*Thougts*
~Sound effects~
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Chapter 10: Detective story
It was midmorning, when the tree families called for me, I didn’t know why, but I assumed it to correlate with the burglaries that happened this and the night before. Apparently it was a thief that liked to scribble on the walls of the houses he visited, and thus earning himself that particular Nickname, at I sighed about the poor naming sense of the Townspeople.
Arriving at the Liagen mansion I knocked and a butler soon opened the door inviting me to come in.
“The masters are in the office, I shall guide you there” he said, while pointing me to follow.
The foyer was so big that it consumed two stories, and even had two stairs leading two the second floor, with family portrays dating way back alongside the stair the butler led him to.
*rich people always showing off their wealth*
From there he led me into a hallway that lost all of its splendor, showcases open and void, with scribbles of this face everywhere, on the wall, floor, even on some portraits. Maids were busy cleaning it, but had only managed to clean half, and startling me the most was, that even some portraits are missing, showing were they once were, by a brighter mark on the wall.
*Who would do something like that? Either he must have some screws loose, just think about the time this should have consumed!*
~shakes head~
“Terrible isn`t it
“Please enter” he said, as soon as we arrived at the end of the now depressing hallway
While I entered I was shocked about the mood, it seemed like I barged into a huge discussion, the head of Liagen completely red, showing off his anger.
Now they looked towards me and Aterar began to talk.
“I assume you know why you’re here?”
“I can think of something, but please, I want to reassure myself”
“Go catch the smiling Chinese!” shouted Liagen
“Aterar: calm yourself, it isn`t good, that commoners see you this angry”
“Liagen: you have it good, have you looked at the hallway, I`m missing some precious stuff.”
“Ribanild, calm yourself he is right”
“Liagen: you too, he found my hidden stash of cold, now I`m completely broke!”
“Aterar: Calm down, I`ll help you with some financial stuff, till you get your money back” at this he looked at me, noticing I had to reassure them, I nodded
“Liagen: And then depend from you, no way, wait maybe it was you, you hired that bastard, so he could rob us, lowering our status and then ruling the city by yourself!”
At this Ribanild waved me to go, apparently they have had this discussion for a long time now, because he looked rather annoyed. So I made my way outside, bowing as a farewell, now I had a job to do.
First I went to the guards, asking them what happened, and they told me nothing, only a drunkard who made a fuss.
At this I couldn`t refrain to make a facepalm, those are so stupid, of course that was, what the thief used to break in, maybe he even paid him to do that.
“Does anybody know him?”
“Yeah, I, said a guard from the back, while making his way forward, “he works at the inn as a waiter, I go there like every day after work to relax, the atmosphere is nice”
“Bring him to me”
Now I had to find an interrogation room so I called the butler and asked him if the mansion had a room like I wanted, it did. When the Waiter came the butler led us to this particular room, he even arranged the lighting source I asked for.
Then I began questioning him, apparently he was innocent, so I decided to block out his assertions of being innocent.
When he finally left, I pondered about what to do, well basically I can do nothing, the info is just to shallow. The only thing possible was giving the description I just received, and hoping for positive results.
Well the description was so, that no one could mistake him, because of his eyes, that apparently terrified the waiter.
And another thing was waiting, till the thief tries to sell some stuff.
While pondering for an hour over this problem a guard suddenly came in and shouted
“We found a lead”
“How?”
“This morning a guy showed a guard something that was on the stolen Item list, and said, that he is going to meet up with the smiling Chinese tonight”
“Really?”
*That is too fast, I thought, that he would now lay low for a while, and not selling stuff right from the get go*
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“bring him here”
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I sat now before this guy, and asked
“Why do you think it was him?”
“I read the description, and the person I got this from looked a lot like it, with the eyes ad such”
“So, why do you know, that he will show up tonight and selling you stuff”
“Well yesterday we talked, and I asked him what he had in store, at this he pulled out a list and said, that he could provide me with anything from it, he just had to ask his employer, if he needed it or not, so I pointed at a random item”
“At this he left, while saying, that he would be here the next night, at the same time.”
“good, thank you for the cooperation, now tell us where it is, and we will set an ambush”
At this he looked rather pale, but I thought it as imagination, because the oil lamp flickered.
“It is in one of the alleyways leading towards the square with the fountain, in the middle of the Town”
After he left, I thought about what the thief has revealed.
One thing was, that he didn`t work alone, he had an employer, which we had to catch in the act, because if it really is Aterar like Liagen thinks, he could get away.
So I decided, that it would be better, to follow him till he gave the money from the sold item to his employer.
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At Night:
So I positioned some men, disguised as beggars around the square, I even had some men looking out of windows, at the alleyway, with myself being among them.
I actually didn`t want to catch him, but if something went awry, those men were advised to jump in and catch him.
At the arranged time the boy showed up, but no sight of the culprit, till he jumped down from a rooftop.
*Rather flashy are you*
He looked around, even up towards to the windows, but it was too dark to see us, and then I noticed those rumored eyes. The description I received wasn`t on par with them, even though I could imagine them because of the freight the waiter showed. It were the eyes of a predator looking for the next prey it could lay its fangs upon.
When the deal was finally done, he left like a shadow, good, that the families gave me enough money to hire a rouge, that was advised to follow him.
The rouge marked the way for us, till we arrived at a flat. Before it stood the rouge and said
“He went inside, now I`m away, I don`t want to have anything to do with someone with such eyes”
After saying that he turned around and soon I couldn`t see him anymore.
At this I motioned to the soldiers that also followed the markings to Surround the house, so that not even a rat could escape. When they were finally finished I shouted
“COME OUT ~Sigh~ SMILING CHINESE; WE HAVE SURROUNDED THE HOUSE; THERE IS NO WHERE LEFT TO FLEE”
Then was a long silence, till I heard glass breaking and saw a figure jumping out of the window above me. I know, it should be impossible, but he made an arch and landed on the roof of the same house, and then flew over to the next house. And vanishing into thin air.
*Shit, he escaped, at least we now have his base and also the loot, hopefully his employer is still inside, so that this doesn`t become a complete failure.*
After that the soldiers searched the entire house and finding the stolen items, bringing them back to their owners.
Apparently the room, where they were stashed was the tailors, a person disliked by all, so he would be sentenced, without much questioning, but I did, because something didn`t seem right.
After it, I was sure that he was framed. From his description it was a cutthroat, that he gave a quest, but when I investigated him, I saw only a young person training with both the archery instructor and the Blacksmith next door, and I couldn`t think of a way this person could have managed to break inside the houses.
Since someone must be really experienced to break inside those Mansions, because since of picking locks, and breaking windows couldn`t be seen
For one of those it could have been an insider that led him in, but not in both cases.
But the rich had their culprit, and most of their stuff back, not all, because likely the real thief kept something for himself, and so the case was closed, and the tailor would be sentenced to prison, or even to death, if they decide to make an example.
End Chapter: 10
Hope you like the conclusion