Chapter 9, Tracing Secrets

 After finishing his breakfast, Seake noticed a bulletin board near the fountain. The sky was getting brighter, allowing him to see what was posted on it clearly, so he approached to take a look.

 There were many beautifully laid-out advertisements on it, promoting newly opened fitness centers, body shaping clinics, beauty parlors, and more. Seake also found a poster about annual income tax advocacy. He looked at the minimum annual income requirement for taxation and realized that he didn't have to pay a single penny. For some reason, he felt a sense of being underestimated.

 The largest section on the bulletin board was occupied by police notices.

 One was a collection of slightly discolored photos of girls, with names, dates, and locations of their disappearances written underneath each photo. The public was urged to contact the police immediately with any information about their whereabouts. Next to it was a handwritten notice, suggesting that the police budget was insufficient to hire a designer. Seake quite liked the bold brushstrokes of the police officers' calligraphy; it was quite impressive. The notice stated that several women had gone missing recently, and there were reports of sightings of a giant monster. The public was advised not to go out at night. Seake thought about the opening hours posted on the doors of those boutique shops along the street; unless they were all closed, it would be challenging to follow the advice.

 Seake turned back to look at the photo collection again. The girls in the photos were all very young, around seventeen years old. They smiled pleasantly at the camera, making trendy gestures and expressions, capturing beautiful images, and no one would have guessed that those photos would be exposed in this manner.

 All the disappearances occurred late at night. Seake couldn't understand why they were roaming the streets so late. Judging from their expensive jewelry and carefree expressions, they were definitely not out for late-night shifts. Although young people of that age might run away from home one after another, the fact that some necessary items were found at the scene of their disappearance indicated otherwise. Losing shoes, scarves, earrings, and makeup bags were all quite normal, but leaving behind a skirt at the scene suggested something was wrong.

 Seake looked at the monster's features described on the notice: humanoid, with a ring of fur around its neck, dark-colored skin, possibly gray or dark brown, and capable of standing on its hind legs. It seemed to be related to magic no matter how he looked at it, either a new species of magical creature or something created by a mage.

 It turned out that perverted mages who liked to use young girls as spell materials were everywhere, not limited to the Dark Night Cult. One of Seake's specialties was potionology, and one of the basic concepts of potionology was that all ingredients could be replaced by other materials. The flexibility of potion formulas was much greater than that of scientific material formulas. Human body materials could also be replaced with other things, as long as they were properly arranged, the effect wouldn't be worse. Seake believed that there was simply no reason to commit a crime using human body materials in civilized society.

 Moreover, in his experience, the body parts of young women were not particularly useful. Personally, he preferred the blood of strong men because it didn't require killing, and the supply was less likely to run out... Seake quickly rubbed his face; his old habit had resurfaced.

 Seake concluded that because he needed to sleep at night to cope with his work the next day, whatever happened with that monster and those girls was none of his concern.

 Just then, Seake heard the whispers of girls behind him. They whispered, "That person looks scary. He's looking at that list. Could it be him who did it? Didn't they say that criminals come back to see the consequences they caused? Should we call the police?"

 Seake turned around, pressed his hands tightly against his cheeks, stuck out his tongue, made a grimace, and then walked away from the scene briskly, leaving the girls staring at him in astonishment.

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 After the sun had fully risen, Seake casually reported to his work station. He didn't find Hana in the break room but instead a group of five servants bustling in and out with cleaning supplies. Seeing them rummaging around, Seake thought that perhaps Hana's trickery with the expenses had been discovered by the master, and they were using the excuse of cleaning to search for evidence. However, seeing them put everything back exactly as it was, it seemed otherwise.

 Seake noticed Valru directing the others, standing by the wall instructing that nothing should be overlooked, so he approached to chat.

 Seake asked, "Where's Hana?"

