Kingdom of Illusia, the border town of Bash.
Dawn was like a miserly painter, using only the palest colors to sketch the town's outline.
The faint light dispelled the night's chill, and life began to flow into the deserted streets. Warm, toasty aromas drifted from the bakery, fishmongers set out crates reeking of the sea, and the conversations of passersby, vendors' cries, and children's playful shouts gradually merged into a seemingly unbreakable peace.
"Thief! Catch the thief!"
Suddenly, that gauze-thin tranquility was effortlessly torn apart by a piercing cry.
A middle-aged woman, pale-faced and disheveled, ran with all her might while waving her arms, trying to draw every gaze toward her.
Her eyes were filled with desperate pleading. Ahead of her, a thin, shifty-eyed man clutched a woman's handbag tightly to his chest, darting through the crowd like a startled rat.
He brutally kicked aside a child blocking his path, then, amid the child's piercing cries, nimbly leaped aside to evade the arm of a burly resident trying to stop him.
His movements were so agile they were almost uncanny, leaving all his pursuers far behind. The town exit was right ahead; freedom seemed within reach.
Swish—!
Accompanied by a faint whistle through the air, a tall figure appeared like a ghost, silently standing at the town's only exit.
The newcomer wore a somewhat worn black top hat. His skin was unnaturally pale, even sickly so. A crisp constable's uniform wrapped around his lean frame, declaring his identity.
The tall constable lowered his head slightly and curled his lips into a smile. His darkly painted lips formed an arc that could almost be called polite.
"Sir, this road is closed."
The shifty-eyed man stopped short, his eyes flashing viciously like a trapped beast driven into a corner.
He suddenly drew