I held the piece of paper in my hands and looked at its contents. It had beautiful hand-painted borders. The norms of being a noble, I thought. In neat print, it read, ‘The Chevalier estate requests for avail from the Axinus department of law enforcement to examine the security at the estate premises regarding the recent disconcerting events. An attendant will be sent to escort the partaking officers to the estate subsequently.’ There was a seal at the bottom of the notice, which probably belonged to the Chevalier family.

“What do we do about this?”, I asked, turning to look at Anna, who was the first one to read the notice. Incidentally, me and Rhoz were the last ones to find out as we had just returned from our morning practice.

“What do you mean what do we do? We go there, of course.”, she replied.

“What I meant is, who are the ones going. We can't just leave the station empty after all.”, I said.

“Oh, about that. Let’s see. As chief, I have to go. Then… you should come along as the brains, Kei. And… Alix should come along too. Rin and Rhoz can stay behind.”, she said.

“Hey! how come he gets to go but I don’t?”, protested Rhoz as he accusingly pointed at Alix.

“Because he can help out a lot more than you.”, said Anna.

“But…”, I guess he wanted to say something but must have thought it was better to keep quiet.

“So it’s decided then.”, said Anna. “We’ll inspect their security and stay back if it requires so.”

“We will have to wait until the escort arrives.”, said Alix, stating the obvious. He was in charge of patrolling the town today. Looks like he can't do that now, in case the escort arrives when he’s not here.

As we sat in the station waiting, I started to think about the noble thief. What made him or her continue to steal even after striking the mansion of the head of the state. Are they just a kleptomaniac? Maybe it's a group of people? If they were after the money, why would they even steal from the smaller noble families? And why only nobles? Id heard from Anna that there were many merchants in the state who were more wealthy than several of the noble families that were robbed. Does this thief have a grudge against nobles? The time passed by as I pondered over those thoughts.

The sun began to set, and Rin started to light the lamps to brighten up the room. That's when I heard the clatter of a carriage approach the station. As we walked outside, we saw a decorated carriage standing outside. From the seat beside the driver, a man dressed in a black suit climbed down. He walked over to us and gave a polite bow. He had greying hair and glasses. He must be the butler or something, I thought.

“My apologies, if I have made you wait.”, said the man. “My name is Herman, butler of the Chevalier estate. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”, he said as he opened the door to the carriage. “The officers participating in the inspection, please be seated. Let us set-off at once.”

I followed after Anna and Alix and stepped into the carriage. It was way classier than the one we had taken to Baltus. Unlike the carriages used for public transport, this one must only be used to pick up guests or something. Rin and Rhoz waved their goodbyes as we left the station. None of us were armed. It wasn’t like we’re going to fight or anything. But I guess it didn’t matter if I’m armed or not. I had learnt some combat spells from Rhoz. They may not be too advanced but were more than enough for self-defense.

There was a glass partition between the driver’s seat and the interior of the carriage.

“We will arrive shortly.”, came the voice of the butler. The estate was right next to Axinus after all.

“Why the sad face?”, asked Anna. Sad face? The question was directed towards Alix, but it didn’t really look like he was sad. This made me realize that it's only been a week or so since I’ve met them. They must know each other well enough to be able to sense even the slightest change in their behavior.

“It's nothing.”, said Alix.

“Is it because you couldn’t go on patrol today?”, she asked.

He sighed. “I guess.”, he replied.

Looks like he really enjoys his patrols through town.

“Don’t worry, you can take my turn.”, she said.

Wait a minute. Isn’t that just pushing her work onto him? But he looked glad, so I guess it didn’t matter.

It took us about 45 minutes to get to the estate. It was a sprawling area of land with a large house in the middle. The entrance was manned by 2 guards, who opened the gates to let the carriage in. We got down from the carriage and followed Herman as he led us along the brick-laden path towards the mansion.

It was a fairly large building. Not as big as the Mainarduss mansion, of course, but big enough to belong to nobility.

