Casey’s eyes widened as she stared at the bullet embedded in the carpet.
Only then did she notice the hole in the glass window, with cracks spreading out like a spiderweb.
“Sniping? Assassination?”
The assassination attempt itself wasn’t all that surprising.
In detective work, getting tangled up with criminal organizations was a natural consequence.
That meant she had inevitably faced death threats, and there had even been real assassination attempts before.
What shocked Casey the most was that this was happening here, inside the Selmore family estate.
Would anyone in their right mind attempt an assassination here, of all places?
In a way, perhaps it was even admirable—striking from a direction nobody would ever expect.
Casey shoved Ludger aside, sprang to her feet, and stood by the window.
If the opponent was a sniper, stepping out like this was a dangerous move—but it didn’t apply to Casey.
If she had been attacked without realizing, then maybe. But once she was aware of it, not even a cannon shot could break through her defense.
Of course, the opponent knew that as well.
There was no second shot.
The moment the sniper saw that the first bullet missed, he immediately pulled back.
Ludger stood beside Casey, scanning the scene outside.
Beneath the gloomy sky stretched the estate’s vast garden.
Beyond it lay the densely wooded slopes of the mountains.
The sniper was likely hidden somewhere in that forest.
Chasing right away was impossible—the distance was far too great.
‘At least 1.6 kilometers away. From that distance, they aimed right at Casey’s head. Their skill is far from ordinary.’
Casey knew it too, which was why her face was grim as she gazed out the window.
To lighten the mood, Ludger tried joking.
“To think an assassin came looking for you right as you spoke—it seems you’ve a knack for attracting misfortune.”
“...I wasn’t hoping for misfortune to come directly to me, you know.”
“Do you have any idea who it might be? Looks like you’ve earned quite a few grudges.”
“No idea. I’d have to buy a whole mountain of tickets for it. If you lined up all the criminals who want me dead, our mansion wouldn’t be long enough to hold them.”
“Still, a marksman of this level isn’t common.”
Casey narrowed her eyes.
“That’s what puzzles me. A sniper this skilled would have to be ex-military. At least in my memory, I’ve never crossed paths with such a person. What about you?”
She turned the question back on Ludger.
“Just because they aimed at me doesn’t mean I’m the only target. They could be after you, choosing to hit the people around me instead.”
“I don’t have a waiting line.”
“Why?”
“Because I clean up thoroughly. Nobody survives to queue.”
Casey snorted in disbelief.
“Well aren’t you something.”
“Or maybe it wasn’t aimed at either of us. After all, this is our first day here, isn’t it?”
“...That’s true. Even the best sniper couldn’t aim this precisely without long preparation.”
“If this estate was the target from the beginning and we just happened to be caught up in it, then the true target must be...”
“There’s only one possibility.”
Their gazes shifted toward the door at the same time.
From beyond it, a chilling aura swept in like a blizzard.
The cold was tangible, seeping across their skin.
When they exhaled, white frost hung in the air.
‘What a dreadful chill.’
And this was with distance still between them.
Then suddenly, the biting cold vanished in an instant.
A knock followed.
“May I come in?”
“Enter.”
At Casey’s word, the door opened.
Her sister, Marias Selmore, entered with a smiling gaze narrowed to slits.
“Are you unharmed?”
“As you can see. I’m perfectly fine.”
“Thank goodness.”
As Marias let out a sigh of relief, Casey’s expression twisted.
“Shouldn’t you explain what’s going on first? This is hardly an ordinary matter. An assassination attempt—inside the Selmore estate, no less. Speak. What happened?”
“...I truly am sorry. Plots against me are nothing new, but I didn’t expect they’d go this far on a day like today.”
“A plot, you say? Judging from your tone, things have been especially bad lately.”
“Yes. Recently, black mages have been running rampant across the country. It’s been quite a headache. I thought we’d ended it after crushing one organization, but clearly they took advantage of the opening.”
Though Marias still smiled, a shadow fell over her face.
“To dare, here in the Selmore estate—and at my sister.”
Crackle.
Frost began to form around her.
Ludger felt the cold race across his skin again and tensed.
The once-warm room turned frigid, like the dead of winter.
‘That is the power of a Blue Mage, one who commands frost directly.’
So this was what it meant to bear the Title of Color.
Not merely interfering with nature, but wielding it on a vast scale.
Ludger thought, if Marias willed it—
She could make snow fall in the heart of a burning desert.
Rumble.
The clouds above quaked, and soon they spilled their contents to the earth.
Slowly, on the drifting wind, fell white snowflakes.
The climate here was cool, yes, but by no means snowy.
Yet snow fell—around the Selmore estate alone.
Fwoosh.
At that moment, Ludger felt warmth flare from his chest.
Not metaphorical, but literal.
‘Pascha?’
The spirit stone he carried pulsed with heat.
And from within that heat, he sensed displeasure.
It seemed Pascha was reacting to the hostile, unnatural cold Marias’s emotions had brought forth.
Warmth spread around Ludger, making Casey glance at him in surprise.
‘He’s resisting my sister’s frost?’
