The Elusive Sorcerer

Chapter 144

Remembering everything she had done, Zavi found himself irritated, yet that irritation could never outweigh his determination to hunt down those devils.

Zavi snapped out of his thoughts, shook his head, and said quietly, "I suddenly remembered something."

"Remembered something?" they repeated in unison, taking two steps back before exchanging confused glances.

Zavi looked at the two of them carefully.

"Just a small matter," Zavi said as he half turned away. "Thank you for answering my question earlier."

After saying that, Zavi's presence slowly vanished amidst the distorted light inside the cave, leaving Hana and Mine sitting there in confusion.

As afternoon approached evening, Zavi worked harder than usual so he would not drown in his anger.

As for his existence in a place filled with terrifying things, moving without a plan or preparation was no different from suicide!

'Spending the entire day trapping fish until nightfall and only catching two of them is seriously annoying.'

"That's crazy..." Zavi's inner voice slipped out unconsciously as his narrowed eyes stared at his own reflection and the bright orange glow.

'Golden-brown finned fish. Strange. I don't know whether this kind can be eaten like the fish Mother or Isabelle used to buy after school.'

Zavi wasn't entirely sure because of his lack of experience in this world. On top of that, surviving in a place like this left him with no choice but to try.

However, realizing that he wasn't alone, an idea suddenly crossed his mind as he stood up.

"...I should head back."

Lifting the fish he had just taken from the woven basket, Zavi carefully made his way toward the cave.

Exactly at midnight, a campfire was lit as snow began falling once more that day.

Meanwhile, the cold air carried the scent of grass and damp earth through the gaps in the cave, gently brushing against the four of them.

The crackling of the fire as the two fish roasted made their stomachs churn violently, unable to resist the aroma of grilled fish.

Even without any seasoning, the four of them eagerly waited for the fish to finish cooking while chatting and enjoying the coconut water Zavi had picked from the same tree.

"As for Semilir, we'll leave tomorrow night."

Aaron looked at them with emotions far calmer than before.

The other three showed no reaction after hearing that statement, prompting Aaron to add;

"About that... it seems we're being hunted by the Chavez Security Department because of what we did around the outskirts of Tapaks."

'Even though the chaos was actually caused by me, Actitus is the one who made it far more noticeable with that artifact,' Aaron added inwardly.

"Oh? That reminds me. Can you use that fan artifact?" Aaron asked while raising his left leg, resting his knee against his chin as he folded his arms.

Hana glanced at Mine, looked at Aaron, and said softly, "Ah, I can't use that strange artifact. It might sound weird, but I really can't use it."

'It feels like there's a rather heavy burden whenever I swing that folding fan,' Hana added to herself with a nod.

Mine took out the exorcising fan artifact, Hoisline, from a hidden pocket inside her gray suit jacket.

"This thing is really difficult, but it's still usable," Mine said while examining Hoisline.

"Is this really some strange object, or the artifact that caused Lamena to pass out for several hours?"

Mine muttered to herself as her gaze settled on Zavi, whose face was hidden beneath a bamboo hat.

'His style is strange, but it stands out so much. Isn't he from Vinohoshi or Ninesorals?'

Mine remembered that men usually wore formal or informal clothing paired with top hats, half-top hats, bowler hats, and the like. Seeing Zavi wearing a classic tailcoat and white shirt combined with a bamboo hat made her seriously question his sense of fashion.

'He really looks like a scarecrow.'

"Do you want to take this?" Mine held out the fan artifact toward Aaron.

Aaron raised both hands in refusal.

"I see. Then, may I keep it?" Mine asked reluctantly.

Hana, realizing what was happening, tried to cheer her up.

"Don't be sad. Isn't this an amazing item that can create powerful winds with a single swing?"

"It is amazing, but the risks of using this fan aren't as small as you're making them sound." Mine replied firmly. After several attempts, she still couldn't maintain her balance after swinging Hoisline.

Hearing that statement, Zavi began reconsidering whether he should really leave the fan with Mine.

'It's true that this fan possesses tremendous destructive power and offers solid defense. But considering the storm I created before, there's still one weakness: the opening at the top of the wind barrier that allowed the eagle to carry the fan artifact away. Power on that scale must come with a price. Otherwise, it would be a lie.'

Zavi stared at the grilled fish in front of him for a long time, listening to the crackling firewood with hopeful eyes.

After doing that for too long, he didn't even realize his fish had finished cooking. Taking out the pocket watch from his shirt pocket, he opened it and carefully examined the hands.

