"What now then, kiddo?"
Mognog waited a couple of moments after Maklin left before talking.
"No more Gerhart and no more Maklin. You're not alone, kiddo, but will you be fine without them?"
"Will I be fine without them? Of course! With no one holding me back anymore, there's no limit to what I can do."
Ritzy got into a prideful position with his hands on his hips and his nose pointing at the ceiling as he boasted.
"Good."
Mognog had been a little worried since Ritzy sometimes gave off the feeling of being a kid and that he was still reliant on the others around him. Fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case, even if it seemed like he was hiding his insecurity with false bravado.
"So, what's first on your plan, kiddo?"
Ritzy lowered his eyes and looked at Mognog on the bed.
"I think a mana training method would be a good starting point. Weren't you interested in seeing one for yourself?"
Mognog nodded. He didn't, but Ritzy could sense that's what he would have done if he could have moved his head.
"Are you interested in a body, Mognog?"
Ritzy spoke before Mognog could answer. He realized it might be uncomfortable for Mognog to be unable to move and express himself as he wished. Ritzy could still tell what emotions and expressions Mognog showed, but Mognog knew he wasn't doing anything special. It was just Ritzy being Ritzy.
"I mean, yeah. But it's not a priority, so focus on getting your hands on a mana training method."
As far as Mognog could tell, Ritzy didn't have a single coin to his name, and while the cheapest mana training method probably wouldn't cost a lot, it would still cost something. So, Ritzy would have to earn money before he could buy one.
"You mean…."
Ritzy flashed a grin as he untucked the back of his shirt and moved his hands inside it.
"Something like this?"
Ritzy's grin was rife with expectation as he waited for Mognog to show his amazement.
"Is that…?"
"A mana training method? Yeah."
Mognog tilted his head in confusion. No, he didn't.
"H-how did you get that?"
Ritzy hadn't had a method before he summoned Mognog, and as far as Mognog could tell, he hadn't gotten one during their journey either. He couldn't understand why or how Ritzy had a brown leather book with the words 'Little Specter Mana Method' engraved on the front page in his hands.
"I picked it up. I saw it lying on a lonely stall corner, abandoned like a crying child."
"Kiddo, did you steal it?"
"No, no, nothing of the sort. I merely eased the seller's burden. Thanks to me, he won't have to go through the trouble of selling this method anymore."
"When?"
"Yesterday, when we passed through the market looking for an inn."
Mognog racked his brains, but he couldn't remember noticing Ritzy do anything like that.
"Huh."
He hadn't expected Ritzy to be such a good thief that Mognog didn't even notice it despite riding on Ritzy's shoulder.
"I want to make this clear. I usually don't condone stealing from people who need to sell to make their living. Okay, kiddo?"
"Yeah, sure. But I didn't steal it."
"Alright. Anyway. You're good at it. That's what I wanted to say."
"Aww, thanks, Mognog."
"But what are the odds that the people waiting outside the inn are waiting for you?"
Ritzy went over to the room's sole window. It was small, dusty, greasy, and high up. But after standing on his tippy-toes, Ritzy managed to peek out.
"That's him!"
One of the dark-clothed thugs with a mean face noticed Ritzy's white hair and pointed at him while shouting to alert the others.
"I would say about a hundred percent."
Ritzy calmly spoke while turning around and looking at Mognog.
Mognog sighed. Since not even he had noticed Ritzy stealing it, he doubted the seller had. If he had, he would have chased after Ritzy at once. So, the manual was most likely affixed with some kind of tracking magic.
"Looks like we'll have to make a quick exit. I doubt they will accept it if you return the manual, kiddo."
"I'm not returning it. How am I going to train mana, then?"
"That's what I suspected. Run!"
Ritzy hastily threw his bag on and darted out the door. He could already hear the thugs making a ruckus downstairs. He still dashed over to the only stair to see if he could get through, but he was too late. The first thug, the one with the black beard who had seen him through the window, was already putting his foot on the first step. The floorboards creaked under the well-built man's weight.
"Can you fit through the window?"
"Not in our room."
Ritzy ignored the man, shouting at him to stop as he fled further down the short hallway and broke into the door at the end.
"This is the right room, right?"
