Chapter 12
What appeared before my eyes was an information window.
‘There’s no one around—why is something like this popping up all of a sudden?’
Caught completely off guard, I looked down at my right hand in surprise.
Sure enough.
A faint light was leaking from my right pinky finger. That meant the information window had really appeared because of my awakened ability.
I quickly turned my gaze back to the item I’d seen earlier—the old leather glove. At once, pop, lines of text appeared again.
“Crime Evidence Information Revealed!
(Daily appraisal limit: 1 use out of 1 used)”
“Name: Alchemist’s Gloves
Traits: Awakening Gear (Alchemist), Metallurgy Gear, Evidence Item (Importance: Special)”
This time, I noticed wording I hadn’t fully processed before.
“Crime evidence… information reveal… appraisal limit?”
The phrasing was so condensed that it was hard to grasp at a glance, but I roughly got the idea.
‘It probably means I can view information about one item of my choosing once per day, right? And this is that one use?’
Since this information appeared right after the message saying a new ability had awakened, it seemed my awakened power had evolved into something new.
‘I really lucked out.’
But now wasn’t the time to celebrate my good fortune.
What mattered was the phrase written in the window: “Evidence Item (Importance: Special).”
“…If it’s special‑grade evidence, then it must be solid proof of Aaron’s crime.”
I hurriedly ran over and snatched up the single old leather glove lying on the desk.
“But how on earth am I supposed to explain this…?”
With only minutes—no, seconds—left, I anxiously slipped the glove onto my hand. Suddenly, a faint pattern appeared on the palm of the glove, and text rose before my eyes.
“You have awakened as an ‘Alchemist.’”
I couldn’t believe it. My eyes widened on their own.
“…Huh?”
I repeatedly took Aaron’s glove off and put it back on, and every single time, the same message appeared.
“Ah!”
Combining the keywords from the traits section of the information window with what was happening now, I finally began to piece everything together.
‘So this is how the missing puzzle piece fits.’
—Bang! Bang! Bang!
Right on cue, Chuck pounded violently on the front door.
“Time’s up! If you don’t come out right now, he says he’ll forget about evidence and just chop your arm off, so move it!”
The timing was razor‑thin.
I did my best to look innocent and stepped outside.
“I’m coming out! I said I’m coming out, so wait! I wasn’t running away—I stayed right here! There’s no need to scare me!”
…Did I look convincing? Please, let me not look like someone who’d just failed to escape.
“Astrologer. Did you find the ‘something’ you mentioned?”
Kin demanded the evidence in an overbearing tone. I approached him at an angle that made it hard to cut my arm off and handed over Aaron’s glove.
Kin’s expression shifted strangely as he examined the filthy leather glove, worn to the point of nearly tearing.
“…A glove?”
Before Kin could cut my arm off, I quickly plastered myself against his side. Surely he wouldn’t stab me with a sword when I was this close.
“Ah—this isn’t just an ordinary glove!”
“Step away, Astrologer.”
“Th‑this is a kind of heavenly secret! I can’t just tell it to anyone! So please, listen in secret—just you!”
Clinging tightly to his solid arm, I rose onto my tiptoes. Kin was very tall, so for someone like me—tall-ish but not quite—to get close to his ear took a lot of effort.
“Ugh… to hear the will of the heavens, could you please… cooperate just a little?”
“…Ha.”
Kin let out a short breath and slightly bent at the waist.
‘You jerk! You could’ve done this from the start instead of being so stiff!’
Grinding my teeth at his prickliness, I whispered to him.
“This isn’t just a glove. It’s an Awakening Artifact.”
An item that turns the wearer into an awakened one.
There are two ways to obtain awakened abilities.
One is to become an awakened individual—gaining markings on the body and manifesting a unique power.
The other is to temporarily gain abilities through an Awakening Artifact.
An Awakening Artifact was an item that turned its wearer into an awakened being.
Which also meant that if you possessed multiple artifacts, you could use multiple abilities at once.
Of course, powerful drawbacks usually came with them—time limits, penalties to the user, and so on—so people who tried to stack several were rare.
