Magnus stared down at the contents of the chest, stunned. The sheer amount of money piled in front of him right now was insane, and Elip, the elder who had just tapped his cane, seemed to sense his amazement.
"With all the monster attacks cutting off trade, the villagers haven't had much use for money outside of buying essentials from one another," the old elder explained.
"So, when we sent in our request to Takerth, everyone in the village contributed what they could to the reward. Altogether, we gathered nearly fifty thousand silver crowns and fifty golden marks." Magnus quickly did the math in his head, trying to wrap his mind around the sum.
Holy shit... that would be more than two and a half million dollars back on earth. I could buy five spell catalysts with that kind of money.
He gulped, eyes flicking from the chest to Elip, Rasan, and the other elders, his face twisted with hesitation.
"But... can I really take this? Don’t you need it to rebuild?” He couldn’t shake the thought. Any other time, he’d have set his reservations aside and accepted the money without question. But this felt different—taking from a village that was still reeling from an attack didn't feel good.
One of the younger elders chuckled, noticing his expression.
"No need to be so modest, young man. You and your friend saved us, and this is what we promised you. Besides, as Elder Rodgir mentioned, we haven’t been able to trade or travel to other villages for nearly a year. Even if we wanted to, there’s no way to use that money right now for materials or hire workers to help rebuild." Magnus kept glancing back at the chest as he heard those points being brought up, his conflict easing the longer he thought about it.
"Well… I suppose if you insist, it’d be rude to argue." His words might have sounded hesitant, but his actions were anything but. The moment he finished speaking, he tucked the chest into his storage ring’s alternate space, surprising Rasan and the other elders who had never seen any kind of spatial magic before. Elip, on the other hand, chuckled.
"Magic truly is capable of incredible things," Elder Rodgir murmured, more to himself than anyone else, before turning to Magnus with a question.
"So, tell us, what do you plan on doing now? You've helped clear out the monsters around the village. Does that mean your work here is done?"
"Uh, technically, yes," Magnus replied, scratching his head.
"But actually, I had another reason for coming out here, besides just the assignment." His words sparked a look of curiosity in the others.
"Oh? And what might that be?" Elder Rodgir asked, and the others nodded in agreement, clearly willing to help however they could.
"Well, after this, I was planning to head northeast to another village. I think it was called Larter Village." At the mention of the name, everyone fell into quiet contemplation, searching their memories. Elder Rodgir stroked his long white beard thoughtfully.
"Hmm... I don't think I've ever heard of a place by that name or of anyone traveling from there. What about the rest of you?" He looked toward Elip, Rasan, and the other elders, who shook their heads after another moment of thought.
"No, I can't say I know of it," Elip replied.
"Same here," Rasan added.
"If it’s a named village, even if it's further north, it should be on a map somewhere," remarked the woman elder from before.
"Yeah, I thought so too," Magnus admitted, "but the map I, uh, brought with me only shows the major landmarks and settlements. I didn’t see it listed."
He’d reviewed the map he had memorized in his head countless times, so he was sure Larter Village wasn't on it.
I mean, I could just try following a random path north and hope one of them intersects with the village. But that would take forever. Plus, who knows what might happen to Mia and the others while I’m wandering around?
Elder Rodgir let out a thoughtful hum before speaking.
"Maps are valuable in a small village like ours. Outside of the village maps and the ones sold in stores, they’re rare around here." The news made Magnus’s shoulders slump slightly, and he nodded.
"I see..." His reaction didn’t go unnoticed, and Elder Rodgir gave his shoulder a reassuring pat.
"No need to give up so soon," Elder Rodgir said with a reassuring smile.
"I only said maps aren't common, but there's still hope. We keep important documents and materials archived in the libraries. One of these archives is near the western district, though we’re not sure if it’s intact after the fire, and another is in the southern district. If the map you need is here in the village, it’ll be in one of those." Magnus’s eyes brightened at the possibility, and Elder Rodgir glanced at Elip and Rasan.
"Elip, if I remember right, your team is working through the western district, clearing out the remaining monsters." Elip nodded, already catching on to the elder’s intent.
"That’s right. We’ll check on the Western Library’s condition next time we head out. Meanwhile, I can have some guards accompany Rasan to the southern library to search the archives there." Rasan gave a confident pat to his chest.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
"Leave it to me. If the map’s there, we’ll find it."
Seeing them willing to go out of their way, Magnus offered, "Maybe I should go with you? I could-"
But before he could finish, one of the other elders spoke up, cutting him short.
"Ah, there’s no need for that. We want to repay you and your friend for your help. The reward we gave was originally just to cover the cost of clearing out a few monsters dangerously close to the village, which doesn’t compare to what you faced for us today. Think of this as us making up for that." Elder Rodgir nodded in agreement.
"Exactly. We’ve even prepared a guest room for you, next to your friend’s. You’re welcome to stay there while she recovers." Magnus hesitated, looking between Elder Rodgir, the other elders, and Elip and Rasan. There wasn’t a trace of reluctance in their expressions, which left him at a loss for words. After a moment, he let out a sigh, rubbing the back of his head. Despite all his time in this world, he wasn’t used to people offering help so freely. Deals with people like Luden, sure—that he understood. But genuine goodwill, from the guards at Takerth Academy to the elders, Elip and Rasan, still threw him off.
