Thief of Time

Claud, a mana-user native to Licencia, had left quite the striking impression on her. She had a feeling that this man wasn’t as honest as he looked; he seemed to have an evasive personality by nature.

“I thought you said that you were going to hide at home,” Dia said.

The man jumped slightly, and then took a step back. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Who did you think I was?” Dia asked.

“No one. Normally,” Claud replied, “people don’t approach me. It was surprising to see someone walk up and say hi, to say the least. Anyway, I was thinking of napping at home, but I heard that the storyteller was coming to town today.”

“You’re also interested?” Dia asked, curious. “I thought you didn’t care about his bounty.”

“I don’t, but any story’s literally better than my everyday life,” Claud replied, a hint of fatigue in his eyes. “Mine’s really, really dreary. Something about thieves and whatnot is great for the mind, right?”

“You should take a vacation,” said Dia. “Like in the Dukedom of Schwa, at an agrarian territory like Julan.”

“Julan?” Claud rubbed his eyes. “Pray tell, what kind of place is that?”

“Sea, wildness, farms…err…” Dia turned to Lily, who was busy sharing some life stories about Princess Dia that she didn’t want to hear about, and tapped her shoulder. “What’s good in Julan?”

“Beaches, forests, farms and people,” Lily promptly replied. “The local specialties are usually barbequed there, so if you enjoy barbequed food, you should head over.”

“W-wow.” Claud cleared his throat. “You’re quite knowledgeable about this Julan, aren’t you?”

“Well, it is my home, after all.”

Claud’s eyes seemed to glitter. “I’ve never heard of that place, which has to mean that it’s quite far away. Why, then, did you come here?”

“Well, I was doing…a small tour of Istrel where news about Tot came in,” Lily replied. “And so I decided to embark on this lifechanging quest to capture him and bring glory to my home.”

Dia had a feeling that her story seemed to have changed a tiny bit, but again, Lily was dealing with some stranger that she didn’t quite know. After exchanging a few more words, Claud slid into a seat at the bar, ordered a glass of apple juice, and then entered a daze of his own.

“Alright, missy,” said the bartender, “your signature’s ready. What sauce would you like? We have black pepper, glaze, brown sauce and cream sauce.”

“I’ll go with brown sauce,” Dia replied, giving the hearty meal of meat and potatoes a good once-over. The aroma rising from it was making her stomach rumble. Giving the utensils provided a good wipe, her first scoop was a nice mix of mashed potato and sausage.

A small explosion of flavours burst in her mouth, bringing with it the richness of meat roasted to perfection.

“Ahh…”

“It’s that nice?” Lily asked. “C’mon, give me a bite!”

Before Dia knew it, she was soon squabbling with Lily over ownership of the plate. Fighting tooth and nail to eat more than her opponent, Dia’s face soon grew messy. It was only after the plate was licked clean when she came to her senses, and heat rushed to her face.

“Why did you steal my food?”

“But it smelled so nice…”

Dia was about to smack Lily’s head when a middle-aged man strolled into the bar. The way the bartender and Claud regarded the newcomer with a sharp gaze instantly told her that this man was the star of today, the storyteller who’d been out looking for stories about thieves.

The others in the bar noticed a moment later, and in silent accord, turned to face the middle-aged fellow, who fixed a pair of glasses to his nose in response.

“Hello there. There seems to be quite a lot of people today,” said the storyteller.

“Everyone wants to hear about this Tot, that’s why!”

“We’re talking about a dukedom here!”

“Hurry up, mister Colidra! Every second here is an extra second our competitors get!”

Mister Colidra laughed, and then adjusted his rather shabby robes. Removing the hat on his head, he tossed it onto the table in front of him, and then cleared his throat. “Very well. We’ll start with Master Thief Tot, then. To be honest, I had been following a particular thief for the past few months. Rumours about a thief who broke into the treasuries of nobles big and small had been sitting around for quite some time.

“What was so surprising about this thief was that of the items stolen, most of them were found to be resold in black markets, with the funds redistributed to the slums in the form of food. More than once, I’ve had slumdwellers and beggars tell me about how a masked man appeared at the middle of an alleyway and give out food.”

