Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

"Thief, pickpocket, assassin," Winters answered.

The bound assassin suddenly screamed shrilly, "I will kill you!"

Kosha and Elizabeth were terrified by this piercing curse.

"Save your breath," Winters took a pillowcase and stuffed the assassin's mouth tightly.

Now the woman in black could only make muffled sounds. She struggled desperately, but her hands were tied behind her back and her legs were also bound; she was just flailing around ineffectively.

Antoine quickly sorted things out and took command calmly, "Elizabeth, go back to the bedroom with your mother. Don't worry, it's just a burglar in the house."

Once the women were taken care of, Antoine pointed at the woman in black and said to Winters, "Let's carry this thief down to the basement first, so she won't disturb your aunt and sister on the second floor."

Marita, who lived on the first floor, was also awakened by the commotion. Seeing Antoine and Winters carrying a fiercely resisting woman in black downstairs, she kept exclaiming, "Oh my, oh my, what happened..."

"Marita, please hold the lamp for us and go to the basement," Antoine interrupted her.

The shaken Marita walked ahead with the oil lamp, still muttering, "Oh my, oh my."

The black-clad thief was carried into the basement storage room, where Winters succinctly explained the situation to Antoine. After discussing it, both men agreed that though many questions remained about the whole affair, it was best to hand the woman over to the sheriff for now. They would lock her in jail and then question her at leisure.

Since Winters, who had returned to Sea Blue only a few days ago, knew no one, it was decided that Antoine would ride to fetch the sheriff while Winters stayed home to guard the female thief.

The woman in black was no longer struggling futilely, but rage blazed in her eyes as she glared at Winters. If looks could materialize, Winters would now be riddled with thousands of holes.

"Who is this person?" Unable to curb her curiosity, Elizabeth sneaked down to the basement. The girl had an astonishingly bold spirit and tiptoed past Winters, peeking covertly at the woman in black.

Winters pushed Elizabeth out of the storage room, "Just a thief... What's there to look at? Weren't you supposed to stay with Kosha?"
Discover hidden tales at empire

"Does Aunt Kosha need me to keep her company? It's more like she's keeping me company," Elizabeth pouted discontentedly. "I just came to bring you something."

Elizabeth handed Winters the woman's revolver, but honestly, she wasn't really there to give him anything; it was just an excuse to leave her mother and see the excitement in the basement.

"Alright, I've got it. Now go back upstairs," Winters said helplessly.

"There's also this." Elizabeth handed Winters a small, charred book, "It's almost burned up."

It was the little notebook the thief had wanted. The pages were layered thickly and hard to burn through. Despite Winters's full use of the "Spell of Ignition," only about half of it was left after burning for a long time.

Winters shook his head ruefully, "I really can't figure out what this woman wants with a blank notebook."

Randomly flipping through the mostly charred notebook, Winters was surprised to find blue writing appearing where there had been no words before.

Colonel Field's words echoed in his mind: There are ways of writing information invisible to some, known as steganography... Steganography is a riddle... Common methods involve nothing more than water, fire…

So that was it!

The contents of this notebook were written in invisible ink, which only became visible after being exposed to the flame.

Winters flipped to the first page of the notebook, where the smoke-tainted paper bore these words:

"To my dear Mary

You are the flame that warms my skin

You are the clear water that quenches my thirst

You are my light

You are my everything

After you left, my life lost all its meaning

—AL.D.L"

It was a sad love poem, seemingly written by a man mourning the departure of his beloved.

But at that moment, reading the poem made Winters feel as if he had fallen into an icy pit.

It was midsummer, but his limbs felt chillingly cold, and the breath he exhaled seemed to freeze into ice.

Never had he felt such fear, not even when a dagger was a mere inch from his neck, not when he was caught by an oarsman in a cabin, nor when a musket was pointed at his head.

He flipped two more pages with shaking hands.

This page showed a simple diagram with the title:

"Fourth Improved Prototype of the Spell Talent Testing Device"

A few pages further:

"Analysis on the Essence of Sound-based Spells"

Winters reached for Elizabeth; he felt dizzy and needed to hold on to her to keep from collapsing.

There was no mistake.

AL.D.L was the abbreviation for Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier.

And Mary de Lavoisier was the wife of General Antoine-Laurent.

The letter 'L' he had seen at the end of the notebook stood for Lavoisier.

This little notebook was the lost research notes of Antoine-Laurent.

And Winters had burned it with his own hands.

"What have I done..." Winters murmured to himself.