“WAKEY WAKEY CLARK!”

“*Groans, five more minutes.”

I replied as I tossed around the bed, while I tried not to suddenly blind myself with the warm sunlight as I heard Tom rustle through the wall. I then got up to a sitting position and opened my eyes as I rubbed them, I saw Tom in his wolf form grooming himself on top of my sword’s blade. As I put on some clothes, and wore my outsider leather armour on, I grabbed the sword and slung it on my back. Tom then went back into my sword and formed his usual form and gave his teethy smile to me as I walked towards the door.

“How ya feeling Clark? Rested?”

“Sure do, so, let’s see what Perce has in store shall we?”

“*Chuckles, you really warmed up quickly, better to not do that with others.”

I just raised an eyebrow at Tom’s comment, although my good mood erased those thoughts away as I opened the door. Tom hid himself back in my sword as my dad came into view, he was carrying a couple of dead monsters on his shoulders with his leather armour on top of a couple of torn clothes. He smiled and put down the corpses on the side as he approached me, he then grabbed my shoulder and kneeled down to my eyesight.

“Look at you Clark, growing up.”

“Wha, what?”

“*Laughs, come on, you’re taking on tasks that you never did before! And---!”

“Sorry dad I got to go, love you bye!”

I said with cheerfulness that rivalled the happy tone of my dad, who I ran past bye and onto the main road, I saw my dad still having a smile and just shook his head at the sight of me bolting. I then turned my run into a walk and Tom reformed himself and positioned him beside me, the light wind blew past me as I saw the town in my vision.

“You remember where to go?”

“It’s already marked on the map right?”

I replied as I pulled the map out from my leather bag, right as I was about to enter through the gates, I stopped as I was hearing a bunch of banter, I moved closer with curiosity which was sated as I saw a girl with short black hair arguing with the guards. I then walked right past her while still keeping some of my eyesight locked onto her. Right as I was about to enter the town, the girl took the slight hesitation by the guards to rush straight past me into the town, leaving me confused as some guards tried to catch up with her.

That was weird.

Heh, nothing is ever weird.

Also, didn’t you said you’ll explain what the monster before was?

That’ll take an essay to explain, but basically, it generated a small force field that is able to withstand huge amounts of forces that’s getting thrown onto it, the force field seemed to be air but arranged in a way that makes them able to repel the force so it’s unable to graze it’s body, the way the third law works is an action will create a reaction that direction is opposite from the action.

Okay……

I just stayed silent as I continued to walk towards the marked location, past a few familiar buildings such as the Adventurer’s Guild, the Magic Store, and a small market district which I met an old lady who gave me a free apple sample. As I snacked on the fruit, I stood in front of a small bakery which I entered, fresh bread scent greeted my nose as I sat on a stool, waiting for Perce.

“Excuse me sir, what would you like to order?”

“Don’t bother him Romaine, he’s with me.”

I heard Perce’s voice as he appeared from the backdoor of the establishment, the girl in the brown apron and baker clothes looked at Perce as she broke eye contact with me alongside of setting her pen and paper into her pockets. She then nodded and went to get orders of the table beside me; Perce went to sat in front of me and looked back at Romaine as her long brown hair twirled in sync of her feet movement, carrying a bunch of dishes. Perce then looked at me with a serious face as he put his hand out, expecting me to give him something?

“Your sword, show me.”

I did what was told and saw Perce inspecting it, after he was finished, he gave it back to me as he let out a sigh, and then put a book on top of the table. I raised an eyebrow in confusion as I could hear Tom muttering excitedly at the sight of information, Perce then opened the manual and stopped at a certain page with a drawing of what Tom calls circuits and a small envelope attached to that page.

“These, are advanced flows of mana directed in certain ways, to either store them or convert mana into different types of magic easily, without exerting self-mana every time when casting a spell.”

“So, I mean, it isn’t illegal right?”

“Yes, but, it’s not weird to suspect an everyday civilian carrying a weapon with marks identical to a system in development by the aristocrats and, may I add, not public knowledge yet.”

