Chapter 181 - The Identified Kidnapper

The winner of the lots was the brown-haired girl who asked a sharp question. Her name was Matilda Mathat. Matilda was a brilliant wizard who graduated from the College of Magic, but she was no genius. For Azriel, Matilda was the first “ordinary” wizard she met. Even though Matilda was doing her best, by Azriel’s standards, the girl’s progress was very slow. Although she didn’t voice it, Azriel was quite surprised by the pace. Still, Azriel enjoyed teaching Matilda. Matilda had a chatty and cheerful personality and she told Azriel many things whenever they met, such as the atmosphere of the College of Magic, the jargon and customs of wizards, how wizards of today became wizards, and so on. Through Matilda, Azriel learned the rumor about Rhema that was passed among wizards—the rumor that wizards disappear when they reach the horizon.

*

During such days, Azriel sensed a signal. She was returning to her room after helping Sophinea’s training. One of her alarm relics had gone off. It was a similar sensation to receiving communication. The distance was not far from her. Running down the hallway, she contacted Nak.

“It’s 29th Riverside Street. I’ll also be there right away.”

‘Thank you, Miss Esthera!’

With the urgent answer, the communication was cut off. Azriel rushed out of the underground tower with Marthi and went into a back alley.

“Marthi, give me a ride!” she yelled.

The lion cub returned to his original form and lifted her onto his back by grabbing the hem of her robe with his mouth. As soon as Azriel clutched his feathers, he soared.

“To the Antara River! It’s that direction!” she shouted.

Marthi took off through the distant blue sky. Upon returning to his original form, the invisibility spell had been released, but the darkness of the night hid his black-feathered wings. People did not notice the winged lion flying above their heads. The streets had become tiny like a model garden beneath her feet.

Spreading her mana on top of the familiar, Azriel sensed the location of the relic. At one point, she tugged Marthi’s feathers. “Marthi, stop here.”

“We’re not near the place you mentioned yet,” he said.

“I know. Wait for a little bit,” she said.

Marthi stopped, fluttering his wings. Then, Azriel explosively spread out her mana. Centered around her, stars poured down, drawing trajectories like meteors. The stars formed a giant semi-sphere and covered the streets.

“Esthera,” she said.

Her mana responded to her call and made an invisible barrier. Marthi felt the invocation of magic and flinched in surprise.

“This is…” he said.

“I made a barrier so that the people with unnamable mana can’t pass through,” she explained.

“Then, the target people won’t go missing even if we don’t catch the culprit,” he said.

“Right,” she replied.

“You are indeed my master,” Marthi praised.

Leaning on Marthi, who was admiring her, Azriel caught her breath. She pictured what magic she should use in her head beforehand.

“…The relic keeps moving. It’s extremely fast,” she observed.

“Which direction is it?” Marthi asked.

“Follow me, Marthi.” She jumped off the back of the lion. Reciting her spell, she invoked flying magic. Azriel sprouted wings that were only visible to the dragon eye and flew above complicatedly intertwined streets. Meanwhile, she followed the location of the relic with her mana. The streets in between buildings were completely dark without any streetlights. In the darkness, she saw a fast-moving shadow passing by. At a time like this, she did not need light. She looked into the darkness with her dragon eye. There was a lump of golden stars. It was a relic she made. There was also a faint and calm flow of green stars. It was mana that included gravitation. It was a person with unnamable mana.

‘It’s not a nameless wizard according to the amount and flow of mana.’

While flying and approaching the person, she studied what was wrapped around the group of stars.

‘What’s… that?’

It was pitch-black like a deep, empty hole in the world full of stars. Not a single star shone from that area as if it were an abyss.