[Book 3: Murders under the Moons]

As far as counties went, Licencia was a rather remarkable one. That was something that Claud had accepted from young, given its rather unique policies and its equally odd ruler. Under the rule of Count Nightfall, the city had turned into a safe haven for criminals, who in turn respected the count for his policies. In fact, bounty hunters had it hard; unlike most other cities, arrests by bounty hunters had to go through the city administration first.

There were a whole host of other procedures, and simply sending in an application to apprehend was the first of the lot. The process was so convoluted that it was common knowledge for bounty hunters to ambush their targets outside the city…even if it meant doing underhanded deeds to lure them out first.

“Still,” said Claud, chewing on some hardtack, “I, in my entire life, did not expect to hear about a battle between two tri-folders in Licencia. If only we knew more, though.”

Lily took a graceful sip from her little teacup. It was filled to the brim with iced jasmine tea, something that Claud found himself liking after being persuaded to try a cup. Of course, as a master thief, a teacup was too dangerous for him; Claud had taken out his own cup instead. Other than satisfying his urge to stay safe, the cup was also larger than most others; there were few things in life as fulfilling as downing a large glass of ice-cold beverage.

“Maybe we can accost…uh, approach the town crier for more information,” said Lily.

“Not going to work. He’s about as clueless as us regarding this matter,” Claud replied. “At least we know that the Moon-damned snake is still on the loose, though. We’ll have to sit here for another few days if we want to be safe. Are you in a rush, Lily?”

“Not in particular,” Lily replied, before she lowered her voice. “What disturbs me is the lack of official response regarding Julan, though.”

“What do you mean?” Claud asked.

“Usually, for an incident of such a scale, many people would be called on to investigate. As this is technically a crime of disrespecting the Emperor, for targeting his representative, even Duke Istrel would have to send in some people to check on the situation, even though Julan is under the Schwa Dukedom.” Lily rubbed her nose. “Especially since Julan is on the border. Normally, Duke Istrel would block off the border, but…”

“There’s such a thing?”

“Well, the fact that you don’t know about anything shows that either Duke Istrel authorised a covert investigation, or he couldn’t be bothered to at all,” Lily replied.

“Why spend resources to investigate a foe’s internal affairs?” Claud shook his head. Lily, like him, had already caught wind of the upcoming war between the dukes. Rumour had it that the day Duke Istrel became Ruler Istrel would end an era of peace.

Claud was never one to follow and believe in rumours blindly, but the way so many things seemed to make sense when approached from that angle did hint at war.

The past few centuries had been one of relative peace, so the master thief could only chalk it down to bad luck, since such an event had happened in his lifetime.

“Still, the cause of all this is Ruler Umbra’s death,” Lily murmured. “Funny how an old man’s death is going to lead to so many more.”

Taking a sip from his cup, Claud leaned back on his chair and sighed. “Truly a waste of so many lifestones. Just how many pure-ranked lifestones did Ruler Umbra consume, to live so long? And how many years were wasted from his untimely death?”

“You have a very odd fixation,” Lily muttered. “That's a hundred percent you, though.”

Rolling his eyes, the master thief looked around the first floor of the inn. It was fairly crowded, which was natural, given that most of the people here were currently unwilling to step out of the city. Monsters, especially intelligent ones, respected and feared Emperor Grandis’ decree, but his decree did not extend to the protection of those who were like bold or strong enough to step out alone.

“Murder!”

A shrill scream shattered the peaceful scene, and a ripple ran through everyone present. On instinct, Claud got up and followed the crowd out of the inn, Lily close on his heels, and his stomach churned as everyone stopped at a brutal murder.

On a cottage’s doorstep was an adult man, whose torso had been nailed to the doorstep with a thick spear. The spear had impaled the victim with extreme force, creating a gory collage of blood and flesh onto the walls of the cottage.

“What happened?”

“He started screaming, and then a spear just flew down from the sky!”

