Magic Academy's Genius Blinker - Chapter 278

Chapter 278

Field Training (7)

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The Poong Empire, with its deeply rooted history, was full of legends and folktales that circulated between villages, making the journey far from boring.

“I’m telling you, there used to be a Gumiho living here until 200 years ago!”

“Yes…”

Anella tried to ignore the old man spitting and ranting at the next table in the restaurant, her expression decaying.

“This little outsider doesn’t believe a word we say. Haha.”

“It happens! I had trouble for 28 years because no one believed my story about fighting a two-headed wolf when I was young!”

“Bull! That’s just a lie!”

While the old men were chattering, Anella quickly got up and left the restaurant.

Her cold sweat melted away in the cool breeze of the Poong Empire.

“Phew, this is nice…”

The clear air certainly had a way of lifting one’s spirits.

The old men might have been a bit boastful, but they weren’t bad people, just eager to share their local legends and customs with outsiders.

Good people and good culture.

A happy country.

…My country was destroyed.

“Hmm! Good thinking!”

She carefully walked along the shadowed areas, observing her surroundings.

She was trying to be inconspicuous, but it probably wasn’t very effective.

In the bright sunlight, hiding in the shade wouldn’t make a person invisible, and the sight of a young foreign girl walking stealthily like a cat was quite noticeable.

“Huh? Student. Are you lost? Is this your first time in this country?”

“Ah, no! I have a map.”

With her pigtails and the uniform of the Severun Kingdom’s magic school, the girl, who looked no older than a middle schooler, was attracting attention from the kind-hearted people of the Poong Empire as she wandered alone.

As a Dark Mage infiltrating the Poong Empire, this wasn’t exactly welcome attention.

She had recently heard that Eltemon Eltrine was close to developing a new technique to detect the mana wavelengths of dark magic, so she couldn’t rely on this disguise forever.

‘Besides, I’ve already been discovered a few times.’

Even this perfect ability to seal her dark magic with the Dark Magic Suppression Technique, making her undetectable to ordinary mages, had been seen through by ordinary Stella students.

Flame and Baek Yu-seol.

Two very special, unusual children.

Although she had survived thanks to their friendliness, it could also be said that she had almost died.

‘Anyway, where, what, and how am I supposed to do this?’

This mission was absurdly vague, simply instructing her to go to Taeyusan, the capital of the Poong Empire, and find traces left by the Witch of King.

That was all well and good, but with absolutely no hints, how was she supposed to operate?

It would be best to avoid any encounters, but if she spent more than a week without any results, she might really die this time, so she had to do something.

‘…Something? How?’

It was all so daunting.

Anella had no choice but to visit famous tourist spots.

It wasn’t that she was carefree enough to enjoy sightseeing when her heart could burst at any moment.

She just felt like she would go crazy if she didn’t do something, anything.

Taeyusan, Poong Empire, Sea Dragon Shrine.

It was said that a ‘Sea Dragon’ with eight legs and three tails ascended to heaven in the Taeyusan River, and a shrine was built to commemorate the existence of this mystical divine beast.

Sea Dragon here, Sea Dragon there.

As if the nearly 30-story tall Sea Dragon statue wasn’t enough, the area was filled with Sea Dragon-related tourist products.

Anella glanced at them with an indifferent eye, pretending to be interested.

‘What are they going to do with those…’

The prices were staggering, starting at 30,000 credits each.

That was enough for at least three meals, and the impoverished Anella couldn’t afford such luxuries.

“Hey, student. Are you sightseeing? Why don’t you buy an amulet?”

As she was blankly staring at the products, an old man next to her waved an amulet.

“An amulet?”

“That’s right. Only 5,000 credits. You’re buying luck for 5,000 credits.”

“Come on… Who would believe such a lie?”

Anella was an adult.

A 40-year-old adult.

Even though she looked like a child, she wouldn’t fall for such tricks.

“Haha… You don’t know. Yes, little lady, this amulet might not have any effect. But believing that it does is what’s important. The belief that you can be happy, that you can succeed by having this amulet.”

“…What good is it to believe that?”

“There’s nothing in this world that you can achieve without believing. This amulet helps you store that belief and use it whenever you need it. It makes you believe.”

“Uh…”

So, this amulet was an object that ‘makes you believe’ that you can draw out the ‘belief that you can succeed.’

It sounded strange, but also somewhat plausible.

Normally, she might have dismissed it as nonsense, but right now, Anella was like a raft adrift in a vast ocean, and she needed something to believe in.

“I, I’ll buy it.”

“I also have an item that gives you faith in your faith, want to see?”

And just like that, 68,000 credits were quickly gone.

Looking at the pile of amulets and fake relics in her hands, Anella let out a belated sigh.

“Stupid…”

If these things could really solve everything, why would people bother to work hard?

Still, since she had bought them, she couldn’t just throw them away, so she was about to put the amulets in her bag when something caught her eye.

