The Elusive Sorcerer

Chapter 156

As Zavi had originally intended, he ordered his clone, who was playing the role of James Moriarty, to make a few additional moves to pressure them into answering his questions.

However, he felt it was excessive, especially since he himself was busy recovering and stabilizing the spiritual connection that allowed the clone acting as James Moriarty to move, speak, and function as intended.

Evelina observed James Moriarty carefully before turning her attention toward the men.

'Who is this woman? Judging by her clothes, is she a noble?'

The man with messy brown hair hidden beneath a bowler hat tried to gather information about Evelina of the Kalderan family.

Because he rarely, if ever, dealt with nobles, he eventually gave up and simply hoped his plan to get out of this situation would succeed.

After staring at them for far too long, James Moriarty glanced at Luis, who was admiring each piece of jewelry glittering beneath the moonlight.

'That could make us, uh, I mean me, rich overnight. But that goes against my ideology of earning money through my own hard work. But ah...'

With thoughts of finances constantly swirling through his mind, James Moriarty finally did what he had wanted to do from the very beginning.

"Luis," said James Moriarty, his tone remaining cold and flat. "Can you estimate how much these jewels would sell for?" he asked, hoping for a figure that matched his expectations.

But Luis's answer left James Moriarty speechless, along with the ten men from the tax-collecting group.

"It's a shame we can't sell these luxurious and beautiful jewels through ordinary channels. In short, we'll sell everything at the Ountakana Auction."

James Moriarty looked at him indifferently, but inwardly he was stunned.

'Ountakana, you say? Isn't that the massive underground auction in Kuranda that I learned about from those documents?'

He realized that selling all these jewels through the Ountakana Auction was perhaps the best idea he had ever heard.

James Moriarty straightened his posture and looked at each of his three companions before finally turning his sly gaze toward Evelina.

"Miss Evelina. Do you know what month, date, and time the Ountakana Auction is held?"

Evelina looked at him uncertainly.

She stretched out her right arm, causing the lantern's light to fall directly onto the bald head of the mustached man.

At first, his companions wanted to laugh, but the other nine men restrained themselves when they saw James Moriarty's indescribable expression. In other words, beneath that cold and indifferent face, he was clearly holding something back to preserve James Moriarty's image.

However, because Luis chuckled first, the other nine men quickly followed, whispering among themselves while the bald, mustached man named Aris remained completely unaware.

A few seconds later, Aris finally noticed the strange behavior of his companions.

"Hey, you all seem to be holding back laughter. Can someone tell me what's so funny?"

Confused and still unaware of what was happening, Aris looked at James Moriarty standing several meters in front of him before turning to Evelina, who stood a few steps to his left.

Unable to see the truth, Aris was already too late. Evelina had already lowered the lantern back to its usual position and stepped back two paces. Luifis mirrored the movement professionally, carrying out his duty of protecting Evelina Kalderan.

After several seconds of silence, a calm and hesitant voice suddenly cut through the atmosphere.

"As for the Ountakana Auction... I don't know the exact date, but it will be held in April."

As though he were a hostage, a man standing in the circle on the left side of the courtyard from the road's perspective voiced his personal opinion.

"If you'll allow me to speak, I'd say the Ountakana Auction will be held at the end of March, at its usual hours. It starts at 8 PM and runs until 11:40 PM. If necessary, it extends into early April."

"I didn't know that," Evelina replied, puzzled. "How do you know?"

The man with thin-rimmed glasses straightened his gaze and said quietly, "Because I'm... a fallen noble."

Hearing that one of the tax collectors whom James Moriarty had used as test subjects before carrying out his main operation was actually a noble, Evelina was genuinely surprised.

"Your family name?" Evelina asked, searching for clues as to whether his downfall was connected to the nobles of Penplan.

The man with thin-rimmed glasses glanced at his companions before answering firmly, "The Monelli family."

James Moriarty, or rather Zavi, wanted no part in this matter. He turned away and walked toward the jewelry scattered across the stone road, some of it still inside wooden crates.

He looked at Luis, whose behavior seemed suspicious.

"Luis. Are you stealing these jewels?"

Luis wanted to deny it, but knowing exactly who he was dealing with, he eventually surrendered to his poor fate.

He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out three pieces of jewelry that had captivated him after careful examination.

James Moriarty was left speechless by his talent for finance.

"Just take them, and don't forget..."

James Moriarty displayed a smile that Luis understood immediately at a single glance.

Delighted, Luis immediately straightened up and bowed slightly with a clenched fist over his chest. He noticed something strange as James Moriarty's hand gradually turned pale. In the end, Luis walked toward Evelina while discreetly hiding the jewelry from her.

