Chapter 52

The throat-clearing came from the driver.

The stout man had apparently finished unloading in no time with Edwin and Julien's help.

He turned to face the three of them standing there, then dipped into a respectful bow.

"It was an honor to serve you, young masters. I wish you the very best on your mission. And Master Edwin—please take good care of yourself. Beneath the surface, you're actually quite ni—"

"Hey! What kind of nonsense are you spouting! Get out of here!"

Edwin's face went red as he barked at the driver.

But the man didn't seem bothered in the slightest, simply letting out an easygoing chuckle.

"—Hyah! Let's go!"

The carriage that had brought them lurched back into motion. With the driver's booming command, it swung around and disappeared toward the village outskirts.

Mikhail watched Edwin wave at the departing carriage, then quietly turned his head.

His gaze landed on Julien's figure, standing a few paces behind them.

Come to think of it, his mana had been looking off for a while now.

"......"

Julien stood rooted in place.

The massive pack still strapped to his back, he stared down at his own palm with vacant eyes—frozen like a statue.

His violet irises seemed to be tracing nothing of any meaning, but—

Fzzt.

A flicker of light sparked from Julien's fingertips.

He didn't seem to notice. His face stayed blank, eyelids blinking open and shut in an empty rhythm.

Hmm.

Mikhail watched the scene in silence, then turned his eyes forward without a word.

His brow pinched as he drew a low, quiet breath.

The details were unclear, but one thing was certain: Julien's mana was going to erupt sooner than expected.

Reading the signs, if things kept going at this rate, it would happen within a day or two.

Then I'll need to move the plan up.

Mikhail tapped his fingers against his arm, sinking into thought.

Then he shifted his gaze ahead and clenched the hand hanging at his side.

A moment passed. Mikhail turned and walked toward Julien, who stood behind him.

"......"

Julien's head hung low. He was completely still—no sign that he had any awareness of his own condition.

The mana had swallowed him whole, pulling his consciousness under. But bringing him back wouldn't be difficult. Not yet, at least.

Mikhail gauged the situation and placed a hand on Julien's slumped shoulder.

Tap.

Julien's body flinched. His eyes rose slowly.

He looked at Mikhail through a haze—dazed, confused, and bewildered, each expression passing across his face in turn.

Mikhail paused for a beat. Then he spoke in a low voice.

"Let's move. Follow the road and we'll reach the request office soon."

---

Come on, get it together.

They were on the road leading to the square. Julien patted his cheeks with one hand and shook his head.

Ever since they'd neared Colton Winery, his mind had stayed clouded—like a thick fog had rolled in and refused to lift.

And I think I'm a little nauseous, too.

Julien chewed his lip and fiddled with the back of his neck.

No fever, no throbbing headache—so it wasn't a cold.

He hadn't eaten anything before boarding the carriage, which ruled out an upset stomach.

And surely it wasn't the sleeping sickness plaguing Colton Winery... since he wasn't the least bit drowsy.

"......"

The more he turned it over, the more the likely explanations fell away one by one, and everything else that came to mind didn't hold up either.

He struck down one possibility after another. When the process was done, only one remained.

That his current state might be caused by the mana dwelling inside him. But—

No. There's absolutely no way.

Julien shook his head with conviction. And with it, a memory from four days ago surfaced.

A remote corner of campus where he'd never expected to run into anyone.

The moment Ethan had found him there.

—CRASH!

A fair number of the relics I'd prepared did get wrecked that time.

It was true that the unexpected encounter had kept him from venting as much mana as he'd planned.

But even so—there shouldn't have been enough residual mana to cause his body problems overnight.

He should have been perfectly fine for at least three or four days. Even accounting for the steeper-than-expected growth rate...

Tap.

Something nudged his hunched body from ahead. Julien startled and looked up.

A roadside tree stood one step in front of him.

Mikhail's left arm stretched across the air like a gate, blocking his path.

"Watch where you're going."

Mikhail glanced back and murmured the warning. Under those watchful eyes, Julien managed a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, sorry."

