The Elusive Sorcerer

Chapter 170

Friday night passed quickly as Zavi decided to go to bed early and wake up earlier than usual.

The information had been gathered, and everything was ready.

That night, Aaron sat in the ground-floor living room, lost in thought for a long time, accompanied only by the silence of the night.

After witnessing that incident, Aaron became increasingly worried about whether his older sister was doing well over there, in the Kingdom of Synomia.

As for the tragedy of the three robed figures who died at the hands of those strange ropes hanging in the sky, it made Aaron seriously investigate this mass grave case.

'Yeah, I know that. If it weren't for that... I'd be just like that woman even today.'

After sitting and thinking for so long in the dimly lit living room, drowsiness gradually caught up to him as the night grew deeper.

Aaron yawned and wanted to head to his room, but his body refused to obey as the sleepiness grew stronger.

In the end, he closed his eyes and fell asleep while sitting down.

...

The next day, Saturday the 29th, at 5:40 in the morning.

From the eastern horizon, the sun illuminated the world with its strong, warm light, piercing through the remnants of the previous night's mist and the black-and-white steam rising from factories already operating that morning.

A new day had arrived, and meanwhile, Zavi was preparing to carry out his final plan before heading toward his main destination: the city of Kuranda.

'Goodbye. I probably won't be coming back.'

Zavi's gaze swept across his surroundings before he left the inn with indescribable feelings, having already delivered a secret message to Aaron.

He wore a suit, a bowler hat, and the bamboo hat he had prepared.

Zavi did not forget to inspect the last revolver given to him by Claude Diston to see whether it still worked after being left unused for so long, along with the pistol Evelina had given him at his request.

Once his preparations were complete, Zavi stepped outside carrying a brown suitcase whose exterior was covered in stickers, blending into the crowd on Street 38.

His destination was the nearest station, where he would wait and make further preparations.

Upon arriving at the one-way road leading to Velise Train Station by public carriage to save on expenses, Zavi got off, continued walking, and soon reached the station courtyard, which was filled with people busy with their own affairs.

Busy was certainly the word he wanted to use as he stepped inside and purchased a ticket to Kuranda for 15 Pace and 300 Pence.

With the ticket in hand, Zavi sat on the long polished teak bench in the farthest corner near the ticket counter and waited for the steam train to arrive.

And because an opportunity would not come twice, he finally did it here. Pretending to sleep with part of his face hidden beneath his bowler hat and his suitcase beside him, he began creating two clones, one of which lacked the perfect form of the clone that usually played James Moriarty.

That was not a major problem and would not hinder his plan.

When the two clones, each playing a different role, appeared several hundred meters away from Velise Station, the operation Zavi had planned for so long officially began.

Two nameless men, one of whom was Zavi Actitus, ran as fast as they could through the crowded streets while holding onto their bamboo hats.

Among the dozens of passersby, the panicked Zavi Actitus frequently bumped into women burdened by their elaborate clothing and was jabbed by the tips of their umbrellas.

"...Stop, you cruel bastard!" shouted the man in the bowler hat chasing him, his voice loud and resolute.

Even though it was still early in the morning, Zavi Actitus's face was drenched in sweat from his fear of the death that was coming for him.

The murmurs of people who had stopped walking along the sidewalks filled the entire street as the two men ran past them.

"Did that man in the bamboo hat steal something from him?" asked a formally dressed woman in confusion.

"Maybe," replied the woman beside her, also dressed formally, nodding uncertainly.

A man in a classic suit looked bewildered by the sudden spectacle that morning.

"Which side are you on?" he asked the man in a half-top hat standing beside him.

For a moment, he looked around for people willing to bet on whether the man in the bamboo hat would escape or whether the man in the bowler hat would catch him. But what could he do when so many people were focused on the chase?

From across the street came the murmurs of men and women watching the incident.

"Come on, catch him! Give him the punishment he deserves."

"Come on, sir, you're a member of the Tenano Security Department. You can definitely catch that thief."

They were completely mistaken. They thought the man in the bamboo hat being chased by the man in the bowler hat was a thief. Or rather, a criminal and a thief.

The two men continued running until they reached the front of a church.

