Chapter 211

“Did I do good earlier?” Yuri whispered as they followed the server down the narrow passage. “I didn’t look nervous, right?”

Kana lifted her thumb without hesitation. Suri leaned in and ruffled Yuri’s hair beneath the hood. “Excellent. You looked like you’d done it a hundred times.”

Yuri exhaled, shoulders loosening.

The bald server stopped beneath the staircase and pressed against what looked like an ordinary wooden panel. It shifted soundlessly, revealing a narrow door hidden in the shadows. Cold air spilled out, smelling faintly of damp stone and old dust.

“Follow,” the server said.

They descended into the basement.

It felt less like a room and more like a hollow carved out of the earth. Rough stone walls pressed inward, and narrow wooden partitions divided the space into cramped chambers. Kana counted quickly. About a dozen rooms. Each one was barely large enough to stand in comfortably.

They were guided into one and the door closed behind them with a soft, final click.

“All your questions will be answered by the informant behind the wall,” the bald server said flatly. “No violence. No shouting.” His gaze lingered briefly on Boris before he turned and left.

Silence followed.

Kana immediately sensed it. The wood around them was enchanted, layered with suppression runes. Sound would die here.  The wall in front of them had a small hole, just wide enough for voices to pass through, not faces. Perhaps to protect the client and the informant identity or additional protection to the informant.

Kana stepped forward, sat and cleared her throat.

“Do you know where the Phantom Thief is?”

A pause. Then a voice answered from the other side. Male. Raspy. Like gravel dragged across leather.

“We don’t.”

Kana didn’t move. She waited.

“But,” the voice continued, “there is a rumor about his possible next target.”

“Tell me.”

“This is high-class information,” the man said smoothly. “Two gold.”

“I don’t mind,” Kana replied. “Speak.”

His voice deepened,“Payment first.”

Kana clicked her tongue, irritation sharp enough to cut. Her voice dropped, cold and precise. “If what you say isn’t worth two gold, the big guy behind me will throw his spear through this wall. Through your head.”

Even Suri stiffened at sudden Kana’s aggression, Yuri swallowed audibly, she definitely was not expecting a fight when she went along with them. Boris said nothing, which somehow made the threat feel heavier.

Two gold coins slid through the hole. The informant collected them slowly, one at a time.

“Have you heard,” the man began, “that the Fruit Dungeon was successfully conquered a few months ago?”

“I have,” Kana said. She remembered the scent of the biggest bee she had seen in her entire life, the chaos before the boss chamber. They had left before the final fight, but they of course heard the outcome.

“It’s confirmed the dungeon boss dropped skill books,” the informant continued. “But rumors say there were more. Two. Possibly, three.”

Kana’s eyes narrowed.

“The House of Kergastel,” the voice went on, “has announced an auction next weekend. The skill books will be the centerpiece.”

Suri’s lips curved slightly. Her illusion scout was already moving.

“The Phantom Thief,” the man said, “Has a pattern. Every confirmed theft involved skill books. Obsession, some say. According to his history, it suggests he won’t ignore this.”

“But,” he added, “no one knows if he’ll truly appear.”

A beat of silence.

Kana did her research but she didn’t come up with the same conclusion. After all, she had simply thought the phantom thief plainly would steal any valuable items. But it looked like the phantom thief was specifically obsessed with skill books. She remembered the research she made. It does make sense. Kana nodded once. “The information is worth the coin.”

The man hesitated. Then curiosity crept into his voice. “Are you planning to participate in the auction… or perhaps capture the Phantom Thief?”

Yuri stepped forward before anyone else could speak. “High-class information,” she said sweetly. “Three gold.”

Silence slammed down on the other side of the wall.

…..

“Damn it!” Suri cursed the moment they stepped out of the inn, her voice sharp enough to cut through the winter air. “My illusion scouts vanished. The instant that guy moved into another room, it was gone.”

Kana exhaled slowly, white breath curling in front of her like fading smoke. She had half-expected this, yet the disappointment still settled in her chest. “They wouldn’t survive long otherwise,” she said. “An information broker that lets eyes slip through walls doesn’t stay in business.” She glanced back at the inn, its dim windows glowing like watchful eyes. “Their defenses are layered. Probably overlapping enchantments. The kind designed to suffocate skills before they even realize they’ve been triggered.”

Suri clicked her tongue. “I thought I could slip through. The orphanage barriers were simpler.”

“That’s the difference,” Kana replied. “Well. We should ask next time who set up their complex barriers. We might be able to improve the protection of the orphanage.”

Boris grunted,”I don’t think they are that dumb.” Thorne made a sound under his cloak as if agreeing to what he said.

Kana smirked,”Don’t underestimate the power of coin. Old—I mean young man.”

Boris was about to say something but suddenly surrendered and swayed his head. With the cloak hood’s shadow covering his face, anyone would mistakenly think of him as a fully grown man. Suri held her mouth then suddenly walked beside him and laughed near his ears.

Yuri pulled her cloak tighter, shoulders hunching against the cold. “They’re smarter than I expected,” she said quietly. “Or more afraid.”

Kana didn’t answer right away. Her gaze swept the street, observing shadows, counting footsteps, listening for the subtle wrongness that came when someone followed too closely from her [High Awareness]. Nothing. The slum’s narrow paths were nearly empty, winter driving most people indoors. Even the loiterers by the fire pits avoided looking their way.

