For several seconds, none of us moved. The back window continued swinging slightly from the force of the cat’s escape while cold night air drifted quietly into the ruined storage room.Fish scales covered almost the entire floor.Broken crates lay scattered everywhere while several fish continued sliding slowly across the wet ground.And somehow…Despite all the destruction, the thief cat had still successfully stolen another fish before escaping.Honestly, I was almost impressed.Miss Ashley slowly inhaled while staring at the disaster surrounding us. Then she calmly raised her hand and pointed toward the open window.“Catch it.”Leo immediately pointed at me without hesitation.“He’s the mage. He should be the one chasing it.”“First of all, I’m not even a real mage yet,” I said flatly.Miss Ashley grabbed a nearby wooden spoon and pointed it toward both of us threateningly.“You have exactly five seconds,” she said calmly, “before I start charging both of you for every broken crate in this room.”Leo instantly grabbed my arm.“We’re going.”The two of us climbed through the back window and entered the narrow alley behind the shop.Miss Ashley sighed before following us.Leo crouched dramatically near the ground outside the house.“I’ll track it.”“Have you ever actually tracked anything in your life?” I asked.“I tracked you to a bakery once.”“…Wait, what?”I stared at him for several seconds.Then I decided I genuinely did not want to continue that conversation.Instead, I focused.Slowly, I activated my Aether sense again.The sensation spread outward through the alley like invisible threads extending into the darkness.Then I closed my eyes as well and activated my mana sense.At first, all I sensed were faint traces of mana from nearby people sleeping inside buildings. (...)