Disciple of Immortal

I was about to head towards the caster of the barrier to defeat them, but then hesitated as I was hit by anxiety regarding the safety of the people who were being affected by this barrier.

「…Pomera-san, is there a place to gather the people in case this kind of situation arises?」

I asked Pomera.

「Eh? A place t-to gather people? L-let’s see…」

「Any place is fine. The kind of place where everyone heads to in times of calamity or stampedes.」

「In that case, the church… maybe?」

I pulled out the map from my magic pouch and unfolded it.

The location of the church was close to the center of Aarburgh. It seems that there were many reasons for it to be chosen as the evacuation site.

I quickly took out another magic pouch from inside the magic pouch. This was another way of using a magic pouch since its capacity on its own wasn’t big enough.

I handed the other magic pouch to Pomera. The magic pouch was mainly filled with the miracle drug that would restore her mana.

「K… Kanata-san?」

「Please treat the people around while you’re heading to the center of the city and cancel the barrier around the church.」

Pomera was originally a white magic user. It was obvious watching her during her training that white magic was her forte. I mean, it goes to say, even if it was just in white magic, her rank in it has already surpassed my own. Depending on her mana reserves, she could even use the 11th rank White Magic, 《Raphael’s Tears(Archangel Tears)》which was capable of healing all kinds of illnesses and disease.

For this case, Pomera could just use the 7th Rank 《Area Heal(Healing Rain)》 to help those weakened trapped within this gargantuan barrier. Since she was level 200 now, her 《Area Heal(Healing Rain)》 should be able to cover an extremely wide area. Doing so would deplete her mana in a matter of minutes, but she could simply recover that by doping AKA through the miracle drug.

「P-Pomera? C-Can P-Pomera… do such great feat?」

Pomera asked with an anxious look on her face.

Her level alone was strong enough to accomplish such a feat, but Pomera herself was critically lacking in terms of self-confidence. To increase her efficiency in saving people, Pomera needed self-confidence to adapt to the situation and make the people around her listen to her instructions.

At a first glance, such a role was ill-suited for a shy girl like Pomera.

But… Pomera was also someone who could muster up her bravery when it meant saving others.

I mean, the prime example was when she’d done so to save me that was still clueless about the outside world back then. She’d managed to call the patrolling soldiers to prevent Octavio and co from snatching my belongings, fighting violence with violence with the third party, and even showed me– who’d lost my way– to the adventurer’s guild even when that meant being late for her meeting with Roy and getting chewed out.

She was truly a strong person when it mattered.

「Trust me, I know that you can do this, Pomera-san.」

Pomera still looked like she was hesitating over something, but after a moment, it seems that she was able to get a grip after taking in my words.

「I-I understand… Pomera, will do it! I WILL DO IT!」

Pomera gripped her cane strongly, her eyes burning with determination.

「In the meantime, I will be looking for the caster of this barrier… and defeat him.」

And yet, I still had no idea where in the world the culprit could be hiding. All I knew was the fact that he wanted to wring us dry, but…

「U-Uhm, Kanata-san… w-what should I do to cancel the barrier? P-Pomera has no idea how to cast such barrier…」

「The culprit might place some sort of items that help him cast this barrier. It should be placed in this city at regular intervals, finding those shouldn’t be that difficult even if it takes time… I think. In case you fail to find those items, then you just need to gather the people inside the barrier into one place…」

「A-are the number of the items really that much? Just what kind of method did the caster of this barrier use to prepare this kind of gargantuan barrier to the point that no one noticed it…. I mean, the soldiers should’ve noticed it too.」

That indeed was the biggest mystery of this case.

I mean, there should be at least some sort of rumor that should’ve gone around the city if there were suspicious happenings going on around the city. That kind of rumor was impossible to suppress even if you killed the source of it.

「… AH!」

I suddenly recalled a certain matter.

The people in black robes who’d buried some sort of gems with magic formulae carved on its surface around the city.

At first I thought they were doing that to enhance the effects of some sort of anti-monster barrier around the city, but there was no mistaking it, those gems were the items we’re looking for.

「It’s those magicians in black robes who were doing some sort of work at the walls or floors around the city! Please tell this news to the other people and ask for their help in destroying those gems!」

「T-Those magicians are supposed to be the subordinates of this city’s lord, Garland! Anyone who goes against the city lord will be executed, Kanata-san! Moreover, no one will hear the plea of someone like Pomera!」

Pomera got flustered.

But, we had no other choice. We’re running out of time. It’s only a matter of time before the first casualty occurs.

Though it’s true that the people wouldn’t heed Pomera’s words in a normal situation, the situation might change if she helps them by using healing magic on them.

「Sorry but, I’ve to go look for the caster right now! I think I know where’s the culprit hiding place!」

I spread out the map of the city in front of me for the second time.

The magicians who’d embedded those items were the subordinates of Garland, the city’s lord. That was why the soldiers had overlooked their actions.

If that was the case, then Garland is most likely in cahoots with the culprit behind this incident. Most likely, he’s sheltering the culprit in his mansion.

Come to think of it, the withdrawal order of the red wanted poster… the wanted poster of the 《JinMaRyuu》 might have been an order from Garland himself.

All the pieces were now connecting together to form one picture.

Without wasting any more time, I ran towards Garland’s mansion.

I jumped over the tall wall surrounding the mansion and kicked open the door to the estate.

To be honest, I was initially rather skeptical of Garland’s involvement in this matter, but it turns out that I was spot on. The ominous feeling emanating from the basement of the mansion had confirmed my doubts. Moreover, the effects of the barrier were more concentrated in this area to the point that even someone at my level could feel it, perhaps because I entered the barrier’s original range without the assistant device.

But, upon entering the mansion, I found another surprise.

At first, I’d thought that the caster had built another barrier around the mansion to negate the effects of the gargantuan barrier. But that thought was washed away by the sight of several deeply blackened and rotting corpses of soldiers littered around the mansion. All that was left of them were these grotesque corpses after having been sucked dry of their life force.

The city’s lord’s magicians, the guys in black robes, were also amongst the corpses scattered around.

「What’s happening here… they’re supposed to be partners in crime and yet….」

After searching around the mansion, I came across a hidden door that was disguised as a wall but was left half open… propped open by the corpses of soldiers stuck between the heavy door.

Behind the door was a stairway that went down towards the basement.

The caster… they were probably hiding at the end of these stairs.

After giving a silent prayer for the fallen soldiers, I dragged their corpses away from the door and went inside.