Veiled Intentions

Sven entered his room.

"Sven? Did you not go to work today? Did you go to the sheriffs?" Shirin asked.

"I took a leave." He'd do that tomorrow. "I went to the sheriffs as well. They said they'll come tomorrow."

He lied.

He was determined to investigate the robbery himself.

Shirin looked down. They had already delayed the investigation for far too long.

"Why take a leave, then?"

"I can't wait any longer. I want to do something about it myself."

Sven walked toward the broken floorboard and the shattered window. They had been left untouched for the Sheriff's men to investigate, but that was out of the question now. There was nothing to look into with the broken window, so he moved closer to the floorboard where he had kept the money. Sven wasn't sure if the attacker had used magic himself or a magic item. As he looked at the marks along the edges of the floorboard, an idea suddenly crossed his mind.

He hurried out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Shirin asked, worried that he might do something stupid.

"I'll be back in a minute!"

---

Sven reached the mana item shop near the beginning of the market, the same place where he'd bought the sparrow pin for his mother. He still hadn't found the right time, or the will, to give it to her. But that could wait.

"Do you have mana detection powder, Miss...?"

"Lila. I do. How much do you want?" the lady replied.

"About five fistfuls, Miss Lila."

He had a feeling he'd be coming here often.

Five fistfuls was more than he needed, but Sven decided to keep the extra powder just in case.

"Six Moors."

It was expensive. But it was necessary.

Sven paid her and rushed back home.

---

He immediately threw a fistful of powder over the broken window and another over the damaged floorboard.

Nothing happened at the window.

But the floorboard...

Faint golden streaks appeared.

Sven narrowed his eyes. He leaned closer and stared at them. The lines were barely visible, almost completely faded. But he knew what they meant.

He had studied mana and its different types back when he was still a noble. And this was thick mana residue.

His expression hardened.

Mana artifacts didn't leave residues. Only nobles, or people closely related to them, could wield thick mana magic. And anyone capable of using it was usually a two- or three-star mage.

"Damn it!" Sven cursed himself. Why hadn't he tried this sooner?

The residue was already fading. If he'd waited another day, the evidence might have disappeared completely.

"What did you find?" Shirin had been watching him the entire time.

Sven looked at her.

"Someone noble is likely involved."

He said it carefully.

Shirin fell silent.

The two of them tried to think of anyone who might have a reason to rob them, but neither could come up with a name. House Kruse had already disowned them. No other noble should have any reason to target them.

Sven's expression darkened.

If the robber was a mage, even the sheriff wouldn't be able to handle him.

They would need an inquisitor.

But Sven didn't trust the Church enough to leave everything in their hands. He'd visited the church many times before and had already decided that the institution cared more about donations than justice.

They had no useful leads.

Except one.

The landlord.

Felix had been acting strangely on the day of the robbery.

Sven left the house and went looking for him. When he found Felix, however, he didn't approach him.

He followed him instead.

---

Nothing happened for several days.

Sven even stopped going to work that week. He had already spoken with Gilbert at the merchant's, so he had an excuse for his absence.

Felix's routine was ordinary. Church in the morning. The market afterward. Looking after a stall during the day. Then the tavern in the evening.

Day after day, nothing changed. Sven was almost ready to give up.

Then, one morning at the church, Felix met someone.

A suspicious man.

Sven's eyes immediately narrowed. Narrow shoulders. Long arms.

It was him.

The same man his mother had described.

This time, his face wasn't covered. He looked to be in his thirties, with a scar running along his jaw.

Sven couldn't approach them. If they were working together, he wouldn't stand a chance against both of them.

So he waited.

Eventually, their conversation ended, and they went their separate ways.

Felix continued along his usual route toward the market. The other man headed toward the manor.

Sven made his decision.

He stopped following Felix and followed the man instead. As the man approached House Kruse's manor, several possibilities flashed through Sven's mind.

'Was House Kruse behind this?'

'Was the man somehow connected to them?'

But those thoughts disappeared when the man walked past the manor and kept moving toward the forest.

Sven stared at him.

The outer parts of the forest were home to wild beasts, but they weren't particularly dangerous.

The inner forest was different.

