Cursed Explorer of the Arcana

"Enlighten me, please…" I furrow my brows and turn to the woman who feels like a guardian knight or special operative at the very least. "You have the locations, timing, their targets, and even a witness. What witchcraft is preventing you from catching the culprits?"

Because at this point, there have to be multiple culprits. I refuse to believe a single person was able to seamlessly enter a building and move an entire essence furnace through the city without notice.

That aside, a proper tracker, or even an experienced hunter, should be able to pick up on at least a few leads after eight robberies. People don't just vanish into thin air.

"Because it's irregular. Only three of the children were of noble blood. One was an instructor, and the last, a beast companion. No given intervals or order of appearance…" And the witness is almost completely useless. They might not know that, which is exactly what we're hoping for, but he isn't much of a lead."

The longer I listen, the louder I groan in frustration. My goal for today was to gather information, but all the leads are pointing nowhere. Stopping on the spot, I begin clawing at my scalp to encourage that brilliant mind of mine to do some miracles.

"Ransom demand?"

Hesitation is painted on the lady's face before she replies. "None."

"Fine, fine…" I nod. "The beast must've been expensive, and the essence forge is worth a fortune."

"How do you know-" She gives me a look.

I meet her gaze with not surprise but frustration. "I'm just young, not a complete amateur." If only it weren't for my elven blood, I would look slightly older, and I could avoid this conversation every time. "Anyway, they're not after the money… Or they're still missing something before sending their demands. The exchange would be risky."

Showing a sliver of competence, the woman nods along. "Another target while we're fumbling in the dark… Plausible."

No, it's horrible. I don't want to waste weeks here, chasing some phantoms, no matter how fascinating the case is. The best would be to evacuate anything precious from the city, but that'd be equal to admitting defeat and appearing weak for an entire nation when it comes to protecting their young. But they could be after about just anything…

While I'm deep in thought, the sound of hammering next to us stops. "Can you stop thinking so loudly?" A melodic voice calls out, but I happen to ignore it. "I'm talking to you, halfblood!"

Halfblood… I don't specifically mind being called out for being mixed. I inherited the best of both worlds, so there's nothing to be ashamed of. If anything, I pity both humans and elves for their mediocracy and tunnel vision.

The elf is done beating a poor slap of metal into shape, and now his green eyes are boring into mine. He's taller, more well-built, and imposing, but size is just an illusion.

"I have a few questions." I state my business.

"And I don't have the time for you." He declines without missing a beat.

I knew he'd be difficult. Of course, it's in part due to his pointy ears, nevertheless, a common trait of blacksmiths is their rigidity and harriedness. Again, not a dwarven thing… What else would allow someone to keep smacking a piece of steel for hours upon hours? It's either that or some sort of brain damage.

So I've come prepared.

"I'll make it worth your time." With that said, I pull out the most exquisite piece this workshop has ever held within its walls. My pretty little mage crown. "You can look while we talk."

The instantaneous change in visage and posture is comical, and I make no effort to wipe the smug grin off my face.

"Incredible craftsmanship…" The elf leans closer to the marvel of gems, metal, and effort I placed on his anvil. Only after cooling it with the magic of course, not to have my precious damaged in any way.

"Yeah, yeah, it's Thaelmir, and it's super pretty." Since I get none of the attention, a finger of mine hooks around the rim and pulls my precious away. "I don't have much time either, you see. So you better start talking."

The elf swallows hard and lifts his gaze to me. "Forgive my surprise… I didn't expect to meet the champion in my humble shop." He speaks with courteous words, yet stares with eyes just as haughty and challenging.

The woman only gives me a weird side-eye, the country bumpkin. With that said, I can't even imagine how elves even managed to build a society when they're all like this.

"Tell me about the thieves!" I state my wish and push the tiara slightly closer.

The master finally understands our dynamic and plays along. "They came five days ago, after we closed, a little after midnight. An apprentice stayed behind to take stock of the materials in the vault, and that's when he spotted them."

"Them?"

"Three figures, one most likely a halfling. Out of nowhere, a hole appeared on the wall, and that's all he saw." Crouching at eye level with my treasure, the man seems like he isn't talking to me exactly. "You see, the vault has a whole array of magical protection, which is why I think they failed to sense him. After that, he closed the vault door on himself, and we discovered him the next morning."

An accident… Well, I guess that could happen even to the best of the best.

