< 8 : Awe and Fear (4) >
“I’m starting to understand it now.”
At the entrance of an empty cave.
There, Eutenia was reading a magic book by herself, murmuring softly.
She was wearing a neat tunic that she had received from the great person she served.
It had been a week since she had received the book as a gift from him.
Eutenia had been busy trying to understand the magic book during that time.
And now, she had achieved some results.
“What I learned from my father was quite helpful.”
Eutenia’s slender finger turned the page of the thick magic book.
Magic was not an easy subject that anyone could understand.
If Eutenia had not learned the minimum education as a noble, she would have needed more time to understand the magic book.
Fortunately, Eutenia had a natural talent for handling magic.
It meant that she understood the basics of magic in just a week.
“Then, I should try it out now.”
Thud.
She closed the magic book that was open and got up from her seat.
She held the magic book in her arms and walked slowly toward the outside of the cave.
Rustle. Rustle.
Eutenia’s light footsteps brushed past the bushes.
She came out of the bushes and looked for a large stone on the ground.
A rough-looking stone was one.
And next to it was a flat-shaped stone.
Eutenia looked at the stones around her and picked up one that had a suitable weight.
“Is this weight okay?”
A heavy sensation came from her palm that held the stone.
Thump. Thump.
She tossed and caught the stone lightly and adjusted her posture.
Right after that, she threw the stone vertically high and reached out her hand toward the sky.
A blue haze bloomed from her palm and began to wrap around Eutenia’s body.
The magic that wrapped around Eutenia began to spread around her.
At that moment, Eutenia condensed her magic and used it.
“Barrier.”
Boom—!
The stone that was falling above Eutenia’s head bounced off a translucent barrier.
A hemispherical shield that spread around her protected her from the stone.
It was a low-level defensive magic, barrier.
She looked at the shield that protected her with sparkling eyes.
The barrier of blue color prevented anything from approaching her.
She poked the barrier around her with her hand, but the condensed magic blocked even Eutenia.
“It’s amazing. This must be magic.”
Swoosh.
Eutenia, who had been admiring the barrier for a while, waved her hand and scattered the gathered magic.
The solid cohesion of magic was loosened, and the barrier around her disappeared without a trace.
It was a supernatural miracle that she created in thin air with just her gesture.
It was the moment when Eutenia became interested in magic.
“If I keep learning these magics, I’m sure it will help his wish.”
Magic is a study that reproduces things and phenomena.
It reproduces phenomena by studying the flow, and imitates things by observing their essence.
That’s why extreme magic can create miracles that defy nature.
And Eutenia was a human who was born with talent for learning such magic.
A genius does not need much time to realize their potential.
Eutenia was no exception.
She recalled the contents of the magic book and reached out her hand toward the empty front.
“Shield.”
A translucent blue barrier appeared in the air where Eutenia’s hand touched.
The shield magic was not in the magic book that Eutenia received.
It was something that she implemented herself by understanding the characteristics of barrier magic.
She created a shield in midair and tapped it lightly with her hand.
Boom—!
Ripples occurred where Eutenia’s hand touched.
“It still needs some improvement. Maybe I need more magic.”
Eutenia, who had been touching the shield several times, moved her hand like before and scattered it.
She tried each magic once and wanted to modify and use it again.
She became interested in learning new magics for the first time.
After that, Eutenia continued to use barrier and shield magics and observed their changes for a long time.
Eutenia’s magic experiment lasted until sunset.
*****
The execution agency of the empire, Cloud’s Centurios branch office.
There, Rick Swail, a third-class investigator, looked at his superior.
Rick’s expression was more serious than ever.
He usually had a smile on his face and joked with his superior.
But Rick was not in a situation where he could even pretend to laugh with his superior.
The reason was the case he was reporting.
“Rick… How big is the damage of this case?”
The squint-eyed investigator who was sitting in front of Rick asked him.
Second-class investigator, Hus Allemier.
He was showing his displeasure without hiding it after hearing Rick’s report.
“Four villages disappeared.”
Rick reported to his superior in front of him with a stifling feeling.
It was a case where four villages had vanished altogether.