For an ordinary person without magic, it was practically a death zone.

'Shit.'

The man kept walking deeper.

Sven hesitated.

He knew he shouldn't follow him. But he'd already come this far, and he wouldn't back off now.

He entered the forest.

---

The deeper they went, the harder it became to keep track of the man. He'd started to hear growls and cries of wild animals in the distance. Then, just as they reached the inner parts of the forest, Sven lost sight of him.

Sven stopped.

'Where did he go?'

Sven quickly looked around.

Nothing.

No movement. No sound.

Then he looked behind him.

_Thwack!_

A fist slammed directly into his nose.

Sven fell onto his buttocks, clutching his broken nose as blood began to pour from it.

He'd been ambushed.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here."

The man grinned.

"Young Master Kruse."

Sven's blood ran cold.

He knew him.

"I'm glad you decided to follow me. I usually don't leave my targets alive, but I specifically got an exception request for you."

The man's grin widened.

"But now that you're here yourself, I won't need to honor that request."

Sven felt a chill.

Someone who knew him had commissioned this man to rob him and his mother. And they'd specifically ordered him to keep them alive.

"Who are you?" Sven asked, still trying to stop the bleeding from his nose. "Who asked you to rob us?"

"Oh, forgive me, Master Sven."

The man shook his head.

"In this line of work, we tend to take confidentiality very seriously." He smiled.

"But I'll tell you this time. I'm going to kill you anyway."

Sven's heart sank.

He immediately moved his limbs in an attempt to run. But the man was faster. He caught Sven by the left leg and slammed him to the ground before climbing onto his back.

_Boom!_

A fist struck the ground right beside Sven's head.

"You can't escape me!"

The man's fist began to change shape.

Metal spread across his hand, forming the shape of a knife.

Sven's eyes widened.

Magic.

Judging by the ability and its combat application, the man was probably a three-star mage.

Sven felt hopeless. He was trapped underneath the man's rather large body, and there was almost no chance of escape.

Then he noticed something.

A large silhouette in the distance. A wild beast! It hadn't noticed either of them yet.

An idea formed in Sven's mind.

"Okay..."

He swallowed.

"At least tell me who hired you."

Sven forced himself to act helpless.

"I said I would tell you. But since you tried to escape, you'll have to die without ever knowing."

The man's blade-shaped arm rose. He aimed directly at Sven's heart.

Just before he struck...

_Woosh!_

"AAARRRGHH!"

Sven curled his hand around a fistful of dirt and threw it directly into the man's eyes.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Sven shouted to attract the beast's attention.

Sven scrambled to his feet and ran in the opposite direction from the beast.

"Argh! I'll kill you!"

The man flailed, roaring in anger.

He was about to chase after Sven when...

_Baam!_

A large, mutated brown bear suddenly attacked him from behind. It had charged toward the sound and attacked the first thing it saw.

The man staggered and fell to his knees, his arms hitting the ground.

Something fell from his pocket.

A small pouch.

He didn't notice.

Sven looked back. He saw the man getting attacked by the bear.

His eyes immediately caught the pouch lying on the ground.

Sven stopped for only a moment.

The man was already fighting the bear. The mage struck back with his metal blade, slicing into one of the bear's blue eyes.

The bear roared.

Ice spikes suddenly erupted across its hide. It had a peculiar ability that allowed it to create ice spikes on its own body, which could act as both a shield and a deterrent.

The forest echoed with the sounds of their battle.

The two were almost evenly matched. The man's metal body protected him from most of the bear's attacks, while his blade could seriously injure the beast. So he had a slight edge.

The fight slowly drifted farther away.

Sven saw his chance. He wouldn't go back empty-handed.

He rushed toward the pouch, grabbed it, and ran away as fast as he could.

---

Outside the forest, Sven sprinted straight toward an alley between the houses near the market.

He had never run this hard in his life.

The doctor's was only a little farther away, but Sven couldn't keep going. He had hurt his nose and lost a lot of blood.

He stopped to catch his breath and ducked behind some boxes and a wall, hidden from both sides. His heart was still pounding.

Sven reached into his pocket.

The pouch.

Sven pulled it out and stared at it for a moment.

Then he opened it.