The Moon Thief

Chapter 26: Clue Pursuit!

Heinald and Ranton continued to exchange ideas for several minutes.

"Where do Ainsars spend their free time?" Heinald turned to Ranton and asked.

"In libraries, shops and taverns." Ranton thought for a while.

"Taverns!" Heinald nodded.

Taverns are the adress of the babbling.

"But Ainsars are smart people, I don't think they'll drink a lot and just talk about important intelligence." Ranton shook his head.

"We don't know that, after all there are too many different people." Heinald shrugged. In fact, he thought Ranton was right, but it was obvious they would get nowhere just by waiting.

"Then I'll take you to the busiest taverns in the city tomorrow." Ranton sighed.

After Heinald bade farewell Ranton, he went to Master Albert.

"Master Albert!" Heinald greeted the old man front of him, slightly bowing his head.

"I haven't seen you around for a long time, son. Where have you been?" Albert let go of the book in his hand and started looking at the young man in front of him.

"I had a few important things to do." Heinald waved his hand softly.

"Is there any news about Bloody Teeth?" Albert asked.

"No, sir." Heinald shook his head.

"They hide pretty well ...Anyway, we haven't brewed potions with you for a long time, let's work a little." Albert gave a low laugh.

"I agree!" Heinald smiled and nodded. He had spent too much Arkana Stones, now he had to save some. Ever since Heinald came to the Risingmoon Kingdom, he had been helping Master Albert brew a variety of potions.Thus, he was receiving important advices from him about Potion Brewing. Since he could easily observe him, he had important inferences about many materials used in potion making.

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The most important one was inferences he gained about the Spirit Flame. He had learned just by observing what amount of Spirit Flame to use on hundreds of materials.

Heinald brewed the potion for long hours.

***

The next day, after the sun went down, he went to Ranton.

"Are you ready?" Ranton asked when he saw Heinald.

"Yes."

"Alright! Our first destination is a tavern called Riverwater."

Ranton and Heinald jumped on their horses and began traveling through the city, stopping when they arrived at a fairly large tavern.

"Here we will start here." Ranton nodded ahead.

When they got inside, they sat at a table, especially in the corner. So they could observe the surroundings well. While the two were chatting on various topics, they were also observing around. The hours passed quickly, but neither of them saw a suspicious thing, and there was no one around drinking enough to lose themselves.

"Well ... we predicted it would be like this anyway." Ranton shrugged.

"Yes, but it's better than doing nothing. And there are taverns we still have to check out, right?" Heinald finished the drink in front of him and stood up.

T

The two said goodbye to each other and began to ride their horses towards their home. Heinald had been observing especially everybody around all night long. Thanks to his eyes, it was quite easy for him.

But he didn't notice anything.

The next evening, he met Ranton again and they came to another tavern called Burning Paw. Likewise, they picked a corner table again and began to observe the people around carefully, but without being noticed. Unfortunately, they didn't find anything that night either.

Heinald and Ranton could not go to another tavern for the following week as they both had jobs to take care of.

Heinald spent the whole weekbrewing and working with potions. Formations were much easier for him than dealing with potions. He had an impeccable memory so he could not forget a single rune and could even remember them precisely. Therefore, it was much easier to deal with Magic Formations. Potion Making was more about talent than strong memory. He was certainly talented, but fields that required talent were much more difficult.

***

"Where are we going today?" Heinald looked at Ranton and asked.

"To the Oakdeep Tavern!" Ranton answered.

They immediately started riding towards the Oakdeep Tavern.They reached the tavern after a quiet ride through the wide and well-kept streets of the city. As they did last time, they chose a table in the corner and began to observe people around without being noticed. Heinald hadn't seen anything to suspect yet, but the few cats wandering around seemed pretty interesting to him. Cats were fairly common, so there was nothing wierd. However, it was interesting for cats to roam in a tavern.

The hours passed quickly, and again they couldn't find anything suspicious.

