The Glowing Map
Having grown accustomed to manipulating qi, it was time to put it into practice.
Yuzuha Serdik planted her hands on her hips and shouted, “Perfect! Now let’s try pouring qi into the map I brought, just like before!”
“…Right here, Professor?”
Ethan looked up. Even on a weekend, the Sapphire dorm cadets stood before him, clearly dragged out against their will.
Yuzuha folded her arms. “Of course! They’ll have to learn land navigation eventually anyway. Where else would you find such a perfect teaching aid?”
“It’s the weekend, though.”
“So what? Before the feel fades, they need to watch the top cadet in action and get motivated! You can never practice qi manipulation enough, even if you train until the day you die.”
She spoke with absolute confidence, thumping her chest, convinced that everything she was doing was for the cadets’ benefit. What she didn’t realize was that the handsome boy in front of her had already stolen the hearts of every female cadet in the Sapphire dorm.
One cadet leaned toward Kaion and whispered, “Kaion, sir… are you really going to just stand there and watch that Ethan guy?”
“What do you want me to do? Knock out a full professor?”
“No, but… doesn’t this situation make you furious?”
The burning eyes of the Sapphire cadets were fixed solely on Yuzuha, who kept clinging to Ethan.
“Ang~ Shall we try this side next? I’ll hold your hand and guide you!”
“Please get off me, Professor. Aren’t you embarrassed in front of the cadets?”
“What’s the big deal? If you want special treatment, just do as well as he does!”
The Sapphire cadets squeezed their eyes shut and made a silent vow: from now on, the moment they spotted Yuzuha near the training grounds, they would flee straight back to the dorm.
“Of all times, it had to be during our group dagger training…”
“Exactly. She’s just showing off their little lovey-dovey act to us on purpose—ugh!?”
In an instant, Yuzuha’s gaze turned ice-cold. She had appeared right in front of the cadet’s nose.
“…Cadet.”
“Y-yes, Professor?”
“What did you just say?”
Her frosty glare pierced straight through him.
“N-nothing! I didn’t say anything!”
“Learning from your peers is the first step toward becoming an excellent thief. If that peer happens to be the top cadet, you should be even more eager to learn. So what exactly is the problem?”
Her cute eastern dialect had vanished completely; she now spoke in crisp, standard imperial speech. In front of Ethan she was endlessly soft, but when it came to tactics and training, Yuzuha Serdik was pure field manual. There were even stories of her summarily executing disobedient subordinates during wartime—there was no compromise when it came to operations.
“The fact that I’m holding Ethan’s arm is simply part of demonstrating qi manipulation. Right now, this time slot should have belonged to Professor Mofy Kalden.”
“I-I’m sorry…”
“Even though this isn’t my specialty, I’m sacrificing my time to raise your skills.”
Yuzuha’s voice dropped low. “Remember this.”
She gave Ethan’s back a couple of light taps.
“The moment a thief tries to tear down a comrade, they’re already dead.”
Except for Kaion, the Sapphire cadets shuffled their feet awkwardly. Only Kaion continued to glare fiercely at Ethan.
“Why aren’t you answering? Do you understand?!”
““Y-yes! Understood, Professor!””
It was the same commanding tone that even Rena Kroiss had never managed to draw out of her.
Yuzuha cleared her throat once, then smiled sweetly again. “All right, shall we try infusing qi into the map now? ♡ Take it slow.”
“Yes, Professor.”
She immediately stuck herself to Ethan’s side once more and began kindly explaining the order of infusing qi into the map.
The Sapphire cadets exchanged glances and finally let out a collective sigh. Kaion smacked the cadet beside him on the head.
“Ow—why’d you hit me?!”
“Stop looking away and watch properly.”
“…”
“Hating, envying, and being jealous is the loser’s stance. Using jealousy as fuel for competitive spirit and striving to improve—that’s what makes someone strong.”
A spark of life returned to the Sapphire cadets’ eyes.
“Watch closely how Ethan infuses qi into an object. Seeing a fellow cadet do it is often more helpful for grasping the feel than watching a professor demonstrate.”
“Yes, Kaion, sir…”
Kaion led them closer to the front.
Ethan Cass. It might be tough right now, but one day I’ll crush you under my heel.
He focused intently on Ethan and Yuzuha as they worked on the map, his eyes tracking every movement.
Ethan caught Kaion’s gaze and allowed himself a small smile.
Kaion’s… improved a little.
Regardless of what the future held, he found himself looking forward to a proper dagger duel with Kaion someday.
*
Ethan gathered qi and poured it into the sensation of the techniques he had used so far. The feeling from when he had stolen Professor Mofy Kalden’s pocket watch. The output and application from when he had cleaned out Senior Gnome’s warehouse. The precision Yuzuha had taught him.
Zuung.
The second circle on the upper left of the tattoo on the back of his hand glowed brightly.
“The starting point is here.”
He placed his fingertip on the “current location” marked on the map.
Hwoooong.
The mist blooming around them was steadily sucked into the single point at his fingertip.
“From here, simultaneously… move to the second point.”
To Ethan’s eyes, every branching path drawn on the map looked like stars in a constellation.
Sseung.
Light bloomed at his fingertip and spread outward in winding lines in every direction at once. Sparkling fragments resembling pieces of stars floated gently around him. The softly descending star-dust began to fill the engraved pathways.
