By Zephyria Hugo, who came out of the tavern, quickly scanned the faces of the drunkards leaning nearby and went down the stairs. Then, he scanned the dark scenery of the village and looked for the man wearing a black cloak.
However, as soon as he chased after him, the man had already disappeared and could not be seen, and he hurriedly checked the nearby alleys and took out the detector, but the light of the detector was also silent.
Whether the faint magic power that had been hovering around earlier belonged to him, the energy that had been felt also stopped as soon as he disappeared. It meant that he had left this area.
‘Teleportation?’
The fact that he had disappeared in such a short time to the point of erasing his presence could only be explained by teleportation or moving through a portal.
He regretted not checking the man’s identity right away when he sensed something strange, but since the situation did not allow it, he decided to put that thought aside for now.
He thought that Leonardo might have heard rumors of someone chasing him and was spying on him, but there were many other people with magic power besides him, so even if he found someone with magic power here, he wouldn’t think it was too strange. He couldn’t suspect everyone was him.
Besides, the magic power of the man who disappeared was considerably weaker than the magic power of Leonardo that he had expected, and its nature was also different.
‘What I felt was water. Definitely not fire.’
As his main attribute was ice and water, Hugo could feel things related to the water attribute better than others. In addition, he could sense fire, which was the opposite of his attribute, as sensitively and quickly as his main attribute. According to his judgment, the attribute of the magic power that had been felt until just now was clearly water, not fire.
At least it didn’t seem like the guy he was desperately looking for, so he didn’t feel the need to track down the disappearing energy. However, the man’s behavior, which seemed to be watching his every move, was clearly suspicious.
It could be that he just felt the magic power of the outsider was unfamiliar and dangerous, but Hugo didn’t think so.
First of all, his adjutant, Flynn, had considerable talent in magic power control, so unless he made direct physical contact, it would be difficult to distinguish that he was a magician with the naked eye and senses.
And he himself had been consciously concealing his magic power since he entered this village. In other words, the man in the cloak was spying on those who just felt like ordinary people, not because he felt magic power.
What on earth could be the reason for that? Just because they were outsiders?
Hugo looked at the nearby roof and jumped up onto it lightly. Then, he habitually looked around, but soon decided to stop chasing the footsteps of the man who had disappeared without a trace.
He thought that there was no need for someone who was about to leave this place to take risks to spy on and check on someone. If the man had been hovering around him with some purpose, he would surely show up again soon.
“Commander?”
Flynn, who had hurriedly followed his superior, also climbed onto the roof and stood next to Hugo. Looking around, he realized that the man in the cloak had disappeared as well and asked Hugo.
“Shall we look for him?”
Hugo shook his head at that.
“No, it seems he’s already left the vicinity.”
* * *
The two returned to the tavern on the first floor of the inn. They apologized for suddenly running out and talked to the men a little more.
As a token of appreciation, they paid for all the men’s tables, and the drunken men called Hugo a cool brother and Flynn a loyal younger brother, and strengthened their friendship soaked in alcohol. Later, as the night deepened, they staggered back to their respective homes.
Hugo, who went up to his room, opened the artifact and took out a communication magic tool from it. Then, he contacted another adjutant, Gabe Landon.
“Gabe.”
—Commander? Did you catch him already? Should I send support?
Gabe seemed quite surprised, thinking that Hugo had already caught Leonardo and contacted him.
“No, it’s not that, I have something to find out.”
—What is it?
“About two weeks ago, about ten demon beast carcasses were found in frost territory. Is there a report about it?”
—Yes? In frost territory? Isn’t that where you are now, Commander? That area is not reported to be a demon beast appearance area, so if it had been reported, both you and I would remember it.
“I thought so too, but I heard that a demon beast carcass was found in this area.”
—Hmm…, please wait a moment.
After a brief wait, Gabe’s voice was heard again along with the sound of rummaging through something.
