“Time feels like it’s floating aimlessly.”
It was just past lunchtime, leaving roughly half a day until the appointed time.
Having nothing to do, I wandered around, casually browsing the shops.
The place that caught my attention the most, of course, was the street of blacksmiths.
The sword I currently had was something Theonar owned even before I possessed it.
Its quality wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t exceptional either.
“I should get myself a sword at some point.”
Not knowing much about swords, I felt it wasn’t wise to buy one immediately.
I planned to ask Sylvia for recommendations later.
Among the gifts I had received, there was a sword, but…
‘How am I supposed to carry that around?’
It was heavily adorned with jewels and ornaments, making it feel too gaudy to use as a weapon.
‘I’ve heard it’s best to have one custom-made, considering your build and arm length. I should wait for now.’
The city where Arcane was located was called “Heroin,” not far from the imperial capital.
It wasn’t a large city originally, but it had grown rapidly after Arcane was established, turning into a bustling tourist destination.
As a result, various cultural industries have developed here.
For instance, there were plays based on rumors from high society or group prayers led by the Holy Order with the participation of the saintess.
There were other attractions as well, but those two were the most notable.
The plays were held in Heroin’s central plaza, so I decided to attend one to pass the time.
“Are you a student of Arcane?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Then, with the discount applied… Here you go!”
Though I wasn’t wearing Arcane’s uniform, the ticket booth staff recognized the badge on my sleeve and handed me a ticket at a 50% discount.
‘This kind of detail wasn’t in the original story.’
Getting discounts just for being an Arcane student…
I wondered if there were other benefits I didn’t know about and decided to look into it later when I had time.
‘Let’s see, row A-3…’
After finding my seat and sitting down, I waited for the play to begin.
“Hey, have you heard about that?”
“If you’re talking about Lady Bichen, then yes.”
“My goodness, how vulgar.”
“I heard she seduced the owner of that clothing shop?”
“Yeah, and then suddenly disappeared. Everyone’s in a fuss about it.”
From a few seats away, I could hear people whispering softly.
Judging by their darting eyes, they all seemed to know about it.
Though everyone around clearly heard them due to their loud voices, they all pretended not to by coughing awkwardly.
“The young viscount who had his eyes on Lady Bichen must be feeling quite bitter.”
“He was so blatant about it; everyone knew.”
At first, I thought it was just a typical scandal everyone was trying to hush up.
But it turned out there was a deeper reason.
‘A viscount?’
Apparently, people were avoiding the topic altogether out of fear of upsetting certain nobles.
‘Who could it possibly be?’
Since Arcane was located here, there wasn’t any governing noble family.
This area was directly under the emperor’s jurisdiction, meaning only he could intervene.
‘I don’t think there’s a count family nearby.’
It wasn’t easy to pinpoint who it was with just the title of count, considering the empire’s long history and abundance of nobles.
‘Forget it. Gray will take care of it.’
It wasn’t something that concerned me anyway.
I dismissed their conversation as idle chatter and focused on the play.
.
.
.
.
.
“Ah, this is unbearable.”
But I couldn’t even sit through the play and ended up storming out.
It wasn’t because it was boring.
Given the lack of entertainment here, the quality of the play didn’t matter much.
Just watching it was enough to make me feel like I was on a college theater street.
“Of all things, why did my story have to come up there…”
As I mentioned earlier, the plays performed in Heroin were usually pieced together from rumors circulating in high society.
And among them, I was included.
“Oh, my goddess… Am I not good enough?”
“You are a commoner, and I am a saint. We can never be together.”
“Don’t say such things. As long as I’m with you, neither the church nor the empire scares me.”
“Sob… Sob… Thank you… for saying that…”
The title was ‘The Love of the Century’.
It was a story about a knight of commoner origin and a saintess falling in love.
“Ugh… I feel sick.”
Seeing such a farce unfold in a place I didn’t know made my stomach churn and ache.
I tried hard to suppress the urge to tear down the stage and turn everything upside down,
But it was unbearable.
I had to leave.
“Haa… Let’s just grab something to eat.”
There was still some time left before the appointed hour, and since I felt I had done everything I needed to, I decided to grab dinner at a nearby spot before heading to the place Gray mentioned.
* * *
“Nothing happened, right?”
As time passed and Gray didn’t show up, worry began to replace my irritation.
Wandering around this vast city looking for a single person would be reckless.
I debated whether I should wait a little longer or head back and wait for his contact.
Then, at that moment—
“Oh! My dear friend! I’ve arrived!”
In the distance, I saw Gray waving wildly and running toward me.
