Upon finishing his conversation with the guardsman, which was long-winded and overall unnecessary, the only thing Caedrin was able to determine was the location of the merchant's cart, and the fact that the man would be of no further help to him whatsoever. These guards seemed keen on shirking their duty; it was no wonder the thief went about unabated while an innocent girl was wrongly accused, and now time that could have been spent searching was wasted meaninglessly.<br/><br/>Caedrin stepped outside, sighing to himself once he was out of earshot of the guard. "Negligence such as this is acceptable from no man, even less so from a guardsman," he said to himself. "Though I suppose there's no sense hounding him when there's a thief about." The merchant's cart was relatively nearby, so he decided to leave his horse where it was for the time being, and begun the walk there. It was uncomfortably warm, considering the armor he wore and the sun beating high in the sky, but they were conditions he was used to, and they did not serve to slow him down.<br/><br/>It was not long after he arrived at his destination that he found what he was searching for. There was a trail of what appeared to be dried-up blood, noticeable enough for anyone that was looking for it. It was a wonder the guards failed to notice it while it was still fresh. Time was of the essence; every moment he waited, the thief would be getting farther away. Judging by the amount of blood, his initial assumption was not far off, and the thief would need to bandage their wound before long, but they already had a rather large head start. With any luck, they waited a while before bandaging themselves, and the trail would lead him far.<br/><br/>With these thoughts in mind, he returned to the entrance of the village to retrieve his horse, who was grazing contentedly on some nearby grass. He smiled at her, patting her on the side as he untied her reins. "We're going to need to move fast, Aniva, there's a thief to catch," he whispered softly. "I promise I'll get you an apple to make up for it later." With that, he hopped onto the horses back, giving her a soft nudge in the side to send her into a trot, and steering her in the direction of the trail; because of the size of it, he figured he would need to move relatively slowly so as to not lose the track, and hoped that his reduced speed would not give the thief the advantage they needed to escape. He shook his head, realizing that such thoughts did nothing to assist in his current mission, and pushed them away, choosing instead to focus on the task at hand.