Episode 394 Anxious Search (1)
Rudgar doesn’t know who that girl is.
But I knew what it was.
‘The soul of a dead person, not a living person.’
Rimray said that those who died here were imprisoned for eternity.
If that was true, that child was the remains of someone who had died here.
However, the number of people who died in Kasar Basin would be quite high, but the girl was the only one who took on such a distinct human form. No,
it was not the only one.
According to Arfa’s observation, there were other spirits in that forest too.
Even considering that, it was undeniable that the girl in front of him was a rare case.
The fact that such a ghost appeared in front of oneself must mean that there is something desired.
Rudger slowly approached the girl.
The child did not run away or hide like before, probably recognizing Ludger.
However, it was not allowed to come to a certain distance.
Rudger stopped at some distance.
“Who are you looking for?”
Rudger remembers the first time he met that child.
The child said he was looking for someone.
I couldn’t get rid of the thought that maybe that might be the key to the current situation.
“friend.”
“friend?”
“I am looking for a friend.”
“What is your friend’s name?”
The child stared at Ludger with round, transparent eyes.
“Leslie.”
“…Leslie?”
First Order Leslie.
Why does that name appear here?
Rudger did not dismiss it as a mere coincidence.
Then, does this child have some kind of connection with Leslie?
The moment Rudger was about to ask, the girl’s figure disappeared from the spot like a mirage.
Soon after, someone spotted Rudger and approached him.
“Ludger Chelsea. You were here.”
“Is it Sempas?”
“Is the meeting over? How did it go?”
“After 30 minutes, we call out someone to fight and go out of the barrier.”
Rudger gave a brief explanation of what they were up to in the leyline.
Since it was Sempas who had been through the mansion, he was able to understand immediately without further explanation.
“is it. In the end it turns out like this. It won’t be an easy fight because they’re not formidable.”
“okay. So Duke Hayback must have sent you to me.”
“…when the hell?”
Sempas stared at Ludger with a gaze asking how he knew.
“Since when did you notice?”
“When I first started fighting, I didn’t have any doubts. But after that, even when I showed you at the mansion, he silently followed me without complaining.”
“Because your skills were real.”
“Even so, I didn’t really question the fact that a single teacher showed this level of ability.”
“Seorn’s teachers are not just teachers.”
“Isn’t it strange that other people don’t think so, but only you think differently?”
“…..”
“Because of Duke Heyback’s personality, I’m anxious on my own, so he must have sent him there in preparation for an unexpected situation. Because this is not an ordinary thing.”
Sempas bowed his head, expressing a little regret.
“I’m sorry. I had no intention of teasing.”
“Know. You should have moved as carefully as possible. Duke Heyback would have warned me not to be found out.”
“Because you said that their position would embarrass you and make you feel bad. So he told me to be careful. I got caught up in the end though. Are you angry?”
“I am not very angry. I’m not going to get emotional in this situation. If I were in the Duke’s position, I would have acted the same way. Rather, I didn’t know that you were related to the Kadatushan family.”
“There was something that helped me in the past.”
“Right.”
Even as Ludger answered, he strangely found the situation funny.
Of the people I went to the mansion with, no one approached me out of pure curiosity.
no, isn’t it?
Roina Pavlini was the only one who acted out of pure goodwill.
“So you came to me, so you must have found out some information, right?”
“…Can you read minds?”
“What a strange sound. After arriving here, he must have wandered around to get information.”
As Ludgar pointed out, Sempas focused on gathering information by meeting various wizards at the outpost.
“This seems to be quite important information. If it’s enough to come here separately like this.”
“Old Man Rimray… His behavior is so suspicious. He thought that if he had been preparing for this for a long time, he would probably have a clue. So I eagerly asked the magicians who attended the Mystic Night about what he was like in the past.”
“Did you answer me?”
“I frowned a little, so I started drinking alcohol.”
“…Sometimes notoriety helps in this way. So what happened?”
