A fluttering carp.
A fluttering carp.
“I want to give you money first, but…”
There was no objection to giving money itself. Well, that owl woman seems to have a reason to find Luvor, so she won’t eat and splash.
“Do you have any pockets left?”
When I asked Magistrate Braim, he replied with a silent shake of his head.
It was probably because there was no really new pocket, or even if there were other pockets, there was money in them, so it was taken into account in case the owl woman took the money for the request and left.
“No worries. Always ready to receive money.”
The Owl Robe Woman took out an empty pouch from her bosom with a familiar hand movement and showed it. She took the money bag from me and, crouching down on the floor, took out coins from the pocket one by one, putting one in her empty pocket and placing the other on the floor, carefully distributing the coins.
I looked around with Master and asked a sneaky question.
“Master.”
“Why are you calling me?”
“There is something I want to ask you.”
“What is it?”
That Owl Robe Woman wielded strange powers. Miracles that were neither magic in ancient languages nor powers based on divinity.
“Do you know what power he used earlier? When you say just a few words, light dust scatters.”
Master looked down at the owl woman who was counting coins diligently and nodded slowly.
“I’ve seen a power similar to that in the past. They have been called by many names over the years, but there is only one name by which they call themselves.”
The owl woman’s body flinched at Master’s word that she knew her origin. She stopped counting the coins and looked up at Master. Master looked at her with blue eyes and opened her mouth lightly.
“‘powwow’.”
powwow? At first glance, it feels somewhat like a wizard.
“question.”
The Owl Woman pressed the hat of the Owl Robe tightly to cover her face even more, then squeezed her wand tightly. As if they were guarding against something.
“How does a young female human know a shaman?”
“I know because I saw it myself. It’s hard to see them now, but they weren’t that hard to see before ‘hunting season’.”
“What is hunting season like?”
“That’s…”
“Stop. stop!”
The Owl Woman urgently stopped Master Pridya. She raised the tip of her staff menacingly and frowned.
“The timing information is very inaccurate. all nonsense. Sorcery is not that simple. If you spread false information on your own, I won’t let you go…”
Tung!
It was only for a moment that the staff in the owl robe woman, who was spitting out a rapid-fire gun uncharacteristically, bounced off. Master raised the wand of the shaman who dared to show her hostility and kicked it, then squeezed her neck.
“Keheuk?!”
“Young shaman. You are so rude.”
Of course, the sorcerer, who was held by the leash to speak, could not answer Master. Realizing that I was the only one who could mediate the current situation, I quickly stopped Master.
“Master, he… It seems there is a small misunderstanding, but hasn’t he done anything yet?”
“Yuna. Look.”
Master stretched out his hand and gently rolled up the owl woman’s clothes. On her slender arms, there were a lot of strange tattoos shimmering in the dark night light. A tattoo that is not simply colored with a certain pigment, but emits a dark light on its own.
It was similar to when I activated the Corruption Door.
“For shamans, the spells they utter are secondary. The real source of their magic is these tattoos on their own bodies.”
After checking, Master took her skirt down again as if she wasn’t interested.
“So during the hunting season, there are not one or two people who have been harmed because they were content to silence the captive shamans without knowing this fact.”
“But Master…”
“What are you more curious about?”
I stretched out my finger and pointed at the captured woman.
“Kheuk! Keheh!!!”
Her face was white, and she was on the verge of losing her breath.
“Then I’ll catch a real person.”
“I was out of my mind when I was talking.”
It was clearly intentional, but I didn’t bother to point out a trivial fact. As Master loosened her grip, the woman who had her butt on the floor gasped for breath.
“Ha ha. Ha ha.”
“Take a slow breath. If you try to breathe in hastily, you may block it even more.”
I patted her on the back and looked up at Master.
“Isn’t that a bit harsh? We need his help in finding Lubor.”
“I was just doing my job. If you, kite, know what they went through, you will soon realize that that wariness is not a problem that can be solved with just a few words.”
“Is that enough?”
The word “hunting” doesn’t sound right. Seeing that the woman was about to run amok, it was clear that the target of the hunt was probably the sorcerer.
“Are you all right now?”
When I picked up the fallen cane and brought it back, the woman looked at me with tears in her eyes, then stole her eyes and grabbed the cane from me. Half of her face, revealed by the fall of her robe’s hat, was full of strange tattoos, just like her arms.
“Teacher and disciple together give sickness and give medicine. I feel very helpless.”
Swallowing her nose, she held out something to me. The identity of the object was the gold coin pouch I handed over earlier. Although he was thinner than before because he had half exposed.
“There is an odd number of gold coins inside, so I put one more on each side. With that, I can thank you for saving me just now.”
“Do as you please.”
It wasn’t even that he patted me on the back to be thanked. I put the bag of gold coins into my bosom and stood up.
Returning half but not all of the gold coins must mean that he hasn’t turned down my offer yet.
“Why don’t we finish the story while moving? We must stop Lubor from killing innocent people again in the meantime.”
“…Positive. Go first.”
