Chapter 9: A Night Raid

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Chapter 9: A Night Raid

Charlie returned to the Oak Tavern.

It was a little after nine in the evening, when the tavern was at its liveliest. To mercenaries who made their living on the edge of death, the knight order going to a nearby market to arrest a local guru was nothing more than tossing a small stone into a lake. Aside from those with something to hide, no one paid it any attention.

Charlie was different. He wasn’t a customer who usually showed up at this hour.

Mishlei, the tavern’s server and the owner’s youngest son, happened to walk past carrying a keg and greeted him curiously. “Charlie, what brings you here so late tonight?”

“I had an appointment with the barber, but he wasn’t there.” Charlie gave him a troubled look. “Do you know where he went?”

Mishlei glanced at Charlie’s pale face without the slightest suspicion. “Him? Probably some horribly unlucky mercenary went looking for him to get patched up again. Happens all the time.”

A tavern was a hub for all kinds of information. And a low-ranking folk doctor like the barber probably treated not only ordinary townsfolk, but a large number of mercenaries as well.

Put the two together, and the tavern was the safest place to look for him. It was close, too.

Fresh venison pies had just come out of the oven, so Charlie ordered one, along with a bottle of mead to take home. Alcohol was best consumed in moderation, but mead was one of Totolando’s prized specialties, and it was said to have detoxifying properties.

Buying a bottle to take home and having half a cup now and then to warm himself up wasn’t a bad idea.

“Wait here.” Mishlei turned and went back to work.

Charlie waited by the bar for a while. None of the busybodies came over to tease him today. A few mercenaries sitting nearby were busy complaining about the recent weather.

Apparently, the Black Forest’s ice-and-snow season had lasted even longer than in previous years, which was why the temperature still hadn’t risen. The magic river hadn’t thawed, and the fish inside were still hibernating. The mercenaries had hoped to make some quick money from them, but now that opportunity had slipped away again.

Those were demonic qilin fish that, despite eating people, were said to have delicious meat. If sold in the royal capital, even one the size of a palm could fetch a good price.

Listening to the idle chatter, Charlie finally received his venison pie and mead. But just then, the mercenaries sitting by the window noticed something happening outside.

“Why are the Black-Armored Knights heading out again?”

One deployment of the Black-Armored Knights was like a small stone tossed into a lake. But a second deployment within the same day, and to the very same area, was another matter entirely.

The tavern’s customers all turned to look curiously. Charlie blended into the crowd without attracting any attention. Carrying his food and drink, he walked to the door and saw the knight squad racing toward the barber’s shop. Just as I thought.

Sure enough.

The area around Gray Hat Street and the barber’s shop must have been under the knight order’s surveillance. That knight captain from earlier had been extremely alert. The look he’d given Charlie hadn’t been an ordinary glance.

It had seemed almost like some kind of skill—sharp and piercing, as though it could strike straight at the soul.

Someone like that was bound to be cautious, meticulous, and perhaps even suspicious by nature.

Charlie looked back over everything he’d done. Every step had seemed perfectly reasonable, yet somehow, each reasonable step had brought with it an absurdly high chance of stepping on a land mine. He had merely followed Mrs. Macken’s suggestion and gone to see a doctor, looking for a reasonable excuse for his pale complexion, only to end up at the barber’s door.

Was this Totolando’s starter gift for transmigrators?

Charlie had also begun to wonder where exactly the copy of The Magic Guide in the guru’s possession had come from. Ben had called it a forbidden grimoire, but it really was useful, and its author was a friend of Pinecone Tower’s owner…

If there was something wrong with the book’s origins, then it was only a matter of time before the knight order came looking for him.

But… if they really came looking for Pinecone Tower, perhaps Charlie could learn the tower’s owner’s name from the knight order?

No. Trying to find out would still be far too risky.

In that instant, Charlie’s mind raced through countless possibilities. Perhaps he’d thought too much, because he could feel another faint headache coming on. He took a deep breath and headed toward Pinecone Tower.

The cold wind swept past him, making him shiver. He instinctively drew his robe tighter around himself.

