TLWRO 14

Chapter 14

Everyone fears different things.

Some might find a fire-breathing dragon adorable, while others would panic and flee at the sight of a tiny hamster.

So, instead of setting a specific scenario, a spell was cast to evoke the worst memories.

“People become cowardly because they have imagination.”

Attacking Hugo meant confronting his own past.

Since this was a spell commissioned to torment someone cheating on their partner, Emma found it strange that it was intended for security purposes.

“Now I understand what trauma Hugo has from his grandfather.”

I also learned something else.

I had wondered what if the man was scared of hamsters or something, but he turned out to be a grandfather swinging a mace wildly.

“The grandpa must have been something else in his youth. Well, still is.”

Hugo was the one who first came at me with a sword.

Force must be met with force. So, repaying sword with mace was just his own fault.

Moreover, it clearly reinforced the perception that the grandfather was still healthy.

I don’t know how rumors spread that he was ill, but as someone who needed to hide that fact as much as possible, this situation wasn’t bad.

Above all…

“I have The Forest of Colonia in my hands now.”

The Forest of Colonia was a painting.

A small, old painting of just a forest by an unknown artist.

Hugo thought it was nothing and handed it over to me.

He must have thought it was a good deal if just this alone could help him dodge his grandfather’s mace.

“Of course, the painting alone is useless. But I have other purposes.”

Does Hugo know?

Besides this painting, he gave me a few more things today.

“Alright, shall we start closing up?”

After safely storing the contract, I began the real closing routine.

Cleaning, wiping the windows, discarding sprays, and putting away the teacups.

The spray that looked like an air freshener was actually the trigger and enhancer for the memory spell. Smelling it would activate the magic.

Then what about the tea Hugo suspected?

“He thought I’d make him drink sleeping pills. Thanks to that, I drank it well—it was holy water.”

Holy water.

Holy power cancels out magic, and magic cancels out holy power.

They erase each other.

Pure holy water can unilaterally erase magic.

“Hugo must have thought it was just a sleeping pill and made me drink it, but in fact, he unwittingly gave me the antidote to the memory spell.”

Of course, since Hugo knew I wouldn’t drink tea he gave me, he prepared a precaution.

Holy water is managed by temples, very expensive and hard to obtain. Half the cost of the magic commission was for the holy water alone.

“A few drops of precious holy water were mixed in the tea, a few more in water inside the cleaning spray.”

To erase any residual memory magic.

Emma said it was a one-time-use spell, but just in case.

“I can’t have customers who are sensitive to magic come in and suddenly recall their worst memories.”

I didn’t want the shop to turn into a place where fire-breathing dragons or hamsters would suddenly appear.

More than anything, if I left the spray behind, I might get caught in the memory magic myself. I really wanted to avoid that.

My worst memory was definitely the day I read about my grandfather’s death in the newspaper.

“…I never want to feel that again.”

So I picked up the spray bottle, but—

“Huh? It’s gone already?”

Spraying leaves a distinctive scent.

But it was completely gone. The only smell left in the pawnshop was the fresh scent of wood.

Sniffing for a while, I shrugged.

“That man Hugo must have inhaled it all.”

Is that why the effect was so strong?

Thanks to that, I still had an unused bottle of holy water spray. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it…

“But it’s good to have something.”

Maybe I’ll use it to clean the windows.

Who knows, maybe it’ll clean better.

On a cloudy night without even the moon,

The black silhouette that had appeared and disappeared repeatedly arrived at the top of the pawnshop.

“Hoo.”

Tesah took off his hood, revealing a face that gleamed coldly.

Dressed all in black, with black gloves covering even his neck, he looked down at the pawnshop with red eyes.

His gaze stopped at the second floor.

The duchy’s treasured sword—

The so-called Lugenot—was said to be hidden there.

“I must verify this.”

There was a skylight in the attic roof. Trying it, of course, it was locked.

“Let’s see if the torture mages did their job well.”

Muttering this, Tesah pressed briefly the small clip set with a ruby on his left sleeve.

A few seconds later, the lock clicked open.

“It was said this doesn’t dispel magic but only suspends it temporarily.”

Since it’s a pawnshop, Tesah expected some security magic.

But if the magic was completely lifted, that would signal someone had broken in.

“Each magic user has a unique casting signature like a signature, so it can’t just be reapplied.”

That’s why Tesah commissioned the duchy’s mages to create a magical tool that could suspend other people’s magic.

“In other words, the lock magic here isn’t Eibor’s work.”

Curiously, the thief and mage Tesah was chasing, Eibor, left no casting signatures in his magic.

That was why he was so hard to track.

When Tesah asked the torture mages, they speculated someone might have cast concealment magic on the ritual, but they were unsure.

“That woman must have entrusted security magic to a mage other than Eibor. Why? Despite being an accomplice.”

Tesah jumped down lightly and surveyed the attic.

There was a small kitchen and bedroom, but no signs of anyone living there. Except for a bunch of dried flowers, the attic was empty.

“Her hobby, or someone’s collateral?”

Tesah eyed the flowers coldly, then waved his left hand in the air.

The trap magic spreading like cobwebs on the door to the lower floor stopped abruptly.

Stopping another trap and about to unlock the door, Tesah examined the ruby on the clip.

It was calm, no change.

His brows furrowed slightly.

“I definitely saw it wrong. The ruby flashed briefly before.”

The clip-type magical tool had another function.

If it sensed the energy of the Lugenot sword, it would blink according to the energy’s strength.

The ruby, silent throughout the journey to the empire, blinked only once—

When arriving at this pawnshop.

But why…

“That woman didn’t seem to be lying either.”

So it was suspicious.

Eibor was last seen near this shop, but that alone wasn’t the only reason for suspicion.

“The investigation showed Eibor had committed theft crimes before.”

Though the name and appearance were different, the method was the same, so it was recognizable.

But Tesah heard a surprising story from the victim.

“So you’re saying you found the stolen jewel again?”

“Yes! You can’t imagine how shocked I was. I happened to see it being sold at an auction I randomly attended!”

When questioned, the auctioneer said he had just bought it back and showed documents.

The name on them was this place.

It was natural to suspect that the pawnshop was a partner or broker for Eibor.

On the way to the empire, Tesah thought about the gloomy and dangerous space and the despicable, money-hungry owner.

But then—

“I’m serious. We don’t deal in stolen goods. We don’t buy or sell them.”

Facing him was a woman with proud, dignified eyes.

The look of someone confident her path was right.

I wondered what else she could be proud of, but somehow that look stuck in his mind.

“Are you interested in me?”

If the conversation hadn’t been cut off by such a strange question, Tesah might have almost been fooled.