Chapter 14: The Crisis is Coming.

“To prison, of course. Surely, Mr. Tucks, you’d love to tell us who’s pulling your strings, right?”

Ifrora’s lips curled slightly as she summoned a sword made of condensed flames, hovering behind Tucks.

The scorching heat made Tucks break out in a cold sweat, though the flames evaporated every drop.

“Well, Pink Chick, I’ll leave him to you. I’ve got other things to do.”

With that, Flo waved and turned to leave.

“Hey, looks like Pointy-Ears really doesn’t welcome me~”

Ifrora propped her chin with her hand, flashing a teasing smile, her tone dripping with mock reproach, like a pitiful wife scorned by a heartless husband.

But Flo knew she was just joking.

“Yeah, Pink Chick’s got some self-awareness~”

Flo snorted lightly, gripped his twin blades, marked a bird perched on the eaves, and vanished in an instant.

The boy’s silver hair shimmered with a golden glow under the sunlight, his starry eyes gleaming as he hopped from rooftop to rooftop, disappearing from Ifrora’s view.

Ifrora shook her head helplessly and turned to Tucks.

“Well then, it’s just you and me now, dear Knight Commander…”

Little Blue Bird, completely forgotten, didn’t show up until Flo reached a café.

Panting, Little Blue Bird rushed to Flo.
“Boss, bad news!”

Flo, flipping through a book, asked nonchalantly, “What’s up? Why the rush?”

“When Sister and I were scouting from the sky, we spotted a group of black-cloaked people with strange symbols. They’re likely in cahoots with the knights. Sister’s keeping an eye on them now.”

“Boss, you gotta hurry. It’s big trouble!”

“Hm? Don’t feel like moving. Just fought a battle. Report it to the Phoenix family.”

Flo didn’t budge, eyes fixed on his book.

But while Flo was calm, Little Blue Bird couldn’t sit still.

“No time, Boss! Stop reading! Sister just sent word—they’ve got wands, a bunch of humanoid monsters, and corrupt knights fighting a coalition of the Church, adventurers, and the Phoenix family out in the wild. It’s bad!”

Flo slammed the table, tossed a few copper coins down, and stored the book in his ring.

As calm as he’d been before, he was now just as frantic.

“Ask your sister if any black-cloaked people showed up at the orphanage.”

The skirmish in the wild didn’t concern Flo—he couldn’t do much there.
As a beginner-tier apprentice assassin, he was useless in group battles, his impact basically zero.

The urgent matter was the magic circle.
It was rare, but luckily, Flo’s mother was an expert and had noted it in her journal.

It wasn’t just luck—his mother’s journal was practically an encyclopedia, covering nearly all magic and arrays in detail.

The strange group was using a magic circle called [Dark Tide Solidification Array].

Its mechanics weren’t worth diving into, but the key point was that it was a continuous array.

The first circle was the main array, with subsequent ones as auxiliaries.

The [Dark Tide Solidification Array] could swallow a person whole, allowing the caster to either solidify or transfer the victim.

Once enough solidification energy was gathered, the main array could create a powerful monster, its strength tied to the amount of energy collected.

The array’s flaw? Its traces couldn’t be erased and would remain in the casting area until the array was complete.

Unfortunately, the one at the orphanage was the main array.

To pull off this plan, there had to be someone inside the orphanage.

The reason for choosing the orphanage was obvious—it was out of sight and hard to suspect.
With so many arrays, no one would easily find the main one.

Plus, the orphanage was full of people, mostly defenseless children, making it the perfect site for the main array.

Flo suspected the wild skirmish was a diversion to buy time for creating the monster.
It might even be connected to him.
If the plan was exposed, Flo himself might not matter much, but with the Phoenix family’s heiress at the scene?

Even if he couldn’t figure it out, Ifrora definitely could.

So, when the black-cloaked mages saw things going south, they clashed with the Phoenix family, the Church, and the adventurers.

Still, Flo felt it wasn’t that simple.
This was just an appetizer—there was a bigger conspiracy at play.
Based on his understanding of the web of connections, this plot could potentially topple the entire empire.
But for now, the priority was sneaking into the orphanage to destroy the main array.

While the array didn’t have* to be broken by Flo, it was too late to find another array mage.
He had to do it himself.

As Flo left the café, Little Red Bird’s message came through.

Cloudbirds were top-tier scouts because paired Cloudbirds could telepathically communicate, like… well, like making a phone call.

“Sister says…”
Little Blue Bird hesitated, trailing off, head lowered, clearly conflicted.

“What’s wrong?”

Like it was wrestling with some internal struggle, Little Blue Bird still said nothing, mumbling incoherently.

“Come on, spill it! I’m begging you, you’re my sister, okay?”

Flo was losing it.
What was wrong with this bird?
Since when did it get so hesitant…

As if making a decision that defied its ancestors, Little Blue Bird curled its right wing in front of its body, mimicking a “you got this” gesture.

Then, it launched into an exaggerated performance…

“Big trouble, big trouble! The orphanage is under the black-cloaks’ control! The kids and caretakers are all locked up!”

“Swoosh! A bunch of black-cloaks appeared out of nowhere!”
Little Blue Bird stood upright, flapping its wings as if mimicking the sudden appearance of the cloaked figures.

“Then, bam! A humanoid monster showed up and smashed a caretaker dead!”
It clutched its chest with its wings.

“And then, the lead black-cloak grabbed the headmistress by the throat! They took over the orphanage in less than five minutes, with the deputy headmistress’s help!”

Little Blue Bird’s body moved dramatically with each word, absurdly theatrical.

“You could just… say it normally…”

“I’m just relaying Sister’s message word for word…”

Flo: “…”

Flo’s heart raced.
The headmistress had been kind to him, helping him plenty—a true saint.
He only hoped he wasn’t too late.