 Valru had been holding a metal tray, looking very focused. When he saw Seake approaching, he casually dropped the tray as if it weren't important. "Didn't she tell you?" he replied. "She's on a business trip and won't be back all day." Valru raised an eyebrow at Seake. Seake could tell at a glance that the tray was a sensor tray, a magical tool used by non-mages to find objects.

 So Seake had nothing to do today; could he consider it a day off? What if Hana returned and said he wouldn't be paid for the day? He circled around the workshop and found that the potions he had made had disappeared. Hana had probably finished the final steps and taken them away. Hopefully, she hadn't ruined the batch.

 Seake returned to the break room, sat on Hana's recliner, and loudly exclaimed, "Be careful with that book, watch out for that bottle, don't touch anything belonging to the mages; there might be spells on them that could explode!"

 After Seake's warning, the servants were too scared to touch anything again.

 Seake then smiled and asked, "Do you need my help?"

 The way Valru gritted his teeth made Seake feel that his visit to the break room, though unproductive, was worthwhile.

 "This is supposed to be a romance novel!" Valru growled softly.

 "How do you know so much? Do you come here often?" Seake chuckled and asked.

 Valru clenched his fists, trembling slightly. Seake found it amusing, even crossing his legs.

 After about ten seconds, Valru took a step forward, grabbing Seake's wide sleeve. Seake became alert, thinking Valru was going to start a fight, but Valru only pulled out a piece of paper to show Seake.

 "Have you seen the things listed on this paper in the workshop?" Valru asked.

 Seake took a closer look and recognized the receipt. The items listed were different from the one he had found, but they were all overpriced, and there were many expensive items he hadn't seen before. Hana was really careless; she scattered evidence of her crimes everywhere.

 Seake kept the items listed in mind while saying, "I'm not telling you."

 "You—" Valru might really want to punch Seake this time; his fist was raised. But he managed to suppress his anger, perhaps due to Seake's previous ability to easily subdue him.

 "You might think I envy Hana's position and want to replace her by playing these tricks, but I'm not...." Valru paused, seeming hesitant to tell Seake the crucial information.

 Seake definitely didn't think that way. He knew very well that anyone who wanted to drive Hana out of this place must have a very good reason. He noticed that there was a significant quantity of sweetroot on the receipt, and the purchase volume was considerable, of course, the price was inflated.

 Shaking his head, Seake said playfully, "Hana is still my boss. If you want me to help bring her down, you'll need to give me a good reason."

 Valru remained silent, his eyebrows furrowed.

 "I thought you should be well aware of how annoying Hana can be. Do you really think she could gain anyone's loyalty? Everyone who knows her is determined to betray her."

 Valru said nothing, apparently considering whether Seake's words were trustworthy. Seake didn't want to think so, but he seemed to really resemble Hana's type.

 After a while, Valru spoke up, "If Hana has these things, this place will be dangerous."

 "That's great," Seake said inadvertently speaking his mind.

 Valru gave Seake a glare. "This room might explode."

 "I don't care," Seake said, accidentally speaking his mind again.

 This time, Valru didn't even bother glaring at Seake because he was feeling the same: "I don't care if this room explodes; it might be better if this place is destroyed. What I care about is Miss Hana's safety." Valru's tone softened, and he started to see Seake as somewhat of an ally, showing goodwill: "Miss said we can trust you, and I hope you are."

 "Someone says I still have a bit of justice in me." Seake pulled out the receipt he found in the workshop. "I still have this, and I haven't seen the items listed here in the workshop. Although Hana's skills are poor, I know she's capable of setting up secret compartments. Maybe they're hidden somewhere else. Hana's secret compartment in the workshop wasn't found during cleaning, indicating that there was at least an average level of concealment spell on it."

 Valru looked at Seake's receipt and sighed. "Thank you." He had the others restore everything and then left with the servants.

 Seake sat on the recliner, watching the whole process. After they left, he smoothed out the dent on the recliner, rushed out of the break room, and went straight to the magic booth on the street.

