Chapter 23 His Bakeshop Is Gone

A person wearing a hooded cloak roamed around the dark streets of Moonvale. At first, it seemed like the person was going no where in particular and was casually strolling but after a while, the figure threaded to a particular direction. The mysterious person did not stop until they reached their destination.

The bakeshop was silent. It was already in the middle of the night so the people in there were sure to be sleeping. A sinister smile appeared on their face, it was time to take revenge.

Several magic circles appeared around the the shop followed by the formation of icicles that aimed at the structure. The mysterious person's smile widened as they snapped their fingers and the icicles moved to hit the bakeshop. Before they could reach the building's surface though, the icicles broke and some kind of liquid came from the inside of the broken icicles. The liquid hit the bakeshop instead.

When the person saw this, an orange and red magic circle appeared and produced a small fire, which they aimed at the wet parts of the bakeshop. Turned out that liquid was combustible and the moment the fire made contact with it, it ignited.

Everything happened so fast that Cygnus, the butler and Ezio only had time to save their lives. The sky was lit by the flames that devoured the bakeshop and by the time the fire was stopped, the bakeshop was no more.

Ezio looked at the now destroyed bakeshop then he looked Cygnus who was standing beside him. The man remained strangely silent and he can't see his face so he had mo idea what the other was feeling right now. There were already spectators around and were speaking in hush voices, some came up to them to express their sympathy.

"Who could have done this?" The owner of the fruit shop that Ezio usually visited also looked at the aftermath. He was shaking his head and he had a frown on his face. He looked at the master, "What are you going to do now, mister?" His question was directed at Cygnus.

The master was silent for a while before he answered, "Of course I'll make them pay, who ever did this terrible thing!" He threw his hands in the air while shaking his head. "We're lucky that we came out of that alive." He continued which earned him a nod from the fruit shop owner.

"If you need any help, you can always come to my shop and we'll help you rebuild the bakeshop. What would happen to us if we can't taste your sweet creations!" The fruit shop owner exclaimed, he even puffed his chest with his chin held high.

"Thank you for the offer, we will contact you if we ever need one. For now we will be staying at an inn and will not be selling any pastries for now," the butler informed the other man. For now, his master was in a bad mood and if they continue to talk about the bakeshop then he might go off and destroy the whole town. The fruit shop owner nodded then he bid them goodbye.

"Aren't we going to report this to the authorities?" Ezio asked. Cygnus was strangely quiet while the butler looked like he was not concerned at all.

"I'll take care of that for now, you should accompany the master to this inn," he gave him a card with the inn's name engraved on it, "make sure to keep the master company, if you fail to do so, then you should be preparing for a few funerals."

Those were so casually said that Ezio thought that the butler was joking. He was about to laugh it off, but the butler was not giving him his usually friendly smile. "Are you serious?" He could not help but ask.

"It doesn't matter if I am serious or not, what matters is that the possibility of my master doing so has risen to about 78% and it will rise even more if you continue to dawdle." The butler opened his eyes and lost his smile. Ezio stood in attention then nodded several times before he went to the master's side and convinced him that they should go.

It took him a couple of minutes before he eventually persuaded the man. He looked back at the butler and saw him smiling again.

The next morning, the news of what happened travelled fast and wide. By the time it reached the Grand Mages, people were already flocking the municipal hall. They were filing complaints and expressed their concern that this might happen to any of them and that they should immediately arrest the perprator.

"What's the result of your investigation?" Meliore asked after they met the mayor who has just finished pacifying the people.

"According to the captain, they found traces of oil around the shop. There were also traces of broken pieces of ice that have not melted a few feet away from the place of incident." The mayor did not hesitate to tell her, since he had been wanting to ask them for help.

After hearing the mayor's words, Meliore's eyes glanced at the woman behind her. Arean was also shocked at the mayor's words.

"Are you sure about that?" She stepped froward with a frown and bypassed Meliore. "You must be wrong!" Her voice went up a notch which startled the mayor.

"Arean, are you planning on causing a scene here?" Alastor's displeased voice made Arean stop. She was still visibly angry but she took a step back. "We will help you find the perprator, if you find any more information, fell free to tell us."

The mayor was relieved at the Grand Mage's words and the fear of yesterday was gone. He thanked them profusely before excusing himself.

"Is it because the man scared you?" Alastor glared. He had calmed himself down last night and now something like this suddenly happened. "Have you forsaken your pride as a Grand Mage? And acted out of petty?"

"You're wrong! I did not do that!" She defended, she even looked at Meliore for help but the woman did not speak.

"I should have not brought you here, if not for your master's request, I would have left you at the Magic Tower." Alastor stared her down, his eyes full of disdain. "If you really didn't do it then don't act by yourself from now on. Stay with Meliore, if you dare disobey my words then I won't be as forgiving as yesterday."

Alastor left the both of them standing in the middle of the hall. He also lifted the anti-spy barrier he set up after the mayor left.

"Do you really believe that I did that?" Arean turned around to look at the other Grand Mage. She did not expect that the woman would not even side with her.

"I've already told you yesterday to behave yourself, but you did not listen to me, now you should face the consequences." Meliore turned around and walked away.

Arean glared at her back but afterwards she followed her. Whoever was doing this, she promised to make their life full of suffering.