The morning had arrived, and within the Western Mage Union, a minor uproar had broken out.

The union leader, Micalin, was taken aback by the shocking news reported by Yuder. The report claimed that during the night, five night visitors had infiltrated their stronghold. Afterward, upon seeing their beaten and bloodied figures bound up like fish, Micalin was rendered speechless.

"Could they be dead already?"

"They are not dead, merely unconscious."

"But there wasn't that much blood before."

"They won't die from this amount of blood loss. So don't worry."

Micalin cast a new look at Yuder, the man who had single-handedly caught all the night intruders. When they first met, he had found the young man's character surprisingly mature for his age. Although he had kept quiet and appeared kind-hearted, primarily focusing on helping the mages under his command, his nonchalant attitude while looking at the defeated intruders struck Micalin as odd.

But what on earth was that dry, unbothered face in front of these tortured individuals? Even Micalin, who had become accustomed to surprises after experiencing all sorts of things, felt a chill down his spine upon witnessing Yuder's emotionless demeanor.

"So you want me to find a place to detain them?"

"Yes. Im sorry to ask this of you as these people have nothing to do with the Western Mage Union. However, we can't kill them right away. As soon as the rest of my group returns, we'll decide what to do. In the meantime, you dont have to worry about watching over them, I will handle that."

Yuder explained that these intruders were hired to disrupt a mission his group was performing. His demeanor while asking to borrow a holding place until his team could deal with the issue was so practiced, it seemed he had done this more than once or twice.

"The building next door could be used. Although it's partly damaged, the basement remains... It was originally used to store reagents, so it's sturdy, and the locking mechanism still works."

"That seems appropriate. Understood."

"Can I count on you to make sure they're not noticeable? We're just starting to recover some order, and it'd be troublesome if this event stirs things up again"

"Yes. That's the plan."

Just as Micalin thought Yuder would immediately proceed, he paused in front of the unconscious group of five. It seemed as though he was lost in thought. Watching his brooding expression, Micalin asked inquisitively.

"Do you have anything else to say?"

"May I... ask you about something related to a magic circle?"

"A magic circle?"

The idea of this young Awakener, whose life and learning experiences were completely unknown to Micalin, asking about a magic circle intrigued him. Micalin felt a sense of pure curiosity and invited him to continue, "Go ahead."

"I feel like I have seen parts of a magic circle like this before, and I was wondering if you could recognize anything."

Micalin looked at the piece of paper Yuder presented to him. The drawn shapes, albeit clumsy, contained familiar runes and magic activation words. They were sufficient for identification.

"This is an amplification circle developed by our Western Mage Union."

"Western Mage Unions amplification circle..."

As Yuder mumbled Micalin's words, his gaze sharpened.

"Are you sure?"

"These characters here signify the beginning of a certain flow of magical power that our Union members possess. And this part is the central activation word for the amplification magic. It's a phrase that needs to be written multiple times. Even if I only played a small part in the development of the circle, I would still recognize it, wouldn't I?"

""

"But why do you ask this all of a sudden? Didn't you see it too when you went to the ruins with Lorna yesterday?"

Yuder replied slowly as he looked down at the characters Micalin pointed out.

"I dreamt about it last night and asked, but like you said, it seems like what I saw then is still imprinted in my mind."

"A dream? Heh."

The youth's face, which had been spine-chilling until a moment ago, began to feel somewhat human again. Micalin burst into laughter, stroking his rough ash-colored beard.

"You've drawn it quite well for something you saw in a dream. These magic circles are incredibly hard to memorize and draw, taking quite some time to learn. If you can remember this much after only one viewing, then your visit to the ruins must have left quite an impression on you."

"...Yes, it was impressive."

Yuder folded the paper and put it back into his pocket.

"But... may I ask one more thing? Could such a magic circle possibly be left on a monster's body?"

It was a somewhat odd question. However, among the mages obsessed with research, there were indeed those who did such things, so Micalin didn't find it strange.

"A magic circle on a monster's body? Hmm. It's possible for research purposes. But it's too much trouble. Instead of drawing the circle directly on the monsters' bodies to cast magic, I'd rather have them step onto an already prepared magic circle, or initially find a monster that can absorb magic. It's much faster that way."

