Rita found herself facing a dilemma.
“If I’d known it’d come to this, I would’ve learned it.”
Teleportation magic required complex coordinate calculations.
However, with recent advancements in magical tools, few mages bothered to learn teleportation.
In an era where it was easier to use a well-crafted teleportation stone than to painstakingly calculate spell formulas, Rita, like many of her generation, had skipped the ‘Spell Formula Calculation’ course.
‘What do I do? Even by horseback, it’d take at least three or four hours to reach Aide Hill from the Gaia Plains. If I leave at dawn, I definitely won’t make it back by morning.’
Assuming she’d be accompanied by the elders, the only time Rita could move freely was at dawn.
That wasn’t nearly enough time to travel to and from the northern regions using only her mana.
‘I can’t exactly get a teleportation stone to Aide Hill either… In that case…’
There was only one option.
First, travel to Aide Hill using her own mana.
Then, use a return teleportation stone to get back to the Mage Tower.
‘Since this is an external inspection, they’ll provide an emergency return stone. If I return to the Tower alone in the morning, it’ll cause a stir, but…’
Rita reluctantly nodded as she planned it out in her head.
‘I’ll just say I went for a walk, got lost, and used the stone.’
It was a suspicious excuse for a first-class mage, but what could she do?
If she claimed she was too scared in an unfamiliar place, no one would reprimand her.
With the rough plan settled, Rita’s expression lightened.
***
But on the day of departure, she was dismayed to see Blena and Seth flanking her.
Unaware of her frustration, Blena grinned brightly.
“Isn’t this great? So many elders are coming along. I made the right call sticking with you.”
Blena was always eager to impress her superiors.
With so many elders joining, it was a golden opportunity to score points.
‘Blena’s one thing, but why is he here?’
Rita glanced at Seth, who stood like a statue behind Talos.
‘This version of Seth is so uncomfortable.’
In the Mage Tower, Seth was a top-tier mage who rivaled Rita for first and second place.
As a result, mischievous elders often paired them together to spur competition.
Moreover, at this time, Seth was as devoted to Talos as Rita had been, and he thoroughly disliked her.
Naturally, their relationship was far from good.
“These are top-grade emergency return stones. Take one each and keep them safe. Even though you’re from the research division, you’re all highly skilled, so we trust you.”
Just before departing for the Gaia Plains, Elder Mage Obern distributed the return stones.
Having solved her return issue, Rita inwardly cheered.
“You were told the destination is the Gaia Plains, but the real location is the Gradius Ducal Family’s villa there. Normally, research division members like you wouldn’t be brought along, but you’re exceptional…”
Talos subtly glanced at Rita.
But she was thrown off by his unexpected statement.
It was a completely unforeseen destination.
‘A private villa? So it’s a personal request from the Gradius Duke? Was there such a request?’
In the past, Talos had often taken on private requests from nobles.
Rita had always accompanied him, assisting with those tasks.
But no matter how much she racked her memory, she couldn’t recall a request from the Gradius Duke.
‘What’s going on? Was there a schedule of Talos’s I didn’t know about?’
Rita, who had been certain they were heading to a familiar location, was bewildered.
Meanwhile, the elders, accustomed to such situations, gave subtle looks to the three research division members.
It was a warning not to speak carelessly.
Elder Obern stepped in to explain to the confused trio.
“A week ago, we received a request to investigate the area. For months, livestock at the villa have been disappearing, and bone fragments and bloodstains have been found nearby. They suspect it’s a chimera and want it dealt with.”
Chimeras. The creations of mad mages.
Occasionally, chimeras crafted by underground mages surfaced.
Chimeras were monsters artificially made by combining various creatures.
Under kingdom law, creating chimeras was illegal, with severe penalties for those caught.
But during illegal creation or storage, chimeras sometimes escaped.
Before the appearance of Iskis, its fragments, and the beasts, chimeras were the most dangerous creatures to humans.
‘If it’s chimera-related, Talos might have taken it on without my knowledge.’
The fact that an illegal chimera appeared at the villa was enough to tarnish the reputation of a great noble.
The Gradius Duke likely wanted this handled discreetly, which explained why Talos himself was involved.
“But a chimera suddenly appearing here doesn’t make sense. Is there a secret lab nearby or something?”
Blena raised her hand with a question.
Rita, agreeing with her point, looked at Talos and Obern.
“There’s no lab. But a chimera is the only explanation.”
“Then does Master Talos really need to come? Is it an especially dangerous chimera?”
Blena asked dramatically, though she knew the context.
Obern coughed instead of answering.
‘Now that I think about it, wasn’t this around the time Talos got close to the Gradius Duke? And then that guy showed up.’
Rita scoffed, recalling the duke’s second son who entered the Mage Tower.
‘Alois Gradius. The fool who joined the Tower backed by his family’s influence.’
A spineless coward who fled with Talos in the end.
