Late at night, in one of the better-off residential districts of the capital city…

A masked man climbs down a roof of a two-story house to a window on its side. He lowers his foot to the exterior window sill, and in a precarious moment he lets go of the roof. His hands deftly move to the sides of the window, and he quickly regains his balance as he pushes his hands against the sides of the window frame. His eyes turn downward. A dark, narrow alleyway full of abandoned crates and barrels is directly below him, and a fall into it would be treacherous, if not outright deadly. He turns his gaze back to the window.

His hand moves to the bottom, and his fingers find purchase into the frame.

「A-ha…」

Though half of his face is masked, the grin on his face is obvious from his eyes alone.

Cautiously, quietly, he slides the unlocked window upward. He peeks his head in. The dark bedroom inside is empty. He shifts his body to squeeze himself into the house through the window.

「Hold it right there!…」

A man's demanding voice shouts from below, just from the entrance to the alleyway. He turns his eyes to the source.

「…The nerve! You keep robbing the same people!」

The uniformed man below shouts, looking up at him from beneath his peaked cap's brim.

「If they never learn, serves them right.」

He quickly replies, grinning at the Ministry of Security agent at the entrance to the alleyway.

「It ends here! You're under arrest!-」

「As fucking if!」

The man interrupts the Ministry agent, and leaps across the alleyway from the window to the building just beside him. With its roof much lower and easier to access, he grasps onto its edge and scrambles to climb up. The uniformed man below watches closely.

「You're making a mistake… Get down here and I'll ask you a couple questions myself.」

The agent says, and the man above simply scoffs and climbs upward, disappearing above onto the roof.

Clak-clak-clak-clak!…

The roof tiles beneath his feet clatter as he runs along them. He leaps across another alleyway, down onto a single-story building roof.

Clack!

A few ceramic tiles shatter as he lands and slides downward into a mostly empty alley beneath.

Thud!…

The man lands on his feet and leaps forward, rolling along the ground in a graceful, softened landing. He looks over his shoulder as he runs towards the exit into a side street.

「Heh… Heheh… Should have surrounded the building, fucking idiot.」

He chuckles to himself, his mask concealing a snide grin. He turns his eyes forward towards the exit out of the alley that's rapidly closing in.

「…Still, that's a little too close for comfort. I gotta skip town.」

He thinks out loud, and draws near the edge of the buildings.

Thwack!

The man's head recoils backwards while the rest of his body continues onward with the inertia. His legs slide right out from underneath him, practically causing him to slip on nothing in particular as they fly forward ahead of himself while an immense force impacts his face, dead center onto his nose.

「Ungh!?」

Thud!

He loudly lands on his back, staring at the starry sky somewhat dazed and extremely confused. He pulls his black mask down and off his face, his nose bleeding profusely.

「What the fuck?… Pfoot.」

The man says, spitting blood aside onto the alleyway ground.

「Pfoot… Did I run into something with my face?」

He spits again, and turns his eyes upward in search of the possible obstacle.

「Yeah. You did.」「Wha-!?」

The voice of the uniformed Ministry agent from before replies, the sound coming from right above him. The man looks around in panic, but the agent is nowhere to be found.

Something grabs and twists his shirt, pulling him upward a little.

「Huh!?… What the fuck!?…」

He watches his shirt twist as if it gained a life of its own, but then a man's hand turns visible, losing its translucence. Rather than being invisible, it was always there, just hard to see.

「What?…」

Still confused, the man's eyes trace the suddenly appearing black uniform sleeve upwards. A man's face becomes visible as the light in front of the stars distorts, obscuring them.

「I know the city better than you do. Running wasn't a bright idea.」

The Ministry agent says in an ominous tone, glaring down at him as he kneels down on his chest, pinning him to the ground.

「Hnngh!- Alright, you got me! No need to get violent! I don't have a weapon!…」

Grunting from the sudden weight, the man on the ground shows his palms, spitting the blood trickling down his nose aside. The Ministry agent raises his dagger.

「Waitwaitwait! I said I'm unarmed!」

Wildly shaking his hands left and right, the man below stares at the dagger glinting in the faint light of the magic lamps behind the agent.

「…I'm going to show you one last mercy.」

He replies, glaring into his eyes. The captured man gulps.

「Wait, don't…」

Staring at the dagger hovering ominously above him, he points his empty palms at the agent holding him, grinning nervously.

「…Have you heard of the Hammerer?」

The agent calmly asks, tightening his grip on the man's shirt.

「The-?… Wasn't that someone in your ministry? People get arrested and questioned, and they come out with fucked up limbs?」

「Exactly…」

The man hesitantly asks, and the agent nods his dragon-adorned peaked cap.

「…Now I'm going to give you a choice. Either you tell me everything right now, or you're off to the Hammerer.」

He adds, pointing his finger at the man's face as the visible concern upon it intensifies.