“Once, Rimray lost his daughter here. Her name is Isabella. As a member of the School of Truth, she was said to be quite promising among young female magicians at the time.”
“It’s Isabella…”
Isabella is missing from here.
Being caught up in a magical storm, it was virtually the same as being dead.
“But there was some unknown news here.”
“What is that?”
“I heard that Isabella had a fiancée. And we actually studied magic together.”
“…What’s your name?”
“Leslie.”
In response to Sempas’ answer, Rudger was as expected.
Limray and Leslie were, after all, separate people.
“A commoner without a castle. He was Isabella’s fiancé and is now missing.”
“He’s missing, but he’s alive.”
“Probably, he worked hand in hand with Rimray to do this. The reason must be revenge against the world.”
Of course, revenge isn’t the only thing.
Listening to Rimray’s plan, they intended to free Isabella’s soul imprisoned here.
“Have you inquired about what kind of person Leslie is?”
“Nothing has been revealed yet except that he was a member of the School of Truth. It probably didn’t have much of a presence at the time.”
“I can’t ask a magician belonging to another school of truth… I can’t.”
“Because the key personnel couldn’t get out of the mansion.”
Even if they wanted to know about him, they said it was impossible right now.
“At that time, it seems that he did not stand out much for a young wizard belonging to the School of Truth.”
“Were there any young people in the School of Truth?”
“There are a lot of old people in the School of Truth now, but before that, clear water came in. Among them, Isabella showed the most outstanding performance, and she had good motives.”
Saying that, Sempas took out a picture and held it out.
“Where did you get this from?”
“A memorial stone erected on one side of the outpost. There are makeshift tombs in honor of those who died there. I got it from there.”
“…You brought the things of the dead?”
“Now is not the time to question that.”
Strangely convinced by that statement, Rudger looked at the painting.
The painting was a group portrait painted by several people together.
In the center of the portrait was a picture of Tortei, looking younger than he is now.
The leading figures of the School of Truth centered on Tortei are in the middle.
And there were new young people on both sides.
Rudger’s gaze turned to the right side of the painting.
There was one beauty that stood out.
It was a woman with short, radiant blonde hair.
“This must be Isabella.”
“okay.”
“Then is the person next to him Leslie?”
Ludger muttered that while looking at the man with a good impression standing next to Isabella.
The two were closely attached to each other in the painting, as if suggesting that they had a special relationship.
Leslie had a somewhat naive impression.
It’s good enough to be called a country boy who has just moved to the countryside.
Something didn’t match the character of First Order Leslie at all.
The image he saw at the Order Synod was a cool-headed and dignified middle-aged man.
‘It could be because the years have passed.’
Right now, this portrait was painted a long time ago.
Rimrey is also depicted, but he is not with Tortei, but near his daughter Isabella.
Ludger looked at Rimray for a while, then found one and his eyes lit up.
A hard expression and a firm mouth.
It looked like a young man looking like a soldier.
“It’s Belkat Benmark.”
Rudger recognized the person in the portrait at once.
He was the one who had been put on the list of wizards to care about, as Arfa had said.
However, despite his outstanding skills, he was murdered in the mansion.
“Is this person also from the School of Truth?”
When I asked why he was murdered in the mansion, it was because he was from the School of Truth.
Because Rimrey had no intention of keeping the Truth School magicians alive in the first place.
“Derek Olsen? He was also from the School of Truth?”
Rudger noticed another familiar face in the portrait and asked.
“ah. It was. I didn’t stay that long, though.”
“It seems that all the members of the School of Truth are quite in tune.”
“Even if it was in the past, it’s not like I’m gaining fame for nothing. But that was a long time ago. Now it has degenerated into a tea party for the ghosts, with only the elderly remaining.”
“Hmm.”
Derek Olsen was among those who went to the mansion.
If he was from the School of Truth, he would have been one of Rimray’s revenge targets.
Yet he survived.
Was it simply luck? Or is there something else?
“Rather than that, are you leaving soon?”
