Chapter 46: The Key

If Anderson didn’t know Ainola well, he would naturally feel suspicious.

But unfortunately, Anderson had been roommates with Ainola for nearly a year; they knew each other inside and out.

So Anderson naturally assumed Eleanor’s identity was fine.

“Well~”

Ainola stretched and said to Spark,

“Next, we need to figure out how to enter the Shrine. With the Moon Shadow Society watching, the longer we drag this out, the worse it’ll be for us.”

You see, the Moon Shadow Society was an assassin organization with many factions backing it.

In contrast, Ainola was practically alone.

She couldn’t possibly fight them.

The best course was to strike quickly and snatch the Eye of Wite before the Moon Shadow Society’s next arrangement began.

“Remember the key I stole from Anderson?”

“Of course. But didn’t you give it to the contact?”

Spark hadn’t forgotten that after getting the key, Ainola gave it to the contact.

But the contact hadn’t seemed to make any moves lately.

“Of course not,” Ainola said with a sly grin as she took a key out of her pocket.

“I made a copy before giving the original to the contact.”

“You can make magic keys?”

“I know a little.”

Ainola raised her head proudly.

Since the Shrine’s main gate used a barrier to seal it, conventional lockpicking wouldn’t work.

But Ainola could make magic keys herself.

After obtaining the key to the Sanctuary Barrier, she rushed to copy it, ensuring she had a backup even if something happened to the contact.

“Come to think of it… I remember the contact was always investigating the Moon Shadow Society’s background. Maybe the Moon Shadow Society knows the location of the Shrine. Let’s go back and ask the contact.”

Ainola’s current problem was that she had the key but didn’t know where the Sanctuary Barrier was located.

She hadn’t found any useful information in Anderson’s room either.

That made sense; Anderson wasn’t about to leave a map in his bedroom pointing to the Shrine.

He was dull, but not stupid.

Information about such secret locations was passed down by word of mouth.

Leaving a map would be the behavior of a spy.

“Let’s go home first.”

Under the cover of night, Ainola moved swiftly back to the doorstep of her rental home.

But she found the door wide open, the inside pitch-black—a bad sign.

“Ainola, be careful. Someone’s inside.”

Spark scanned the interior with her magic sensing.

The contact wasn’t there.

Instead, a gaunt man was inside, seemingly rummaging through things.

“I know.”

Ainola pulled out her dagger.

She didn’t turn on the lights; instead, she crept cautiously into the house.

As an assassin, her footsteps were so light they could barely be heard, like a cat tiptoeing.

Combined with her excellent stealth skills, she was virtually undetectable.

Sure enough, by the time she was behind the man, he hadn’t reacted at all.

Only when her dagger was at his throat did he jolt in shock.

“Don’t move.”

When she felt him about to struggle, Ainola pressed the blade against his throat and said,

“Otherwise, the blade has no eyes. If it takes your life, that would be a shame.”

Hearing her icy words, the gaunt man immediately froze and stammered,

“Don’t… don’t kill me.”

Then Ainola realized he looked familiar.

If she remembered correctly, he was a scavenger from the neighborhood.

He’d probably seen the open door and come to steal something.

The likelihood of him being an assassin was low—he had no weapons, and his frail frame looked like it would collapse in the wind, completely different from the sturdy assassins.

“Tell me, what are you doing here?”

“I-I just wanted some food. I didn’t mean to steal anything.”

The scavenger trembled as he spoke, his legs so weak he could barely stand.

“Then what’s with this mess in the room?”

Using her night vision, Ainola could see the signs of drawers and cabinets being thrown open everywhere.

But since the scavenger probably couldn’t see anything, she turned on the light and questioned,

“Did you do this?”

“No, no!”

The scavenger quickly denied.

“It was like this when I came in. I only touched the fridge. I didn’t touch anything else!”

Hearing this, Ainola looked at the fridge.

Sure enough, some instant food had been opened, and crumbs were still stuck to the scavenger’s lips.

Clearly, he was the one who did that.

“I really didn’t touch the rest! Someone else did. I just came to scavenge leftovers. Please let me go!”

“Someone else?”

At those words, Ainola seemed to guess something, but still asked the scavenger,

“What did they look like? Did they have any insignia?”

“Yes, yes!”

The scavenger nodded repeatedly.

“They wore all black and had a moon-shaped badge on their shoulders. There were five of them…”

The scavenger rattled off everything he knew.

Ainola listened with a furrowed brow, then said,

“Take what you’ve eaten and get out of here.”

“Th… thank you!”

Clutching a few packs of unfinished snacks, the scavenger fled the room in terror.

As for Ainola, she sat down on the relatively clean sofa, rubbed her temples, and said,

“Damn. I think the contact is in trouble.”

“Probably. She’s likely been captured. The key… tsk, it’s hard to say.”

Spark crossed her arms, looking equally irritated.

After sorting through the scavenger’s messy information in her mind, Ainola’s expression turned grim as she said to Spark,

“Forget the key. Let’s rescue the contact first.”

After all, the contact was a girl.

If she was discovered by those vicious Moon Shadow Society assassins, things wouldn’t end well.

So Ainola decided to rescue her first.

Besides, she still owed the contact money.

Saving her would cancel the debt, wouldn’t it?

As for the Moon Shadow Society’s location…

Ainola looked at the traces on the floor and called to Spark,

“Activate Magic Sensing. These traces should lead me to the Moon Shadow Society’s base.”

“No problem.”

Spark spread her magic network and instantly enveloped half of Wording City within it.