—First of all, there is no report about the demon beast carcass in the most recent record that was uploaded ten days ago. I even searched through all the frost territory reports for three months, but there was no content related to demon beasts.
“I thought so…. Any other special features?”
—Hmm…, if I had to say something special, there’s that Delberg merchant group, right? They mainly travel around big cities, but recently, a related person visited frost territory. There are few residents there, so it doesn’t seem like there’s anything that would make money.
“…If the story of the demon beast carcass is true, that may be why Delberg approached. I heard that it was in a box when it was discovered, so it looks like it was being distributed as a product.”
—Oh, so it’s smuggling? But ten demon beasts of average size wouldn’t make that much money.
Hearing Gabe’s words, Hugo stared silently at the mountainous area outside the window, which was dark and not easily visible. Then, thinking about something, he said to Gabe.
“There won’t be just ten.”
* * *
Gabe conveyed a few more reports to Hugo. In frost territory, natural wildfires occasionally occur due to the dry climate, so the lord hired a water magician to take care of it.
At that, Hugo naturally recalled the magic power of the water attribute that he had felt from the man in the black cloak earlier. There was no evidence that they were the same person, but for some reason, he had doubts about his existence and purpose.
At first, he vaguely speculated that it was related to Leonardo because fires often broke out, but as the connection seemed to slip away, he felt that he was moving away from his original purpose.
In the end, Hugo decided to stop thinking for a while and take a rest for tomorrow.
When the day dawned, he thought of first visiting Count Serbia’s estate, the lord of frost territory, with the authority of the commander of the Council’s central branch, and asking about the whereabouts of the demon beast carcass before going to sleep.
The incident occurred at the time when he had just fallen into a deep sleep.
“Commander, something terrible happened! Wake up, it’s a fire!”
Hugo woke up to the sound of someone knocking on the door urgently. When he opened his eyes at the commotion, he saw that the mountainside outside the window was on fire.
Hugo immediately put on his coat and went outside. Flynn was standing outside the door with an urgent expression.
“Why did the fire suddenly break out?”
“I don’t know either. I woke up because it was noisy, but it was already like that.”
He also seemed quite out of his mind because he had suddenly woken up. Following the tip of Flynn’s finger, he shifted his gaze, and near the place where the fire broke out, people were carrying water back and forth to put out the fire.
It was close to the houses, so if it continued like this, the fire could spread and spread to other houses. Flynn asked Hugo with an anxious face.
“Commander, what should we do?”
Hugo had tried to hide the fact that he was a magician as much as possible. However, his pride and sense of justice did not allow him to wait until the magician who was hired to put out the forest fire in frost territory came.
He glared at the blazing flames outside the window and turned to Flynn, saying.
“We prioritize our duty.”
“Yes!”
Flynn answered vigorously as if he had been waiting for it. Soon, the two flew to the place where the fire broke out at once.
As they got closer, the body of the raging fire seemed more ferocious and huge. It was not a fire that could be easily caught just by people carrying water. At that, Hugo went to the fire and said to the people who were struggling to carry water.
“Everyone, step back.”
The villagers, startled by his sudden appearance, widened their eyes and asked.
“W-who are you?”
In the urgent situation, a cold and fierce-looking man suddenly appeared and told them to step back, so the bewildered villagers stared blankly at Hugo. Then, Hugo looked down at them with sharp eyes and said once again in a solemn voice.
“Step back.”
Feeling the oppressive force as if he wouldn’t make him say the same thing twice, the frightened people stopped pouring water and hesitated, stepping back. At that, Flynn smiled awkwardly and shouted.
“Okay, okay, we’ll put out the fire, so everyone step back!”
Hugo looked at the fire in front of him again. The scale of the fire was not uncontrollable, but it was large enough to be threatening, and the spread rate was very fast even though the wind was not strong.
Also, unlike natural forest fires that occur deep in the mountains, the location presumed to be the ignition point was quite close to the village. In other words, it was likely an accident where a spark from a fire used in a private house spread, or it was arson.