“okay. Time is running out.”
“How about the personnel organization?”
“It will be a total of three teams that are moving. And people who agree with each other will move.”
Sempas shook his head.
“The Old Magic Tower, the New Magic Tower, and the Association of Schools?”
“Those three will be the main pillars, and wizards with free status will participate. So I’m going to be in one of those three.”
“If we have to move apart, we won’t be able to go together.”
“Perhaps the two of us will go together with the factions of the Old and New Magic Towers. It can’t be helped because Roina is a member of the School Association.”
“Each of us should do our best in our respective positions.”
Sempas left, saying that he would find anything he could find for the rest of his time.
After confirming that Sempas had left, Ludger tried to find the girl again.
However, the girl’s figure was nowhere to be seen, probably because she had already disappeared.
‘Has he gone…’
It didn’t look like he would appear after waiting, so Ludger headed towards the central square.
First of all, it was necessary to convey the situation to Roina and Arfa.
‘It’s the soul of a girl looking for Leslie.’
In the picture, Isabella was a woman with bright blonde hair.
The little girl’s hair was the same color.
If it’s common, it’s a common hair color, but Rudger didn’t dismiss it as a coincidence.
‘Is it the soul of a dead woman who is looking for her fiancé and the man who wants to free her?’
It is truly a tragic romance.
But if the ending was genocide, it had to be prevented.
* * *
The wizards were divided into three teams.
There was no one who didn’t notice what the situation was right now ahead of the campaign.
Everyone was facing the worst and had a clear sense of what they were supposed to do.
The young thing on the expression is extreme tension.
In particular, those who would remain at the outpost were on the verge of panicking.
“Why is this happening?”
“We just came to tour.”
It’s a night of mystery, but not all wizards participate.
Of course, rich rich people and some nobles come to Kasar Basin to experience rare experiences that are rare in a year.
It must have been very unlucky for them to come on this mysterious night.
It was purely thanks to Queen Catherine that they, who could have gone wild at any moment, remained still now.
She, who has the highest social position in this position, is calm, so the others did not go wild.
Ekaterina was glad to see that, but felt a little bit sad.
‘I wanted to fight alongside the wizards who are leaving the barrier right now.’
However, she is unfamiliar with magic and is not very good at fighting.
Forcibly pushing for something that doesn’t work is possible only when you’re immature.
Now I had no choice but to trust them and leave the work to them.
“But we can’t just let them go. Two minutes, please.”
Ekaterina asked her two lieutenants, brother and sister Bartali Barencina, to help the wizards.
Her two lieutenants are excellent knights.
He also made an outstanding contribution in the civil war and has a wealth of practical experience.
It is not a master level, but it is an advanced article that can be said to be right below it.
And the escort knights led by each lieutenant were also composed of quite talented people.
Together they will be of great help.
“Queen.”
“I will follow your orders.”
Bartali and Barencina made protecting the queen their top priority, but they knew they couldn’t be stubborn in the current situation.
If the wizards fail and the leyline bursts, then everyone in this place will die.
So, for the sake of the queen, they had to help the wizards stop the Black Dawn from destroying the leyline.
“The two of you will do just fine.”
Ekaterina smiled softly, and the two siblings and the knights lined up behind them all prostrated themselves.
There was nothing that could be called a launching ceremony for this mission.
It was meaningless to pursue formality in the current situation.
The wizards moved in teams and headed outside the barrier.
The people who remained at the outpost saw them off with eager eyes, hoping that they would succeed.
‘This is true.’
Ludger was with the wizards of the old mage tower.
Perhaps it was the God Magic Tower, but perhaps because they were not on good terms from the beginning, Ludger’s existence was inevitable.
But fortunately, there are quite a few other wizards with free status, so I’m not lonely.
“Good luck.”
Rudger nodded as he looked at Derek Olsen as he greeted him.
As a leader of the free class, he was also working with this team.
Rudgar answered, staring at Derek.
“yes. i look forward to.”