"It's eight o'clock. We should get ready to sleep and take turns standing guard."

Zavi picked up his grilled fish and blew on it gently.

'It doesn't look bad, but is taking turns keeping watch really the right idea?'

Zavi began eating his grilled fish little by little while drinking the remaining coconut water that was nearly gone after waiting for the fish to cook.

After each of them had filled their stomachs with what they had managed to gather; Aaron with his apples, Mine and Hana with their mangoes. The three of them remained inside the cave while Zavi kept watch outside, enjoying the beautiful sight of the steadily falling snow.

'There hasn't been any snowfall for a week, but this snow can wash away the tension from the last few days.'

Zavi shifted to the side, sat down, and carried out his duty as the guard according to their agreement.

The night passed quickly. Thursday morning arrived with a raging blizzard, preventing the four of them from leaving and forcing them to abandon their plans of heading to Semilir.

All they could do now was keep the fire burning in the center of the cave, huddle together against the freezing cold outside, and hope the blizzard wouldn't last for several days.

'This is so boring. The weather outside is impossible to predict. Was waiting for the snow to calm down really the right choice?'

Zavi lifted one leg as he lay staring at the cave ceiling, listening closely to the dripping water from the cracks in the rocks and the howling blizzard outside.

"Have you all had breakfast?" Zavi asked without moving, his bamboo hat covering his face.

"I'm not answering that, and you know it," Aaron replied while glancing to the left.

Aaron sat on a small, slightly damp rock while Hana and Mine sat inside the wooden shelter that helped maintain a stable temperature.

"If this blizzard lasts for several days, what will you do?" Mine asked, her lips tightening.

Zavi lifted his bamboo hat and looked at them for a moment. "Yeah. We'll wait until the snowfall outside becomes stable."

'Looking at their clothes, including mine, I don't think we could survive the cold and blizzard out there. That would be the same as torturing them and myself!'

Looking at the cave entrance, which was nearly buried by snow, Zavi moved deeper inside to avoid it and found himself struggling to decide what to do over the next few days.

"Sirius, what can you do?" Zavi got up from where he had been lying and looked at them with a faint smile.

"What do you mean?" Aaron asked in confusion.

"Use your Exorcist to hide the three of us from the brutal weather outside while..."

The sentence never finished because Aaron immediately understood what he meant and quickly interrupted in a tone that almost rose into a shout;

"You want me standing outside dealing with that weather while the three of you stay inside the shadows, is that it?"

Zavi was surprised, only realizing it after Aaron pointed it out.

"Eh, hmm, I thought you could enter the shadows too while carrying someone," Zavi muttered, unwilling to look at him.

"Tch, annoying."

Aaron complained irritably.

Zavi rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, I didn't know. Really, I didn't."

Hana looked at Zavi in confusion.

'Why is he the one acting offended?'

Then she shifted her gaze to Aaron, who sat in front of the fire, studying him carefully.

'Do they actually know so little about each other?'

Morning turned into afternoon, afternoon passed quickly into evening, then evening became late at night.

The atmosphere inside the cave grew gloomy and tense as the lantern light flickered unstably.

The four of them sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts.

Exactly at eleven o'clock that night, Zavi rose from his seat and headed toward the cave entrance to relieve his boredom.

'Today has been such a troublesome day.'

Although the weather that night was no different from that morning, Zavi decided to leave the cave in search of something.

Without Zavi knowing, Hana noticed his actions, and her curiosity compelled her to follow him.

To avoid drawing attention, Hana kept a distance of several dozen meters between them as Zavi walked ahead, rubbing his arms.

It sounded strange, but lately Zavi often went out searching for food despite the terrible weather, sometimes returning with fruit he found and giving it away for free.

It reminded Hana of something Zavi had said before, back at the abandoned mansion where the Chalog had lived.

'Could he really be the kind of man willing to do anything for the safety of his companions?'

Her curiosity was answered after she saw Zavi standing motionless, staring at something before him with his head lowered, his pale hand touching it gently.

In the suffocating cold, beneath a plant whose leaves acted like an umbrella, Hana's pupils widened and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end when she realized what Zavi had come all this way through the blizzard to do.

A feeling of sympathy welled up inside Hana as Zavi's palm rested against a wooden figure shaped like a woman, with long strands of grass serving as hair. The lower half was almost entirely buried beneath the snow, leaving only the middle and upper portions visible.

'Is he... crying?'