"And you think that's a good idea… why?"
A middle-aged man in expensive red robes was currently looking at a younger man wearing cheaper-looking grey robes.
"I just want to be careful, sir," the younger man said with nervousness.
The older man sighed. "Boy, do you have any idea how much money it costs to deactivate and activate the barrier?"
The younger man looked with uncertainty at the ground. "I don't know, sir, but I think carelessness can lead to worse outcomes."
"Carelessness?" the older man repeated with a raised brow. "There is a difference between being careful and being paranoid. Checking the surroundings for beasts while going through a forest is careful. Buying a grade five mobile deflection barrier for a stroll through your garden is paranoia."
The younger man looked uncomfortable. "But, sir, what about the Lenner Family?"
"They died. So?" The older man asked.
"Yes, and they were our allies, sir. So, wouldn't whatever targeted them target us next?" the young man asked.
The older man raised an eyebrow and looked at the younger man for a while longer. "Is this about the rumors?"
The young man didn't answer, but his eyes looked nervous.
The older man could only groan. "Really? You too?"
"Sir, several people have confirmed the rumors," the younger man said carefully.
"Boy, you have to pay attention to how much you believe of a statement," the older man said with a sigh while massaging the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
"Was the Lenner Family killed by only one person? Probably."
"Was the Lenner Family killed by some kind of Magic that no one has ever seen? Maybe."
"Was the Lenner Family killed by something that was neither beast nor Magic? Very unlikely."
"Was the Lenner Family killed by a literal white ghost? No."
"Yes, several people have confirmed that one person in white clothing has destroyed the Lenner Family and then vanished, but that doesn't mean that this person was some stupid ghost."
"We are Mages, not farmers, boy. We know more about the world than anyone else, and there is no proof of the existence of ghosts. All these ghost stories can be explained with specific phenomena that can only happen in these places."
The younger man still looked nervously at the older man.
When the older man saw the nervous look in the younger man's eyes, he took a deep breath.
Then, he pointed behind him.
"You see that? Did the Lenner Family have that?" the older man asked.
The younger man looked past the older man.
The older man stood in front of a gigantic gate nearly 200 meters tall. Slightly in front of the gate was a nearly translucent bubble that gave off a terrifying amount of Mana.
In the distance, a humongous castle made of wavy green metal stood on a hill.
If someone with a Spirit Sense came to this location, they would be able to sense over 500 High Mages in that castle, and there were even ten Peak High Mages and one Archmage!
Ding! Ding!
"We have a Medium Grade Five Repulsion Barrier," the older man said with annoyance as he knocked on the barrier behind him with his knuckles.
"This bad boy can resist an all-out assault of a Mid Archmage for over 30 seconds. The Lenner Family only had an Initial Grade Five Repulsion Barrier, and they didn't even have the added scanning function."
"Some Initial or Early Darkness Archmage probably hid amongst the visitors, reached the patriarch, assassinated him, and then destroyed everything from the inside."
"We don't have that problem, boy. If anyone tries to change their appearance or sneak in, we will know, and if they decide to attack directly, they wouldn't be getting through the barrier before an Enforcer arrives."
"We are not as helpless as the Lenner Family, boy. Get that into your head!" the older man said with annoyance.
The younger man lowered his head a bit.
He was only an Initial High Mage, and he was getting quite intimidated by his captain, who was a Late High Mage.
Yet, the younger man was still nervous.
"I understand all that, captain, but…"
A disgusted sneer appeared on the older man's face when he heard the but.
"What if it malfunctions?"
Silence.
"Malfunctions," the older man repeated.
The younger man nodded hopefully.
"That's why I think we should deactivate it, inspect it, and activate it again. I've heard of several barriers that couldn't complete their purpose due to an error that can only be found during an inspection," the younger man said.
The older man snorted. "The manufacturer wouldn't dare to let something like that happen. We could squeeze so much money out of them if they sold us a defective barrier."
"I know, but," the younger man added, "what's the point of getting money from them when we are all dead?"
"Enough!" the older man shouted. "I've had it up to here with all of your whining! We know what we are doing, and we know how to defend ourselves from invaders and attackers! Get back to work and stop bothering me! We will not deactivate the barrier because of your paranoia!"
While listening to the older man's barrage, the younger man's face scrunched up.
After the older man was done, the younger man actually looked into the older man's eyes with annoyance and disgust.
"What? Got any complaints?" the older man asked.
The younger man pulled off one of his Space Rings.
SHING!
His grey robes were replaced with a green shirt and some green pants.
The older man raised an eyebrow.
"Here," the younger man said as he shoved his Space Ring into the older man's hands. "I quit."
"Really? You quit because of your paranoia?" the older man asked with a deadpan tone.
"I don't feel safe here," the younger man said with annoyance. "And you just keep dismissing all my arguments just because it costs a bit of money to check the barrier. You're putting a couple of Mana Crystals over our lives, and I won't work for someone this irresponsible."
"Irresponsible? Pfft," the older man repeated with a snort. "Fine, then quit. Give me the SKP."
The younger man put one of his fingers onto the side of his head and began to chant a Spell.
The acronym SKP stood for Sensitive Knowledge Partition, which was the part of the mind that included all the information of a given subject that could be considered sensitive.
During employment in certain places, employees had to agree to set up such an SKP in their minds.
SKPs had a high degree of resistance towards methods of mind reading, and that knowledge could also easily be deleted if someone didn't want to work there anymore.
A couple of seconds later, a wispy grey mist came out of the man's head, and it floated over to the older man.
The older man also cast a Spell.
After looking at the grey mist for three seconds, the older man nodded and destroyed it.
"You can leave," the older man said evenly.
"Bye," the younger man said without any enthusiasm as he walked away from the older man.
The older man didn't say anything.
For several minutes, the older man only stood alone in front of the gate and barrier.
He was supposed to show the former new recruit the ropes of his new job, but it seemed like he would need to guard the gates alone for the remainder of his shift.
"The people don't know how good they have it here," the older man grumbled.
The entrance of the huge castle was pointing to the west, and dusk was slowly arriving.
The older man watched the dusk with calm interest. The dusks in this place always looked amazing due to all the mountains and colors.
It also gave him some peace of mind and distracted him from his stressful job.
He often volunteered to show the new people around since he would get a shift of peace out of it, while his substitute inside the castle needed to manage all the security matters.
As the older man watched the dusk, he noticed something moving at the edge of his vision.
He furrowed his brows and looked down the long road.
'What is that?' he thought. 'I can't feel anything there with my Spirit Sense, but I swear I'm seeing something.'
'Is that… a guy?'
The older man squinted his eyes and quickly casted a Spell that improved his eyesight.
Then, he saw what it was, and he took a deep breath.
'Is that a ghost?!'
