Mage? Spell Engineer!

The fog in Storm City dissipated, and it was already evening. Finally, we could clearly see the waves of the Tamas River in the sunset.

A young man came to an old, shabby, small hotel. There is no front desk in the hotel, only the boss smokes low-quality cigarettes and looks after the store. He looks at the people coming. He is wearing a hard-top newsboy hat and overalls.

This is a young man from the countryside. He uses his parents' savings to move to a big city. The first thing he does is to get himself an outfit. Such people will live in their own shop for only a few days before they move to the suburbs and sleep with their co-workers in a place close to the dock or factory. The boss took another look and saw that the young man had a well-proportioned figure and his exposed arms were lean and muscular, so he had the ability to work hard.

"Stay in the hotel."

It's not the tone of the neighborhood, nor is the diction. The boss is not sure again. Could it be that he is an apprentice in a small place, and after graduation he went to Storm City to look for opportunities?

Rorschach didn't expect that his new look would cause so much drama in the innkeeper's mind. He spent a lot of time choosing this place to stay:

First, return to the Magic Guild, write a letter to the Storm Tower about the encounter, and write to Master Kano, hoping that he can also write to the mage of the Storm Tower to save face. Then he used Rorschach's identity certificate to find a hotel and book a room.

The above is for the Knights to see. After Rorschach arrived in the room, he immediately jumped out of the window under the cover of [Mirror Flowers and Water Moon]. The fog had not cleared at that time, and Rorschach's disguise could not have been easier. After coming out, he took off his Valois-style coat and asked the taxi to take him to the clothing store where the coachman went to buy his current outfit, and then found a third hotel, which is where he is now.

"Proof of identity." The boss puffed out smoke rings without turning his head when facing Rorschach.

Fortunately, there was an [air filter bubble]. Rorschach stood there without hiding and took out a piece of paper.

The boss took one look at it, covered it with his big furry hands and took it away. There was no identity document, just crumpled banknotes: "You have to register your name, right?" In his mind, Rorschach's identity changed from an apprentice to a fugitive. Maybe he committed something in his hometown, and the young man could do anything on impulse. If you can do it, now go to the area with the largest population in the kingdom and the most mobile people to "Hidden in the City".

Rorschach immediately announced the first name he heard in Istani: "Bendy."

The boss nodded and wrote it down: "How many days will you stay?"

"Stay three days first." He handed out a handful of coins, including shillings and pennies. The boss allocated four shillings and six pence and threw a rusty key to the young man: "Breakfast is provided, and food and drinks at other times are not included. Room 207, if you can't read, I won't accompany you up there."

Rorschach's final destination was now a cheap hotel. The wooden floor had been eaten by insects and rats, and there were large and small stains everywhere. The air exuded an irresistible smell of musty and sweat. If it hadn't been for that sudden incident, he would have at least been able to sleep on a relatively neat big bed.

"Forget it, that store doesn't change the sheets." Rorschach moved all the sheets and quilts aside and took out his sleeping bag from the storage ring.

It was still early to go to bed, so Rorschach bought pea soup and bread and ate in his room while sorting out the current situation.

Something was wrong. A series of circumstances made him feel that it was too coincidental. Why did the Knights come to search the hotel as soon as he stayed? Although it was for the last missing tenant. After calming down, Rorschach no longer directly equated the "missing tenant" with "Teacher Caroline" because the only evidence was his own letter.

His letter had not been tampered with, the word "Caroline" on it was clearly written on it, and what Rorschach remembered he had written on the spot at the Magic Guild's Stormwind City station had not been tampered with either.

In the words of the elves, he is a special kind of person among the "madmen". Not only is he immune to the curse that erases traces of a person's existence, but his written words will not be tampered with. Not only that, Kano also remembered Caroline. The content of the Royal Academy’s reply is unknown, but Rorschach believes that they are also not affected by the curse.

Then the effect is only on Istani, or even just in Storm City.

Rorschach witnessed the letter being twisted, so it had a triggering effect. The letter apparently remained intact when it was delivered to Istani, and when Rorschach opened it himself it was still in its original text. So when did it change?

The first time was when the guild staff saw the letter and the text changed.

The second time, Rorschach's restored information returned to distortion when given to Benedy.

So it’s human! The local residents of Storm City will be changed after seeing it. Rorschach understood some of the rules of the curse, but he still didn't know more details, such as how "locals" were defined, and whether he was not special just because he had just arrived and had not been assimilated or eroded by any force.

He glanced out the window at the deep night of Storm City and shuddered.

After calming down, Rorschach decided to use the last resort. He took out Balan's Bead. Since the last time the bead dragged Rorschach into a predicted scene, the young man had become more vigilant and treated the remnant soul of the God of Deceiver more cautiously, no longer feeding it magic power and transmutation dust, but today The situation is that it has to be used.

He just provided "yes" and "no" options on the paper, injected a small amount of magic power into the beads and asked: "Does the City of Shadows really exist?"

When Rorschach rolled, the ball stopped at the "Yes" option.

Benedy didn't cajole me with cliche urban legends, or to put it another way, "urban legends are true." Rorschach was familiar with similar settings. For example, the invisible empire of the Quincy was in the shadow of the Serenity Palace.

After giving a little more magic power to restore the luster to the feathers in the bead, he asked again: "Is Caroline, the teacher of the Imperial Academy of Magic, in the Shadow City?" Since "Caroline" is a common name, Rorschach Add qualifiers.

The bead hovered on the paper for a while, seemingly disturbed, but it still gave a positive answer.

Do you want it to show the scene directly like last time? Rorschach felt that it would be best to directly see where the teacher was, but he was worried about letting the beads invade his consciousness again.

Ask first. Rorschach made up his mind: "Can you see where Teacher Caroline is?"

The bead rolled back to "No" this time.

Finally, Rorschach asked the question to be determined: "Elven Benedy Conchie." He originally wanted to ask Mother Earth directly, but he was afraid that Pearl would refuse if she was too high-ranking. Is it related to the object of his worship?"

Bang bang bang. The beads bounced on the hardwood table, and its answer - "Yes"!

Rorschach paused at this, but it was just related. He changed the question: "Is Benedy a believer in existence?"

The beads no longer bounced, but simply rolled off the paper, their feathers flickering.

Is this a bargain with me? Rorschach injected some more magic power, and the beads answered: "No".

"Is Teacher Caroline's disappearance related to that existence?"

"yes."

After asking a series of questions, the beads seemed to have finally lost their power. No matter how much magic Rorschach injected into the feathers, they could not regain their luster and could not make a choice to answer Rorschach's questions.

Fortunately, Rorschach breathed a sigh of relief. Now the quest to find people and follow up on clues seems to be converging in one place. It seems that it is imperative to go to the Shadow City, but you must not guide yourself into it through the suspicious Benedy.

It's best that I'm not alone. Rorschach set the warning and got into his sleeping bag. Before he fell asleep, he thought of a face that was mostly covered by a beard.