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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Winter break had begun.
While most students were excited about the holidays, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was just the beginning.
Because things were about to get even busier than during the semester.
Our first target was Heaven Len.
Not wanting to waste any time traveling to Nirva, the city where his mansion was located, I called for a specialist.
“So this is the Aios dormitory? Nice digs you got here.”
The mercenary mage who had helped me cross into Dragon’s Boundary with his warp magic.
I could afford his fee, so I asked Bertia to hire him, and being a mercenary, he readily accepted the well-paying job.
The mage, wandering through the mostly deserted dormitory, met my gaze and frowned.
“Long time no see.”
“I thought I wouldn’t be working with you again.”
Well, his reaction was understandable.
From his perspective, the client he had just transported home had suddenly jumped the border and disappeared into another country.
“But the pay was too good to refuse.”
Were all mages this talkative?
The mage muttered to himself, nodding repeatedly.
“Are all these people coming with you?”
He looked at our group.
Me, Rin, Ares, and Hayun.
But it didn’t end there.
Two more people had joined us, Sen and Diana.
Sen, having nowhere to go during the break, insisted on coming along, while Diana had barged in, demanding to know where I was going during the holidays.
May had also tried to force her way into the group, but the dean had dragged her back to their family.
Eve and Tana, though interested, had ultimately decided not to participate, fearing they would be a burden since they weren’t confident in their ability to protect themselves.
“Well, at least there are plenty of beauties here.”
“Stop ogling and get ready.”
I scolded him for wasting time with unnecessary chatter.
Then, I turned to Bertia and Elise, who was standing behind her.
“I wish you a safe journey.”
“I wish I could come with you,” Bertia said wistfully.
She bowed politely, a perfect picture of a maid seeing her master off on a journey.
Elise looked disappointed.
As a princess, she had to return to the royal palace.
Apparently, things were getting hectic there, and she was needed to help sort things out.
“Alright, I’m ready.”
“Don’t use informal language with your client.”
Despite my complaint, the mage just shrugged, his arms crossed confidently.
He knew he was the best warp mage available, so he wasn’t worried about offending a client.
The magic circle he drew was larger than before, probably because of the increased number of people.
Last time, we had simply touched the circle and been instantly transported.
“I-I’m a bit nervous.”
“Me too, this is my first time.”
“Hiring a mage like this must cost a fortune. Daniel, where are you getting all this money from?”
Ares and Rin, being from the countryside, seemed a bit uneasy about the warp, while Diana was curious about the source of my seemingly endless funds.
“Hmm.”
Sen, just in case, clutched the hair tie on her wrist with her other hand.
It was a gift from me, made by Hayun, and she seemed to treasure it.
“……”
Hayun looked tense, and rightfully so.
She was returning to the family she had cut ties with.
“Don’t worry too much.”
I offered a word of comfort, and Hayun gave me a small smile of gratitude.
Then, our vision blurred.
“We’ve arrived!”
The mage’s voice announced our arrival in Nirva.
I had heard it was smaller than Elgrid but still a decent-sized city.
“…Are you sure this is the right place?”
However, the Nirva that greeted us was far from a bustling city.
A dull grayness pervaded the cityscape.
It was so dark and lifeless that it felt like the colors had been leached out, leaving only a hazy, monochrome world behind.
I frowned at the mage, but he was also sweating profusely, looking around in bewilderment.
“Huh? Huh? Th-this is the right place.”
“Are you sure you’re doing this right?”
I assumed he had taken us to the wrong location, but the mage, his face twisted in confusion, offered a feeble defense.
“This is Nirva! I used coordinates, so it can’t be wrong! B-but it didn’t look like this when I was here last time.”
In other words, he was absolutely certain.
Despite the unbelievable sight before us, Hayun supported the mage’s claim.
“This… this is Nirva. I recognize the buildings and the layout of the city. It wasn’t this desolate before, but…”
“What?”
“I’ve been here before too, and the streets are the same.”
Sen added, confirming Hayun’s statement.
We had to accept the reality.
This ghost town was indeed Nirva.
But what had happened to the vibrant city?
What had turned it into this lifeless husk?
As I pondered the mystery, Rin’s voice, pointing towards the end of the road, broke through my thoughts.
“There’s something over there.”
“That’s where the Len family mansion is,” Hayun added.
We followed their gaze to the end of the main road, where a massive mansion stood tall.
“Let’s head over there.”
I took the lead, wary of potential danger, but Diana immediately stepped forward.
“This is the kind of thing big sisters do first.”
“…Stay close.”
With Diana and me leading the way, we walked down the deserted street.
The air was thick with a strange, oppressive haze, making it difficult to breathe.
I had expected to encounter someone, anyone, but the city was eerily silent, devoid of human presence except for our group.
“What’s the kingdom doing while the city’s in this state?”
Ares exclaimed, unable to contain his frustration.
But his voice echoed hollowly through the empty streets, unanswered.
“Um, can I go back now?”
The mage raised his hand, openly expressing his desire to leave.
Even I, who had ventured into Dragon’s Boundary, hadn’t seen him this scared.
Something was definitely wrong.
“The Len family mansion is at the end of this road.”
The magnificent mansion was also shrouded in the same grayish haze.
It was like a contagious disease, a dust cloud that had infected the entire city.
Diana gasped.
“That’s a massive mansion.”
It was indeed much larger than any other mansion I had seen.
Occupying the entire end of the city block, it showcased the immense influence the Len family held in Nirva.
Hayun, however, downplayed its significance, a hint of bitterness in her voice.
“They were just a rich family. They were mocked by other nobles for being ‘honorless pigs’ since they never achieved any real military accomplishments.”
“Being rich is the best,” the mage mumbled behind us.
Hayun glared at him, and he quickly covered his mouth with both hands, remembering not to offend his clients.
Rin stepped forward, moving between Diana and me, and reached for the mansion gate.
“I sense something here.”
Just like Rin, I had a growing feeling that the culprit behind this situation was inside the Len family mansion.
“Knocking won’t do much good.”
I drew my sword and sliced through the gate, entering the mansion grounds.
Even after taking just a single step inside, a heavy, oppressive feeling settled over me, clogging my throat and making it hard to breathe.
The mansion’s sprawling gardens, meant to impress visitors, were as vast as the building itself.
Meticulously maintained, they were nevertheless tainted by the same lifeless grayness that permeated the city.
“…Huh?”
As the one leading the way, I was the first to witness the sight before me.
A gasp escaped my lips.
In the center of the garden, at the now-dry fountain, stood a marble statue of a clock and impaled on the statue, the only splash of color in this monochrome world, was a man with a sword through his chest.
“Heaven… Len?”
“Uncle?”
Hayun’s uncle and a devoted follower of the Priestess of Time.
I had assumed he was the one responsible for turning the city into this state, but…
He struggled to open his eyes, barely managing to look at us.
Blood trickled down his chin as he spoke, his voice weak and raspy.
“Wh-why… me…?”
With those final words, Heaven Len’s head drooped, his life extinguished.
He looked as if he had been dead all along, brought back to life just to deliver that one last message.
The sight of his death, so casual and expected, left me speechless.
Then, the mansion door creaked open, and a couple emerged.
I had never met them before, but their faces seemed strangely familiar.
They approached us with bright smiles, but a wave of unease washed over me.
And then, as if possessed, one of our group stepped forward.
“Mother? Father?”
Hayun, tears welling up in her eyes, reached out to them.
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