Leads Gone Cold

Roy, dressed in a novice priest's robe and holding a copy of Holy Prayer, passed through the outer corridor of the row houses. The walls and pillars here were covered in murals depicting the glorious deeds of the Goddess of Freedom.

Many benches stood inside the temple. At the very end was a raised platform, and on the wall behind it was a relief of the Goddess of Freedom.

This Goddess of Freedom was depicted in human form.

She held the Storm Greatsword high in one hand and gripped a length of black chain tightly in the other.

Barefoot, she stood atop pitch-black ruins and gazed into the distance.

Priest Theodore was kneeling before the relief statue, his hands clasped before his chest in prayer as he murmured under his breath.

His voice was too soft for Roy to hear clearly, and Roy had no idea what prayer he was reciting.

No matter how devout he appeared while reciting it, the statue before him showed no reaction at all.

The motes of light drifting around Priest Theodore slowly gathered into his body.

Roy noticed a side hall beside the Main Hall. At its center was a square pool about a meter across, filled nearly to overflowing with clear water. A small amount of holy light was continuously precipitating from within it as well.

Those faint rays of holy light drifted above the pool like floating tufts of cotton.

Roy had discovered that ever since he could sense the faint motes around his body, the world as he saw it had changed in subtle ways.

Whenever he focused his mind, he could see those drifting motes around him.

It was equally simple if he did not want to see them—he just had to close his eyes and disperse his spiritual awareness...

The stone platform before the Holy Water Pool was completely empty. The Holy Grail should originally have been placed there.

This was Roy's first time entering the temple. The enormous relief within created a solemn, dignified atmosphere that made Roy keep his mouth shut.

As he approached the stone platform, he could still see the circular mark left behind after the Holy Grail had been removed. The stone inside the ring was darker in color than the surrounding area.

Standing beside the platform, Roy closed his eyes.

He imagined how he would have escaped the temple if he had been that Elf Thief.

Since it should have been morning at the time, someone must have been cleaning the pool in the courtyard before the temple. No matter how foolish the Elf Thief was, he would not have left through the front gate. If he had not used the front gate, then he would have had to jump out a window to leave the Main Hall.

The windows in the Main Hall were positioned very high, and there was nothing nearby that made climbing convenient.

There was a staircase behind the right wall of the Main Hall, but it was not an exit. It led to the second floor of the Main Hall.

The second floor of the temple was simply an interior balcony built along the walls like a gallery. Perhaps it had been designed so that if the Main Hall was filled with worshippers, the rest could stand on the second-floor balcony.

Roy went straight up the stairs, and sure enough, the balcony here was right beside several stained-glass windows.

Sunlight streamed through the stained glass, casting strange, dazzling colors inside.

Roy tried to push open the windows, which were covered in thick dust. Almost all of them were locked from the inside.

At the end of the balcony, Roy finally found one window that was slightly ajar. The dust that should have covered its sill was a complete mess.

The thief must have escaped from here.

With that thought, Roy pushed open the window. From here, he could see the section of wall at the temple's northeast corner.

Outside the window lay a lush lawn. The weeds on it had grown tall and should have been trimmed long ago.

The ground was only four meters below the window. Jumping out from here would not have been difficult at all for a thief.

Roy had considered that several days had already passed. If the thief had been quick-witted, the Holy Grail had probably changed hands long ago.

Roy did not tell Priest Reid about his discovery because he worried that if he messed things up, Priest Reid would surely label him as rash.

When Roy saw the novice priest Jasper come in from outside and begin arranging the benches in the Main Hall, he hurried downstairs to help...

"Divine arts are difficult to learn here, Roy. If there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask me. I've only learned the basics myself, but at least we can look for answers together." Jasper sat on a bench and held out a hand to Roy.

Roy shook his hand and nodded.

"How long have you been here?" Roy asked.

Jasper rubbed his forehead. "About six years. Back then, I heard that the Goddess of Freedom Temple was recruiting novice priests and that I could learn spells completely different from magic, so I came."

"Want to see one of my divine arts?"

"Sure!"

Jasper swiftly recited a prayer. He spoke so fast that Roy could not make out what he was saying.

He deliberately slowed down for the final line, and only then did Roy hear it clearly. It seemed to be something like, "...Darkness Disperse!"

A beam of light then lit up around him. It was faint, but a sacred aura instantly filled Jasper's entire body.

A small ball of light also appeared in Jasper's palm, roughly the size of a snowball. It was just as Priest Reid had said... enough to learn spells.