Or avoided looking at Boris.

The man—or the young man walked a step behind them to avoid Suri, spear resting against his shoulder, posture relaxed in the way only truly dangerous people managed. Thorne peeked out from beneath his cloak, one horn catching the faint glow of a nearby lantern. Anyone with sense took one look and decided tonight was not worth the trouble.

Kana nodded to herself. Intimidation had its uses.

They didn’t linger.

The walk to Yuri’s house passed in relative silence, boots crunching softly over frost-stiffened ground. When they arrived, the house lights were already dimmed, warmth glowing faintly behind shuttered windows.

“This is far enough,” Kana said.

Yuri hesitated, then smiled. “Thanks… for letting me come.”

“You did well,” Kana replied honestly. 

Yuri laughed softly at that and slipped inside.

Kana turned away before the door fully closed. The night pressed in again, colder now, heavier. Normally, they would head for a dungeon. A quick raid. But tonight her thoughts were already elsewhere.

An auction.

Skill books.

A thief who could walk through the world as if distance meant nothing.

Kana grinned. Suri and Boris suddenly tensed and looked around. Perhaps. If she was lucky on the night of the auction. Perhaps she might end up getting a free skill book.

“We’ll skip the dungeon,” Kana said at last. “It’s late. And tomorrow… we’ll need clear heads.”

Suri nodded, unusually quiet. Boris adjusted his grip on the spear and followed without question.

As they headed toward the road leading to the orphanage, Kana felt the shape of the hunt forming in her mind. The Phantom Thief had finally leaked a shadow she could see.

….

Kana spent the entire weekend buried in ink, parchment, and quiet obsession.

By the time Monday arrived, the map spread across her desk was no longer just a sketch. It was a living thing. Streets layered over memory. Rooftops marked with angles of escape. Alleyways shaded where shadows lingered longest. Beneath it all, traced in thinner lines and smaller notes, ran the veins of the city itself. The underground sewers, old maintenance tunnels, forgotten drainage routes that only people like Suri ever bothered to truly understand.

Suri had helped, of course. Scout paths traced from memory. Blind spots circled with precise confidence. Where guards were unusually alert. Where the sound echoed too loudly. Where footsteps vanished entirely.

Kana rolled the parchment shut and felt satisfied in a way dungeon clears never quite gave her. This was a different kind of battle. One without monsters. One where the enemy thought.

…..

When the first day of the week began, she carried the map with her like a concealed blade.

Dagger Mastery I class was already loud when she arrived. Steel clinked. Students argued about grip angles and foot placement. Professor Dufer was observing their movements closely. The air smelled faintly of oil and sweat. Kana’s eyes moved past all of it until she landed on one student near the tree.

A [Thief].

She walked straight toward him.

He noticed too late.

Kana straightly unrolled the map on a nearby bench with a flick of her wrist. The parchment snapped flat, drawing immediate attention. Conversations around them softened. Curiosity crept in like a tide.

“If you were going to steal something here,” Kana said calmly, finger tapping the marked outline of the auction house, “where would you run?”

The boy stiffened. He glanced around as if expecting a trap to spring from the floor.

“I’m… not sure,” he said carefully. “I hate stealing.”

Kana bit the inside of her cheek. A laugh tried to escape. She strangled it before it could get out. A [Thief] who hated stealing. That was new. That was almost impressive. Either he was lying or perhaps the one who was giving classes didn’t really think about it.

“Try it,” she said instead, voice light. “Opinion only.”

He sighed, shoulders drooping like someone surrendering to fate. He couldn’t refuse, it was the famous Kana after all. Then he leaned in despite himself, eyes scanning the map. His finger hovered… then tapped decisively.

“Here.”

Kana blinked.

“The main road?” she repeated.

She had expected the sewers. She had planned around the sewers. Hidden exits. Dark water. Narrow tunnels where pursuit slowed to a crawl.

The boy nodded. “Yeah.”

“Why?” Kana asked, genuinely curious now.

He scratched his cheek. “Because it’s stupidly obvious.” He shrugged. “Everyone expects a thief to disappear. Underground. Over rooftops. Through shadows.”

His finger traced the wide street. “But here? People everywhere. Noise. Chaos. You vanish by becoming ordinary.” He paused. “I’d hire runners too. Pass the item immediately. By the time anyone realizes what happened, I’m just another face walking away.”

The field felt quieter.

Kana stared at the map again.

Then she smiled.

Not the polite one she used in class. Not the harmless one she used with teachers. This was sharp. Satisfied. The smile of someone whose assumptions had just been cut open.

“Good thing I asked you,” she said and smiled at him. “You’re definitely a [Thief].”

The boy blushed then coughed, suddenly uncomfortable. “I… don’t know if that was a compliment.”

“It was. But stealing is bad. Alright?” Kana replied without hesitation. Kana suddenly remembered the night they raided the disguising thieves as merchants, their vaults, then cleared the recent den of bandits somewhere from the west. It feels wrong coming from me. I have no right to say it to him.

The boy, however, nodded. Around them, the whispers returned. Louder now. Students leaned closer, pretending not to listen while clearly listening to everything.

Kana rolled the map back up, mind already rearranging plans. Routes shifted. Potential trap position moved. Eyes repositioned.

The Phantom Thief didn’t hide in darkness.

He might have hid in plain sight all along.

Post note:
Hope you enjoy the chap! 🙂