“The Chevalier family has always fostered a great relationship with the people of Axinus.”, Herman explained. “A long time ago, Axinus was under the family’s rule, but their rulership was renounced when Axinus set up their own administrative service under the state.”

We entered the mansion and were greeted by a maid. She guided us towards what must be the drawing-room and asked us to be seated, while another maid arrived with some tea and snacks on a platter.

“Please make yourselves comfortable. I will go and fetch the lord.”, saying this the butler headed upstairs.

So far, we had been receiving a guest’s treatment. The walls of the room had intricate designs on them and the fancy furniture seemed to be matched by the paintings on the walls that looked really expensive. As I was admiring one of the paintings, I heard the sound of approaching footsteps. A well-dressed man walked into the room, with Herman following behind him. Clearly, this was the lord of the house. We stood up to greet him, but he asked us to remain seated.

“I hope I haven’t kept you waiting. My name is Robert. A pleasure to meet you all.”, he said. He had a cheerful demeanor and it looked like it would be really easy to hold a conversation with him.

“You haven’t had any of the snacks yet.”, he said, pointing at the platter with snacks on the table.

“Umm… It's fine. I think we should discuss the issue at hand.”, said Anna.

“Oh, that can wait. Please do make yourselves at home.”, said the lord. It seems like he is a genuinely good person. There was a knock at the door. A woman who was dressed elegantly was standing by the door. The lord gestured for her to enter. Following the woman, there was a young man who looked to be about as old as me and a young lady, who must have been his sister. They shared the blond hair and blue eyes of the lord.

“This is my wife, Ellanora.”, said the lord, looking at the woman. “A pleasure to meet you all.”, she said as she gave us a little bow. The lord looked at the young man and gave an indication with his eyebrows, probably to signal him to introduce himself.

“My name is Edmund Chevalier. A pleasure to meet you all.”, the young man said with a nod of his head.

“My son.”, said the lord. “And this is my daughter.”

The young lady stepped forward shyly and did a curtsy. Her blue eyes met mine for an instant. “My name is Evelyn Chevalier. A pleasure to meet you all.”, she said and stepped back.

“My name is Anna, chief of the Axinus police force. This is Alix and that’s Kei.”, said Anna as she introduced us.

“Pleasure to meet you all”, she said.

“With all the introductions out of the way, we can get straight to business. Shall we?”, asked the lord as he stood up from his chair.

“First, I think we should take a look outside, around the house, and all the entrances to the building.”, said Anna.

“Yes. Let’s do that then.”, said the lord.

He led the way with Herman in tow as we followed him out of the room.

We walked around the perimeter of the estate. It was surrounded by tall stone walls. We encountered a few guards patrolling around the walls. They paused briefly to pay their respects to the lord and continued their rounds.

“How many guards are employed at the estate?”, asked Anna.

“I think we have about 15 or so.”, said the lord.

“We have 12 guards in total.”, said the butler, “The two we saw at the front gate and about 5 of them patrol the walls, in shifts. The rest stand guard around the mansion.”

Hmm… That's not a lot of guards for such a large area of land. Our visibility was reduced significantly due to the lack of daylight.

“We don’t really have the need for too many guards. This area is quite peaceful, and it’s only because of this whole noble thief situation that we’ve considered improving our security.”, said the lord.

“With the current number of guards you have, it isn’t possible to cover the entirety of the estate walls. And it is quite possible that the thief can use this to their advantage.”, said Anna.

The walls may be tall but if this thief is as skilled as we perceived them to be, then scaling the walls would be child’s play.

“I think we should focus our attention on the mansion instead.”, I suggested.

If we cant cover the walls, then we should just fortify the defenses at the mansion. Also, it was getting dark and the mansion was well-lit.

We walked back to the mansion. The path was now lit by lamps on both sides. I thought about the person who had to light all these lamps. It was such a huge estate after all. Now that I think about it, electricity had made our lives way easier.