‘…Should I just pretend I don’t know him?’
But I couldn’t bring myself to greet him warmly.
“Catch that guy!”
“The captain ordered it! If we lose him, we lose all our drinking money!”
“Waaaahhhh!”
Gray was running, dragging along several thuggish-looking brutes like a train.
“Help me, my dear employerrr!”
His desperate voice rang in my ears.
But I forced myself to ignore him.
Whistle~ Whistle~
I casually whistled, turning my back and waiting for him to pass by.
‘If he’s smart, he’ll just keep going.’
After a few seconds—
As I feigned complete indifference, something tapped on my shoulder.
Thump.
“You can’t just ignore a friend in trouble, can you?”
Gray’s hand landed on me.
And at the same time—
“Who’s that guy?”
“Grab them all!”
The shouts of the thugs echoed behind us.
“Damn it.”
“If you don’t run now, you might actually get caught.”
“Shut up.”
“Come on, friends should help each other.”
“You’d better explain this later.”
Thanks to being mistaken as part of Gray’s group, I had no choice but to sprint with him until my sides nearly burst.
.
.
.
.
We poured magic into our legs to widen the distance, finally escaping their sight after running ourselves ragged.
“Gray, what the hell was that?”
“Well, it’s a long story…”
“Shut up and start explaining before I knock your teeth out.”
“Yes, sir.”
This was Gray’s explanation:
While asking others about Madame Bichen, he ended up entangled with a certain individual, or so the rumors said.
He hadn’t figured out their identity but confirmed they lived in a certain mansion.
When he went to investigate personally, he got caught by mercenaries guarding the area and had to run for his life until he found me.
“For someone running an intel network…”
“I didn’t know there’d be an alarm spell set up!”
“So? What happened to Madame Bichen in the end?”
“She’s… missing, officially. But I think she’s still alive.”
Gray, who always seemed cheerful, now looked utterly dejected.
With a sigh, I decided to make a concession.
“I’ll go to the black market alone. You go find Madame Bichen.”
“Uh… thanks, but… um…”
When I tried to take the location and access pass to the black market to go alone, Gray stammered and looked around nervously.
“…What now?”
“The thing is… you need Madame Bichen to get in.”
“What?”
“The black market. Only verified individuals can enter, regardless of status.”
“So what you’re saying is…”
“We can’t go to the black market until we find Madame Bichen.”
* * *
It was like a bolt from the blue.
The black market, which might not open again for who knows how long, was inaccessible.
After throttling Gray, who had taken an advance payment yet failed to prepare properly, I felt a little less angry.
Still, I couldn’t just sit idly by.
Who knows when I’d be able to fix my magical imbalance at this rate?
“Cough, hack… You’ve got quite the heavy hand for a friend.”
“Shut up before I throttle you for real.”
The current time was just before midnight.
The black market would stay open until morning, so I had until then to find her.
‘What I’m looking for isn’t an auction item. I can buy it anytime.’
Since no one but me knew how to use it, it wasn’t something anyone else would buy.
“So, where was the place you mentioned earlier?”
“It’s in the residential district on 6th Street. Mostly wealthy people live there, but one house has security that’s unusually tight.”
With no other clues to go on, I decided to head to the place Gray had tracked down through rumors.
Running along the rooftops, the scenery changed rapidly.
After about 20 minutes of nonstop running, we arrived at 6th Street.
“There, see it?”
The place Gray pointed to was a massive mansion with dozens of burly guards patrolling the premises.
‘It’s practically a fortress.’
Not only were multiple layers of security magic installed, but mercenaries were stationed strategically without any blind spots.
It didn’t look like there was any way to break through by conventional means.
‘…There’s a way, though.’
The areas protected by security magic weren’t under direct surveillance by the guards.
They seemed to be relying entirely on the magic.
If I could disable the magic, slipping inside would be relatively easy.
“Gray, take this and put it on.”
“A wolf mask? You’ve got peculiar tastes.”
Since the black market involved covert dealings, it was common to conceal one’s identity.
I had brought a mask in preparation for this, and now seemed the right time to use it.
‘It’d be troublesome if anyone found out.’
The method I chose was the reverse calculation technique I had used before against Roxanne.
‘It’ll take some time, but there’s no other way.’
Reversing magic mid-cast was a highly advanced skill, but dismantling an already active spell was relatively easy.
‘Since the components of the magic circle are already visible.’
When reversing a spell mid-cast, you needed to know exactly what spell it was beforehand.
But here, with the magic circle laid bare, dismantling it was just a matter of time.
“Well then, let’s take it apart piece by piece.”