“Do something?”, I asked.

 

“Umm..yes, you see the adventurer’s guild is very strict in regards to letting people inside dungeons.”, said Sieg.

 

“To prevent minors or unauthorized people to enter the dungeons, they have made checking each and every adventurer’s I.D. card mandatory. Even if you go as a party, everyone’s I.D. will be checked. In the case of young master, we cannot have you register in the guild as it will alert everyone.”, said Sieg.

 

“Well, I can just change my appearance and register using a fake name, right?”, I said.

 

Sieg shook his head. Kent said, “That won’t work young master, as registering in the guild requires you to touch a magic slate made of stone, called registration stone which will reveal all of your real details to the guild. It cannot be fooled that easily.”.

 

That put a damper in my enthusiasm. Then, do I have forget getting into the dungeon? Oh, wait, Sieg said he will help me, right? So, he must have a plan.

 

“Then, what do we do?”, I asked.

 

“I know someone who can help.”, said Sieg.

 

“Who?”, I asked.

 

“Follow me.”, said Sieg. And so, I and Kent followed him.

 

We went towards the backside of the ducal mansion. As we went on, less and less people were sighted until it only became just us.

 

We stopped in front of an empty wall.

 

I looked at Sieg quizzically, at which he just smiled and then touched a portion of the wall.

 

At once, a green magic circle appeared then, then it got bigger and then a door formed out oof nowhere on the once empty wall and then the magic circle disappeared.

 

The door had an arched top and had intricate details etched on it and was black in colour.

 

Amazed I could only say, “Wow.”.

 

Sieg grinned and said, “Welcome, young master to the secret headquarters of the shadows.”.

 

Kent looked not perturbed, looks like he knew of it beforehand.

 

Then Sieg opened the door and went inside, I and Kent followed.

 

Inside was like a dungeon, stone walls lit up by occasional torches. We had to go down a flight of stairs.

 

At the end of the stairs, there was a big room. At one side, there were maps and portraits hung on a board along with a large wooden table with multiple chairs.

 

The other side looked like a lab. There were various beakers, flasks, magic stones and other stuff on a long table.

 

There was also a man wearing glasses and a white lab coat. He was sitting on a chair, examining a magic stone.

 

He was short in stature and had grey hair and looked quite old. Apart from that man, there was no one else in the room.

 

Sieg cleared his throat,, “Ahem!”.

 

At this the old man looked at us. He then asked Sieg, “What do you want?”, almost irritably.

 

Sieg said in a cold tone, “That’s not how you should greet the young master Bert.”.

 

Hearing that the man named Bert froze and then his eyes fell on me and he then immediately bowed and said, “Forgive me, young master. I didn’t recognize you. Greetings to the young master. How may this humble person help you?”.

 

I waved my hand and said, “You don’t have to worry,  after all you didn’t know me. You are forgiven.”.

 

“T-Thank you.”, said Bert, with sweat on his head.

 

Sieg said, “We need a transformation bracelet for the young master. He needs to infiltrate the adventurer’s guild for some work.”.

 

Bert said, “I see. By when do you need one?”.

 

“Now.”, I said.

 

Hearing this Bert shook his head frantically and said, “I-I am sorry young master. But I would need at least 3 months to produce a new one. And at least 1 month to modify one. Unfortunately, all of the bracelets are used in missions.”.

 

“Sieg said, “What are you saying? Make one now, it’s for the young master.”.

 

Bert bowed and said, “Even if it’s for the young master, it’s impossible. The magic for it is exceedingly complicated and takes a long time etch on the bracelets. After all, fooling the adventurer’s guild is not easy.”.

 

Then, I would have to give up?

 

I looked at Bert and pleaded, “Bert, don’t you have any spares. Please, any would do. I need it, urgently.”.

 

Hearing that Bert fidgeted and then sighed and said, “There is one but it’s…..not something I recommend.”.

 

“Whatever it is, let me try and see.”, I said. How bad can it be.

 

Bert sighed and said, “Alright, let me get it and began to sear a cupboard near the table.”.

 

I then whispered to Sieg, “Does his stuff work? Can we trust him to keep it between us.”.

 

Sieg assured me, “Don’t worry, young master, Bert’s crafts are the best. As for leaking the information, don’t worry, after all he is my subordinate.”.

 

Hearing that, I was relieved.

 

Then Bert finally came back to us after his search in the cupboard.

 

Bert handed me a bracelet. It looked ordinary, made of iron but it had a small purple stone embedded in the center, I could see magic circles on it.

 

Bert said, “Please wait, before you put it on , I need to set this up.”.

 

He then rummaged his storage ring and pulled out a large mirror, the size of an adult man. Wow, impressive.

 

“Now, please put it on, and then put some magic power on the stone”, said Bert.

 

I nodded and put it on and then channeled some magic on the stone. The stone gave a purple light and then it covered my body, after a few seconds it stopped.

 

I somehow felt different. Kent and Sieg were started at my new appearance and looked away.

 

Wondering what’s with their reaction, I looked at the mirror to see my change for myself.

 

And what I saw made me scream, “WHHAATTT…..?”.