Free Web NovelIn the morning, the airship landed in the Melse District.
Kaelan stepped off with a yawn, Burne following closely behind. Jegas was already standing on the ground, handling the handover and inquiries with the local staff.
Sylutia had dozed off on the airship last night while leaning against her seat. Now, she also followed them off the ship.
"They've already arranged a steam vehicle for us. We'll head out soon." After finishing her inquiries, Kaelan came back to inform Sylutia.
"According to the indicator on the Needle Compass, the specific location where she went missing should be a forest north of the Melse District. It's nestled in the mountains, sparsely populated—no idea how she ended up here."
"Does Carmilla have any hobbies in her daily life?" Kaelan asked.
"Her hobbies..." Sylutia thought back, but couldn't recall anything particularly memorable.
"She usually likes eating ice cream and picking out dresses in styles she likes. Other than that, she doesn't have any notable hobbies." The young girl shook her head.
"However, based on her recent notes, it seems she was studying some kind of potion. Maybe she came here looking for something she needed."
"That I wouldn't know, since alchemy isn't my field." Kaelan shrugged, just as the rumble of an engine gradually approached.
"Let's go. Time to set out." With that, she led the young girl and Burne to catch up with Jegas ahead.
The four of them then boarded the steam vehicle and drove out of the city.
Leaving behind the district with more buildings and houses, the roadsides began to reveal vast stretches of grassy plains. Occasionally, they spotted a farm or two, with people tending to the crops growing in the fields.
"The soil here isn't very fertile, but the scenery is beautiful. Many wealthy people buy estates here for vacations." Kaelan casually explained to the girl beside her.
"The local wen melons are quite famous, but once you leave this area, wen melons grown elsewhere just don't taste as good."
As Kaelan chatted about local specialties along the way, the steam vehicle rolled deeper into the wilderness. The roads here were normally only used for horse-drawn carriages, making the ride in the steam vehicle rather bumpy.
Luckily, the destination wasn't too far. Around 2 PM, the steam vehicle stopped in front of an old-style estate.
After presenting the Review Hall credentials and the Origin Hourglass badge, the estate's butler kindly agreed to their request. He allowed the steam vehicle to be parked in the estate's stable and even prepared a nice lunch for the four of them.
In the afternoon, following the Needle Compass's directions, the four left the estate and entered the mountain forest behind it.
"The butler said that normally, no outsiders come here, and he hasn't seen any young, unfamiliar girl matching Carmilla's description." Kaelan said as they walked.
"However, a few strangers have come through recently. Word is, they're chasing some escaped monster and went into the forest."
"Is it related to Miss Carmilla?" Burne asked curiously.
"Hard to say. We'll know once we go in and have a look." The group advanced along the mountain paths, with the sounds of insects and birds gradually filling the air around them.
In the height of summer, the mountains were slightly cool, and a breeze carried the fresh scent of grass and trees. Occasionally, they spotted blooming flowers tucked among the thick, verdant leaves.
After walking about three kilometers, they reached the destination indicated on the Needle Compass. Kaelan took out a small bottle, unscrewed the cap, and out crawled a plump little flying insect. Its body was glossy, a brownish color like a fried cicada pupa.
She handed the cloth fragment left behind by Carmilla to the insect. After sniffing it, the bug wobbled into the air and began circling.
"This is a Scent Bug. If Carmilla was here, it can detect the faint residual scent in the air." Kaelan explained briefly.
[Scent Bug] (Second Tier - Insect Moth), a specially bred flying insect that can track targets by scent.
After hearing this, Sylutia nodded slightly, her gaze lingering on the delicate insect.
She had heard of these bugs before. Apparently, breeding them was extremely difficult. Often, one had to raise nearly a hundred First Tier bugs of the same species just to pick out one that met the requirements—one with exceptionally sharp olfactory senses. Then it would be fed continuously until it advanced to Second Tier, only then truly becoming useful. The price of such a single bug could approach that of a Second Tier creation.
Though the scents in the mountains weren't as chaotic as in the city, pinpointing the exact faint scent of the target from among the thousands of residual smells left by plants and animals was still an extremely difficult task. Even Transcendents who had specially trained in the Sniffing Method probably wouldn't reach Fourth Tier before they could accurately find that one trace of the target amid such a complex mix of scents.
