The Lady Only Deals With the Real Ones - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Everyone fears different things.

Someone might find a fire-breathing dragon cute even when it’s standing right there, while another person might scream and run away even from a tiny hamster being released.

So instead of setting up specific situations, I cast a spell that evokes ‘worst memories.’

‘They say people become cowardly because they have imagination.’

What’s attacking Hugo is ultimately his own past.

It’s magic usually requested to torment cheating partners, so Emma was puzzled when I said I’d use it for security.

‘I also found out what kind of trauma Hugo has regarding Grandfather.’

I gained other information too.

I was worried what if that guy was afraid of something like hamsters, but a grandfather swinging around an iron mace?

‘Grandfather was no joke when he was young? Well, of course he’s still no joke now.’

Hugo was the one who came first with a sword and caused trouble.

Force must be repaid with force. Since I repaid his sword with an iron mace, it’s Hugo’s own doing.

Moreover, I definitely planted the perception that Grandfather is healthy.

I don’t know how rumors about Grandfather being sick leaked out, but for me who needs to hide that fact as much as possible, the current situation isn’t bad at all.

Most importantly.

‘The Forest of Cologne has come into my hands.’

The Forest of Cologne was a painting.

A small, old painting where an unknown artist had simply painted a forest.

That’s why Hugo thought it was nothing special and handed it over to me.

He probably thought it would be profitable if he could avoid Grandfather’s iron mace with just this one thing?

‘Of course, that painting alone is useless. But I have a separate purpose.’

Does Hugo know?

That besides the painting today, he handed over several other things to me.

“Well then, shall we start closing up?”

After storing the contract properly, I began the real closing.

I cleaned, wiped the windows, threw away the spray, and cleared the teacups.

The spray that looked like air freshener was both a trigger and enhancer for the memory magic. The magic activates when you smell it.

Then what about the tea Hugo was suspicious of?

‘I thought he’d tell me to try drinking it. Thanks to that, I drank it well – holy water.’

It was holy water.

Holy power cancels out magical power, and magical power cancels out holy power.

They’re each other’s erasers.

However, high-purity holy water can unilaterally erase magical power.

‘Hugo probably thought it was some kind of sleeping drug when he made me drink it, but actually he was giving me an antidote to the memory magic.’

Naturally, it was a device I’d prepared knowing Hugo wouldn’t drink the tea I offered.

Holy water is managed by the Temple, so it was very expensive and hard to obtain. More than half the magic commission fee was the cost of holy water.

‘I put a few drops of the holy water I barely obtained in tea, and put a few drops in water in a cleaning spray bottle.’

It was to erase the residue of the memory magic spray.

Emma said it was one-time magic, but just in case.

‘Customers sensitive to magical power might come and recall their worst memories.’

I didn’t want to cause a situation where customers would see fire-breathing dragons or swarms of hamsters in the shop.

Most importantly, if I left it behind, I might get caught by the memory magic myself. I wanted to avoid that at all costs.

My worst memory would definitely be the day I saw news of Grandfather’s death in the newspaper.

‘…I never want to feel that way again.’

So I picked up the spray bottle, but what do you know.

‘Huh? It’s already gone?’

When you spray the spray, it leaves a distinctive scent.

But it had completely disappeared. The only smell in the pawnshop was the fragrant wood scent.

After sniffing around for a while, I shrugged my shoulders.

‘Did that bastard Hugo inhale it all?’

Is that why it was so effective?

Thanks to that, I got an unused holy water spray bottle. I’m not sure what to use this for, but…

‘It’s good to have anything.’

At the very least, I’ll use it when cleaning windows or something.

Who knows if it’ll remove stains better?

***

A cloudy night without even a moon.

The place where the black shadow that kept disappearing and reappearing arrived was the top of the pawnshop.

“Whew.”

Tesagh’s face gleamed palely as he removed his hood.

Dressed in black clothes that covered up to his neck and wearing black gloves, he looked down at the pawnshop with red eyes.

Where his gaze stopped was the 2nd floor.

The duchy’s treasured sword.

The place where the so-called ‘Lugenot’ would be hidden.

‘I must confirm it.’

There was a skylight on the attic roof. When he tried pulling it as a test, it was naturally locked.

“Let’s see if the interrogation mages did their job well.”

Muttering so, Tesagh briefly pressed a small clip with an embedded ruby on his left sleeve.

Then after a few seconds, the locking mechanism smoothly released.

‘They said it doesn’t dispel the magic but temporarily stops it.’

Since it was a pawnshop, he expected there would be security magic.

But if you completely dispel the magic, it becomes evidence that someone broke in.

‘Spell formulas are like signatures, different for each mage, so you can’t cast it again.’

So Tesagh commissioned the duchy’s mages for a magical tool that could stop others’ magic.

‘In other words, the locking magic here isn’t Eivor’s work.’

Strangely, the thief and mage Tesagh was chasing, Eivor, left no spell formulas in his magic.

It was also why he was difficult to track.

When he asked the interrogation mages for their opinion, they said he probably cast concealment magic on his spell formulas, but they weren’t particularly certain.

‘That woman entrusted security magic to a different mage rather than Eivor. Why? Even though they’re collaborators.’

Tesagh jumped down and looked around the attic.

There was a small kitchen and bedroom, but no signs of life. Except for a bunch of dried flowers, the attic was empty.

‘Is it that woman’s hobby? Or someone’s pawned item?’

Tesagh, who was examining the flowers with a dry gaze, swept his left hand through the air.

Then the magic that was spreading like spider webs on the door leading downstairs suddenly stopped. It was trap magic.

After stopping one more trap magic and just before unlocking it, Tesagh examined the ruby on his clip.

It was quiet without any changes. His brow furrowed slightly.

‘I definitely didn’t see it wrong. Back then it was very brief, but the ruby sparkled.’

The clip-type magical tool had one more function.

When it detected the aura of the treasured sword Lugenot, it was made to blink according to the intensity of the aura.

The ruby that had been quiet throughout the journey to the Empire blinked just once.

It was when he came here, to the pawnshop.

But why…

‘That woman also seemed like she wasn’t lying, right?’

That’s why it was puzzling.

Although Eivor was last spotted near this shop, he wasn’t suspicious for that reason alone.

‘Investigation results showed Eivor had committed theft crimes in the past as well.’

The name and appearance were different, but he could tell because the methods were identical.

But he heard a surprising story from the victim.

“Are you saying you found the stolen jewelry again?”

“Yes! You have no idea how shocked I was. I happened to visit an auction house and they were selling my jewelry!”

When he questioned the auctioneer, they too showed him documents, saying they had merely bought it secondhand.

The name written in those documents was this very place.

It was only natural to suspect that the pawnshop was either Eivor’s accomplice or an intermediary broker.

On his way to the Empire, Tesagh had imagined a gloomy and dangerous space with a vile owner who only cared about money.

But.

“I’m being completely honest with you. I don’t deal in stolen goods. I neither buy them nor sell them.”

What he encountered was a woman with confident and dignified eyes.

They were the eyes of someone who was certain that the path they walked was not wrong.

While thinking there were other things to be proud of… somehow those eyes remained in his memory.

“Are you interested in me?”

If the conversation hadn’t been cut off by such a bizarre remark, he might have almost been fooled for a moment.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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