Unsealing Emptiness

Their leader was inspecting the wooden box without paying any attention. There was no need to since it was just an ordinary task for them.

*Thud...*

However, he could not help but look behind when he heard two bodies fall to the ground instead of one.

“Wha-” Before he could even say something, Ozul swept the black blade, and the man was silenced forever.

*Thud*

His body fell to the ground as Ozul made his way towards him to pick up the box.

.....

They were just three Rank-5 Mages. He did not even waste his words on them before instantly finishing them off.

As he picked up the wooden box, Ozul realized that there might be other people together with these three as well, so he went back to his room through the window.

Leaving the dead bodies in the alleyway, probably no one will find them since many stray dogs and cats are ready to pounce on some extra food. Even if someone did stumble on the rotting corpses, he would be long gone from here by then.

Closing the window, he sat down on the bed and examined the box in his hands. It was made up of ebony wood and only a palm long.

He opened it and found a small branch that suddenly released a dense whiff of Mana. The small and weak looking branch had only five leaves-two on each side and one in the middle.

Ozul could sense an even denser Mana oozing out from those leaves as he observed them. After a while, he closed off the box again to stop the Mana from being released.

He had realized what this branch was at first glance. These were called the Harmony Leaves used to cure one of the most lethal poisons on the continent. Almost anyone who knew about these would pay a fortune just for a single leaf.

Ozul knew about this since it was only recently when he had started reading the book, and this herb was properly discussed in it. If it wasn’t for him reading that book, he might have had to consult a professional.

‘This was rather unexpected,’ Ozul thought since there was almost no information about where these Harmony Leaves grew at. He planned to exchange it at some auction house.

He did not have any use for it, so he placed the wooden box on the table beside his bed. The box was probably enchanted since it did not let even a tiny bit of Mana out of it.

He went back to the bed and closed his eyes, not even bothering to do anything about the bodies outside.

——

This was their final stop before the Neutral Lands. So, the group left early in the morning.

Before they left the hotel, Ozul scanned the area and noticed that there was no one around. As he had expected, the companions of the three had come following them as well. However, they only took the bodies and left to search for the culprit all around the city.

They did not think that the person who killed them would be so fearless to keep around.

However, he did not care about them finding him since they wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway.

Together with the group, he left the city not too long after.

Ozul glanced at Clara, who looked completely different from when she was with her maid and her bodyguard. Also, she had used up all her spare clothes, and her current dress was the last she had.

It seemed that it was her first time taking care of herself. Clara did not look so cheerful either. She wanted to get back to her home as soon as possible.

On the other hand, Cyril and Mark were exactly the same when they had joined. It was usual for them to travel long distances. If it were not for Clara, they wouldn’t have needed to slow down their speed so much either. At most, it would have taken them a couple of days to reach the Lands.

They did not mind spending a month here since the Mage had more tolerance the higher they advanced.

‘Another week to get to the Neutral Lands,’ Ozul’s thoughts wandered to everything he knew about their destination.

As the name implied, these lands did not have any definite ruler. Although called neutral, there was everything but peace in it.

He remembered what Count Oliver had explained to them about this place.

. . .

*Flashback start.*

“You wanted to learn about the continent? Perfect! I have the general map from my father as well!” Oliver exclaimed with excitement. He would not lose this opportunity to teach something to Ozul and Raven, leaving a good impression.

He ordered Albert, who went to his office and brought an old map and a little tattered map.

Albert spread the map on the square table. With a little wave of his hand, the dust disappeared as Oliver, Ozul, and Raven stood around the table.

“So, this is our continent?” Raven muttered curiously. Oliver nodded while looking at the map as well.

It was not very detailed and only had a general outline around the whole dry land.

Even when not detailed, the map had a few very distinctive places marked with darker colors. First of all, their Silverbird Kingdom was marked on the upper right portion of the map.

Four irregular lines spread through the land, dividing it into four giant chunks. These chunks were still connected, but those lines indicated something that Raven and Blaze did not understand.

In the middle, those lines did not meet directly. Instead, another chunk of a circular land was marked in the middle. Those lines met together with that circular piece of land.

“Will you start explaining already?” Raven urged when she noticed that Oliver was looking at the map in a daze.

*Cough.*

“Forgive my rudeness. As you can see, this is our continent, Egon.” Oliver started by introducing the name of their Mainland.

Ozul and Raven nodded, looking at him in a bored manner.

“Okay, okay. I will hurry up. Look, here is our kingdom. And you might be thinking what these lines indicate...” Oliver said, pointing at the lines which divided the continent into four almost equal parts.

Again, the duo nodded.

“There are many things not mentioned on this old map. However, these lines are not just something on the map. These are actually the continent’s four such areas where almost no one dares to pass through,” Oliver explained, probably thinking about the time when he was taught these things from the distant look in his eyes.

“Why?” Ozul asked.

“It’s mostly because these places are too dangerous. Some are even impossible to travel through unless one is a Rank-8 Mage. These four areas, for some odd reason, stretch from this circular land till the other ends of our continent,” Oliver trailed his finger over one of the lines.

The reason for the Rank-8 Mages to be able to move across these areas was because of their ability to fly.

“Of course, there are other places even more dangerous than these four areas. However, these are marked because only four of them stretch so long that they divide the whole continent into four parts,” Oliver said, emphasizing the division caused by those areas.

“What about this circular area?” Raven asked.

“I was getting to that. This place has a lot of importance all over the Mainland. Because of the separation caused by those four areas, this middle area is the only place that connects all four parts of the continent.” Oliver explained.

“Just from this little information, I think you understand the importance of this piece of land,” Oliver said as the duo nodded.

“There have been a lot of wars for supremacy over this land, but no one has ever managed to succeed. After hundreds of years of continuous wars and schemes, this area was named the Neutral Lands.” Oliver said, a little apprehensive of the stories he had heard about this place.

“What about the political situation then?” Raven inquired.

“As I said before, there is no one who could absolutely gain control of the area. However, many big powers from all over the Mainland always have their eyes on this place. After so many wars, people started to realize that it would not get them anywhere, so all who had the ability, chose smaller territories to rule instead,”

“Of course, they have not stopped wanting to take control over it, but there is no more open bloodshed. Since wars only caused every side to lose their resources, they have now limited themselves to schemes only,” Oliver described.

“And... which are the most prominent groups there?” Ozul asked.

“As I said before, powers from all over the world have set up their base in the Neutral Lands. There is the Church, Leonhard Dynasty, Ashins Family, and even the Sects! In short, a group is not even considered to be powerful enough if they haven’t ever tried to acquire a piece of this sweet pie,” Oliver named a few of the most powerful groups all around the Mainland.

“What about the Silverbird Kingdom? Isn’t Emperor Luthien also a Rank-9 Mage?” Raven asked. She was curious if everyone coveted the Neutral Lands, then why someone like the Emperor would remain in this kingdom.

“Well, those are national secrets. Even I am not aware of them, haha...” Oliver gave an awkward chuckle.

*Flashback end.*