I let down a few sweat drops as I began to see the picture Perce has been painting about me, Tom meanwhile whistled in delight and proudness? Perce then closed his eyes and rested his chin on his hands as he seemed to be deep in thought, although he was snapped out of it by the sound of plates crashing. Us two looked to see the girl I had saw earlier, as she bumped into Romaine and made her fall.

“*Sighs, looks like she’s here again.”

“Who?”

“Ellis, she’s an errand girl for a small store in the district a few blocks away.”

I didn’t let my eyes go from Ellis as she apologized to Romaine and before Romaine could reply, she ran out of the establishment and I was met with a snap from Perce. He then closed the book and looked around before facing me again.

“So, Clark, what’s the story behind your sword?”

What do I answer Tom?!

Just give a half-fake and half-real answer.

“Well… Uh, I got it from a family member.”

“And did they made it or bought it?”

“Eh, bought it.”

Perce seemed to buy the explanation and clapped his hands, although in a unique way. Romaine’s attention was shifted and went into the backside of the bakery’s display, she came back with a map and a few pawn pieces which she settled on the table.

“Alright, I’ll believe you, but our agreement still is active.”

“Okay.”

“Huh, I thought that you would’ve given a bit more resistance, but no, good, so remember those places you’ve investigated?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, we’ve found a small hidden layout under one of them, which, by coincidence, needs an advanced mana flow to activate the door to the other side, so, meet me at the new marked location on the map.”

I nodded and opened my map to mark the place as I heard Tom memorizing the map inside my head, I saw a few changed sections on the map which caught my attention as Perce stood up from his chair. He then rolled the map back to store it and gave it to Romaine, as he left and let Romaine clean the table, I then stood up and walked out of the door but after I waved goodbye at Romain.

So now what?

We don’t really have a choice, but, I think we can use it in our favour.

How?

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

First of all, gather supplies, looks like we’re treading heavy enemy territory.

I looked around as I felt the light wind pass by, I opened a piece of my map and looked for the Magic Store by walking again. Tom then formed a very small wolf on my shoulder as he sniffed the area around us, I then opened the door to the store which had a unique emblem on it’s hanging sign outside. I was greeted with a huge flow of mana which seemed to throw Tom of his guard as he deformed and went back to my sword.

Holy mother, what type of energy does this place holds!?

I’m not sure, eh, magic?

Tom seemed unamused and let out a sigh as I strolled through the shop, I then looked around at the crystals on display. I rummaged at the amount of mana infused crystal, and picked a few out of them, and brought them onto the counter, where a man with glasses, dark green hair, black eyes, and wore a mage robe was sitting behind while reading a book.

“Ex-excuse me sir?”

“Hmm? Well hello there……… would you like to receive a vision?”

“Eh, no thanks, just paying for these.”

“Uhuh, hmm…… those’ll be five silver coins for six medium mana crystals.”

I pulled out the said amount from my leather bag, even though it’s a little bit of overpriced, and gave them to the man. I stored the crystals back into my bag and waved goodbye to the shopkeeper although was stopped by the voice of the man.

“May I ask, why would you waste money on a bunch of mana crystals, you don’t seem to be a mage, a swordsman……… or are you a summoner?”

“Uh, it’s for a substitute sir, my mana capacity is low……”

“*Chuckles, don’t sweat over it, now shoo, I’m sure you’ve got things to do.”

He said while smiling and looking at me with his soft caring eyes, which I replied with a smile as I walked out of the shop. I then positioned myself at a small little alleyway and made sure nobody was around, Tom then formed himself next to me.

“What’s wrong Clark?”

“Well… eh… do you think that something is suspicious?”

“Hmm? Intrigue me, although it’s better we get going, Perce is probably waiting for us.”

