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chapter 13
So, here’s the full story of the incident.
“Why are we so late?”
“Uh, there were a lot of people around… I had to come carefully without being noticed…”
The two of them released the guards and followed behind them.
Upon arriving at the familiar “midpoint,” the guards made contact with a suspicious-looking group wearing masks and handed over a sack.
“Ugh! Why is this one so heavy?”
Inside the sack was not members of the cult, but a large rock enchanted with an illusion spell.
Caesar realized from the masked person’s words that this was not their first time handling such a task.
And such proficiency usually comes with blood.
“Take care of them.”
“W-why… Aaah!”
At a scene not suitable for children, Caesar quickly covered his daughter’s eyes with his hand.
Suddenly, a murder occurred.
Before Caesar could even intervene, the two guards were dead.
The masked figure handled the cleanup with expertise, giving off the unmistakable scent of blood.
‘No hesitation in killing. Definitely not an ordinary person. Likely someone from the underworld.’
Seeing that they moved in groups, Caesar suspected with high certainty that they were affiliated with a guild.
‘This is where it gets serious. The transporters are just transporters.’
As expected, the mercenaries were nothing more than a tail.
‘I need to interrogate these guys.’
They were surely connected to the cult. Caesar had a feeling that digging into this would uncover a string of suspicious activities.
When he moved his hand away, Lirian, who had been quietly observing until now, peered at the scene with her magnifying glass and muttered.
“Suspicious, suspicious. Totally suspicious!”
“Detective, did you find something?”
“Yep. They’re running away.”
As Lirian had said, the masked group, having finished the cleanup, was moving the sack.
“But there’s nowhere to hide.”
The problem was that the direction they were heading had no cover.
Caesar paused to think.
A properly trained warrior’s senses are extremely sharp, easily detecting a mage’s mana waves.
When a mage uses magic, residual mana waves remain.
In other words, trying to hide using magic might give them away.
Of course, even if detected, Caesar thought he could simply wipe them out—but then he’d lose the trail of the cult’s tail.
He didn’t know if any of them were that skilled, but caution wouldn’t hurt.
‘For now, Lirian is enjoying herself. Let’s watch.’
In truth, for Caesar, neither the cult nor the dark guild was the most important thing.
The important thing was that Lirian was completely absorbed in detective play.
He smiled warmly at the little detective holding a magnifying glass and inspecting everything.
“Hmm. No place to hide. What now?”
“Hmm!”
Lirian thought deeply and then exclaimed, “We can disguise ourselves!”
“Disguise?”
Did she mean there was still more disguising to do?
As he wondered if he should even find her a child assassin outfit, Lirian pointed somewhere with a snap.
“That one!”
Her fingertip rested on a gray trash can…
And now, back to the present.
In the trash can by the roadside.
“Princess, maybe we should stop going out…”
“Shhh!”
Why had it come to this?
Caesar thought, bewildered.
No matter how thoroughly he had magically cleaned it, it was still a public trash can.
A gray, gloomy-looking trash can!
From the moment his tiny daughter bounced up and wiggled her short limbs to climb inside, Caesar’s mental stability was gone.
He had no choice but to follow in with her, but even a super-sized trash can couldn’t fully contain Caesar’s large frame.
He had to crouch.
“You can’t let the seeker find you in hide-and-seek.”
Lirian spoke seriously.
He thought he’d seen it all raising four kids.
He was wrong. The world was vast, and a child’s eccentricity knew no bounds.
“Dad, move quickly.”
“Ugh.”
Caesar sighed and shoved his legs into the hole Lirian had made.
The gray trash can suddenly lifted into the air.
Beneath it, polished gentleman’s shoes and high-quality trousers were visible.
The trash can waddled along.
“Huh?”
One of the masked figures, sweating from moving the heavy rock-filled sack, glanced back.
In the eerie, deserted alley, where rumors of people vanishing had spread, a chilling wind blew.
At a moment that seemed critical, ready to be discovered—
“What’s wrong?”
“No, must’ve been my imagination. Let’s go.”
Surprisingly, it worked!
The gray trash can blended seamlessly into the street, like a decorative object, drawing no suspicion.
The masked figure looked puzzled for a moment, then continued on their way.
