Clues

Aizen touched the ground with a focused expression.

"Did you find something?" Gin asked. He very much doubted that Aizen could find something that could solve the farming problem. He didn't want to brag, he had years of experience in this area, but he found nothing.

"...I'm not sure. However, I did get some information." Aizen replied.

"Huh?! What did you find out?"

"The soil is not infertile."

"What?! But we can't produce anything, how is the soil not infertile?" Gin thought that Aizen was playing with him.

"The soil is not infertile… there is just a greater force preventing the crops from growing."

"Strength…greater?" Gin was confused.

"Go away." Aizen gathered the mana in his hands and touched the ground.

*BOOMM!*

A surge of mana spread all around. Gin was shocked by the vast amount of mana. The ground began to shake, knocking Gin down.

'What is it?!'

After the mana wave passed through the ground, many magic matrices were revealed.

"What is happening?!" Elizabeth suddenly appeared. She became alert as she felt a huge amount of mana suddenly being emitted.

"E-Elizabeth-Sama…" Gin couldn't explain what was happening.

Elizabeth looked at the matrices with a confused expression.

"What's going on, Aizen?"

"These matrices… are preventing anything from growing in the soil." Aizen said, after thinking for a while.

"What?! Since when are these things here?"

"Probably since the time the elves came here."

…

"So it was them." Elizabeth was angry, but she had to admit that the elves were very talented at magic. She couldn't quite understand these magic circles.

"Can't we just destroy it?" Gin asked.

"Well…" Aizen sent a beam of mana and destroyed the magic matrices.

"...That was too easy!" Gin exclaimed. He thought these matrices would be more complicated.

"Don't celebrate early." Aizen said.

The matrices that were destroyed before began to rebuild themselves again.

"What?!" 2x

Aizen approached the matrices and watched them for a few seconds.

"We need to find the source of this. It doesn't matter if we destroy the matrices, they will keep rebuilding."

"Source?..." Elizabeth muttered with a thoughtful expression.

"There must be something that feeds those matrices." Aizen destroyed the arrays a few more times, but they rebuilt themselves again.

"I'll look for more clues, you can come back."

"Aizen, I can help you." Elizabeth didn't want to let him handle it alone.

"No need to worry, you have things to do. I'll notify you if anything happens."

"...Alright. Promise to be careful." Elizabeth responded with some hesitation.

Aizen showed a smile upon seeing the girl's concern.

"I promise."

-

After Gin and Elizabeth left, Aizen returned to send waves of mana wherever he went, looking to find some matrix that had a connection with the source. He was surprised to find that matrices existed all over Kiron City. The person who did this was not weak.

'That' s it…'

Aizen looked in a certain direction. He had found a matrix that appeared to be connected to something outside of Kiron City.

'Maybe the source is in that direction.'

-

"Abraha's Desert." Elizabeth said the name of the location.

"In that direction is a desert called the Abraha Desert. It is a dangerous place, as there are strong monsters there. However, that desert also has many valuable resources." She thought of exploring that desert to acquire a good source of food.

"I'll check out that place, maybe I'll find something there." Aizen said.

"What?! But that place is-"

"Have you forgotten that I can't die?"

…

"But…"

"You worry too much, I'll be back in a few days. I promise."

Elizabeth looked at Aizen who was determined.

*Sigh!*

"Fine, but take this." She took a scroll from her ring and handed it to Aizen.

༺═────────────────────────────═༻

Teleportation scroll

Can teleport to any place it has been once

Uses: 1

༺═────────────────────────────═༻

"These things are very expensive, are you sure about that?"

"It's my condition!" Even knowing that Aizen could revive, she still didn't want him to die. Did she know that Aizen hadn't told her everything about his race, perhaps because he didn't trust her enough? Either way, she wanted to earn his trust.

"Okay, okay." Aizen accepted the scroll.

"Take food, water, potions, (...)" Elizabeth started picking up a bunch of items.

Aizen frowned at how cautious this girl was.

-

Amarys and his group entered the city hall, looking to buy land on which to build their base. After speaking to the receptionist, they had to wait several minutes.

"How long…" Ryo said.

"Tsk! Damn mayor, what does he think we are?" Manzai was already tired of waiting.

"You can go up." A woman warned.

"Well, let's go." After climbing the stairs, they arrived in front of a luxurious door. After opening the door, they saw a middle-aged man sitting in his chair.

"Good afternoon, young people. What brings you here?" The mayor greeted them. He had a lot of business to take care of, so the Hunters had to wait a while.

"We came to buy land to build a base for our guild." Amarys said.

"Guida…" He checked some papers. "Show me your badge."

Amarys took the bronze badge she had won from the system and gave it to the mayor.

"Bronze rank, huh." The mayor was a little surprised.

"Bronze Rank?" The Hunters were confused.

"Don't you know? Guilds have ranks." The mayor wasn't surprised to learn that the Hunters didn't know about it.

"Guilds have 5 Ranks: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond. When a guild is created, it has no Rank, so it's impressive that you have a Bronze badge."

'So that's what the badge is for.' Amarys thought. It seems they had an advantage over other guilds.

"Very well, look at these lands, maybe you'll like something." The mayor took out a projection item and showed the grounds to Amarys.

"Amarys, let's choose places with strategic points." Manzai scanned the terrain, looking for any that were close to a farm point or something.

"What about this?" Manzai pointed to a plot of land that was close to several farm points.

"Too easy to attack, I wouldn't recommend this place." Ryo said. "Leader, I have a suggestion."

"Speak."

"What about this?" Ryo pointed to a village surrounded by a lake.

"This place doesn't have any farm points." Manzai commented.

"If you're looking for a safe place with high growth potential, I recommend the place the bespectacled young man chose." The mayor supported Ryo's decision.

"Leader, this place is difficult to attack, besides being spacious. We can open some small businesses(...)"

Ryo presented the good points of the place.

…

"How much is it?"

"100 gold coins."

"Expensive..." 4x

"That's theft!" Manzai slammed his hand down on the table.

"This land is very good, if you want a cheaper one, choose another one."

Amarys wanted Aizen to be here right now. Merchants always have a way to pay cheaper.

*Sigh!*