The owl woman gave a small nod and pulled her robe down again. Then the two owls that had escaped earlier flew in and landed on her shoulders. A small halo of light arose again, and she chased after it and without hesitation jumped down the window.
Master chased after her first, and I jumped out the window last. A small groan was heard followed by a thud.
“Heuk.”
My legs felt numb, and the feeling of peace in my brace slightly frowned. He soon relaxed his expression and straightened his back as if this much was okay.
“I didn’t expect you to follow me.”
I thought you’d stay here For now, since we can’t just leave the corpses scattered around here, shouldn’t he stay and take care of them quietly?
Braim’s face darkened. The dignified face of a man in his thirties when he first met him at the Public Security Office seemed to have aged ten to five years in just one day, probably because of what he had been through.
“My heart hurts, but it is more important to save the living first. It’s not that I don’t believe you, but I want to see with my own eyes how things are handled.”
what to do should i take it?
Did you see that I was worried? he added hastily.
“I seem to have forgotten a bit, but I am the chief magistrate of the empire. My position will be very helpful to you in searching somewhere and seeking cooperation. clearly.”
Certainly, it was advantageous to take her with her, since she couldn’t go blindly into everything as the owl woman led her.
“Follow me.”
When I nodded, Braim’s face brightened.
“thanks.”
“It moves fast. The distance has already widened a bit.”
“okay.”
As the shaman’s light led us, we started the chase again.
***
The place we arrived at at the end of the halo was a very noisy restaurant for lunch. On the signboard, there was a simple and clear writing that read ‘fluttering carp’.
Braim looked up at the signboard and looked at the owl woman with questioning eyes. She raised the cloth around the neck of her robe to cover her lower body and said softly.
“The last trace. this place. Confusion arises in places where there are a lot of people using my tracking technique.”
“So you can’t find it?”
“The light whispers. It hasn’t been long since he arrived here. You can find it with a quick search. It is best to split in two.”
She stretched out her staff and poked me around my calf.
“you and I. peace and your master. This seems adequate. The only ones who know Luvor’s face are me and that police officer.”
Certainly there are only two people who know Luvor’s face, so it’s only right that the two of them are divided like this.
Just when I was about to nod my head. Master stretched out her white hand and placed it on the shoulder of the Owl Woman. When the Owl Woman realized who the owner of the hand was, her face turned white.
“Hiccup?!”
The woman who inadvertently spat out hiccups stiffened her body like a herbivore caught by a predator. Master chuckled.
“If we had to split into two, it would be better for me and this child to go together, and Yeon-i and you to go with the police officer. Kite, you don’t know what this shaman’s child’s abilities are, so if you make up your mind and attack, there’s a risk of getting hit.”
Certainly, Master was right. I’ve been busy chasing, so I haven’t heard accurate information about the existence of a shaman yet.
I smiled softly and said to the white owl woman.
“I want you to remember that it wasn’t because I didn’t trust you.”
I couldn’t believe it was right.
“then. Marshal Braim, let’s go. The magistrate is over here, so we’ll look inside the restaurant with the cooperation of the owner. Master, please take a look at the street around the restaurant.”
“Sure.”
“…!”
Leaving behind the owl woman who let out a silent scream like that, I entered the ‘fluttering carp’ restaurant. The restaurant was bigger than most of the buildings around it, but looking at the structure from the outside, it seemed to be three stories high.
Braim entered the restaurant with familiar steps.
“Have you been here often?”
“This restaurant is famous for its cheap and delicious food even in the capital city. The freshwater fish dishes are so good that I often come here as a place for get-togethers at various institutions.”
He glanced around as he spoke, then frowned.
“I don’t think they are on the first floor. hmm. First of all, since you know the owner of this place to some extent, let’s call him and ask for his cooperation.”
Braim moved without hesitation and approached a nearby clerk, revealing a small badge from his bosom. After checking the badge, the clerk nodded quickly and hurriedly disappeared to the second floor of the building.
After a while, a heavy man came down from this floor with a stomp.
A protruding belly and a pure white chef’s outfit. The middle-aged, pot-bellied man, sweating profusely, looked at Braim’s face and lowered his head.
“Aren’t you Chief Marshal Braim! First of all, I heard that they are looking for someone who came here!”
“I would like to ask for your cooperation. Could you bring the staff together for a moment?”
“This is a request from Chief Peace Officer Braim, who always diligently maintains the security of this empire, and of course you have to do it! baby!”
He caught a clerk passing by.
“Hurry up and tell all the staff to gather on this floor. Tell Dalag to ask the customers to excuse him that the food he ordered will be delayed. Instead, I’ll give you the desserts I made in advance yesterday as a service. okay?”
The owner of the restaurant made sure that the clerk remembered exactly what he had said and then let him into the kitchen.
“Praise sir. Go to this floor. Everyone will meet right away.”
“Thank you.”
Braim and the police officer climbed the stairs first, and the owner of the car I was following behind secretly grabbed the hem of my clothes.
“Aren’t you a priest?”
Did you see my outfit peeking through my robes?
“yes.”
He quickly looked around and added a whisper.
“Could you please take away one of the worshipers of the evil spirit?”
