The Elusive Sorcerer

Chapter 120

Arvrenda’s mind went blank for a moment as his hand pressed against his glasses so they would not fall, or perhaps it was merely an extra gesture after realizing the situation had changed.

'This woman really isn’t giving me any chance to avoid this,' Arvrenda complained inwardly as he realized the meeting group had shifted their attention toward him.

He drew a deep breath, still sitting upright on the ground near the wooden pillar of the hut, and spoke in a slightly twisted voice, "I don’t know what condition that man is in..."

"Stop pretending," Aurora replied in an irritated and harsh tone. "I know you’re hiding something I don’t know."

Then she shot a sharp glance toward Zeta, causing her face to stiffen as she shifted her gaze to the right, where Albert and Feyne Luke were sitting.

Arvrenda did not know what to say, and his thoughts returned once more to the moment when he had discussed something important with the two of them; Zaharon Kavatusce and Zeta Audervin, in a corner of the refugee camp at Coordination 15.

'I really don’t know anything about that man,' Arvrenda grumbled inwardly as he felt Aurora’s piercing stare while she sat almost beside him.

Choosing his words carefully so they would not cause trouble, Arvrenda let out a short sigh and said, "The man named Zavi? It’s already certain that nobody knows his condition or whereabouts."

'I just remembered that Zeta told me before that she had gone to his house in Vica several times, yet she never once met the man named Zavi.'

Arvrenda fell silent for a moment before continuing his thoughts again.

'My life is already this difficult, and now I’ve been dragged around by those women. Damn it.'

Receiving no response, Arvrenda immediately added as the atmosphere inside the hut became even more suffocating.

"Why are you so obsessed with a man named Zavi?"

"..."

Aurora fell silent for a moment as she realized people were no longer focusing their attention on her, except for Zeta and Arvrenda themselves.

'I don’t know, and I truly don’t understand why after hearing that he vanished without a trace, and even hearing the information about his mysterious death on the road beside the square.'

After muttering to herself, she straightened her gaze with an empty expression, as though the meaning of her life itself depended on her older brother and Zavi Actitus.

Then she glanced at the two of them several times, and once again she looked toward Zeta with a calmer and more spirited expression than before.

"I... I’ll search for him myself, even if it ends up being a waste of time..." Aurora said in a softer and more feminine tone.

Zeta immediately turned toward her and asked in confusion, "Are you sure? You already understand that Zavi died for some unclear reason on the road beside the square."

Aurora knew that, although her instincts kept telling her that Zavi was fine and somewhere far away from her.

"I know that, and forgive me for burdening the two of you."

After muttering weakly, Aurora immediately stood up, then walked straight into the snow ahead with steps and a heart that felt unbearably heavy, allowing the snowflakes to pierce through the simple cream-colored shirt beneath her gray jacket that made it easier for her to move in situations like this.

Not knowing what to do, Zeta chose to sit in silence as she glanced at Arvrenda with an unusually deep stare.

"You, do you know where that woman came from?"

Arvrenda turned his head, staring deeply into Zeta’s face, his lips twitching before answering in a low voice, "Yes, she survived the chain deaths that happened precisely on October 20th, according to the information you gave me back then."

Zeta nodded and explained with a tight breath.

"And ever since that Saturday, I’ve become more and more curious about that castle after Forn happened to invite me there, and I was shocked to meet my former classmate, Zavi Actitus, who also survived after visiting that castle."

The two of them had truly fallen into a circle of mystery after gathering piece after piece of evidence before the peak incident, the deaths, and even until this very moment.

Arvrenda finally realized the moments surrounding the destruction of Eaurealis Castle, which was supposedly attacked by "terrorists," and understood what Zeta meant, that the attack was not merely an ordinary act of destruction against a building.

"So that destruction was connected to occultism?"

"Possibly," Zeta replied while swallowing hard and wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"I don’t like discussing this," Arvrenda said as he observed the condition around the hut, including Natasya, who had not moved even an inch from her spot. "Just keep this secret, and I’ve already obtained a clue to the answer that we, or rather the previous meeting group, have been waiting for."

Zeta stared at him with dark circles beneath her eyes from exhaustion, but that drowsiness instantly vanished when something strange crawled up the back of her neck and the hairs on her body stood on end beneath her long-sleeved shirt.

....

Elsewhere, in the southeast of Minehold, the third largest region after Kenotalle in first place and Menotalle in second, in a corner of Ladise, specifically on Cloud and Star Street. Among the many houses lined along the main road, there was one directly beside it, though its entrance was inside an alley known as Lower.

There, Afalan Norwich’s associates, namely the underworld group called Black Cage, lived inside that house.

Lower Alley was known as paradise for cheap lodging, famous for having a strategic and comfortable area suitable for living in over a long period of time.

After the battle incident in Forgenate and the loss of two of their comrades, Vabian’s resolve continued to burn fiercely as he tried to continue this line of work without caring whether he would die afterward and lose someone close to him again.

Seven members of "Black Cage," now only five remained; Kharensya Zorca, Vabian Roca, Febrica Ademose, Mizofra Mivoras, and Harann Dinity. The survivors whose physical conditions had finally stabilized, waiting for their next move.

"Ahh, damn it," Mizofra grumbled irritably. "I won’t forgive those two, and let us continue the rest of this work."

Then the atmosphere once again fell into a sea of silence, each of them praying inwardly to honor the two of them and the citizens of Moran.

Several minutes later, Vabian finally opened his mouth and spoke with a sour expression.

"What about that person?"

"You mean Canel Hewwich, the leader of the group moved by the leader of the organization 'Intersection Society'...?"

"The one hired by Munen Afalan Norwich? Is that true?" Febrica interrupted Harann’s words while combing through her messy long black hair.

Munen was a term used for the eldest person in everyday life in Vinohoshi, especially across the ten major cities and the many villages within them.

Meanwhile, their gazes instantly shifted toward Febrica for several seconds, their mouths tightly shut and their breathing restrained as though the air inside the room itself reacted to her previous words.

Finally, Mizofra cleared his throat twice, breaking the silence in the room before it came alive again as he finally said;

"According to the information I got from Raki, Afalan has already moved, and until now he still hasn’t told anyone where he’s going."

Vabian turned to the left, his eyes locking onto the long white sofa where Kharensya and Febrica sat side by side.

With a bitter smile, he spoke in a mocking tone, "Aren’t you the servant of that disguised man? You should know where he is right now."

"I don’t know," Kharensya answered somewhat apathetically while staring back at him sharply, her jaw tightening.

As the two of them once again fell into their usual emotions because of how often they argued without ever truly fighting, their companions had long grown accustomed to their behavior. Then, from the right side of the room, where they had been talking using only the light from three candles to save money.

Footsteps followed by carefully measured knocks, cautious as though deliberately allowing them to hear, echoed from the hallway on the right side of the room, and those footsteps and knocks grew closer as time passed.

Then, as each of them stared sharply toward the door, wary and trembling because they did not know whether whoever was outside was a friend or the opposite.

The doorknob clicked, a sign that someone had touched it from outside. Their breaths instantly caught, causing each of them to rise from their seats and move steadily until they reached the corner of the room.

The doorknob turned downward, followed by the sound of the door opening, and the moment the door fully opened, they were shocked as their hearts pounded violently upon realizing they could not see anyone opening the door.