Sean stared blankly at the giant rat's head and the unprecedented status that had appeared above it.
The shop was tiny, consisting of just two rooms. Aside from the entrance, the only space left was a storage room, and the basement was presumably another storage area for goods.
"This way! Hurry over here." The shopkeeper first went into the inner room to open the basement door before running back to call the two of them.
Ignya glanced at Sean.
"You go first, Sean." She said, but noticed he wasn't moving.
"What are you standing there for? Let's go." Ignya urged anxiously.
At that moment, Sean finally snapped out of his observation... There was no time to look further; the roof beams were already crawling with rats.
The ones near the entrance hesitated, afraid of the flaming fluid in front of Ignya's magic staff, but they kept trying...
Finally, she tossed the flame from her staff into the swarm, and the two of them hurriedly ran into the inner room.
"Quick!"
The moment they slammed the door shut, they felt the rats already crashing against it.
The basement was right in the center of the inner room, with stairs descending into the ground like a cave entrance...
It also had a wooden hatch. Only after Sean and Ignya got inside did they discover an additional iron door, and their racing hearts finally eased a little.
With an iron door, it should be much safer!
Once the three of them entered the basement, they quickly locked the wooden hatch and secured the iron door. The noise finally died down...
And at that moment, the light plunged into complete darkness.
*Thump!*
Ignya lit a flame on her staff.
"Put out the flame! In a place like this, it'll suffocate us." Sean suddenly said.
Lighting a fire in such a cramped space was like suicide, so he directly snuffed out the flame on her staff.
But the brief flash of light had given them a clear look at their surroundings—a small room of about ten square meters, with a few large barrels in the corner filled with animal feed.
The air even carried the scent of coarse grain.
Or maybe it was just dust; either way, it was hard to tell apart.
"It's too dark in here."
After the brief light died, Ignya complained.
"Use some other magic—light magic or something."
"I don't have that kind of magic! And I didn't bring any glowing magical tools either." Her voice sounded annoyed, but in the darkness, Sean couldn't see her expression.
"Feel free to sit anywhere, you two. It's safe here. This warehouse was originally meant to keep rats and bugs from stealing the grain. I never thought it'd serve as a shelter today." At that moment, the shopkeeper, who had been silent, finally spoke.
Sean actually felt a bit sorry for him.
The man had been running his business just fine, and they had only run in because they were close by, only for things to end up like this.
He had glanced at the man earlier—he seemed about the same age as Danti, maybe a little under thirty.
With his unkempt appearance and a mouthful of beard, he looked older...
"Do you often see rats around here?" Sean suddenly asked.
He reached behind him and found the stairs, sitting down nearby. In the darkness, he could feel Ignya moving a little closer to him.
"People working in pastures and farms have definitely seen rats before, but never one that big. You said it came from the sewer? The entrance nearby?" The man's voice carried disbelief.
Just then, the faint noise above them was shattered by a loud crash, followed by the sound of stomping on wooden boards.
"What's happening to them?"
"They probably knocked over the door. They should be right above us now."
Because of the iron door's seal, the sounds from outside were muffled. If they didn't listen closely, they could barely hear the rats' squeaking.
"How could such a big rat exist in the sewer?" The shopkeeper pressed.
"That's not a rat. It's a magical beast."
"A magical beast?"
"Anyway, you wouldn't understand. They're not ordinary animals." Ignya suddenly said.
This made the shopkeeper panic, and he stood up abruptly.
"Then they won't be able to open this door, right?"
After all, this was their last line of defense. If the swarm broke through, even Sean and Ignya working together might not survive. And if no one came to rescue them, staying too long in the basement would mean suffocating in the confined space.
"Probably not. Magical beasts aren't that smart... Besides..." Ignya didn't dare finish her sentence, as if unwilling to be too absolute.
"Ignya!"
"Hmm?"
A reply came from the darkness.
"Do you know any magic that can let you talk to magical beasts?" Sean asked.
"Talk to magical beasts? There is such magic, but you'd need to be familiar with the other party to use it. Even if I wanted to go out and talk to it now, I couldn't."
Ignya probably thought he wanted her to use a communication spell.
But Sean was thinking about something else... What he had seen earlier.
The giant rat had a status above its head that said [In conversation...]. Did that mean it was talking to someone?
Right now, he and Ignya were probably the only wizards around. Even though Sean admitted he was a half-baked one with some magic power, he hadn't heard the giant rat speak.
And you needed to be familiar with the other party?
Did that mean there was another wizard nearby?
Thinking this, Sean instinctively glanced at the shopkeeper beside him. He shouldn't be one!
Otherwise, a magic bar would have appeared by now. No matter how suspicious he was, he could trust what his ability showed him.
That meant there was another wizard nearby, or someone controlling things from a distance...
It seemed Koga City wasn't as safe and peaceful as he had imagined.
Hiding a magical beast in the sewer—what was that wizard planning?
"Listen, is it quiet outside?" The shopkeeper suddenly blurted out.
The three of them fell silent.
It really did seem quiet.
Instead, there was a tapping sound on the wooden hatch.
"Is anyone down there?" A faint voice came through.
"It's people! Someone's come to rescue us!"
They had only been in the basement for a few dozen minutes, and help had already arrived.
"Someone's here!"
"We're down here!"
The shopkeeper couldn't wait and shouted toward the outside.
The iron door was probably too thick, so the people outside didn't hear clearly and knocked again.
"Is anyone there? A citizen said they saw people running into this place. Are you still here?"
"Yes, we're here!" The shopkeeper couldn't hold back and started climbing up first.
Even in the pitch-black space, this was his shop. Feeling his way up the stairs, he crawled out... As the iron door opened, a blinding light poured into the basement.
Sean noticed Ignya was curled up beside him. Only when the light appeared did she slowly stand up.
"Great, you're alive! Come out quickly."
The shopkeeper had already rushed out first, and Sean pulled Ignya along as they followed.
Outside, the shop was nowhere to be seen. The entire building looked like it had been cut in half, with the roof gone and the mud walls reduced to just over a meter high.
Whoa~
When had this happened?
The basement's soundproofing was incredible—they hadn't even heard this destruction.
Sean stepped out...
Standing at the entrance were two young men about his age. The moment they saw the pair, they noticed their magic attributes, and one of them stared at Sean's back.
"Ignya? What are you doing here?" One of them, a man with short blond hair, seemed to recognize her.
"Warren! How did you..."
Seeing Ignya's expression, Sean figured they knew each other.
"I'm here with Miss Hammel, of course."
When he mentioned Hammel, Sean suddenly looked toward the street outside.
Over there stood more than a dozen people...
The ground was littered with rat corpses piled thickly, and among the crowd, a girl sat on a horse—a girl he had seen before.
Aelia Hammel.
He never expected to run into her here.