21. Tristan: First Job (IV)

  The attacker was wearing a mask, but Tristan could swear he looked terrified.

  Rosalina had taken the full force of his lightning but somehow remained completely unscathed.

  And then – she moved.

  With a flick of her wrist, she spun the handle of her great sword, the massive weapon still embedded in the ground.

  Then, in one seamless motion, she pulled.

  Suddenly, a thinner blade, which reminded Tristan of a Japanese katana, slid free from within the core of the great sword. The larger outer blade of the great sword remained buried in the stone, almost as if it had been nothing more than a sheath all along.

  Tristan eyes widened. ‘Her sword…was two swords?’

  Rosalina twirled the katana-like blade once, then propelled herself forward toward the masked attacker.

  “Let’s see if you can handle those swords without using magic.” She called out as she swung at him.

  The masked figure barely reacted in time, hastily bringing both swords up to block Rosalina’s strike. The instant their blades met, Rosalina thrust her leg forward, landing a sharp kick into his stomach.

  The masked attacker gasped, stumbling backward as Rosalina immediately pressed on. She swung again.

  The masked figure desperately tried to defend himself, but each of Rosalina’s movements seemed calculated several steps ahead.

  It was like watching a master swordswoman fighting her young, clueless disciple.

  He countered weakly, aiming for her side, but Rosalina easily blocked the strike, knocking one of his swords out of his hands. She followed up by pivoting aggressively, her sword slicing upward and forcing the attacker to stumble. Then, her foot struck again, this time sweeping his legs out from beneath him.

  As he fell, he desperately tried to roll away and get back to his feet.

  “So, the swords were just for show, I guess…” Rosalina remarked mockingly, following the scrambling attacker as he finally stood up.

  But she didn’t give him the chance to regain his footing. In one smooth motion, she closed the distance between them, her sword clashing hard against his remaining sword and knocking it aside. Then, expertly, she slammed the flat side of her blade into his chest, sending him staggering backward again.

  Rosalina finished the exchange decisively, pivoting on one foot to deliver a powerful kick straight into the attacker’s chest. The masked figure flew backward, crashing against the tavern’s wall and hitting the back of his head at it.

  He fell forward, unconscious.

  “You can come out now, Little Devil.” Rosalina said, grinning triumphantly.

  ***

  “How the hell did you do that?” Tristan asked Rosalina as she tied the unconscious attacker’s hands and feet with some glowing yellow rope. “Were you secretly a mage all this time?”

  Rosalina chuckled at the suggestion. “Hell no. Don’t even joke about that with me.”

  “Then how?”

  She finished tying the rope and raised her hand toward Tristan, pointing at the ring on her ring finger. It was a simple silvery metallic ring. Nothing special. In fact, it was far too ugly to even be considered an accessory.

  “That’s the most disgusting ring I’ve ever seen.” Tristan said without thinking. “How does it work?”

  Rosalina laughed harder. “Well, it’s certainly not meant for looks, but it does the job. It’s made from a metal called taelium. This one is triple-refined, meaning it can and will nullify any magic cast on me by someone level three or lower. They’re rare – maybe one in ten thousand people have something like mine, and the higher you climb the refinement ladder, the rarer they become.”

  ‘So, things like this exist in this world, huh?’ Tristan thought, but a different thing bothered him.

  “But how did you know this guy didn’t have four or five Cognition Threads in Lightning Magic?”

  Rosalina shrugged. “I didn’t.”

  Tristan’s eyes widened in shock. “So, you’re saying you just gambled? With your life on the line?”

  She scoffed dismissively. “Be reasonable, Little Devil. People with four of five Threads in any type of magic – people like your father – are already ruling the world or at least on their way there. They’re not nobodies left behind to guard a stolen shipment of Defeorica.”

  Tristan sighed. Her logic was sound, but it still felt like an unnecessary risk to take.

  “Let’s see who’s behind the mask.” Rosalina suggested, reaching for the figure’s face.

