Chapter 29: Investigating, Stealing
Isaiah walked the streets of Second Emperor District. It was calmer than usual since the sun was still bright. His gaze wandered around, despite that no one could see where his eyes were focusing, leaving onlookers with the impression of a man simply minding his own business.
Bars, brothels, and shady shops lined the streets; the air thick with the stench of cheap alcohol. Many establishments were being cleaned in preparation for nightfall. The beautiful women who usually walked the streets were nowhere to be seen, only a few restaurants showed signs of life.
He toured the entire district in about two hours; it was quite massive. The sun had yet to go down, and the streets were devoid of life, which was the perfect time for Isaiah to act.
He got into a dark alleyway. If an outsider saw him, it would seem like the shadows had swallowed him up. He went invisible. With his illusion abilities, he didn't need to hire someone to steal information for him. There were few who could do a better job than him.
This was what light mages were notorious for – their ability to bypass any detection to steal information. There were many light thieves who were famous in history, and the governments' responses were obviously heavy. Theft via light magic was sentenced to heavier punishments than conventional theft.
However, Isaiah wasn't too worried. One, it was hard for the government to catch the suspect even if there were strict laws against it. But second and most importantly, the laws were primarily there to protect the nobles' interests and not the citizens, and certainly not the underground criminals who were Isaiah's primary target today.
He arrived in front of an unassuming building. A door stood in its basement layer, which could be accessed via stairs right outside. Isaiah slowly descended the stairs and listened inside before entering. After two minutes of listening, all he could hear was silence.
He entered the door. Inside was dim and dirty. The furniture was old and dusty. The tables were covered in blue dust, which immediately attracted his gaze, causing a smile to appear on his face. "Seems like this is the place, the home of Blue Dust," he murmured as he walked slowly, his breathing also calmed. No sound could be heard from him.
As he progressed deeper through the hallway, he could see plenty of gang members. Some were standing guard while others patrolled the area. It took him nearly an hour to navigate the relatively small area due to the sheer intensity of guards.
He finally saw a door at the end of the corridor. It was pretty obvious his target was behind it. One could simply tell by how heavily it was guarded. There were four gang members who stood guard right in front. "Hmm, guess I will have to wait a while longer," he thought to himself.
He carefully tried to spread his mana, sensing the mana flows in the environment, and quickly noticed a formation was present right in front of the door. "Well, I can kill time with this," he mused. To him, hijacking such a simple detection formation was a piece of cake.
Thirty minutes later, the guards were changing. Isaiah took this opportunity and rushed. However, he still had to open the door and get inside without getting caught.
He spread his mana to cover both sides of the door. Nothing changed in the view of the guards, nor the person who stood inside, but Isaiah had already opened the door and gotten inside. He had used illusion magic and recreated the door as if it was still closed on both sides, to open it without catching any attention.
His gaze fell upon a messy table where a man sat, his body covered in tattoos and his hair disheveled. The room was a mess, with tools laid everywhere. Blue Dust was all over the place.
This man was one of the best Blue Dust manufacturers, Blue Lazy. His real name wasn't known.
Isaiah didn't act immediately. Instead, he casually leaned on a wall, watching the man work his craft intently.
...
Lazy was having a rough day, even though he was the main manufacturer of Blue Dust. He wasn't the one behind the curtains due to his lacking Rank 0 strength.
He had orders from higher-ups to increase production due to a wealthy individual named Isaiah Dominus attempting to establish himself in the district. His guess was that the higher-ups either needed money or were going to leverage the drugs in deals with other gangs. "It's not like it's my business," he thought to himself.
The reason for him being the main manufacturer was his special mana talent. While his mana control and capacity were awful, his mana sense was exceptional, making his products one of the best in the market.
He took a mana gem, covered it with his mana, felt the internal flow of it, and cracked it using his mana, following the ever-changing mana patterns inside. It was a delicate process that required a lot of focus. Blue Dust was simply mana gem dust, but the real trick was to ensure the mana gem dust still retained the mana, not letting it dissipate.
SLOOCK! A knife plunged straight through his neck before he could even register what was happening. He turned around to see the face of Isaiah looking at him. There was a simple smile on his face, that faint smile sending chills down Lazy's spine. He felt death spread through his body. "HEL-Grulk-P!" he shouted for help to no avail, blood spurting out of his mouth, causing his bleeding to intensify. His final moments were wasted pleading for help that would never arrive.
...
Isaiah looked at the lifeless body in front of him. A small smile was plastered on his face, not because he was a psychopath. The death of Lazy neither gave him satisfaction nor remorse; it wouldn't weigh on his mind. He was smiling due to how well his plan had gone. He had half-expected having to bomb the entire place down. "Oh well, next time," he mused.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Eternal_Federation
Eternal_Federation How did you guys like the chapter? I think its one of the better ones I have written.
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