Chapter 54 - On the Borderline

The swordsman was a type of magician. Swordsmen would develop several specific conjuring skills their whole life, such as making their swords sharp and reinforcing their bodies. For that reason, they were outstandingly faster and stronger than ordinary sword fighters. They could also use the conjuring called ‘sword aura’ which was materializing mana to the point it was visible to the eyes and dressing a sword with it.

In fact, in ancient times when proper wizards still existed, swordsmen were not considered strong but considered unique magicians. However, as of today, when the real magic disappeared, swordsmen were overwhelming power. They were not at the level that a familiar spirit could deal with.

Of course, Rhema Reshith’s familiar spirit was a little different. She could get rid of three swordsmen easily. She just could not afford to subdue them. Even though it was a great achievement, Blanchet lost her nerve. She needed to keep them alive so that Rhema could search their memory and find Azriel, but she ended up killing them. Even the Wizard of the Horizon could not search the memory of the dead.

“For now, Noir went out to track her with scent. I stayed here to wait for you and Largo has been treated roughly, ”as Rhema checked on the bodies, Blanchet continued.

Rhema rushed to move mana. He tried sending communication to Azriel.

“Reshith, Esthera.”

No response was returned. He could not reach her. He anxiously rearranged mana.

“Reshith, Esthera,” he repeated it multiple times but still could not reach her. There was no response. There must be a problem. Rhema looked back at Blanchet with glaring eyes. “Why did you let her go to the village alone?”

‘Because Azriel’s conjuring was now advanced, there was no monster nearby, the village was safe, there had been no problem so far…,’ Blanchet did not make such excuses. If she made such excuses, she might die. The white cat lowered its head without saying anything and apologized.

“I’m sorry… I will also go out to look for her now. I’ll find her as fast as I can, so she’ll be fine. She is strong.” 

With that as her last words, Blanchet jumped out over the window. Standing, Rhema rubbed his face. He knew well what Blanchet meant by saying she would be fine. Azriel Esthera was a wizard of the dragon eye. She could make miracles by instinct even if she did not learn it. There was no one who could murder her, except for Rhema Reshith.

However, there was no guarantee that she would be fine even if she would not die. Moreover, using magic with the dragon eye meant… Rhema clenched his teeth. Quickly, he needed to find her quickly.

‘She went to Hanora before she disappeared. The people there should know something. Let’s start from reading the memories of all village people.’

Deciding to do so, he used teleportation magic. He did not care about the pain or side effects caused by the magic reading one’s memory. There was also no option to ask, persuade, and inquire, either. Reading one’s memory was much faster, convenient, and assuring. Whatever would happen to the people because of that was none of his business.

When he reached the village, he began searching the memories of the people whom Azriel mentioned often. Since their screaming was loud, he shut them off. He immobilized a person, blocked his voice, asked about Azriel, checked his memory and threw him away, then found the next person.

The white wizard moved like a machine. He did not care if there were people around. If he did, there would have been no folktales spread about the Wizard of the Horizon all over the continent. 

For the fifth or sixth time, when he caught a person who was the village chief, he finally could learn about Azriel’s whereabouts. Then he realized that the chief attempted to cover up the kidnapping of Azriel because he caved in for a threat and greed.

Rhema Reshith did not age. Thus, it became quite bothersome if there was a village nearby. It was because people would be interested in him and wonder about him not getting old. Nevertheless, the reason why he did not reject it when people occasionally asked for help was because it was simpler and less troublesome for him to do so. For him, most of them were easy as breathing.

There was a time when he made an invisible wall and lived inside it so that no one could approach him. However, he had to stop because it was more annoying if wizards got interested if a space divided by the wall was formed. So, he would move his dwelling when a certain period of time passed or destroy the nearby environment if he did not want to move, so that other people could not live around him.

A doubt about the strange wizard in the woods was going around in the village of Hanora as well. As it had been a long time since he settled down in the woods, it was only natural. 

Nonetheless, the reason that he did not destroy the village was all because of Azriel. The reason why he became more generous and did more favors for others was that Azriel became close to the people of Hanora. That was how it was, but how dare they.

Through the cracked seal, emotion slipped out. It was only a small part of rage. If it were for an ordinary person, it was at a level of rage that he would take out by throwing an object. However, what Rhema threw was not an object but mana that was hard for people to bear.

“Aarggh!”

The village chief’s body that was held by Rhema’s hand was crushed like a piece of paper and disappeared after turning into dust. Then there was a large sound of something bursting around him. Centered around the chief’s house, a huge pit was formed on one side of the village. Everything within it was turned into dust and scattered into the air. Rhema carelessly looked down at the red, bare earth and brushed the dust off his hand.

Some people took Azriel. Now that he confirmed their faces, he just needed to search other places and find the people who knew them. Since they talked about the countryside and they did not seem like they were from a foreign country, he could start from Modjankle, which was the biggest city and the capital of the kingdom. When he was about to teleport, a colorful bird that suddenly popped out of the air stopped him.

“Warning! Warning! Warning!”

Ofeq screeched. Rhema showed faint frustration on his flat face.

“I will take care of it myself…”

As he was saying that, he sensed something and closed his mouth. The knot that he tied on Azriel was broken. It was the promise magic that was made to break if she touched mana, in other words, if she used magic with the dragon eye.

As a reactive force from the moment of its breaking, he could learn her location. It was possible for him to teleport there using the broken promise as a medium. Rhema did not hesitate and teleported. What he saw as soon as he crossed space was a dismembered body of a knight and a girl who was frozen, covered with his blood.