Unsealing Emptiness

Half a day hadn’t passed when Ozul began to feel the Mana spike in the air.

As usual, Cyril and Mark changed their disguise again. It meant that they were reaching the city. And as expected, the outline of the city started to appear in their sight.

Unlike before, there weren’t any ordinary buildings in sight. No matter which direction Ozul looked towards, he could only see everything far more expensive and fancier than usual.

From afar, he could not see the end of the city. The city was huge, considerably bigger than he expected. However, it made sense since many of the powerhouses had their headquarters in a single city.

As the group got closer to the city, Ozul began to sense strong people all around. Though not anyone who could threaten him.

They were only strong compared to the usual people.

.....

At first glance, it only felt like entering a prospering city with a bustling atmosphere. However, anyone would be struck with fear when they realize how many Mages roamed the streets like ordinary people.

The peace in the city was maintained on a really fragile concept of fear and politics. No one wanted to make the first move since that person would be eliminated without any second chances.

Such a system had maintained peace for so long that people had already accepted not to cause any trouble while being in the city.

All the top clans and the organizations had realized this, but there was just no one to tip the scale of power in their favor and get everyone else to accept them as the general ruler.

No one was willing to back down, which resulted in this current situation.

However, unlike what Ozul had expected, there was no tension in the atmosphere as they walked around the city. It was just like any other settlement, but one with strong people everywhere mixed within the crowd.

Many were enjoying themselves in entertainment, while others were busy doing their personal work. No one had any constant fear of getting themselves killed at any moment.

‘People really have gotten comfortable after all that time...’ Ozul thought in interest. Such a delicate order could crumble any moment, but no one seemed to be caring about that in here.

As time passed, people had subconsciously started to believe that there will never be anyone willing to be the first one.

Even an ordinary person could tell how ridiculous this arrangement sounded.

Unlike before, the people on the streets did not even look in their way out of curiosity. This was the Neutral City. Everyone was naturally aware that people from all around the Mainland could be here.

There were no city guards or any such authorities keeping watch around the city, but no one dared to break the law anyway.

“How long will it take to arrive at the Church?” Ozul asked, a little bored. It was almost about to get dark, so he only had one thing in his mind right now, and that was to find a place to sleep tonight.

Understanding his impatience, Clara wanted to say that they would arrive soon, but she knew that it might take an hour or two, and he would not like that.

“It would take a little more time,” Mark replied before she could say anything.

“Hmm? Then let’s just do that tomorrow. Find a hotel,” There was no one stopping him from changing his decision otherwise anyway.

Mark led them to the first hotel that he saw near them. It had a lion’s emblem drawn on the top to symbolize that this property belonged to the Leonhard Dynasty.

Such was the case everywhere in this Neutral City. The powerful organizations owned almost everything that was top notch.

This hotel looked quite fancy from the outside as well. However, Ozul would not have entered if there weren’t a suitable environment. A proper receptionist and a manager stood behind the counter, who both wore fancy and expensive uniforms.

They warmly welcomed the group and began to ask for their requirements for the room.

“It would be a total for 1 Gold Coin for one night stay for the four of you,” the manager said. Although Ozul had almost never cared about paying, he did realize how high the price was for just one night’s stay.

One Gold Coin consisted of a hundred Silver Coins, and he remembered easily spending the entire day in a hotel using only a single Silver Coin.

However, Mark did not ask any questions about the price and just tossed a Gold Coin at the counter before they each picked up the respective keys for their rooms.

The receptionist and the manager gave them a slight bow and went back to their business.

It seemed that such high prices were common in the Neutral City from Mark’s casual gesture.

Ozul arrived at his room on the second floor. When he opened the door, the spacious room came into his view.

Unlike the hotel rooms before where dust was stuck on almost everything except for the bed, the room looked to be cleaned just recently. The floor was made out of tiles, so the lights were particularly shining all over the room.

There was only a single bed placed in the middle with a table placed on the room’s left side. There was a window that showed the outside scenery. People were busy walking down the streets.

All in all, this room was worth its price. However, all of that fancy setting was exactly the thing that he did not want in his room.

He only wanted a clean room and had a quiet atmosphere that would let him get some good sleep.

He turned off the shining lights and put curtains over the window. Fortunately, the room did not allow any light to enter when the person inside did not want it to. The curtains were surprisingly enough to block any flashes as well.

Ozul quickly put everything in the back of his mind and went to sleep.

In another room, Clara was a little downcast. She wanted to reunite with her family as soon as possible and tell them all about Venessa and Hanry as soon as possible. There were also her questions about everything that Ozul had said to her, but it seemed that she would have to wait another day.

On the other hand, Mark and Cyril sat in a room together again. They did not get out of their disguises just because they were in a room either.

Cyril took a big gulp from his never-ending jar of wine before saying, “Why did you lie? You know, these people are unpredictable. What if he gets angry and decides to take it out on us?!”

“Hm? What are you talking about?” Mark asked, a little absentminded.

“I am talking about earlier today. You told him that the headquarters are in the City!” Cyril said with a little irritation.

“Oh! You are talking about that. I did not have any choice... Even you can see that the girl is not together with him, so I could not tell the location in front of her. Showing him the way to our base is already going to give us quite a bit of headache. Imagine it leaking to the Church of Light as well,” Mark explained with a sigh.

“... The boss would kill us,” Cyril said as Mark nervously nodded. Both of them shivered a little while thinking of what their punishment would be when they went back.

*Sigh.*

“Why is every Rank-9 Mage so difficult to deal with!?” Cyril spat with annoyance. It was always nerve-wracking to talk with such a strong individual. It felt like you were walking on a tightrope with thousands of sharp blades placed on the ground below you.

One wrong step and you might end up losing your life.

“Don’t worry, though. That person definitely realized that I was lying and did not make things difficult for me on the spot,” Mark reassured him.

“Oh? How can you be so sure? We are talking about a Rank-9 individual, remember? How can someone like that be a little understanding?!” Cyril sarcastically remarked.

“... I don’t know. Although I can never understand anything from his vacant eyes staring at me, I felt like it had wavered just a slight bit when I said that the headquarters were in the City. It just gave me the feeling as if... he knew that I was lying?” Mark said, unsure of his own guess.

“Hmm... Now that I think about it, this person is really strange. Unlike the other Rank-9 Mages, I have yet to see him put on some airs. Not to mention, just how much rest does he want!?” Cyril commented.

No matter how much he thought about it, it did not sit well with him that a Rank-9 individual wanted to rest so much. In case of him, he had to put extra efforts to sleep after such a short interval of time instead!

There were many odd things about Ozul, which he wanted to ask but could not do so, fearing that it might be his last day to ask such a personal question.

There was also the question about why they could not sense any Mana fluctuations from him even when he used the Magical Spells. However, they assumed that it was just something they would understand only when they reached the Rank-9 threshold.