“The duke’s second son is recuperating at the villa, so be cautious.”
If luck was bad, she’d run into that insufferable Alois.
Sighing, Rita stepped onto the magic circle.
“Let’s depart.”
***
As an old-generation mage, Talos was skilled in spell calculations.
Even as a first-class mage, not yet exceptional, he effortlessly drew the magic circle and teleported twelve people.
A golden wind swirled, and the surroundings changed in an instant.
Standing on a lush grassy field in the blink of an eye, Rita glanced at Talos.
The ducal family had likely prepared mana stones in advance, making it smoother, but even so, the speed was impressive.
Considering the distance between the Mage Tower and the Gradius villa, it was a remarkable talent.
The elders fawned over Talos, as expected.
Rita gave them a fleeting glare.
There were five elders accompanying them to the villa.
Called elders, they were actually Talos’s peers or held ambiguous senior-junior relationships.
‘Greedy sycophants isolated in the Tower with mediocre skills.’
That was the public’s assessment.
‘During the subjugation, they fled in secret only to be devoured by a fragment.’
Knowing their pathetic fate, Rita’s gaze couldn’t be kind.
But like it or not, the elders were part of the Tower’s strength and her allies.
‘I need to think about how to make use of these arrogant people.’
There were easy ways, of course.
But for now, she had to focus on the task at hand.
***
“Welcome. I’m Kelt, the butler overseeing this villa. And this is Sir Andy Stein, in charge of security.”
The villa’s staff, eagerly awaiting the Mage Tower’s party, approached.
An elderly man in a black suit and a young knight clad head-to-toe in silver armor.
After brief introductions, Sir Andy Stein brusquely pointed to the mountain behind.
“It’s over there. You can head straight there and investigate.”
His curt, arrogant tone made the elders’ faces twist.
Even if he was from a ducal family, treating mages who traveled far to help without so much as a proper welcome—and so rudely—rubbed them the wrong way.
Blena and Seth also frowned at the treatment.
Only Talos and Rita remained unfazed.
For Talos, being looked down on by nobles was routine, and he was simply following the duke’s direct orders.
Rita, knowing the Mage Tower’s current lack of influence with nobles, was indifferent.
Still, the knight’s haughty demeanor irked her, and she glared at him for a while.
‘If I were Talos, I wouldn’t cozy up to nobles—I’d go to the royals…’
Rita’s face soured as she thought of the Lagos royal family.
The current king was frail, and the sole heir, the princess, was obsessed with swordsmanship.
She had publicly declared that the throne could go to any noble with good lineage, showing her disinterest in power.
This was why the nobles of Lagos were so bold.
‘Still, Princess Sercia is better than the nobles. At least she treats everyone equally, regardless of status, and respects them. She wouldn’t look down on the Mage Tower either.’
Of course, her unilateral actions with the saint at the end were a major issue.
Why they reached out to Iskis was something worth pondering deeply.
“It does seem like something’s there, but we haven’t seen it. A mercenary group came by a few days ago, but all they found were traces…”
The butler, Kelt, spoke cautiously, more courteous than Sir Andy.
“As you can see, this is the only large mountain around. It’s just a nameless back mountain. I think whatever it is must be coming and going through here.”
The mountain, facing north, formed a vast forest that protected the villa like a fortress.
It was a typical rural mountainous terrain.
Talos, scanning the mountain’s entrance, nodded.
“I can faintly sense mana inside the mountain. We’ll investigate thoroughly, so please return to the villa for now.”
“I hope for good news,”
Sir Andy said, subtly pressuring them before leaving with the butler.
As the elders’ angry voices erupted, Rita began walking along the path.
But after searching for a while, there were no animal tracks.
If living creatures existed in this mountain, there should at least be some footprints.
“There’s not a single trace of small animals? Were they all eaten?”
Escaped chimeras typically headed to mountains rich with wildlife.
Being carnivorous, they preferred animals with natural mana over humans.
“If they were eaten before the rain, that could explain it,”
Talos replied with a nod.
Seth approached.
“Master, there’s a strange mana residue over there. It feels like a place a chimera stayed.”
Seth’s former division was the tracking team, specializing in chimeras.
Among the mages present, he was the most knowledgeable about them, making his guess reliable.
Without hesitation, everyone rushed in the direction Seth pointed.
What they found was black dust slowly drifting among the grass.
“What’s this? Black… mana?”
“I’ve heard mana turns murky when corrupted, but…”
“Even so, I’ve never seen it this black.”
“Maybe it’s because nature’s order has been disrupted too much?”
Everyone was puzzled by the unfamiliar color of the mana.
Only Rita recognized the black mana.
It was the color associated with Iskis, its fragments, and the beasts.
‘That’s strange. They shouldn’t have appeared yet… Could it be?’
Rita’s face grew darker as she tried to deny it.
[To be continued..]
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