Chapter 10: CHASING THE THIEF

The yellow dot shown by the 【Vigilance】 magic seemed to mean 『Caution』 rather than 『Danger』.

Anyway, I decided to make some preparations and keep an eye on the situation.

The yellow point approached me from behind and—

「I’m sorry!」

I heard that voice as something lightly bumped into me.

「Aa! Seiji-sama, the coin pouch!」

Elena began to chase after the person bumped into me just now, but as she picked up speed… she slipped and fell down.

Promptly using 【Quick】 magic, I was able to catch Elena before she hit the ground.

「Ah, Seiji-sama! Thank you very much.」

Being embraced like this, Elena’s face turned bright red. S-so cwute~

「I’m sorry, the criminal got away because of me.」

「It’s okay. I stored all gold and silver coins in Inventory. I only left 10 Aurums in the pouch.」

「So that’s how it is. You already did that.」

「Yeah, 99 gold coins is pretty heavy. Moreover, I already cast 【Tracking】 on that pouch.」

「Amazing, Seiji-sama!」

And so we began to track the thief.

Using a function of 【Tracking】 to see the criminal… hiding in a back alley, they were checking the contents of the pouch.

Find 10 Aurums inside the bag, the criminal wagged their tails in delight.

「This way!」

「Okay!」

Elena, is it that fun? She had a big grin on her face.

I monitored what the thief was doing again… and they seemed to be buying bread from the bakery.

「Apparently the thief seems to have bought 5 loaves of bread.」

「Five loaves? Were they really hungry??」

「Hmm, they seem to be carrying the bread somewhere without eating.」

「It really is a mystery.」

We continued to chase the criminal.

「Is this the criminal’s hideout?」

「Yeah, he ran in here.」

「But, isn’t this a church?」

「Looks like it. Let’s enter.」

「Yes.」

We set foot into the church the thief went into.

The inside of the church was completely devoid of people.

「I can hear someone’s voice over there.」

We moved to the inner room Elena pointed at.

Inside the inner room, we encountered the criminal.

「You’re the person from before!」

The criminal pounced at me.

I caught both of the criminal’s hands and lifted her off the ground. Unable to move with her feet, she stopped struggling.

「Let me go!」

The criminal I caught became completely like a cat…

Well, they are actually a cat.

The criminal was a girl that looked about 10 years old with cat ears and a cat tail.

「Seiji-sama, please come here.」

Elena called me from an even further inner room.

「Don’t go there!」

I moved to the inner room ignoring the criminal girl’s frantic warning…

A woman about 24 or 25 dressed as a sister was painfully sleeping in the crude bed. She was probably in bed due to illness. The criminal girl seemed to have wanted the sick sister to eat the bread.

「This person’s illness, is it serious?」

「It is considerably painful. I will try to cure it with magic.」

Elena put a hand on the Sister’s forehead and began chanting magic.

「Ma-magic!」

The criminal girl I caught by both hands was surprised by Elena’s magic while hanging.

Elena’s magic was invoked and the sister’s body was bathed in light. Her pain seemed to have considerably lessened and she was able to calmly sleep.

「Is-is she healed?」

「Given time. I have cast heal on her a couple of times, she should get better.」

「T-thank you!」

The criminal girl thanked Elena.

Then 3 children came out from somewhere. Perhaps they were hiding somewhere.

The 3 of them looked around 5~8 years old and were a bit skinny.

「Sister, she won’t die?」

「It will be all right since the magic should ease the illness.」

「Onee-chan, thank you!」

The children thanked us unanimously.