In a dark, deserted alley, Roy, already exhausted, leaned against a concrete wall and slumped beneath the shadow of the blackened wall, his head lowered as sweat dripped from his golden hair.
He rested the arm that had taken a knife wound on his knee, pulled out a roll of bandages, and held it between his teeth as he quickly wrapped the bone-deep wound. Then he took out his Hormone Gun, aimed it at the muscles around the injury, and gave himself a shot.
"Bastard, who was that guy?"
After treating his wound, Roy briefly glanced at the Potions ingredients and plant seeds scattered across the ground. He picked up the Black Eagle and carefully examined the densely packed scratches covering its old blade.
In the blade's faint reflection, Roy saw his own bedraggled face. After that fierce battle, the easygoing warmth that had once filled his eyes was gone. His sweat-soaked face was now etched with the savagery and gloom of a warrior.
The quiet, shadowy alley was eerily silent. Other than Roy's ragged breathing, there was no sound at all. In such stillness, the masked attacker's parting words echoed in Roy's ears once more.
"You took something that belongs to me. This won't be so easily over..."
"Was he talking about the Thorn family's key? Or was he referring to the diamond Mia picked up?"
Roy sat motionless on the ground with his head bowed, but his mind kept turning over every possible mastermind behind the attack.
"Hijacking the Floo Powder Network isn't easy. They would have had to deceive the Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Transportation detection systems and pinpoint my whereabouts in advance. Anyone capable of that must be highly skilled, and there's definitely more than one of them. But that's exactly the problem. Why