Episode 27: Autumn Festival (3)
“Luke, that was the man from earlier, about this tall,” Alexia said, gesturing with her hand to indicate a rough height. Luke pointed to a tree branch growing nearby in the alley.
“Yes. When he was slightly hunched over, he was about the same height as this branch. So if he stood up straight, I’m sure he’d be around this tall.”
“I see,” Alexia replied, impressed by his precise and useful answer. She couldn’t help but admire how keenly he observed everything in that brief moment.
“Also, when he passed by the victim, he bumped into her with his left side. Since he cut the rope at that time, I think it’s possible he may be left-handed.”
Nodding, Alexia pointed her toes in the direction the man had disappeared. “Let’s go.”
“Yes!” Luke replied eagerly.
*
“Hehe,” the man chuckled as he tossed a pouch high into the air, only to hear the clatter of coins inside as it fell. He caught it with both hands, grinning widely.
The pouch was surprisingly heavy. It was unexpected for a country girl to have amassed so much, but maybe she had been saving for today’s festival.
Throwing the pouch again, just as he was about to catch it, he was suddenly whacked on the head from the side.
“Idiot! Don’t get so cocky!”
“S-Sorry…” he stuttered, rubbing his sore head. The man he looked up to as a brother, with a grimace formed by a facial bruise, shouted louder.
“If you hold on to that for too long, you’ll get caught! Toss it already!”
In a panic, the man quickly untied the pouch and fished out the money.
He tossed the empty pouch somewhere out of sight and dashed back to the street.
“What if I just got my goal in sight, and then I get caught over something so trivial?!”
Scanning the surroundings nervously, they slipped into a hut on the outskirts of town.
*
After searching around half the town, Alexia and the others finally spotted the men they’d been trailing.
“There they are!”
Luke pointed, and indeed it was the same man from earlier. He cautiously opened the wooden door to peek outside, confirming there was no one around before hastily leaving.
“What building is that?”
The place where the men emerged didn’t resemble any typical home.
With plastered wooden walls and a thatched roof, it seemed more like a storage facility or barn.
Suddenly, Alexia’s face turned pale.
“…Fireworks.”
“What?!”
“At the end of the festival, fireworks are launched to express gratitude for the harvest and prayers for the ancestors. This is where they’re stored.”
“Fireworks…”
Fireworks, which are ignited and sent soaring, creating large, beautiful bursts in the sky.
Their mesmerizing beauty had won over the crowds and, in recent years, had even become a staple of festival celebrations.
Luke had seen majestic fireworks lighting up the finale of official royal events as well.
Quietly, Alexia explained, “While the royal capital might boast every cutting-edge innovation, it seems that when it comes to fireworks culture and manufacturing techniques, the border regions are surprisingly more advanced.”
Fireworks originated as a means of communication during warfare, utilizing fire and smoke, known as signal fires.
To convey more complex messages, various colors of fireworks were developed, along with techniques to launch flares high enough to be visible across distant plains.
“Of course, the fireworks stored in this village aren’t for military use. As I mentioned earlier, they are decorative fireworks used to cap off festivities. But they still contain gunpowder, and handling them is inherently dangerous.”
“No way…”
The lock on the storage had been broken.
Apparently, they had assumed that no one aside from the involved parties would ever go inside, leading them to not secure it very tightly.
Inside, special shelves were set up, lined neatly with spherical and cylindrical fireworks.
There were no clear signs of a ransack, yet it didn’t seem likely that the men just left without doing anything.
Carefully surveying the area, Alexia knelt in front of the innermost shelf, peering at the bottom, and gasped in horror.
“…Some have been taken!”
At the back of the shelf was an unnatural gap, indicating that some fireworks had been improperly removed.
“Alexia-sama, you said the fireworks here aren’t for military purposes.”
“That’s right. They’re made using methods that seek beauty for display, resulting in lower lethality. They don’t have enough power to be used as bombs in combat, but they are certainly pyrotechnics filled with gunpowder. An explosion in this town or a crowd could result in injuries or worse.”
Sensing her underlying urgency beneath her calm voice, Luke managed to keep his cool.
He mentally replayed the scene of the men leaving the storage.
“…The ones who left earlier seemed so lightly dressed that they looked nearly empty-handed at first glance. Even if they hid fireworks or tubes in their clothes, it would likely only be a small amount.”
“Exactly. Judging by the gaps, it looks like they’d only have taken one or two at most.”
At a glance, nothing seemed amiss in the warehouse.
Although Alexia and her group had seen the men leave earlier, if they hadn’t, they probably wouldn’t have noticed the intruders at all.
“If it’s just one or two, it seems unlikely they intend to engage in a major crime. They’re more like petty crooks snipping the clothes of passing girls to steal their belongings. I bet breaking into the warehouse and stealing fireworks meant they were simply after money and valuables.”
“That does seem reasonable.”
Bombs designed for combat aren’t exactly easy to come by.
Given that powerful gunpowder is not widely available, it’s likely they sought out fireworks as a cheap alternative.
On the flip side, this indicates the culprit isn’t in a position to acquire real explosives, meaning they’re probably just a small-time criminal, sticking to civilian antics.
Even considering the minimal amount they took, they probably weren’t planning anything massive.
“If they’re using the stolen fireworks to steal valuables during this festival, how could they do it effectively?”
When asked, Alexia took a moment to reflect on the village scenery.
The festival-decorated streets were bustling with lively stalls and shops.
The vendors mostly sold food and drink, alongside various goods, crafts, handmade accessories, dyed fabrics, and knitted items.
However, all the items were reasonably priced, and there didn’t appear to be any stalls with high-end items.
Even if they targeted a particular stall and snatched away cash, it wouldn’t amount to a significant profit.
Moreover, there were crowds everywhere. The festival continued to grow in popularity each year, and this year was no different, attracting a large crowd.
In such a thick of spectators, the likelihood of someone witnessing a random theft from a stall was pretty high.
“Unless they’re targeting a specific store…”
Her sapphire eyes shifted toward the gently rolling hills.
“…It could be the church.”
“The church?”
“This village has a historic church. The building is ancient and apparently quite dilapidated, but when my father was honored, it was newly renovated.”
Having invested the royal endowment gifts, the deteriorated church was transformed back into a magnificent structure.
For example, even stealing a single silver candlestick or a gold bell, or an antique lamp could yield quite a handsome profit when sold.
It would certainly be a better payoff than messing around at a street stall.
“Let’s go!”
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