After about five minutes, the bug finally locked onto a target. It stopped circling aimlessly and flew off in a single direction.
"Follow it."
Jegas led the three of them, walking quickly and weaving through the dense forest. Everywhere he passed, the branches and leaves of obstructing shrubs snapped and fell to the ground, though no one could tell how he did it.
After half an hour of walking, the four arrived at a valley thick with vegetation. It was completely uninhabited, and only by pushing aside layers of grass and leaves could they see the stream hidden beneath.
"There's a footprint here." They finally found a trace left by Carmilla.
Using that footprint as a starting point, they continued searching the area and found a few other signs.
"It looks like she stopped here to rest. Probably washed her clothes and arms." Kaelan noted, recording the information with a pen and notebook.
"There are traces of blood on the tree. She must have been injured." Burne said he could sense the residual blood.
"On the cliff face over there, there are marks where dust was brushed off. Someone must have walked through there." Jegas pointed out the trace he spotted.
"By the looks of it, Carmilla must have run into an enemy. She kept flying through the air, then landed here, rested for a bit."
"Why didn't she try to escape back to the academy? Logically, she should have a protective orb issued by the academy on her. I wonder why she didn't activate it." Kaelan pondered.
But for now, no answers were forthcoming. The four followed the trail and continued onward.
Crossing that cliff and pushing further in, they found many obvious signs of a struggle. On a distant rock, three deep claw marks had been gouged out.
"These claw marks... the opponent doesn't seem to be a proper mage." Kaelan went over to inspect them, while Jegas stood elsewhere, carefully studying the footprints left on the ground.
"For such smooth, clean claw marks to be left on stone, I'd say the opponent is at least Third Tier. Maybe it's a beastman, or..."
"It's the Blood Clan." Jegas interrupted coldly.
"Are you sure, Lord Jegas?" Kaelan put away her pen and walked over.
"Positive. I'm very familiar with these guys. I've dealt with them plenty in recent years." Jegas frowned slightly.
Over the past decade, low-ranking Blood Clan members had been appearing in the Mage Alliance one after another. Their strength wasn't particularly great, and they often hid in cities, secretly targeting their victims. Some just wanted to drink blood, while others tried to recruit followers, seducing local power holders into corruption.
Ever since the Mage Alliance rose to power, other organizations on the Fourth Continent had all felt an underlying threat. In recent years especially, they had begun infiltrating each other. They sent people into the Mage Alliance, and the Mage Alliance sent people into those organizations as well. However, the Blood Clan to the north of the Ice Sea lived in isolation and held an inherent disdain for impure bloodlines, leaving the Mage Alliance with very little knowledge of that region. They could only passively endure the Blood Clan's infiltration and espionage.
"And this isn't just an ordinary Blood Clan member. It's very likely an orthodox Blood Clan member of at least Fourth Tier." He crouched down, looking at the footprints left on the ground.
"An ordinary Blood Clan member, wanting to keep a low profile, wouldn't wear such flashy shoes, even stamping complex patterns into the soles." He pointed at the marks left behind.
"However, the fact that a Fourth Tier Blood Clan member was chasing Carmilla and left such smooth, shallow claw marks suggests they wanted to capture her alive, not kill her outright." Jegas continued his analysis.
"If that's the case, Carmilla might be someone they want to catch and turn into a Blood Clan member, or she might know some secret they're after, which is why they held back during the fight." Kaelan speculated.
"Tch. These Blood Clan members don't want to put in the effort to cultivate and select talent themselves; they just know to come steal people from our Mage Alliance."
"I wonder how Carmilla is doing now." Hearing that it was a Blood Clan member of at least Fourth Tier, Sylutia couldn't help but feel worried.
"Let's keep following these traces. I suspect there should be a dimensional rift nearby, otherwise Carmilla couldn't have fallen into the Shadow World."
The continents floated above the Sea of Clouds, and the reflections below would mirror the appearance of the continents above. The two would form a subtle connection, and sometimes this connection would create tiny spatial folds or gaps. It was because of these gaps that monsters from the Shadow World occasionally emerged onto the surface continents, requiring local organizations to deal with and eliminate them.
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