Not just resisting—around him, the air stayed warm, untouched by the freezing chill.
Because of that, Casey felt some of the tension ease.
“Sis. Enough. Getting angry won’t change anything. What matters is who the enemy is, and how we’re going to deal with it.”
“...You’re right. Seems I lost my temper a little.”
Marias let out a soft laugh.
‘She loses her temper, yet everything freezes around her. What an ironic person.’
Ludger turned his gaze back to the bullet mark in the floor.
“It went in deep. To pierce that far even from a distance...”
He used telekinesis to extract the bullet from the floor.
It had shattered on impact.
He gathered all the fragments, piecing them together midair like a cube.
Hundreds of shards, no bigger than a fingernail, floated and assembled into shape.
Marias’s eyes narrowed further.
‘Even with simple telekinesis, that level of precision...’
No one was impressed by lifting heavy objects with telekinesis.
That was merely a matter of output and mana.
But to control such tiny fragments so delicately—that required transcendent control.
‘So Seorn Academy only hires exceptional people, do they? More than I imagined.’
She glanced at Casey.
But Casey seemed unbothered by Ludger’s display.
‘So she’s used to this?’
Marias now understood why Casey had brought him.
With skill like that, even her arrogant sister would be satisfied.
‘Still, too many suspicious points remain.’
Marias had investigated Ludger’s history.
On paper, it was spotless.
Too spotless.
Almost unnaturally perfect.
She could not shake the sense of something off.
And then there was the way he resisted her frost.
‘I’ll need to watch him more closely.’
She would thoroughly dissect this man who dared attach himself to her sister.
“This bullet is unusual.”
Casey studied the reconstructed bullet.
It was small, but its spiral tip was shaped to maximize penetration.
“And the tip... faintly coated with something.”
“Likely a substance to disrupt mana concentration.”
“Mhm. I smell it. Sharp, pungent, spicy. The scent of Garland grass, dried and used as alchemical treatment.”
“It could pierce through up to 4th-circle defense spells. And its make... discontinued special-issue rounds. No longer produced by the military, but some stock must have leaked into circulation. Since quantities are limited, tracing them should be easy.”
“Which means the sniper was military. Using discontinued ammo implies deep underworld ties.”
“And the coating suggests ties to black mages.”
“Then we start with the weapons dealers and trace back.”
Both turned to Marias at once.
“In that case, we’ll head out.”
“...Suddenly?”
“The attack was aimed at me—or more likely at you. Sniping isn’t something set up overnight.”
If Marias was right, then their enemies were black mages, some of them ex-military.
Worse, they hadn’t targeted Marias directly, but her guests.
“Their intelligence is impressive. They couldn’t know where we’d be staying, but they knew to strike the day we returned.”
“They must have been watching us since the station. They already knew what your sister looked like.”
“That feels insulting. Am I supposed to be easy prey?”
Casey folded her arms, frowning.
Though annoyed, her eyes showed deep thought.
“Remember? That shabby bar on 31st Street.”
At her words, Marias looked confused.
But Ludger nodded.
“Beard. Sideburns. Scar on his cheek. Whiskey bottle in hand. That one?”
“Yes. He also had a strange scar tattooed on his forearm. A circle with a cross over it. He was watching our car. I remember because his eyes were sharp—too sharp for a drunk.”
“That scar must be a unit mark. Military units often carve permanent marks on recruits at initiation.”
“Then it should be easy to find. Any unit with a similar mark?”
“That’s a question for your sister, not me.”
Their rapid-fire exchange left Marias quietly astonished.
So in sync, without any planning beforehand.
Still, the important thing was elsewhere.
“If it’s that scar, I may have an idea.”
* * *
Ludger and Casey ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) left the suffocating mansion and headed into the city.
“Ahh, finally outside!”
Casey shouted with glee, delighted just to be outdoors.
“We’ll have to return once this is handled.”
“So what. At least we get some fresh air for now.”
“Still, surprising that your sister didn’t come herself.”
“She’s the head of the house. She can’t just act freely. Besides, maybe that’s what the enemy wanted. Better this way. If she got involved, things would turn ugly.”
“Why?”
“The capital would enter an ice age.”
Her voice was deadly serious, without a hint of jest.
Ludger recalled Marias’s ability.
For just a moment, she had made snow fall over the entire estate.
Even the clouds above had frozen.
And that hadn’t even been her full power.
It truly wasn’t impossible for her to freeze an entire city.
“Here?”
Casey looked at a shabby factory.
They had left the mansion in secret, unnoticed.
Once inside the city, Casey bent light with a thin veil of water, rendering them invisible until they reached their destination.
“If my sister’s right, there are remnants here.”
“They’ve gone to some lengths, but traces remain.”
Though inactive, footprints marked the dusty ground.
Some were fresh, still damp with mud.
“What now?”
Her question meant: what’s the plan for storming in?
Ludger shook his head.
“Let’s just finish this quickly.”
He gathered mana and blasted the factory door apart.
With a thunderous explosion, dust billowed out.
Inside, shouts and frantic footsteps erupted.
“Plenty of work to do anyway.”