"Which wall?" I ask and get pointed to a plain brick wall between two massive, seething furnaces.

In my bubble of cool, visibly bending the air around me to protect my clothes from singeing, I step up to the wall. One hand on the wall, a ridiculous amount of mana control and precision is all I need to check for residue traces.

Five days is a lot of time, and the ambient scorching heat isn't helping either. Still, I hoped to find mistakes by earth or space magic along the way. Reconstructing a surface or letting space fold back perfectly is tricky, from what I've learned. Sadly, it's a miss.

"Do we know what they were after?" Returning to the central anvil, I keep asking.

"It's an elven technique." The man speaks, gently prodding my crown. "The lines here, you see? That precise measure of twist is considered to be perfectly aligned with the natural resonance of mana in-"

Of course, the topic is already lost on him.

"The thieves! What were they after?" I raise my voice because the day is still long and I already feel my hair graying. And I'm half-elf, Gods damn it…

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Seeing as the man is of no use, his guard takes over. "They took nothing, which led us to believe the vault was their target. They even disabled a range of its defensive inscriptions with voidglass. There's everything in there from beast carcasses to gems and minerals worth entire estates."

I should've just talked to her honestly.

"I doubt you'll share your findings on the case if I ask nicely." Asking will get me a rejection at worst, so it's worth a try.

"I cannot authorise that."

That's that. I'm basically done here. "One last thing. Whichever one is the most prestigious, could you tone down patrols around there?"

"What are you planning?" She asks with a gaze oozing suspicion once again.

"Going to school, of course. They either need more materials, or…"

"People."

"Bingo." And the only places they've targeted until now have been the martial schools.

Nabbing by my crown up from the anvil and reveling in the groan of the haughty, useless bastard – whom I totally understand by the way – I take my leave. "I'll come around when we find them."

And if we don't… Then we'll just move on to the next job. Nothing to lose, nothing at stake, only a reward to pocket. I see why those with enough talent and little patriotism would pick this line of work.

Exiting the smithy with eyes still following my each and every step, I begin aimlessly strolling down the streets. Although acting with confidence, I'm a little out of my depth here. All along, I've been trained how to fight opponents right in front of me, face to face, or even from ambush.

"This is as far as I get by myself. Let's see if the crazed pair had found anything useful, and then… Then we shall see if the adults are willing to grace us with their wisdom." Once again, I mutter under my breath when faced with a dilemma.

***

Only when trying to regroup with everyone else did I bump into a slight mistake we made when arranging things. Okay, there were a bunch of mistakes, but the worst of them was deciding on when and where to meet up.

In all honesty, I was in a hurry to prove we were up to the task, so maybe it was on me, but compared to all the questions I'd faced today, this was the least troublesome one. The first spot I checked was the modest square we set out from, but that was a dud, so following that, I made my way to the auction house.

As expected, Kayla and Victor were already gone at that point.

I began contemplating simply taking to the skies and doing a quick flyover above the city. Again, not the brightest idea… Thankfully, my friends had it all handled. A crow came to bug me, peck at my ears, and pull my hair, and I almost killed it.

I blame that one on Kayla for sending that black menace after me instead of a cute cat or something.

"That's all I've gathered. They're after unusual, high-value items and move without a pattern, almost like phantoms." I finish sharing my findings.

In the end, we've returned to the very same square to wait for the adults to pick us up. With a few skewers and snacks, the three of us are munching on a bench like we're actually on a holiday.

Victor taps his chin, lost in thought and perhaps analyzing the odds, so Kayla takes it upon herself to speak.

"They took a lot from the auction house. We didn't even need to give money to anyone, really. If anything, they offered us a reward if we could retrieve their stuff." She says in her usual, nondescript manner. "A few antlers, gems, pelt, meet… The usual super nice stuff they bring from the Line. Security said that they didn't even notice things went missing until the next day."

So they haven't found much either. Considering the quantity of goods gone missing, at least we can assume the existence of a safehouse or even a warehouse to hide all the stolen stuff. The authorities must've come to the same conclusion, so not much we can weigh in on that front.

"Other than that, we've also spoken to some of the common folk." Victor finally decided to join the discussion. "It's not just the schools that have reported people missing. There are at least a dozen cases across just the few blocks we've checked."

"Other people?" I raise an eyebrow. "Any common point? Work, age, were they maybe rich or something?"

