Mirage's Midnight Heist
Following Golden Light Magic Tower Master Yriel's guidance, I headed to the Lupiento Count's Mansion.
"Whoa..."
My first impression. It was insanely huge.
Putting aside my awe, I perched on the rooftop, smacked my lips, and rubbed my palms together.
"What are you planning to do?"
"Just watch."
I could confidently say no one could match me in this field.
Not even when it came to learning from mistakes and reinventing myself.
Grinning, I closed my eyes.
All my senses synchronized with the surrounding mana.
Everything nearby felt not as individual objects, but as one massive flow.
In this moment, the world was me, and I was the world.
Mana pulsed wherever my will reached, flooding my mind with information on every object there.
This was a thorough check to avoid grabbing anything weird like last time.
What I wanted wasn't super valuable, but the kind of thing that would piss someone off the most when they realized it was gone.
While scanning the mansion, one large room pinged on my radar.
A massive wooden desk piled with documents.
Definitely the Count's study.
The Count was sitting there handling business, but that was no issue.
I'd breached the increasingly tight security on his wagons in one go, after all.
"Heh heh heh heh..."
Chuckling, I seized control of the entire study's mana.
In other words, everything in there was mine to command.
I could see and feel it all inside.
The fine grain of the wooden desk, the dampness trapped between document stacks, even the faint body heat from the Count's fingertips gripping his pen.
Holding my breath, I delved even deeper.
Hidden cash in a book with no cover deep in the bookshelf.
Ink cartridge in the fountain pen.
The Count's reading glasses on the desk!
Manipulating the mana flow, I slyly pulled them all toward the open window slit.
All out of the Count's line of sight.
"Ooh!!"
Yriel gasped at the assortment of items flying up to our rooftop perch.
"Shh, shh!"
"Eep...!"
Yriel clamped both hands over her mouth.
"The Count's stuff...?"
Glancing around warily, she whispered right in my ear.
I nodded in affirmation.
A bright, innocent smile spread across Yriel's face.
"Can I try too?"
"Hm. Why not."
They say joy doubles when shared.
And this? Pure joy. The more, the merrier.
Supporting Yriel's mana manipulation, I kept my body on the roof while we ransacked the mansion together.
"Ehehe."
"Heh heh."
We chuckled in unison.
"What the hell is this..."
Guard Captain Alik tossed his burned-out cigarette to the ground.
An alley leading to the market.
The deserted spot looked like an explosion had hit: ground gouged out roughly, walls shattered to bits.
"Terrorism?"
"W-we're assessing the situation now! No other anomalies in surrounding areas."
Half-listening to his subordinate, Alik approached the devastated wall.
It was too bizarre for a simple blast. No acrid gunpowder smell, no scorch marks from fire.
The only evidence left was smoothly melted brick cross-sections, like something with immense heat and pressure had sliced through.
"No gunpowder smell."
Alik frowned, brushing the debris with his gloved hand.
No dust clung; it was like even that had melted away clean.
"Any witnesses?"
"Well... two unidentified men in the corner over there. One has completely caved-in ribs, the other..."
The subordinate trailed off, eyes darting.
"The other one."
"His cheek has a clear handprint... while the rest is charred."
Alik's eyebrow twitched.
Nonsense.
"Burned black, but the handprint's intact?"
"Y-yes... We'll know more after the temple's investigation."
Alik pulled a fresh cigarette from his pocket, lit it with a gesture to his subordinate.
Directing him to handle the related parties—or victims.
It wasn't far.
"Right here."
"Huh."
Hidden pretty well, but just in the next alley.
Two black-clad men half-buried in the ground like planted saplings.
Alik had a pretty good idea who they were.
Familiar outfits.
"...Crow's Talon."
Lighting his cigarette, Alik kicked the exposed ankle of one upside-down body in the dirt.
Between pant cuff and boot, near the ankle bone: three thin scars.
The Second Prince's secret assassin guild.
"Dead?"
"One's gone, the other’s barely breathing..."
"Kill the survivor too."
Alik spat the order curtly and headed back to the scene.
"Playing games, are they..."
Or trying to cover up in their own way?
Over the gouged earth, small footprints—two sets—dotted around.
Like someone had tried packing the dirt back down.
Seemed meticulously staged, yet also like taunting pursuers.
Alik lit his cigarette.
Sizzle.
A flame flared from his gloved left hand.
Alik was a fire-affinity mage and the capital's guard captain.
"Magic too?"
He muttered after a drag.
Too massive for typical magic, but no other way to cause this without traces.
Maybe a swordmaster's slash.
"Tower Master returned today, right?"
Coincidentally, the day the missing Golden Light Magic Tower Master reappeared.
Suspicion arose. But why would the neutral Tower Master do this?
No evidence, not even circumstantial.
"Coincidence...?"
Nothing certain.
Even if not her, she was the empire's top magic expert.
Requesting cooperation might yield info.
Alik exhaled smoke and left the scene.
Or tried to.
"C-Captain! Theft report!"
"Tch..."
His headache worsened at the subordinate reporting every minor thing.
"Handle it yourselves—"
"From the Lupiento Count's Mansion."
His migraine spiked at the name.
Couldn't ignore it. Another historic victim.
Five reported thefts in three months.
Plus 21 covered up by higher-ups.
All items linked to the Count, stolen the same way.
"Again."
Alik recalled the phantom thief's moniker.
"...Mirage."
A true phantom thief.
Like a mirage, clearly existing items vanished as if never there—hence the nickname from the investigation.
The thief targeted only the Count's goods.
Some gossiped it was heaven's punishment, or a righteous thief with divine guidance.
"Sigh..."
Alik exhaled long, pinching his brow again.
"Let's go."
He hoped for traces, but deep down knew.
Only the Count's rage-filled screams would remain.
The next day, after brutal revenge on the Count till dawn.
I finished the letter to Arwen and left the inn.
Whoosh.
The letter flew from my hand into the sky, bound for the Grand Duke's Castle.
"Told her everything she needs to know..."
Now for what I need to do.
Time to check the original story's progress.
Yriel had left early for urgent tower business, so it felt like ages since I'd muttered to myself.
The novel's stages spanned many places, but most main events happened here in the capital.
Part 1 and 2.
Academy days, then growth, political strife, and war.
I'd stopped before the finale in Part 3, so no clue there. Hopefully not that far.
Clutching the map from Yriel, I set off.
"Straight here..."
Right turn at... here?
Probably.
Without much thought, I just followed the map.
Straight, left turn, final right.
"Here we are!"
Should be the academy's main gate...?
Instead, a random fountain stood before me.
"Huh?"
I looked up, following the sparkling water jets.
A massive pillar came into view.
Like gold dust sprinkled during construction, a tower gleamed blindingly in the sunlight.