Chapter 43. Mysterious room

I looked at the wall of obsidian in front of me with confusion.

"I don't think I dug the whole palace again and met another wall."

It was a leisurely day in this beautiful prison so I decided to dig around some more hoping to find interesting rooms where I could take some items before we leave or just a good room to be set on fire.

But after a bit of digging, I was greeted with another wall of obsidian.

I tried to dig around more to see if I could understand what was going on and I found out that it was taking a lot of space, and the only connection to the structure was a tunnel covered in obsidian as well.

"Is this the vault of the palace? I mean that would explain why the tunnel leads towards the center of the palace."

My eyes had a small light of greed on them while thinking about this opportunity.

While everything was covered with obsidian, the entrance couldn't be that hard to break. I know that with redstone you can make some pretty amazing stuff, but it's still limited by space and vulnerability to external forces.

"And I'm sure any problem could be solved with an invisible potion and a pickaxe."

That made me smirk a bit. I must be very tired if I'm laughing at my own bad jokes, but I shake my head and go back to my room to get some proper rest, with a clear mind I can plan a way to sneak into that place without getting caught.

It was a long walk back since the palace wasn't small and my tunnels not being exactly straight, but once I got into my room, I felt a wave of muscle pain, hitting me all at once, with a deep sigh I looked outside the window. The moon was still up in the sky, and the daylight was nowhere in sight.

"I probably have a few hours of sleep until morning."

My eyes got heavy, I moved my tired body and sat on the soft mattress.

Everything went dark.

-------

*knock knock

"Sir, breakfast is ready!"

A feminine voice woke me up, it was the same maid every morning always at the same time with the same meal. I tried to talk with her from time to time but she didn't seem too interested or probably wasn't allowed to talk with me too much.

With a grunt, I got off my comfortable bed and went to open the door.

"Morning to you as well, what's the specialty for today?"

I said in a sarcastic tone. The maid looked dead in my eyes for a few seconds before giving me the usual bread and milk on the plate. She didn't say a word, just turned and left with silent steps.

"Oh, what a feast!"

I just closed the door, put everything in my inventory, and took out a golden carrot which I ate with a smile on my face, no matter how many I have, I can't get enough of these.

With my belly full and rested body, it was time to plan the next course of action. I could roughly guess where the entrance of the secret tunnel would be, somewhere behind the throne room, the question is if I should even attempt to rob them in the first place, I mean I know well be hunted when we escape, but I'm sure we'll they'll do it with more passion if well take from their treasury.

"I can't make this decision alone, I'll ask Froggy tonight for his opinion, plus I'll need an invisible potion if I want to get there anyway."

With that out of the way, I drank some milk and went outside.

Of course, I was greeted by my personal guard, sometimes I wonder if he sleeps in the hallway as well.

It didn't matter anyway, since he was here to limit my movement, not to guard me. So slowly walking down the hallway, I take the left corner then the right followed by going down the stairs and then taking the right corner again, when all of a sudden my guard spoke.

"Sir, where are you heading today?"

"Ah, nowhere in particular really, I just want to take a break today from visiting the same three rooms every time, if I don't change my scenery anytime soon I'll go crazy, I swear!"

The guard looked suspiciously at me but didn't say anything else or stop me from exploring. It did help the fact that I didn't walk towards Froggy so he most likely didn't have a reason to stop me.

I went from one room to another, while slowly getting closer to the throne room, everything looked different when you had natural light coming through the windows.

After a few more rooms we finally arrived at a big door that was wide open, inside the throne room were armored guards stiff as statues in their position. Even though there wasn't anyone on the throne, there were still a lot of valuables in there that needed protection.

This is the second time I'm here, but the difference is the lack of someone with a presence so powerful that needs my constant attention, now I can study the room more.

The ceiling was quite high with chiseled stone telling a story that I was too far to see and surrounded by gold blocks that shined brightly in the sun. It was a beautiful way to show wealth and power for sure.

Behind the throne were two doors that I previously didn't notice, that was interesting.

Calmly walking towards them like I was supposed to be there but was stopped by one of the guards.

"Sorry sir, you're not allowed to go there."

"Why wouldn't I be allowed to go there? I have the authority from Prince Amun to go wherever I want to."

I take out the book signed by him to show it to the guard. Of course, I didn't have the authority to do that, but he didn't need to know that part.

"I'm sorry sir, but unless the Sultan himself comes with you, I'm not allowed to let you pass."

He didn't even look at my book, only his body became more stiff in case I wanted to force myself in.

"Ok, ok, you don't have to worry so much, I can tell when I'm not wanted."

But this proves that there's something valuable enough there that only the Sultan can go, which made me smile a little.

With the goal accomplished, I just relaxed and wandered aimlessly through the place, I even checked out the garden outside where I saw beautiful flowers and even some animals.