Of course, one of the hostages noticed exactly what they were doing, but none of them could say anything given their current predicament.

"Are you all done talking?"

Luis asked, looking at them all as they stared back at him.

'I don't know any of them.'

He muttered to himself. Once again, he had no idea who they were, nor did he care to know. Unless one of them happened to share something in common with him.

"Ah, my dear Luis, could it be that you're jealous because I'm talking to another man besides you?" Evelina teased him with a flirtatious sigh.

Luis glared at her.

"Be quiet, old lady."

"Ah, it seems my dear Luis is trying to deny it."

"Just shut up!" Luis snapped, unwilling to let that strange habit of hers be heard by others.

Yet something odd continued to bother Luis, just as it troubled one of the men sitting with his legs folded beneath him. He was seated two places away from Aris, who sat in the same position, and he was staring sharply at James Moriarty.

Cold sweat ran down his face as everything changed in the blink of an eye.

'He... disappeared?'

He wanted to warn his companions, but every word caught in his throat as though something was preventing him from speaking.

'Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it.'

The neatly combed brown-haired man was frustrated. The carts had been destroyed and their contents scattered everywhere, though the horses remained unharmed. Yet now he had somehow lost sight of James Moriarty without even realizing it, despite watching his every move from the moment the cold silver revolver touched his forehead until the instant James Moriarty vanished.

Meanwhile, Evelina continued chatting casually with Luis.

Luis, however, shifted his gaze indifferently before glancing to the right. His entire body stiffened and his pupils widened.

'Where is Mr. James Moriarty now? Did he run off with the jew...'

Luis quickly realized that neither the gold nor the jewelry had moved from where they had fallen, several meters from the iron gate of the building.

"Luifis, do you know where he went?" Luis asked, his voice suddenly hoarse.

Luifis shook his head and calmly replied, "I was assigned to watch them. I don't know where he is."

"This is strange..." Luis muttered, rubbing his chin.

Then he glanced at each of the captives and noticed a nearly invisible transparent thread that seemed to be controlling one of them.

However, Luis had no idea that the spiritual thread controlling James Moriarty's movements had suddenly shifted to a man standing in the circle that formed an O-shape aligned with the north.

"Hey, Nuken, why did you suddenly stand up?" they muttered almost simultaneously.

"Y-You three, leave now! Take the gold and the jewelry!" His voice trembled as though something was controlling Nuken's speech without his knowledge.

'Could that be Moriarty?' Evelina stared at him in confusion before her expression turned serious.

'How is he doing this? Does it have something to do with occultism?'

Evelina forced herself to think harder than usual. In the end, however, she chose to stop overthinking and follow James Moriarty's advice, while not forgetting their objective of keeping the ten men restrained.

They stepped out of the building, crossed the deserted street, and observed the gold and jewelry from inside an alley. There were no clues, only the instruction to flee while carrying as much gold and jewelry as possible.

....

Where Zavi's real body lay, he was having immense difficulty fighting someone who possessed agile movements, a flexible body, immunity to damage, and savage attacks.

Meanwhile, Zavi focused entirely on evading the assaults while suppressing groans and retreating to avoid further attacks.

At first, he wanted to fight back. But whenever he launched a decisive punch, his opponent seemed to anticipate it and unleashed a technique that left his ears ringing for several seconds.

'Damn it, this lunatic is so brutal that he made me lose control for a moment, leaving only a few words behind before that James Moriarty disappeared.'

Now Zavi could feel the significant effects on his body, especially around his mouth, which felt as though it were locked shut, unable to utter even a single word to calm the madman.

Yes. Zavi was currently fighting a madman.

At first, he hadn't believed it when he woke up with dirty, rough feet, yet strangely there was no foul smell assaulting his senses.

The moment he woke and felt his perception destabilized by movement, Zavi rose. Two seconds after his brain recognized danger, he was already on his feet.

And up until now, Zavi had done nothing but evade. He couldn't fight back, and honestly, it was his own fault for sleeping next to a madman.

A few moments after enduring all of that, Zavi managed to calm the madman in an unexpected yet strangely effective way.

He crawled like a small child trying to discover something new.

The madman looked at Zavi with a faint smile as warmth spread through him from that simple movement. After doing this for long enough, Zavi finally understood why the man had stopped attacking him the moment he began crawling instead of trying to walk.

'He's... remembering happy memories of being with his child while they were learning to discover new things?'

Behind the cold gaze he displayed while playing James Moriarty, deep within his blue eyes, tears that had been held back for far too long finally spilled over and ran down his dirty cheeks.

The madman, who from his perspective saw a crying toddler, staggered closer before gently comforting him.

"Don't cry, son... your father will always be with you and stay by your side until death comes to claim him."

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