Chapter 12: The Pied Piper’s Curse

The eerie sound of a flute echoed through the city, and Lucy instantly recognized it as hypnosis magic.

The melody that seeped into her ears clouded thoughts and seized control of the body.

There were many such items in Ragnarok.

Among them, the one that used a flute to hypnotize was known as the ‘Pied Piper.’

A magic item crafted with a fairy tale theme, it was infamous for its uncanny ability to control infant NPCs.

Lucy had assumed that being someone of a young age, she might have been affected too—but that wasn’t the case.

As her illusion skill level had increased, so had her resistance to mental manipulation. Currently, her resistance was so high that only an illusionist of equal caliber could affect her.

So, she simply listened to the sound, unbothered.

Soon, the unsettling tune ceased, and silence once again blanketed the city.

With this, she pieced together the mystery of the serial disappearances.

The vanishing children and the hypnotic flute—it was clear someone was using a magical item to abduct them.

Had she been driven by a sense of justice, she might have thought of saving the children

But Lucy did no such thing.

It wasn’t her responsibility. Besides, even if she wanted to save them, she had no idea where they were. And it was nearly time for her to return to the castle.

“This is the guards’ job.”

Still, she decided to tip them off as a courtesy. It was the least she could do.

As she quickened her pace toward the night checkpoint, she stumbled upon an unexpected scene.

The old man she had parted ways with earlier was clinging to a guard’s trouser leg, desperately pleading for something.

Even from a distance, it was clear something was terribly wrong.

His hair was disheveled, his face stricken with despair. He looked as if he had aged ten years in mere moments.

Lucy approached him, already suspecting what had happened, but asked anyway.

“What’s going on?”

The moment he saw Lucy, his eyes turned even more desperate, and he seized her hands tightly.

“Oh, thank the heavens! You! Please, you must help me!”

His voice trembled, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

“My granddaughter—she’s gone!”

Lucy remained silent, allowing him to continue.

“I—I looked away for just a moment, and she vanished! Please, she’s my only family left!”

For a brief moment, Lucy hesitated. Was this truly her problem?

But then she glanced up at the night sky. The sun was still far from rising.

The old man had arrived in the city earlier than scheduled.

Her original task had been to guard him for four hours—there was still time remaining.

Lucy sighed faintly and released his trembling hands.

The old man’s face twisted with despair, convinced she was rejecting him.

“You claimed to be a merchant,” she stated.

“Huh? Why does that matter now?”

“As a merchant, you’re likely well-informed about all sorts of things, correct?”

“O-Of course… but what does that—?”

“I’ll take on this request.”

“Truly?!”

“But I’ll require a commission fee.”

“If it’s money you need, I’ll sell my carriage if I must! Please, just bring her back!”

Lucy wasn’t particularly interested in money, but she didn’t bother explaining—time was of the essence.

Now that she had accepted the request, she needed to complete it quickly.

The first step was locating the missing children.

Unfortunately, Lucy had no tracking skills.

She also lacked the time to conduct a city-wide search, and the odds of finding them by simply asking around were slim.

What was the best course of action?

A flute, a magic item, hypnosis, children disappearing one by one…

After a moment of thought, a brilliant idea struck her.

An eye for an eye. Illusion for illusion.

“Have there been any reports of a child behaving strangely?”

“Huh? Well… there was one kid at the orphanage…”

“Take me there. Now.”

The guard hesitated.

His reluctance was evident—his gaze flickered toward the ‘Apprentice Pendant’ hanging from Lucy’s neck.

Given that even veteran adventurers had failed to solve the case, what could a mere apprentice swindler possibly achieve?

Faced with their skepticism, Lucy sighed and used an illusion spell.

Magic Skill.

Hypnosis.

The guards’ eyes dulled, their resistance crumbling in an instant. Under her command, they obediently led the way to the orphanage.

Grace Orphanage.

