The Most Arbitrary Wizard

"We’re talking about the painting of the First Saintess," Kave said. "You guys made good time. Not much slower than me."

"That’s what happens when no one’s chasing you," Johnson said with a shrug.

Maybe they’d overestimated the Little Gista Family. After leaving Eve Mansion, the two of them had only run a single block before the guards were nowhere to be seen. It was hard to say if they were too fast, or if the Little Gista Family’s men were just that pathetic.

The main challenge of tonight’s heist wasn’t stealing the painting, but escaping with it.

According to their plan, stealing the painting would be easy, but escaping would be hard. After all, the entirety of Old Mundo City was Little Gista Family territory. Johnson had been ready to treat the city’s inhabitants to a magical version of *The Fast and the Furious*, but before he could even get serious—before he’d even drawn his Magic Wand—he’d lost his pursuers...

It was a total letdown.

Eleanor suddenly spoke up. "Could they have seen through our plan and gone after Teacher Tony instead?"

The rest of the group was confused.

"Oh no!"

Kave slapped his forehead. "Now that you mention it, that’s a real possibility."

Five out of the six of them weren’t being chased. The last one must have drawn the short straw.

"So, what’s the plan? Should we go back him up?" Johnson asked.

Kave glanced at his watch. "We’ll wait ten more minutes. If he’s not here by then, we go help."

It was still a ways from the abandoned factory district to the city limits. They had to hurry. If the Little Gista Family got desperate and sealed the roads, escaping wouldn’t be so easy.

"Help?"

"Help with what? I don’t need any help!"

The words had barely left Kave’s mouth when Tony appeared at the factory entrance, painting in hand. He strode in with his nose in the air, a proud expression plastered on his face.

"When I’m on the job, you can relax!"

"Is the painting okay?"

"What do you think?"

Tony held the painting up to his chest. "Perfectly intact!"

"Excellent!" Kave’s spirits lifted. "Let’s go! We need to get out of the city!"

He immediately led the group to where they had stashed the car.

Everyone was accounted for, and they had the "package." Now it was a race against the Little Gista Family’s communications and their response time.

’I’d bet two sandwiches the Little Gista Family can’t stop me!’

「One minute later.」

The old van—driven all the way from Vernadu and freshly refueled—shot onto the road with the ferocity of a sports car, speeding toward the highway entrance.

Inside the van, Johnson and Tony were busy trading compliments.

He examined the painting from every angle. It was indeed in perfect condition. "I really underestimated you," he couldn’t help but say. "To be chased by that many people and still keep the painting from getting damaged."

Tony chuckled. "You weren’t so bad yourself. You beat me to the factory."

Ryan asked, "They didn’t send a Grand Mage after you?"

"Oh, I’m sure they wanted to," Tony huffed. "But first, they’d have to keep up with me."

"A Grand Mage is fast, sure, but someone has to tell him where I am. Those rookies couldn’t even last thirty seconds before I shook them. They couldn’t even see my taillights. How were they supposed to report my position?"

This just went to show that in their line of work, speed was everything.

"Tch," Eleanor scoffed. "And here I thought the Little Gista Family was going to give you their ’special attention’. Turns out nobody was really chasing you, either."

"Who said that?" Tony shot back. "Chasing me for half a block doesn’t count as a chase? It’s their fault they couldn’t keep up."

"Oh, give me a break," Eleanor said. "The Little Gista Family is a Baron Family. They might not have many Grand Mages, but I guarantee they have plenty of Tier Six Wizards. If they really wanted to catch you, do you think they’d only send a pack of security guards?"

For her, Sean, Kave, and the others, it didn’t count as a real chase unless a Tier Six Wizard or higher was sent to stop them.

Kave was focused on driving and didn’t say a word. But Ryan, who was usually quiet, spoke up. "Something about this doesn’t feel right."

"There are six of us and five escape routes. If they weren’t chasing you, and they weren’t chasing us, then who were they chasing?"

As if realizing something, Johnson’s eyes widened. "Don’t tell me they let us get away on purpose?"

"This is bad!" Sean reacted instantly. "Quick, check the painting for a tracking device!"

If the enemy was playing 4D chess—predicting they would split up only to regroup later, then using the painting to track their real-time location to capture them all in one fell swoop—they would be in big trouble.

Even though there were a lot of them, they were all just "rookies." The Little Gista Family only needed to send a single Grand Mage to wipe out their entire team.

"Give me the painting! I’ll check it," Eleanor said urgently.

When it came to finding trackers and cameras, no one on the team was better than her.

The van continued to race along, already 50% over the speed limit.

Inside, everyone fell silent, not wanting to disturb Eleanor.

A few minutes later, she gave an answer that brought a collective sigh of relief.

"No tracking device."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Good."

Tony let out a long sigh of relief. ’That scared the hell out of me,’ he thought.

He’d been too busy running to physically check the painting for any hidden devices. If there really had been a tracker and he’d brought it back without noticing, he would have had to take the fall.

But Sean still felt something was off, his brow deeply furrowed.

"If there’s no tracking device, why would they just let us take the painting?"

It wasn’t just about the painting anymore. The Little Gista Family’s behavior was also bizarre.

The two facts combined made it hard for Sean not to be suspicious.

"Maybe they didn’t mean to let us have it, they just couldn’t react in time," Kave suggested.

People tend to get complacent on their home turf. It’s a common mistake.

Besides, Grand Mages are all high and mighty figures. They’re not going to be sitting around twiddling their thumbs, acting as security for some ball. It’s perfectly normal that they couldn’t get to the scene in time.

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