The Thief of Cyrups

Robin, a petty thief from the Cyrups slums, hears a rumor in Trisis about a treasure brought by the Imperial Army. She sneaks into the Granada Merchant Guild's secret warehouse and steals an old parchment — without realizing it belongs to Imperial Chancellor Beradin himself.

Realizing the parchment she's stolen is extremely valuable, Robin tries to escape at all costs but can't break through the Imperial Army's encirclement. As she ponders how to get out, she disguises herself as an Imperial soldier and flees — only to be discovered again and forced into the forest, then further still, into the Trisis Desert, as the Imperial Army spreads out to hunt her.

While fleeing the Imperial Army, Robin happens to meet Crow and Riona, and ends up receiving their help. Crow realizes Robin isn't exactly innocent, though, and disappears after advising her not to get involved with the Imperial Army. Robin is annoyed by his words, but can't deny he has a point.

After a relentless pursuit by the Imperial Army, Robin is finally surrounded. At that moment, a mysterious wizard named Gishne appears and rescues her. Robin is suspicious of him, but with no way out of her current situation, she decides to follow his lead. Once outside the encirclement, Gishne finally reveals his true intentions: the real reason he saved Robin was the parchment she'd stolen. Contrary to his expectation that she'd quietly hand it over, Robin proposes a deal instead — she'll give him the parchment in exchange for his escort to a safe place.

Koon Greer of the Four Imperial Guardians worries that the theft will disrupt Beradin's plans, but since Karim Nidia's Granada Trade Corps had already translated the parchment's contents before Robin ever stole it, it isn't a big problem. The real trouble is that the thief's accomplice is none other than Gishne. Elsewhere, as Karls Brandt receives the Imperial Army's report on all this, he mutters to himself and begins to show strange symptoms — something tied to Hellkite, the ancient dragon he slew years before the story to earn his 'Dragon Slayer' title. What exactly the dragon left behind in him is still an open thread.

This is where Robin's path first crosses Gishne's, and where the parchment changes hands between them — it's this same parchment that later leads the group to Mado and the Tower of Magic.