The moment she entered, she cast a wide-range illusion over everyone inside.

She was pressed for time, and explaining things individually was too much of a hassle.

21 orphans. 2 caretakers.

Once everyone was gathered in the bedrooms, she instructed the guards to point out the child who had been acting strangely.

They pointed towards a small boy named Philip.

The caretakers had struggled to stop him from wandering outside at night, as if possessed.

It was clear he had been bewitched by the ‘Pied Piper.’

Lucy approached him, removed her mask, and used ‘Brainwashing’—a technique that could extract memories even suppressed by illusions.

Memories clouded by magic rarely vanished; they were simply buried in the unconscious mind.

She intended to retrieve them.

Soon, Philip’s eyes unfocused, and he began to recall the events of that night.

“Why did you go outside?”

“M-My friends called me…”

“Where did they call you to?”

“A dark place… underground…”

That was it.

The children had been taken underground.

Cross-referencing this with the guards’ knowledge, Lucy pinpointed a likely location.

[There’s an old underground passage in Gray Town, built long ago for evacuation purposes.]

That had to be it.

Lucy wasted no time heading there, a gnawing unease settling in her stomach.

Central Plaza.

The underground entrance was rumored to be near the square, hidden behind a secret passage—so old that even the guards had no clear records of its location.

That left only one option.

If she couldn’t find the entrance, she would create one.

Planting her feet firmly, Lucy channeled her magic and stomped the ground, searching for weak points.

Soon, she found one.

Pressing her ear against it, she heard the faintest hint of an echo—an open space beneath.

Certain she had found the entrance, she retrieved an enchanted weapon from her inventory—the ‘Firebird Staff.’

Infused with destructive fire magic, it was more than capable of breaking through.

She poured her magic into it, and a crimson fireball formed at the staff’s beak.

She hurled it at the marked spot.

BOOM!

The explosion tore through the city’s silence, likely rousing every resident from their sleep.

But the effect was undeniable.

A gaping, ten-meter-wide hole yawned beneath the plaza.

An underground passage.

Without hesitation, Lucy leaped inside.

The tunnel stretched wide, large enough for a train to pass, steeped in an eerie atmosphere.

She remained on high alert. The kidnappers—whoever they were—had surely noticed the explosion.

Although she was confident that she was strong enough , she still took some measures for protection.

She equipped her defensive gears: [Evasion of Death], [Bracelet of the Dead], [Pendant of the Undead], and the [Dragon Robe], endowed with superior physical defense effects.

She advanced into the dark passage, keeping her guard up in case some hostility is detected.

By the time she reached the central point, the eerie atmosphere had become almost unbearable.

The oppressive silence of the enclosed space and the pervasive musty odor made Lucy wrinkle her forehead in discomfort.

She was reminded of the time she had visited an abandoned ward as a test of courage. Back then, she had reassured herself:

‘There won’t actually be ghosts, right…?’

If it were a monster or a demon, she could simply fight it head-on. But ghosts? That was an entirely different problem.

Lost in such idle thoughts, she barely noticed when the tunnel split into two. Just as she was about to decide which path to take, a foul stench drifted from the right passage.

Lucy immediately cast a light spell, illuminating the area—and her eyes widened in shock.

The tunnel was filled with a heap of corpses.

The air was thick with the acrid smell of rotting blood.

It was a gruesome sight, but one small relief was that most of the bodies seemed to belong to adults.

‘Should I just fly over it?’

The thought crossed her mind, but before she could act, an ominous sensation crawled up her spine.

A moment later, the corpses—supposedly lifeless—began to stir.

Ehhhhh…

Low, guttural groans escaped from their throats.

One by one, the bodies rose, their movements stiff and unnatural.

Necromancy. Someone had reanimated them, turning them into ghouls.

A horde of zombies, inside a sealed tunnel?

Lucy let out an exasperated sigh as she took in the grotesque scene before her.

“This is straight out of a horror movie…”