Qi Nan felt much like Torako in that story. She had found Stefan so unexpectedly, and although he was an adult, he was almost like a toddler in the way he had questions about everything. Down to the fact that he often asked questions that no one had answers for but for some reason seemed to think that Qi Nan would know.

  He was clearly not an idiot however - the fact that he had managed to climb up to Rank Two so quickly was proof of that. Also, he could read and write quite proficiently, but only in a language she had never seen before. However, his skill was apparent even with the language barrier between the two of them - she would've fully expected someone like him to already be at Rank Three.

  His ability to make grimoires clearly was the result of an undeniably large intellect.

  And yet he was ignorant in so many ways of the world that if she had not experienced it firsthand herself, she wouldn't have believed it.

  As an example, when he had asked if he could rent out a room from her the day that he had joined Lauren’s shop, she had instinctively raised the price of the rent by about thirty percent. It was common to do this in Arconia because it was understood that buyers would want to haggle down - so by starting out at a higher price the seller also had the ability to go down without much of a hassle.

  However, he had agreed to it without hesitation almost immediately! She knew that many other people were also ripping him off either directly or indirectly; likely by preying on his inexperience and ignorance regarding prices.

  She had initially shrugged such matters off - after all, if he couldn’t figure those things out on his own, why should she care? She had already given him quite a bit of help.

  Now though, as she had become more attached to him, she felt deeply guilty that she hadn’t said something.

  The only explanation as to why he was so na?ve was probably because his parents had practically kept him locked up while raising him. But if he really was that sheltered, how did he end up on the streets?

  Surely his parents couldn’t have been simultaneously so overprotective as to have told him nothing about the world and cruel enough to just dump him on the streets?

  Were his parents even alive? She had asked that question and he had given her evasive answers until ultimately saying, “Yes.” She could get nothing further from him - but what he had said earlier implied that they were knowledgeable enough to know about things like disappearing ink.

  So why hadn’t they taught him about the basics of Liberomancy when they had taught him to read and write, or at least hired someone else to teach him? He looked like he hadn’t even heard of the phrase ‘Liberomancy’ before she had mentioned it to him.

  Why wasn’t he with his family right now? He mentioned he was looking for ‘a way back’ occasionally, and initially she could’ve just assumed he needed money for the trip back, but on further reflection, he should have an alternative way to reach out to them whether by regular mail or magic.

  The one question that was still at the forefront of her mind remained: why had Stefan’s parents supposedly abandoned him in the first place?

  She could only imagine he had done something to dishonor his family’s name for them to leave him on his own, practically, for all purposes to die on the streets. Had he chased after the wrong woman? Or committed some kind of heinous crime?

  He had no violent tendencies from what she had seen and seemed the type to flee from a battle unless he had no choice, so the idea of it being murder or robbery seemed ridiculous.

  Regardless of what he had done, if it had been such a large scandal - surely she or someone else would have heard of it? And yet, even to everyone else, it also looked like he had sprouted out of the ground like a flower blossoming in springtime.

  And if the incident that led to him being disowned happened far away from Chipker, why abandon him inside Arconia?

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  The whole thing made no sense - so the other possibility was that he was some sort of spy or here for other similar nefarious purposes.

  The idea almost made her break into laughter. Even if he was the world’s finest actor, all he was really doing up till now was drawing more attention to himself, not less. Even if he was pretending to be an ignorant civilian - there was a limit to how much you could dumb yourself down to.

  Part of her wanted to march right up to his door, shake him awake from his slumber, and demand that he explain himself.

  And yet…

  She had not called him out on anything yet.

  In her heart, she knew the reason for that.

  It was because she did not want to break this illusion - no matter how unrealistic it was.

  Much as Torako did not abandon the child she had found even as she was ostracized by the village, Qi Nan did not want to potentially ‘abandon’ Stefan.