It was an old amulet that Baek Yu-seol had given her earlier.

“…This is an amulet too.”

Amulets were quite unfamiliar in the world of mages.

After all, amulets were closer to Jujutsu and Taoism than magic.

Jujutsu had been phased out long ago for being less efficient than magic, but she had heard that there were still some who carried on the tradition.

Unlike magic, which was manifested through precise calculations, Jujutsu was said to be manifested through faith and belief.

It sounded strange just hearing about it.

“What is this used for…”

Then her gaze fell on the amulet-selling grandfather.

Since she had already bought a bunch of amulets, he might answer if she asked about this one.

“Excuse me, grandfather.”

“Hmm? Want to buy more? No refunds.”

“No, it’s not that. I have an amulet that I’ve had for a while. Is this also, you know, an amulet of faith or something?”

“An amulet…? Let me see.”

When Anella presented the old and tattered Amulet of the Vengeful Spirit from Baek Yu-seol, the old man’s eyes widened.

“Hmm? This is…”

“Do you know what it is?”

Despite her question, the old man furrowed his brow and examined it for a long time.

Then he took out a magnifying glass from a drawer and stared intently at the amulet.

“This is… an ancient art of geomancy that disappeared over 300 years ago.”

“Geomancy?”

“Yes. It’s like the Runes that you mages use as the foundation of your magic, the Poong Empire’s unique incantation. I heard that the tradition was lost long ago… How strange. And it seems to have a very powerful spell on it… Little lady, where did you get this?”

“Just, you know.”

“Anyway, that amulet is a very precious item, so keep it safe. It might contain some mysterious power.”

Taking back the amulet, Anella looked at it with newfound curiosity.

An old, torn amulet.

It seemed absurd to believe in something based on just this.

She was starting to doubt whether she should really believe Baek Yu-seol’s words, whether she could become human by believing.

‘…It was real.’

He didn’t lie.

“Then… do you know how to use it, or how to interpret it?”

“Hmm, you’d have to find a traditional Jujutsu practitioner to interpret this. I have no idea.”

“I see?”

It was a shame, but it couldn’t be helped.

The bloodline of Jujutsu practitioners had been severed, and this old man, who was just selling amulets on the street, probably couldn’t interpret such a genuine amulet.

‘Wait a minute.’

Didn’t that mean that all the amulets this old man sold were fake?

She was about to say something in anger, but the old man spoke first.

“Ah, right. I heard that a young Jujutsu practitioner came here recently. I heard that they properly inherited the art of Jujutsu, so if you really need to, you can try finding that girl.”

“A young Jujutsu practitioner…?”

“Yes. I heard she’s around your age, and very skilled. I heard she’s sometimes seen on the castle road…”

“What’s her name?”

“No one knows. She wears a mask, so few people have seen her face. But that might make her easier to find. There aren’t many young Jujutsu practitioners wearing masks.”

“Hmm. Thank you…”

Anella bowed her head to the old man and walked along the street, staring blankly at the amulet.

Finding the witch was important, but she wanted to uncover the secret of this amulet as soon as possible.

‘A young girl Jujutsu practitioner…’

Could she find her right away?

She hoped so.

Buzz-

As she walked along the road of Taeyusan, clutching the amulet, she heard the sound of people gathering nearby.

“What is it?”

Focusing her dark magic in her eyes, she saw mages in black suits blocking people’s way.

And in the middle of them, a large and luxurious carriage.

The Starcloud Trading Company’s vivid green mark emblazoned on it.

Seeing the genuine emblem that only the head of the Starcloud Trading Company and his daughter could use, Anella’s eyes widened.

‘The head of the Starcloud Trading Company came here in person…?’

The Starcloud Trading Company, the true power behind the southern plains, practically fed the Poong Empire.

“It’s really incredible.”

“I know, right? Just one merchant appears, and the Seven Wind Families come in person to greet them…”

“If they ignored the Starcloud Trading Company, they’d be hammered at the upcoming succession ceremony, so they have no choice. They’re probably groveling.”

“And I heard it’s not even the chairman himself, but his daughter?”

“The chairman and his daughter both hate being bothered, so they rarely come to Taeyusan unless it’s a big deal.”

“There must be something really important going on.”

“Really? They own 30% of Taeyusan’s real estate and they don’t even come here? They must be really full of themselves.”

“They can afford to be. It’s Starcloud.”

It turned out that Zeliel, the daughter of the Starcloud Trading Company, had come to Taeyusan in person.

Just a young girl not even twenty years old, yet her arrival was causing such a stir in the country.

It made her realize the immense influence she held.

‘Amazing…’

She felt a sense of awe, realizing that Zeliel lived in a completely different world.

She could faintly see Zeliel’s profile in the distance.

A cold impression, seemingly even more devoid of emotion than her own as a Dark Mage.

‘Sigh, why am I even paying attention to that?’

They probably wouldn’t cross paths in the future.

Anella shook her head and started running towards the castle.

End of Chapter