The Elusive Sorcerer

Chapter 169

Just one. No more.

'One may seem insignificant, but...'

Zavi spent several minutes wondering whether he was capable of doing it.

After leaving the park that Saturday, he went on with his life as usual, or rather, unusually.

The Ountakana Auction was drawing closer, set to take place in just a few weeks. What about the bounty hunters out there and the evil factions after his head? For a moment, he forgot about the danger that constantly lurked around him, the danger that followed him wherever he went.

Even after deciding to return to the inn, blending into the bustle of the streets and the fog hanging in the air, Zavi's eyes continued to scan his surroundings, wondering whether an enemy could disguise themselves as an ordinary pedestrian.

He shook his head, focused on his steps, and returned to the inn as quickly as possible.

Upon arriving at the inn, Zavi did not immediately begin training. Instead, he waited for the delivery he had previously arranged during a phone call.

That same Saturday night, Zavi had promised Aaron that the two of them would investigate a series of deaths that seemed somewhat unusual and plausibly connected to an advancement ritual.

After hearing the story, Zavi found it hard to believe and realized that the enemy had become increasingly blatant in their actions.

At 7:01 p.m., Zavi and Aaron gathered in the second-floor lounge. After a brief discussion, and without any real plan, the two hurried downstairs, and the investigation began the moment they stepped out the door.

However, the plan to find the mastermind behind the Black Death advancement ritual Aaron had mentioned that morning did not go as smoothly as expected. An hour after leaving the inn, Zavi gave up and chose to return to the inn in Schoutzin's eastern district.

Over the next few weeks, and by Sunday morning, March 16th, Zavi began preparing for his crazy plan, one that even Evelina, his benefactor, and Luis were eagerly anticipating.

His days were filled with training. He did as many push-ups as he could, pushing himself to the limit. He also did pull-ups and other exercises such as jogging so he could run for at least ten minutes without limping or stopping to rest.

By gradually increasing his jogging duration and strength-training repetitions every week, about one or two minutes per session, Zavi's efforts finally paid off. He could now run for twenty minutes without limping, and the good news was that he was close to reaching twenty-two minutes!

This achievement, something the original Zavi had never accomplished, stirred a storm of emotions in his chest: exhaustion, joy, relief, and sadness all mixed together.

'Mom, your pitiful son finally did it.'

Although he had been separated from his mother for several months and had never told her that her son was doing fine, he found himself lost in thought in an empty field a few hundred meters from Thirty-Eighth Street, where the inn was located.

Lying on ankle-high grass, Zavi spread his arms and stared at the beautiful orange light hanging above him.

'It's beautiful.'

Click.

The pocket watch opened, allowing the grass in his hand to fall onto his white shirt.

Zavi immediately sat up and looked at his pocket watch.

'5:40 p.m., huh?'

Only then did he realize, on this Friday, that he had been training for nearly two weeks.

Zavi took a deep breath, then exhaled as he stood up.

The pocket watch disappeared back into his trousers, and only then did he intend to return to his apartment.

He didn't even hear the faint giggling around the empty field as he wore a serious expression, lost in thought.

'Tomorrow is Saturday, and I have to do it. I hope all the preparations I've made pay off. That's all I can hope for before heading to Kuranda.'

Zavi nodded slowly, focused his gaze on the sidewalk, and quickened his pace.

When he arrived at the inn and stood in the central hall, the first thing that greeted him was a suffocating silence.

This wasn't the first time. He had experienced it repeatedly from Sunday afternoon on the 16th until Friday afternoon on the 28th.

Standing quietly while brushing dust off his shirt, Zavi finally opened his mouth.

"I'm home..."

There was no response, and he had already expected that.

'Well then, I won't be seeing you tomorrow either.'

As Zavi climbed the stairs barefoot, he felt a tingling cramp in his leg that forced him to stop on the second step from the top floor.

'Damn it, I knew this would happen again. If I remember correctly, I felt this tingling cramp last week too.'

"Come on, don't do this... I'm leaving tomorrow morning," he muttered to himself.

Aaron, who had just stepped out from the area near the kitchen and bathroom on the left side of the living room, froze when he heard those words.

