The girl, now identified and cornered, let out a desperate cry. "Stay away from me!"
Instead of struggling, her body suddenly shimmered, becoming translucent and ghost-like. Hayato's duplicate, which had been holding her in an iron grip, was now holding nothing but air as her incorporeal form passed right through its hands.
"She's a Phantasm!" Riko yelled, recognizing the rare and difficult power. "Don't let her escape!"
The Unseen Thief didn't run around the panicked crowd; she ran through it. She phased through a market stall, its contents rattling as if hit by a strong gust of wind, and then through a terrified noble, who shivered and collapsed from the chilling contact.
Riko was already moving, vaulting over a table to cut off the thief's path. Hayato, his eyes narrowed as he analyzed this new, impossible ability, dismissed his duplicate and sprinted after them, the three of them now a high-speed chase through the chaotic heart of the festival.
The thief was fast, her phasing ability making the dense crowd a trivial obstacle.
Hayato and Riko, however, were forced to shove their way around people and leap over carts, quickly losing ground.
Riko, seeing that a simple footrace was useless, skidded to a halt.
She's going there… Her eyes scanned ahead, predicting the thief's path towards a narrow stone archway—the fastest escape route from the plaza.
Thump! Riko stomped her foot hard on the cobblestones.
A wave of brilliant blue light and intense cold shot from the point of impact, and a massive wall of jagged, crystalline ice erupted from the ground, completely sealing the archway in a matter of seconds.
The Unseen Thief, running at full speed, was forced to materialize and stumble to a stop, her only escape route now a solid, unbreachable glacier. She was trapped.
Hayato and Riko walked slowly and deliberately towards her, their expressions grim and determined. She was cornered.
Seeing them approach, the thief's composure completely shattered. She dropped to her knees on the cobblestones, her hands raised in a desperate gesture of surrender.
"I'm sorry!" she yelled, her voice cracking with fear. "Please, I won't do it again! I promise! Just let me go!"
Riko walked forward, her analytical gaze sweeping over the pathetic, crying figure on the ground. The festive noise of the market was a world away from the cold, professional bubble that now surrounded them. She knelt down, her voice sharp and devoid of any pity.
"What's your name?" she demanded.
"L-Lila," the thief stammered.
"Your power is Phantasm," Riko stated, not a question. "It's rare. Where did you learn to control it?"
"I... I was born with it," Lila cried. "Just a little... I practiced..."
"The bounty mentions thefts from locked vaults and noble houses," Riko pressed on, her questions like sharp jabs. "How? Are you working for someone? A rival guild? A noble?"
Hayato stood back, watching the interrogation.
"Nobody!" Lila sobbed in response to Riko's question. "I don't work for anyone! I just do it because it's an easy way to get money!"
Riko's expression hardened, her patience gone. She placed a hand on the thief's shoulder, and a web of crystalline frost instantly spread across Lila's body, encasing her limbs in a thin, unyielding layer of ice.
"Not good enough," Riko said, her voice as cold as the magic she wielded. "Tell me how your power works. Now."
The intense, biting cold made Lila scream. "Okay! Okay! I'll tell you!" she shrieked, her body trembling violently. "I have to hold my breath! The power, the phasing, it only works while I'm holding my breath! I can't do it for more than a minute at a time! Please, it's so cold!"
Riko didn't loosen the biting cold of her ice. She leaned in closer, pressing her advantage. "So you have to hold your breath. That's a critical weakness," she said, her voice a low murmur. "But you're a Phantasm. Why didn't you just phase through the ice wall I created?"
"I c-couldn't!" Lila cried, her teeth chattering violently. "The ice it steals the air right out of your lungs! I couldn't get a deep enough breath to hold! I couldn't phase!"
Hayato watched the scene, his analytical mind processing the tactical data. A Phantasm with the ability to bypass any physical obstacle. Invaluable for infiltration. Her weakness is a time limit based on lung capacity, which is negated by extreme cold. A manageable vulnerability.
