Night, Scorched Ridge
The young man's carriage rolled slowly into Scorched City. It kept going forward and finally passed through the inner city walls, driving into Scorched Ridge.
Naturally, Link followed.
It was already getting late—around seven at night. In order to not worry Celine, Link teleported to the Mage Tower's main room.
In the tower, Celina wore loose pajamas. She was curled up on a chaise, reading a book without interest. Seeing Link come in, she lazily set it down and said, "Alloa said you went to find Waynes. How was it?"
Link chuckled. "He's doing great. Come, put your clothes on. I'll take you to see something interesting."
Celine had been bored and was instantly excited. She grabbed her clothes, and a few seconds later, she was dressed properly. "I'm done. Let's go!"
Link held her hand and activated the Dimensional Jump again. An instant later, the two appeared in the loft of the Scorched Ridge Inn hundreds of feet away. The attic was very small, and no one lived in it. The ground was covered in dust; the corners had spider webs.
"Cleaning Spell!"
Link waved his wand slightly. There was a whoosh, and the dust and spider webs disappeared. Then Link crouched before the window. "Come," he said mysteriously. "Do you see the carriage down there?"
Celine was intrigued by Link. She crept over and crouched beside Link. Looking out, she saw an average black carriage drive slowly towards the inn.
"It looks normal." Celine didn't understand. There were so many of these carriages in Scorched City.
Link froze and suddenly understood Celine's response. He whispered the message from the pier to Celine. Then he chuckled and said, "I don't know what this thief is thinking. He tricked a girl, bought her clothes and jewelry, and brought her all the way to Scorched Ridge."
Celine was even more interested. "That's strange."
So the two squatted inside the inn's attic quietly, watching the carriage drive over. It stopped at the inn's entrance. The first to descend was the handsome youth. He had changed into handsome black formal wear. After getting out, he reached in and helped the girl out the carriage.
Seeing this, Celine commented, "What a handsome young man. He's not like someone that I have to look really closely to find on the street."
Link chuckled. He'd have to teach this girl a lesson when they got back. His attention returned to the young man. Looking at him now, Link was slightly shocked. "That's strange," he whispered.
"What's wrong?" Celine felt that the man and woman were both attractive, but she couldn't see what was wrong. There were tons of people like them in the Scorched City.
"There's something wrong with the man," Link explained. "At the pier, he didn't have any aura. He was just like a regular person. But sense carefully now."
Hearing that, Celine composed herself and felt for the man's aura. A few seconds later, she frowned too. "I feel that he's a Magician now—and a strong one, at that. He's at least Level-5."
The man seemed to be only 23 years old. If someone that young could be at Level-5, he could count as a top genius in Firuman. Of course, excluding Link, the outlier.
That wasn't all that shocked Celine. She continued quietly, "His aura is disguised. If you didn't realize beforehand, would you be able to tell the difference?"
Link shook his head. "I can't either. I would think that he has extremely sophisticated Mana talent."
"If even you can't find the flaw, then the other Magicians definitely can't. Is he disguised as a Magician to sneak into the Mage Tower?" Celine deduced.
"It's possible, but that's just a guess. Let's keep watching."
Now, the man and woman had entered the inn and the attic's blind spot. Link cast Spatial Distortion and focused one end on the attic's window. The other end followed the young man.
After doing that, Link placed a rug on the ground. "Let's take our time watching."
Celine sat down beside him, leaning into his arms.
In the projection on the window, the young man paid the money as needed. He got a room on the third floor, and he brought the dazed girl into the room.
Inside, he closed the door. The thief seemed relieved, and he started talking to the girl. It was clear that it wasn't a happy conversation. But finally, the girl was convinced, and she nodded.
Link couldn't hear their voices through the spell, but he could decipher the content by reading their lips.
As he watched, his brows furrowed.
"What is he saying?" Celine asked.
"The thief said that there's a small Magician's meeting in Scorched Ridge tomorrow. He's going to bring the girl with him. He said that he wants to learn magic and that he knows a formal Magician called Edmund. He wants the girl to pleasure him and persuade Edmund to let him enter the Mage Tower to learn."
Celine frowned at that. "How did he persuade her to do this?"
Link shrugged. "Money, threats and some lovelies… This thief is very despicable, and the girl has a weak personality. That's what he's taking advantage of."
Celine was furious. "I want to shoot him in the face!"
Link waved his hand. "Don't get impatient. Since we discovered him, he won't have a good ending. Right now, I want to know about Edmund. According to the thief, this Edmund is in my Mage Tower, and he holds a position. Do you know him?"
Celine thought deeply. After a long while, she said uncertainly, "I might've heard the name before… Let me think… Oh, I think he's a low-level Magician. I think he's a registrar in the tower, in charge of Magician Apprentices. I heard that he really likes girls, especially virgins. However, he hasn't done anything bad yet. I'm really busy, so I didn't pay attention to him."
"I see." Link nodded. He looked at the young man and said, "He probably wants to sneak into the Mage Tower to steal something. But I don't have anything in there, other than some low-level books. Is anything worth a Level-6 thief with a Legendary ring to steal?"
Celine was speechless. She eyed Link. "There are so many precious things. You don't know after you became famous for being a Legendary Magician, it spread all over the continent. Many Magicians came for you, wanting to learn magic from you."
"Oh, really?" Link scratched his head. It was unbelievable. He'd been focusing on his spatial thesis these days and hadn't paid attention.
"Of course. And the Mage Tower isn't empty like you said. There are many valuable things inside. Disregarding everything else, your magic notes are priceless. It's enough for the most talented thief to come steal, but you just toss it on the table. I have to put it away for you every day."
"Oh. But they can't read it… Oh, they'll just sell it for money. Someone would be able to read it." Link realized his mistake.
He was now a famous Magician at the Legendary level. Even his clothes and utensils could probably be sold for a fortune. If someone really stole his notes, it could be worth a whole city.
In reality, the notes weren't much to Link. All his knowledge was ingrained deeply in his mind. The notes were just extra help, and so he overlooked its value.
Thinking of this, he suddenly had another question. "This thief is very average, but his ring isn't. I don't know where he got it from. Maybe he has someone behind him."
"Would it be some important Magician behind this?" Celine guessed.
Link thought about it. "It's possible. If this person exists, he must be our enemy. Otherwise, he wouldn't have to do this. He can just come find me."
"Should we catch him now?" Celine asked.
Link shook his head. "No. Let the thief come steal it. I want to use him to find the man behind him. We can also see what kind of loopholes are in our Mage Tower."
Someone who had a Legendary ring that could fool Link was definitely not a simple man.
Who could it be?