# Chapter 83
Surely they wouldn’t try to look at every page. If I just show them a reasonably normal page… Which page was the most innocuous? Rapidly searching through his memories, he opened to one page.
“Umm…”
Despite saying she wouldn’t look in detail, the woman examined the contents quite thoroughly. Unlike Arden’s nervousness, the woman scratched her head and frowned. Though it was densely written, there was nothing properly readable.
“Yes, I’ve checked it. Thank you for your cooperation.”
The page Arden had shown was an account ledger. A table organizing this month’s expenses and income. It was far from being a diary, but the woman didn’t suspect anything. She couldn’t.
“About these troubling incidents…”
Normally he would have just walked away, but the situation was different now. It was better to know whatever information he could. As Arden carefully opened the conversation, the woman answered casually.
“Thieves. There have always been petty thieves, but this time it’s really strange. They don’t steal jewels or valuable items… but it happens too frequently. They hit several houses a day.”
“…Does that make sense? No one noticed?”
“Well… they didn’t steal things from inside houses, but things outside.”
Strange, isn’t it? The woman shrugged as she spoke.
“Outside things…”
“Wheels. Carriage wheels. Whether regular carriages or automatic ones, they took all the wheels. That was the first thing, and then came the animals.”
“They stole livestock?”
“No. They killed them. All the horses and cattle in the village. This person is really cra-… I mean, really strange. If they’re going to steal, why just take wheels, and why kill innocent animals? They must have a really bad personality.”
“Corol…” The man beside her called to the woman while glancing at Arden. His wariness of Arden as an outsider was clearly visible.
Arden frowned as he processed what he’d heard. The thief was targeting one thing too obviously. Carriage wheels, horses, cattle. They were all…
“Do you see what’s strange?”
The woman looked at Arden with subtly expectant eyes.
“They’re all… things that substitute for human legs.”
The actions were too suspicious to be merely a thief with a bad personality. If they’d been going around several houses a night achieving their goal, there was a possibility they weren’t working alone.
“Suspicious, right? Extremely so.”
“…However.”
The woman’s eyes lit up toward Arden. For some reason, she seemed excited. Before Arden could respond, the man hesitantly spoke up.
“Corol’s opinion that they’re trying to isolate us doesn’t make sense.”
“What doesn’t make sense?”
“Why, why… Idelven has a train station.”
The man’s finger pointed in the direction of the station.
“Carriages and horses… they’re all slower than trains.”
At the man’s words, the woman pressed her lips together. Indeed, Arden couldn’t argue with that either. If there was a train station, destroying carriages and killing innocent animals would be pointless. Many trains came into Idelven, and there was no way to remove the wheels from all those trains.
“Putting aside the motive, are there any suspects?”
To Arden’s question, both the woman and man shook their heads simultaneously. The woman sighed and kicked the ground with her foot.
“That’s why we’re questioning people like this. The first to be suspected are naturally outsiders.”
The woman gestured toward Arden with her chin. Arden understood their decision and simply nodded.
A place like Idelven had a large floating population. Incomparable to Winterishe or Menden.
“Are you looking for people carrying suspicious items?”
“Well… wouldn’t you need tools to remove wheels?”
At the woman’s words, Arden stiffly nodded. If it was about tools, there was a high chance he would be suspected.
I should avoid going outside the lodging for a while. He thought to himself.
Rite returned after the sun had completely set. Coming back with eyelids heavy with drowsiness and fatigue, Rite collapsed immediately after finishing his bath.
Days like this accumulated, and it was now the third day. Hearing the door open, Arden, who had been working on the account ledger, quickly turned his head.
“Rite, you’re ba—”
“You’re still not asleep?”
Arden’s voice abruptly stopped. Rite hung his coat on the rack and twisted his neck from side to side. With each movement, there was a sound like bones being realigned. It was a sound hard to believe came from a human body.
“Can I take a bath now?”
“Wait. Wait, Rite.”
Arden got up and approached Rite. Rite, who had been half-closing his eyes, opened them wide.
Arden carefully took hold of Rite’s chin and slowly turned it left and right. After rolling up his sleeves to the elbows and examining them, Arden’s expression became extremely serious.
Not only was Rite returning worn out with fatigue, but he was also carrying injuries.
“How did you get hurt like this?”
“…Just. Somehow it happened.”
“You don’t want to talk about it?”
