The Elusive Sorcerer

Chapter 133

At 5 PM. It was still Friday, and they were still in Chavez, specifically in Vader.

After discovering a treasure in the form of the grand mansion previously inhabited by Hunter-type Chalog, and after Aaron's careful consideration, the four of them finally relaxed there before exploring how Chavez operated at night.

"Lamena?" Hana asked hesitantly. "Did you tell us to look for information about odd jobs?"

Zavi shot a sharp glance at Aaron, who stood in the doorway that had somehow been restored by him, and he had already expected this would happen.

While wearing his bamboo hat, Zavi said, "Hana, I don't think you should act recklessly like that."

Hana froze after hearing those words.

'Does he really care about me that much?'

Her face flushed, not from embarrassment, but because panic overtook her thoughts as she stammered,

"Ah, uh, do I always act that recklessly?"

Zavi sighed as he said,

"Apparently so."

A few seconds after silence covered the left side of the mansion hall where the two of them were squatting and talking, Zavi immediately stood up while pressing down his bamboo hat, then spoke in a slightly heavy tone:

"Hana, I have a task for you. Please do this as best as you can, and I'll grant your request..."

Hana reflexively stood up, stepped closer to Zavi, and stared at him with sparkling blue eyes.

Zavi suddenly realized how foolish he had been for forgetting to add something important.

"... As long as the request itself is still reasonable for me."

Hana quickly nodded, letting out an eager hum as though she could not wait to hear it.

Zavi removed his bamboo hat, holding it in his hand as he spoke in a calculating tone.

"Find me any important information. 'Intersection Society,' or 'Black Cage,' including Jack the Ripper's true identity. If you can't get it, that's fine. You can look for any information that might be useful for our journey to find those demons."

"Those demons, huh?" Hana repeated while stroking her chin, as though thinking about something important.

"Of course, about them?" Hana asked, even though she already knew the answer.

Without wasting any more time, Hana immediately strode firmly toward the door, passing Aaron, who stood indifferently to her left as though her presence was nothing more than a mosquito.

In the hall, Zavi now climbed the grand staircase with its slanted peak leading toward a different corridor.

Meanwhile, his steps stopped halfway up the stairs as his head turned left, toward the mansion windows damaged by age and struck by his previous gunshots.

His eyes caught the golden-orange light shining warmly across his face, and for a moment it felt as though he were in another world.

Even though Zavi knew his existence in this world was utterly foreign, despite having occupied this body for three months already.

Groaning softly, he continued climbing the stairs with a burden that seemed to pour itself into the floor beneath him.

Once he arrived at the room where Mine was letting her thoughts drift along the flow of the wind.

She stopped the meditation she usually did whenever she was alone after hearing a series of knocks.

Knock... knock... knock...

"Who's there?" Mine shouted from inside as she hurriedly rose from her meditation and quickly walked toward the door.

"Salilfai... Lamena," Zavi muttered in a tired tone.

The moment she heard that name, Mine immediately quickened her pace before stopping behind the door.

Her smooth and gentle hand froze on the doorknob for quite a long time.

'What... what exactly is happening to me?'

That strange feeling faded as Mine took a deep breath and opened the door while wearing her cold expression, even though in front of her stood the killer she admired.

"Why did you come here?" she asked while glancing to the right, toward the corridor. "Where's Hana? Did you send her out again?"

Mine assumed Zavi's arrival carried some hidden intention. However, that thought proved wrong as Zavi began revealing his true feelings.

"This... this might become the beginning of a massive battle. Do the two of you still want to follow us?"

Without hesitation, Mine answered firmly,

"Didn't I already warn you back then? We will continue following the two of you until the very last drop of blood."

"Are you sure?" Zavi seemed unable to believe her resolve.

Mine nodded with a firm expression as her answer. Even though in truth, her throat wanted to speak with an even stronger tone, something she could never allow herself to use toward the person she had admired all this time.

Zavi felt immense relief after hearing that statement directly from their mouths.

While half turning around and about to close her room door again, Mine halted the attempt the moment she heard a soft hum that briefly emptied her mind.

"Tonight we'll move out. Resting for a few hours might help keep you from getting sleepy out there."

Mine wore a sincere smile as she slowly began closing the door, then a few seconds later she spoke in a heavily trembling voice,

"Thank you for caring about my condition."

'Ahh, it's been too long, so very long since several years after I left the village until reaching the age of twenty-three, and only today can I hear words like that again?'

Mine let her body slide against the door before curling herself up there for quite a while, thinking back on everything from the beginning of her journey leaving the village until arriving at this place.

After making preparations so their journey to find the demons would proceed smoothly according to plan, Zavi checked the equipment he had obtained from the two of them; the belt where he stored his knife, serrated dagger, and the hammer he had taken from this mansion.

When night arrived, everyone gathered in the hall of the grand mansion. Hana did not obtain the information Zavi wanted, but after realizing how important that information was, she immediately intended to search for it herself.

Each of them prepared the weapons they possessed to face the dangers waiting on the road they would travel.

There were slight differences and similarities.

Zavi wore a new outfit, a dark blue blazer over the usual white shirt, and the bamboo hat he had taken from Forgenate before and still wore to this very moment gave him the impression of a true man united with Nature.

Mine and Hana still wore the same clothes: gray suit jackets paired with cream-colored shirts, riding pants loose around the thighs but tight around the calves for easier movement, and high-heeled boots.

Aaron still wore the same clothes from when he awakened again in Forgenate, at Zen University. A black coat over a thin white shirt, black trousers, and ankle-high boots similar to the ones Zavi currently wore.

The moment they moved forward, the night and moonlight hidden behind the dark blue clouds seemed to signal that they could no longer turn back and had no choice but to keep moving forward to face the obstacles ahead, even if it brought trouble upon them.