“The mansion has three entrances.”, said the lord. “The front entrance, the workers’ entrance, which is connected to the kitchen and the back entrance which leads out to the garden.”

He led us to the workers’ entrance. It was a small doorway that led straight to the kitchen. It must be used to deliver groceries and such, I thought. This could be a potential way in for the thief. But Herman said that, since this was such a vulnerable entrance, it was always guarded. There was a pleasant smell of food wafting from the kitchen, it looks like they were making preparations for dinner.

After leaving the kitchen, we walked towards the back of the mansion. The garden looked quite ordinary. There was a large tree in the middle from which hung a swing. There were neatly trimmed hedges and rows of plants. As I looked around, I noticed that the lord’s son, Edmund, was taking a walk. He had his arms folded behind his back and seemed to be lost in thought. As we passed by him, he seemed to snap back for a moment, but then continued with his walk.

The back entrance was quite spacious. There were large windows on both sides of the doorway and a small set of stairs led to a slightly raised floor. There was a tea table and some chairs around it. A perfect place to relax, I thought. Judging from the balconies above, some of the rooms have a view of the garden.

So there were three entrances to the building, not counting any of the large windows, which if left open - is basically inviting the thief inside. But these things were obvious. All they had to do is to keep a tight watch around the mansion and the treasury. Then why did they call us over? I couldn’t particularly think of anything else to point out.

“Ok then, I think we should take a look at the treasury now.”, said Anna.

Once again, we followed the lord as he guided us through the mansion. We took a flight of stairs and then stopped in front of a room at the corner of the floor.

Unlike the other rooms, this one had a sturdy-looking door. Herman produced a bunch of keys from his pocket and opened the locked door for us. We peered into the dark room and obviously couldn’t see anything. There were no windows to let any light in.

“Just a moment.”, said Herman. And just as he finished his sentence, a maid appeared carrying a lamp in her hands. She promptly handed it over to Herman, who took it and walked into the treasury. With the room now lit, we could make out its contents. Unlike the tons of gold coins or jewels that I had imagined, there was hardly anything that looked to be of value in the room. There were some paintings, fancy swords, loads of books, and what appeared to be ornaments scattered around. Then I noticed a large chest at the back of the room. That must be where the money is, I thought.

“I know, I know. This is more of a family heirloom storage than a treasury.”, joked the lord.

“Are the valuables stored in that chest?”, asked Anna.

“Yes, that one in the back. The other one contains some important documents and the like.”, said the lord. I hadn’t noticed the second chest before, but now I did. The door to the treasury may have been locked, but a lock pick can easily open it. Again, I’m quite sure from the way the lord was acting, that the treasury itself was not the predicament concerning him.

We just stared around the room for some time, as if waiting for some sort of cue.

Yet again, I had no suggestions to give. As if to save us from this awkward situation, there was a knock at the door. It was the maid who had brought the lamp.

“My lord, dinner has been prepared.”, she passed on this message to the lord with a little bow and disappeared.

“Well then, if the inspection is over, please join us for dinner!”, said the lord with a gleam on his face.

“Umm… I’m sure we would be a bother. Also, we have some members back at the station waiting for us.”, said Anna, trying to talk her way out of it.

“Oh, that will not do. It won’t take long. It would be disrespectful for me, as the host to not treat my guests properly.”, he said, forcing us to comply.

After heading downstairs, we followed the lord into the dining room. There was a large, fancy table in the middle with more chairs around it than needed. The rest of the family were already assembled and seemed to be waiting for us to arrive. The lord sat at one end of the table. Something I’d seen happen in so many movies. After he sat down, everyone else did so too. The rest of the family on one side of the table and we police officers on the other. Once we were all seated, plates and various cutlery were placed in front of us, and then the food was brought in. Again, a scene that I was all too familiar with, having seen them in movies. This made me wonder once again, what we came here to do. Is eating a part of the inspection too?

After serving the food all the maids left the room and only Herman stayed behind.

As we began to eat, I noticed that the lord was looking at us, shuffling with unease, as if waiting for the right moment to say something.