Where roads had been abruptly cut off. Where buildings had suddenly vanished. Where paths had been unnaturally tangled as if erased. All of them were naturally revealed and embroidered onto the map like glowing threads.
Before long, every intersection on the map was filled with bright light, resembling a radiant spiderweb.
“…Huu.”
The surroundings were silent.
Oh no. Don’t tell me I went wide-area invisible again?
Ethan looked up anxiously, but…
“…”
All he saw were the cadets and Yuzuha gathered around the map.
It was a perfect Thief School map with every path illuminated. Though the parchment had its limits and couldn’t show the deepest vaults or dungeons, it was still worthy of being stored in the lowest archives of the library.
“Uh…”
“Whoa…”
“Huh…”
Quiet gasps continued to escape the onlookers.
“Th-that’s actually pretty cool.”
“I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“Ethan’s got talent, after all.”
The Sapphire cadets scanned the map and nodded to one another. Having explored monster-infested regions and uncharted territories even before enrollment, they knew exactly how impressive it was to illuminate a map this quickly.
“Uuuung, what am I supposed to do with our adorable little one! Eeeeng!”
Yuzuha rubbed Ethan’s head vigorously, clinging to him once more.
“Listen up, new students! If you work as hard as Ethan, you’ll get spoiled like this too, got it?”
““Y-yes!””
The Sapphire cadets had a feeling they wouldn’t forget today’s events for a long time.
Yuzuha suddenly sprang to her feet. “Ah! Look at the time! It’s already time for the ruin patrol! I have to go! Then… Ethan!”
“Yes? …Ugh!”
Squeeze.
Rub rub.
Yuzuha’s cushion struck Ethan’s face once more.
“See you next time!”
With that, she leaped into the trees and vanished.
“Haa… I’m exhausted… Hm?”
Ethan scratched his head and turned around—only to find dozens of murderous gazes from the male cadets fixed on him. One cadet who seemed to be their representative stepped forward and spoke seriously.
“Ethan. All of us Sapphire dorm cadets, excluding Ruby, hereby designate you as a hostile force and—”
“Before I plant bomb traps in your dorm bathrooms, tone it down a bit.”
“…”
The cadet fell silent under Ethan’s fierce glare. After all, Ethan was the only cadet who had ever defeated Kaion in single combat.
“Still… sorry for dragging you all out on your day off.”
“No.”
Kaion stepped forward.
“You didn’t drag us out.”
“Kaion.”
“So there’s no need to make excuses.”
Thud thud.
A hand covered in sword scars landed on Ethan’s shoulder.
“Save your excuses for after you lose to me, Ethan Cass.”
His eyes gleamed with competitive spirit.
“Of course.”
Ethan grinned and tucked the map away. As he walked, he glanced back over his shoulder.
“Hold on, you guys.”
The Sapphire cadets, who had been heading toward the dorm, turned around in unison.
“I heard you’re controlling the school bulletin board. Why?”
They hesitated, none stepping forward to answer. Kaion sighed and approached Ethan.
“That wasn’t us.”
“Then who?”
Scratching his head vigorously, Kaion finally spoke. “The seniors.”
He then explained everything that had happened. It seemed they would have to start a war after all.
“You know what…”
Ethan walked over to the Sapphire cadets and threw an arm around their shoulders, smiling faintly at Kaion.
“How about we do it like this?”
The cadets’ jaws dropped as they listened to Ethan’s plan.
“You crazy bastard—even so, ambushing senior cadets in the middle of the night and beating them up is—!”
“Shh! The birds might hear you.”
At Ethan’s chin gesture, Kaion clamped a hand over the cadet’s mouth.
“Tell us more, Ethan Cass.”
His ash-gray eyes sparkled in the sunset glow.
“I’m listening.”
*
After Ethan finished plotting with the Sapphire cadets, the sun had begun to set. The long weekend was drawing to a close.
“The map’s secured.”
Now, if he could just master land navigation, he would be able to find the club building.
Ethan tapped the edge of the map and muttered, “Could the imperial treasure really be inside the club building?”
He didn’t know for sure, but for some reason his intuition felt good. He was staring at the tattoo on the back of his hand when—
“Where are you…”
Iska, who had flown over at some point, was hovering in the air.
“I feel like Ethan might be around here somewhere.”
Ethan felt an inexplicable sense of danger and wondered whether he should hide.
This girl’s got pretty good instincts.
Iska frowned, then suddenly seemed to realize something and flew straight toward him.
“Huh…? Ethan! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“What is it, Iska Aelos?”
Ethan instinctively dropped into a combat stance, checking whether Iska was holding handcuffs.
“I’m not here to arrest you, Ethan…”
Iska spread both hands to prove her innocence.
“Then why are you here?”
“It’s nothing major, but…”
Why did he feel uneasy again?
“If you don’t clear out of the annex by midnight tonight, you’ll get a week in solitary confinement, apparently.”
“What? Who said that?”
“The headmaster.”
“It’s almost midnight already?”
“Right…? Would you like some help?”
Iska spread her wings.
“Double the taxi fare if you take me straight to the Ruby annex.”
“What the… Fine, let’s go now.”
The two of them raced toward the annex.
Oh, so you’re going to mess with me without any warning, huh?
Ethan’s hands trembled.
Just try sending me on another dispatch mission.
That’ll be the day the headmaster’s office gets completely cleaned out.
Without realizing it, Ethan found himself thinking like a proper thief.