"We'd better leave now. Tomorrow we'll go to another tavern." Ranton exhaled.

"Wait!" Heinald murmured. A scene he saw as he was about to stand up had stopped him.

"What happened?" Ranton asked in a low voice.

"I saw a small pill drop from the innkeeper's ring into the glass." Heinald was watching the innkeeper carefully.

"What are you talking about? How can you see something like that from this distance?" Ranton's eyebrows were slightly frowned.

"Trust me, my eyes are good." Heinald couldn't bother answering Ranton at this time, so he cut the conversation short.

As the innkeeper poured the drink into the glass, he threw a very tiny pill into the glass with a quick gesture.

Heinald began watching the innkeeper with full attention. He had picked up another glass in his hand and did the same again, this time for sure.

The innkeeper served the drinks to the two Ainsars sitting a few tables ahead.

"Heinald, are you sure?" Ranton asked quietly.

"I am sure!" Heinald nodded. He began to observe the two Ainsars who were drinking. A gray cat came near their table and lay there.

"Hmm..." Heinald's eyes squinted.

As time passed, the Ainsars he was watching began to laugh a lot and their pupils grew larger.

"I just discovered something very interesting, Ranton..." Heinald smiled slightly and stood up.

"Lets go!"

After leaving the tavern, they jumped on their horses and walked away from the tavern.

"Are you going to tell now?" Ranton asked.They were riding slowly.

"I noticed a change in the acts of the two Ainsars who were drinking. Besides, I guess those cats are somehow controlled." Heinald shook his head.

"What? How so?" Ranton's eyebrows rose.

"Probably the pill that the innkeeper threw into the drinks is some kind of medicine.That drug must be making Ainsars talk too much and without thinking.Thus, they can gather various intelligence, and even if the Ainsars reveal confidential information for a family or organization because they do not speak of their own free will, the Blood Agreement does not punish them.Those cats are around to listen to what is being spoken.They must be controlling those cats with some kind of spell, or I'm too paranoid." Heinald had a thoughtful expression.

"This ..." Ranton couldn't find anything to say.

"Let's visit this tavern a few more times in the coming days." Heinald wanted more observations.

"Well, don't you think these Ainsars remember what they talked?" Ranton asked.

"I don't think so, they would have been caught already." Heinald shook his head.

"He couldn't have used that pill in our drinks, right?" Ranton had a distorted expression.

"Let's hope not so, my friend..." Heinald smiled slightly.

"Hey! Don't scare me..." Ranton made a moody expression.

"He's probably giving this medicine only to the people he gets in his eyes. It would be nonsense to give it to everyone." Heinald scratched his chin.

After the two said goodbye to each other, they returned home.

Heinald visited the Oakdeep Tavern several times over the next month and made continuous observations unnoticed.Unfortunately,he was unable to obtain any other useful information during his visits.Interestingly, they weren't interested in who he was either, or they were, but he didn't realize it. Perhaps someone was stalking him every time and he didn't notice it.

Even if they targeted Heinald, they wouldn't have learned anything about him. He did not have any membership anywhere.He had been part of the Rinemoth Family for a while, but was no longer considered an official member. He made an agreement of interest with Marcus Rinemoth shor time ago. So his head was at ease. In fact, if they made a move against him, he would probably be pleased with it because he could get a direct lead.

Apart from that, he made potions and studied Magic Formations.

Over time, he had a full grasp of Spirit Imprisonment Formation. However, this formation required much more energy than other formations. So, he spent half of the Arkana Stones he obtained from the potions he sold to buy just one Uthus Core. An Uthus Core was hundreds of times more effective than Compressed Energy.

Heinald's next plan was to follow the innkeeper outside neutralize and seize. Although this innkeeper seems to be messing something hidden,it might not have anything to do with Bloody Teeth. After all, there was not a single criminal organization.There were many criminal organizations lurking behind the shadows.

He would question him at first, if he wasn't a member of Bloody Teeth, he would leave him.