  She had hardened her resolve to force him to spill the beans multiple times, and yet she had lost her courage at the last moment every time.

  She could not find it within herself to give up on him - and if she pried too deep, and found out something unsettling which she could not keep quiet about, what would she do then?

  Would she send him to the guards? Would she kick him out?

  She couldn’t stand the thought of doing either of those things.

  It was so much easier to pretend. To pretend that what he said made sense and was not about as riddled with holes as a sieve and just as effective when it came to holding water.

  This resolve of hers, though, was tested the next day.

  Stefan was off at work as usual, and the house was as quiet and lonely as it had been since her beloved husband had passed away during these moments - though today, she would be surprised by two visitors.

  “Coming!” she said as there was a knock at her door. “Ah-”

  She found herself at a loss for words as she opened the door to see two of the city guard. Both of them were human, and their uniforms, consisting of segments of wooden armor, were unmistakable.

  “Sorry to intrude upon you like this, Lady Nan,” one of them, who was slightly older than the other, and probably the senior one, said. “Ah, we had run into a matter and hoped that you could sort this out.”

  As she invited them into her house and offered them seats, she couldn’t help but feel her heart sink.

  She had never been visited by them before, which likely meant they were here for one thing, or rather, one person - Stefan!

  Was he really wanted for some heinous crime? It was unlikely, but sometimes people weren’t who you thought they were. She had learned that with time - but at the same time, she felt that she was a good enough judge of character to think that Stefan was not capable of something like that.

  “What is the matter, officers?” she asked, not letting her inner turmoil show as she did her best to put on a pleasant smile.

  “It’s regarding a tenant of yours - a man by the name of Stefan Dawkson?” the senior officer asked, mispronouncing his name, but Qi Nan nodded. “Yes?”

  “Well, something came to our attention which was rather odd, so we hoped you could shed some light on it,” he said. “How long have you know the man?”

  “About two months.”

  “And can you tell us more about his background?”

  She wasn’t sure how much to say without implicating Stefan in something somehow - but there was little she could do given she didn’t even know what he would want to keep hidden. “I don’t know much about how he was like before coming to Arconia. He says he comes from a country called Libraria far away.”

  “And what brought him to Arconia?”

  “I am not sure. He says he got lost and wants to return to his home country,” Qi Nan said.

  “It must be quite far away if I’ve never heard of it - well, that’s interesting, but there are two things that piqued our interest,” the officer said. “For one, as you said, he came in about two months ago, yet none of the guards seem to remember his face.”

  Qi Nan knew what the man was talking about. With a face like his, Stefan stood out like a sore thumb in Arconia.

  So, the chances that the guards wouldn’t remember meeting him were slim.

  Had Stefan really just popped up out of the ground in a cabbage patch somewhere? She just hoped that he wouldn’t change into a giant anytime soon - the house wouldn’t be able to hold him in that case.

  Still, she could somewhat deflect this line of questioning. “Perhaps he ran into a few lizardmen guards the day he walked into the city? They aren’t too well with remembering human faces I think, or perhaps some of them simply forgot?”

  “Hmm, we always do have human guards near the city gate, and I find it hard to believe that they would’ve simply forgotten,” the guard replied. “Because there is a far more pressing matter - the fact that he is a Liberomancer, but we have no record of him declaring such in our ledgers.”

  All foreign Liberomancers were required to declare themselves upon entering a city, and also to submit themselves to the [Inspection] spell used universally by the guards. This spell was very useful as it could weed out anyone who knew a demonic grimoire, and also to help ascertain the Rank of Liberomancers entering the city. All of this would be recorded in a ledger, and evidently, they didn’t see Stefan’s name in it.

  To not declare oneself was a felony. Qi Nan wasn’t sure what the punishment would be, though it likely depended on the mood of whatever judge was presiding over the case, and whether the guards really wanted to pursue the case or not.

  That was what had warranted a visit from the guards, not the fact that they didn’t remember him.