Breaking Into the Mage's Estate
The leader of the village guard approached the table where the female Wolf Knight and the Adventurer were sitting.
"Welcome to our village," he said respectfully. "On behalf of the villagers, I apologize for that foolish kid calling your companion a demon."
"Oh, don't worry about it," Anita the Whirlpool waved it off. "Even in Wolfwood everyone stared at Fireburp at first because of her horns. No hard feelings."
"Thank you for your understanding," the guard nodded. "This village has always been a peaceful place. Knights pass through almost daily and stop at the inn to rest. Since we're the closest settlement to the capital, bandits rarely come this way. Still, the village guard keeps watch day and night. My name is Rooster Babek, though most people just call me Rooster. I'm the captain of the guard."
"I'm Lazuro, an adventurer from the capital," the man introduced himself. "And this is my partner, Anita the Whirlpool — a female Wolf Knight from Wolfwood."
"Wolf Knights are a rare sight around here," Rooster Babek noted. "Forgive me if I seem cautious. The villagers have been uneasy lately because of the mage's estate. Some of our youngsters claim they heard demon howls coming from there."
"Tell me more about this mage," Anita said.
"May I sit with you?" the guard asked.
"Of course," Anita nodded. "I'll buy you a beer."
Rooster Babek's face lit up instantly at the mention of free beer, and he sat down with them. Most knights wouldn't even speak to a simple village guard, let alone invite him to their table. And the female Wolf Knight was attractive enough that the guard was more than happy to share every rumor and amusing story from the village — especially with a mug of beer in hand.
One beer quickly turned into three, and Rooster Babek soon couldn't hold back his chatter. Anita knew exactly how to handle people like him — she had grown up as a blacksmith's daughter, after all.
Meanwhile, Fireburp had gotten so into telling stories about the Heroes that she was already sitting outside the stable, surrounded by ten village children who listened to her with wide‑eyed fascination.
Lazuro, on the other hand, went to speak with the innkeeper, whom he had known for years. Back when he escorted merchants to the village as an adventurer, he often stopped at this inn. The innkeeper gladly shared news and rumors about the local mage and the supposed demon howls — especially in exchange for a generous tip.
Once Anita had extracted every useful detail from Rooster Babek, she decided to join the dice players outside. Earlier she had noticed a group gambling at a table in the inn's courtyard.
Four people were playing dice:
– the local merchant, whose great‑grandfather had supposedly come from the Empire and ended up settling here;
– the herbalist woman, visited not only by villagers but by people from nearby settlements as well;
– the blacksmith, who mostly made tools and horseshoes but also knew his way around forging swords;
– and the miller, who ran the lord's mill and supplied the entire region with flour. His work paid well, so he had plenty to gamble with.
All they were missing was a female knight to complete the table.
The villagers had no idea that Anita the Whirlpool was one of the greatest dice players in the entire Kingdom.
Thanks to the wind element, Anita the Whirlpool could practically control her own luck — or rather, the dice. Ordinary people couldn't see a thing, nor did they suspect the sly little trick she was using. She had learned this method long ago from Young Wolf. It was their shared secret, and they always split the winnings fifty‑fifty.
The female Wolf Knight now plucked the villagers clean one after another. First the herbalist woman, then the blacksmith, then the miller. She won the most money from the local merchant, who — had she allowed it — would probably have wagered his own daughter as well, but Anita naturally refused.
Her cheating was so subtle that even Lazuro didn't notice. The adventurer simply thought Anita had ridiculously good luck, or that the villagers had run out of theirs.
Meanwhile, the local children had already declared Fireburp their leader. One little girl even made her a flower crown. The young dragon girl proudly posed in the middle of the group and continued telling stories about the Heroes as if she herself had been present at every great battle.
The evening went well, everyone enjoyed themselves, but night slowly fell. The children went home, while the adults stayed a bit longer to drink and relax. Most of them left around ten, since work began at dawn the next day. Rooster Babek, the captain of the village guard, had such a good time that he would likely patrol the village hungover the next morning — unless he passed out under a tree where no one could see him slacking off.