「…I'll tell you what I know, no need to stab me or hammer me, man. What do you want?」

The man asks, visibly shaking with his face twisted into an anxious tight-lipped grimace as he stares at the dagger.

「The recent string of break-ins… You are the one behind them, are you not?」

The agent calmly asks.

「You caught me red-handed, what else do you want? Yeah, I break into places.」

The man beneath him shrugs, occasionally spitting blood that pours towards his mouth aside.

「Have you ever broken into a place only to not steal anything?」

「What, you mean like right now? Can't say I have-」

「No. I am asking if you ever broke into a place with no intent to steal anything.」

The agent lightly shakes his head, and clarifies. The man furrows his brows in confusion.

「…Why the fuck would I do that? Are you trying to pin some shit on me? I don't fucking kill people if that's what you're saying, and nothing you can do to me will make me say that.」

He asks, shrugging his shoulders and quizzically spreading his hands.

「No… Forget it. Another question. Do you pick locks?」

The agent shakes his head again, and asks.

「No. I wish I knew how to. I don't even have any lockpicks on me, you can check my shit.」

The man denies, shaking his head as well, furrowing his brows a little again.

「Then, did you break into the Vinis manor the other day?」

「What? No. Do you think I'm fucking suicidal or something? I only rob dumbshits too high and mighty to lock up their fucking homes.」

The man grows further confused as the questions keep coming.

「Who do you work with? Are you with the so-called thieves' guild?」

The agent asks, glaring into the man's confused eyes.

「No, I work alone. I don't even know anyone in the guild, I have no idea how to even contact them. I swear!」

The man replies, still shaking and looking at the dagger with a concerned gaze, but his tone is full of conviction. The agent silently stares at his face for a few seconds, but then nods.

「…Then if I tell you to sign a confession of guilt form, you will only admit to burglary thefts in the residential areas around here?」

He asks, adjusting the grip on his dagger.

「Y- Yeah. You got me, you can ask me which homes I've hit, and I'll admit to my work… Shit. I've had a good streak going, too. I just got greedy.」

The man nods, shrugging his shoulders. He grumbles bitterly as he looks aside.

「…Roll over. Hands on your head.」

The Ministry agent commands as he gets up from the man.

「Alright, alright…」

He complies, rolling over onto his stomach, and he places his hands on the back of his head.

「Boss!… Boss! There you are! We thought we saw a glimpse of you!」

Two more Ministry agents run up into the alleyway from the side street, shouting towards the agent tying the man on the ground with a length of rope.

「What is it?」

He calmly asks as he's tying a knot around the man's wrists.

「Boss, there was a break-in at the palace. Just a few minutes ago. The guards have the perimeter surrounded.」

「What? At the palace?」

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

「Yes. I think you should go there. This tall guy there supposedly saw the burglar.」

One of the uniformed men nods his head at the agent in the alleyway. He looks at the tied man, and pulls him upward to his feet.

「Take this guy off of me. I caught him trying to break into the house nearby through the window. He's the thief we were looking for…」

The agent explains as he forces the tied man into their hands.

「Got it! We'll handle him!-」

「And… Don't let Nona get her hands on him. He said he'll sign the form.」

He stops, pointing his finger at them over his shoulder, tilting the brim of his hat upward a little so he can see them better. His eyes pierce them both with their severity.

「Got it! Leave it to us!」

The Ministry of Security agents nod, and salute him as he walks off in the direction of the palace.

「…Man. You lucked the fuck out, buddy.」

One of the agents says as they wrap their arms around his and begin leading him towards the dungeon…

…

A few moment earlier, in front of the Redwing palace gate…

Two men with red-plumed helmets stand guard at the gate, leaning lazily onto their halberds yet staring into the darkness between the magic lamps ahead with a watchful gaze. One of them yawns loudly, the red plume on his helmet jiggles a little from his head's gentle movement. His eyes quickly return and refocus on the base of the lamp ahead, though they're visibly tired and full of boredom.

Smash!

Without a warning, the glass housing of the magic lamp ahead shatters, and the light goes dark. The guards jump out of their lazy, tired slouches and grip onto their halberds.

Clink!… Clink-clink…

Something glassy or crystal-like falls onto the hard cobblestones in the darkness ahead, echoing faintly. The guards look at each other with wary eyes.

「…What the fuck happened?」

「I don't know. Maybe some sort of a magic reaction?」

They look at the silhouette of the now-dark lamp, then glance at each other again.

「…I don't think they just happen at random.」

One of them remarks.

「How do you know? What are you, a mage?」

The guard on the other end of the open gate asks in a mocking tone, nodding his head at his colleague.

