Zaber walked toward his coat. He took out the stolen docunts from the inner pocket, placed them on the table, and began examining them one by one.
The large number of docunts and the fact that they were kept in one place, almost unprotected, drew his attention.
So many important docunts in one spot... this is not carelessness. This is considering them unnecessary, he thought. But knowledge never hurts.
He opened the first docunt and read it carefully.
It contained information about the royal seals. From this docunt, Zaber learned that there were a total of thirteen copies of the royal seal and that they were prepared in the shape of chess pieces.
He took the next docunt and scanned it quickly.
This docunt detailed the properties of the seal.
The seal was invisible on paper in its normal state. It would only appear through special magical words. Fingerprint was used to verify the docunt owner. When the seal appeared, if the docunt belonged to the true owner, the fingerprint would glow green; if it belonged to soone else, it would appear red.
The seal would remain visible for a few seconds before disappearing again. Once it vanished, the docunt would return to its normal state.
Zaber continued reading.
This docunt listed about thirty nas. He did not pay special attention to the nas. There was no benefit in morizing them.
He took the next docunt.
It contained a map depicting the hidden passages of the rchants’ guild. Zaber did not linger on it long. This information was not needed for now.
The next docunt was not a docunt but a letter.
The letter was written briefly and clearly:
"I will send another thirty people. Prepare their docunts and place them in the city. Provide them with work."
Zaber imdiately understood that the people ntioned in this letter were related to the nas in the previous docunt.
He took the next paper.
This ti, the writing on it was strange. The letters were disordered, unrelated to each other, unable to form words.
Encrypted, Zaber thought and set it aside.
He opened the next docunt.
This docunt openly described the plan: prepare docunts for ten strangers, then fra them to get rid of the seal. In other words, the plan was to place the bla on them for creating and using the seal.
At that mont, everything beca clear to Zaber.
So, offering to prepare a docunt for was not in vain...
He quickly reviewed about ten more docunts and understood sothing.
He gathered all the docunts quickly and slipped them back into the inner part of his coat. Then he put it on. After that, he took the ant and the sli and walked toward the door.
Zaber unlocked the door and stepped into the corridor. He entered the adjacent room—Shoyu’s room.
"I am leaving," he said calmly. "If I accept your offer, we will et outside the city. One day’s journey to Riza forest. We will et in that village in two weeks."
Shoyu hurriedly approached him.
"Are you leaving suddenly? Did sothing happen?"
Zaber did not raise his voice.
"I have things to do. I stole the seal. I cannot stay in the city long."
Shoyu thought for a mont.
"This... makes sense," she said. "I have a healing elixir."
Zaber placed the sli on the floor and extended his hand.
Shoyu looked at his hand and said in a calm tone.
"We are strangers. This is not free. Ten gold."
Zaber took ten gold from the pouch Shoyu had given him and placed it in her hand.
Shoyu took the elixir from the ring on her right hand and handed it to Zaber.
Zaber left the room without saying anything.
Kilyan breathed a sigh of relief.
"At least ten gold remains," he said.
Shoyu smiled with pride.
"Correct. We will buy what we need. Our work here is done too."
As Zaber descended the stairs, he rembered he had forgotten his black sword. He went back, entered his room, took the sword from under the bed, and descended again.
He went to the inn counter and placed the key on the table.
"I am leaving."
The inn employee smiled.
"If I rember correctly, you paid for a week. I will return the remainder."
Zaber turned toward the door and said.
"No need. Keep it."
The employee smiled with satisfaction.
"Co again, sir."
Zaber tried to leave the city as quickly as possible. His thoughts were jumbled.
He was not an ordinary person... the secretary of the rchants’ guild. Damn it... even if not for the seal, they will co for the docunts. Damn...
At that ti—
In the secretary’s room of the rchants’ guild, two people stood: one the stranger, the other the security employee.
The stranger looked at the corpse and said.
"I did not think our secretary would be killed so quickly."
