◈ Episode 369 Haunted Land (2)
Arfa’s words made Rudger feel something different and looked where the little child was.
‘does not exist.’
The little child in front of me a moment ago had disappeared without a trace.
It was so subtle that I wondered if this was a dream.
Rudger stretched out his crouching body with a serious face.
‘Ghost? or a ghost? Could an anomaly have been activated due to the excessive concentration of mana in this Kasar Basin?’
It could not be said that spirits and ghosts did not exist.
In fact, there was [Necromancer] magic that allows you to talk with the remaining thoughts of the soul or borrow their power.
However, most souls summoned in this way take the form of translucent humans.
‘On the other hand, the child I saw was a living person no matter who saw it.’
I couldn’t have been mistaken.
When I realized that someone was there, I was in a state of heightened alertness and senses.
In that state, you can’t even distinguish the ghost’s thoughts?
It makes no sense.
“leader?”
“… … I must have seen the wrong thing.”
Right away, it didn’t matter if the child was real or a ghost.
It took the child’s words of looking for something, but I decided to dismiss it as a spiritual phenomenon that usually occurs in the Kasar Basin.
“So, have you looked around this area?”
“yes. What will the leader do now?”
“I’ve come this far, but I can’t just stay in a tent. Let’s go out and have a look.”
“yes! great!”
It seems that he wanted to see Arpa in his heart.
As soon as Ludger finished speaking, Arfa smiled and snuggled up next to Ludger.
His will to follow Rudger diligently was outstanding.
“Arfa.”
“Yes, leader.”
“Did you not see anything strange on the way here?”
“yes? What kind of weird things are you talking about?”
“No matter what. Contrary to common sense, anything strange.”
“Ugh. Even if you ask me about it, I don’t feel anything strange about it. This is a place full of novelties for me.”
Come to think of it, it was.
Although for those in the know, chocolate and candy are two separate things.
To someone who didn’t know anything, those two were just sweet snacks.
“is it.”
“leader. Are you okay? I think something was strange a little while ago.”
“I just looked at the futility for a while.”
Rudger pondered whether to speak or not.
However, I soon realized that it didn’t matter if I did it to Arfa.
“While you were away for a while, a little child came into our dorm.”
“A little child?”
“okay. Age is about 6 to 7 years old. At first she thought it was a child who had lost her parents and had sneaked in here. But no.”
“They’re about six or seven years old.”
Arfa muttered that, then stared blankly into space for a moment.
The action was different from simply blanking out.
Arfa was now recalling ‘all’ the scenery he had seen while entering the Cassar Basin.
“I checked. From the time I arrived in the city yesterday to the entrance to Kassar Basin today, there was not a single child under the age of 10, even if there were ordinary people who were not wizards.”
“hmm. If you say so, it must be true.”
“However, as the leader said, I’m reconfirming the scenery I’ve seen since coming to Kassar Basin one by one, and I caught something.”
“what?”
Arfa described what he saw.
“The forest that exists beyond the towering tents. I saw something in the crevices of the trees growing there. As the leader said, he is a little boy who looks like he is about 7 years old.”
“Is that the child I saw?”
“different. What the leader saw was a girl, but she said it was a boy. But they are secretly watching us from the side of the tent.”
Ordinary wizards couldn’t see it from a distance, but Arfa was able to [magnify] the scenery she saw in her mind.
“As the leader said, I really have a child. She didn’t sneak in. It appears to have been here from the beginning.”
Then, was the person the girl just said she was looking for, that forest child?
It may be that the two of them have a restriction that prevents them from meeting for some reason.
“How did this happen?”
“Perhaps it is a spiritual phenomenon taking place within the Cassar Basin. I get it anyway It is certain that what I saw was not a hallucination.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“Ignore it. I have no intention of doing anything with the ghosts that exist here. That’s not what’s important right now.”
“ah. The leader said he was looking for the First Order of the Black Dawn.”
“okay. My name is Leslie. The age is estimated to be a middle-aged male of at least 40 lines. He’s also a pretty good mage in terms of skill alone. Can you guess who he is?”
Arfa shook his head.
“I compared all the wizards gathered in this Kasar Basin, and the number of people the leader mentioned is over 200. He said he was an excellent wizard, but I don’t have the ability to tell the rank of a wizard based on my appearance.”
“That too.”
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Besides, wizards were still coming in through the open entrance.
I didn’t know if Leslie was already in, or if the other side was waiting for an opportunity to come in later.
‘It’s a total mess.’
Rudger decided to calmly organize them one by one.
“Let’s go out and look around. I can’t come all the way here and not do anything.”
“yes!”
Rudger took Arfa out of the tent.
Wizards roamed the streets busily.
From those who sell magical tools to those who show off their magic, to those who tremble because they want to get out of the outpost and study the mysteries of this land.
“It’s a bit dark even in the morning.”
Although it is early in the morning in terms of time, there is no sunlight shining here.
This is because the fog made of intense mana blocks sunlight.
A natural phenomenon in which night lasts even in broad daylight is called polar night.
The Cassar Basin was a place that was perfect for the word polar night.
If there is a difference, it seems that the mana inside the basin itself is not very dark because it emits a luminous phenomenon.
Upon entering the center of the outpost, he saw many wizards gathered.
If sorcerers had come individually before, all those gathered here had their own [affiliation].
They were busily packing their things and packing their tools.
The porters who followed them carried large bags.
Then someone shouted in a loud voice.
“An expedition to the secret mansion is leaving soon! Those who will move, join us now!”
Perhaps it was because he raised his voice with magic tools, his cry resonated throughout the outpost.
The wizards began to come in droves, their eyes shining at those words.