Disappointment dripped heavily in Arden’s voice. The black pupils in Rite’s purple eyes elongated for a moment.
“…Why do you want to know?”
A strange excitement permeated his voice. Arden, who had been examining Rite’s arms, raised his head. Rite’s eyes had returned to their original shape as he faced Arden.
“Well… naturally I’m worried.”
The injuries weren’t serious. There were some scrapes as if he’d fallen down, but no worse injuries were visible. Though Arden knew well that he shouldn’t be shaken by such minor wounds anymore, he couldn’t help feeling upset.
“Is the training difficult? If it seems too much, we can adjust the duration however necessary, so please tell me.”
“It’s fine. I can handle it.”
“She seemed to have quite an aggressive personality when I saw her…”
“Aigle?”
As if there had been something amusing, Rite laughed softly. Arden waited for him to share what had happened, but Rite didn’t seem inclined to talk.
“It’s okay. I knew it would be difficult when I chose this. And… she said I learn quickly.”
Rite’s voice gradually became softer, as if lacking confidence. What was he learning, in what way was his learning fast, what would he learn next – there were overflowing questions.
If only Rite hadn’t returned with such a tired face, if only Arden had even a little knowledge about magic, he would have pressed further. Instead, Arden suppressed his regret and stepped aside.
“Alright. You must be tired, go wash up and rest.”
Rite didn’t leave immediately. Like someone searching for something, he thoroughly examined Arden’s face. Just as Arden was about to open his mouth in confusion, Rite shook his head as if satisfied and left the room to find the bathroom.
* * *
Aigle was a decent teacher. Though her skill was uncertain, at least she didn’t take interest in Rite’s personal affairs. “Didn’t take interest” was insufficient. She absolutely didn’t want to be involved with Rite. Saying she hated troublesome matters, she wouldn’t even let him speak.
‘So. You want to learn magic specialized in attack. Unusual. These days, not many magicians want to learn that. It’s not where the money is. Anyway… let’s forget everything else and focus just on that. If you dig deep into just one thing… well, even if not this house, you could at least burn a rabbit hole.’
‘I just need to be able to burn one human head.’
‘…’
‘I don’t want to become a great magician. I don’t want to be revered in history. The power to cut off one human head, or at least the power to restrain someone so I can tear off their head. That’s all I need. That’s enough.’
‘I don’t know what you’re trying to do… but don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. Don’t tell anyone you learned from me, and don’t say you know me.’
But the reason she was a decent teacher rather than a good one…
“Are you ready?”
Aigle called out from a distance. Rite was dumbfounded. There was no way he could be ready. Not only was his body tightly bound to a large tree, but his arms were also restrained behind him.
“How am I supposed to get ready?!”
“I’m starting!”
Despite Rite’s anger, Aigle paid no attention. This attitude contradicted her earlier criticism of Arden’s “primitive” method of detecting magical quality.
Aigle didn’t want to do this either. If there had been enough time, and if her student had been just a bit smarter, she wouldn’t have used such a barbaric method. But if she tried to teach this student with refined methods, she might collapse from stress first. How much time had been spent just trying to burn a single leaf? Aigle decided to change her approach.
“You want a dragon scale in exchange for teaching like this? Does that make sense?”
“If I were you, I’d use this time to recite spells instead.”
“You’re not really going to shoot, right? I know you’ll stop right before hitting me.”
“Hey, you’re sweating. Wipe that off before you speak.”
“How can I wipe it when my hands are tied!”
A bright red flame bloomed in Aigle’s hand. Her eyes scanned the surrounding field. Next to her noisy student was a large tree, uprooted.
No matter how she thought about it, he was an ignorant one. He had uprooted that massive tree to escape. With that strength, casting one binding spell would be much easier!
This time, to prevent escape by force, she had cast a binding spell herself. For a stupid student, learning through bodily experience was faster.
Aigle lightly tossed the flame from her hand, like throwing a ball. Though it was an effortless motion, the flame rapidly grew in size as it flew toward its target.
At most, his hair might get singed. He should be using his brain instead of running his mouth. Aigle watched her student with a calm mind as he cursed at her.
“…That crazy bastard.”
There was a sound of something snapping, and the tree lurched. The student had rolled to the side with the tree still attached, avoiding the fireball. Seeing him lying on his side with the tree still bound to him, gasping for breath, her mouth fell open in astonishment.
