The next morning, the group packed up at sunrise, and wearily started their eastern march.

Seeing that most of those following him were dragging their feet, Clark laughed. “If all you fellows are so tired on the first day, you’ve got a mean road ahead of you all. You’re still on flat ground, for crying out loud.”

To this, a bearded man grumbled. “It’s not the damn walking, it’s the damn time of day.”

Meanwhile the handsome and beautiful brother-sister duo, as well as their guards, were among those who weren’t dragging their feet. Instead, they walked with their heads held high, their strides calm, peaceful, and controlled.

After a few hours, not only were many in the group tired, and sleep deprived, but they were hungry as well, leading many to complain to Clark.

“Feel free to stop if you want, but we’re going to reach our destination within an hour. Surely a group of daring adventurers such as yourselves would be able to hold out for an hour, hm?”

Those who’d been complaining all glared at Clark, but didn’t speak any further. After all, it wasn’t as if Clark was wrong - if their destination for the day was indeed only an hour away, it made more sense to hold out.

However, Clark’s words made them very uncomfortable - had they really lost their rough edge during their wait in Border Town? After all, some of them had stayed in Border Town for nearly half a year, and had grown used to their simple routines.

…

An hour later, those in the front of the pack could see some ruins. A broken fence there, a few dilapidated, destroyed houses here and there… and grotesquely, some humanoid skeleton dotted the landscape.

The handsome young male couldn’t help but turn to Clark and ask, “Are those… the remains of Unity Town?”

Clark didn’t even turn around responding.

“Yes. Once a town with several thousand inhabitants, one night, they’d been ambushed by the Silver Hawk tribe. Funnily enough, the residents of Unity Town had named their town as such because they’d hoped to build an alliance and live together with the mountain tribes.

“As such, they’d been completely unprepared for such an attack. Most of those who’d died in the massacre hadn’t even had time to climb out of bed before being stabbed in the heart.”

The beautiful young woman questioned Clark. “You speak as if you had been there.”

“... I only heard from survivors. Anyway,” Clark raised his voice to address the entire group. “We might as well spread out and set up camp here for the day and rest. The next ten days will be extremely hard for you all, so be sure to eat your fill and rest as well as you can today.

“Feel free to explore the surroundings, but don’t go off too far.”

As the group dispersed, Wesley craned his head towards Gust. “This… is your hometown?”

Stolen story; please report.

“Yeah.”

The two walked through the remnants of the town, hand in hand. The entire time, Gust’s brow was furrowed.

This was his birthplace, his hometown. Yet, he could barely remember any of it, except for a few flashes that came and passed like the tide.

Finally, the two passed through to a broken down house with a layout that was far bigger than most of the surrounding buildings.

“This place was once my home… I think.”

Gust tried to remember his old home, but could only remember some fleeting moments. Had the house looked like? Where had his room been?

He couldn’t remember.

He’d been avoiding the matter for a while, but now, in front of his old home, not only couldn’t he remember what his old house looked like, he couldn’t even remember his parents’ faces.

Or even his big sister’s.

It’d simply been too long, and he’d experienced too many things along the way. After thinking about it for a while, Gust threw his trusty bag, and pulled out a box of matches.

With a flick, he lit a match, then threw it into the broken down house. Instantly, the dry, broken pieces of wood caught on fire, which quickly spread.

Wesley could feel the heat of the flames on his face, and could even see the brightness of the flames. Confused as to why Gust had set his old home on fire, he looked toward Gust.

Knowing why Wesley was confused, Gust said, “Can’t give them a burial, and I don’t even know where in the village they died. So, this is the best I can do. Can you do me a favor, buddy, and make sure the fire doesn’t spread too much?”

“Of course.” Wesley quickly drew and cast a seal that erected three stone walls around the burning house, leaving the side closest to them open, so that they could continue to watch.

Staring into the flames, Gust tried to sort his emotions out, to return to his usual self. Had he been running away?

He muttered under his breath. “Well, it was probably a shitty home anyway.”

Of course, the duo’s actions had attracted the attention of quite a few others.

Marcus, Kay, as well as the handsome and beautiful siblings, had all noticed different aspects of the duo’s actions.

Clark, however, had noticed something else. “Oh? Was he a survivor?”

…

After the fire died down, Gust and Wesley left, and continued to explore the dilapidated remains of Unity Town. Finally, when they’d walked through the majority of the town, they stopped at the eastern edge, and looked up at the forested mountains that towered overhead.

Meanwhile, the noblesque brother and sister duo had set up shop inside a tent their guards had set up for them.

The brother and sister duo had a multitude of reasons for the trip. To start, they had both graduated from the Larwin Elementary Institute of Magic. However, because they’d been so many grades above Marcus, they’d never really interacted with him, and thus hadn’t recognized him.

Instead of continuing their studies in the Larwin Kingdom, their father had decided that it’d be best for them to aim for the skies by attending the Lumient Intermediate Academy of Magic, widely accepted as the best intermediate-level school on the continent.

However, despite being the main purpose for this trip, they had been given an additional objective.

For the last few years, very few Larwin Kingdom spies, diplomats, and others who the royal family had sent to the Reiniad Kingdom had come back, or had even communicated back to the royal family. However, none of those who’d made it to the Reiniad Kingdom had reported anything suspicious.

Yet, numbers don’t lie.

So, the mission that had been given to the brother and sister duo was to investigate why so many people were disappearing, and yesterday, they’d noticed a potential first clue.