They had gathered all the important information about the mage's estate, so the group set out before midnight. The estate lay about five miles west of the village, surrounded by a two‑meter‑high stone wall. There were no guards, no watchdogs — yet the place felt ominously silent. No one dared break in, especially not bandits.
Five years earlier, five bandits had thought it a good idea to rob the estate since they saw no guards. They didn't see any because the mage had placed magical traps for uninvited guests. Two of the bandits died instantly after stepping into one of the traps, while the remaining three fled so fast they never dared return to the area again.
The mage then hung the two dead bandits' bodies on the fence for everyone to see why it was unwise to trespass on his land. The corpses remained there for weeks, and the crows feasted well. Since then, nature had cleared away the remains, and stray dogs had likely carried off the bones.
Lazuro finally parked the wagon not far from the estate and tied the horse to a tree.
The team was ready.
It was time to break into the mage's estate.
Thanks to the information they had bought from the innkeeper, the group knew that the estate not only might contain magical traps — it almost certainly did. And magical traps could only be disarmed by mages or professional thieves. Unfortunately, their team currently had neither.
Fireburp was a fire‑magic apprentice, yes — and also a young dragon girl — but when it came to magical traps, she was far more likely to trigger them than disable them.
Even so, Fireburp became the key to avoiding the traps entirely.
The dragon girl carried her companions one by one across the estate grounds, flying over the stone fence, the wide courtyard, and all the hidden traps below. First she dropped Anita the Whirlpool in front of the mage's house, then flew back for Lazuro and brought him over the same way.
With the courtyard traps safely avoided — at least the ones placed outside — only the house itself remained.
Fireburp handled that as well. She peeked through nearly every window, trying to spot the mage. No light, no movement came from anywhere inside. Which meant one of three things: the mage was asleep, away from home, or experimenting in some hidden underground chamber.
On the top floor she finally found an open window and slipped inside. Luckily, the interior held no traps, so she unlocked the front door from within and let her companions enter.
There was no sign of the mage anywhere.
Still, the group moved quietly and cautiously, checking room after room. They searched nearly the entire house, but found no trace of demons, monsters, or even recent human presence.
At the staircase leading to the second floor hung a large portrait of the mage.
"Well, at least now we know what he looks like," Anita remarked.
"That is… assuming the painter was accurate," Lazuro said.
"If it didn't look like him, do you think he'd hang it here for everyone to see?" Anita countered.
"Looks to me like no one's been here in years to look at it anyway," Lazuro muttered.
Reaching the second floor, Anita spotted a stuffed bear positioned so that anyone coming up the stairs would notice it first. Whether the mage had placed it there to startle guests or simply to amuse himself was something only he would know.
"One thing's for sure," Anita the Whirlpool muttered, "this mage is lucky Young Wolf isn't here. Otherwise we wouldn't be hunting demons — we'd be hunting him."
"Why?" Lazuro asked. "As far as I know, nobles hunt bears all the time. Nothing strange about a mage having a trophy like this."
"You don't understand," Anita sighed. "The magical beast of the Wolves' Forest was only spared because it was a bear‑beast."
"So bears are some kind of protected species where you come from?" Lazuro raised an eyebrow.
"Let's just say they're considered… cute," Anita replied.
"Like Fireburp?" Lazuro grinned.
"More or less. But speaking of her… where is Fireburp?"
"I don't know," Lazuro said, scratching his head. "Didn't she head toward the mage's bedroom?"
Meanwhile, the dragon girl was already rummaging through the bedroom. There she discovered the mage's treasure chest, hidden inside a secret room behind a mirror. By the time Anita and Lazuro entered to check on her, Fireburp was already sitting in front of the chest, melting the lock clean off.
"What in the world do you think you're doing with that treasure chest?!" Anita snapped. "We came here to investigate demons, not rob the mage!"
"It doesn't look to me like the mage — or anyone — lives here," Fireburp shrugged. "So… finders keepers."
"The house really does seem abandoned," Lazuro admitted. "There's no sign anyone has been here in days… maybe even months."
Fireburp opened the chest.
There was no gold, no jewels — only letters, documents, magical notes, and a book sealed shut with magic.