“So, have you inferred any flaws from the inspection?”, he asked, finally breaking the silence.

“The house itself doesn’t seem to be at too much of a risk, so tightening your guard around the entrances, especially in the garden, should be enough. Also, maybe hire a guard who can use the detect spell. That should make sure that no-one enters the estate premises without notice.”, said Anna.

“I- actually, I’m sure you must have heard of what happened.”, said the lord with a worried face. It was quite the change from the cheerful persona I had seen all this while. His voice was now completely serious.

“Just a few days ago, the Farman family to the south, were robbed. And, in the process of stopping the thief, one of the family members was injured.”, said the lord.

“Yes, we had heard that on being cornered, the thief struck back with some sort of spell.”, said Anna. “We haven’t made this news public yet. What with all the tension between the nobles and commoners these days.”

This was the first I had heard of this. Looks like the thief has finally resorted to violence.

“The thing is.”, said the lord, as he put his knife and fork down, “More than any of the valuables in the treasury, I’m worried about the safety of my family. I could never live with myself if one of us got hurt due to my carelessness.”

Now it was our turn to sit around awkwardly, without anything to say.

“I… don’t understand.”, said Anna, turning to look at me and Alix.

“If you’re worried about that, couldn’t you just hire a few adventurers from the guild as bodyguards?”, she asked.

“Well, I… I tried to do that.”, said the lord. “But there was no-one ready to accept the job. When I inquired with the guild manager about this, they replied that the adventurers are busy, now that its monster season and the few that would accept escort missions had already been hired by other nobles.”

I could see that happening now that panic had spread across the state. If the Chevalier’s knew of the incident where the thief used violence, it was obvious that other noble families would know too.

“So, are you suggesting that we stay back as bodyguards?”, asked Anna.

“Please, I’m even ready to reward you for the work that you do. I may not have as much money as the other nobles, but I will do everything in my capability to ensure the safety of my family.”, said the lord. The rest of his family had stopped eating and had their heads lowered.

“We don’t need any money, and it’s our duty as police officers to help you. It’s just that, we’ve only a few members. If some of us stay here, and if there’s another case, we won't be able to handle it efficiently.”, said Anna.

“It's fine if even one of you were to stay. That by itself would relieve me greatly.”, said the lord, “Please, I request you.”

Anna looked to be at a loss for words. She looked at Alix, as if expecting some form of support from him.

“I'll stay back.”, I said.

Everyone turned to look at me. The lord broke into a relieved smile and it looked like a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders. The rest of the family had lifted their heads up and were now looking at me expectedly.

“You’ll stay? By yourself?”, It was Anna who asked this.

“I’ll be fine. One of you guys could drop by every other day.”, I replied.

“Thank you so much. I don’t know how I should express my gratitude.”, said the lord, “Herman, have a room arranged for him.”

“Yes, my lord.”, saying this, Herman, who had been standing at a corner, walked out of the room.

“If you’re fine with it, then I have no problems.”, said Anna, “When one of us is free, we’ll come to help you out.”

“What about your belongings?”, asked Alix.

“Yeah. I guess I’ll return with you guys today and get my stuff.”, I said.

“No, we can do something else. You stay here today. Tomorrow, I’ll send Rhoz with your luggage. That way, he can also set a teleport point here in case of an emergency. I’ll also get him to install a communicator.”, said Anna.

Alix nodded in agreement. “You learned how to operate the communicator at the station, right?”, he asked.

“Yeah.”, I replied. Rhoz had taught me how to use it.

“So that's settled then.”, said the lord, “I’m really grateful that you’ve decided to stay. Please make yourself at home. If you need anything feel free to ask me.”

“Okay. I will be in your care.”, I replied.

With this, dinner passed along, with the lord imploring us to eat some more and enjoy ourselves. After finishing what must have been the fanciest meal they’d eaten in their lives — assuming they haven’t eaten at a noble’s before, Anna and Alix stood up to take their leave. They exchanged a few words with the lord while I hurried to finish the little food that remained on my plate. By this time, everyone else had finished their dinner and left after wishing them goodbye.