He cleared his throat, and then took out a small file. “Everyone here will be interested to know that most of these cities happen to be around Pletsville, which is the town closest to Duke Istrel’s personal villa. It is not just limited to thefts against nobles and their treasuries. More than once, convoys that are headed towards nobles have also been intercepted.”

The storyteller’s words raised a small storm.

“Like what happened last night?” someone asked.

“Yes,” said Colidra. “However, last night’s incident seems to be done by someone else, given that traces of mana were detected on the scene. One might say that this…chivalrous thief has inspired a mana-user to follow in his footsteps.”

He chuckled for a few minutes. “But that’s beside the point. What’s more important is how Tot carried out his thefts. How do you think he did it?”

“Maybe he scales the walls of mansions?” someone suggested.

“A deep tunnel into the nobles’ estate?”

“Maybe he or she pretends to be a worker!”

Colidra looked around a bit more, in which time Dia also threw in a suggestion of her own. It was fun to join things like this, and even more exciting to see whose answer was correct.

“Well, ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you the answer.” Colidra’s eyes glittered. “And the answer it…no one knows.”

A small uproar broke out, which the storyteller waved down immediately. “Surprising, isn’t it? No one knows at all! So many investigations have been done, so many people dispatched, but there’s been absolutely no sign of anything whatsoever! It’s as if the fellow teleported into the treasury, moved lots of things out, and then vanished!

“The only reason why that’s impossible is because there’s a dimensional anchor in Count Lucid and Duke Istrel’s treasury! In other words, either the thief used a skill to teleport in and out of their treasuries, or he did it through a way no one could understand!”

“Wait, a thief that can teleport?” Dia murmured. “Now that’s troublesome. We’ll never catch him if that’s the case.”

“Yeah,” Lily replied.

“Tri-folders can use short-distance teleportations, but mana-based teleportations are impossible under a dimensional anchor,” said Dia. “It has to be a skill, in that case. How troublesome.”

She rubbed her head and returned her attention to the storyteller.

“However, this is an opportunity,” said Colidra. “Eyewitness reports of Master Thief Tot tell us that when he escaped, he did it on foot. What this means is that Tot, right now, may not have enough teleports to stave off pursuers. Furthermore, the fact that multiple famous prophets have narrowed his destination down to Licencia a week ago…”

Colidra didn’t complete his sentence, but Dia already understood what the old man meant. It was possible that Tot didn’t have that many skill-storing items that had his teleport skill in it. Of course, now that a week had passed, he might have regained some, but a concerted search would deplete his supply rapidly.

Murmurs filled the room as more and more people came to the same conclusion. Bronze and silver began to arc into the storyteller’s cap, interspersed with the occasional shine of gold, making the middle-aged man smile widely.

“Thank you, thank you!”

A gold coin flew into the cap. “Coli, any suggestions for us bounty hunters?”

The story teller laughed. “Of course, of course! It’s a secret, what I’m about to say next, so don’t let word leave this place, got it?”

Everyone laughed.

“Stop acting so mysterious!”

“We’ll keep a secret, okay? Swear to the Moons!”

After another round of laughter, Colidra made a shushing gesture. “Apparently, in the pursuit of Tot, Duke Istrel authorised the use of ritual magic, and this one was even backed by the White God.”

Silence fell immediately.

“Yes,” said the middle-aged man. “Tot survived ritual magic backed by a god. Some of the scouts spotted him ignoring a divinity-empowered Grand Cross like it was nothing. Nothing whatsoever. Think about that for a moment.”

Dia felt a chill run down her spine. All of a sudden, her pursuit didn’t seem like that much of a good idea. Without skills, anyone below a penta-folder would be killed or heavily injured by normal ritual magic. Furthermore, to ignore ritual magic backed by a god…how many folds would such a mana-user have? Six? Seven? To begin with, was that even possible?

And…what exactly would such a folder, who was essentially on the level of Emperor Grandis, need to steal from someone like a duke? The rumours from the Lustre Dukedom had made their way here, but there were so many now that she didn’t quite know what to think.

She exchanged looks with Lily, who had also clearly worked out the implications behind the storyteller’s words, before gulping nervously.