Under Flynn’s command, people retreated to some extent from the fire site. Then, a blue magic circle appeared in front of Hugo, confirming that the distance had been secured. The magic circle, which was gradually widening, became as large as the height of the raging fire.
Soon, countless streams of water began to gush out from the magic circle, and a powerful spray of water was embedded in the fire as if long, thick snakes were rushing in with their mouths wide open. People thought that the shape was like huge water snakes swallowing the fire in an instant.
At that time, the embers of the blazing flames scattered in all directions as the stream of water slammed into the ground.
Flynn quickly put up a barrier in front of the villagers to prevent the embers from splashing on them. The stream of water stirred the ground like it was hacking it to pieces, preventing the flames from gaining momentum. Soon, the embers that had scattered and spread widely were quickly suppressed by the powerful water bombardment.
People exclaimed as the magicians quickly suppressed the big fire. Even though the spilled water was overflowing to their ankles and their pants were all wet, and the spicy smoke was spreading and causing them to cough, they did not stop cheering.
“It’s a magician!”
“Oh my gosh, thank you!”
“He put out the fire in an instant!”
The confused people immediately flocked around Hugo as if they had seen the savior of their lives. However, everyone paused as he, exuding a cold energy, immediately turned around. Hugo scanned them carefully and asked a villager at the very front.
“Are there no guards here? Why is it that there are no guards or anyone coming to put out the fire besides the villagers when there’s a fire?”
His question made the villagers look at each other. Then, one of them spoke up.
“Usually, when a wildfire breaks out, guards and mages from the frost territory put it out. But most of the fires happened deep in the mountains, and this is the first time it’s happened so close to the village…. Also, it’s dawn, so I don’t think they know about the fire yet.”
Hugo frowned. It didn’t make sense.
It was only logical that they would notice a fire near a residential area faster than one in the mountains. But quite some time had passed since the fire started and he put it out, and yet, those from the Lord’s Castle of the frost territory were nowhere to be found.
Flynn glanced at the Captain, who was sighing, and asked the villager again, hoping to get a little more information.
“Does anyone know the cause of this fire? Somewhere the fire could have spread from, or someone who saw someone setting the fire.”
Flynn asked, keeping open the possibility that Leonardo Blaine might be behind this fire. But the people looked around at each other and answered as if they didn’t know.
“I came out after waking up….”
“Me too….”
“Isn’t it just a wildfire?”
Everyone seemed to have little interest in the cause of the fire.
Flynn thought that wildfires were so common that the villagers had become desensitized to fire. Hugo stared at the villagers who were speaking so nonchalantly, then strode into the smoky fire site where the fire had been extinguished. Flynn hurriedly followed him.
“Captain, let’s go together!”
Hugo fearlessly entered the smoke. As it was hard to see in the dark dawn, he created a ball of light in his hand and floated it into the air. The surroundings brightened as if a street lamp had been turned on, and he immediately examined the muddy ground, which had become soggy thanks to the magic that had extinguished the fire.
“Cough―. Ugh, it stings. Captain, doesn’t it sting you?”
Flynn approached him, tears streaming down his face because of the stinging smoke. Hugo, who had been carefully touching the wet soil, said to Flynn, who had come close.
“Flynn, contact the nearest Council branch right now.”
Flynn answered immediately, but asked with a puzzled expression.
“Yes? Yes, I understand! But, what’s the matter?”
“It’s arson.”
Hugo said firmly, as if convinced. After a moment of silence after hearing the answer, Flynn recalled what he had said before and cautiously continued.
“Arson? If you think Blaine is the cause of the fire… you said that it would be harder to catch Blaine if there were too many people. Is it okay to call in the Council investigators?”
At Flynn’s question, Hugo picked up a handful of burnt soil and held it out in front of him.
“Don’t you smell something?”