"Well, if you’re really willing to do that, then all I can say is thank you," Magnus said, a bit awkwardly, though his tone grew serious as he added, "But if you run into another mana beast or a monster you can’t handle, let me know. I appreciate the help, but I don’t want anyone risking themselves just to find me a map."
Elip and Rasan exchanged glances and nodded firmly, understanding the sentiment.
"Of course, don’t worry," Elip assured him.
"Yeah, it’s not like we’d have much of a choice if another mana beast did show up," Rasan added with a wry smile. With that settled, Rasan let Magnus know he’d be heading out with some guards to check the southern library in a few hours. Elip and his team, on the other hand, would set out tomorrow morning—they’d just returned from dealing with a group of monsters, which explained why Elip had looked so worn out when Magnus first saw him outside the village hall.
Later, Magnus found himself in his assigned room. Just as Elder Rodgir had mentioned, it was right next to Seraline’s. As he walked in and closed the door behind him, he stretched, taking a look around. The room was nearly identical to Seraline’s in terms of furniture, though the layout differed slightly.
He wandered over to the balcony door, opening it and stepping outside. A warm breeze brushed past him, ruffling his hair and making his clothes flap softly. It was surreal to open a door and be greeted by the sight of a massive tree behind you. His gaze traveled up the trunk as it stretched skyward, branching off into countless limbs, each covered in a lush canopy of leaves forming a green ceiling above.
Glancing down, he looked over the village below. The fires were gone, and even the smoke had cleared. The scene was oddly peaceful—not in a comforting way, though. The view faced the part of the village that had been ravaged, but it still carried a strange sense of calm. Magnus found himself speaking aloud.
"What could have possibly caused all those monsters to do this?" From what he knew, monsters tended to keep to themselves. Like animals, many had their own territories and sometimes even formed packs. That's why this situation made no sense. Monsters didn’t usually hunt each other—it was far easier and safer to target regular animals. They’d avoid one another when possible, and if they did cross paths, it would usually just lead to them ignoring each other.
So, the question remained: what could have drawn them all here?
Back on Earth, it’d be like if all the animals in a forest suddenly left their habitats, surged into a city, and attacked people. But events like that didn’t just happen—not under normal circumstances. Magnus’s brow furrowed as he thought it over.
I suppose there is one scenario that would make sense. If animals sense a looming disaster, it’s not unusual for them to flee en masse. But none of the villagers mentioned an earthquake or any natural disaster before the monster attacks started.
That left him with two possibilities. Either the disaster was distant enough to leave the village unaffected yet close enough to trigger a mass movement of the local monsters, or the cause wasn’t a disaster at all—just something that felt like one to them. And as for what could act as a disaster’s equivalent, Magnus had a strong hunch.
He turned, walking back into his room and glancing toward the wall that separated him from Seraline’s room. An idea began to take shape as he muttered to himself.
"An Adept-level mana beast... Elip even said it himself—if he and all the captains joined forces, they still wouldn’t have been able to handle that thing." Mana beasts were naturally stronger than humans of the same rank, and it wasn’t an exaggeration to call them walking natural disasters. That was why even Takerth Academy took on assignments to hunt mana beasts that had reached the Adept-level.
They were simply too dangerous to ignore.
Magnus glanced down at an open spot on the floor and began pushing his mind to visualize something—not quite like when he used the Command Console, but more like a controlled, self-induced hallucination. The mind could be coaxed into seeing things that weren’t actually there, though it was usually difficult to ignore reality’s input. However, for someone with Magnus's level of control over his mind, it was like creating his own augmented reality. He’d done something similar when measuring the speed of his mana spheres with Celia.
He first mapped out a miniature village on the floor, sketching a simple circular wall around a cluster of small houses.
If that’s the village, and Seraline and I arrived from the south, then the monsters came in from… here.
Magnus replayed the sequence in his mind, mapping it out piece by piece. Within a minute, he’d created a micro-version of the entire scene. Small figures of monsters approached from the east, he and Seraline from the south, and a small flicker of fire appeared in the west. Satisfied with the layout, Magnus nodded.
If the mana beast Seraline fought also came from the east, it would have had to have gone through multiple different territories. In that case, it would have basically forced a bunch of monsters to move toward the village, triggering a mass exodus, like animals fleeing a forest fire. But they mentioned that type of mana beast shouldn’t even be in this forest. It’s fire-based, and there’s no concentrated heat or mana source anywhere in this area that is strong enough to cause such a mutation. That means it must have come from somewhere else, either outside the forest or from underground.
With each thought, the scene on the floor adapted, projecting Magnus’s internal monologue into something he could actually see. By now, he’d even added a miniature forest around the village, with paths representing the likely routes the mana beast and other monsters might have taken as they fled.
If I’m right about this—which I’m not entirely sure of—then there’s still the question of why. Why would a fire-type mana beast abandon its natural habitat to enter a forest and wreak havoc? Mana beasts don’t need to eat. They can survive indefinitely, as long as they have a steady source of mana. And like mages, they grow stronger over time by absorbing mana from their surroundings. Leaving its territory's naturally mana-concentrated environment would make no sense... unless it was forced out by something.
At the edge of the line marking the mana beast’s origin, a floating question mark appeared, symbolizing the unknown source of its arrival. Magnus leaned in, staring at it intently as his eyes trailed from the village to that mark.
Northeast... could it be?