The Tales of Draconic Warlock

Chapter 161: Completing my first mission (1)

It didn't take long for the city guards to procure the data that they had collected on the burglaries, which was not a lot.

It seemed that they were truly busy with other affairs. The only details provided were the statements from the victims and what the guards observed on the premises of the victim's residencies. They didn't follow much after that.

They had other priorities rather than thinking about some low-class thieves.

The district where these happened is a neighbourhood of the middle class. It means that the items stolen were not costly and moreover, the victims don't have that much influence to make the city guards turn their eyes to these crimes.

If the thefts had happened in the houses of someone influential, then the city guard would move their asses to find the culprits.

Everyone thinks that this is unfair. I would say to them that life by itself is unfair and nothing could be done about that.

The rich and influential are the highest taxpayers in any kingdom or empire. They pay a lot of money to the kingdom as taxes. The economy of a nation would depend on these rich and influential people. So, the hurdles to them are the nation's hurdles.

No nation would like something to hinder the person who can stimulate their economy and bring wealth to their nation. All their problems would be solved as quickly as possible.

If such a person was not satisfied with the kingdom, they could leave and settle down in various kingdoms that would welcome them with open hands. Of course, the greeting would purely depend on the benefits that the person can bring to their kingdom.

This is why it is not easy for commoners to move to other kingdoms easily. Sure they can bring huge labour but they are not what a kingdom or empire lacks. What they lack are the awakeners.

There are other reasons why no nation would allow commoners to enter their nations easily, at a large scale.

Too much influx of population means there would more chances for the spies to slip in through security and enter their nation. Sure there are no border walls but cities and towns would have walls. Even the villages would be surrounded by wooden walls, though they won't do shit if some awakener or a monster attacks the village it can stop normal animals from attacking the village people.

It was not easy to break through into cities and towns as there would be sentries and walls keeping the spies away. Of course, it's not foolproof and a few would enter the habitats. They would cultivate some spies from the locals promising them various benefits.

This was the normal procedure.

Entering the village would be much more difficult. I am not saying that their security would be high but villages commonly have a few hundred to thousand people. Everyone would know everyone there. So if an outsider appears, then it would be easily registered in their minds.

Moreover, infiltrating villages is not of much use. They are not much of a target, as there would be nothing of importance in a village.

The only thing the enemy nations could do was plant a spy in a village and have a child with the locals. They can turn the child that they bear into a spy but the chances of them happening are 50-50. Moreover, there is a chance that they will be caught, the longer they stay.

Now, let's go see our first victim and see what he has to tell me about the theft.

As I said, the guards are not diligent about these little crimes that happen in the not-so-important district of the capital.

I should just assume that everything that was recorded in the file is false and have to do my own research and see what happened and what to do after that.

There are ten thefts, one happened just two days ago. I should record the statements from the victims as soon as possible and solve this or else there might be an eleventh theft and if that happens while I was here, that might not look good and the city guards may even pressure me to close the case as soon as possible.

I should be on my way to the victim's house instead of thinking useless things.

---

I approached the first victim's house and knocked on the door. There was no doorbell, so knocking on the door was the only way.

"Hello, Mr. Shawn?" I asked the young man who opened the door.

The young man nodded, "Yes, who are you?"

"I am Magnus, as student from the Royal Academy. I took on the mission that city guard posted about the burglaries", I told him.

I skipped my family name, as it is not good to announce your family name everywhere you go, especially when one is on an investigation. If the thieves learned that some nobles were involved, they might hide in their burrows and would never come out.

It would be problematic if that happens. I would defiantely fail to catch them if they disappeared from the capital or moved to another district. The districts in the capital occupy large areas, especially the rich areas. I can't track them easily if the area of their movement increases.

I need to keep it to a minimal size.

"Of course they did", Shawn blew up a little, "Sorry, I should be happy that they at least appointed someone to deal with these burglaries and it is not your fault", he apologized for the outburst.

"It's okay", I said.

I understand their frustration. The city guards were supposed to protect them but there is not much protection and now the issue of catching a thief was given to someone who has yet to graduate from the academy.

"What do you want to know?" he asked.

"I want to know..."