When the ball of light approached Roy, he felt warm, as though some of the darkness in his heart had been driven away.

"I can feel the warmth. That's really nice," Roy said.

The Elf Rangers had probably discovered these clues as well. The lawn behind the temple was covered in messy footprints, and Roy could no longer find any useful information.

He even found obvious climbing marks at the northeast corner of the wall.

Roy even took a lap outside the wall. Other than a Basil Shrub that had been trampled flat, he found nothing useful.

There was nothing much happening at the Goddess of Freedom Temple, either.

Roy only needed to stay at the temple for half a day, so he left that afternoon.

Jasper and Abbott were both somewhat envious of Roy. They only had one day off each week—Jasper chose Monday, while Abbott chose Tuesday. Neither was anywhere near as free as Roy.

Walking along Brown Street toward the tavern, Roy saw the neighbor's brat squatting outside the Potion Shop again.

With a wooden bow on his back, the boy was secretly peering into the Potion Shop's backyard.

Probably every child on Brown Street regarded Mrs. Winnie's Night Blade Leopard as an imaginary enemy. Before becoming rangers, they would surely try every possible way to defeat that big cat.

When he saw Roy approaching from afar, the brat immediately stood up, dusted off his backside, and ran away.

To him, Roy was far more terrifying than that Night Blade Leopard.

The tavern was still as deserted as ever, with no customers at any of the tables.

It would probably not become livelier until evening, after the dockworkers got off work.

The Magic Conch by the counter was still playing a banshee's song.

Lucy, the elf waitress, sat alone at a square table near the Bar Counter, listening intently to the music.

When Roy entered the tavern, the waitress quickly stood and turned to look at him.

Roy stopped in front of her.

"Lucy, can we talk?"

Lucy seemed to be in a good mood. She waved him over and invited him to sit. "I know you, Roy. What do you need?"

"Do you remember what happened that day?" Roy asked cautiously.

"Of course. That was the unluckiest day I've had this month." Lucy frowned, apparently unwilling to think about it.

Roy gave her an apologetic smile before saying,

"When I left, a male elf carrying a package in his arms happened to come in. Do you know him?"

Lucy thought seriously for a moment. "After you left, we reopened for business. The Elf Rangers questioned me for quite a while, and then a lot of customers came in one after another. Sorry, I can't really remember which one you mean."

"The first customer to enter the tavern after that incident," Roy said.

Lucy lowered her head and thought for a while, then shook her head again.

Roy felt a little disappointed. It seemed the last lead had gone cold here too.

"All right. If you remember anything, let me know."

Lucy smiled and readily agreed. "No problem."

It seemed that no elf looked bad when smiling...

With no leads left, Roy wandered around the docks again.

Several more large ships were docked at the harbor. Castleton Harbour was always busy and noisy in summer.

This time, Roy did not look for any guiding work. He simply wandered around without any destination.

Some sailors hung outside the railings on either side of the deck, using iron scrapers to remove shellfish from the hulls, while crate after crate of cargo was carried down the gangplanks.

The Fish Market was still full of filthy water, and many stalls displayed octopuses.

He did not find the Elf Thief, but he did see Sabrina helping Ms. Jillian sell fish.

Ms. Jillian was a very unusual Silver Moon Elf. She was independent by nature and never wanted to accept help from others, running a fish stall at the docks to support her family of three.

As a Silver Moon Elf, Ms. Jillian was deeply emotional, with the romance of her people in her bones. Every relationship came suddenly, yet never lasted long before everyday trivialities drove them apart.

"Roy, why haven't I seen you fishing these past few days?"

Ms. Jillian skillfully sliced off a piece of bright red tuna from the butcher's block, wrapped it in Banana Leaves, and handed it to a waiting customer in front of the stall.

Roy quickly stopped and said to Ms. Jillian,

"Ms. Jillian, I'm planning to report to Elf Academy next week. I've been making preparations for enrollment these past few days."

Ms. Jillian looked surprised. She examined Roy again before saying, "Even you're going to school now! Time passes so quickly. Doesn't that mean you'll become classmates with Sabrina..."

In Ms. Jillian's eyes, Roy and Moira were both still children who needed looking after.

Sabrina ignored Roy. She was cutting the gathered Banana Leaves into squares so they would be easier to use for wrapping fish.

Whenever Sabrina helped out at the fish stall, there always seemed to be more customers.

Ms. Jillian beckoned Roy behind the fish stall and asked,

"I heard that you were there when Jefferson was killed by those outsiders?"