Zavi was unaware of Aaron's presence below and to his right, his attention fixed entirely on the sole of his foot.

'Come on... don't give up yet.'

He tried encouraging his leg, afraid that it would get worse by tomorrow.

From downstairs, Aaron shook his head before entering a room: his own.

Meanwhile, Zavi remained seated on the second step, waiting for the sensation to fade on its own.

....

In Ource, at the Kalderan family estate, inside the warehouse basement.

"Yeah, I only found out myself," Evelina said, waving her hand.

Luis frowned.

"So we're leaving tonight?" he asked, his gaze sweeping across the two familiar figures.

Sitting atop a stack of crates with her legs crossed, Evelina answered apathetically,

"Yes."

Luis chuckled to himself.

"...Could it be that you're interested in James Moriarty's crazy stunt?"

Evelina nodded hesitantly and replied softly,

"Yeah, you could say that. Considering how much jewelry and gold are involved, I was forced to join his game. But this is different..."

The atmosphere suddenly fell silent for several seconds. Even minutes passed before it came alive again when Luifis asked, "Did you receive your share of the sale from Mr. James Moriarty?"

The corner of Evelina's lips lifted slightly, almost forming a grin as she spoke enthusiastically.

"I get sixty-five percent of the total, Moriarty gets twenty-five percent, and my beloved Luis gets the remaining ten percent."

Relief and happiness were clearly visible on her usually grumpy face. The same was true for Luis.

"That's... that's far beyond what I imagined," Luis said with an excited snort.

Luis entered his world of mathematics, sinking into thought.

'Wait, wait, wait. Let me think. I've already taken at least three pieces of jewelry and ten percent of the total share. Hmm, considering my rare skill, I'll be getting...'

"Almost 10,000 Pace?"

Luis's inner thoughts slipped out loud, causing the two people around him to frown.

Evelina, or rather, Luifis, knew exactly what was on his mind whenever money was involved.

'It's definitely about money, isn't it? No human could resist a sum that large, especially someone like him.'

Luifis thought to himself, nodding with a gloomy expression as he realized he hadn't received that role.

'Did he forget my important contribution?'

Then Evelina quickly revealed the message James Moriarty wanted conveyed.

"We'll leave tonight and arrive at Sanan Station before evening at the latest," Evelina said firmly.

She glanced at Luifis standing below and to her left. Although her expression remained firm and indifferent, Evelina knew exactly what Luifis was worried about.

Evelina jumped down from the stack of crates she had been sitting on and landed perfectly.

"...Don't think about it too much." Evelina stepped forward and climbed the dim staircase. "He'll give you a special reward."

With those words, Evelina's figure gradually disappeared into the darkness of the stairs. The two of them remained motionless, pondering the meaning behind her words.

Luis shook his head, stepped forward, and grabbed Luifis's shoulder.

"...Relax. If you don't get that reward, I'll split half my earnings with you," Luis said, stretching his arm before turning around.

Luifis smiled bitterly, staring at Luis's back as he quietly said, "Thank you. For helping a useless man like me."

Luis stopped walking, his face darkening for a moment.

"There is no one in this world who is truly useless. If that's how you feel, believe me... at the very least, your presence can make the people closest to you happy."

After saying that so Luifis would stop drowning in those thoughts, Luis turned around. His figure was slowly swallowed by the darkness at the top of the stairs, leaving only silence behind.

Luifis bit his lower lip, holding back both the tightness in his chest and the warmth spreading through it.

'Thank you for telling me that.'

Back in the warehouse, Evelina immediately instructed the ten workers to move the cargo onto the wagons and leave Ource tonight as quickly as possible.

Without asking many questions, they hurried to do as she instructed, knowing that Evelina was conveying James Moriarty's orders.

Once the six crates had been loaded onto Evelina's two covered private horse carriages, the ten workers set off. Not together, but in separate groups so the plan wouldn't be exposed or tracked by the authorities.

Although she was a noblewoman, Evelina carried this out according to instructions, even going so far as to hide the matter from her parents. Therefore, moving in stages was the best option.

