“People with things to hide and those who seek them out were always in a constant struggle to one-up the other side. Where those hiding things would often invent or discover new ways to hide something or someone, those who seek them out would in turn develop their own ways to defeat the new methods. The constant improvements between the two sides would always keep happening until one gave up.” - Jakub Ediakis, Locksmith.

“This was where the assassin made his shot from, as I’m certain you’re aware,” said Gorev as he pointed towards the rooftop of a four-story inn building. It was information offered primarily out of courtesy, as Reinhardt had also been informed of the assassin’s path by one of Hannah’s scouts after the incident. The assassin had made the shot from the rooftop, only appearing there a short moment before the assassination attempt took place.

“I assume you had the innkeeper interrogated already, yes?” asked Elfriede from Reinhardt’s back. She had received some reports about the incident’s aftermath, but lacked much of the details.

“Indeed. The assassin had simply booked a room on the inn’s fourth floor when he came to town two weeks ago. His papers were in order so they had no suspicions. He mostly stayed to himself, but that was nothing unusual either,” explained Gorev with a nod. “We are still holding the innkeepers and other guests under house arrest, but they have been deemed unlikely to be involved.”

“Blending in with the locals. A common trick,” replied Elfriede with a certainty to her words. Being a former assassin herself, she was naturally quite well-versed with the tricks of the trade, and immediately thought about what she would have done if she was in the assassin’s shoes. “Can you show us the trail he took in his escape?”

“Certainly. The assassin had rappelled down the wall of the inn, down to this avenue we are on. From here, he was observed to run towards the east,” said the dwarf as he nodded and pointed towards the east with his meaty finger. He then walked ahead of Reinhardt’s group as he led the way until they reached a residential block that was heavily guarded on all sides. “The last trace we found of him was when he reached this residential block.”

The residential block in question was a large one, consisting of a couple dozen houses and various other buildings built next to each other. Ever since the assassination attempt, the area was under constant surveillance as that was where the runaway assassin was last seen. The residents were temporarily placed under house arrest as well.

It was not a situation that could be maintained for too long a period. Placing the entire city on lockdown and certain areas under house arrest would have caused protests and riots in most places, though Zephirous got away with it so far thanks to the accumulated goodwill the Crown Prince had with the residents. Even then, if they kept the situation unchanged for too long, not even that would prevent the situation from becoming untenable.

As such, it was in everyone’s interest to apprehend the runaway assassin as soon as possible, to prevent the situation from getting out of hand.

“Take me around,” said Elfriede to Reinhardt. Her senses allowed her to detect what was inside the nearby buildings, but the residential block was far too vast for her to be able to check everything without taking a circuit around its perimeter. “I presume your people have checked the soil beneath the buildings here for hidden rooms and tunnels?”

“We have, as had people from the city guard and some from your company,” replied Gorev with a respectful nod. We even double-checked the area from below to make sure. All of us concur that if there was anything here, it’s hidden beneath the residential area, with a great amount of magic dampeners keeping it hidden.”

“I see,” commented Elfriede quietly as she concentrated on her senses, leaving no stone unturned as she checked the houses and other buildings from the outside using the wind as a medium. They had circled roughly three-quarters of the residential block before she noticed something that caught her attention and she called for a halt.

“Whose is this building and what is it used for?” Efriede asked as she gestured with one hand towards a large undecorated building to their left.

“Ah, this is a goods warehouse belonging to Warrick and Sons, a merchant company based in Knallgant,” said Gorev after a brief moment of recalling the information. “We had naturally already searched here as well, but failed to find anything inside.”

“I don’t blame you,” said Elfriede as she nodded. “Rein, take me a bit closer.”

The two guards who stood in front of the warehouse looked slightly flustered to see so many armed people heading their way, and chose the better part of valor as they opened the gates and allowed everybody into the warehouse. For a quiet moment, Reinhardt stood in the middle of the warehouse – still loaded with all sorts of trade goods ranging from sacks of grain to crates of ores – as Elfriede focused on her senses.

“Sir Gorev, can you check once more with your magic to make sure you detected nothing? Five steps south, ten steps east from the northwest corner, beneath the floor,” said Elfriede.

The dwarf looked questioningly at her request but did as he was asked. He went to the spot Elfriede pointed out then knelt down, both his palms pressed against the ground as he channeled his earth affinity to seek out any tunnels or pathways there. After a moment, he lifted his head and replied to Elfriede. “I can’t detect a thing, Madam.”

“Move your right hand a little to the front then a handspan to the left. Do you feel it at the tip of your fingers?” said Elfriede once more.

“Huh,” said the dwarf in surprise as he did what she asked. He could vaguely feel a slight breeze at the tip of his fingers, but he saw no air ducts in the area, or anything that could have been the source of the breeze. “There’s a slight breeze here…”

“The air moved as if it was being exhausted from somewhere… I suspect that if we were to dig there, we’d find a clue as to the whereabouts of our quarry, Sir Gorev.”