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 Seake rushed into the magic booth and dialed the Mage Practice Management Bureau.

 As soon as the call connected, Seake began, "I'm Sea—" But the person on the other end of the line emitted a high-pitched scream. Seake took a step back, moving away from the bell as he listened to her scream. The shriek lasted for a full thirty seconds without any signs of breathlessness or vocal fatigue, remaining at a constant pitch throughout.

 The scream ceased as the bureau chief took over the call. "Why are you bothering us again? Two days in a row now?" The bureau chief's voice was accompanied by the sound of slurping, as if he were eating noodles.

 "My boss isn't home today," Seake said, then roared, "Bureau Chief! Explain to me right now what's wrong with this job and why it has fallen to your jurisdiction!"

 "What's wrong?" the bureau chief retorted. "It's just that young people these days want face; they don't want to be assistants; they want to be developers. There's no special reason."

 Seeing how hard the bureau chief was trying to placate him, Seake realized that there was indeed a serious problem with this job.

 "You'd better tell the truth, or I'll lodge a complaint with the Seren!"

 The public offices in our country were known for their expert skill in passing the buck. No matter who lodged a complaint against them, they could brush it off with ease, except when it came to the Cerlian Order. Knights were very persistent in their missions and liked to call for reinforcements. If they ignored a complaint from the knights, not only would they receive endless calls via magic communication, but repeated complaints could paralyze the unit's operations, and in severe cases, the entire squad of knights might be deployed to the target unit's doorstep, marching in formation while displaying signs of complaint.

 Seake's threat worked. There was a small thud from the other end of the line, and the bureau chief put down his bowl, saying, "Alright, calm down. I'll tell you what's going on. There are problems with the records at that place; there was a major explosion there before, caused by a failed spell."

 "What's so unusual about that?" Seake said. "For mages, at least once in their lifetime, they'll have the experience of blowing up their own homes so they can stargaze at night. Major explosions are part of a mage's life."

 "It's not uncommon to have been blown up," the bureau chief admitted. "But the area of land in our country that has been blown up by mages is probably larger than the area of farmland turned over by farmers every year. However, creating a crater five hundred meters wide and one hundred twenty meters deep in a single explosion, with objects from the house flying several kilometers away, that's rare."

 Seake was speechless. Such a huge explosion must have contained tremendous energy. That energy might have permanently altered the natural energy of the land. Sites contaminated by magic like this could cause unpredictable changes in spells cast there, which was taboo in modern magic, and were generally avoided.

 "What kind of spell experiment could have caused this?" Seake couldn't help asking. "To explode to such an extent, ordinary researchers wouldn't be able to do it."

 "The Staff of Light also wants to know the answer to that question. The current landowners are uncooperative. It seems they've sought help from the Cerlian Order, but there's no new information. Now you know why that place is so unpopular, right?"

 "Uh-huh," Seake replied dumbly.

 "That's it then. Good luck with your promotion. And that's all." With that, the bureau chief hung up the call.

 Seake didn't even have the extra mental capacity to comment on the bureau chief's wish for a promotion. His mind was blank. It was contaminated land, which was why there had been constant disturbances in magical energy, but what about the major emission that night? If it was because of the Headling Grief Grass, then why did Hana die? How much did Valru and Miss Gino know about these things? What were their plans?

 What was the unexploded bomb hidden in the house?

 Seake couldn't come up with answers; there were too few clues. He walked out of the magic booth, went to the hot spring fountain, and used the water to wash his face like a transient. He wiped his face with his sleeve, which instantly froze, and he thought while crushing the ice.

 He still couldn't think of an answer. Through the water and steam of the fountain, he saw, at the other end of the street, a pair of figures he was very familiar with, both dressed in flamboyant and conspicuous clothing, so Seake could still see them from this far away. The two figures disappeared in an instant. Seake couldn't help but wonder if he was in shock and hallucinating.