The Crows Know Everything
The crimson blood trickled down my mother’s pale forehead.
Just like it had on that final day.
“Mom… Mom, does it hurt?”
My mother didn’t answer.
“Dad! Please help, Dad! Mom, she’s…!”
I screamed for my father at the top of my lungs, but he never appeared.
“This can’t happen… it can’t be like this…”
I was sobbing uncontrollably, reaching out to wipe away the blood on her face, when the world flipped upside down.
I was no longer lying on a soft, comfortable bed.
I had returned to the secret space beneath the floorboards.
That cramped, pitch-black hiding place.
Through the narrow gaps in the worn wooden planks, I could see my family.
And right beside them stood Benedict Wickers, sword in hand.
“Mom! Dad! Lucas!”
I clutched the necklace my father had given me with both hands, crying, as my mother shouted her final words to me.
“…Run away, my baby! The Crows know everything!”
"...Run away, my baby!"
"The Crows know everything!"
“Hah!”
I woke up drenched in cold sweat, still slumped over the desk in my quarters.
I’d spent the entire day snooping around every corner of the Knox estate. The exhaustion had finally caught up with me, and I’d only meant to rest my eyes for a moment.
When I checked the time, it was already time for the night shift.
I moved to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face. Droplets ran down my short blonde hair.
I had fallen asleep without even taking off the necklace.
Fortunately, there was still plenty of mana left in it.
“Haa… damn it.”
Looking at the necklace around my neck brought the nightmare rushing back.
I’d managed to forget about it for a while.
I let out a hollow laugh as I stared at my still-trembling fingertips.
“Look at me, falling apart over one bad dream. I really have been living too comfortably.”
Back when I was with the Wickers, that dream haunted me almost every night.
“Still… today’s was a little different.”
I couldn’t make sense of the last thing my mother had shouted in the dream.
The Crows are watching.
Out of nowhere, crows?
I roughly wiped the remaining moisture from my hands onto my clothes, trying to shake off the uneasy feeling.
“This is all because of that bastard Killian Knox.”
I’d tried not to think about it, but of course my mind wouldn’t listen.
Only three days remained until the deadline Killian Knox had given me.
If things continued like this, I’d only have three days left to live.
After leaving Decon Gold’s office, I’d spent the entire morning poking around, but I hadn’t found anything useful.
The head maid of the laundry room—who had worked at Knox the longest—and the stable hand who had tended the horses for generations were the same. They only repeated what the senior operatives had already told me at the guard post.
And no matter where I went, those unpleasant gazes followed me.
“So that’s why I had that ridiculous dream about crows.”
Whoever it was, they were quite skilled at hiding. A competent watcher.
But I was better.
Since I hadn’t let on that I’d noticed them, they’d probably follow me again today.
“That could be a problem.”
***
“Ugh… Senior…”
“What the—Rookie, are you sick?!”
After the night shift began and I still hadn’t shown up, Senior Jake came looking for me. The moment he saw my face, he recoiled in horror.
“Sorry… My stomach feels really bad… Urp!”
When I pretended to retch and covered my mouth, even Jake—who was notoriously weak-stomached—turned pale.
“What the hell did you eat to end up like this?!”
“I don’t know. They said stomach bugs are going around lately… I must’ve caught it from somewhere. Ugh.”
“Hey! Don’t come near me! Get back inside! Inside, and talk from there!”
Flailing his hands to push me back over the threshold, Jake let out a deep sigh.
“Can’t be helped. I’ll mark you down as sick leave, so just stay put and rest today.”
“Is that really okay…?”
“If you force yourself to work and spread it to the others, that’d be a real disaster! If you’re still feeling bad tomorrow morning, go straight to the infirmary and get admitted. Don’t let it get worse!”
“Yes… Thank you.”
“And don’t take my words lightly! Do not step foot outside this room!”
I gave the still-scolding Jake a weak nod and closed the door.
Thud, thud, thud.
Once I confirmed his footsteps had faded into the distance, I immediately changed my clothes.
“It’s been a while.”
The all-black outfit felt strangely unfamiliar, except for the exposed blue eyes.
There had been a time when this specially made stealth suit for night infiltration felt as natural as a second skin.
After tucking the necklace deep inside my collar, I quietly opened the window and checked outside.
The sky was overcast, and the moon was completely hidden behind thick clouds. Perfect.
“Time to move.”