I nodded and as I began to form a slight sprint and Tom deforming back into my sword, after a couple of sprints, I was in front of the marked location which Perce was standing beside. He then greeted me with a nod to his serious face as he was dressed in full gear as the one I saw him when we both first met. As he prepared his rapier and looked at the door before looking back at me again, I nodded and Perce opened the door and went in, which I followed slightly after.

“Okay, be careful, it’s dark in here.”

Perce said as he used his magic to lit the rapier’s blade into a light source while I followed behind. We both stopped in front of a door which had a few mana traces here and there, I unsheathed my sword and looked back at Perce confusingly.

“Okay Clark, flow your mana into it and point the edge of the sword at the three spots lacking of mana.”

I did what was told as I grabbed one of the crystals to supply me with extra mana, and then the door began to glow partially. Perce backed up just in time as the door opened abruptly and slammed to the wall, Perce walked in and I followed him. We both was greeted with a dark room, as I stumbled on a few bumps, Tom activated night vision for me as I looked around the small secret cubical room, then I and Perce both found a table and a board on the side.

“This is, a pretty, small room?”

“It is…… wait, how would you know?”

“Eh, guess?”

Perce just looked at me with disbelief as he went to inspect the scattered papers on the table, I took the same crystal from before and converted the regular mana into fire mana and light mana which glowed the entire room. Perce then sheathed his rapier and continued to rummage through the papers.

“Eh, Perce, found something?”

“Many, seems like a bunch of logs, records, and, experiments, sick experiments…… there’s a few… important notes here… names, with this---”

A loud shuffle and noise interrupted us two, we prepared a stance and Perce began to stash the papers away. The shuffle began to move closer as Perce grabbed my arm and dragged me to the door, while I put out the light source. Us two was about to exit but the door let us into another room.

“Okay! What type of magic monstrosity is this!?”

“I have no idea! Don’t ask me!”

I was starting to panic as I saw two more doors alongside the one I and Perce had went through. I then looked back as my breathing started to get more erratically right as the shuffling returned, I unsheathed my sword as I kept a frantic eye on each door.

“Clark, calm down, this is a very peculiar situation, but we need to keep a cool head…”

I just nodded as Perce went to open a door, which led to another same room, and as he went to open the other door, it led to the same door. Perce gestured for me to follow him to the second door and the shuffling returned, I tried to calm myself as Perce was inspecting another set of doors.

Tom!Howdowe---Whereare---Canweeven!?

Calm down, this seems to be some sort of maze, try to leave a few marks.

“Clark, let’s move, we shouldn’t stay still.”

I slashed one of the walls of the room and walked to follow Perce, we both mindlessly tried to get out by going through many doors. After a few attempts with my paranoia getting worse, I and Perce alongside of Tom in my sword was met with a room that had four doors on each wall, Perce looked even more confused as I heard Tom muttering something in my thoughts while the shuffling was heard again as I and Perce stepped into the room.

“This… is different, most of them have only three doors or two…”

Clark, I have a suspicion, just trust me on this.

Okay…… what is it?

This place has a similar concept with a device, although the movement is, unsystematically, the best bet is to go through the front door and stay there.

“Perce wait! We should go through the front door!”

Perce looked at me just right as he was about to enter the left door and stopped, he nodded and kicked the door in front of us open as we entered. We were greeted with a room with three doors, Perce then inspected the doors as I heard Tom speak back to me.

Now, try to throw an object to the other room, let see if it triggers a movement.

I did what Tom told me and we alongside with Perce heard the shuffling again right as the door slammed closed. Perce looed at me with curiosity as he did what I did again, as the shuffling was heard, Tom ordered me to do it again, although this time, we heard no shuffle.

“That’s weird… I wonder if---”

Perce was cut off again as the creaking was heard and louder, and as I and Perce was flung into the wall as the shuffle was more aggressive than ever. We both stood up and saw a fourth door appear, Perce then approached it slowly and hold the number three as he counted down.

“Three… two… one!”

We both barged through the door and fell to the floor, and this time, it was the correct door as I and Perce was met with the sight of the same room before. I let out multiple breaths of relief as my panic finally settled and Perce wiped a sweat from his forehead.

