The violet light of the Dual Circuit Link slowly faded, pulling back into the runic marks on their hands.
The room returned to a restful silence, but the calm was short-lived.
Haruto blinked.
A cold shiver ran down the back of his neck—not from a side effect of their meditation, but from a sudden disturbance in the flow of mana surrounding the inn.
“Aoi,” Haruto whispered in Japanese, keeping his face close to hers.
“I felt it,” she replied instantly, her blue eyes gleaming with a newly acquired purple hue.
“There’s someone on the roof across the street.
Their presence is subtle, but thanks to the link, I can pick up the distortion they’re causing in the air.” Haruto expanded his perception using the refined analytical mana of Primordial Resonance.
In his mind, a three-dimensional layout of the street took shape: a man shrouded in thermal camouflage gear, holding a magical refraction mirror aimed directly at their room’s window.
“An Inquisition Eye,” Haruto deduced calmly.
“Not an enforcer—a spectral-class tracker.
He’s relaying our location through crystal pulses.” “Do we take him out?” Aoi asked, her hand brushing the hilt of the greatsword resting beside the bed.
“If he dies here, the Merchant League will lock down the inn as a crime scene, and the Vatican will know we’ve spotted them,” Haruto explained, sliding off the mattress with catlike grace.
“We’ll play his game.
We capture the crow and find out how many more are lurking in Valoria.” Aoi smirked coldly, standing up and tightening her light armor straps.
“I like the way you think, analyst.” Haruto drew a floating rune with his finger.
Thanks to the Ancient Way, the spell unfolded without producing a single flash of light or sound.
“Illusion Sequence: Passive Echo,” he whispered.
On the bed, two mana silhouettes replicating Haruto and Aoi’s exact posture and thermal signatures continued to breathe rhythmically.
To the spy on the roof, both targets were still inside the room, resting from the toll of their journey.
Meanwhile, the real Haruto and Aoi opened the side window without making a sound and slipped out into Valoria’s night like two shadows bound by a single mind.
The hunt in the city of merchants had officially begun, but this time, the anomalies held the upper hand.