Cipher had a dream.
She dreamed of her grandmother.
She dreamed of the vicious nobles of Dolos.
She dreamed of her eight-year-old self, when she suffered for years as everyone shouted at and struck her.
In the dream, there was also a strange man who had influenced her entire life.
===
Lucian's vision contracted as the scenery gradually came into focus through the blur.
In the next moment, what appeared before him was a street bathed in somewhat glaring afternoon sunlight that spilled across the weathered stone buildings on either side, while the air hung heavy with dust, cheap spices, and the faint stench of decay drifting from somewhere nearby.
He glanced around and saw that there were very few people on the street, making the entire place feel somewhat empty and desolate.
Leaning casually against a mottled stone wall, he swept his gaze across the surroundings, taking in the worn storefronts and cracked stone pavement before it eventually settled on a brand-new wanted poster that had been nailed up with rough iron nails.
On it, crooked large letters read:
[At the end of the Month of Weaving, bread, a bag of dried fruit, and numerous candles were stolen from the temple.
Though the value of the items may be trivial, sacrilege and disorder both merit severe punishment.
The suspect is gray-haired, cat-eared, and of a slight build. Considered agile and cunning. Exercise caution.
A bounty is set: 5,000 for leads. 10,000 if captured alive. Light Calendar Year 3950.]
Below it was a crudely drawn portrait of a small cat-eared figure with distinctly recognizable features. Even though the artwork was rough and lacking in detail, it was still enough for anyone familiar with the target to identify them at a glance.
Lucian's gaze paused briefly on the portrait before the corner of his lips curved into a faint, amused smile.
Needless to say, he was currently in the city of thieves, Dolos, and the cat-eared figure on the wanted poster was none other than the protagonist of the current script, Cipher.
As his eyes remained fixed on the poster, a burst of noise suddenly rose from a nearby square, accompanied by fervent shouting and waves of excited cheers.
He followed the sound to observe the commotion and soon discovered that a large crowd had gathered in the square, which explained why the street he was standing on was nearly empty.
Lifting his gaze, he saw that at the center of the square, atop a raised stone platform, stood a pot-bellied priest dressed in a luxurious white robe trimmed with gold.
At this moment, his fleshy face was flushed with excitement as he waved his short, fat arms while delivering a speech to the believers below, spittle flying from his mouth with nearly every word.
Seemingly amplified by some kind of device, his voice had been increased severalfold, echoing throughout the square and carrying a sense of exaggerated fervor that sounded more theatrical than sincere.
"By Kephale's grace, let us praise and give thanks for this beautiful world!"
"Integrity, honesty, mercy..."
"Let us water our souls with virtue, and use love to temper tragedy!"
He spread his arms wide, as though embracing the heavens themselves.
"Wealth and possessions are worthless to the Titans! Yet they can serve as proof of your devotion!"
Before his words had even fully fallen, the crowd erupted into even more frenzied cheers.
Silks and fine garments, freshly prepared delicacies, shimmering jewels, and all manner of valuables were hurled toward the platform as though they were worthless trash. One offering after another piled up beneath the stage, quickly forming a small hill.
Seeing the scene, a deeply satisfied smile spread across the priest's chubby face.
"Shun the Chrysos Heirs' raving lies. Have faith in Kephale. So long as we pray earnestly, the god shall deliver salvation!"
Ironically, throughout the square filled with prisons, flowing filth, and haggard figures, the sounds of whipping and wailing never ceased. Especially the sharp cracks of lashes and the cries of suffering intertwined with the priest's passionate sermon, forming a stark and almost absurd contrast.
Lucian watched the ironic spectacle before him and listened to those hypocritical words with a calm, unmoving expression. Only a faint trace of mockery lingered in his eyes, as though he were merely watching a poorly written comedy unfold on a stage.
As expected of Dolos, the city of thieves that had long since been ruined by its corrupt nobles, the scene before him was truly unsettling.
Just as the priest's voice grew increasingly impassioned and the crowd sank deeper into religious frenzy, a sudden disturbance erupted at the edge of the square.
"Catch her!"
"Catch that thief!"
"Dammit! Don't let her get away!"
Sharp curses and furious roars tore through the false hymn, shattering the solemn atmosphere that had filled the square.
Lucian looked toward the source of the commotion and saw a small gray figure desperately weaving through the shifting crowd.
It was a little girl with messy gray hair stained with dirt. A pair of cat ears atop her head was pressed tightly against her scalp from tension, while a similarly gray tail stretched stiffly behind her, betraying the anxiety and urgency she could no longer conceal.
He naturally recognized her instantly—Cipher, who was still only called Cifera.
Cifera ran extremely fast, her movements exceptionally agile as she darted left and right through the dense crowd like a streak of gray lightning. Despite her fragile-looking frame, she slipped through narrow gaps with remarkable precision, constantly changing direction to avoid being caught.
Behind her, a large number of people were chasing her.
More than a dozen missionaries and guards, armed with clubs, spears, and ropes, pursued her relentlessly through the crowd, their faces twisted with ferocity as furious curses continuously poured from their mouths while they shoved people aside in their determination to catch her.
From the way they moved, they were clearly familiar with the terrain, constantly attempting to cut off her escape routes and surround her from multiple directions.
Needless to say, Cifera's current situation was perilous, as evidenced by the fresh wounds scattered across her face and arms. Golden drops of blood occasionally fell from those wounds amid the chaos, their unusual color particularly striking against the dusty ground beneath her feet.
Cifera squeezed through the crowd, but because the bread in her hand had been lost somewhere along the way, she suddenly stopped and looked around frantically for it. Her anxious gaze swept across the ground again and again, desperately searching for the piece of bread she had risked so much to obtain.