「No, but… You know what? I'm just going to check it out. Watch my back…」

He replies, and cautiously begins approaching the dark lamp, the sharp point of the halberd directed towards the darkness. The palace guard behind him shifts uncomfortably in place, eyes focused on the guard in front, as well as his immediate surroundings as they both warily watch the shattered lamp and the rest of the well-lit main street ahead.

The guard draws near the lamp's base and looks at the ground. He notices a faint glimmer of a color amidst the shattered, translucent glass. He reaches for it, and picks it up.

「…Looks like the gem fell out. It looks fine to me.」

He investigates the small gem in his armored fingers, then turns his eyes over his shoulders to the guard still standing by the gate.

「Of course it's fine, it'd explode otherwise.」

「Yeah, I guess…」

The guard by the gate replies, and his colleague nods in agreement as he slowly starts making his way back.

Crrack. Crrrack. Crack.

His armored feet crush the glass scattered around the cobblestones, but then when he takes another step, one of the pieces appears to shatter far too easily, and with a much different sound.

「Hm?」

He looks at the dark ground, lifting his foot off the mysterious object beneath. It appears just like the glass, but its shape is a little off.

「What's up?」

The guard asks as his colleague squats down and reaches for something on the cobblestones. He takes it, and looks at it for a few seconds.

「…This is ice.」

He replies, holding an irregular glass-like piece up in his hand.

「You're seeing things. It's glass.」

「No, I'm serious! It's ice! It's cold!…」

The guard insists, approaching the gate and the guard in a rushed step.

「…Look!」

He says, and hands his colleague the irregularly shaped, glass-like piece. He takes it, and looks at it for a few seconds before pressing it against his cheek.

「Wow, no shit… It really is.」

「I told you!」

He remarks, furrowing his brows at the odd and out of place piece of ice. His colleague nods, and they both look back at the disabled lamp.

「…Maybe some weird magic stuff happened, and it made ice inside?」

「I don't know. We ought to report it in the morning.」

The guard who found the ice shrugs, and returns to his original position by the gate.

Clink…

The other guard likewise shrugs and discards the ice, lazily throwing it ahead…

…

Mere moments earlier, in the shadows…

Dressed in all-black cloth, a figure in the shadows tightens the knot at the back of its head. Snug and form-fitting black headwear covering everything from below and above the eyes leaves only a small horizontal gap for the figure's golden irises. The figure crawls onto the crest of the rooftop in complete silence with cat-like grace and looks at the palace gate ahead. Two men in plumed helmets stand guard, appearing deceitfully relaxed, but their focused stare down the road tells a completely different story.

「Alright…」

The figure quietly utters out as she watches the two men, and her oval-shaped pupils narrow into being entirely vertical. Her cloth-covered hand reaches for a thin cord at her hip.

She grasps one of the ice daggers looped onto the cord via a circular hole on the tip of their grip, and shatters the ice circle by applying pressure onto it with her thumb, freeing the dagger.

Her golden yellow eyes focus on the lamp. Her pupils constrict and narrow further as she looks at the pale blue light. Holding it in three fingers, she moves her arm across her chest.

「…One chance.」

She says quietly, focusing on the lamp's housing, her dagger pointing at the sky above her shoulder as she lets out a long, steady breath.

Fwoop!…

Her arm turns into a black blur as she flicks the dagger of ice towards the lamp.

Crash!…

The ice shatters on impact against its glass, and the fragments knock the gem out of its housing. Deprived of mana, the gem quickly grows dark and falls to the street below.

「…What the fuck happened?」

One of the men asks as they stare at the lamp.

「…Now or never.」

The dark figure declares and slides below the crest of the roof. She runs alongside it, barely making a sound before leaping across an alleyway. She grips onto the roof of the building nearby, presses her leather-padded, straw-woven footwear against the wall, and kicks off its side towards the roof, flipping upward upon it on her back. She turns her gaze towards the lamp. One of the guards is busy investigating it.

She straightens out, walks to the far edge of the roof, then turns around. She sprints towards the building across the street, then leaps off the roof with a running start.

Though the jump is long and the street is wide, the black figure manages to hook her clawed fingers onto the very edge of the roof on the other side.

「Nnghh!…」

She grunts and strains, narrowing her eyes as her fingers almost give, before reinforcing herself with her split-toed footwear against the wall again. She once again pushes off the wall with her feet and rolls onto the roof. With a fatigued huff, she stands up and looks at the lamp. The guards are discussing something, one showing something to another.

《Good, they're still distracted… Just one more jump…》

She thinks, and turns her vertically-slit eyes to the tall, pointy, sharp iron fence a similar distance before to the previous jump.

《…Nnh. This one is tricky.》

She winces as she looks at the sharp points on the fence, and walks to the opposite end of the roof to take a running jump again.

