164 – Fog-11

“So, what were you doing specifically?”

Before she knew it, she led me to a quiet slum. I walked carefully watching the road, but it didn’t seem like I was going round and round despite the complicated road.

“I was making something… terrible.”

It was a bit ambiguous, but I could understand it. Magicians’ things were often difficult to express in general words.

The monster that the wizard and the Farseer created in the middle ground right now was roughly described as a ‘flesh giant’, but that wasn’t really a word that could accurately describe the monster.

“Is it like a chimera?”

“…It was a bit… too perfect and sophisticated to be called a chimera.”

“Perfect?”

Lack of information. I don’t know how much knowledge she has about magic, and my knowledge about magic is not that great.

I could tell that it wasn’t a normal piece of flesh, but I couldn’t understand how strong it was.

“that is…”

The magician looked at me and hurriedly turned his head with a scared face.

I covered my face with a cloth and put on the hoodie I had just bought at the store. To someone I don’t know, I might look more like a suspicious wizard than that seemingly ordinary woman.

“To explain right now… I don’t know. I’m sorry. I don’t know much…”

“Wasn’t the giant created in the middle ground originally your magic?”

“Yeah, but! I don’t know! How to suddenly inflate an organism like a balloon, in the first place, I never knew!”

“…is that so.”

He knew that Farseer had intervened in the magic. However, due to my lack of knowledge of magic, I was not sure exactly how much I intervened or how much the Farseer distorted the wizard’s magic.

“In the first place, I had no intention of using black magic. I couldn’t attend magic school, so I just used magic at random!”

The wizard held onto my robe as if unfairly and did not let go. I didn’t stop walking, but on the contrary, I walked ahead. If you go to the wrong place, she will take care of it.

“The golem I made was also something that I had to collect hard stones by hand and pay a large sum of money to a stonemason to finally shape! But something strange was covered on top…”

“That’s kind of surprising.”

It is said that an unlicensed wizard is a black magician, but there are rare people who are full of talent and can use magic without learning.

Of course, a being born with such a genius talent would fall far short of a human named Farseer, who is the result of endless research and training for an absurd amount of time.

Even so, it was a wizard who had a reason for Farseer to bring him in a hurry.

“You said it was an organization of wizards. I may not know, but do you know who is the key to it?”

“that…”

The wizard was silent. Maybe it was banned, or I didn’t know at all, or I wasn’t sure if I could trust me that much.

“If you’re having a hard time talking, there’s no need to overdo it.”

actually. I didn’t even want to believe what she said. The sense of incongruity that was tickling one side of my heart was growing bigger and bigger with no sign of disappearing.

“It’s not… no, I’ll tell you.”

However, if she said she would release the information herself, there was no reason to refuse.

The wizard’s eyes trembled. As if he didn’t even have the courage to face me face to face.

“The person who took me back… The owner of the Mage Tower. It’s Mr. Farseer.”

“…Is that so.”

It was hard to believe.

There were countless reasons to doubt the Farsi language.

Assuming the magician’s words were true, Farseer was the only person who had the ability to secretly move the magic tower and create a creature too sophisticated to be called a chimera.

However, it was questionable that such important information could be so easily unraveled.

Laurel and Cristina immediately suspected Farseer. They didn’t have enough information, and to suspect Farsi was, in a sense, a common-sense suspicion.

The magician and emperor captured on the spot would have known the truth. At least, he would have obtained much more accurate and huge information than Laurel and Christina.

However, they did not readily give information. The emperor only made a shocking proposal, but did not answer the question of who the culprit was.

The sorcerer who turned himself in had an attitude that might reveal who the culprit was, but stopped talking as if something was off limits.

And, they all left the word to check ‘by myself’.

“Pierre… Really?”

“J-It’s real. He’s a really nice person and a benefactor to me… but if left unattended, terrible things might happen.”

“okay.”

However, she made no resistance. He told me about the monster so obediently. I couldn’t help but be dubious.

He might not have been banned because he was not a ‘key force’ in Farseer’s scheme, but he had too much information for that.

Not only did he know where to find the evidence, but he also knew that Farseer was the culprit behind all these incidents and what was coming out of him.

“I-I really am! Trust me!”

The wizard shouted urgently, but my question was not resolved.

Even more ironic, the possibility that she was wrong is now far too small. Like it or not, there was too much evidence to cast doubt on Farsi.

It is said that the captive wizard was the highest ranked wizard in the Mage Tower. He didn’t know in detail about the power relations inside the Mage Tower, but he didn’t see a wizard other than a Farseer who could give him orders and put a ban on him.

I’m sure you’re saying the right thing, but no matter how much you think about it, it’s a lie. No matter how much I struggled with this contradictory feeling, it did not go away.

“…Okay. Let’s keep going.”

I put my doubts about Farsi in the back of my head, and I put her in front and quietly followed her.

“I’ve arrived. Please be quiet from now on. If you open your mouth, you might get caught in a strange place.”

There was tension in his voice. After taking a deep breath, the wizard knocked on the door of an ordinary house that was no different from any other house.

“Well…”

It was felt. This house is something different. An ominous smell of magical power is pouring out. It was so well hidden that even I couldn’t notice it unless I stood in front of the door.

It was here.

What was frustrating was that the smell of death was not only coming from here. Most of the slums are like that, but it seems like someone died here yesterday or this morning.

It wasn’t that an evil organization killed someone through a dastardly plot, it was just a death caused by fighting and quarreling among themselves.

“Are you inside?”

There was no answer, but she kept knocking on the door. After about five minutes, the door slowly opened with an audible screeching sound.

“Oops, someone said… Aren’t you a little girl? Who’s behind you?”

“…You’re here for work.”

An old man with a dull face opened the door. The way he looked at me was not very pleasant.

“Because of work? I didn’t think there would be any outsiders going in and out. Besides, bringing them all this way… kid. Are you crazy?”

His eyes turned grim. I quietly put my hand on the handle of my sword and prepared for his surprise attack.

“I won’t need any more stuff, and even if I bring them, I’ll have to meet them outside. Meeting them inside is ridiculous. What’s the plan?”

Magic power was rushing into his hands. Although he hadn’t learned foot swordsmanship, he was able to cut him down within seconds with the warrior’s physical abilities.

However, the sorceress calmly caught her breath and confidently answered his words.

“This is an order from the Archmage. Are you going to disobey it?”

Are they selling the Farseer name? However, the wizard didn’t seem to be complacent either. If you’re a mage above a certain level, you’ll have a means of contacting them, at least within the capital.

“That, that’s… Don’t take that name lightly! But, you can’t interrupt it. You’re here on business in the basement, right? Go down.”

Perhaps she had a plan of her own, the sorceress succeeded in making the old man retreat without my help. Me and her, after opening a secret passage, stood in front of the stairs leading to the basement.

“…This is the front. If you go in, you’ll understand everything.”

“I’m sure it is.”

From the moment the aisle door opened, the stench of corpses filled my nostrils. Undoubtedly, what’s inside must be the culprit behind everything I’ve been searching for so long.

“I’m sorry… but I’ll wait in front of you.”

“Okay. That’s a wise choice.”

If something had to be fought, it was better to fight alone than to protect her. To be honest, I wasn’t confident not to kill her during the melee.

“And please… I know this is wrong… but please treat Farseer warmly. Seriously, he’s a good person…”

Still I couldn’t figure out her intentions.

If you’re trying to frame a Farseer, these words were useless.

But, at least to my senses, it was the only thing she ever said to me when she met me that seemed to be the only one she said sincerely.

“I’ll try.”

With that last word, I went down into the basement.