The villages were not destroyed or looted by bandits.
All the objects and facilities were left as they were, but only the people were all missing.
It was not a case that could be explained in normal terms.
Rick’s words made Hus scratch his throat and ask the next question.
“What’s the possibility that they were attacked by bandits?”
“Everything that could be worth money in the village was left as it was.”
“There was nothing missing?”
“Yes. There was no sign of tampering.”
If bandits had moved, there should not have been anything worth money left in the village.
But there was no trace of looting, let alone any proper bloodstains, in the village.
That was why Rick was sure that it was not the work of bandits.
Bandits could not create such a scene.
At least, it was not an act motivated by money.
Hus listened to Rick’s story and asked another question.
“What’s the possibility that they moved somewhere as a group?”
“There was no one left. Among the vanished villages, there was one with a person who had a disability, but even they disappeared without a trace.
Rick, who had a hunch, searched for signs of people around the village.
A large-scale movement would inevitably leave some clues.
But he could not find any evidence that the villagers had moved in groups near the village.
The second possibility that Hus thought of was also meaningless.
As one possibility after another was denied, Hus glared at the wooden board he was holding with a click of his tongue.
“So you’re saying that only the people disappeared without any trace?”
“Yes. At least that’s what I confirmed.”
Rick said that was the reason he came to see Hus today.
No matter how much he searched the village, he could not find any proper clues.
It was a case where only the villagers disappeared as a whole, leaving everything else as it was.
In Rick’s shallow opinion, the only thing he could guess was the work of a magician.
That’s why he came to see Hus, a high-level combat magician, to report and ask for his opinion.
But Hus showed a gloomy reaction even after hearing Rick’s words.
Even Hus, who was a magician himself, did not seem to have any idea.
“People just vanished. If it were me, I would rather focus on the fact that you couldn’t find any traces.”
“Mr. Hus. Is there any possibility that it was the work of a magician?”
“The work of a magician?”
“I mean, the possibility that they used magic to erase the village.”
Rick laid out his reasoning to Hus, who was pondering.
But Hus shook his head as soon as he heard that story.
He looked at Rick with incredulous eyes instead.
“Nonsense. If they used magic, there would be no reason for the objects around them to be intact.”
“Couldn’t they have used magic only on people?”
“Rick Swail. Do you move while distinguishing between your enemies and allies?”
“…”
“If there was such a great magic, there would be no misfortune of dying by friendly fire on the battlefield.”
Rick became speechless at Hus’s words.
He thought that if it was magic, something similar would be possible.
But according to Hus, who was a combat magician, even magic was difficult to do such a thing.
There was no magic that could identify and move objects and people separately.
That was the conclusion of this conversation.
Rick felt more frustrated by Hus’s realistic words.
“But, several villages have disappeared without a trace.”
“I think it’s more likely that you missed something.”
“…Mr. Hus.”
“But if what you said is true, maybe someone made an offering to an evil god or something.”
“Offering…?”
Offering.
The moment he heard that word, Rick felt like his chest was cleared.
It was the only clue thrown into the frustrating case.
He looked at Hus’s face with anticipation.
“I saw this in an old document. The priests who worshiped the evil god sacrificed people for their evil deeds.”
“The priests of the evil god…”
“Of course they all died in the last war. They moved directly from the holy land, so there wouldn’t be any left.”
“I see.”
“Of course I think you did a sloppy investigation.”
The priests of the evil god.
Sacrifice.
Offering.
The three keywords matched in Rick’s head and drew a picture.
If there were still priests who worshiped the evil god.
And if they were plotting something by offering people as sacrifices.
It wouldn’t be impossible to understand why four villages disappeared at once.
Rick came to a conclusion in his mind and decided to search around the village again.
“Mr. Hus.”
“Did you decide to go back and investigate?”
“I’ll find the traces of the evil god and come back.”
“What? Wait there…”
Bang.
Rick closed the door and ran outside.
The number of villages where people went missing was four.
If he searched thoroughly within their radius, he might be able to find traces of the evil god.
Clang.
Rick grabbed his sword on his waist and moved toward his horse that he had tied up.
