Konrad's mind blanked for a moment, then panic snapped it into focus.
"The tribesmen—shouldn't they have been guarding this door?" he muttered, the empty room mocking his failed plans. "And where's Alastar?!"
He helped the priest escape prison. Why'd he want to run away?
No, he had to calm down—the scent of cold fear hung in the air.
"I knew this was a terrible idea." Zoltan's wailing was unhelpful. "You shouldn't have—"
"Shut up, or help me find them," he barked, bolting towards the main hall of Tanidia.
He forced a breath. Control. He needed to get on top of the situation, fast. His eyes scanned the room, looking for anything she might have left behind.
He found the priest huddled near the inn's hearth, clutching a bowl of broth.
See? He didn't go anywhere. Konrad let out a sigh. If he was lucky—
"The executioner. Is she with you?" he asked, pretending to be calm and collected.
He failed. The question jolted Alastar.
"N-no? I've come to eat. She said she wasn't hungry."
"Fuck." Konrad's voice was a whip crack. "She's not in the back room, and I saw no guards, either. What happened? Where'd she go? And when was the last time you saw her?!"
He had to force himself to stop so that the priest could answer, hands shaking.
Without her, he had no adamantite, no bargaining chip with the tribes.
And while she was on the loose—
"Think. Does she even know this area?"
"I-I don't know, son." The carved spoon fell from Father Alastair's hands. "She was in the back with me only minutes ago. The guards, um—they might be eating, too."
Konrad pinched the saddle of his nose.
Well, when the villagers guarded Vargas, they'd disappear, too, without a trace.
It helped his plans back then; now they were all ruined.
"Would she try to flee back to the Church?" he asked next. She seemed like a devoted servant, despite the Inquisitor discarding her earlier. "She couldn't have gotten far with that bracelet."
"Only a few temples in this duchy," the priest mumbled. "If she tried, she'd have to go to Aset."
Finally, a clue. He was about to run out of the inn, but froze in the doorframe, looking back.
"Did you notice anything odd here?" he probed, careful not to give him hints in case they hadn't figured the illusion out yet. "Or did she say something about the Green Mage?"
Father Alastair pondered for a while, reaching for the spoon again.
"Not that I'd remember," he said. "She muttered in her dreams about killing you, but—"
"Good, don't go anywhere," Konrad snapped and turned on his heel to leave.
He smashed into something solid outside, Welf's wide chest filling his entire view.
The blacksmith was about to enter, too, but taking one look at his face, he raised an eyebrow.
"Trouble?"
"Stella's gone," Konrad gabbled. "I'll search the village. Help check the perimeter."
"On it." The redhead nodded, turning around, no questions asked.
Konrad wanted to thank him, but there was no time. Welf was still his most reliable ally, and all that training he and his sister forced on him earlier now paid off.
He ran across Eytjangard without breaking a sweat, but saw no traces of the executioner.
He found Lily instead, lounging in a clearing, sunning herself like the cat she pretended to be.
In any other situation, he would've stopped to take in her beauty. Her flimsy excuse for clothes, and with the recent memories he made with her—
No. Not today.
"We have a problem," he confessed. "A prisoner escaped."
She stretched, a lazy, unconcerned motion.
"Which one? The Oldie or the Blondie?" Lily yawned, her soft skin taut on her flat stomach, almost making Konrad forget what he was doing.
As much as he desired control, looking at her freckles alone made it slip away, and still—
"The blonde one, Stella," he said, hopeful. "Could you track her for me somehow?"
If anyone could, it was her, with all those bullshit chunibyo powers—
"Mmm, nope." She popped the 'p' hard. "I don't mind your strays, but I won't fetch them."
"Wha—" Konrad froze, flabbergasted. She flashed him a grin that didn't reach her eyes. Earlier, he would've missed that clue, but after last night—
A lie. And a blatant one at that.
She was as mysterious as she was beautiful, his only choices being to live with it or without her.
He was only sure of one thing—she wouldn't help. Whatever her reasons were, one day, he'd figure them out, but now he was in a hurry.
"Fine," he said with a sigh, frustration burning in his throat. "Have fun, then."
He stormed back into the Tower, Zoltan already packing his stuff in a frenzy.
"She knows," the illusionist hissed. "The Inquisition will raze this place to the ground."
His cowardice knew no bounds.
"Come on, she didn't even come near here," Konrad tried to calm him. "Stella has the bracelet on her. She's weak. She couldn't have gotten that far yet. Help me find her."
His logic was a cold knife, trying to cut through the man's panic, but to no avail.
"You don't know that. That artifact doesn't work on holy magic. She could have all kinds of tricks." Zoltan shoved moldy pages into a dusty crate. "I'm not dying for your mess."
Okay, that was something he didn't think of before, but this was a dead end.
Trying to convince people was only a waste of his time.
Welf ran into him back outside, shaking his head.
"Nothing. No one saw a tall blonde woman, either."
"Damn it, Eytjangard isn't that big," Konrad groaned. "That bracelet must make her so disoriented—someone must've at least seen her."
There were only so many places to hide—
"It sounds like you have lost something," a familiar voice jolted him.
The crunch of boots on gravel made them both turn.
Captain Vargas strode into the village square. His shit-eater grin said more than a thousand words. A tall figure stumbled behind him, a sack on the head, but it could be only one person.
Seeing the silver bracelet on the restrained wrist felt like a huge boulder off his chest.
And then the guard's expression made his chest tighten again.
"I happened to find someone skulking in the woods," he announced. "I heard you were back, and wanted to check on you, but this thing tried to flag down a patrol on the highway."
He was an ally—Konrad tried to convince himself. But Vargas also loved to prey on him.
He yanked the sack off Stella's head, shoving her forward.
She stumbled, catching herself on the well's stone rim, her grey eyes burning with pure hatred.
"You'll burn. Both of you, when Otto finds out about this." She spat, nodding towards the tower. Zoltan might've been onto something. "The Church will destroy Aset, too, like it did Halaima."
"I'd like to see them try," Vargas scoffed. "I fought them that time, too. I'm eager to go again."
Konrad sighed—definitely an ally.
"I almost helped when she blurted out that you kidnapped her. And something about an artifact," the captain noted, eyes flicking to the bracelet. "Interesting claims."
His grin widened, predatory, making Konrad's blood run cold—the worst possible ally.
"Lucky for you, I found her first. So, let's talk about what this little disaster is going to cost you."