***
Whoosh.
I landed silently on a thick tree branch and quietly frowned.
Should I be happy about this, or annoyed?
The watcher who had followed me relentlessly all day apparently hadn’t expected me to fake an illness and slip out the window.
I’d changed routes several times on the way here to check, but there was no sign of anyone tailing me.
On one hand, it meant I was finally free of that annoying surveillance. On the other, it meant the watcher had severely underestimated me.
I’d left subtle markers only I would recognize on the door and window in case they decided to peek inside my quarters.
At this rate, there was no need to check them.
Cursing whoever it was that wasn’t monitoring me more thoroughly, I hid my body among the branches and waited for time to pass.
Ding— Ding—
The low sound of the bell announcing midnight echoed from the direction of the Knox main gate.
I opened my eyes, which had been closed.
Midnight.
The time when the entire Knox estate was deepest in slumber.
Unlike the operatives guarding the outer gates, the main building’s security detail rotated in three shifts. This was the exact moment when the handover would leave them most distracted.
Whoosh.
Without hesitation, I leapt from branch to branch and landed on a windowsill. Not even my sensitive ears could detect the slightest sound.
Not bad. My skills haven’t rusted after just one year.
Smiling with satisfaction, I arrived at none other than Decon Gold’s office.
Who plants a tree with this many branches and leaves right next to a window?
This was practically an invitation for intruders.
Especially for the office of Decon Gold, who managed the finances of both the merchant coalition and the entire Knox family. The security was shockingly lax.
I should leave a note when I escape later.
It wasn’t that Knox was unaware of the risks. Breaking into the estate—especially an executive’s office—was pure insanity.
If caught, it was straight to hell. Or rather, straight to the underground prison.
Having to risk my life this desperately just to survive… how pathetic.
Ah, that aide really is useless, isn’t he?
Standing in front of the closed window, one of my eyebrows twitched upward.
Everything Decon Gold had said about his aide being a useless freeloader was completely accurate.
The lock on the window tucked away in the farthest corner, half-hidden by a bookshelf, was blatantly undone.
Securing doors and windows was the absolute basics of being an aide.
He deserved every insult thrown at him.
I’d assumed it would be locked and had already pulled out one of my favorite tools from my Wickers days. Now my hand felt ridiculous holding it.
I’ll have to add a note saying the current aide must be fired immediately.
Besides, the tea wasn’t even good enough to be worth trading for this level of security breach.
I slipped inside without making so much as a rustle of fabric and immediately drew the curtains.
The room plunged into complete darkness.
But thick darkness had never once hindered me.
Vision: no issues.
It was more limited than in bright light, but my ability to move freely in the dark was a gift from the Morton family bloodline.
The ability my father, Dr. Franz Morton, had passed down to me had ironically become the very reason I rose to fame as an assassin within the Wickers.
Let’s see…
The first place I reached for was the cabinet I had noticed earlier while drinking tea.
From the moment I heard about the previous Duke and Duchess’s secrets, I knew this would be the first place I had to search—Decon Gold’s office.
After all, the answers were always where the money flowed.
The Knox Duchy had several powerful vassal families, but Decon Gold was the only one among the current seven executives who had inherited his position directly from his predecessor.
He had been close with his mother, Agnes Gold, and had taken over her exact office.
There’s a chance the old ledgers were moved elsewhere, though.
It was still a delicate enough family scandal that they kept it hushed.
I would have bet all six remaining cookies that any related documents were still being kept close by Decon himself.
Unfortunately, the first cabinet I opened turned up nothing.
If I were Decon Gold…
The desk in the office?
No. Too obvious.
I slowly scanned the pitch-black office before striding forward with purpose.
The couch where Decon Gold had been lying after receiving the Mana Blockade, his body weakened.
The place he had instinctively tried to protect even in his vulnerable state.
Click.
Just as I thought.
A secret compartment was hidden beneath the couch where he had lain sweating coldly.
When I applied a bit of strength, the heavy drawer slid out smoothly.
It was packed with documents that clearly looked important.
I pulled out the first file from the front and began reading. A quiet, hollow laugh escaped me.
Well, well. Look at this.
What Decon Gold had so carefully hidden was Knox’s secret slush fund ledger.
And the place that had received the largest budget allocation over the past eight years was—
Dupont Clancher
Written in Decon Gold’s elegant handwriting was the name of Killian Knox’s closest aide.