Novel Full Chapter 1962 A Review of the Night
Chapter 1962: Chapter 1962 A Review of the Night
— Kat —
Steel made some very obvious rounds, checking with the guards and unlocking the enchantments personally. He went inside and checked the recharger, and then slowly walked back out. Lily slipped into his shadow and hid there. Steel instinctively fought against this for a moment before turning around, weapon half drawn, and he noticed it was Lily. His eyes snapped up as he slowly gazed around, pretending he hadn’t seen her but allowed her manipulation of his shadow without complaint after that.
This let Lily walk out hidden in his shadow where he paused at a side street heading off to the fields for a few moments before marching down it. That seemed like a good indication they were meant to follow so Kat and Hedera snuck around to join him. Kat simply dispersed into water and followed her link to Lily before reforming and walking out of the next side street. Hedera did something similar.
She merged with the morning crowd two exits down and then pretended to catch up to them. Steel didn’t say anything when they joined him, and Kat got the sense he was waiting for something so she didn’t say anything either. As a group Steel directed them out to the fields towards one of the benches between them. He sat down at one, while Kat and Hedera took the others.
Steel looked around a bit. These fields held… something like rice. It didn’t need quite as much water and the colour was different but Kat had tried some yesterday and the taste was remarkable similar. Well, if you considered rice to have a taste anyway. The texture was certainly the same.
“Seems nobody snuck in correct?” asked Steel.
Kat nodded, “How did you know?”
“Well I was expecting some damage from whatever fight happened… and even if my guards are either on the take or exceptionally blind they surely would’ve mentioned something when I was doing my rounds. Plus, the orbs were all still there of course,” explained Steel. “Anything of note happen?”
Kat nodded, “I think so. First though, Hedera, did you notice a weirdly dressed group that screamed ’criminals’ complete with blunt objects for a break in and masks with holes cut into them?”
“No?” answered Hedera uncertain. “We did see a few groups before morning but nothing like that,”
Kat winced, “Alright in that case, I think I managed to see a group ready for a break in. Not at the recharge station obviously, but they were probably under an illusion. The guards didn’t react either and I only noticed that part after they’d already walked away. I do remember what they all looked like though.”
Steel winced. “I haven’t had any reports of break ins yet, but it’s still early and I came to check in with you first thing. That’s… not good. Though from the sounds of things that group was one with experience. They were quite prepared and seem completely ready for things. Which is odd. I haven’t heard of any break ins that could be linked to them. Most of the ones in recent memory had clear culprit. Perhaps I was wrong on that? Hmm…”
“Something that I thought of,” added Kat. “Is that considering I remember them perfectly and I can transform into water with a complete view around me… I can make a watery copy of their bodies to make it easier to identify them. Even if the colour is wrong, I can tell you that before or after.”
“That will be very useful,” agreed Steel. “It’s certainly something we’ll want to look into… though now I’m worried about if we can trust all the artists. Such prepared thieves should leave a trail… but the details of every crime across the city don’t cross my desk. It would simply be too much even if things are fairly calm a lot of the time. If someone is helping cover it up… hmm…”
“I thought you had people you could trust for sketches?” asked Hedera.
“I did. Do… I… I’m quite confident at least two of them have no connection whatsoever to the orb thefts for different reasons… but I haven’t heard anything at all about the thieves Kat identified. Assuming they were thieves. There isn’t much of a reason for them to be in such attire otherwise but I suppose I shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions just yet. Best wait until I can double check if there were any robberies early in the morning…” mumbled Steel.
“Would you like to see what they looked like?” asked Kat.
Steel shook his head, “No, best I remain impartial until there’s some proof of a crime happening and we get other witness reports and perhaps sketches. If I already ’know’ what they look like I might want to point the finger at them when they had nothing to do with it. Even if I admit that’s unlikely I try to take my job seriously and as one of the highest authorities in the city it would be bad for me to take such a stance.”
“Question, is the fact they were hidden under an illusion not a valid reason to detain them?” asked Hedera.
Steel shrugged, “I can’t think of any specific laws preventing it. I don’t even think using one in the aid of the crime carries a harsher penalty… unless hmm… maybe if you use it to attack someone? Using magic of any kind to hurt someone carries additional charges if you are found to be the aggressor. Plus, how do we know they had an illusion on?”
“Oh… did I not mention that? I have truesight that lets me see through illusions,” *and tell when people are lying but I don’t think I’ll announce that part. Steel hasn’t lied yet but I don’t think he’d take my word for it if I announced some random person a liar… and it’s harder to use when this is all a play. Perhaps someone not ’in’ the role enough might ’lie’ when it’s true for their character or something.*
[Probably for the best]
“Oh… hmm… not sure if that’s admissible as testimony but I’ll keep it in mind. It’s still not illegal to use illusions after all. Many people have used them for artwork displays and it would be quite unpopular to ban the use entirely. Though perhaps there should be an extra charge for using them to carry out a crime as I don’t think the standard provisions against magic use in crimes count here. It mostly revolves around damaging people or places,” considered Steel.
Kat shrugged along with Hedera. Neither of them knew anything about the laws of the place. “Though, there isn’t anyone watching us right now is there?” asked Steel as he glanced around inside his helmet.
“No, I would’ve mentioned it considering you clearly wanted this to be a more private conversation. I can see a few people over near the houses,” Kat pointed back towards the city. “And a few way over there,” Kat pointed in the distance, “but they don’t seem to be listening and they’re pretty far away.”
Steel tried to spot the people Kat was talking about in the distance but failed to see them himself. The ones near the houses were visible more as blobs, but he could make them out at least. “I see… I suppose you make a good point. I was just suddenly much more worried about the issue of somebody spotting us…”
“That sort of reminds me…” began Kat. Steel gestured for her to continue, his point already made. “Didn’t you say the enchantments on the rechargers were time based? Didn’t you unlock this one?”
Steel nodded. “I did. We went through several timer based systems that all failed and we eventually swapped over to a key system. It still failed but it was a relatively recent change and I wanted to use it more as an excuse to personally check things. Additionally, the key is meant to track every time the wards come down but they’ve always lined up with what they should be. That MIGHT mean the wards are remaining up and someone is sneaking in… or as we established it could be Baker doing the break ins still.”
“Is there any way we could prove that without catching them? I don’t think it’s likely considering not many people even know Hedera and I are looking for things… but what if they happen to stop because they have all they need or want to take a break? What if the main thief has a cold?” asked Kat.
Steel gave a short laugh. “Ah, it would be quite interesting if a cold was the reason for them avoiding capture. Though… in truth I’m not entirely sure. As we established, Baker, if his is the culprit, probably isn’t going in person and frankly I’m not sure we have anyone good enough at enchanting to investigate his devices. That’s before we even get into the political shitshow it would be to request we DO that investigation. It would be… weird if it was him but I’m not sure we could truly do anything about it…”