I was back to the usual. People glaring at me. Getting insulted. More tasteless rumors. But now my hat was also an object of envy. The council had released the methods on how to customize the looks of our hats to every Misha in Witchaven. It was credited to me of course but it doesn’t seem like any Misha could manage to get their hat as stylish and beautiful as mine. I was yet again walking around with pride, showing off my figure, style, and hat. At this point, I would get offended if I didn’t get glares or insults. Only Misha who had something over me wouldn’t show this behavior. I teleported to Remi’s new room.
“Again?! I’m the headmaster now! You can’t just teleport into my office!”
“But I just did…”
“I am convinced you are a hybrid, you’re not funny…”
“So, what are you up to? Do you need help adjusting your hat?”
Remi pulled her hat down a bit. “I’m… busy.”
I looked at her desk. She had my paper open on the part that was the hardest to execute. “Ehehehe, you tried this and failed, do I need to help?”
“Noo! Go away! I’m busy! The students are failing en masse! I need to fix this problem!”
“Just tell them to study harder.” I opened the door of her office. “LAZY STUDENTS! STUDY MORE! YOU’RE A DISGRACE TO YOUR RACE!” I held my hand next to my ear and heard various profanities aimed at me.
Remi sighed. “Can you at least adjust your attitude a bit so that at least some might not hate you?”
“I think it’s already too late for that. Anyway, just call me if you need help with your hat. I will make it pretty, cya!” I spun around and teleported to the library. I went into looking for skills that could help me track down Verruka.
"This is useless, how cute, nobody will get detected by this." I went through many literature but nothing seemed effective. We Misha aren’t skilled in tracking individuals down. Especially not Misha that are older than 3 years old. I sighed. I might have to find a race or an individual that is skilled at this. What would the Calamity Trio do? They wouldn’t have this issue because Edea has Elgards eyes. They are perfect for seeing the unseen. I would really like to meet a phoenix or a spirit fox but they are mythical for a reason. I decided to look for literature that could hint to the location of nine-tailed spirit foxes or three tailed shadow cats. The shadow cats could find out whenever anyone was using shadow magic in the vicinity.
I was a bit too motivated in this. I got kicked out of the library because it was about to close. I had lent some literature to continue reading at home. The nine-tailed spirit fox and the three-tailed shadow cat belong to a group called the tailed beasts. Their function seems to be unclear but recent observations had concluded that while at first their appearance seemed to have been linked with calamity, the opposite was true. Now that their numbers have been greatly reduced, more calamities and more severe calamities have been occurring around the continent. There is speculation that they were present to prevent the worst-case scenario. These mostly involved demons and strange events in dark locations for the three-tailed shadowcats and any sort of strange abomination and demigods for the nine-tailed spirit foxes. The three-tailed shadow cats are the ‘feel’ or ‘skin’ of the tailed beasts while the nine-tailed spirit foxes are the ‘eyes’ of the tailed beasts. And these are the reasons why they are good at tracking or finding individuals.
I had to make sure that I didn’t bump into anything while walking and reading. I decided to stop being inefficient and teleported to my house. I opened the door, changed into something comfortable, and sat on my couch. I had brought some fluffy blankets. And continued reading. My interest in other races had grown over the years as my interest in my own had decreased. Besides the nine-tailed spirit foxes and three-tailed shadow cats, there was the four-tailed forest rabbit. They make for good scouts. They don’t do well when there is not a lot of nature around but in forests and mountains, they're unparalleled in tracking down anything that moves. I wonder how that works. Don’t rabbits have small tails? They must be fluffy! I kept reading but there weren’t any more tailed beasts that had an affinity for finding my target. Most mythical and legendary beings don’t spend their time hunting down and chasing their targets.
I picked up another book about elves. This would probably be the race I would have to rely on to find Verruka. The problem is that they dislike humans and Misha just look like humans with hats. So, this might cause issues. The shadow elves would not be an option. They are serious about maintaining and protecting the forests. Elves can’t use dark and shadow magic normally but these can. They are probably the race that’s the most suited to become assassins but they use their skills to move around to eliminate any threat to any forest within their range. They mostly do this peacefully but if that’s not possible they will eliminate any threat without prejudice.
The elves from the other 3 elven forests are more relaxed in this sense. The eastern elven forest is the next closest. The elves here have a deep connection with spirits. Finding them is impossible unless you’re a spirit mage or a spirit yourself. I had heard about spirit mages but I don’t know much about them. Only that they are extremely strong. These elves are the opposite of the shadow elves. It is extremely rare to see an elf in the eastern elven forest because they tend to stay inside their village.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
I rubbed my temple. Why are all these elves so difficult to contact? There is not much data on the western elven forest because nobody has ever returned from there, regardless of how strong he or she was. So that leaves the southern elven forest. They live in harmony with all the beast kin and other forest and jungle races and because of this their dislike for humans is the largest because the humans tend to persecute and hunt down those that are different from them. I sighed. Perhaps having an elf help me out is a bad idea. So, the best options are extremely rare species and the most realistic option has issues that make them unlikely to help out either due to their lifestyle or how I look.