The security employee nodded.
"Neither did I, sir. He was very strong. His speed left many adventurers and knights behind."
The stranger pulled the dagger from the corpse’s heart.
"Very willful... but it seems that will was broken. Even though he was so fast, only a strike to the heart. That ans the opponent was even faster."
The security employee looked at the desk.
"The docunts and the seal are gone too. Whoever it was, a master of their craft."
The stranger stood.
"Who do you think it was?"
The security employee fell silent for a mont.
"The young man who had a docunt prepared yesterday was seen."
The stranger fell into thought.
"So, he is indeed a problem. With such power and ticulousness... he could be a talented child of one of the Lanois elite soldiers or dukes. They have an interest in this matter."
As he opened the door to leave, the security employee asked.
"Where to, sir?"
The stranger replied without stopping.
"I will find out who did this. This is not a branch-level matter. I will silence with money. Assassins cannot handle it," he said and continued on his way.
By that ti, Zaber had already left the city gates...
As Zaber walked outside the city, there was noticeable haste in his steps. He continued forward without stopping. After distancing himself a bit from Idal city, he involuntarily turned back.
Facing the city, he fell silent for a mont.
"I thought you were an ordinary, small city..." he said in a low voice. "That was my mistake. You have too many people’s gas."
Then he continued on his way.
Zaber walked almost without stopping for two days. He did not eat. He continued walking even when the sun set, waking before sunrise to set off. Although fatigue clung to his body, he did not slow down.
On the morning of the third day, Zaber ca upon a strangely beautiful place.
There were trees here, but not too dense—shallow but orderly. A river flowed between them, and a waterfall was a short distance away. The sound of the water bestowed peace on the surroundings. Most importantly—there was no one around.
Zaber approached the river, drank from the water, and took a deep breath. His chest expanded, and his breathing began to steady gradually. He carefully surveyed the surroundings.
Once convinced the place was quite safe, he leaned against a tree trunk and slept for half a day.
When the sun reached its zenith, the tree’s shadow began to recede slowly. Sunlight fell on Zaber’s face, and he woke. He opened his eyes and stared at the sky for a mont.
"Hooooohuuuu..." he said, taking a deep breath.
He slowly stood.
"Rest is sufficient. Now I need to fully understand the docunts," he whispered.
Zaber took out the docunts. They were a bit crumpled. His coat was also quite dirty, with tears visibly noticeable on top of that. He had forgotten his second set of clothes in the haste. He had drunk the healing elixir and treated his wound, but the tears in the coat did not disappear with that.
He began scanning the docunts.
He felt he understood the content much better than before. The two-day journey seed to have swept away the excess thoughts in his mind. Zaber himself felt much lighter.
After reading all the docunts thoroughly, he drew a conclusion.
There was authority in Idal city, but not in practice.
This city was governed through three pillars: rchants—with money, adventurers—with power, and the city lord—with official authority.
Zaber stood and moved under another tree with denser shade.
"This works like a spider web..." he thought.
The city lord carries out illegal work through adventurers and channels the flow of products and money through rchants. In return, he provides them with necessary permits, blocks the "stones" thrown against them, and suppresses discontent among the people.
The fact that the secretary had so much information showed that the guild relied only on him for docunt matters.
Zaber understood this.
He stood and stretched his body a bit.
"No matter what, this is not my problem," he said indifferently.
"I observed the city, learned it, knew it. I have more money than needed. That ans I have obtained enough from this Idal city."
With this thought, he began removing his clothes. He leaned his sword against the tree and walked toward the waterfall.
He entered the water.
The cold water seed to awaken Zaber’s body suddenly. A shiver passed through him, his muscles tensed.
He swam closer to the shore, leaned back with both hands behind him. The lower part of his body remained in the water, the upper part facing the air.
Zaber lay silently in this state.
The noise of the waterfall, the cold water, and the solitude—all these bestowed tranquility upon Zaber.
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