There were still very few people on Gray Hat Street. Most of the candlelights that had still been burning when Charlie passed through earlier had now gone out. Whatever had happened on the other street hadn’t disturbed them.

Charlie took one last look back at the magic clock. It was 9:44 p.m.

He pushed open the door to Pinecone Tower. Everything inside appeared normal.

Charlie lit the fire, took out the venison pie, which was still slightly warm, and heated it up again. Then he poured himself half a cup of mead and let out a long sigh as he enjoyed his delicious late-night snack.

By the time he’d finished half his drink and eaten the venison pie, he took The Magic Guide over to the firelight and began reading. He didn’t say much, simply sitting there quietly with his book. Before long, his eyelids began to grow heavy.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when his grip loosened and the book nearly slipped from his hand. His complexion was still somewhat pale, and wrapped in his cloak, he looked as though he was still a little sensitive to the cold.

Little by little, the kitchen fell silent save for the sound of the charcoal burning and Charlie’s faint breathing. Just as peace and tranquility began to settle over the room—

“Thud.” The book fell to the floor.

At the same time, a dagger pressed against Charlie’s throat.

In the firelight, its blade gleamed coldly.

The cold touch jolted Charlie awake. He had just started to move when someone firmly pinned his shoulder down. A deliberately lowered male voice came from behind him. “Dear guest, please don’t move during treatment.”

The barber!

Charlie was shocked, and the astonishment on his face was impossible to hide. His pale green eyes widened slightly as he seemed to try to catch the man’s reflection in the firelight. “You…”

“Shh.” The barber leaned forward slightly, his voice carrying a smile. “Bloodletting from different parts of the body produces different effects, you know.”

Charlie swallowed with difficulty. “What do you want?”

The barber smiled. “I just need to borrow your place to hide for a while. You’ve already been to my shop, haven’t you?”

“I was just at the Oak Tavern. I saw people from the Black-Armored Knights go there, too.”

“So, are you going to notify them?”

Charlie was certain that if he dared to shout, the dagger would slit his throat and fill his airway with blood. Just then, the barber spoke again. “You’re calmer than I expected.”

“Everyone on Gray Hat Street calls me a daydreamer, and plenty of people mock me for it. If I panicked every time something happened, I’d have been driven out of Magipo by now.” Charlie had no intention of simply playing weak. With a genuine criminal, showing weakness might only bring out his sadistic side.

Nor had Charlie ever considered his former self a weakling. The fact that he had grown up safely on a lord’s estate, then come to Magipo despite everyone doubting him and picked himself up after rejection after rejection, proved that he was no coward.

The barber didn’t answer. He seemed to be reassessing Charlie.

He could feel the faint tremor of Charlie’s shoulder beneath his palm. Charlie was still afraid. His heart was beating rapidly, and his fragile-looking neck seemed as though it could snap with the slightest pressure. Still—he had courage.

“If you’re willing to cooperate, I won’t kill you.” The barber shifted his wrist slightly, sliding the blade higher along Charlie’s neck and forcing him to raise his head.

A strand of golden hair fell across the dagger and was severed instantly.

The instant the golden strand hit the floor, Charlie finally saw the man’s face. His pupils contracted. It was his own face—the exact same face as his!

He even had the same golden hair!

The barber seemed quite pleased by his reaction. He smiled and said, “Perhaps with that face of yours and that courage, you’d make a fine assassin who strikes when no one expects it, rather than a mage.”

In a flash, Charlie understood. Whether the barber was using magic or some kind of trick, he had definitely used some special means to disguise himself as Charlie.

He was at Pinecone Tower, disguised as Charlie. What was he planning to do with Charlie’s identity?

Alarms went off in Charlie’s mind. He quietly clenched his fists, his voice dry. “Are you an assassin?”

The barber replied casually, “Who knows?”

Charlie steadied himself before asking again, “What exactly happened? Can you tell me?”

The barber asked with interest, “Aren’t you afraid that the more you know, the faster you’ll die?”

