Chapter 49

“Ahem. Did you run into many people on the way here?”

Marcel’s acting was, as expected, skilled.  

He subtly lifted the pouch and placed it on the scale behind the counter.  

The weight must have been significant—the scale tilted sharply. Marcel began placing heavy weights on the other side to measure it.  

The thief grinned.  

“Not a single tail.”  

“That’s good. Well, let’s keep this short. I’m sure that’s what you prefer.”  

Marcel nodded slightly, as if implying, no need for lengthy talk between men who know the business.

“As you know, appraising these one by one is a pain. So I pay by weight. That fine with you?”  

“Of course.”  

“You don’t mind if I melt them down?”  

The thief grinned again.  

“Once I get paid, they’re yours to do whatever with. So, how much?”  

“Let’s see.”  

Marcel added a few more weights, all while carefully gauging the man’s aura.  

‘This guy isn’t normal.’

Definitely not someone he could handle alone.  

So, sticking to the plan—  

“None of these weights are making it budge…”

He pulled out an extra-heavy counterweight from underneath.  

—Clunk!  

The weight scraped the floor slightly, then landed with a solid thud on the other side of the scale.  

At that exact moment—  

“Hands up! Azure Knights!”  

“Cooperate and no force will be used!”

That was the signal. The Azure Knights stormed in all at once.  

In the blink of an eye, Marcel had drawn his sword and pressed it to the thief’s neck.  

A perfect trap.  

But—  

“The Knights are running a shop now?”  

The thief frowned and pulled something from his coat.  

“…!”

Before the knights could stop him, he triggered an artifact.  

—BOOM!

A surge of magic exploded from the device, blasting out one side of the shop.  

It happened to be the side undergoing remodeling.

***

Up in the clock tower, Aivert had seen everything.

Boom!

Rodella could only guess what had happened by the sound.  

“What was that explosion?”  

“Magic. He used an artifact to blast through a wall.”  

Aivert’s expression turned grim as he watched the unfolding scene.  

Rodella jumped and peered over the wall again.  

“…Oh.”  

Even at a glance, the damage to the buildings was enough to make her exhale in disbelief.  

“That guy—everyone around him evacuated the moment he showed up, right?”  

Aivert nodded.  

“Just like you said.”  

As long as everything stayed contained within the cleared zone, it would be fine.

—BOOM! CRASH!  

Another explosion, this one clearly closer to the clock tower.  

Wait… in this direction?

That’s the direction the townspeople were evacuated to.  

Rodella’s face turned pale.  

“Where is he going?”  

“Toward the plaza… He’s going deeper into the city.”  

They’d assumed he would flee outward—not inward.

That was a mistake.  

Aivert frowned and looked at her.  

“We’ll have to go down if we want to corner him.”  

“Then I’ll help with the evacuation.”  

Rodella turned. Aivert nodded.  

Just as she was about to head for the stairs—  

Her body suddenly lifted off the ground.  

“…!” 

Rodella’s eyes widened.  

Aivert was carrying her.  

“If you run down, you’ll be too tired to help.”  

His gaze subtly avoided her.  

Rodella looked up at him, sensing his tension for some reason—  

Before she could say anything, Aivert leapt from the tower.  

“…!”  

Startled, Rodella clung to his neck.  

Feeling her own heart pounding wildly.

***

“This way! Just keep following that road! Hurry!”

—BOOM! 

With the explosions drawing nearer, the crowd moved more frantically.  

“Ah, my store!”  

People cried out in despair, but Rodella flashed her Azure Knights badge at a woman—while pitying Latine—and shouted,  

“The Azure Knights will take responsibility! Please evacuate quickly!” 

Well, even if Aivert broke something, it would probably be cheaper than the gold statue he smashed that one time… probably.

Then something caught her eye.  

Amid the now mostly empty shopping street, a lone child stood frozen, looking around in fear.

Rodella pushed through the fleeing crowd to reach him.  

She was jostled, bumped, but couldn’t take her eyes off the boy.  

He was trembling in fear.  

“Hey, you there!”  

She called, and the child looked up, tearful and scared.  

“Where are your parents?”  

Finally reaching him, Rodella asked.  

She looked around—everyone else was fleeing, and there was no sign of anyone who might be with him.  

As expected, the child shook his head.  

He looked to be about five or six—clearly separated from his parents.  

“They’ll be over that way! Come on, let’s go find them together, okay?”  

Surely his parents had been sent to the designated safety zone.  

The boy stopped crying and slowly reached out to her.  

Rodella picked him up and looked around again. The streets were nearly empty now.  

“Can someone take this child to safety?”  

She raised her voice urgently.  

Thankfully, a middle-aged man running by stopped in surprise and hurried over.  

“Luke, come with me!”  

“Uncle?”  

Seemed like they knew each other.  

The boy looked relieved as he was passed over and the two of them ran off.  

Rodella let out a quiet sigh of relief and stepped forward to make one final check of the area—  

—BOOM! 

An explosion rang out dangerously close.  

“…!”  

Her eyes shot toward the source—  

And her face turned ghostly pale.  

She had lingered too long.  

The battlefield was now right in front of her.

***

The thief, like a rampaging beast, smashed everything in his path.  

It looked like he had planned to create chaos and escape—but his rampage was cut short when Aivert appeared.  

“Tch!”  

Fortunately for the Azure Knights—and unfortunately for the thief—he didn’t recognize Aivert.  

He simply charged straight ahead, trying to bulldoze through him.  

The artifact’s magic shot directly at Aivert—

—CRACK!  

And then rebounded.  

“…?”  

The blast struck the ground instead, as if deflected like light hitting a mirror.

The thief stiffened in confusion.  

“What the hell are you?”  

Sometimes, people with too much innate energy created a kind of barrier around themselves—strong enough to deflect physical or magical attacks.  

But that wasn’t common. If it were, the thief wouldn’t have flinched.  

A worthy opponent.  

The thief’s eyes sharpened.

Aivert didn’t answer. He dashed forward.  

His goal was to push the enemy away—further from the evacuees.  

But then—  

—BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOM!  

In the middle of driving the thief back, one of the man’s attacks unleashed a massive wave of fire—  

“…!”  

As the building crumbled under the explosion—Rodella’s figure appeared amid the falling debris.  

There was no time to ask why are you still here?  

The structure was collapsing, the magical shockwave sweeping through—

Aivert threw himself forward, wrapping her in his arms.