I might just have to ask humans. I’m sure this will be easy but… I thought about the scene of the destroyed cabin and how brutally Iris got killed. No human stands a chance against that. Paul might be one of the few humans who wouldn’t instantly keel over. I rolled over and put the book on my chest and looked at the ceiling. Should I make magic skills that can help track her down? I don’t know anything about tracking a Misha. Every Misha can erase the trail of mana they would normally leave behind. We don’t attack our own kind in general so there was never a need to find out how to track each other.
I picked up another book. I had returned to my idols. What would they do? I flipped through the pages of a book that had compiled the stories of the Calamity Trio. It’s a story about a king that went into hiding because he had pissed off the Calamity trio. The king had a crush on Nadila Sheru and asked for marriage but she refused. In a fit of rage and rejection, he had destroyed a city that Nadila was fond of. 1,2 million civilians died. The Calamity trio did not like this at all. The beautiful thing about the Calamity Trio is that they don’t pretend to be good people. I would consider them neutral. And I have noticed many races are like this, just humans, and a handful of other races are obsessed with being ‘good’.
They were upset but they had no obligation to weed the king out without collateral damage. There is a saying that antagonizing any mythical or legendary race is like calling a natural disaster upon yourself. There are many tales of dragons destroying areas because humans had messed with them. And this is what had happened, the palace of the king got destroyed. He was nowhere to be found. How did they eventually find this king?
I flipped through more pages and found my answer. They had just lured him out. They went to a party and had Nadila dress up beautifully. The king who still had a crush on her came out of hiding to attend the party and that’s where they crushed him.
“Let your target come to you if you can't find it eh?” Dressing up nicely is unlikely to lure in Verruka but if I start throwing powerful and unique spells around, she will attempt to hunt me down. I smiled.
“Thank you, Calamity trio!” I put my book down and went to sleep.
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I made a plan the next morning. It is unlikely that I can prevent another Misha from getting murdered but I can attempt to be in the vicinity and lure her so that I become her next target. I teleported into Remi’s office.
Remi sighed. “What is it Aya?”
“Oh! You fixed your hat! It looks lovely!”
“I don’t have time for this Aya…”
“I need a list of all the strong Misha that live outside Witchaven or the capital!”
“I think you need to take your idea and leave Witchaven. For some reason, the council thinks that it should have been easy for you to catch Verruka and either kill her or bring her here… they are not happy with how long it takes…” Remi gave me the list as if she was expecting me to ask about it.
“But that’s unreasonable! They know how strong and how old she is! They sent someone fresh out her diapers to hunt down an old hag and they expect me to just succeed because they want me to?!”
“I’m sorry… I tried to explain this to them but they seem to be more concerned about the possibility Verruka has gotten strong enough to hunt down the other elders…”
“Ugh, as usual, it's all about them. How long do you think I have to catch her?”
“I managed to get them to be more patient for at least a week… Ayaru, I’m sorry…” For some reason, Remi seemed more distressed and upset than I was. I went over to her and gave her a hug.
“Thank you for the warning. I will try my best. And if I don’t return… know that I tried.”
“Please Aya, is there a possibility that you can just forget all this, take your stuff, and find a better life somewhere else?”
I shook my head. “It’s my life’s work we’re talking about. I can’t abandon it because those hags are too afraid of change.”
“I wish I could have done more…”
I smiled at Remi. “You have done more than enough, say ‘Hi’ to that idiot Bea once she returns.”
I walked out of the office and got the usual greetings of insults and magic flung at me. I wonder when they will tire of this. I teleported to the highest point of the Misha academy and looked out over Witchaven. This might be the last time I see this city. I might die if I succeed in luring Verruka or I will fail and get exiled. I want to be optimistic in catching her but the longer this takes the stronger she will get. I looked at the list Remi had given me. 317 strong Misha live outside Witchaven, the capital, or any other Misha settlements. I could cross off half of them as possible targets because they live too far away or just have a high proficiency in common skills or potion brewing.
How am I going to find the correct one? Verruka went for Iris who possessed dark and shadow magic, which is rare under Misha. Light magic is also rare under Misha. Any element outside the basic 5 of earth, fire, water, wind, and lightning are rare for Misha. So, she might be going for light element next. I can use charm and spatiotemporal magic so I’m a rare case too. This is why I have a good shot at luring her. I found 2 Misha that could use light magic. One was relatively close, and the other one lives in Jarn Kingdom, almost on the opposite side of the continent.
This Misha lives in the mountains. Southeast of Ignacio. I took one good look at the city that had been my home since I came here as a student. My attachment to it had waned over the years. Would I drop a [Meteor] on this city like Bea did? I was about to but stopped myself. I can always do that after I return. I jumped off the academy and my staff caught me in mid-air. I flew to the southeast, towards the part of the Aquini mountain range that had extended into the southeast of Ignacio.