“What is going on?”
The attention of the police officers turned to one place all at once.
When they instinctively turned their muzzles, they saw a woman with dark hair tied in a ponytail standing there, a sword in her hand.
“Who are you?”
“I am Shedia Rain, a Mid-Level Investigator with the PMI.”
Shedia spoke while taking out the identification card she had kept in her pocket and showing it to them.
The PMI was the parent organization above the local police.
In rank as well, she was indisputably their superior, so even if they had not known who she was, they could receive a heavy disciplinary punishment if they behaved rudely.
The face of the police officer who had asked the question rapidly turned pale, and he bowed his head deeply.
“I-I apologize. I failed to recognize you, Investigator Rain, and committed such a discourtesy!”
“But what brings you here?”
One of the police officers beside him asked cautiously.
She could hardly say that she had come because she was worried about Rud, a dark mage. Shedia deliberately changed the subject.
“Never mind that. What are all of you doing here in the middle of the night? Are you planning to stow away somewhere together?”
“No. It is……”
The police officer deliberately trailed off and cast his gaze toward a particular place.
When she looked in the same direction, she saw an ordinary, lone tree standing there.
It was just the right size for one person to hide behind.
Reading the police officer’s gaze at once, Shedia silently adjusted her grip on her sword.
The atmosphere turned harsh in an instant. As if everyone had planned it beforehand, they closed their mouths and watched the situation.
Because Shedia had spoken to them, the surprise attack had failed.
Perhaps that was why Shedia signaled with her hand, as if saying she would take responsibility instead, and slowly approached the tree.
‘Were there remnants left?’
She had dealt with all of Fran’s clones. She had cleanly cut down the rest of his subordinates as well.
The main body was dead too.
After confirming his corpse, Shedia had come straight here.
She did not know where Rud was right now, but she trusted that he had hidden himself properly.
‘He was a man who tried to scatter our attention by creating clones. It would not be strange at all if he had secretly hidden one or two more.’
Half a beat faster, Shedia fiercely swung her sword, which was wrapped in mana.
KABOOOOM!!!
A massive sky-blue sword energy shot fiercely through the air, and a bright flash lit the dark mountain.
Every tree within ten meters ahead was cleanly cut down by the sharp sword energy and fell to the ground.
He could not have expected this.
Certain of that, Shedia walked toward the tree where the dark mage had been hiding, but—
“Hm?”
There was nothing there.
Shedia searched thoroughly, even inside a hollow in the tree where a squirrel might have lived, but she could not find the corpse of a dark mage anywhere.
“What is this? There is no one here.”
“That cannot be!”
The police officers strongly denied it and rushed to the scene.
“There really is no one?”
“He must still be nearby. Find him quickly!!”
He was a dark mage.
It would not be strange at all if he had used magic and escaped right before being struck by the sword energy.
The police moved in perfect order and quickly scattered in every direction.
Shedia, who remained at the scene, examined the surroundings closely and discovered something on the dirt floor that looked like the mark of human fingers dragging across it.
“It seems certain someone was here.”
Shedia grabbed a police officer passing by and asked,
“Hey, you. Did you see this dark mage’s face?”
“Me? Ah, no. I heard it was too dark to see his face clearly.”
“What about his clothing or distinguishing features?”
“I do not know that either. I only came after being contacted in a hurry……”
His eyes did not look as though he was lying.
Shedia thought briefly, then spoke.
“You return to the town for now and seal off the entrance. There may be other remnants trying to flee outside.”
“Yes, yes!”
Without even hearing the details of the situation, the police officer hurriedly descended the mountain.
Shedia did not so much as glance at him from the corner of her eye and cast her gaze ahead.
“I should hurry and look for him too.”
He had Shedia largely to thank.
Because she had drawn the police officers’ attention for even a little while, he had been able to escape the scene safely.
After hiding like that, three days passed.
Time slipped by without mercy.
Rud stopped by a small nearby village and lived as quietly as a dead mouse.
Then, when hunger drove him into an empty café, a middle-aged man suddenly sat down across from him and spoke.
“You failed to complete the job properly.”
His face was hidden beneath a fedora.
However, the distinctive low, resonant voice was more than enough to tell Rud who he was at once.
Rud kept his gaze fixed on the menu and answered.
“I do not know what you are talking about.”
“According to Shedia’s report, one of Fran’s remnants escaped.”
“……What?”
Gared took a cigarette from his pocket and placed it in his mouth.
“It seems he had secretly hidden one person in the town as a reserve. Then, after realizing the main body had been taken down, that one appears to have fled into the mountain. Judging by the fact that even you did not detect him, he must have been quite determined.”
That could not be possible.
Rud had also left the town through the mountain, but he had not detected even a single lifespan that seemed like a plausible dark mage.
‘There is no way Shedia mistook me for another dark mage.’
Still, there was no way to know for certain.
Rud set down the menu in his hand and searched his memory, but as expected, nothing came to mind.
“Please explain in more detail. I cannot make an accurate inference from only that.”
“No. This is Shedia’s problem to solve now. You focus on your own work.”
Gared took a photograph from the inner pocket of his uniform and placed it on the table.