“He’s dead!”

“Murder! Call the guards!”

After listening to the words and sentences bandied around, Claud soon got a rough idea of what happened. Just a minute ago, the victim was locking the entrance to his cottage when he broke down into hysterics, which lasted for around ten seconds before a spear fell from the sky, killing him on the spot.

The others chattered away, but the distrust and fear in their eyes were very much noticeable. Claud had no doubt that if the sounds of spears flying were to enter their ears, everyone would either duck or flee…and the latter would induce a stampede of rather fatal proportions.

Backing away slowly, he pulled Lily along, taking slow steps back so as to not trigger any unfortunate events. He couldn’t help think about the Spear of Fate, who had tossed a spear at the monster, but that fellow had vanished into parts unknown.

Was it him? And if so, why?

“What’s wrong?” Lily asked.

“Just playing it safe,” said Claud. “This whole setup looks like one ripe for a stampede. If anything happens…”

After retreating a safe distance away from the crowd, he heaved a small sigh of relief. “I must have been mad to follow the others along.”

“It’s human nature to be curious,” Lily replied.

“And it’s the prerogative of cold-blooded murderers to make use of that very nature,” Claud replied. “If the killer was someone who simply revelled in murder, tossing a second spear into that crowd would probably result in even more deaths.”

He narrowed his eyes. “But it seems that the victim’s death probably had some motivation to it. Or maybe he wants us to think that, so that the local authorities would spend resources and manpower on investigating the deceased, freeing him to commit more murders at night.”

“You sound quite experienced,” said Lily. “You don’t happen to be one such killer yourself, do you?”

“Rubbish. These people are the very antithesis of my existence,” Claud replied coldly. “I yearn for eternal life. But as a corollary, living alone is boring at times. Unfulfilling, even. Every life lost, therefore, is the cessation of a possibility.”

“Do you know that you sound like a philosopher now?” Lily asked.

“It’s my largest passion, living forever with other people.” Claud smiled, somewhat proud of himself. “It’s natural that I would speak with an eloquence I rarely exhibit.”

“O-okay.” Lily sighed. “Still, spears…”

“Are you thinking the same thing as me?” Claud asked. “You know, that punk who stole the mana herb and left a spear in that three-headed snake while he was at it?”

“A tetra-folder killing vanillas,” Lily muttered. “Doesn’t bode well for anyone.”

“Why would such a person do that?” Claud shook his head. “The motive just isn’t there. Did that poor sod offend him somehow? I doubt that either.”

Lily nodded. “Most people are more than eager to please the moment they encounter a mana-user…or at the very least, wise enough to not anger them. I cannot really see any vanilla trying to antagonise a mana-user without a really compelling reason.”

“Should we investigate, then?” Claud asked.

“Are you?”

“Given a choice, naturally not.” Claud tapped his feet. “We’re talking about a potential tetra-folder here, and even if our guess is wrong, the perp is someone strong enough to hurl spears with this much deadliness.”

“In that case, why are you asking?” Lily questioned.

“On the off-chance that the two of us are his targets,” Claud replied. “And you might have some obscure sense of justice that I would need to account for. In that case, rather than having you run off on your own in silence, having me to help you seek out the killer would be infinitely more palatable.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t have that kind of complex,” Lily replied. “But it is possible that the two of us might be in danger. In fact, if we didn’t investigate, we’ll have to be careful from here on out. The killer might expand his area of operations…and Licencia isn’t all that far off.”

“From all this…are you in favour of investigating?” Claud asked.

“I am, but unfortunately, Risti isn’t here,” said Lily. “She has the relevant skills. I don’t. Do you?”

Claud shook his head.

After debating the issue for a while longer, Claud and Lily agreed to keep an eye out. They wouldn’t be investigating personally, but they could at least keep an alert eye out for any spear-wielding murderer.

Setting up some traps once they returned, Claud pulled out a small piece of paper and began to imbue yet another skill.