Around noon I saw enough sightseeing so I went back to the library where I continued to write enchantments and grind my levels or read a book that looked interesting.

A few hours later it started to get dark, so I went towards my room to "sleep" as usual.

Once I was safe and unsupervised, I broke a block from the floor and went towards the secret tunnel.

It was still there where I left it yesterday, I mined along the wall until finally I was greeted by a different block beside the sandstone and obsidian. This is most likely the entrance to the vault, of course, I wouldn't be foolish enough to break it, there were most likely some guards around there who would surely hear me if I broke a block, but I gathered enough information for today, it's time to meet with Froggy and decide if we should do this or not.

My walk back was a bit impatient, I almost blew out some torches with my speed, I didn't even bother to stop at my room and went straight to Froggy's.

*Knock, knock, knock

The block is broken.

"Well, hello there good sir, long time no see!"

*sigh "Happy to see you as well friend, how was your day?"

"Oh, it was wonderful if I say so myself, I may found out a tiny little thing that requires me to have an invisible potion, and a night vision would probably help as well."

Froggy raises his left eyebrow in surprise.

"Going outside again?"

"Not really, while I was exploring the place underground I stumbled upon a huge obsidian box that had a tunnel leading right behind the throne room. And I think that's the treasury of this country."

Froggy froze.

"Are you trying to steal from the vault of the Sultan!? If we manage to escape, there's still a chance we'll only get imprisoned if we get caught. But if we steal their most valuable items they'll kill us for sure!"

"Ok, ok I can hear you just fine, you don't have to yell, the guard will bulge in any minute now if we keep going like this."

Froggy realizing that he raised his voice a bit too much went silent and urged me to continue.

"Listen I know it sounds like a bad decision, but think about it. We could find some items that could help us get out of here. Like some obsidian blocks, diamond pickaxes or even better, enderpearls!"

"What are enderpearls?"

"They are an item that once thrown, would teleport you where it landed."

"There's such a powerful item!?"

"Yeah, unfortunately, it's not that easy to find them, since the only way to get them is from an enderman."

"I can see how that would be a problem to get. But it would still get too much attention if we're caught."

"That's true, but we'll only take what's necessary for our escape and nothing more, that way they won't send everyone after us in shame that someone managed to seal from them! Plus I have a place in mind where will be somewhat safe if they follow us, worst-case scenario will have to live surrounded by lava."

"Ha, ha, that's a funny joke Trader, but I guess there's no better distraction than stealing from the vault."

"Exactly!"

Froggy nodded his head in understanding and hesitantly gave me the two potions I needed.

"Don't try to get caught friend, I don't want to be left alone in this endeavor."

"Don't worry, safety is my middle name, Good night!"

I then jumped back into the hole and blocked it without hearing Froggy's response.

It wasn't too long before I was back to mining the tunnel around the secret entrance. Fortunately or unfortunately it wasn't too much to dig, which means it's a small room so it would be hard to sneak into, but hope was not lost yet as I found a Redstone system that I suspect would open a secret entrance. To be sure about it as well, I carefully broke a block in the ceiling leading me to a tall empty hallway, where there was no indications of a door.

I got back in my tunnels and covered the hole, took all the torches down then went towards the blocks that were supposed to be the staircase and broke one of the side blocks.

Through a quarter of a block, light came into my tunnel.

"As I suspected, there are some guards here. Now how do get past them without them noticing me?"

There were two guards with diamond armor on each side of an iron door, the only way to open the door was by breaking it or using Redstone. But whatever choice I'll make, it will get unwanted attention.

I looked through my inventory for something that would help me but to no avail. I studied the two guards trying to see if I could pick something else that I could use but no luck with that as well.

In the end, I decided to wait for them to change shifts. They can't always be there, right?

After a few boring hours of waiting, something finally happened. The Redstone beside me came to life, and I could hear the shifting of blocks with pistons, followed by heavy steps.

A man wearing a purple robe came to the guards and handed them a book.

"Sir, I thought tonight was Ali's shift?"

One of the guards asked in confusion.

"Yeah I know, but he managed to get sick somehow and that's why I'm working his shift. I have the signature right there in the book."

The guard looked at the last page and nodded his head.

"Follow me, sir."

He then took out a laver from his inventory and placed it beside the door, and with a flick the door was opened with a heavy sound.

Then the guard passed the opened door followed by the strange man.

The door was left open with only one guard remaining, after a few seconds the guard that was left alone, checked the tunnel one more time before taking a book out of his inventory and started to read it.

This is my chance!

I slowly and silently break one of the staircases and drink the invisibility potion. Quickly as it disappeared, the staircase was placed back. The guard lifted his head from the book and looked confused around the room. After not seeing anything he went back to his reading.

As silent as a sneaking creeper, I passed him entering the obsidian tunnel.