Arriving at the station at exactly nine o'clock that night, the ten workers, divided into two groups, moved the crates into the logistics warehouse before they were loaded onto the train cars.

This had worried Zavi greatly, but Evelina handled everything smoothly through caution and with the help of the ten people James Moriarty had hired.

After the crates were loaded into the storage carriage by the station staff, the carriage where customers' belongings were stored, they were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief after the nerve-wracking experience.

Approaching eleven o'clock at night, the train finally sounded its horn twice, signaling its imminent departure and reminding the station conductors not to neglect their duties.

That night, they finally set off. Second by second, the steam train accelerated, accompanied by the sharp hiss of steam echoing along the tracks.

....

Earlier that afternoon, Friday the 28th, at 3:15 p.m., in Kenotalle, on the western outskirts of Minehold.

Inside a room sat a woman whose face was lined with wrinkles, though they did nothing to diminish her beauty despite her nearly sixty years of age. On the sofa opposite her, her son looked at her while speaking.

They were Ren Actitus and Mei Actitus.

"As for our finances, this month hasn't seen the same decline as the previous one," Ren said, trying to reassure his mother.

Seeing the mixture of happiness, sadness, and worry on her face, Ren quickly added,

"As for Zavi, he's completely unreliable."

Mei was intrigued by the statement and asked in confusion, "What do you mean unreliable? Is Zavi messing with you?"

Ren hesitated for a moment as he carefully chose his words so his mother would stop worrying about someone whose condition was unknown.

"He said he wouldn't come home until he became a famous tycoon in Havanuheta, or rather, throughout the entire Kingdom of Norn."

So close, yet Mei failed to realize it was a lie. More than that, she finally laughed after seeing how her son's previous unemployment and repeated rejections from companies had affected his mental and emotional state.

"I don't want to keep searching for or worrying about Zavi either. But..."

Ren held out a letter he had prepared several weeks earlier.

"...This might help, Mom," Ren said softly.

Unable to believe it, Mei immediately opened the letter. It was a telegram bearing a familiar sender's name.

"Did Zavi send this?" Mei asked seriously.

Knowing he was lying, Ren answered, "Yeah, Zavi sent that telegram."

'It only arrived this afternoon, and I had to pick it up myself.'

After thinking that while unconsciously clenching his fist as though he wanted to punch someone, Ren watched his mother read the telegram.

Her expression became a complicated mixture of emotions once she realized Ren's earlier statement appeared to be true.

From that day on, the lie continued, and Ren, already sick of it all, began thinking about searching for his younger brother in another city.

He suspected, or rather, his intuition told him, that Zavi Actitus would not die so easily at the hands of others or be killed on the road to the town square.

Ren rose from his seat, straightened his shirt collar, and said goodbye to his mother.

Mei nodded with a smile, still reading the telegram. Meanwhile, on the second floor, Isabelle, who had been observing the situation downstairs, began descending after making sure Ren had left.

Click...

The sound of the door closing echoed through the house, followed by hurried footsteps as Isabelle ran toward her mother and startled her.

"What are you reading, Mom?" she asked curiously.

Mei held up the telegram and turned toward her.

"A message from Zavi. He just sent it..."

The sentence trailed off. Mei had no idea when Zavi had sent it. She wanted to ask Ren, but he had already left.

"Wow, it's rare for Zavi to send a message through a telegram," Isabelle said in disbelief, her eyes sparkling after seeing some sign of progress from her older brother.

Mei merely laughed after hearing that and reflected on it for a moment.

"Come on, I want to see what he wrote..."

Isabelle was stunned. There were only two sentences in the telegram. She knew every word cost money, but seriously, who sends something this short?

Unable to believe it, Isabelle walked over with exaggerated steps and sat down on the sofa with her arms crossed.

"He hasn't changed at all," Isabelle said, pouting.

Mei chuckled to herself.

"You're expecting too much," Mei said with a laugh.

Isabelle looked at her mother with a frown.

"Wait, why are you defending Zavi?" Isabelle asked firmly.

Mei laughed again after noticing the jealousy in her daughter's voice.

"Because he's a boy who never changes," Mei replied, her worries gradually fading away.