The sun came up through the big window, lighting up the room. Suzy started to move under her blankets. She let out a long yawn, stretched her arms out wide, and sat up against the pillows. Her black-and-silver hair was a big messy pile around her shoulders, but she still looked like a model who just woke up for a photo shoot.
She rubbed her eyes, blinked a few times, and immediately looked down at the small cushion at the bottom of the bed. Since my new snake body was permanently invisible, she couldn’t see a single thing.
She reached her hand out and patted the soft fabric, trying to feel if I was still there.
"Barry?" she called out, her voice sounding a little bit raspy and low since she just woke up. "Are you awake yet, you crazy snake?"
I didn’t make a sound. Instead, I used my system power to make bright blue text pop up right on the wall directly in front of her face, right where she was looking.
[BARRY: Good morning, Director. I’ve been awake for hours. By the way, I did a quick safety check of the room last night. Your mattress is pretty comfortable, but you really need to hide your paperwork better.]
Suzy read the blue text, and her whole face went completely stiff. She froze right in place for a second, her black eyes going totally wide. She realized exactly what I was talking about. Her head snapped down to the lower corner of the bed frame where she kept her personal record book hidden away.
"You..." Suzy stammered, her face turning a bright shade of red. She quickly snatched a pillow from behind her and threw it right at the spot on the floor where she thought I was sitting. "You looked under the bed?! You read my private journal!"
[BARRY: I am a business partner, miss Suzy. It is my job to audit the internal company reports. And for the record, I am not a shameless pervert. I am a highly focused logistics expert who just appreciates good scenery.]
"You are a total menace!" Suzy yelled, pulling the sheets all the way up to her chin as her face got even redder. She looked completely flustered, her usual cold, scary boss attitude totally disappearing because of a tiny snake. "I am the director of this entire guild! You can’t just go around reading my private thoughts while I am asleep! That is crossing a line!"
[BARRY: Relax, manager. Your secrets are totally safe with me. Besides, you said it yourself in your notes—I am your ultimate secret weapon. If you want to keep your job and beat the other board members, you need my help. So, let’s stop arguing about the diary and tell me what’s on the schedule for today.]
She let out a loud, stressed sigh and rubbed the side of her head, but I could see a tiny smile hiding on her lips. She knew I was telling the truth. She needed me to keep her seat.
"Fine," Suzy said, finally stepping out of the bed and walking over to her big closet to grab her regular leather clothes. "The guards took Marcus down to the cells last night. He’s already talking to the investigators because he’s a coward who can’t handle prison. We need to go down to the office and see what he confessed. If he was really working with people inside the royal court, things are about to get very complicated for us very fast."
[BARRY: Perfect. Hide me in your coat collar again. Let’s go hear what the regional manager has to say.]
Suzy finished getting dressed, putting on her sleek dark leather armor. She walked over to the desk, held out her arm, and let me slide up her sleeve until I was coiled comfortably around the back of her neck, completely hidden by her hair.
We walked out of the penthouse and started heading down the quiet hallway toward the main stairs, ready to face the mess Marcus left behind.
’Hey, Suzy,’ I thought, sending my words straight into our mental link so the guards in the hallway wouldn’t hear a thing. ’Since we have a few minutes before we see the investigators, tell me about the payout. What’s the plan to get me those high-tier crystals?’
Suzy didn’t move her lips, but her voice popped right into my head. "You’re always thinking about the next bonus, aren’t you, Barry? Fine. Since you cleared out Marcus’s vault, I’ll tell you a secret. There is another storage room down here. A real one."
"What do you mean, a real one?" I asked, my tongue flicking out against her neck.
"Underneath the main guild basement, there is an ancient vault," Suzy explained as we turned a corner past a row of stone pillars. "It was built by the founders of the Silver Crest Guild hundreds of years ago. None of the current board members even know it exists. My father left me the access key before he passed away. Inside that room, there is an old relic filled with pure soul energy. I’ve never touched it because it’s too volatile for a regular human, but for a creature like you... it might be exactly what you need to upgrade your core."
[System: PING! New objective detected: The Ancient Founder’s Vault. The relic inside contains a 99% soul compatibility match! That’s the shortcut to your human body, Barry! We need to raid that room as soon as possible!]
’Hold your horses, System,’ I thought. ’We have to handle the current manager first.’
Before Suzy could tell me more about the ancient room, the head guard captain came running up the stairs, looking completely out of breath. He stopped right in front of Suzy and gave a quick bow.
"Director Suzy!" the captain gasped, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Marcus is in the main holding cell downstairs. He finally stopped crying, but he refuses to speak to any of the official investigators. He says he will only talk to you. Personally."
Suzy narrowed her black eyes. "To me? Did he say why?"
"He claims he has a message from his real boss inside the royal court," the captain said, lowering his voice. "He swears that if you don’t come down to hear it alone, the guild will be shut down by noon."
Suzy looked down at the floor for a second, thinking hard. Then she looked up, her face turning back into that scary boss mask.
"Fine. Lead the way. I’ll talk to him."
The guard captain led us down into the deep basement cells. The air down here was cold and smelled like damp earth. Marcus was sitting on a wooden bench inside a small iron cell. His expensive fur coat was covered in dirt, his slicked-back hair was a complete mess, and his nose was still red from yesterday.
"Get out," Suzy ordered the guards.
The captain and the other men nodded and walked out, closing the door behind them, leaving Suzy completely alone in the cell room. Well, alone with an invisible Tier 4 snake on her neck.
Marcus scrambled to his feet, grabbing the iron bars of the cell with both hands. His face looked completely frantic. "Suzy! You have to listen to me! You think you won because you trapped me in that vault, but you have no idea what you’ve started!"
Suzy stepped closer, her hand resting casually on the silver dagger at her waist. "Talk, Marcus. I don’t have time for your drama."
"The potion smuggling wasn’t my idea!" Marcus hissed, leaning his face right against the bars. "The third prince... Prince Raymond... he’s the one backing the Dark Sect! He needs the mana potions to fuel his private army for the upcoming palace coup! He already knows the shipment is missing, Suzy. He thinks you stole it!"
Suzy’s body went completely rigid against my scales.
"He’s sending the Royal Audit Team here this morning," Marcus grinned widely, showing his teeth in a crazy, panicked way. "They aren’t coming to check the books, Suzy. They’re coming with a royal warrant to nationalise the entire Silver Crest Guild and search this building from top to bottom! They will find your hidden inventory, they will find the stolen potions, and they will execute you for treason!"