“Hey!?”

The man threw me to the floor as the other ones surrounded me.

They all looked to be in their late 20s and yet no one batted an eye as they dragged a young girl like myself outside.

“You’re asking too many questions. Who are you?”

The one who grabbed me growled.

I got up and dusted myself off.

“Exactly as I said, I’m looking for Orville Hods. The bank branch around here was found to be mishandling things and now

I’m here to collect the debt”

“Heh, why did they send a girl like you?”

“I’ll show you”

I suddenly sent my knee in to his stomach and he doubled over.

“KAH, GET HER!”

He screamed to his friends as he clutched his stomach.

I laughed and leaped over them.

I stepped on the man’s back as I landed and used the momentum to kick him towards his companions.

“ . . .YOU, you won’t get away”

“I doubt it”

With one last look at them, I turned and leaped through to the rooftops.

Right as I landed on his back, I used [Shadow Mark] on the man.

This allowed me to locate the man as well as borrow the man’s senses.

I usually use it to listen through the target’s hearing, but piggybacking off anymore senses might get me noticed.

Since the more senses I would access would make my magic more noticeable.

It was entirely one sided so he couldn’t connect to me, only I to him.

So, I decided to double back and watch the man from the shadows.

Unfortunately, nothing solid came up as I waited.

When I mentioned the name in the bar, the atmosphere changed so someone there knew something.

Was it just a coincidence?

No, no one tried to help from these guys.

So, they were trying to protect something.

All this lead me to wonder why anyone would even put the bar as a location in the first place.

Arthur probably didn’t care about the money, these people interested him.

Yet nothing was happening.

I heard conversations about food prices, local gossip, and even rumors about the king being sick.

I was walking around the area near the bar since 100 feet was the minimum to maintain a low mana cost.

I was careful not walk in to the same places twice and did my best to notice people who would be watching me.

While I was listening the man, I noticed something.

The general area for these locations on the list was localized around the bar.

The bank near here only served this district, so this was expected.

But the bar also came up several times for other names in the list.

The way they made it seem, it would appear as if the bar was one of those tenements.

There was definitely something fishy but I think this might take some time.

The sun was starting to set and it sounded like the bar was closing.

I had gotten tired of walking around and was hidden on an adjacent roof to the inn.

If the man was staying in the inn, then I would have to break my connection and search elsewhere.

Luckily, he wasn’t and I heard an interesting conversation.

“Sarah, I’m leaving now. George and Matthew will stay here for the night just in case that girl comes back”

“Thank you, it seems they’re finally getting suspicious”

“It’s a pity she escaped but without any evidence, she can’t do anything. Though they wouldn’t send someone normal to

investigate, so be careful”

“Send Adam my regards”

They managed to avoid saying anything of substance for so long.

But it looks like I’m finally getting somewhere.

The man exited the inn and started to walk somewhere.

Occasionally he would take random turns or look around.

But too bad I always knew where he was.

After some time, he finally stopped in front of the fountain in the middle of the district.

He stood there for a while before a figure approached.

Of course, this was a hooded figure.

There weren’t many people out during this time, but I think they would notice this weird clandestine meeting.

So, the man and the figure started to walk to the opposite end of the fountain which led in to a dark street.

“I assume you didn’t risk coming here unless you have something big?”

The man said to the figure as they walked along.

“Yes, I have news I know where SHE is”

From the voice, I could tell it was a young woman’s.

She stopped suddenly and started to scan her surroundings.

“What?”

The man said cautiously as he threw a glance around as well.

“. . No, maybe it’s nothing but you need to hurry. I heard she’s being held in Duke Marren’s residence”

In that split second, the woman tripped as she nervously gave him the information.

I decided to risk it and connect to the man’s eyes as he helped her up.

Her hood had fallen down and she looked up at the man as I had hoped.

“Ahhhhh” She gasped and hit the man’s hand away.

“What’s wrong?” He said, confused at her sudden actions.

[Purifying Light]

Oh? She used a spell that would get rid of possession spells or curses.

It was a standard spell for weaker possessions but her strength was surprising.

She managed to burn some of my connection to the man.

Unfortunately for her, I had already seen her face.

I had all that I needed and so I fled in to the night.

Only members of the church tend to know that spell, so I’ll check them later for that woman.

But first it looks like Duke Marren has someone important to them.

Now I needed to find them to get to the bottom of all this.