CHAPTER 201: CHAPTER 199: RECOVERING THE LOST ITEM

Claudia saw the thief she had stabbed once roll off the roof and immediately chased after him, following suit by jumping down from the roof.

But the thief seemed to vanish into thin air. Even though Claudia was swift, she couldn’t catch sight of the thief downstairs.

However, Claudia didn’t feel disappointed or angry because of this. She slightly moved her nose, and promptly caught a special scent of blood, thus pursued into the nearby alley following this lead.

At the same time, the thief on the run was trying to disguise himself again to evade the Assassin’s pursuit. Yet injuring himself from the fall off the roof had slowed him down and he had to rely on his familiarity with the terrain to dodge.

Yet, the Assassin was relentless as a haunting ghost, shadowing him precisely regardless of what disguise he changed into or what hiding place he chose.

This made the thief, amidst his exhausting escape, notice something unusual about himself.

His ability allowed him to completely erase his scent each time he changed outfits; this was to prevent any unwanted odors on his clothes or being tagged with tracking scents, a method used occasionally for escaping.

But the thief realized that during his chase with the Assassin, he had not picked up anything and had already changed into so many outfits. Even if he had any scent, it should have been washed away.

Yet the Assassin could still locate him in various environments, leading the thief to suspect that a special mark had somehow been left on him.

He quickly took note of the wound inflicted by the Assasin’s throwing knife, sniffed his wound attentively, and then found the clue. His blood emitted a faint, almost undetectable yet very unique scent—it couldn’t be masked even if he hid in a dumpster.

Undoubtedly, this was the Assassin’s scent marker.

This realization left the thief feeling cornered, a sense of setback akin to capsizing in the gutter.

But he had no good strategy at this moment. Although he was also Extraordinary, the thief’s main abilities focused on physical control, Disguise Skill, and other theft-related skills, none of which counted as Extraordinary Abilities.

The only Extraordinary-related ability he had, besides his uncanny disguise, was his skill to transfer items into his pocket through clothes during theft.

This trick allowed him to pocket items without needing to touch the target, leaving the victim unaware.

Even during a casual brush pass, stealing items was possible without alerting the owner.

Actually, the thief could steal Perfikot’s possessions using this method today, but as a waiter, he had no reason to brush past a Count.

Though the thief could alter his identity into someone else, there were hardly any female guests present; and for male guests to get too close to the young Count would have appeared far too conspicuous, as even the most dignified Governor kept a distance of at least one meter from Perfikot.

So the thief had to intentionally bump into Perfikot, seizing the moment to activate his ability and swipe the most valuable item from her.

However, even this drew attention; for a mere waiter to bump into a Count was too conspicuous.

The thief thought he could disappear entirely using his Disguise Skill, making the short-statured waiter vanish without a trace, so he didn’t care about this flaw. Little did he expect it would become his greatest downfall, directly attracting the female Assassin’s pursuit.

This was one downside of spontaneously deciding to steal from the Bloody Count. In the past, the thief would have devised a more meticulous plan instead of today’s impulsive, chaotic stealing attempt.

Though, he was indeed acting on impulse.

Pushing these distracting thoughts out of his mind, almost getting caught by the Assassin again, the thief had to grit his teeth and take a risky gamble.

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Claudia was tracking the thief, always keeping on his tail, discerning the scent in the air with occasional sniffs.

This was a specially concocted poison by Claudia, non-lethal, but it would cause the afflicted person’s blood to emit a peculiar scent lasting three days.

The scent was very faint, almost undetectable to ordinary people, and would easily be overlooked amidst complex odors.

But to a female Assassin specially trained and with heightened sense of smell, this fragrance stood out like a beacon in the night.

Relying on this ability, Claudia almost never failed in her tracking. As long as she struck her opponent with a poison-coated throwing knife, they’d be marked, and she could patiently follow them to uncover their whereabouts, especially useful when capture was the goal.

If the intention was to kill, Claudia would use another poison that kills upon contact.

This time, Perfikot asked to "capture the thief" rather than "kill the thief," so Claudia naturally assumed capturing alive was necessary.

Thus, although she had plenty of chance to kill the thief, she refrained from doing so, constantly chasing him down, aiming to capture the elusive thief alive.

Yet as her vision lost track of the thief once more, following the scent marker forward, Claudia discovered the scent ended at a carriage.

She stopped the carriage, placing her blade at the driver’s throat, and summoned the roadside police to interrogate the driver, while she herself conducted a thorough search through the carriage layers, seeking the vanished thief.

However, beside the Golden Touching Rod and Flying Stone left on the carriage seat by the thief, there was no sign of him inside, nor outside or beneath the carriage.

This left Claudia puzzled, but having retrieved the stolen items, she wasn’t entirely unsuccessful, and could return to report to Perfikot.

Therefore Claudia secured the items, chose not to linger, and let the police take the driver along, returning to the mansion on the carriage to report to Perfikot, hoping to find clues in this carriage.

However, as the carriage departed, Claudia failed to notice a sewer manhole cover shifting slightly on the ground.