Dante was too tired to think about anything. For a moment there, he considered making a cup of coffee to banish the sandman, but he ended up banishing the idea instead. With how stressful his day was, staying up wasn’t among his options.
’So... found anything interesting?’
[Yes, I was able to access the mansion’s network, although it might take some time to take control of it.]
’Well, you can go ahead and do that.’ A question floated to the forefront of Dante’s mind as he yawned. ’Where was this second access point, anyway?’
[In Bianca Romano’s private quarters. It seems to be a data port disguised as an electrical outlet. The phone connects to it automatically when it’s charging.]
’huh... Well, just be careful out there...’
A data port disguised as an electrical outlet. Putting something like that in the princess’s room could only mean that the Stahlwölfes were stealing her data, and though it wasn’t that surprising, it was still a little confusing as to why they would bother with such a convoluted method when they could just hire some diver to do the job for them.
’They don’t have wireless connections...’ The thought occurred to Dante just as his mind began to drift away. ’That’s why...’
Dante was still exhausted by the time he woke up so it took him a while to get his mind working.
[It is done.] Volcan said soon after the caffeine kicked in. [I have obtained enough data to recreate the mansion’s layout.]
’Great. Let me see it.’
As he sipped his coffee with closed eyes, a three-dimensional model appeared in front of Dante. The white mansion had three floors and stretched over 16000 m². The second and third floors seem to be made entirely of 30 bedrooms, which seemed meaningless since the whole thing was inside a hotel. There was a library with real books made from paper, in addition to other entertainment facilities such as a bowling alley and a home theater.
The mansion had four elevators connecting it to the thirty-eighth floor, each one connected to a corner of the building. It took Dante a few seconds to realize they were the spires he saw through Rose’s eyes before she entered the building, which confused him a little, since the spires didn’t seem like they connected to the high ceiling of the thirty-seventh floor.
The elevators are all connected through one large corridor that wraps around the third floor of the white mansion. The only way to reach the second floor was the two sets of staircases on either side of the building, and to reach the first floor, one has to go through the bifurcated staircase facing the front door.
Of course, there were other corridors and stairs for the servants to move around, and since most were out of sight, they were likely to serve as the main escape route for Rose and the others.
The wedding was going to be held in the banquet hall, which takes up most of the eastern side of the first floor. It seems to be connected to a garden behind the building through a large gate, which caused Dante to wonder if the rest of the clearing around the white mansion was going to be used for the wedding as well.
’Do we have security footage?’
[Only on the first floor.] Volcan replied. [I have noticed that most of the security features are focused on the collection room. The rest of the mansion is severely lacking.]
’No doubt about that...’
Dante found the whole thing confusing until he remembered that the white mansion was just a small part of Blue Ember.
There were only two ways to reach the thirty-seventh floor. The first one was through the elevator on the thirty-sixth, the one where you have to pass through the guard’s quarters to reach it. The second way is through the thirty-eight floor, which is part of the VVIP area.
Blue Ember was a high-end hotel meant for the upper class, so it was undoubtedly littered with security measures that ensured the safety of their guests, not just the owner of the hotel. Those measures made it next to impossible to reach the thirty-seventh floor without an invitation, which is why there was no need to put too much effort into the white mansion itself.
’I wonder how the police plan to get there...’
As that thought ran through his mind, Dante opened the 3D model of the entire hotel and studied it for a while. He came to the conclusion that the authorities likely planned on making a massive drop off on the roof, but since there is only one elevator going directly to the thirty-seventh floor, their only choice would be to descend through the upper floors.
They can always blow some holes through the outer walls of the hotel, of course, but Dante had an inkling that they wouldn’t do such a thing.
’Closing the entire floor was a stupid idea.’ He thought. ’They should have added a hanger for aerial vehicles or something...’
Having to go all the way to the roof whenever you needed to leave the building seemed like the kind of inconvenience someone as rich as Klaus Stahlwölfe would throw money at, but after getting a glimpse of who he was, Dante got the impression that the rich scion wasn’t someone bothered with such things.
’Guess the only thing we have to worry about is the escape route...’
Since they were invited to the wedding, Rose and the others no longer had to worry about infiltrating the forty-seventh floor; exiting it and escaping with the artifact in hand was an entirely different matter, however.
[What about you?] Volcan asked.
[You plan on infiltrating the mansion yourself, right? If we manage to empty that collection room, our financial problems will be gone for good.]
’I know, I know, but...’
Dante had yet to make up his mind about whether he wanted to go in or not. The place was going to be swarming with police and heroes, and he wasn’t so delusional that he would think his presence would go undiscovered, especially since he would have to rely on Volcan’s armors to get in.
Still, after seeing the prices on some of the stuff on display in that room, Dante didn’t think he could resist the urge to go on a stealing spree.