By the time they returned to the town, it was already night. Winter darkness came quickly, and the sky had fully darkened almost as soon as the countdown to the last three hours of daylight began.
Temporary shelters were gradually being set up in the northern part of the town—at least, that was Luke’s idea.
Unsure when it might snow again, Luke arranged for the town’s young people to work in shifts, day and night, on emergency relief efforts, hoping to clear the roads before the next heavy snowfall.
Even though Sean had retrieved the bodies of the victims from Buxi Village, a large portion remained buried under the more difficult-to-excavate collapsed houses. Moreover, the road leading to Xi Village had to be reopened as quickly as possible—winter demanded haste.
“My lord, leave this to me. You’ve been busy all day; go and rest.”
After dinner, Luke said this to Sean.
For the most part, this would likely be the routine going forward. Waiting around constantly would be too draining and exhausting for him.
“Mm, thank you for your hard work.”
Having fought twice in one day, Sean truly felt tired and didn’t bother with pretense.
He scanned the crowd but didn’t see the archaeological team; they must have returned as well. So he gave Luke a few brief instructions and headed home to rest.
Dante had gone to the nearest city, Koga, to request reinforcements, but it would probably be a few days before he returned. For now, they had to rely on his own guard and the townspeople for help.
Back home, it was utterly quiet. Almost everyone had been dispatched to the disaster area, leaving only the old steward, Calibo, who was too elderly to go.
“My lord, you’re back?”
“Mm.” Sean nodded in reply.
“You look very tired. I’ve heard about what happened over there—it’s truly cruel! Why did such a disaster have to befall our Talemian? It’s been years since anything like this happened in the town.” Calibo, a native of Talemian, was equally grieved by the tragedy in Xi Village.
“Has anything like this happened before?”
“Probably when I was a child. But that time, it was a forest fire. Talemian used to grow fruit, and it was quite profitable… That fire destroyed the entire orchard mountain, killing hundreds of people! It was the worst incident.”
Calibo might even be older than the previous Baron Vigor.
His childhood would trace back to Sean’s grandfather’s generation! No, even that generation would have been young—it would have to be an earlier one.
“I’ve already sent Dante to find Count Hamilton in Koga, hoping he can offer us help. We’ll handle this.” As the local leader, Sean couldn’t afford to sigh and complain, or others would lose confidence even more.
Noticing the status 【Relieved!】 above Calibo’s head, Sean smiled faintly.
“If anything happens in the disaster area, come and tell me. I’m going to rest now.”
“Very well, my lord. You’ve had a long day!”
With that, Sean took a candle and climbed alone to the dark upper floor of the attic. The area below was usually guarded, but since the household staff had been called away, it was eerily quiet tonight—not even anyone to light the candles.
As he walked back to his room, he noticed light seeping through the crack in the door!
He opened it.
Lucille, half-sprawled on the desk, lifted her head, her expression slightly drowsy.
“Why are you only back now?”
Sean hadn’t expected her to come directly to his room. He glanced toward the window… The raven was perched right there.
He had seen the pet’s abilities in today’s battle—so it had magic too!
“Why are you here so early…”
“Didn’t you call me over?” Lucille countered.
At night, she became a completely different person. Beneath her thick fur coat was tight leather, her silver hair curling over her shoulders, and her fair face and large eyes bore no resemblance to her daytime self!
As for her lips—hmm?
Sean suddenly noticed that under the candlelight, her lips were strikingly red, far more vivid than before.
Was this… a special effort for today?
“What, you called me over just to stare at me?!”
On a normal day, Lucille would have stood up triumphantly saying that, but today she seemed listless. Sean noticed she was stuck with the status 【Tired!】.
Looks like she wasn’t in good shape today.
He wondered if she had gotten bored and drowsy alone in the room, but Lucille had never shown signs of sleepiness even when staying up late with him before!
Sean then noticed her magic power… it had just recovered to 2000, exactly half.
That was probably the reason. Even though he had only used one spell, he too felt groggy.
So wizards’ magic recovery was this slow.
“I called you to ask about some things!” Since they were both tired, he might as well get it over with quickly.
“About Bachler?”
“And about you… I’ve thought it over. There must be a special reason why my little town attracts great wizards like you to travel thousands of miles to visit, right? Is it related to that thing you asked me to find?” Sean didn’t sit across from Lucille but instead settled on the bed.
The two faced each other across the room’s carpet.
“Though we agreed I wouldn’t pry into your affairs, things are different now. My town has suffered this disaster, and if I don’t get to the bottom of it, I don’t know what else might happen. What exactly is that thing? And who said it would be here with me?”
He recalled Lucille had mentioned it was a magical artifact, but now it seemed far more than that.
Lucille let out a long sigh.
“I knew you’d ask. Actually, it started as a rumor among wizards… Someone said it might be in the south, so many kept heading south to search. Talemian is just one possible location. When I came, I happened to run into Kree and the others, so I disguised myself as part of the archaeological team and traveled along.” Lucille explained.
But Sean still had doubts.
“You could have come alone, like Bachler. Why disguise yourself as an archaeological team? What are you hiding from?”
He noticed the status above her head suddenly vanish—she seemed to have perked up.
“You’re very clever, little baron.”
“Hah, that’s just the truth. But I’m not looking for your praise right now!”
Now that their rapport had shifted to friendly, a few teasing remarks between them no longer caused any emotional reaction.
“I mentioned before that wizards are divided into factions, right? I don’t like being noticed when I act, so I need a disguise!”
Traveling in disguise was indeed more convenient—less likely to be disturbed or discovered. And if Lucille’s true appearance was what he saw now, she would probably be the center of attention wherever she went, making travel even more troublesome.
“Alright, so what exactly are you looking for?”
Sean didn’t press further about Lucille’s personal matters to avoid offending her, sticking only to what he wanted to know.
“The posthumous work of the Witch Caine.” Lucille answered decisively.
“Caine?”
It sounded like a person’s name.
“Yes, the Witch Caine! Legend says she was a super-wizard who unraveled the mystery of life and death and discovered the truth of the world.”