“Your next mission is this man’s……”
“Are you ready to order?”
A restaurant employee who had made eye contact with Rud came to the table.
Startled, Gared hid the photograph he had placed on the table inside his coat.
“Two meat sandwiches, please.”
“I will have the same.”
“Yes, that is four meat sandwiches in total, correct?”
After confirming the order once more, the restaurant employee entered the kitchen.
“Why are you ordering too?”
“I have not eaten anything since last night because of you.”
Rud had contacted Gared two days ago.
Even though he had had plenty of time, it seemed he still blamed others just the same.
Gared lit a match and burned the end of his cigarette.
Meanwhile, the employee brought four plates with sandwiches on them, set them down on the table, and left.
“Your next target is this man.”
Only after all the food had arrived did Gared hand Rud the photograph he had hidden inside his coat.
Rud took a large bite of the sandwich in his hand and asked,
“Who is this?”
“A very violent dark mage. Recently, he attacked an entire village alone, and we estimate he absorbed as much as three hundred years’ worth of lifespan.”
Being a dark mage did not mean one could live eternally.
Just as every person had a different physique, there was a limit to the amount of lifespan one could accept. Considering that he had absorbed three hundred years’ worth at once, he seemed to have a remarkable constitution.
“Do I have to do this one alone? What about Shedia?”
“Shedia went to pursue the remnant. I do not know how long it will take, but she said she was busy and told me to find someone else.”
“Then are you coming with me?”
“Have I gone mad? Of course you have to do it alone. That is why I got you hired as a police officer.”
He was right, so Rud had nothing to say in response.
Rud looked displeasedly at the photograph in his hand, then unconsciously turned it over.
On the clean back of the photograph, without a single scorch mark, he could feel a faint magical reaction.
Using lifespan as he was accustomed to doing, he released the algorithm, and faint letters appeared on the previously blank back of the photograph.
Rud quietly read them with his eyes.
―Name: Shuran
―Dark Mage
―Distinguished by cross earrings on both ears.
―Dark magic used unknown.
―Last seen at location E457―52, and all civilians in the village are presumed dead.
―Currently on the run. Local police found a suspect with a similar appearance, but released him due to insufficient evidence.
Rud carefully examined the face in the photograph and gulped down the water the employee had brought.
“Is this one a completely new man?”
“He is a bastard who appeared like a comet.”
Gared threw the cigarette he had been smoking into the ashtray beside him and landed it perfectly.
“He was sentenced to death more than three hundred years ago and should have died then, but somehow, he escaped from prison by luck and vanished. According to the records, he seems to have been fairly talented in levitation magic. Considering that he has only now resurfaced, it is certain that he became a dark mage.”
“Did he choose a suitable village and attack it because his lifespan was close to running out?”
“How would I know?”
Gared took a bite of his meat sandwich and continued speaking.
“It has already been a week since this incident happened. It has not been disclosed to the press, but since he has not shown any particular movement yet, there is a high chance he is hiding somewhere. Of course, Galatia is also one of the suspicious places.”
“I am sorry, but there was no one in Galatia with that much lifespan.”
“Can you be certain?”
“Yes.”
It was an immediate answer.
Rud continued speaking.
“No matter how capable a dark mage is, hiding such a massive lifespan for a long time is practically impossible. You know that as well.”
“Yes. Even if he could do it, it would be bound to leak.”
There was only one way for a dark mage to conceal their enormous lifespan.
They had no choice but to suppress it by force.
But tampering with lifespan itself was directly connected to one’s life, so one wrong move could become the same as hanging oneself.
It could be considered similar to holding one’s breath.
“But why are you only telling me now about something that happened a week ago? From what I can see, this looks more urgent than Fran.”
“The PMI Investigator who was investigating this case was found dead yesterday.”
He said something outrageous far too casually.
For a moment, Rud doubted his own ears, but he did not deliberately show it on the outside.
To live as a police officer, one had to become used to death.
That was a teaching Gared had emphasized until it was drilled into Rud’s ears when he trained him.
“Was his lifespan stolen?”
“No. It was simple murder. The cause of death was a gunshot wound.”
“Where did he die?”
“A city called Kallas in the northern region. But there is a high chance the target has already left the area. He is a man who has lived unnoticed for several hundred years, so we naturally have to accept that much.”
The investigation would have to begin again from the start. Gared added this, then finished his meat sandwich in only a few bites.
“It does not matter how long this takes. I will not ask whether he is alive or dead. Focus only on dealing with him.”
Rud sighed deeply.
It had not even been a week since he had started working as a police officer, and he had not expected to receive such a difficult mission already.
‘I cannot tell whether he trusts me or means to use me and throw me away.’
When Rud rose from his seat, the employee put down the plate he had been wiping and approached him.
“Did you enjoy your meal? The total comes to 4 Fed.”
“4 Fed?”
The menu had clearly said one sandwich was 1 Fed.
Rud quickly recovered from his daze and spoke.
“I am certain I ordered only two.”
“Pardon? Were you not paying together with your companion?”
“No, I am alon……?”
When he unconsciously turned his head, Gared, who had been sitting there only moments ago, had vanished without a trace.
“Where did that bastard go?”