  She removed the red mask and its attached hood, revealing a young man whose hair was cropped short, matching the length of his spiky beard

  “I know this person.” Rosalina suddenly said, eyes widening in surprise. “But that doesn’t make sense…”

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  “What’s wrong? Who is he?” Tristan asked.

  Rosalina shook her head. “A nobody really. Just a kid thief I saved once – during the time before I lost my eye.”

  “And why wouldn’t it make sense for a known thief to steal from us?”

  Tristan already assumed the answer to that question but wanted to hear Rosalina’s explanation. He felt like she might be holding something back from him.

  “Because he’s Dalinian, born and raised. There’s no way he’d willingly steal from Ifrit, even if he was funded by someone from Kuisar. He’s not that stupid.”

  “Then maybe he’s not one of the two men Holt spoke about.” Tristan suggested.

  Rosalina nodded. “Probably not.”

  “We should check the tavern for clues and our Defeorica before waking him up.” Tristan ordered.

  ***

  Tristan and Rosalina found the stolen crate of Defeorica in a storage room at the back of the abandoned White Gull tavern.

  But other than that? Nothing. It seemed that the thieves had been smart enough not to leave any clues behind. Now, their only lead was to interrogate the attacker.

  Rosalina pulled out a small vial filled with ammonia salts and brought it close to the unconscious man’s nose.

  It did the trick immediately. His tied body shifted uncomfortably, and moments later, his eyes shot wide open.

  “Do you remember me, kid?” Rosalina asked, holding her katana in a way that clearly conveyed immediate danger.

  The young man turned away, but his gaze soon fell on Tristan, causing his eyes to widen. “Another kid you saved?”

  “No.” Rosalina replied. “This is – “

  “I’m Tristan Vortalis.” Tristan interrupted her, taking the initiative.

  “Vortalis…?” The young man narrowed his eyes, glancing at Rosalina for confirmation. She simple nodded.

  He quickly turned back to Tristan. “Forgive me. I didn’t mean any offence.”

  “You’ve offended me the moment you stole from my family. Do you have anything to say in your defense?” Tristan pressed.

  The young man appeared startled by Tristan’s authoritative tone – he clearly hadn’t expected a child to speak with such gravity.

  “Answer the Young Master.” Rosalina commanded coldly.

  The young man swallowed hard. “I wasn’t stealing. And seeing Ifrit’s son here makes it obvious to me now – I was fooled.”

  “Fooled?” Tristan echoed.

  “Yes.” The man nodded. “They told me they were trying to catch a traitor. Said I needed to steal a crate marked with invisible ink to draw them out.”

  “Who told you that?” Tristan and Rosalina asked almost simultaneously

  The young man shook his head in disbelief. “Those two damn Partans!”

  ***

  Carrying Tristan with one arm, Rosalina rushed back to the warehouse.

  “I don’t get it.” Tristan called out. “Weren’t they there all day? Why not just steal whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted? They clearly had access. Why pull off this elaborate scheme to clean the entire warehouse?”

  “It’s not that simple.” Rosalina explained between breaths as she ran. “Even if David and Fenek decided to defect and betray Ifrit, it doesn’t mean the rest of the Partans would too. So, no. They couldn’t just steal things openly without being stopped.”

  She sharply cut around a corner without slowing down. “Once the robbery was announced, those two were assigned guard duty – probably even volunteered for it – while the rest of the Partans from the warehouse got reassigned elsewhere. After all, a warehouse that had just been robbed would naturally be investigated by the Peacekeepers, and no one would expect another theft to happen so soon after they interfere. So, there was no need for more than two Partans.”

  Tristan nodded slowly, piecing things together. “So, this Fenek guy – I assume he was there all along, hiding in the warehouse and not at the Peacekeepers’ station?”

