Adrian, still fast asleep, lay on the sofa, his gentle brows furrowed, adding a touch of gloom to his usually kind face.
A soft tapping sound came from the shadow beneath my feet.
After closing the door to the lounge and looking around, I slipped into a dark corner of the balcony where no one passed by and quietly called the other person out.
The artist who went to investigate the [realistic illusion] did not return any useful information. However, An, who had finally regained consciousness, was sent back to the miniature garden by my orders. She quietly emerged from the shadows hidden by the curtain and brought back Yao's urgent inquiry.
There were actually only two thieves.
Starting with simple words, An began her report: "One clone created multiple copies to distract the attention at the scene, while another infiltrated the inventory to steal the auction items without alerting the guards."
"What method?"
An shook his head.
"Where is the Frost Tower Master? Has there been any unusual activity today?" I asked.
An seemed to be looking through documents, and a soft rustling sound came from the shadows. After a while, he replied: "No. He was invited to the Chamber of Commerce in the afternoon. He originally planned to check if there was anything in the Chamber of Commerce that could temporarily replace [Frostheart]. However, after being introduced by the accompanying mage, he learned that there was an auction tonight, so he made the decision to come and visit."
She turned another page and affirmed, "It seems that there aren't any large merchants or auction houses like this in the city where Frost Tower is located. There are mostly small, scattered auctions organized by individuals. Some people just go there with the mentality of making a quick buck and leaving. Whether they buy counterfeit goods or are sold overpriced items with exaggerated uses depends entirely on the mood of the auctioneer. There are also many unexpected situations."
“There have even been cases where, halfway through an auction, a fight broke out between two equally noble individuals fighting over a rare and valuable item, which then escalated into violence, resulting in the auctioneer being murdered and robbed.”
"That sounds really confusing."
I commented, "Did he meet with Adrian tonight?"
There was another rustling sound, and An seemed to yawn, his voice sounding particularly soft as if he had drunk his fill of air: "Let me see... Ha—um, yes, but we only chatted for a couple of minutes. It seems Adrian had something to ask him, something about purchasing frost crystals."
"However, the Frost Tower Master did not give a direct reply. Instead, he said that he would consider it after he finished what he was doing and told him to come back to him in six months."
Although it's unclear what the Frost Tower Master is planning, it seems he has indeed met with Adrian.
That means something unexpected happened in one of the later stages.
I nodded, signaling An to continue.
"So, regarding Professor Adrian..."
For the first time, there was a clear hesitation in An's voice.
She flipped through several pages, looked up at me with a questioning gaze, then looked back at the documents in her hand. Finally, she closed her eyes, steeled herself, and read aloud the words on the page: "He did not engage in any activities today."
The sudden statement took me by surprise.
Even when I asked to confirm again, An's expression remained serious, showing no sign of joking: "It means exactly: he did not do anything today."
I:"???"
That's outrageous.
"Wait a minute!"
I covered my head, which was suddenly burning up, and took a while to process what I was saying. I took a deep breath and carefully considered my words: "If what you're saying is true... then Professor Adrian was actually tied up in that lounge the whole time, and no one found out?"
An nodded.
"How did you do that...? What about the one who met up with us before and communicated with the Frost Tower Master?"
An looked at him like he was an idiot: "It was him too."
"Not a clone?" I was taken aback.
“It’s not a clone,” An said with certainty.
How can a person be both bound by someone and still be active outside?
This is equivalent to two identical people appearing in the same place at the same time!
On the contrary, Miss [Aisha] seemed to react before I did, confirming, "Was the person who met with the Frost Tower Master earlier also Adrian himself?"
An nodded and then yawned.
"In other words, we cannot accurately identify who the [realistic illusion] is from the library," Miss Aisha said confidently. "I need to go back and check on the person in the lounge to see if he is the one using illusion magic."
Before I could ask her how to confirm, [Aisha] vanished from my sight in a flash, drifting towards her destination along the shadow corridor constructed of dim, broken lamplight.
A short while later, just as I was about to return to the door of the lounge, she walked through the door with a dazed look on her face and looked at me with a complicated expression.
"I cannot judge."
She murmured, her eyes vacant as she turned to look at the lounge behind her: "I was convinced he might also be an illusion, so I tried using the method Alice taught me to break illusions, but it had no effect on him. Come to think of it, the healing spells I cast on him worked perfectly, so how could the one lying there be a fake?"
"But just as I had come to this conclusion and was about to leave, I watched helplessly as his body, lying on the sofa, gradually became transparent and eventually disappeared completely into the air, leaving nothing behind as evidence. Even the cane that was lying to the side vanished, as if it had never existed at all."
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