‘Something like this is worth a fortune. How on earth did someone like Aaron get his hands on it?’
An ordinary person might see such an item only a few times in their entire life, if ever—and yet here I was, encountering it in a place like this, in this way.
‘Still, I’m glad I wasn’t mistaken.’
The awakened traits I’d seen when I first met Aaron must have been triggered by the leather gloves he was wearing then.
‘Today, he came without the gloves, so I couldn’t read any awakened traits.’
It was a close call, but thanks to it, I learned something valuable.
To my eyes, both natural awakened individuals and those awakened via artifacts appear the same—as simply “awakened.”
The only ways to tell them apart were if the person removed the artifact themselves…
“…or if I found the artifact.”
I recalled the information window that had appeared earlier.
According to my interpretation, it was like a brief report on crime-related evidence.
In a way, it ran parallel to my own awakened ability.
‘In the end, my ability profiles criminals, and this one checks whether an object is related to a crime through keywords…’
Seen that way, it was a pretty useful ability for operating in a den of criminals.
‘The only problem is… I can only use it once a day.’
This first time, I’d been incredibly lucky to stumble upon a crime-related item, but I’d have to be more careful from now on.
As I was pondering how to apply this ability to my work—
“Esmeralda! The boss is calling for you!”
Ricky burst the door open and dragged me outside.
“I overheard a bit—it really does seem like an Awakening Artifact. I thought he was just a money-grubbing con artist, but… turns out he’s something else, huh?”
Ricky went on to praise Kin’s eye for talent, saying, “Figures. The boss wouldn’t keep just anyone close.”
“So what are they going to do with Aaron? Did you hear anything about what they plan to do with me?”
When I whispered the question, Ricky shrugged.
“No idea. Aaron’s definitely screwed, though. As for the rest, you’ll know once you meet the boss.”
He bounced along, leading me somewhere—but… the destination felt suspicious.
“This isn’t the way to your boss’s office.”
“Nope. We’re going to the central hall of the Ashen Castle. People are gathering there.”
“People?”
“Well, maybe they’re killing two birds with one stone. Or maybe they’re making an example. Punishments are better when there’s an audience, right?”
“I… see.”
I didn’t agree with that at all, nor did I want to see such a scene, but I kept my mouth shut and headed to the central hall.
Just as Ricky said, quite a crowd had gathered there.
At the center, Aaron—disheveled and gaunt—was bound and kneeling on the floor.
“P‑please spare me! J‑just once! I can give you even more information! I’ll do anything!”
Aaron begged through tears, but Kin didn’t even blink as he kicked him.
—Crash!
Aaron’s long body rolled across the floor, and Kin gave a cold order.
“Take him away. Dig for a few more days, then hang him in the plaza three days from now.”
“What about the sculptor, Seth?”
“Cut off his right arm.”
“Understood.”
The brutality of the exchange sent chills down my spine.
As I swallowed hard, watching Aaron being dragged away, Kin noticed me.
“You’re late.”
“…Everything has its proper time. And in my opinion, I arrived right on time.”
At my bold retort, Kin let out a short laugh.
“So you’ve got guts, at least.”
I really wanted to reply that it was just my character concept—even if it’d been cracking a lot lately—but I held back.
“My lord, please get to the point…”
Meanwhile, Raul, who was standing beside Kin, urged him on.
At the sight of Raul, my legs began trembling beneath my skirt.
‘Oh no, what do I do!’
I knew him. Raul had once come to me as a client.
He was the warden of the Ashen Citadel’s dungeon.
‘D‑don’t tell me… they’re throwing me into the underground prison too?’
I looked at Kin, but it was impossible to read his intentions.
His ice‑blue eyes were so cold and sharp, as if they could pierce straight through any lie.
And it wasn’t just Kin and Raul—the gazes of everyone around me were unsettling.
Cold sweat ran down my back.
‘If I caught the criminal, shouldn’t I be praised? What on earth did I do wrong?!’
Amid the overwhelming confusion, I screamed silently.
‘Please… let me live. Please!’
