Aria of the Arcane ①

CHAPTER 16: Moment of Clarity | Lucius

"I'm cleaning your mess!" Isabelle yelled from the lounge. Lucius could not see what she was doing. But the rattling of the plates and cups on the table gave him the hint that she was putting them away into the sink. He had not washed any of his tableware. "My goodness! How can you concentrate in this type of environment? So disgusting!"

"I'm flexible." Lucius began to undress himself and turned on the shower. "I can work anywhere. My training as an arcane tracker gave me that advantage. I can work on the streets, in the garbage dumps or under a tree. Having an office makes me seem more legit."

"Your potential clients will surely be turned off once they see this mess. You know what? You should hire a housekeeper if you're too lazy to do any of the chores."

"Once I receive the handsome reward from the newly crowned king—long may he reign, by the way— maybe I will have the mercs to avail the services of a housekeeper. Right now, my budget is tight."

Even if his office turned into a dumpsite, he would not care at all. At the moment, he had the single most important case of his life, the one that could change everything for him. Once he claimed his reward, he would not need to work as an arcane tracker anymore. He could buy an island somewhere off the coast of Polesin and live out the rest of his days there.

"You surely have hit a dead-end," Isabella commented. "Since when did you take interest in map-making?"

Lucius could picture her standing before his magnum opus: the layout of the Palace. He scrubbed off whatever dirt stuck on his body and washed it with flowing water. "I haven't made any breakthrough since that cult leader—sorry, I meant the leader of the Order of Arcana—gave us the registry. None of his members could have been there around the time of the late king's death."

He turned off the shower, grabbed the nearest bathrobe from the rack, and wrapped it around him. He was dripping wet, but he did not mind if droplets of water would scatter on the floor.

"Based on your map, the only ones near the throne room at that time were the two guards standing outside." Isabella glanced at him over her shoulder before snapping her gaze back to the layout. "You're already done taking a shower? And please, put some clothes on!"

"I don't stay any longer than three minutes in the bathroom. Might catch a cold."

"How I wish I could do same."

This was a habit that Lucius had adopted from his training as an arcane tracker. Back then, they did not have the luxury of time to indulge themselves in a relaxing bath or shower. They always had to be ready and on the move in case they got an urgent mission. Just a minute or two, they should have bathed and changed into their uniforms already.

"So, are you saying that the murderer is one of the two?" Lucius grabbed the tunic from the closet on the left of his desk, removed his bath robe, and wore it. He did not care if his partner would take a peek. They were adults already.

"Or maybe both. One of them did it while the other stood guard outside."

"Sorry to burst your theory's bubble. But neither of them were in the registry." He picked up the thick book on his desk. "If the king was stabbed to death, then they'd be automatically suspect number one. But no. The king died because of magic. His stomach exploded. His blood and entrails splattered everywhere. Your magic dust revealed as much."

Isabella crossed her arms, turning her head. "If no arcaster was near the throne room, then who else could have possibly killed the late king? We have no other suspects to choose from. It's either the royal knight or the two palace guardsmen outside. Only the knight has arcane powers, but he isn't a hydrocaster that fit our culprit's profile. Meanwhile, the guardsmen are not gifted so they couldn't have made his guts burst from inside and out."