The Elusive Sorcerer

Chapter 126

Still in the same place, in an empty house, in Belan village...

His fingers trembled coldly as they slipped into his jacket pocket, gripping the pocket watch while his thoughts spiraled.

'I... I thought those two objects were only requirements to activate the ritual, but they're far more important than I imagined. I'm an idiot, way too careless. Even though I obtained the complete ritual requirements, without the movements performed by the first-stage Error, did I overlook something while writing it down and listening to Karl?'

At this very moment, he tried to remember whether he had thrown away the chain or left it inside his house.

To hide his panic, he lowered his bamboo hat slightly, his eyes trembling as he pulled out the pocket watch and stared at it for a long time.

Aaron, standing beside him, assumed Zavi had made a mistake. Thinking it was better not to interfere, he silently shifted his gaze toward the two women.

Hana remained silent and motionless as she felt her fingers clench tightly.

Mine observed the bamboo hat with a deep gaze, her blue eyes faintly shimmering beneath the dim light.

Minute after minute passed with suffocating tension filling the room, worsened by the raging snowstorm outside.

Staying inside an empty house without the knowledge of the villagers living nearby, yet the four of them shared the same thought without the slightest concern.

Nobody would go outside in weather like this, unless that person no longer cared about their own life!

Zavi remained trapped in his own stupidity for far too long before finally remembering, remembering clearly that if not for that woman, he would never have left the chain on the table inside his room.

'Damn you, strange woman, fifth-stage evil spirit Mastering. I truly hold a grudge against you.'

He bit his finger to calm the feeling in his chest that churned like boiling lava inside a volcano. Yet with a single deep breath, he forced himself to think clearly and realized there was no point getting angry at that mysterious figure. It would only waste precious time he could spend searching for information about advancing to Stage 2 Prisoner, Motivation.

Continuing his hunt for those demons was the only reason he could remain here and keep living despite the endless unexpected events tormenting his mind and sanity.

"You two," Zavi said weakly, his eyes resembling a panda's with the dark circles beneath them.

Hana's shoulders stiffened, both her hands instantly relaxing while her lips parted slightly, wanting to say something.

"Is there something else you want to ask?" Hana grumbled while making sure.

Aaron, who had still been standing, straightened his posture and lifted the lantern higher.

"You two can leave this place..."

"What do you mean?" Mine interrupted in a restrained tone.

"Are you trying to kick us out?" Hana asked with a frown while carefully staring at Zavi.

"Not like that," Zavi replied. "I want to rest, and Sirius always says strange things while sleeping."

He lowered his bamboo hat, aware that Aaron was staring at him with a murderous gaze after being dragged into his schemes so many times.

'How long are you going to keep this up, huh? You really want to ruin my image, especially in front of those two strange women.

Being around weird people means I need to get used to this quickly.'

Aaron muttered inwardly as he relaxed the muscles in his face before carrying the lantern normally again, walking steadily once he realized Hana and Mine had already left according to Zavi's earlier request.

"Hey, Actitus," Aaron muttered while taking a deep breath. Then he raised his voice and leaned closer to Zavi's ear. "How much longer... until... you drag me deeper into your game..."

Zavi tilted his head slightly, the skin on his face twitching as his ears rang from Aaron's loud voice.

"Sorry, sorry. I won't do it again," Zavi said while pressing his palms together with his fingers pointed upward as a gesture of regret and apology for how he'd treated him all this time.

Following the teachings of Goddess Yarandrela.

Then Aaron immediately sat down, placing the lantern in front of him as his gaze lingered on the cracked and damp wall ahead for a very long time.

After thinking about it and unwilling to keep it buried any longer, he finally spoke in a voice that sounded close to tears.

"Actitus," Aaron said while glancing at Zavi, who nodded as though waiting for him to continue. "I actually didn't want to say this, but... do you have a younger sister?"

Zavi's mind buzzed like a moth for several seconds before he answered rather apathetically, "Yeah, and she's my little sister."

'Even though back on Earth I was the youngest child among three siblings, all of them women, and they always teased me. Then afterward she became indifferent toward me after realizing her stupid younger brother had ended up in prison over a suspected murder case and assaulting a woman.

'Remembering that awful incident, I'm truly sick of it and don't want to discuss it anymore. Especially since the woman I saved, Licya, never once visited me while I rotted inside that noisy, suffocating prison cell that stank to hell. The only person who visited me was Sylvia, the woman responsible for me spending years in prison, and Sylvia was so stupid because she stayed silent during police interrogations and interviews with reporters, as if she wanted to hide the real truth behind the incident.

'Because she was the only person at the murder scene. Even I, who witnessed it and tried to stop them, couldn't calm down the chaos on the roadside. I never once touched the knife stabbed into that man's stomach when he died and she... she was the one who killed him, yet somehow she still wandered around freely while entering and leaving the visitation room to see me twice every month.

'If you really are the person I now know as the fifth-stage evil spirit, Mastering. That master impersonator using the identity of Aurora Chevalya while wearing glasses. Then honestly, that's completely my type, and I seriously admire women who wear glasses. And if my intuition is correct, then I'll beat you senseless and blow your body apart until nothing but dust remains.'

The corner of Zavi's lips twitched as he realized she was a fifth-stage evil spirit, Mastering, someone whose strength and abilities far surpassed his own. He understood that everything he said earlier was nothing more than empty nonsense to comfort himself.

Still, he already had a plan prepared from the moment he discussed Her with Aaron back then, even though Aaron himself had warned him not to provoke that thing again.

After remaining silent for a long time, hesitant to continue, Aaron took a deep breath and slowly exhaled before speaking in his usual calm voice.

"Suddenly, I remembered my little sister. So what do you think? Should I secretly visit her and just watch from afar to ease this longing?"

Zavi carefully filtered his words before speaking, making sure not to hurt Aaron's feelings. Finally, he answered honestly based on his own opinion.

"My advice? You could watch her from underground? Or from a distance to ease your longing."

"How should I put this... uh, would you come with me to Synomia to search for where she's living now?"

Zavi, who was originally supposed to move toward Kuranda's capital city tomorrow, now felt torn because Aaron suddenly wanted to take him to Synomia due to his longing.

'Synomia, the kingdom south of Chynoria, right?' Zavi thought while calculating the distance. He was currently at the edge of Minehold in Havanuheta Province, and to reach Synomia he would need to cross the second-largest province in Norn by steam train.

Even though the war from five hundred years ago had left behind dark scars and neither kingdom wished to keep reliving those painful memories, the two kingdoms had finally reconciled and opened public access between them for their citizens.

"I'll think about it," Zavi said while lowering his bamboo hat.

"Fine, if that's what you want," Aaron replied, hoping Zavi would agree to this strange request.

'I don't know if he'll agree to this plan, and honestly, he's already helped me a lot up until now.'

After muttering to himself, Zavi finally reached the conclusion he'd carefully considered.

"We'll still go to Kuranda for two days to search for those two as well, and if we still don't meet them within those two days, then we'll head straight to Synomia. Can you agree to that?"

Without hesitation, Aaron answered, "No."

Zavi instantly shot him a sharp stare and asked firmly, "What exactly do you want?"