The door didn't break on the first try, but Ritzy didn't give up and threw himself against it with his entire weight. Thankfully, Maklin picked a relatively cheap inn, so the doors weren't that sturdy. Ritzy got into the room right as the man left the stairs and started sprinting down the creaking hallway.
"Excuse me!"
Ritzy ignored the couple in the bed and looked around the room, locating the window he identified last night. It was slightly better than the window in his room, but that was all he needed.
Ritzy caught sight of the window and threw himself at it at the same time as the bearded thug threw open the door with enough force to break its hinges. Ritzy turned back and stuck his tongue out at the thug as he crashed into the second-floor window shoulder-first.
The window shattered. Right before impact, Ritzy worried that the window would be surprisingly sturdy and would just block his escape. That would have been awkward.
Thankfully, the window didn't impede his flight attempt, and Ritzy sailed toward the ground like a bird with its wings clipped.
Ritzy raised his arms to shield his head. He also roused his mana.
Instead of crashing on the cobbled ground, Ritzy landed on the pile of bones he dragged around underground. He managed to desummon the Deathbed after raising it to the surface just in time.
Ritzy scrambled to his feet while checking to see if his crash had sent any bones flying.
"No time, kiddo. Run!"
But Mognog's cry urged Ritzy onward, so he threw out a Deathbed under the pile of bones before taking off right as the bearded thug landed on the ground with a thud.
"He's an Apprentice something!"
Mognog took note of the man's movements and could identify his strength level. Thankfully, he was only one step above Ritzy. Unfortunately, Mognog didn't know how much the difference in ranks was in the Killgara mana mastery system, so he couldn't tell if Ritzy was in trouble or not. Well, he could tell that Ritzy was in trouble, but not how much.
"Got it. Easy prey, then."
"No! It means you can run away!"
"I'm not so sure about that."
Ritzy stopped running, his breathing heavy. His plan had been to lose the bearded ruffian in the city's backstreets. However, he didn't know them. He ran between the wooden houses on the cobbled streets without the faintest understanding of the city's layout.
And then, before he knew it, Ritzy had reached a dead end.
"Damn, kid. You sure know how to run."
The bearded ruffian had almost caught up to Ritzy when Ritzy was running full speed. After Ritzy stopped, it only took a moment for Ritzy to get caught.
Ritzy turned around with his arms raised to indicate harmlessness.
"Sorry, man. I didn't know she was your girl. She said she was single!"
"What?"
"What."
The bearded ruffian scrunched his brow as he took a step toward Ritzy.
"I'm not here because of some girl. You stole something that you shouldn't have stolen."
"Is it the panties? Because she said I could take them."
"No! For the last time, I'm not here because of some lass. Hand over the manual, and you might get to keep your life."
"The manual?"
"Yes! The mana training manual!"
"What mana training manual?"
"The mana training manual you took from Shopkeeper Mercel!"
"Who's that?"
"The guy you took the mana training manual from!"
"What mana training manual?"
"The mana— No! Shut the fuck up, you brat!"
The bearded ruffian stomped toward Ritzy, arms ready to grab his target. His face was covered in a dark scowl. It was long since he met such an annoying brat that could lure him into a conversation without end like that. It would be better if he just shut up instead of indulging the white-haired thief.
"Is this the thing you were talking about?"
Ritzy fished the manual out from under the back of his shirt.
The bearded thug squinted and read the words on it. 'Little Specter Mana Method.' It was the same as the information he had received when he got the initial payment for this job.
"Yeah. Hand it over, and I won't harm you."
"Sure. You should have said that at once that this is what you wanted, you know. Would have made this whole debacle a non-issue."
"I told you from the beginning—!"
The bearded thug sighed and glared at Ritzy as he walked closer until only a few steps separated them. Unknowingly, Ritzy had retreated until his back was against the brick wall at the end of the alley. The morning was still young, and the sun hadn't risen far, so the alley was embroiled in shadows.
The shadows weren't deep or dark enough to obscure Ritzy's face or white hair. Nor were they enough to hide the manual in Ritzy's outstretched arms.
The bearded man rubbed his forehead to ease the stress of this job's target. He had let down his guard upon the target's surrender.
The shadows were, however, enough to hide the handle of Ritzy's knife.
The ruffian reached out to grab the manual, but before he could wrap his thick fingers around the book's leathery back, Ritzy lunged forward and plunged his knife into the bearded thug's neck.