As Anna and Alix left the room after speaking with the lord, I followed them to send them off.

“How long do you think I have to stay here?”, I asked, as we walked out to the entrance waiting for their carriage.

“I guess you’ll have to stay till the thief is caught.”, said Alix.

“And in case the thief comes here, you’d better catch him like your life depends on it. The entire police force is after this guy, just think about what would happen if you manage to catch him.”, said Anna.

“If he does come here, I’ll try my best to catch him”, I said.

“We could get them to upgrade our station.”, Anna mumbled.

“Upgrade the station?”, I asked.

“Nothing. I was just talking to myself.”, she replied.

As we were speaking the carriage had arrived and was waiting to pick them up.

“Well then. We hope to see you soon.”, after saying this Anna and Alix walked to the carriage and after waving a final goodbye, got on it.

I stayed to watch as they left the estate gates and was thinking when I’d get to see them again but my thoughts were interrupted as a maid came to inform me that my room had been prepared. She then proceeded to guide me to it.

The room was on a different floor from the one in which the family lived. It was one of the rooms with a balcony that I saw earlier from the garden. While my room was on the second floor, the family lived on the first floor. I had not been to the third floor, but the Lord had said us that there was a library and a few unused rooms there.

The room was really clean and spacious. As I sat on the bed, the softness and smell of the freshly pressed sheets seemed to be very welcoming. There were even pajamas of my size on the bed. Looks like Herman had prepared all this. The lord was not kidding when he said I would be treated as a guest.

I looked around the room. I opened the door to the balcony and walked out. It was cold out, now that it was night. I had a good view of the garden. I'm sure it would look good great in the morning, but now under the light of the lamps, it looked more eerie than pretty. Also, it looks like Edmund isn't going to continue his walk after dinner. I walked back into the room and shut the door behind me. There was another door in the room. I opened it and looked inside. It was a bathroom. There were towels and a tub filled with water. The bathroom was also lit. I guess this must have been prepared for me too. One of the biggest problems living in the station was taking a bath. The bathroom in the station was small and didn’t have a shower, so we had to go to the nearby public bathhouse to clean up. Looks like I don’t have to worry about that anymore. There was a knock and I heard the sound of a door opening.

“Excuse me, Mr.Kei?”, It was Herman’s voice. I poked my head out of the bathroom.

“Ah, I see you have already seen the bath. I had forgotten to inform you, but the bath had been prepared for you. Please forgive me for my error.”, he apologized.

“Oh. It's okay. You don’t have to apologize.”, I said.

“Are the clothes we’ve prepared appropriate?”, he asked. I’m assuming that he’s talking about the clothes on the bed.

“Yes. They seem to be about my size.”, I replied.

“Very well. I wish you a good night.”, he was about to shut the door and leave.

“Wait. As a guard aren’t I supposed to stay up at night on watch?”, I asked.

“The Lord has said that you are free to rest for tonight and that you can undertake your duties from tomorrow.”, he said.

“Ok then.”, I said, “Good night.”, Herman left with a bow.

Well then, I guess I’ll take a bath first, then sleep. I wasn’t particularly tired, but I’ll sleep now so that I can get up early.

After taking my bath and changing, I slumped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. I wonder, is it alright for me to be lying in bed right now when I’m supposed to be a guard. I had volunteered to stay back because I thought it would be a help for the others. But now was not the time to regret my choices.

After putting out the lights, I chanted the detect spell that I had learnt from Rhoz and lay down on the bed. This way, even if I’m asleep I can sense if someone tries to enter the room. But since I’ll be asleep, the range reduces drastically. I’ll only be able to sense movement in the nearby rooms and corridor. The thief will most probably not enter this floor, but just in case. It is always better to be prepared.

And with that, I shut my eyes and drifted off to sleep on the unfamiliar bed below me.