Chapter 9 – I’m Doing It Because It’s a Mission Given by the Crown Prince, but the Work Is Difficult, So I Wish I Could at Least Pay More for the Performance.
“Luna?”
The guide sent by the crown prince was an unexpected person.
She thought the imperial family would send someone directly, but she never thought Luna would come visit her instead.
“You noticed it right away. “I thought she was perfectly disguised in her own way.”
Luna, disguised as an adventurer, shrugged her shoulders.
Instead of the shiny blonde hair we saw yesterday, she had plain brown hair tied in a ponytail.
The blue eyes disappeared and red-brown eyes took their place.
Did she wear a mask made of magic?
Wearing a mask made of the same material as human skin, her face was covered in freckles and there was a light scar on her chin.
She said the crown prince was coming to visit her last night, and she looked completely different from the one she had come to visit.
The woman in front of her looked like a veteran adventurer.
“Magic these days is very sophisticated.”
“It’s the result of research.”
“Hmm, that’s interesting.”
Even when I looked closely, it looked real.
“But how did you know?”
“The smell of the perfume you used in the lake remains.”
“Ah, did you remember my smell? “Isn’t this a bit exciting?”
She ignored Luna’s cute gestures that twisted her body.
If I accepted all of these things one by one, there would be no end.
It will be difficult to handle it if your habits get worse than they are now.
“It looks like the crown prince doesn’t want to show it to the public.”
Using the Man of the Moonlight Lake is not enough, it is a disguise.
She planned to hide the imperial family’s involvement until the end.
As a convenience store manager, I can make many excuses for my actions.
“… Is that the end?”
“What more do you need?”
“I don’t think it’s really wood or stone.”
Luna puffed out her cheeks at my calm response.
I can hear everything.
“By the way, what should I call you during the mission?”
“Just feel free to call me Jane.”
“It’s Jane. I get it. “I call you Jane during missions.”
Even though I was disguised, I saw light dark circles under my eyes.
“Luna, you’re having a hard time too.”
“Ha, I think I’m going to die. She worked all night, and now she has to work overtime again…”
She is a lake woman at the lake at night, and an imperial intelligence agent outside during the day.
She is also a busy person.
Luna let out a sigh of relief. She was a sigh that felt the weight of life.
As the saying goes, he is an intelligence agent for the empire, but in reality, he is a salaried worker who works for a salary. He was no different from a kind of civil servant.
What power does a mere salaried worker have?
If you criticize, you criticize.
“Ask me to at least ask for a lot of performance bonuses.”
“If I could, I wouldn’t have complained.”
For the women of the lake, the imperial family’s mission is not for money, but to erase their original sin.
Even if you successfully complete the mission, no reward will be paid.
Well, internal evaluation will go up.
The retirement period will also be shortened.
That’s not my concern.
Elena heard the conversation between me and Luna and whispered to me with her eyes wide open.
“Manager, is this Luna?”
It seemed like she had no idea.
Yeah, you probably don’t know.
Among the women of the lake, Luna’s disguise is absolutely perfect.
“Okay. So don’t tell anyone else.”
“All right. “My mouth is heavier than I thought.”
Elena pursed her lips and nodded.
“Luna, you are perfect at applying makeup.”
Innocent reaction. It is healing.
Elena, just grow like you are now.
“I’ll be back for a while, so take a good look at the store.”
“Yes, store manager.”
“I heard that Sylvia will do the tinkering for me later. “If you come, we will work together.”
“All right. Please be careful.”
After seeing off Elena, I left the convenience store with Luna.
How long has it been?
Luna arrived in a deserted place and spread a thin film of mana around her.
“No one will hear it at this rate.”
“Could you use magic? After all, you can’t judge the women of the lake just by looking at them.”
“The more flashy it is, the more thorns there are.”
What she unleashed was noise-blocking magic.
It was a magic that made it impossible to hear conversations taking place outside unless you entered the Manamak.
In order to completely block the outside and inside, several complex techniques had to be used simultaneously.
Space separation, sophisticated mana control, techniques to suppress waves, etc.
Because of that, there were few people who could do it this skillfully.
“Then, please give me a briefing on exactly what the situation is.”
“The location is Duvel Forest, located next to Oscar. There is a report that there is a place where the flow of mana is tangled. Although it is not uncommon for mana flow to be disrupted, the scale is unusual. If it is the magic of enemies targeting the empire…”
“It means that a big accident could happen. In the Magic Tower?”
“The wizards who investigated the scene only reported that it was nothing serious. They said there would be a small dungeon.”
“It’s no big deal?”
“Yes.”
It often happens that the flow of mana is disrupted.
Before a sudden natural disaster occurs.
As the magic tower said, before dungeons were created.
Or before monsters appear, etc.
