Leo let out a breath of air and opened his eyes. He had been training in his magic spells continually for the past 36 hours. The only spell that was being trained was the Shadow Veil.
He was even planning on going on, but he stopped because something happened in the outside world. Just as he opened his eyes the sun started to set. As it did, the air became a little heavy. It wasn't as huge of a difference to affect someone of his strength, but the people outside noticed.
When the people on the streets noticed that their movements were a little sluggish, they started to scramble back to their houses. As the sun went down, it became harder and harder to breathe. The minute it completely set, the people left on the streets almost collapsed onto the ground. They kept crawling in the direction they needed to go in.
Leo looked out of the window and noticed this. His expression became somber but stayed in his room. The people were still safe since they would be in the safety of the city. His attention was on the rattling of his dimensional ring.
He opened the ring and took out the source of the disturbance. His mouth curved into a grin when he saw what it was. It was the compass. When he held it in his hands, it glowed brightly. The glow dimmed, revealing the runes etched on the wooden frame.
The needle of the compass spun erratically before slowing down. He waited for it to come to a halt. Once it did, he looked in that direction. It was no longer pointing west like before. This time it was south.
He put the compass back in his dimensional ring and stretched his arms. A wave of his hand cast the magic to disguise himself After that, he walked out of his room and to the counter below.
When he got down, he noticed that the person on the counter was barely standing up. She was taking the support of the desk in front of her to keep standing. He shook his head while taking out a note from his dimensional ring. The note was slapped onto the desk. The girl looked up to see who it was.
"This should cover my stay," Leo said before turning around to leave.
The girl looked at the note and gaped. It was 50000 Starcoins. She looked up to call him to return the change, but he was nowhere to be seen.
The minute he left the inn, he shot himself up into the sky. No one was there to witness the blur that shot across the city. Except for one person.
An unfortunate woman just arrived at Phoenix Greens in search of a certain blonde-haired man. It was Elise Fairmount.
She had first gone to her own city, the city of Fairmount, to inform her father about the case. It took her only 4 hours to get there. She had entered the hall where her father conducted business to report what happened.
She walked up the long hall and stood in front of her father. He looked up from the documents he had in his hand. He waved his hand, silencing the people who were sitting in two rows on each side of the hall.
"What do you want? I thought I assigned you to a case?" He said.
"Yes, Marquis Fairmount. I have come to report my progress to you. My dear sister has been murdered," she said.
Her words caused a few whispers in the back end of the hall, while the people in the front showed no change in their expression. The people in the middle had no idea who she was even talking about, so they were confused.
"Who was it?" Marquis Fairmount asked.
Elise's expression turned grim.
"I don't know, lord. I tried to find out who it was and encountered a 2nd Circle Aura Knight who was snooping around that location. He claimed he was from Eldridge. I questioned him but didn't realize that his presence was unnatural.
I let him go but tried to get him back to further question him. However, he disappeared in this short time. I suspect that there was a mage involved in his escape, as I saw one mage flee the scene shortly after. I couldn't chase after them because they were a lot faster than me," she said, hoping it would be enough to satisfy her father.
She was looking down while talking because she was too scared to meet his eyes.
"Elise," her father softly said. She looked up with hope, only to meet his cold eyes. "I am disappointed that you came to me after you have failed me this badly. How were you able to come back after letting a mere 2nd Circle Aura Knight escape under your nose?"
His words pierced into her like swords.
"You will go to Eldridge to request them to look for this individual. And if you don't find him there, you will go to every city in the vicinity of where your sister died," the Marquis said. "Do you understand?"
She nodded. "Yes, Marquis Fairmount." She turned around and walked out of the hall. As she was walking, the people behind her resumed their conversation. One of the people near the Marquis asked him about the case.
"Marquis, who is it that is dead?" The closest person to the Marquis' right asked him.
"It isn't someone important. Just my 13th Daughter. She would only have been married off to a Baron or a Viscount's second son. Her aptitude in magic or aura was also subpar.
This is only to see who dared to attack someone belonging to the Fairmount family. Of course, if the person is someone of notable status then it isn't even worth pursuing." he said in response.
Elise who was in earshot of the conversation smiled bitterly. She was assigned such a case that wasn't even important in her father's eyes but she had no choice but to do what he told her.
She had used the authority associated with her last name to request the Marquis of Eldridge for permission to conduct her investigation. After that, she had asked every guard in the city if they admitted a blonde-haired person into the city.
With blonde being a slightly rare hair color, the guards were easily able to recall if there was anyone with that peculiar hair type. Unfortunately for her, there wasn't anyone who had entered the city.
So she embarked on a trip back to the location where she met Leo. On the way there, she saw a few boards that were directed to Phoenix Greens. She changed her destination to Phoenix Greens.
However, her luck was so horrible that the night she had chosen to go to the city over the forests with Magical Beasts happened to be the night of the Blood Moon.
She had to escape the multiple Magical Beasts that attacked her the minute they saw her. By the time she got to the city, she was exhausted. Thankfully, she was a 3rd Circle Mage, or she would have been affected by the changes due to the Blood Moon.