「Hmfp!」

The ceramic tiles clatter softly beneath her feet. The figure lets out a soft grunt as she leaps towards the palace perimeter, flipping forward upside down in the air.

Her clawed hands reach for the spikes, and with immense finesse, grip onto them as she pushes away, giving herself just enough airtime to flip past the perimeter fence.

The figure's golden yellow eyes snap to the grass beneath, her feet already waiting for the impact.

Thud.

She makes a quiet, barely audible sound of impact as she rolls on her shoulder across the grass and quickly hops up to a low crouch.

Her eyes turn to the guards at the gate. One of them discards something onto the road ahead.

《They haven't noticed me. Good.》

She nods to herself, satisfied, and looks for potential points of entry. She quickly looks at the most obvious path, the double door in the darkness.

《…No, too risky.》

Wrapped in shadows and away from any light sources, nearly indistinguishable from the dark background, she turns her head aside. A small paved path leads to the side of the palace.

《That must be the garden. There has to be a door there.》

She gives the distracted guards one last glance, and rushes towards the palace garden in a low hunch…

…

A moment later…

The dark figure arrives nearby a gazebo and tall hedges which appear to form a maze for entertainment. She quickly looks around for signs of life, and finds nobody around.

With a silent, cautious step, she approaches the wide glass windows and doorway to the garden. Candle chandeliers hang off the ceiling, illuminating everything well.

「Tsk…」

《…Everything is so well lit here. Damn this place…》

She clicks her tongue behind her mask of black cloth, and reluctantly pulls the door open, sneaking inside the well-lit palace halls.

Hugging a corner, her pupils widen to slightly vertical ovals as light floods into them. She peeks out, and the hallway is empty.

《…From the rumors, the seat of the government is on he third floor. If they have a secret storage, it has to be somewhere around there.》

She thinks, and looks the other way. Taking the opportunity, she runs across the hallway to the corner at its end in a silent step. She peeks her golden eyes out again.

Two maids walk past a T-junction at the very end. Her head retracts behind the corner, and she waits a few seconds before peeking again. The maids are gone, seemingly unaware.

She continues pushing onward and searching for the way up. Eventually, she finds wide stairs in a somewhat central location.

《This is bad… Anyone could come through here. If I'm caught in the middle of the stairs, there's nowhere to hide…》

Crouching down at a corner overlooking the stairs from the side, she winces again. She looks over her shoulder behind herself, then peeks out again.

《…I knew from the start this is risky. I need results! If I'm dying, then it's in service!》

Behind her mask, the figure clenches her teeth, as well as her clawed fists. She rushes towards the stairs, mindful of all angles, but her gaze mostly focuses upwards.

Either by luck or skill, she makes it to the next floor without a hitch and takes cover in a shallow niche with a beautiful ceramic vase on a pedestal.

《Right… I can do this. They're none the wiser…》

She thinks, peeking out of the niche, glancing left and right. She silently rushes out and continues her search for the stairs up.

A few moments later, just as she's nearing a T-junction, she hears armored footsteps of guards bouncing off the walls and heading her way.

「Tsk…」

She clicks her tongue and turns around, running the other way. Halfway to the other end of the hallway, she hears another patrol coming. She slides to a stop and clenches her teeth.

《Damn it!…》

Her head swivels left and right, and her eyes dart to the closed doors at the sides. She picks one at random, and enters the room as quickly and as covertly as she can.

Clack.

The door quietly latches shut behind her as she rests her back upon it, warily staring at the crack between the frame and the door. Armored footsteps draw near… Then pass by.

She lets out a relieved sigh. A lit fireplace crackles, and she turns her gaze towards it.

「Urk!…」

Her entire body tenses up with a quiet grunt when she sees a man in a large comfy chair sitting in front of the fireplace, staring at the fire, broad-headed spear in his hand pointing up.

《Just my luck! I had to pick a room with someone in it!…》

She thinks, clenching her teeth in her best effort to remain silent through the surprise. Her golden eyes blink at the unmoving man.

《…Wait. Maybe he's asleep?-》

The dark figure tilts her head, gently narrowing her yellow eyes at him.

「…And who might you be?」「Khhk!…」

He calmly asks, still staring at the fireplace. The woman cringes heavily, and an involuntary grunt slips out through her teeth.

「…You are not a maid. You are not a guard. Nor you are anyone that I recognize.」

The man says as he stands up from his chair. The figure's eyes open wide when she realizes how tall he is.

「…You are wearing all-black clothing. Maids wear black as well, but maids do not cover their faces.」

He adds, taking a few steps to the side of his chair, his black ponytail jiggling behind his head as his black eyes pierce the figure at the door.

「Who are you?」

The tall spearman asks, gently tilting his head. His hand adjusts his grip on the spear's shaft with no intent to be threatening, yet the subtle motion appears ominous…