He looked at the crying, defeated thief, and then thought of the impossible mission that lay ahead of them. This girl... her skill set is unique. She could be valuable. Perhaps in the future, a person with her abilities could be a useful companion for the expedition against the Ice King.
Hayato stepped closer to Riko and whispered a quick, quiet proposal in her ear. Riko looked at him, her expression a mask of pure disbelief.
After a moment of internal debate, she let out a frustrated sigh.
"This is insane. I'm going to get Lenna. You wait here. Hold her."
With that, Riko turned and disappeared into the crowd. As her focus shifted, the crystalline ice encasing the thief, Lila, cracked and melted into a puddle on the ground. For a split second, Lila was free.
She scrambled to her feet to run, but before she could take a step, dark, heavy chains materialized out of thin air, wrapping around her arms and legs and pinning her in place.
She looked down in shocked confusion, pulling against the bonds. They felt like solid, cold iron. She tried to use her power to phase through them, but her body remained stubbornly solid. She couldn't escape.
Hayato calmly walked over to a nearby crate and sat down. "Sit," he said, his voice quiet.
Terrified, Lila stopped struggling and sank to the ground.
"My power isn't duplication," Hayato said, his voice low and menacing. "My real power is that I can control people. These chains are just a visible manifestation of my will. As long as I am here, you will do exactly as I say."
Tho, he lied.
Hayato looked down at the terrified thief, his expression shifting from a menacing captor to a calculating recruiter.
"I have a proposition for you. I need someone with your unique skills for an expedition to the northern ice fields. If you agree to come, you will be well compensated." He held up the heavy pouch of gold Kerina had given him. "The entire contents of this pouch will be yours."
Lila stared at the pouch, then looked away, thinking.
Expedition on ice... That girl ice magic was cold, made it hard to breathe. But if I can keep warm and take a deep breath before I phase, it should be fine. A thought then occurred to her.
"How... how much is in there?" she asked, her voice a hopeful whisper.
"Fifteen gold coins," Hayato stated simply.
Lila's eyes widened. Fifteen gold! That was a fortune! It was enough to live comfortably for five whole months without having to steal another thing. The offer was too good to be true, and a wave of skepticism washed over her.
"Fifteen gold..." she repeated. "What kind of expedition are you going on? What are you planning to do in the ice?"
"It's an expedition to assist the Hero Party," Hayato said flatly. "We're going to help them deal with the Ice King."
Lila stared at him, her mind unable to process the statement. Then she let out a short, nervous, awkward laugh.
"You've got the wrong person! I can't fight! My power is for running away and getting through walls, not fighting monsters! I'd be useless!"
Hayato simply stared at her, his expression unchanging in the face of her panicked laughter. "Did I ever ask you to fight?" he asked, his voice quiet and even.
Lila's awkward laugh died in her throat. She thought back on his words.
An expedition... someone with your unique skills...
He had never once mentioned fighting. She slowly shook her head.
"I don't need you to fight. I don't know what we will find in the north. Maybe the Ice King has a fortress, a castle, a treasury. Whatever it is, it will have walls, locked doors, and guards."
He looked her directly in the eye, his gaze sharp and analytical. "That's why I need you. I need a person who can bypass all of that. Someone who can run and pass through anything. That is what will be helpful."
Lila stared at Hayato, her mind reeling. He wasn't asking her to be a warrior; he was offering her a job perfectly suited to her unique talents. It was a role she had never considered, a value she never thought she had.
Before she could answer, three figures approached, parting the crowd with their sheer presence. It was Riko, returning with Kerina and Lenna in tow.
The three powerful women surveyed the strange scene: Hayato sitting calmly on a crate while holding bags with box foods, and the now-identified Unseen Thief held captive on the ground.
It was Lenna who spoke first, her eyes filled with a bright, academic curiosity as she looked at the terrified girl. "So… Where is this thief with the unique power?"
To Be Continued.