Mana distortion is a symptom of a naturally occurring disaster.
For an empire with such great power that it could dominate the continent, the creation of dungeons or monsters was not a big deal.
Natural Disasters? Even that was something that could be solved.
But just one thing.
‘What if someone intentionally tangled the flow of mana?’
What if it’s an enemy attack targeting the capital of the empire?
If so, it wasn’t something that was easy to see.
What if there are casualties from the attack?
Everyone involved will be blown away.
The magic tower wizards who investigated might actually have their heads blown off.
“Since when has it been like that?”
“I also received a report this morning, and they said that an abnormal phenomenon had been occurring for 15 days ago.”
It’s been longer than I thought.
“What’s strange is that there are no reports of monsters being discovered or any changes in the weather.”
“Anything special?”
“It seems that His Majesty the Crown Prince considers Magic Tower to be the prime suspect.”
“Is it… ?”
Causes a mana rift within the empire?
I don’t think it would be possible without the Magic Tower going crazy.
‘You never know.’
The current magic tower lord has deep regrets towards the crown prince.
“Once you research, anything will come out.”
We arrived at Duvel Forest, located on the outskirts of Oskar, where mana distortion is in progress.
As soon as I arrived at the forest, I felt the twisted flow of mana through my skin.
I felt sick.
I suppressed the feeling that I was going to vomit at any moment and entered the border of the forest.
“Wow!”
Luna’s reaction was quite serious.
For wizards who are much more sensitive to mana in the air, just touching this kind of mana will give them goosebumps.
She is the most sensitive among wizards, so the pain will be unbearable.
“Wow!”
Unable to bear it, she leaned against a tree and began to gag.
“Jane, are you okay?”
“Sorry. It felt more disgusting than I thought…”
“The mana is broken here and there.”
A large crack felt as if a hole had been opened.
Spaces that felt like emptiness without anything were visible everywhere.
“Could it be a dungeon?”
It wasn’t an entirely unlikely story.
In most cases, when mana was twisted and tangled, she would have a dungeon at its center.
However.
“It won’t be a dungeon.”
“Is it different?”
“When a dungeon is created, a distorted flow of mana often surrounds the entire space.”
It was different now.
The mana was twisted and tangled around a single point somewhere inside the forest, not the entire forest.
Rather than a dungeon.
“Monsters are more likely.”
“Shall we call the punitive force?”
“Yet. “For a monster with this much power, you would literally have to call in a company of knights.”
“That’s not good news.”
“But why did the Magic Tower report that nothing was wrong?”
“Isn’t that what they did?”
Well.
I couldn’t figure it out up to that point.
The wizard who came out to investigate may not have detected this flow, or the flow may not have been more severe at the time.
“Let’s go a little further.”
I pulled out the sword from my belt and went inside.
“Jane, you are here.”
“No. I also have a mission to do together… Whoop!”
Luna covered her mouth and nauseated again.
“There’s a lot of people who gag like they’re pregnant.”
“Oh, so the store manager got me pregnant? “Honey, my baby wants to eat strawberries sold at the convenience store.”
“Don’t say strange things while retching.”
“The store manager was the one who said something strange first… Woo!!”
Luna, who was drooling and gagging, shook her head.
The rejection was worse than I expected.
“Well, I’ll wait here. I’m sorry.”
“Okay. Well-thought-out.”
I left her Luna at the entrance to her forest and entered her hall.
This is better than just sitting next to you like a burden.
As I went further into the forest, the disgusting feeling I felt at first became more and more severe.
‘If Luna had come in, she would have fainted in the middle of it, right?’
Buzz!
A sound like a whirling sound rang in my ears.
As we got closer to the center of the forest, the sound of the whirlpool became louder.
Buzz!
I felt a huge wave shaking my whole body.
As if warning you not to come here.
‘Even if you refuse, I still want to go?’
Don’t you wonder what’s in store if I warn you not to come so openly?
It’s like I really want to do something if I’m not told to do it.
I took a step closer.
Wooooow!!!!
“Ugh!”
My head was pounding from the rough waves.
Something invisible was desperately blocking me.
‘It’s going to keep coming out like this, right?’
Keep walking.
I ignore all resistance that tries to stop me.
Every time that happens, my body shakes.
I have a headache and my head is throbbing.
When the progress gradually increased, and it felt like everything was shaking.
Pajik!
I heard the sound of glass breaking.
The world has changed.
A magic circle drawn with red blood in a forest full of greenery.
Instead of the refreshing phytoncide smell, the fishy smell of blood stings your nose.
The forest was polluted, as if all its life had been sucked out.
The only thing that can suck the vitality of nature like this is black magic?
“Lost black magic has been resurrected?”
The magic circle depicted an inverted pentagram, a representative symbol of black magic.
