Chapter 394

Words : 2431 Updated : Oct 13th, 2025

Rudger doesn’t know who that girl is but he knew what kind of being she was. ‘Not a living person, but the soul of a dead person.’ Limrei said that people who died here are trapped forever. If that’s true, it means that child is the remnant of someone who died here. However, while there must have been quite a number of people who died in the Kasar Basin so far, the girl was the only one who took such a distinct human form. No, she wasn’t the only one. According to Arpa’s observation, there were other souls in that forest too. Even considering that, it couldn’t be denied that the girl before his eyes was a rare case. The fact that such a ghost appeared before him must mean there’s something she wants. Rudger slowly approached the girl. The child, seemingly recognizing Rudger, didn’t run away or hide like before but she wouldn’t allow him to come within a certain distance. Rudger stopped, maintaining some distance. “Who are you looking for?” Rudger remembers when he first met that child. She said she was looking for someone. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this might be the key to the current situation. “Friend.” “Friend?” “I’m looking for my friend.” “What’s your friend’s name?” The child stared at Rudger with round, transparent eyes. “Leslie.” “...Leslie, you say?” First Order Leslie. Why would that name come up here? Rudger didn’t dismiss it as mere coincidence. Then, does this child have some connection to Leslie? Just as Rudger was about to ask about that, the girl’s form disappeared from her spot like a mirage. Right after, someone discovered Rudger and approached. “Rudger Chelici. So you were here.” “Sempas?” “Is the meeting over? How did it go?” “In 30 minutes, we’ll select people to fight and go outside the barrier.” Rudger briefly explained what they were planning to do with the ley lines. Having experienced the mansion incident, Sempas could understand without much additional explanation. “I see. So it’s come to this. They’re not easy opponents, so it won’t be an easy fight.” “Yes. That’s probably why Duke Heiback sent you to me.” “...When exactly?” Sempas looked at Rudger as if asking how he knew. “When did you notice?” “When you first picked a fight with me, I didn’t have any particular suspicions. But after that, you quietly followed along without questioning what I showed at the mansion.” “Your skills were real.” “Even so, you didn’t raise many questions about or comments on a mere teacher showing this level of skill.” “A Theon teacher isn’t just any teacher.” “Other people don’t think that way, but isn’t it strange that only you thought differently?” “...” “Given Duke Heiback’s personality, he probably sent you because he wasn’t comfortable with just me alone, to prepare for any possible situations. This isn’t exactly an ordinary matter.” Sempas bowed his head slightly, showing some remorse. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to show it.” “I know. You had to move as carefully as possible. Duke Heiback must have warned you not to let me notice.” “He said it could put you in an awkward position and might hurt your feelings. That’s why he told me to be extremely careful. Though I ended up being discovered anyway. Are you angry?” “I’m not particularly angry. I don’t plan to be emotional in this situation. I would have done the same thing if I were in the Duke’s position. Rather, I didn’t know you had connections with the Kadatushan family.” “I received help from them in the past.” “I see.” While responding like that, Rudger found the situation strangely amusing. Among the people who went to the mansion together, none had approached him out of pure curiosity. No, that’s not quite right. Roina Pavlini was the only one who acted out of pure goodwill. “So, the fact that you came looking for me means you must have found some information?” “...Can you read minds?” “What nonsense. After arriving here, you must have been going around gathering information from various places.” As Rudger pointed out, Sempas had focused on gathering information by meeting various mages at the outpost. “It must be quite important information. Important enough for you to come find me separately like this.” “Old man Limrei...his behavior was quite suspicious. I thought if he had been preparing for this for a long time, there must surely be clues. So I thoroughly questioned mages who had attended many Nights of Mystery about what he was like in the past.” “Did they answer?” “They spilled everything when I frowned a bit.” “...Sometimes infamy helps in situations like this. So what did you find out?” “First, Limrei lost his daughter here. Her name was Isabella. She belonged to the Truth faction and was quite promising among young female magic scholars at the time.” “Isabella...” Isabella went missing here. Having been caught in a magical storm, she was effectively dead. “But there was some unknown information here.” “What exactly?” “Isabella had a fiancé. And they were actually research partners too.” “...What was his name?” “Leslie.” At Sempas’ answer, Rudger thought ‘as expected.’ Limrei and Leslie were separate people after all. “A commoner without a family name. He was Isabella’s fiancé and is currently missing.” “So he was missing but alive?” “He probably joined hands with Limrei and caused this incident. The reason would be revenge against the world.” Of course, revenge wasn’t the only reason. Looking at Limrei’s plan, they intended to give freedom to Isabella’s soul trapped here. “Did you ask around about what kind of person Leslie was?” “Besides the fact that he belonged to the Truth faction, nothing else has been revealed yet. He probably didn’t have much presence even back then.” “We can’t ask other Truth faction mages...right?” “The key members didn’t make it out of the mansion.” That meant even if they wanted to know about him, it wasn’t possible right now. “For someone who belonged to the Truth faction as a young mage, he doesn’t seem to have stood out much.” “Were there young people in the Truth faction too?” “The Truth faction has many old people now, but before that, they used to get some fresh blood too. Among them, Isabella showed the most outstanding achievements, and there were other decent peers too.” Saying that, Sempas pulled out a picture and handed it over. “Where did you get this from?” “From the memorial stone set up at one corner of the outpost. There’s a temporary grave there commemorating the dead. I got it from there.” “...You took something belonging to the dead?” “This isn’t the time to worry about that.” Finding that strangely convincing, Rudger examined the picture. It was a group portrait with several people drawn together. In the center of the portrait was Tortei, looking younger than now. The senior members of the Truth faction were in the middle with Tortei at the center. And on both sides were young people who had newly joined. Rudger’s gaze moved to the right side of the picture. There was a particularly eye-catching beauty. A woman with brilliant blonde hair cut to shoulder length. “This must be Isabella.” “Yes.” “Then is that person next to her Leslie?” Rudger muttered while looking at the kind-faced man standing next to Isabella. The two were drawn close together in the picture, suggesting a special relationship. Leslie had somewhat of a naive impression. He looked like he could pass for a country boy who had just come to the capital. He didn’t match at all with the image of First Order Leslie. After all, the man he saw at Order Synod was a cold and dignified middle-aged man. ‘Time has passed, so that could be possible.’ Even this portrait was drawn very long ago. Limrei was also drawn, but he wasn’t with Tortei, instead being near his daughter Isabella. After looking at Limrei’s appearance for a while, Rudger’s eyes lit up upon discovering one person. It was a young man who looked like a soldier with a stiff expression and firmly closed lips. “Belkart Benmark.” Rudger immediately recognized the person in the portrait. He was one of the mages that Arpa had said needed to be watched out for but despite his excellent skills, he ended up being killed at the mansion. “So this person was also from the Truth faction.” He wondered why he was killed at the mansion, but it was because he was from the Truth faction. After all, Limrei had no intention of keeping Truth faction mages alive from the start. “Derek Olson? He was from the Truth faction too?” Rudger asked after discovering another familiar face in the portrait. “Ah. Yes, he was. Though he didn’t stay long.” “It seems the Truth faction alumni are all quite capable.” “Even back then, they didn’t gain their reputation for nothing. But that was long ago. Now it’s just fallen to become an afternoon tea party of old ghosts with only elderly people remaining.” “Hmm.” Derek Olson was also one of the people who went to the mansion. If he was from the Truth faction, he should have been one of Limrei’s revenge targets. Yet he survived. Was it simply luck? Or was there something else? “More importantly, is it almost time for departure?” “Yes. Not much time left.” “How are the units organized?” “There will be three teams moving. And people who work well together will move together.” Sempas nodded. “The Old Tower, New Tower, and School Association?” “Those three will be the main forces, and free-status mages will join them. So I’ll be joining one of those three.” “If we need to move separately, we can’t go together.” “We’ll probably each join the Old Tower and New Tower factions. Since Roina is with the School Association, we have no choice.” “We’ll have to do our best in our respective positions.” Sempas left saying he would try to find anything else he could in the remaining time. After confirming Sempas had left, Rudger tried to find the girl again. However, she must have already disappeared as the girl’s form was nowhere to be seen. ‘She left...’ Since she didn’t seem likely to appear even if he waited, Rudger headed to the central plaza. He needed to relay the situation to Roina and Arpa as well. ‘A girl’s soul looking for Leslie.’ Isabella’s appearance in the picture was that of a woman with striking bright blonde hair. The young girl’s hair color was the same. While it’s a common hair color, Rudger didn’t dismiss it as coincidence. ‘A dead woman’s soul searching for her fiancé, and a man trying to set her free.’ It’s truly a tragic romance but if the conclusion was mass murder, that had to be stopped. * * * The mages were divided into three teams. With deployment imminent, there were no tactless people questioning what this situation was about. Everyone clearly understood that they were facing the worst situation and what they needed to do. Their expressions were filled with extreme tension. Especially those remaining at the outpost were nearly in panic. “Why is this happening?” “We just came for tourism.” While it’s called the Night of Mystery, it’s not only mages who participate. Naturally, wealthy people and some nobles visit the Kasar Basin for the rare experience that only happens a few times a year. It was truly unlucky for those who happened to visit during this Night of Mystery. The fact that they were staying calm now when they could have been acting up was purely thanks to Queen Yekaterina. Since she, who held the highest social position here, was calm, others didn’t act up much either. While Yekaterina was relieved seeing this, she also felt somewhat regretful. ‘I also wanted to fight together with the mages departing outside the barrier now.’ But she was ignorant about magic and not very good at fighting. Forcefully pushing for something impossible was only possible in her immature days. Now she had no choice but to trust them and leave the task to them. “Still, we can’t just send them alone. You two. Please.” Yekaterina asked her two adjutants, the Vatali and Varenchina siblings, to help the mages. Her two adjutants are excellent knights. They achieved great merit in the civil war and have abundant practical experience. While not at the Master level, they’re Advanced knights, just below that. And the guard knights led by each adjutant are also composed of considerably skilled individuals. They would be of great help if they went together. “Your Majesty.” “We will carry out your orders.” While Vatali and Varenchina prioritized protecting the queen, they knew they couldn’t be stubborn in a situation like this. If the mages failed and the ley lines burst, everyone here would die. So for the queen’s sake, they rather needed to help the mages stop the Black Dawn Society trying to destroy the ley lines. “I know you two will do well.” When Yekaterina smiled gently, the two siblings and the knights lined up behind them all prostrated themselves. There was no ceremony that could be called a deployment ceremony for this mission. It would be meaningless to stand on ceremony in a situation like this. The mages moved in team units toward the outside of the barrier. The people remaining at the outpost saw them off with desperate gazes, hoping they would succeed. ‘Well, this is something.’ Rudger was with the Old Tower mages. Perhaps because they were people he hadn’t gotten along with from the start, unlike the New Tower, Rudger’s existence felt out of place. Still, if there was something fortunate, it was that there were quite a few other free-status mages so he wasn’t lonely. “Do well.” Rudger nodded at Derek Olson who greeted him. He, who was like a leader among the free-status mages, was also moving with this team. Rudger stared at Derek and replied. “Yes. I look forward to working with you.”

Chapter 394

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