"Playing tag this early in the morning? The world never changes, does it?" an elder muttered softly as he continued walking with the aid of his cane.

Meanwhile, the children playing in the churchyard and the teenagers sweeping scattered leaves were briefly distracted by the commotion.

"Sister, are those gentlemen playing tag?" one of the children asked innocently. The confusion that had filled his face moments ago was now replaced with excitement.

The child could not resist the urge to join in.

"I'm going to play with the Uncles!" he shouted.

The child ran enthusiastically toward the iron gate to wait for the two men to arrive. His actions immediately inspired the other children.

The church sister was startled and quickly forbade the children from getting involved with the two men.

The situation became more intense because Zavi could no longer maintain the will of the clone that was running and shouting for much longer.

'Come on, hold on... you can do it.'

He tried encouraging himself while guiding the two clones toward a busier location: the road near the roundabout, where several roads met and activity was at its densest.

Bang!

A single shot was fired by the pursuing clone.

The other clone, the one playing Zavi Actitus, widened his eyes and looked back.

The pedestrians, even more numerous than those on Street 38, reacted and took cover as the shot rang out.

Then, at the climax of it all, the pursuing clone shouted loudly as he prepared to pull the trigger.

"Die, Zavi..."

Bang! Bang!

Two bullets tore through the air one after another, shattering Zavi Actitus's thigh bone and leaving bloody holes in his body.

Even though it was a clone of himself, there was nothing strange about it. It was completely real.

"Argh!"

The clone playing Zavi Actitus lost his balance as he fell and skidded several centimeters across the stone-paved road.

The screams that followed from the pedestrians, especially the women traumatized by the sight of blood, lingered in the air after the cries of the clone playing Zavi Actitus faded.

"A terrorist?"

"...No. It seems that man is an executioner, and that man is a..."

"Criminal?" the man beside him interrupted calmly.

The man who had failed to finish his sentence turned toward him.

"Could be," he said quietly while trying to assess the situation.

The area around the execution site, several dozen meters before the roundabout, gradually became crowded as people on the sidewalks and roads gathered and exchanged murmurs about what had happened.

Watching through his clone's eyes, Zavi ordered the clone playing Zavi Actitus to shout.

"Bastard, this hurts," Zavi Actitus cursed irritably.

At that moment, the clone playing the pursuer and executioner slowly approached the helpless Zavi Actitus clone.

"Of course it wouldn't hurt if you hadn't run from me," the pursuing clone replied coldly.

An uninvited individual approached from behind and asked curiously, "Who is that injured man?"

Hearing the question, Zavi clicked his tongue inwardly. He ordered the pursuing clone to move forward indifferently and finish off the clone playing Zavi Actitus.

"Sir...?" muttered a man from earlier as he took a confused step forward.

Click...

The clone playing the pursuer and executioner raised his revolver and pointed the barrel at the helpless man's chest.

Bang!

The air around them seemed to slow after the first shot was fired, followed by a rapid series of shots unleashed by the clone, who would disappear within seconds.

As soon as he confirmed that the clone playing Zavi Actitus was dead, he turned around, shoved the stunned man aside, and calmly walked past him as though such a thing were completely ordinary.

"Is he a murderer?" shouted the broad-faced man loudly.

The insane act drew closer the men who had previously been questioning what was happening. The sight of three men, no, six men approaching caused the onlookers' curiosity about the condition of the man who had been shot to intensify.

They surrounded him and questioned what had really happened.

The crowd did not disperse. Even several minutes after the death, people continued growing more curious about what they had witnessed.

One man, followed by another dressed the same way in the blue-and-gray uniform of the Tenano Security Department, pushed his way into the crowd.

"Move aside, move aside. I'm from the Tenano Security Department. I'll be inspecting this area."

Having received information from people who had witnessed the incident, one of the Tenano Department officers patrolling Schoutzin's eastern district arrived.

"This is bad," the man said seriously as he turned toward his colleague.

"What's bad about it?"

Naturally, he was not willing to accept that statement without further explanation.

"Yeah, this is bad. Just look at the wound on that man's chest."

His colleague, along with the ten people still standing nearby, immediately focused their attention on the dead man's chest.

"Excuse me, Mr. Nettan. There's nothing strange about that man's chest," said a man in a half-top hat clearly and firmly.

