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The carriage stopped in the middle of the road.
As soon as Lucy got out, she moved to the coachman’s seat to assess the situation.
The old man sitting in the coachman’s seat shook his head as if he had a headache.
Lucy, curious about what was going on, quickly figured out the reason.
Ahead, a large tree had fallen across the road, blocking their path.
Realizing why the carriage had stopped, Lucy headed straight to the front to solve the problem.
The old man watched Lucy silently, his eyes filled with anticipation. “You’ll solve it with magic, right?”
As if to defy expectations, Lucy solved the problem using a more primitive method than magic.
She lifted the massive tree with her small frame and hurled it into the forest.
Boom!
A simple yet effective solution.
The old man, watching from behind, had an incredulous expression at Lucy’s immense strength.
“Are you really a magician…?”
Having easily solved the problem, Lucy was about to return to the carriage, brushing off her hands.
Just then, she noticed something strange.
The cut at the base of the fallen tree was unnaturally clean.
This meant the tree hadn’t fallen naturally—it had been intentionally cut down.
Lucy immediately signaled a warning to the old man and scanned her surroundings cautiously.
She cast a ‘physical attack shield’ with one hand and a ‘magic attack shield’ with the other, preparing herself fully.
In random encounters involving thieves, a hidden boss would occasionally appear, so she couldn’t let her guard down.
Lucy surveyed the shadowy forest.
An eerie silence filled the air.
Swish.
Silhouettes emerged between the trees.
At first, she thought they were bandits, but their swaying movements told her otherwise.
Soon, the moonlight revealed their grotesque features.
Pale skin, gaping wounds, and lifeless eyes—
Ghouls.
Cannibals that roamed graveyards, among the most repulsive of monsters.
“Did those creatures cut down the tree?”
The old man trembled in fear.
Ghouls typically lurked in battlefields littered with corpses; it was rare for them to appear in a forest like this.
Lucy, however, remained calm.
She strode toward the creatures as if heading for a casual stroll.
About twenty ghouls charged at her fiercely, resembling a pack of ravenous zombies.
In an instant, Lucy ‘teleported’ above them and chanted toward the ground.
Magic Skill.
Lightning Zeus.
A circular magic zone, thirty meters in radius, formed beneath her.
Seven bolts of lightning rained down.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The ghouls were obliterated in seconds, their bodies turning to ash.
It was a bit excessive, but given the urgency, annihilation magic was the most efficient choice.
Confirming no remaining threats, Lucy returned to the carriage.
The old man sitting in the coachman’s seat stared at her as if she were a ghost, but she ignored him.
“Is something wrong?”
“It’s just… more impressive than I expected. But I suppose it’s fine.”
“Anyway, since we’ve taken care of the problem, let’s move on.”
With no time to return to the castle, Lucy hurried things along.
As she prepared to board the carriage again, she recalled the magic she had promised to show the old man’s granddaughter.
‘What kind of magic would impress her?’
She pondered for a moment but it seemed unnecessary.
The girl, peered out of the carriage window, having secretly watched Lucy’s battle, now her eyes sparkling with excitement.
Lucy sensed they would have plenty to talk about on the journey ahead.
Fortunately, the carriage continued without further incident, and soon, they exited the forest, reaching their destination.
Gray Town.
A city surrounded by gray walls, its size was modest, easily visible at a glance.
The carriage slowed and approached the night checkpoint.
Two guards, clad in military uniforms, checked passes while stifling yawns.
“It’s been a while, Grandpa Logan.”
One of the guards noticed the girl and smiled.
“The one behind you is your granddaughter…? Oh, there are two of you?”
“One is an adventurer I hired,” Logan explained.
The guard briefly eyed Lucy with curiosity but nodded upon seeing the pendant around her neck.
“Confirmed. The city’s in chaos these days, so take care of your granddaughter.”
“Oh, come on! My granddaughter is smart enough—no need to worry!”
The old man and the guard exchanged friendly banter before being allowed entry.
Soon, the carriage arrived at a loading area, and Lucy successfully completed her first request.
Stretching as she stepped out, Lucy took a deep breath.
Though the ride wasn’t particularly comfortable, it was a valuable experience, and it hadn’t taken long.
It felt like roughly three hours had passed.
Perhaps due to the old man’s skilled driving, they had arrived an hour early.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Logan handed over five copper coins as payment.
Lucy accepted the money without protest, avoiding unnecessary suspicion, then prepared to leave leisurely.
The girl, who had bombarded her with questions about magic during the trip, waved eagerly from inside the carriage.
Central Square.
Lucy, having arrived in a new city for the first time in a while, decided to take a brief stroll through the city center before returning to the castle.
However, like most cities, the streets at dawn were eerily deserted.
No stores were open, and no particularly eye-catching buildings stood out.
Seeing little point in staying, she turned to leave, considering it a waste of time.
At that moment, she noticed leaflets scattered throughout the central square.
Discarded like trash, they lay everywhere.
Curious, Lucy picked up a few and examined their contents.
They were missing person notices.
But something was off.
There were too many.
Each leaflet displayed a different missing individual, with numbers reaching into the dozens.
The guard’s words, “The city is in turmoil,” suddenly echoed in her mind.
It was likely referring to these disappearances.
Recognizing the situation, Lucy quickly placed the leaflets back on the ground.
Missing person cases.
They were intriguing, but she decided they weren’t her concern.
She wasn’t here to play the hero—her goal as an adventurer was information gathering, not justice.
With that thought, Lucy turned to leave the city without hesitation.
At that moment—
Whistle~♬
A flute’s eerie melody echoed through the air.
—
In the loading area, the young girl helped her grandfather as usual, her small busy hands working to unload.
Sleepiness tugged at her eyelids, but she continued diligently.
Her grandfather’s back had worsened recently, adding to her workload.
She moved lighter items easily and carefully dragged heavier ones so they wouldn’t break.
Wheeeeeeeek~♬
A strange flute melody played somewhere in the night.
The girl paused, listening absentmindedly.
Then, as if entranced, her eyes lost focus, and she began walking in a trance.
She headed toward a dark alley, where other children had also gathered.
Their eyes were vacant.
They headed towards a passage leading underground.
Beyond the dark corridor lay a chamber meticulously prepared for a ritual.
Candles flickered, illuminating a magic circle, at whose center hovered a gem exuding ominous energy.
Eight figures, clad in pitch-black robes, whispered amongst themselves.
“What’s the progress?”
“90%, but the timing is tight.”
The bearded figure glanced at the magic scroll on the table.
A scroll, meticulously crafted by dozens of magicians over an extended period, required an immense amount of magic power to activate.
The most efficient method to unseal it—without undergoing a series of complex procedures—was a sacrificial ritual fueled by black magic.
The soul of the sacrificed individual would be absorbed into the ‘command stone.’
Since a living soul possessed highly pure magic power, the accumulated essence would merge into a formidable source of energy.
Harnessing that power to unlock the scroll was the very reason they had gathered here—it was a long-cherished ambition.
“The timing of the plan remains unchanged, correct?”
“Yes.”
The man occasionally glanced at the order laid out on the table.
It read:
[Now that Satan is occupied in the North, this is our chance. Accelerate the ritual, Sandros. On that day, we will storm Satan Castle and abduct the princess—his only weakness.]
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