to be a guard walked around the street, stopping here and there, looking at this store and touching that store. Relying on the faceless man's telepathic ability, he could easily pass on information in the process.

Even with Villian's ability, it is impossible to track all the people the other party has come into contact with.

As for the one who stayed in the castle, he did not do anything suspicious. He stood guard and patrolled normally, and even talked and laughed with other guards like a human being.

There are no flaws at all.

"Tsk, this won't do."

Aize rubbed his eyes.

Due to their unique abilities, the Faceless Men are a very important faction among the demons. Their leader, the Faceless King, is ranked among the thirteen leaders and plays a vital role.

However, there is very little information about these guys. The other demons have no idea about their background, not even where they were born or where their hometowns are.

Charlotte and Villian could not provide any useful information.

This time, it was also the first time that Aize faced the Faceless Man directly.

This damn thing was born for intelligence warfare and is more troublesome than imagined.

There is no point in continuing to follow the other party, and we must find another way to break the deadlock.

"……Um?"

Looking at the sunlight outside that gradually turned from golden to blood-red, a question suddenly flashed through Aize's mind: What on earth do these guys want to do?

It is now evening and the army will soon gather at night. By then, the guy who stays in the castle will definitely be exposed.

Besides, the connection has just been completed, so what should be known is known, and there is no time to know what is not known.

Why does this guy still stay in the castle?

If one or two people are missing during roll call, people might think they have deserted, become a deserter, or sneaked out to drink or something like that.

As a Faceless Man, being caught is a foregone conclusion, and will inevitably expose one's existence and intentions.

Why...I understand.

Suddenly figuring out what was going on, Aize gently pushed Villian away and stood up from his seat.

"Can you put the familiar into autonomous mode? It would be best if it could... uh, leave a mark or something while tracking? Like, have the cat leave two claw marks on the entrances of vendors and shops that the Faceless Man has come into contact with?"

"Well, sure, but why?"

"We have more important things to do."

As he spoke, Aize looked at Chris who was standing beside him.

"Chrissy."

"...Ah? Yes! Master, do you have any plans?"

Villian just gave her sensory synchronization.

With such a weird and eerie thing entering her house, Chris's face naturally looked very bad, so she lowered her head and was thinking about something.

It was only after Aize's shout that he came back to his senses.

"Well, I have a plan, of course. Can you show me around the castle?"

"Ah? Now? But... why now? Shouldn't I tell father about this first?"

The blue-haired girl was confused, obviously not understanding what he meant.

"No, I can't tell you now. We can't act rashly for the time being. We have to...Okay, stop talking! Time is running out. Lead the way quickly. I'll talk to you as we walk!"

The so-called tight time is because Aize thought of another possibility.

Everyone's first reaction to the previous meeting was that it was to find out the news inside the castle and then pass it on to the outside.

But is it really so?

Because of the existence of the Faceless Men, human leaders are extremely cautious when discussing important matters and will never leave guards or servants around them.

The prince and the marquis would never make such a low-level mistake.

The Faceless Man risked exposing his intelligence network and sneaked in disguised as a guard. Was it really to gather intelligence?

Not quite.

It is more likely to be for some secret operation, such as assassination or sabotage.

The connection just now might have been to facilitate the actions of the Faceless Men inside, by passing in instructions, plans or messages from the outside.

If this is true, there is a high possibility that there is more than one Faceless Man sneaking in, and their plan will definitely be carried out before the roll call after sunset.

It lasted about an hour and a half, almost the same time as the dinner.

Before that, Aize had to figure out the other party's purpose so that he could be one step ahead of these weird guys.

We need to hurry up.

Chapter 35 Fatal Welcome

The so-called tour is nothing more than walking around the castle under the guise of a tour. While searching for suspicious matters, Villian will use her own technique to scan every human being she meets to determine their identity.

In this way, through the scale of the other party's infiltration and the choice of disguised objects, we can roughly infer the purpose of the Faceless Men's actions.

Only then will it be possible to catch the enemy in one fell swoop without alerting them.

So, several people set off.

After spending more than half an hour chatting and laughing, they quickly walked through most of the castle without being suspected.

From the bedroom area, to the living room, to the kitchen, to the yard and every corridor, Vivian accurately identified every object during the seemingly relaxed tour.

And a small magic bullet popped out at the faceless man he found to mark him.

