The Moon Thief

"Aargghh!" Lart let out a scream of pain, his severed arm falling to the ground after being thrown for tens of meters.

"Heinald, what's going on!?" Dane was shocked by the scene he encountered.

"This man knows what's going on around the area." said Heinald.

"Still... aren't you too cruel?" Dane looked at Lart's miserable self on the ground.

"No, believe me, he deserves whatever happens to him." Heinald had absolutely no sympathy for people like Lart. He could be really cruel, especially if they pissed him off. It was only from the little girl's eyes that he was able to infer what this man was like.

"I met two people but they said they didn't know anything." Dane murmured.

"If we manage to get this man to talk, we can get clear information about the situation in the area. He's probably connected to the man I saw the other night." Heinald eyed Lart on the floor.

"Are you sure?" ' Dane asked.

"Yes, but this guy may not be the only collaborator in town, we have to be careful." said Heinald.

"Well, for the last time, will you talk?" Heinald looked at Lart, who was lying on the ground.

"Never!"

"There is something I want to show you." Heinald stood there for a few seconds, then pulled the Sin Stone from his robes pocket. The spirit of the innkeeper he questioned was still inside this sin stone.

Both Dane and Lart stared in disbelief at the Sin Stone that Heinald was holding. When He sent the magic energy to the Sin Stone, the reflection of the innkeeper's trapped soul appeared on the stone.

"Is this a spirit?" Dane's eyes widened.

"Yes, this man also once refused to give me the information I wanted ... So I imprisoned his spirit and by making his spirit suffer, I got the information I wanted." Heinald gave Lart a cold look on the floor.

"Do not worry! You are my friend." Heinald grinned when he saw Dane staring at him with fear.

A greater fear appeared in the eyes of the man who suffered terribly than his suffering. After all, he was just an Apprentice Ainsar, so he didn't stand a chance against a Level 1 Ainsar like Heinald.

"How did you manage to trap a spirit there?" The expression on Dane's face was filled with curiosity, fear, and surprise.

"Long story, I'll tell you later... Gathering information we need to focus on for now." Heinald exhaled loudly.

"I have a Blood Agreement, I can't speak..." Lart was gritting his teeth.

"You have to make a choice, to have your spirit trapped in a stone for thousands of years, or to die for violating the blood covenant?" Heinald sent the Sin Stone back into the dimensional pocket of his robe.

"If I'm going to die anyway..." Lart suddenly pulled a knife from under his robes and held it up to his throat, but Heinald's superior reflexes were too quick for him, he immediately bent down and caught the knife.

"Okay, enough talking!" Heinald punched Lart hard and knocked him unconscious. To prevent him from dying, he cauterized his open wounds and made him drink some healing potion. Finally, he dropped a few drops of sleeping potion into his mouth.

"What are we going to do with it?" Dane asked.

"I will question his spirit." said Heinald. He glanced over at Pely, who was crouched in the corner, and called her over.

"Is there anyone in charge of this town?" Heinald asked.

He got her answer as her gaze shifted to Lart, who was lying on the ground.

"Anyone who witnessed the event, get out immediately!" Heinald shouted loudly, gathering all his Magic Energy together. The powerful surge of spiritual power that had emerged felt an incredible pressure on the people in the town for a second.

Not only those who witnessed the event, but all the locals came out immediately. No one there was foolish enough to disobey an Ainsar's word. Heinald looked at the gathered crowd, who stood with their heads bent down.

"No one will talk about what happened in this town today, if he does, I will destroy this town with you." Heinald glanced at the crowd gathered before him. Then he summoned two men whom he had caught sight of.

"From now on, you two are in charge of protecting this little girl." Heinald eyed the two strong-looking men approaching him.

"Y-Yes, my lord." Both men nodded at the same time.

"Here take this!" Heinald took an Arkana Stone from his pocket and placed it in Pely's small hand. However, from the little girl's gaze, it was clear that she did not know what the Arkana Stone was.

"You can exchange that for hundreds of gold coins." added Heinald.

"T-Thank you, my lord!" The girl bowed her head.

Before long, Heinald and Dane left town, taking Lart with them.

"Do you think the townspeople will talk?" Dane looked at Heinald beside him and asked.

"I don't know, if someone stronger than us comes to question them, they will naturally choose to speak up, but I don't think they would dare otherwise." Heinald shrugged.

"In any case, we won't have much time. If this man has any ties to the organization, they'll soon learn of his absence." Dane sighed.

Heinald nodded slightly, a serious expression on his face.

***

After a short journey, Dane and Heinald arrived in Penrith Town with the long unconscious Lart by their side.

"You go check on the others and let them know so they can come back and I'll take care of him." Heinald said.

Dane quickly left the house and went to check on the others. Heinald also took the spare Uthus Core he had with him from the dimensional pocket of his robes and began to form the Spirit Imprisonment Formation. Before long, the process was completed successfully, trapping the unconscious Lart's soul in the Sin Stone, next to the innkeeper.

Heinald could hear Lart's angry roars, but he didn't care and began using various spirit tortures to get him to speak. He didn't have much time, and every minute he lost was a loss to him. If he was going to accept this offer, he had to learn a lot in a short time so he could have time to come up with a good plan.

An hour went by like water...After that one hour, Lart reluctantly told everything he knew because he couldn't stand the spirit tortures any longer.

Lart was assigned by the organization to prevent the townspeople from spreading abnormal events around the region. However, the detail that caught his attention was that the organization tried to keep the spiders that appeared around the town private.

Heinald didn't understand why, and Lart didn't know why. Shortly after all this, Dane and the others arrived, and Heinald told them what had happened and what they had learned.

"We still don't have a lot of useful information." Ruske sighed after listening to the conversation.

"Yes, but I'm sure we can learn more." said Dane.

"Did Baunt get any important information about the organization?" Heinald asked.

"I don't know, when he finds out, he will come to talk to us." said Dane.

"We need to learn more about that man you saw." Morena looked at Heinald, who was standing next to her.

Heinald nodded slowly.

In fact, he had in mind to follow him from afar. He believed that thanks to his eyes, he could follow him from afar without being noticed. If he managed to track him down undetected, he could draw some inferences by observing the people he was communicating with. Of course, all this would be possible if he could see him again.

Perhaps he could see other members of the organization as he went to observe the Cruxals again. In any case, the intelligence he would gather would help him make a general conclusion about the organization. Accordingly, he would decide to deal with this organization or not to deal with them at all.

When night fell, Heinald left town to examine the area where the Cruxals had been seen again. He climbed the hill just like last time, and after making sure he was well-hidden, began to observe the terrain.

AThis time, however, after a brief glance, he noticed two Cruxals. One was Cruxal he had seen before, but he had not seen the other before. This Cruxal had rotten flesh and had taken on the body of a little girl. It was carrying a baby skeleton in its hand.

These two Cruxals were not far from the hill where Heinald was hiding, so they were easy to spot. He watched them for hours nonstop, but saw no one approaching or communicating with them. After observing until dawn, he left. When he returned to town, he did not see anyone in the house. Dane and the others must have gone out to observe the environment.

Heinald decided to go back to the town he went to with Dane the other day. He had overlooked something about the town, he needed to find out what it was. He mounted his horse and set off straight for town. He would observe around the town and find out what he was missing.

He jumped on his horse and headed straight west. He continued to ride, hoping to get across the wooded area smoothly. Luckily, he didn't encounter another Shapeshifter inside the wooded area and exited the wooded area without any problems.