"I've heard of monsters that can absorb magic, but do they also absorb magic circles?"

"If they can absorb magic that has already been formed from magic power, wouldn't they be able to absorb a magic circle with the same structure? Of course, I haven't tried it, but according to the records left by the Pearl Tower mages who created the Misty Wind Horse 450 years ago..."

Micalin enthusiastically quoted from past records to explain, but Yuder couldn't understand any more of his words. After his fiery explanation, he thanked Micalin, wrapped the unconscious assassins in the power of the wind, and slipped outside.

It was still early dawn, but thankfully Micalin was up early. Thanks to him, Yuder was able to quickly take care of the assassins and resolve his curiosity. He had just wanted to know if the magic circle from his dream really existed, but the answer he got was shockingly unexpected.

'It's not just any magic circle, but a part of the amplification circle created by the Western Mage Union...'

Was it really a coincidence that he saw that circle in his dream? It didn't feel right to dismiss it as a simple memory manifesting in his dream. In fact, there were quite a few pieces of information recalled in his dream.

Information that Pethuamet was first spotted near the Great Sarain Forest, and even the vague memory of Kishiar's ability.

The moment he thought of Kishiar in his dream, who had looked at him with twisted eyes, his stomach churned again. Despite trying to push the memory away, the dreams he had so far and the dream from last night kept intertwining in his mind, spinning thoughts like a mill.

Suppose the dream Kishiar, who chuckled while mumbling about breaking a pot while collecting the Red Stone, was indeed real. Honestly, it was just not in his memory, but if he assumed that it was real, the fact that the strange attitude of the previous life's Kishiar, which he couldn't understand, was mostly acceptable, he wouldve realized that several times already through his dreams.

In any case, if all of that were indeed true, Kishiar's condition from the viewpoint of the Western subjugation battle in his dream last night had certainly not been normal. He did not bring his divine sword, knowing full well that his life was in danger on the battlefield, nor did he use swordsmanship, magic, or divine power. If this were the Kishiar of this lifetime, he might have been concealing his power, but he certainly would not have refrained from using it even in dire situations.

But if his condition was abnormal, why on earth had he gone to such lengths to kill Pethuamet?

Of course, thanks to his intervention, all the Cavalry members, including Yuder, survived unscathed. But there was no benefit left for Kishiar. He was no longer involved in the subjugation himself, and he began to be surrounded by even more malicious rumors than before.

The past Yuder had not been particularly curious about why Kishiar had done that. He would have guessed that Kishiar had done it for some necessary reason, and he would have asked about it and probably been ignored, so he forgot about it.

No matter how much he thought about it, the only conclusion was that the power Kishiar showed at that time was akin to self-harm, and he couldn't guess the reason.

"Self-harm."

Yuder repeated the word he thought of, furrowing his brow.

If it were his past self, he would have thought that there was no word less suited to Kishiar than that, but now he could not be so sure. The pale face that had appeared before him, tearing his own arm off just before he came to the west, was still vivid in his memory.

Kishiar was a man who could potentially make the choice to harm himself for somewhat irrational reasons.

"For somewhat irrational reasons..."

The face from his dream that exuded cold anger the moment he asked him to back off flickered in his mind. It certainly did not seem rational...

His head started to hurt, so Yuder stopped walking for a moment and took a long breath.

"No. Now is not the time to speculate."

He had a duty to investigate other information he had heard from Micalin. Yuder checked a few pieces of information he knew about the magic-power-absorbing monster.

"I don't remember encountering any of the monsters I remember during the Western subjugation mission. What was Pethuamet's group like in my past life?"

The ones who resembled Pethuamet were a nuisance to deal with in groups, but they were not particularly difficult to deal with. Since there were not many mages in the West capable of dealing with them, they were mostly dealt with early on by the Cavalry members and Knights.

"At that time, hardly any mages came forward, so I don't remember whether the monsters had the property of absorbing magic power or not. It's difficult to remember this, given that I've dealt with more than a few monsters."

But as he rubbed his forehead, trying to recall, one thing came back to him. He remembered receiving a report that crop damage had been quite severe due to Pethuamet's group, who swarmed like locusts, destroying or consuming everything in their path.