The Devil’s Cage

”What did you find?”

Teresa stared at Kieran and asked.

While Hoskin was checking the house, Teresa didn’t stand idly either. She also searched the whole house, outside and inside, including the underground storeroom, all was searched carefully, yet she found nothing.

Though she wasn’t surprised that Kieran found something instead of her.

She even had a thought in her heart that it was reasonable for Kieran to find something, however, the thought was uncomfortable to Teresa as she hated losing.

She thought that she should present herself to be stronger in front of Kieran. It wasn’t because of Kieran but towards all men, similar to how men would slightly hold prejudice against women of the same ranking and position. When a woman acquired a certain level achievement later, they would tend to look down on men as well.

It wasn’t any despicable attitude by any means, it was just an instinctive reaction as a result of the fight between men and women.

Kieran, however, didn’t know what Teresa had on her mind or even if he knew, he wouldn’t care.

In Kieran’s point of view, his main priority was to finish his main mission.

As for the others, if the natives weren’t the ones who stood in his path to his main mission, he wouldn’t care as much or even lend a hand.

He didn’t further pay attention to Teresa’s gaze and activated [Tracking] before going into a bedroom on the first floor. He went inside, lifted the slightly old looking mattress up and revealed a wooden flooring underneath.

Dong, Dong Dong!

After a few slight knocks, Kieran noticed one of the wooden planks. He used [Interrogator Knife]’s jagged teeth side and pried up the nails, followed by the whole wooden plank together.

The wooden plank instantly revealed the tip of a backpack before Teresa and Hoskin’s eyes.

Since Kieran located the exact target, he acted quicker.

Gak!

He didn’t follow up with the [Interrogator Knife] anymore, he used his bare hands to pull the other nailed wooden planks away. Even if the wooden planks got stuck together with rusted nails, Kieran punched it directly and broke it.

The rough and direct movements left Hoskin speechless.

Rumors would only stay as rumors. When the young officer saw Kieran’s movements, he understood what Kieran relied on to defeat Zaigen.

Hoskin could only grasp as much since he would never understand what Zaigen meant in Macken state.

”Let’s see what we have here.”

Kieran dragged out the backpack and opened up its zipper.

Suddenly, Hoskin gasped hard. It wasn’t because Hoskin had a narrow vision but the things inside the backpack were too overwhelming for him, even for Teresa beside him.

Gold bars and jewelry!

The gold bars and jewelry were dazzling brightly under the sunlight which shone through the window diagonally.

When Kieran poured all the gold bars and jewelry out of the backpack, the whole floor was instantly covered in a dazzling shine, taking one’s breath away instantly.

”This...This…”

Hoskin was out of words, even Teresa’s eyes were a bit baffled.

A woman’s obsession with shiny things was similar to a dragon’s. Both of them were so overwhelmed that they didn’t notice the little actions from Kieran.

Kieran slipped two seemingly common but actually special rubies into his pocket without being noticed.

Cracked rank [Ruby], it was fuel delivered in the snow for Kieran at the moment.

All Kieran needed was a little more volcanic ash and he could use [Burning Hand] once again, despite its level being decreased to Entry level, it was still effective against evil spirits and other sorts.

When all the gold bars and jewelry were poured out, a box was found at the bottom of the backpack.

The box was made out of wood and there was a layer of luster that was similar to a thick resin, as though it was describing its age through time.

It wasn’t locked, so Kieran opened it easily. Inside was a gray stone without a bit of luster in the size of a palm.

[Name: Unknown Mystery Object]

[Type: ETC]

[Rarity: ???]

[Attribute: ???]

[Effect: ???]

[Prerequisite: ???]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark: You will need a professional appraisal master to appraise it.]

...

”What is this?”

The look and size of the stone reminded Kieran of that half a brick that he simply pulled out from Winchester House’s ruins.

Right off the bat, another guess bloomed in Kieran’s mind and when he activated [Tracking] once more and saw the traces before his eyes, his guess became solid.

”The whole house only has a set of footprints and the floor has multiple traces of an object being dragged! This person should be Rudal and judging from the dragging traces, the objects vary in sizes and seem complicated… Edland Museum’s treasures!”

”So where did Rudal take all of the treasures to?”

The answer was self-explanatory.

As the picture was getting clearer, Kieran couldn’t help but take in a deep breath.

Teresa recollected her thoughts a while ago, she seemed to think of something as well as her face was looking odd.

When Kieran and Teresa exchanged gazes, both of them said almost in unison, ”Winchester House!” A tacit reply and similar answer.

Hoskin beside looked at both of them in astonishment when they spoke in a continuous manner.

”Two months ago, Brigal stole all the treasures in Edland Museum and used Barney the ”Jackal”’s channel to dispose of the stolen goods. Rudal was one of the people in charge and their location of selling should be the Winchester House which was recently bought by them!”

”But, an accident happened.”

As Kieran paused, Teresa followed up.

”Probably one of them decided to double cross the other or maybe the value of the treasures were much higher than expected but a high chance was Barney wanted to raise the price all of a sudden which resulted in a delay from the buyer’s representative, forcing the mastermind behind to act himself. Then, that mastermind who had noticed this was a great chance to eliminate his rival competition without paying any effort and much more coincidentally, there was a perfect candidate for a scapegoat in front of that mastermind.”

Kieran nodded and continued.

”When this scapegoat reported in that he had gotten the tail of the lead, the mastermind sent out his hounds but was killed by the scapegoat. The mastermind was infuriated because of the embarrassment and directly revealed his identity, thus driving the lost scapegoat to his end without intentions of sparing him.”

”However, the mastermind didn’t expect that, although Barney sent his men to keep a watch on Winchester House after the explosion, Barney didn’t keep the thing he wanted most and the stolen goods in his nightclub. Even when the mastermind who realized the surveillant was one of Barney’s men, he only realized the trader that dealt with his rival was Rudal, who had been hiding his real identity. Though, never did he think Barney would trust Rudal so much and place everything and the precious thing in his place.”

”So this is our chance!”

Kieran looked at Teresa with a smile, Teresa’s eyes too shone brightly.

She suddenly got the idea behind Kieran’s words.

Although risky, it was worth a try!