Following the route he had planned from the start, Mire arrived by the staircase without drawing attention, then quickly ran up to the second floor while no one was around.
Thinking back on the earlier conversation, he felt that Ramié's room was most likely on the top floor.
So he continued upward.
Just in case, he released his scouting mosquitoes, and it proved useful indeed. There were patrols on the third floor.
It was a maid with a short sword at her waist. Mire would not let down his guard just because she was a maid. This was the lord's residence, after all. Since Ramié could confidently let people eat and drink in the first-floor hall, she naturally had ways to stop them from sneaking upstairs to steal things.
If he rashly barged in, that maid would detect him without a doubt.
"No... there was more than one."
After calculating it, he found that there would be a few seconds of downtime between the patrol routes of the two maids. He needed to rush upstairs during that window without being noticed.
The mosquitoes continued flying upward and spotted corresponding patrol maids on the fourth floor as well. Every one of them carried weapons and was clearly prepared for battle.
He did not even need to check their levels to know they were far stronger than the stray dog he had killed.
Once he had confirmed the timing, Mire did not hesitate. He cast an agility-and-silence spell on himself and darted upstairs.
There were no patrols on the fifth or sixth floors. He also observed the insides of the rooms and confirmed that this area was safe.
This side was mostly rooms, likely where the maids and more important castle staff lived.
Past a stone staircase above the sixth floor was