"Don't talk. Just keep your eyes forward."

Julien followed Mikhail's instruction and looked ahead.

Edwin's grumbling drifted over in fragments, complaining about the sudden stop.

On the street where two patrol guards had just passed, a traveler stood checking his wallet and muttering to himself.

"What, it's perfectly fine. ...Tch, always someone telling me what to do. Like some pickpocket's such a big deal?"

The traveler grumbled as if the whole thing was a nuisance and moved his hand toward the pocket on the side of his coat.

That was the exact moment. Behind the hand gripping the wallet, something flashed past like an afterimage.

"Huh?"

Julien let out a dazed sound.

The wallet in the traveler's hand had been swapped for a scrap of worn cloth in the blink of an eye.

"Hmm, which wine should I try this time..."

But the traveler seemed completely oblivious.

He stuffed the ragged scrap into his pocket and strolled into the liquor shop.

Julien stood there, a faint question mark hanging on his lips.

What on earth just happened? He'd watched it unfold right before his eyes, and he still couldn't believe it.

At that moment, Edwin thrust out his hand and shouted.

"What—what was that! Where'd it go! That was definitely a wallet just now. I saw it with my own two—!"

Edwin's sputtering outburst hadn't even reached its conclusion when—

—TAP!

Mikhail broke into a sprint and cut sharply into the alley on the right, vanishing from sight.

There wasn't even time to ask what was going on.

"!"

Julien stared after Mikhail with wide eyes, then clenched his fists. He bolted forward.

"Hey, where are you—!"

"Follow me! Just come!"

Julien shouted back at Edwin and ducked into the alley.

The incident had struck right after Mikhail told him to watch ahead. Mikhail clearly knew more than he was letting on.

Julien recalled the standard protocol for situations like this.

When one member had information the others didn't, getting in each other's way was the easiest trap to fall into.

The smarter move was to match the other person's lead and ask questions after.

Ta-da-dat.

After rounding four or five alleys, Mikhail's familiar figure came into view.

Julien wrestled down the breath crushing his chest and the knees threatening to buckle, barely keeping himself upright.

He slowed his pace and closed the distance.

"......"

Mikhail stood motionless in the deserted side street, staring straight ahead.

Nothing but the maze of alleyways surrounded him, and somewhere in the distance, a set of footsteps was fading away.

Whoooosh.

A stray gust of wind swept across his flushed cheeks.

"Ha."

After a moment, Mikhail let out a sigh while still facing forward, then turned toward Julien behind him.

Irises the color of a still, settled night sky fixed directly on Julien.

"Phew..."

Julien steadied his breathing, which kept threatening to run away from him, and opened his mouth to ask about what had just happened.

But Mikhail spoke first.

"Sorry. I didn't have time to explain. The one who just got away—that's the pickpocket who's been terrorizing the village."

It was as if he'd read Julien's mind.

While Julien blinked in surprise, Mikhail continued without pause.

"The target profile, the patterns of appearance, how often they show up, anything unusual about their movements. When I put all the clues together, I thought that traveler might be the next mark. So I was watching—and I got lucky."

Julien stared at Mikhail and pressed his lips together.

What flashed through his mind was the image of Mikhail in the carriage, flipping through that thick bundle of papers.

Distributed bulletins, newspapers, basic investigation reports from Colton Winery. Had he studied all of that for this very moment?

"......"

Julien swallowed once, then gradually eased the tension from his expression.

He nodded and let a small smile settle on his lips.

He was about to say it—now that he understood the situation, they could talk through the next steps together and figure it out from here.

"—More importantly. Julien."

But his lips froze just before they parted.

Mikhail's voice pierced through and lodged itself in his ear—sharp and unmistakable, like a bell ringing across a snowfield.

The kind of voice that seized a person's attention in a single breath.

"......"

Julien forgot whatever he'd been about to say and watched Mikhail's lips move.

Mikhail's gaze cut through to something beneath the surface, keen and probing, as he added one more thing.

"You're doing okay, right?"

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