“leader. This?”
“It seems like everyone doesn’t want to waste even an inch of time.”
“If you say the secret mansion, you mean that mysterious mansion that exists in Kasar Basin, right?”
“okay. An unknown place where no one knows who built it or when it was built. The only clue revealed is that the owner of the mansion was a wizard, and knowledge of magic we do not know lies dormant in it.”
“But I can’t see the mansion from here.”
“Probably quite far from the outpost.”
At those words, Arfa nodded her head in agreement.
“Cassar Basin is a mysterious land where you don’t know what will happen, so it would be much better for the majority to move together like this than to move with a few.”
“It is said that in the past, there was a case where a team was formed separately to seek each other’s knowledge first. And they never returned to the outpost again. I don’t know exactly what happened.”
“Ah, I’ve heard rumors too. At that time, all the wizards who had been scattered in small numbers were said to have gone missing.”
Rudger looked back.
Across the main road of the outpost, the entrance to Kassar Basin was still open.
In the middle of the procession from the entrance to the outpost, magical lanterns were illuminating the road.
As if to say, ‘You must move only along this path’.
It must have taken quite a while to make that one.
“Still, since it’s an expedition, there are quite a few people who stand out.”
Through the Monocle Artifact, Ludger examined the faces of the wizards gathered in the central square of the outpost.
Everyone’s magical powers are quite refined, and their intentions are clear.
It was qualitatively different from the muddleheads who gathered like a swarm of ants at the entrance of Kasar Basin.
“The Old and New Mage Towers grinded their teeth quite a bit and sent people.”
“The list includes some of the most prominent members of the School Federation. Besides that, there are people from various academic societies.”
“They are already proven talents. However, there are also those who exude a strong presence even though they do not belong to the right place.”
Rudger’s gaze turned to one side.
Other wizards don’t know, but his artifact was accurately measuring mana.
The first thing that catches your eye is a single pillar rising in a straight line towards the sky.
When other wizards reveal their magical powers like burning flames and dispersing haze.
The author was the only one who refined his mana to the limit and suppressed it as much as possible.
This proves that the magic suppression power is great.
Arfa, who realized who Ludger was looking at, recalled the other person’s personal details at once.
“This is Derek Olsen. He is a free mage with no affiliation, and is said to be at the top of the 5th tier. He’s a guy who, with a little more time, might be able to achieve the rank of Lexler.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“Dear Hans. He told me to look at the list of famous wizards and memorize them because I said I was going to follow the leader on the mysterious night.”
“Hans did something wrong.”
However, it is true that it helped a little in this area.
Perhaps Hans entrusted him with this task because he greatly believed in Arfa’s perfect memory ability.
“Then, what other wizards should you keep an eye on?”
“I’ll check.”
Arfa said that and glanced around.
Arfa immediately pointed at the tall wizard standing to one side.
Compared to the other wizards, he was one head taller, but his dark body was slender and his arms were exceptionally long.
“This is Amar Chewbacca. He is from a minority in the southern jungle area, and he is a wizard who uses unusual spells in parallel with magic. His hierarchy is not high, but he is said to have many unique magic and bizarre knowledge beyond common sense.”
“Right.”
True to Arfa’s words, Amar Chewbacca was endowed with quite unusual magical powers beyond his recognizable appearance.
If the magic of other wizards is flame, Amar’s is like viscous mud.
“Aside from that, there is a grandfather holding a cane full of gold. I’m called Sage Rimray, so I’m the leader of the one-man school and a Lexorer mage.”
“That middle-aged man with a stocky physique over there. I’m Belkat Benmark, a servant wizard from Delica Kingdom. They say he’s an amazing lightning wizard.”
“Is there anyone over there who looks homeless? My name is Sempas, and although I look like that, I’m actually a terrifying battle fanatic. Although he doesn’t have a high rank, he is said to have won several battles against wizards higher in rank than himself with his excellent mana control.”
“The wizard crouching over there is Roina Pavlini. Even if it looks like that, it is a Lexarer class, and it is said that it has the best talent for analyzing and exploring magic.”
Rudger, who continued to listen to Arfa’s explanation, showed a surprised expression when the familiar name came up.
“Roina Pavlini?”
“yes. hey.”
When I turned my head to follow Arfa’s gaze, Roina Pavlini was indeed there.
Around her, there were wizards who were presumed to have come together, but Roina herself didn’t look very good as if it was uncomfortable.
The way he shrugged his shoulders and head from beginning to end was not like a 6th tier wizard at all.
It was not for nothing that they said that they had given up social skills and self-esteem in exchange for great magical talent.
‘Did you come here for research? There’s nothing particularly strange about it.’
Roina didn’t seem to recognize this side.
We’re not close friends anyway, so there’s no need to say hello first.
That’s how I heard about various mages from Arpa, but the stares flying around me stung.
‘that. Are you Ludgar Cellis? Why is that person here?’
‘Why are you so surprised? So, aren’t you an academy teacher?’
‘You fool. haven’t you heard the news? That person is a three-year-old teacher, but he’s already at the level of a non-teacher. There are rumors that he was even awarded a medal from the imperial family because he was so active during this terrorist incident.’
‘really?’
‘Aside from that, you can perfectly interpret the ancient language. That alone is enough talent for this expedition.’
The wizards chatted among themselves in quiet voices.
Of course, after catching it with Arfa’s excellent hearing, it was delivered to Rudger with the same sound that Arfa recorded.
“You say?”
“done. Ignore it.”
Apparently, the value of this name was higher than expected.
“what. Wasn’t it a place where even a teacher could visit on a mysterious night these days?”
To the point where someone would be so blatantly arrogant.