Yet what greeted her was not the bread she sought, but a surging tide of condescending faces.
Countless eyes looked down on her from above.
Some carried ridicule, some carried disgust, and others watched with detached amusement, as though observing a struggling animal rather than a frightened little girl.
In an instant, her legs gradually weakened as the mocking gazes and threatening smiles blurred before her eyes.
For a brief moment, Cifera seemed frozen in place.
However, with the sounds of pursuit already ringing in her ears and growing closer with every passing second, she quickly bit her lip, turned around, and continued running in panic, fleeing toward the direction of the city wall.
Lucian silently watched as that disheveled girl rushed past him at a distance of less than a step, a gust of wind brushing against his clothes as she passed.
In that fleeting moment, he caught a glimpse of the mixture of fear, stubbornness, and a trace of resolve within her blue pupils.
Even cornered to such an extent, she still had not given up.
Seeing her retreating figure disappear deeper into the crowd, Lucian calmly stepped forward and followed after her.
===
A while later, on the city wall that towered hundreds of meters into the air, Cifera was ultimately driven to the very edge. Watching her pursuers close in with vicious smiles on their faces, she glanced downward and saw only the swift, icy waters of the moat far below.
Clearly, there was nowhere left for her to retreat.
"Run! You little wretch! Run some more!"
"Break her legs! Let's see if she still dares to steal again!"
"I remember her—the last old cat got thrown off here too. Didn't even leave any bones behind."
Hearing those words, Cifera pressed her back tightly against the cold stone wall and gasped for breath. Her small face had turned pale from exhaustion, yet her blue eyes remained firmly fixed on the approaching pursuers, burning with defiance and untamed wildness.
In the end, after realizing that there truly was no way out, she gritted her teeth as a flash of determination crossed her eyes, then suddenly turned around, grabbed the edge of the wall, and closed her eyes, clearly intending to throw herself over.
Standing calmly atop a nearby watchtower, Lucian raised an eyebrow slightly as he watched what Cifera was about to do, and the instant her body leaned past the wall and her center of gravity tipped completely outward, he finally moved.
With a ghostlike step, Lucian crossed dozens of meters in a single instant without any earth-shaking display or dramatic burst of power. Just as Cifera's feet left the ground entirely, he appeared behind her, his slender yet powerful hand firmly grasping the back of her collar.
As effortlessly as lifting a cat, Lucian pulled her suspended body back from the brink and set her down on the inner side of the wall—his movements were so fast that not only did the nearby pursuers fail to react, but even Cifera herself remained completely unaware, her eyes still shut as she believed she was continuing to fall.
He knew that even if this little cat had jumped, she would not have died so easily.
Still, this was the perfect opportunity for a dramatic entrance, so there was no way he was going to let it pass by.
"Oh, not bad, kiddo. You did pretty well!"
"Yeah, we're not gonna let this thief die that easily."
"Now hand her over. We'll take her back and give her a nice little interrogation."
"Let's clean her up. Her body's still usable, after all. Might as well have some fun with her first."
As soon as they saw Lucian catch Cifera, the missionaries and guards immediately surrounded the pair, their clubs and spears raised without the slightest restraint.
Lucian, however, did not even spare them a glance and merely waved his free hand casually as an invisible force suddenly surged upward from the ground.
*Whoosh!*
In an instant, more than a dozen burly missionaries and guards were struck as though by a massive tidal wave.
"UGH!"
"ARGH!"
"AHHH—!!!"
Crying out in agony, they were sent flying through the air before crashing violently into the city wall, where they remained embedded, their bodies going limp and lifeless.
Originally, they could have lived, considering that Cifera had been the one in the wrong for stealing in the first place.
However, the moment the words, 'Her body's still usable, after all. Might as well have some fun with her first,' reached Lucian's ears, he immediately decided that every last one of them deserved to die.
It wasn't difficult to imagine that these noble lackeys had committed similar atrocities countless times before and had never once shown the common people even the slightest mercy.
"Seventeen... Tch, still killed too few..."
Lucian remarked coldly as he gazed at the corpses of the missionaries and guards embedded in the wall.
As the surroundings abruptly fell silent, Cifera, whose heart was still pounding wildly from shock, finally opened her eyes and discovered that she was somehow still standing atop the city wall. Only then did she realize that someone seemed to be holding her by the collar at the back of her neck.
In the next second, she immediately turned around and found herself face-to-face with an incomparably handsome stranger.
"L-Let me go!"
Cifera instantly struggled in panic, thrashing frantically and hissing at Lucian, truly resembling a frightened stray cat cornered by danger.
Somewhat helpless, Lucian ultimately released her, and the moment he did, Cifera hurriedly retreated several steps, putting at least ten meters between them.
With a tense expression, she glanced at the lifeless missionaries and guards embedded in the wall before looking back at him.
Without saying a single word, Cifera immediately turned around and ran.
Golden blood dripped continuously onto the ground behind her, making it obvious that her condition was far from good, yet she paid it no attention and continued fleeing desperately.
Clearly, even after being rescued by Lucian, she did not feel the slightest sense of safety.
Lucian made no attempt to chase after her, simply standing where he was and watching as the little cat slipped into the crowd before gradually disappearing from sight.
"What a troublesome kitten. Couldn't even say thanks..."
Lucian understood very well that, compared to domestic cats, stray cats were far more wary of people, and for one that had been mistreated for so long, earning its trust was naturally not something that could be accomplished overnight.
"Well, no worries. We've still got plenty of time ahead of us..."
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