Then, they began the discussion in an uninhabited area of the yard where their conversation would not be overheard.

"Let's talk about the conclusion first."

Time was running out, so Villian didn't bother being polite. After looking around to make sure no one was around, she spoke directly.

"We've discovered eleven of them so far, all disguised as guards. They're scattered throughout the castle, on watchtowers and in the corridors. What do you think, Aize?"

"Um……"

Aize closed his eyes and began to sort out the information.

Regardless of the other party's purpose is to assassinate or to spy on intelligence, in the residence of a noble lord, servants would theoretically be a better choice than guards.

Because the guards are subject to many restrictions and cannot move freely, and are fully armed at all times, rashly approaching the target person is likely to arouse suspicion and vigilance.

The opposite is true for servants.

Even a powerful lord or general could easily reveal his defenseless side in front of his familiar servants. At that time, he could just add some ingredients when pouring tea, or take out an ice pick and hit the opponent, and everything would be over.

The choice these guys made is simply a thankless task.

There must be something I have overlooked.

So, Aize raised his head and looked at Chris:

"Chris, this is your home, you know it better. Do you see any problems or intentions with the location of the Faceless Men we just discovered?"

The blue-haired girl's face darkened as she shook her head decisively.

"No, I find it strange too. They're all in insignificant places, and I can't see anything... I'm so sorry."

Since everyone in my family has said so, there shouldn't be any problem.

But I couldn't think of any other possibilities at the moment.

There is not enough time, and continuing to waste time here would only be a waste of brain cells. Aize decided to give it a try.

"Chris, where are your father and mother now?"

"Uh, it should be in the study or bedroom, right? What's wrong?"

"It's necessary to inform them of the situation and see if they can think of anything."

After discovering the existence of the Faceless Men, Aize immediately thought that key figures in the castle, such as the commander, the butler, the head maid, and even the Marquis and the prince himself, were also in danger of being replaced.

It was because of this concern that Aize did not inform the other party of the situation immediately, but wanted to grasp the overall situation first.

I didn't tell Chris either, so she wouldn't worry.

Of course, the possibility of this worry coming true is not great.

If the Faceless Man wants to replace his target, he must first kill the target or restrain him, otherwise there will inevitably be an embarrassing situation where the real target runs into the imposter.

It is extremely difficult to replace a key figure in a heavily guarded castle, not to mention that the Faceless Men themselves are not a race that is good at fighting.

However, after the investigation just now, Aize must seriously consider this possibility.

Eleven faceless men, an astonishing number.

In addition, since unimportant places such as servants' quarters and military barracks were not surveyed, the actual number would be even higher.

It would be impossible to infiltrate so many spies into the core area of a frontline city where the empire was preparing for war in one day without an insider.

And the level of this insider must be quite high.

So, let's go meet the Marquis and the Marquis, just in case we find out something.

Chris hadn't thought of this, she just pouted and looked away:

"I don't really want to see that guy's face right now..."

"You're not going to see your father alone. Your mother should be there too, right? There won't be any problems."

——As long as it is not replaced.

"But yeah, that guy is really... woohoo, I know! He's on the third floor of the main building, this way!"

The overall situation is more important. After scratching her head for a while, the blue-haired girl finally convinced herself and started to lead the way.

The three of them passed through the gate and the corridor, and once again entered the castle from the small courtyard.

Along the way, security was still tight. In addition to the sentries everywhere, there were also patrols of several people on patrol, and they would pass by Aize from time to time.

Mixed among them were the Faceless Men who had just been marked.

It’s strange to say, the army is organized into groups and squads. Why doesn’t the other side directly replace the entire group or squad, but instead pick a handful from each team?

This is not convenient for movement...

"……Um?"

After passing by another group of people, Aize's eyes lit up and he stopped.

After using his peripheral vision to confirm that the other party had gone far away and disappeared around the corner, he turned around and asked:

"Was there also a Faceless Man in that team just now?"

"Yeah, it's the third one from the front. I marked it. What's wrong? Any new discoveries?"

"That guy's height... isn't he particularly tall?"

Chris and Villian looked at each other and began to recall the scene just now.

Then, the blue-haired girl nodded first:

"Yes, he's about half a head taller than the others in the team."

"Did we also choose taller replacements for the other Faceless Ones we marked previously?"