‘Who would think there’s a person inside a trash can?’
The dull adult imagination couldn’t follow a child’s colorful creativity.
‘No one here but my daughter.’
A short while later, the lid of the trash can twitched.
It slowly lifted, revealing a black-haired handsome man and a black-haired beautiful girl peeking out.
“Target confirmed.”
Lirian examined the masked group through her magnifying glass.
Once she confirmed the building they had disappeared into, the lid quietly closed again.
“What now, Detective?”
“It’s cramped.”
“That’s why I said we should leave.”
At five years old, Lirian completely ignored her father’s advice.
“I want my own trash can.”
“Why a trash can…”
“I’m going to be independent!”
Once a five-year-old set her mind on something, there was no stopping her.
Lirian, inspecting the surroundings with her magnifying glass, eventually found—
“A baby trash can!”
A small trash can identical to the large one, but perfectly sized for Lirian.
Caesar quickly grabbed her dangling leg as she tried to climb in.
“Waaah?”
He immediately used magic to turn it into a fragrant trash can, then set Lirian inside.
‘What am I doing right now…’
He wiped his face in self-disgust, then, seeing her satisfied like a cat finding the perfect box, he sighed with a small smile.
She was truly unpredictable.
“Dad, let’s go.”
With a dramatic flourish, like a transforming golem, Lirian stood.
Her short legs and tiny feet protruded from beneath the trash can, where she had drilled a hole.
She marched forward confidently.
Caesar couldn’t leave her alone and followed.
The two of them—or rather, the two trash cans—hid in front of the building where the masked group had disappeared.
“…When are we leaving?”
“The payment is…”
“Given the current situation… let’s stop this…”
From behind a worn wall, a gloomy voice echoed, likely from one of the dark guild’s hideouts.
Once again, Lirian’s extraordinary hearing was hard at work.
‘Ah, someone’s coming.’
Creak.
Soon, a dusty cart stopped in front of the building.
Lirian peeked out, only her eyes visible.
The donkey brayed, and the tightly closed doors opened.
Those pulling the cart were dressed similarly, in worn shirts, cloth pants, and felt hats, looking like street cleaners.
‘They disguised themselves too!’
Originally masked to conceal their identity, they now appeared as cleaners after leaving the building.
Lirian alternated her gaze between her own disguise (the trash can) and theirs, nodding to herself.
‘Of course my disguise is cooler.’
Meanwhile, they loaded the sack onto the cart.
Thud.
“This one’s heavier than before. Is this the end?”
“Yes. Oh, wait. We need to disguise it.”
“If it’s trash, we’ve already loaded it.”
“The guards asked why we hadn’t cleared the street trash last time. Since we disguised as cleaning crew, they thought we were real cleaners. Damn them.”
“Then load anything. There’s a trash can right there; let’s use that.”
One of them strode forward and picked up Lirian’s trash can.
‘Huh.’
In an instant, Lirian had been “kidnapped.”
Before he could react, Caesar’s trash can was also lifted.
They used the fact that people avoid dirty areas to easily move them.
“Then, let’s go.”
Father and daughter trash cans were loaded onto the cart side by side.
Lirian’s heart raced—not from fear, but from the thrill of feeling like a true stealthy detective.
Rumble.
Soon, the cart began moving.
Lirian realized they were leaving the hideout area because the surrounding noise changed.
“Stop. We need to inspect the cargo to pass through the gate.”
“Oh, sir. This is dirty trash. We’re cleaners taking it to the incinerator. See? Even a trash can! It would be improper to show this to a noble knight…”
“Hmm, is that so?”
“Yes, indeed!”
“Pass.”
A few minutes later, at the incinerator:
The disguised cleaners were met by a new group.
“The items?”
“Here they are.”
“Good. Let’s move them to the headquarters.”
“The headquarters?”
“There’s a ‘guest’ waiting there.”
The suspicious group moved the sack, containing the rock, to an old, seemingly abandoned canal—likely the route to headquarters.
Caesar and Lirian, lid-to-lid with their trash cans, whispered as they spied.
“Dad, I don’t think we can follow this secretly.”
“Hide-and-seek ends here.”
The two of them nodded, then simultaneously leapt from the trash cans.
“Go, Dad… no, sling the rock!”