Nettan, the person who had previously called it strange after someone addressed him by name, remained silent for several seconds.

'Yeah, I'm not surprised if there's a tag name on my left chest.'

What surprised him was how sharp that man's eyesight was.

He wasn't an ordinary person.

That was what Nettan thought as he searched for clues regarding the corpse.

Using the testimony of the witnesses who had seen everything, Nettan and his colleague reported the incident to their captain. Meanwhile, the dead man's body was transported by a rented carriage to the nearest headquarters for further examination.

Zavi Actitus was dead.

The pedestrians who had watched the incident for too long eventually returned to their activities as though such things happened frequently, allowing them to adapt to their environment without damaging their mental state.

Meanwhile, the woman who had screamed hysterically fainted and was taken to the nearest hospital to recover physically and mentally after witnessing the horrific event.

Back at Velise Station, on the long bench where Zavi lay sleeping as though exhausted from waiting for the train.

After enduring the pain caused by controlling two clones simultaneously, he sat like a statue for several minutes, nearly an hour without moving except to blink and scratch an itch here and there.

That was not what made him anxious, nor was it the fact that the train was still far from arriving at around eight in the morning. Rather, it was that someone wearing a smile he himself did not understand had been sitting beside him for several minutes.

'Can he see the flow of my spirituality?'

Zavi wanted to kill the man with the city jellyfish before it was too late.

Meanwhile, the smile did not fade at all. The man finally spoke after Zavi glanced at him repeatedly.

"So you're awake after all?" the man murmured with a smile.

'This guy? How long is he going to keep messing with me?'

Just seeing his pale face and eerie smile was enough to send chills down Zavi's spine, let alone having him sit nearby.

As Zavi gradually regained control of his body, he glanced around.

'It's so crowded? How long have I been pretending to sleep while waiting for the train?'

He reached into his suit pocket, took out his pocket watch, and pressed the cover open.

Click.

'7:30?'

Knowing the train would arrive in another half hour, Zavi finally felt relieved. Even so, the oppressive sensation caused by the man's presence still lingered in his mind.

"Ahem, why are you smiling like that?"

Zavi had absolutely no idea what to make of the pale-faced man whose unblinking eyes were fixed on him.

"So you're awake?" the man asked once again.

Zavi let out a short sigh.

"I'm awake," he replied hesitantly. "Thank you for watching over me."

'Eh, why am I the one thanking him?'

He only realized it after the words had already left his mouth.

'But whatever. There's nothing wrong with thanking someone, even if that person is strange.'

Zavi adjusted his bowler hat and checked whether everything inside his suitcase was still there.

The man wore that strange smile again and said softly, "I didn't steal anything, so relax."

Zavi wanted to verify that himself.

'What that strange man said... is true!?'

Zavi muttered inwardly, his pupils trembling as he realized that the strange man who always smiled and stared at him possessed an honesty most people lacked, including himself.

"Sorry if I've been too wary of you."

As soon as those words came from the bottom of Zavi's heart, the ever-smiling man slowly closed his eyes and said softly,

"Would you be willing to help me once the train arrives?"

Zavi hurriedly sought clarification.

"Do you mean helping you get on, or accompanying you during the journey?"

The man chuckled to himself and answered clearly,

"Sorry if my stare made you uncomfortable. The truth is, I can't see, and when I arrived at the station, someone happened to guide me to a seat near you."

Zavi understood immediately and felt guilty for having suspected him of various things.

"Sorry. I was rude to you earlier," Zavi said quietly.

The man chuckled and replied, "Relax. I only wanted to ask someone for help, nothing more."

"Yes, I'll help you once the train arrives."

The man laughed at the kindness of someone whose face he himself had never seen.

"I truly owe you one, sir," he said. "By the way, what's your name?" he asked sincerely.

Zavi gave his name in a somewhat apathetic tone.

"Arsène Lupin."

Several minutes after introducing themselves, the train arrived. After the staff called for boarding and checked everyone's belongings to ensure nothing had been left behind, the train, which stopped for only twenty minutes, began moving again at 8:21 a.m.

The journey to the city of Kuranda began at that very moment as the train slowly rolled away along the tracks.