Unsealing Emptiness

Ozul already had the conical hat on top as they walked through the streets.

This Shawell city was prospering as they could see from the bustling of the crowd everywhere.

Unlike before, Ozul’s conical hat and Clara’s veil attracted a couple of eyes towards them. The previous towns or cities had many people who did not want their identities revealed, so the locals did not pay much attention to them.

However, Clara’s veil and expensive-looking clothes made some assume that she could be a rich lady of a noble house. Cyril and Mark disguising themselves into two burly men certainly did not help the situation either.

The duo immediately understood the misunderstanding they caused by their appearance. Since others had already assumed so, they acted their part by glaring at anyone who looked their way.

Everyone was quickly too scared to look stare anymore at the young miss after that.

.....

There were a couple of city guards passing by, but luckily, they did not stop them for asking any questions. After giving them a simple but curious glance, they walked by them without any inquiries.

“Do you know of any hotel here?” Ozul asked as Mark nodded his head after giving it some thought.

Naturally, there were just too many places in his mind. So even he had to think for a while before he remembered a place.

“Lead the way,” Ozul said as Mark began to lead the group through the city.

Along the way, they saw how the city was flourishing. Ozul credited it to the geographical location of the city being so close to the Neutral Lands.

However, such a place would have normally been a lawless city if the City Lord was not competent enough.

“Who has the jurisdiction over here?” Ozul inquired.

“The cities all around the Neutral Lands have different powers governing them. As far as I remember, this city should be directly under an official of the Leonhard Dynasty,” Mark explained.

‘Leonhard Dynasty...’ Ozul had naturally heard of it.

The Leonhard Dynasty had a history of almost a thousand years, ruling a significant part of the continent. However, it was almost on the other corner from the Silverbird Kingdom.

It was said that the Dynasty had the backing of a Rank-10 Mage who was actually the person who had set the foundation of it a thousand years ago.

With such a powerful individual supporting it, there weren’t many who went against the Leonhard Dynasty.

At once, Ozul realized why this city was so thriving. Under the iron fist of the Dynasty, who would dare to care trouble here?

Under Mark’s lead, they passed by many famous places such as first-rate restaurants and gambling houses.

Since they could only walk among the crowd, it took them another twenty or so minutes before they arrived before a dark alleyway.

“Uhm... If I remember correctly, it should be in this alley,” Mark said, a little unsure of his memory.

He was uncertain only because he remembered many of such alleyways in different cities. He was doubtful if what he remembered was in some other city.

“What’s that? Do I hear uncertainty?” Cyril teased from the side.

“Shut up. These dark alleys all look the same,” Mark rebuked.

Ignoring their banter, Ozul stepped in the dark as Clara followed right behind him.

There weren’t many people around this part of the city, and Ozul almost thought that Mark had indeed made a mistake this time. But he changed his mind after he focused on his surroundings.

There was indeed a small hotel in this dark alleyway devoid of any life.

They did not have to find it since only a single building in this alley had torches lit up at its entrance.

Though the light was dim, it was enough for people to notice the building. Ozul and Clara walked towards it as the duo hurriedly followed behind after noticing their absence.

An old man sat behind the counter with a newspaper in his hand. Looking at his appearance, Clara even wondered how he was still living.

Ozul was about to ask for a room when Mark said, “We can just take the keys from there. This old man is useless.”

Mark pointed towards the row of keys hung on the wall with hooks that each had a room number written above it.

Ozul did not question the reasons and just took a random key before walking away to find the room with that number.

Clara also did the same before walking away. When it came to the duo, Mark left the appropriate price on the counter before taking a key for himself and Cyril.

When they walked away, the old man looked away from his newspapers towards them and grunted something incomprehensible before shifting his focus back to the task at hand.

The room that Ozul entered had a big window that opened to the other side of the alley. He looked outside only to see almost an identical alleyway to this one.

The tall buildings’ shadow did not let any light into the area, so everything was mostly dark.

Such a place was quite to his liking since there was no direct sunlight in the room through the window.

Satisfied, he was about to go to bed when his ears perched up as he sensed something outside the room.

He walked to the window and opened it only to notice a man running in the alley while holding a small wooden box to his chest.

The man wore a hat, so Ozul could not see the expressions on his face. However, he did not need to see his expressions to notice how flustered this man was.

His whole body was sweating as he took deep breaths when he stopped behind the edge of a building. It looked like he was trying to hide from someone who was following him.

And from the looks of it, the person pursuing this man was probably after that wooden box in the man’s hands.

Ozul was about to close the window and go back to his bed when he felt someone else entering the scene.

From the direction that the man had come from, three men fully dressed in black clothes appeared. Although Ozul was quite far away from them, he could easily hear them talking because of how quiet the area was.

“Are you sure he came this way?” One of the men asked. Ozul sensed that all three of them were Rank-5 Mages, but the man in the middle was at End Stage while the other two were in the Middle Stage.

“Yes, Boss! This alley should be a dead end according to the map,” another man replied.

“You! Keep watch behind our backs,” the man in the middle ordered as one of them turned around. The other two slowly advanced with their attention focused on the surroundings.

Ozul observed as the man holding onto the wooden box was anxiously looking for a place to hide, but he could not find anything. If this kept on, it wouldn’t be long before he was found out.

Although he could not find anything, the man knew that he had to do something about his situation before it was too late. Just as the men were getting close to his location, he tried to jump on the balcony of a building.

He made a stupid mistake in a hurry as a glass bottle on the ground was knocked over by his feet.

With the pin-drop silence in the alleyway, the sound of the glass hitting the floor sounded like drums beating.

The two men immediately lept towards the man who had no choice but to meet their attack head-on; otherwise, he would suffer a direct blow.

The man was also an End stage Rank-5 Mage. But it was one against two, so the outcome was easily predictable.

The man was sent rolling down on the ground, but his grip only tightened around the wooden box.

“Handover the box now, and I might show some mercy,” said one of the men.

“You won’t have it!” the man spat while slowly raising his body from the ground. It seemed that he was really determined not to give up the box.

“This was your last chance, you maggot!” the man in black said before gesturing towards the other two.

The guy with the wooden box had yet to catch his breath when the three ganged up on him. The man was no genius who could win against three people around the same strength as him, so he stood no chance whatsoever.

Under Ozul’s curious eyes, the man was beaten until he had no strength left even to hold himself up anymore. He fell to the ground as the box rolled to the side.

Although the three had defeated him, it wasn’t easy for them. They were now breathing heavily as one of them picked up the box.

It was at this moment when one man suddenly noticed Ozul looking down at them through the window.

“Boss! Look there!” the man shouted as the Mage, who now held the wooden box, looked up where the man was pointing at.

As he realized that someone had witnessed everything, the leader ordered, “Finish him off. I don’t sense anything from him.”

Hearing the orders, the man did not hesitate before rushing towards Ozul.

‘Hmm? Oh well, they spare me the effort to get to them first,’ Ozul thought before he jumped out of the big window.