“That was terrifying… I would like to not repeat it…”

“Same…”

“Try to calm down first Clark…”

Perce said as he helped me to walk outside the room and into the sidewalk, Tom chuckled in my head at seemingly my face and condition while I leaned to the building as I recalled everything that just had happened.

“Okay, I’ll look through these things first before hooking you up again… just meet me back at the bakery a few more days.”

“Yeah.. Okay…”

I replied as Perce patted my shoulder with a smile and walked away, I then after calming myself, strolled through the streets and stopped at a small alleyway with no one around.

“Clark, take a deep breath, and then release, a deep breath, and then release.”

As I was following Tom’s instructions, I looked back to the building which I had been trapped in. After a few deep breaths and calming instructions from Tom, I finally regained composure and then walked to the bakery again. I then walked to a nearby clothing store and looked at the mirror and saw that I was a mess…

Ooh boy, aren’t you effected by that experience.

Well duh!

Better to get used to it Clark, looks like we’ve dug through a rabbit hole, without a way out.

What was that place anyhow?

It was a twenty-seven-room cubicle, every time the shuffle sounds, nine rooms in a three-by-three area either in a row or a column, and this thing turns out to use magic to arrange the rooms to make sure each three doors face the centre room.

Yeah, another weird mechanism that Tom only understands, I tried to tame back my messy hair as I was currently on the walk to the bakery. I felt something on my back and was about to stop but I heard Tom again my head while I saw the hooded figure from the first day I was getting commissions.

Don’t worry Tom, I will always be here, assisting you in every way.

Tha… Thanks… eh, Tom, do you feel something off about, that person?

Hmm?

I asked as I mentally pointed at the place where I had saw the figure, but I could feel Tom shrugging in my head unknowingly. After a little detour for a few stress snacks, in the little market district, and me giving Tom a chunk of meat, I now was in front of the bakery again.

“Welcome back customer!”

I heard as I saw Romaine approach me from the inside as she opened the door, and as I walked in which I saw Perce sitting on the table with no people. As I sat down at Perce’s table, which Perce then snapped his fingers as Romaine closed all of the window’s shutters and made the sign said close.

“Alright, first of all Clark, here’s your payment.”

“Eh, what?”

“You think I wouldn’t reward you? Just because I have dirt on you…… just think this as an internship… or errand-er.”

I looked at the little pouch on the table as well as two cups which had some sort of drink in them, while I was given one of them from Perce. I grabbed the cup and held it up as Perce pulled out some pieces of paper and put them on the table.

“Well, drink up kid, my treat, thanks to you we were able to discover those evidences faster, if we were to wait for the advanced mana flow from the capital, it would’ve taken us an entire month.”

“Uh, you’re welcome?”

“Now, the meat of this entire mess.”

Perce said as he pointed on one of the papers, which seemed to be a map of the entire continent which had multiple markings of an eye which was stabbed by a dagger, although some were marked by an opened eye or even just one eye that’s closed. I took a sip from the beverage as it tasted like ginger ale, while I was enjoying the warm beverage, Perce grabbed a nearby dagger and stabbed one of the closed eye marks.

“Based on the documents we have retrieved, it seems that each town has one member stationed, the indoctrination prosses also is executed slowly by altering certain words…… so, we’ll have to take down them fast.”

“Uh, Perce, no offense but… why do you need me? I mean, couldn’t you just confiscate my sword?”

“…… Think of this as, an investment, for me.”

I raised and eyebrow at the little comment while Tom was muttering something in my head, while I finished the ginger ale that was served to me. Perce then waited for me to set the cup down as I saw Romaine going to the back of the store to fetch something. I then faced Perce with a determined expression as I remembered Tom’s previous comment.

“So… what’s next?”

“Heh, next is, confronting the member behind this all, and for that, we’ll need help, from a friend of mine, his name is Lenard, and he runs the magic shop here.”