"Nothing I know of." He shrugs. "Maybe they're in on it, maybe they were at the wrong place at the wrong time."

And just maybe we're missing something. For two whole weeks now, things have been going missing, and not a single soul knows anything concrete. If I didn't know better, I'd say it's an inside job.

"Sitting so comfortably… Was the challenge too meager or are we slumped?" Alvaro approaches from the right, appearing much too close for my senses to have missed him. "Hm, the second, judging from the eyes."

"You could help, you know? People's lives are at stake." Victor gives him a disapproving side eye, to no avail.

The old man just shrugs and sits down on the bench next to ours. "People's lives are always in danger. And anyone could offer a helping hand, not just us. But let us hear what you've found."

Albeit with a bad taste in our mouths, we share our findings. While we talk, my parents also make an appearance. Now they truly do look like they have no worries in the world and are on a second honeymoon.

"Quite the adept weasels we have here… And another hit, you say?" Alvaro hums to himself. "Yeah, it is along the way…" His carefree attitude darkens slightly once those words leave his mouth. "I fear we might have less than two days."

"What? Why?" I demanded an explanation as to why our job just got considerably more complicated.

"Because our opponents are clever, and because of our previous job." His eyes move onto Victor, whose head is basically bursting from a flood of thoughts.

The answer was enigmatic, true to the wicked nature of the sly old fox. His assignment is to teach us the ins and outs of mercenary business and keep us alive. Anything beyond that and coin is not his concern, including the victims or any future damage.

And what's this about the previous job? We dealt with the hedgehogs. Those behemoths had been traveling for weeks through forests, fields, and homes, and now they're nobody's concern. After that was done, we marched straight here.

Or does he mean the thieves caused those wounds? Then traveled across the country, in less than a week, no less, and robbed everyone with their nose high absolutely blind… They'd have to be some sort of God at this point to accomplish all that.

"They would've crossed here in two days?" Victor asks an ambiguous question out of the blue.

"Give or take. But I'm quite certain it's along that straight line." Old man Alvaro says with a shaky nod. "Just think about it… Carriages evacuating anything movable, people fleeing en masse, guardsmen overwhelmed… It's perfect."

Now the outline begins to clear up a little, but a piece is still missing. "Haven't we rerouted those things? That plan is foiled, the news has arrived before we did."

"Right? That's also what caught my attention. Their window is gone. If I were them, I'd set up a diversion, and skedaddle with everything I can carry."

I have to admit, the old man is a little too good at thinking like the bad guys. It's a common method to get one step ahead of the opponent, I know, but he's just really too good.

"So?" I'm losing my temper here slowly. Getting bamboozled by the thieves was plenty enough with any riddles. "Stop playing games! Teachers are meant to impart knowledge, not entertain themselves."

"I gave you plenty of leads already. Their circumstances might've changed, but the schedule and goals haven't." The man just shrugs. "But if you don't like my lessons, take it as a test. You're one up currently, but things aren't looking too rosy in this second round. Better start thinking outside the box…"

***

So that's what I did, all night, getting just enough beauty sleep to keep me running.

In the end, I came to a simple conclusion and three options. Either the thieves have already fled and left the booty behind – the most unlikely case of them all – or they're waiting for something. That something could be either a chance to grab or dip.

"Any pearls of wisdom?" I ask my parents while we're eating breakfast. The inn they've found for the night is decent, and the pay from the hedgehog job allows for some lavish spending.

Although youthful, my father is in the grandpa age bracket, so I'm hoping for some solid advice.

"Maybe it's because I'm a Hunter, but this very much feels like going after an elusive prey." He says, and I nod along. "You either track down the beast or-"

"Lure it out." I finish the sentence because it's the same conclusion I came to.

This is when Mom's motherly, voodoo, unholy powers tingle. "You don't think of going to one of the schools, parading around and getting yourself kidnapped, do you?"

Truth be told, it was my first flash of inspiration. It's simple, straight, and not very likely to succeed anyway. Still, it's a little revolting that she assumes I'd do that straight away.

"That's a stupid plan, I'd never." I defend myself with muted outrage. "They've failed a heist, remember? A vault with materials of all kinds… Something only a handful of places can boast about across the entire city."

So, in hindsight, isn't it obvious what they could be aiming for? We could narrow it down to a handful of places, two to four maybe, after which it'd only be a matter of time. The ball is in our court.