  “Very likely.” Rosalina replied, cutting another corner. “They waited for the Peacekeepers to finish their investigation and leave, then planned to use their freedom to steal whatever they wanted afterward. But we came along and interrupted their plans. I don’t think they knew it would be us to investigate this, but that’s what the elaborate plan was for – to draw whoever came to investigate as far away from the warehouse as possible.”

  The realization suddenly hit Tristan even harder. “I bet those other crates weren’t opened by the Peacekeepers like David claimed. They were opening them themselves before we arrived.”

  “David clearly lost it.” Rosalina muttered bitterly. “He was always…weird. But I guess he’s finally gone completely insane.” She shook her head, clearly frustrated. “You were right, Little Devil. It really was an inside job. I can’t believe I missed it.”

  Tristan rolled his eyes internally.

  “Maybe you’ll trust me more next time.” He said, going for the smug approach.

  “If there even is a next time.” Rosalina replied, grimacing. “Your father might actually kill me for this failure.”

  Before Tristan could retort, they reached the warehouse, but David the Partan was nowhere to be seen.

  Tristan quickly grabbed the Thermolis and scanned the warehouse for heat signatures, but nothing appeared.

  “They’re not there.” He told Rosalina.

  “Shit.” Rosalina gritted her teeth. “Figures. We’ve been gone for hours.”

  They hurried inside the warehouse, only to find even more crates missing.

  “Shit.” Rosalina repeated angrily, growing nervous.

  “Think quickly.” Tristan pressed her. “Where could they have gone? With this many crates missing, they couldn’t have gotten far on foot.”

  Rosalina rubbed the back of her head, deep in thought.

  Suddenly, Tristan’s eyes lit up. “We’re at the docks! They could’ve taken a boat!”

  Rosalina shook her head doubtfully. “No, that’s impossible. The harbor gets locked down at night for security reasons. Boats aren’t allowed to enter or leave until sunrise.”

  “Then maybe they’ve loaded a boat and are waiting onboard until sunrise!” Tristan exclaimed, growing more confident in his hunch. He turned to Rosalina, in disbelief she couldn’t see it. “I don’t know what’s your story with David is, but you need to focus.”

  Rosalina’s eyes widened at his words, but after a moment, she nodded slowly.

  “You’re right.” She said eventually. “I will trust your instincts from now on, Little Devil.”

  Together, they rushed toward the docks, searching for the boat where David and Fenek might have been hiding.

  Using the Thermolis they noticed that some of the boats were clearly empty, their owners likely residents of Dalina who spent nights comfortably ashore. Other empty ones probably had their crews passed out in nearby inns or drinking in taverns until dawn. But several boats had visible heat signatures.

  “They could be on any of these boats.” Tristan said, exasperated. “It’s entirely possible that they had bribed their way aboard one, securing passage in exchange for some of the stolen goods. God, it’ll take forever to check all of them.”

  Rosalina shook her head sharply. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”

  Tristan raised an eyebrow curiously. “What do you mean?”

  “Give me your pouch – the one with the Reaver Worms.” Rosalina said suddenly, extending a hand.

  Tristan instinctively clutched the pouch tighter, frowning. “Why?”

  “One of the worms carries Perception Magic.” Rosalina explained. “If I use it, my sense of smell will become strong enough to pick out the scent of the stolen crates. It’ll narrow our search significantly.”

  Tristan hesitated. Dante had warned him about the dangers of using Reaver Worms. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see Rosalina go through them. Yet, at the same time, curiosity gnawed at him. The path of stolen magic was going to be his path – he was sure of it. He was sure his magic wasn’t going to return to him. And so, he wanted to see exactly how the worms worked – but certainly not on himself. Rosalina was offering him a perfect opportunity.

  “Fine.” He said eventually, handing her the small pouch of vials.

  Rosalina nodded, carefully selecting the vial containing the correct worm for the task.

  When she used the Reaver Worm, Tristan witnessed firsthand the excruciating pain a tiny worm like this could inflict – even upon someone as strong and resilient as Rosalina.