Charlie’s heart was pounding, but his thoughts remained exceptionally clear. “That book from the guru has already dragged me into this. The knight order will come looking for me sooner or later, and you’ve even disguised yourself as me. Even if you eventually let me go, can I really stay out of this? I may not be able to become a mage, but I don’t want to die without knowing why.”

The barber finally withdrew the dagger. “An excellent reason. But unfortunately, you aren’t in a position to negotiate with me yet.”

With that, he pulled a small transparent glass bottle from his pocket and tossed it over. “Drink this, and I’ll let you go. Don’t worry. It’s not poison. It’ll only send you into a long, pleasant dream. By the time you wake up, perhaps everything will be over.”

Charlie caught the bottle and looked back at the barber. “Do I really have to drink it?”

The barber toyed with the dagger. “I believe I already told you. You aren’t in a position to negotiate with me.”

“I see.” Charlie murmured softly, staring at the bottle with his eyes lowered.

The barber found the sight genuinely fascinating. How did this young man manage to look so pitiful whenever he wanted? Under different circumstances, he might even have felt a little tenderness toward him…

Suddenly, something came whistling through the air from behind.

The barber’s expression changed slightly, and he was just about to turn and defend himself.

But at that very moment, Charlie suddenly sprang into action. He grabbed the long robe he had never taken off and flung it forward. The robe spread out like a giant net, covering the barber’s head and blocking his vision, plunging his world into darkness in an instant. Even someone as quick-witted as the barber was caught off guard.

Damn it.

The barber gritted his teeth. The next instant, his dagger tore through the robe, but the object that had come hurtling through the air behind him slammed hard into the back of his head.

Charlie didn’t stop for even a moment. As he flung the robe, he kicked the back of the barber’s knee and grabbed a chair with his other hand. Just as the enraged barber unleashed a killing move—

“Crack!”

Charlie brought the chair down with all his strength, with a decisiveness he’d never shown before.

The barber groaned and collapsed to the floor, and a whole scatter of throwing knives fell with him. If Charlie had been even one second slower, those blades would have turned him into a sieve.

“Cough, cough, cough…” Charlie began coughing violently. He had exerted too much force just now, and after everything he’d already been through lately, it had been quite a strain.

Fortunately, fights that relied on catching the opponent off guard tended to end quickly.

After finally catching his breath, Charlie glanced at the unconscious barber and forced himself to examine him. He discovered that the man already had wounds on his body.

So the signs of a fight inside the barber shop had been genuine. The barber was already injured, and on top of that, he’d underestimated Charlie too badly. That was why he’d ended up falling into Charlie’s hands.

Ben’s skull rolled over. As the accomplice who had smashed the back of the barber’s head, he couldn’t wait to ask, “How did you know someone would come after you left?”

“At first, I was simply keeping my guard up.”

Whether or not that knight captain was suspicious by nature, Charlie certainly was.

“Then I discovered that the barber was gone, and that’s when I really started to suspect someone might come to the tower. There were signs of a fight in the barber shop. The mirror and wall clock had both been damaged to varying degrees, and when I arrived outside the shop, the fight should have just ended. With members of the Black-Armored Knights watching this area, running out in the open would have drawn far too much attention. If someone wanted to lie low for a while, where would they hide?”

At that point, there could be someone in any household. The only place they could be certain was empty was—Pinecone Tower.

Because Charlie was on his way to an appointment.

No one would have expected that the strange tower abandoned for so many years was actually a mage tower—and that there was a talking skeleton inside.

Before leaving, Charlie had made an agreement with Ben: if anything happened inside the tower while Charlie was gone, Ben would remain silent. And when Charlie returned, he indeed didn’t hear another word from Ben.

When Charlie lowered his eyes and made that expression, it was the signal to attack.

Fortunately, their first attempt at working together had gone fairly well.

“He came into the bedroom and went through your books. He even tried to go to the fourth floor, which scared me half to death. But he didn’t know the Door-Opening Spell, so he couldn’t get in. Later, he hid in the linen room and kept secretly watching you from behind while you were reading.”

“Watching you, he gradually started to look like you. Creepy.”

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