Seek
He turned back to Bell with a huge smile.
Bell nodded toward the shelves.
"Go ahead. I have something else I want to read."
Marc nodded eagerly and hurried off toward the bookshelf, excited to read everything he could find about The Greatest Mage.
Bell quietly watched him go.
-------------------
Bell looked up at the clerk and asked if there was a history section. The clerk seemed a little surprised to see a kid interested in history, but he simply pointed toward a corner of the library. Bell thanked him and walked in the direction he indicated.
Meanwhile, Marc wandered between the shelves, searching for anything related to The Greatest Mage. As he scanned the titles, one book immediately caught his attention.
"The Greatest Mage vs the Hundred Creatures."
Marc's eyes widened. The title alone was enough to pull him in. Without hesitation, he grabbed the book, sat down on the floor, and began reading with full focus.
On the other side of the library, Bell gathered several books. One, two, three, then four books about the history of the village they were currently in. He searched for anything about events that happened during the twenty one years he had been gone.
Unfortunately, there was not much information to find.
The library itself was small and far from grand. It clearly did not store much knowledge beyond basic records.
Bell sighed quietly.
"If only I were at the Continental Archives… I could have found something actually useful."
He flipped through the last book in his hands before muttering to himself.
"But oh well. From what I could gather, the only useful information here is about the founder of this village and when it was established."
Bell read the line again.
"It started around twelve years ago… and the founder is apparently some kind of noble from the Kingdom of Hotazol."
Bell leaned his back against the wall and closed the book.
"Speaking of kingdoms…" he thought.
"I wonder how he's been… King Demanas. The King of All Kingdoms on the continent."
Bell stared blankly ahead for a moment.
"I wonder if he's still alive."
After a while, Bell returned the books to their shelves and began looking for Marc. As he walked through the rows of bookshelves, he eventually spotted Marc sitting on the floor, completely absorbed in a book.
Bell walked over and sat beside him.
Marc finally noticed him and immediately brightened with excitement. His eyes sparkled as he lifted the book.
"Bell! Look!"
But Bell quickly raised a finger to his lips.
"Shh. Quiet."
Marc blinked.
"Oop… my bad."
Bell chuckled softly before glancing at the book in Marc's hands.
"So… what are you reading there?"
Marc spoke in an excited whisper.
"Bell, this book I'm reading is about how The Greatest Mage defeated a hundred creatures during a Red Moon Rampage."
He quickly pointed to one of the sentences in the book.
"Look here. It says The Greatest Mage fought all of them while protecting a nearby village. And there were zero casualties. Not a single villager died."
Marc's eyes sparkled with admiration as he continued.
"He used all kinds of magic and spells. Juro was right. He can use magic, mana magic, and spells all at the same time. I want to become an amazing mage like him someday."
Marc chuckled a little and scratched the back of his head.
"Well… maybe not exactly like him. I don't think I could ever reach that level. But I at least want to follow the path he took."
Bell felt a faint wave of embarrassment as he listened to Marc talk about his own legend. Hearing someone praise stories about himself was still something he had not gotten used to.
He let out a quiet sigh before smiling.
"Don't worry," Bell said. "I'll make sure we reach the top."
Marc then tilted his head.
"Oh right. Why are you here anyway? Did you find what you were looking for?"
Bell shook his head.
"Nah. I couldn't find much, but that's fine."
He stood up and stretched a little.
"Anyway, we should head back. We still need to meet up with Juro and ask if he found the Adventurer Guild."
Marc groaned dramatically.
"Whaaaat? But it's still early."
Bell added calmly,
"I heard Juro is planning to train us again."
Marc immediately jumped to his feet and returned the book to the shelf.
"Alright, let's go."
He glanced back at the rows of books.
"But I'm definitely coming back here when I have free time. I saw at least three more books about The Greatest Mage."
As they walked out of the library, Marc suddenly turned toward Bell.
"Wait, Bell. Do you want to read the stories about The Greatest Mage with me sometime?"
Bell laughed awkwardly.
"Ahaha… it's fine."
As they walked back to the inn, Bell and Marc returned to their room. The moment they entered, they noticed a small note resting on the bed.
Both of them exchanged confused looks before Bell picked it up and read it aloud.
"Hey kids! If you're reading this, that means you must be done reading your books at the library. If you are finished, try to find me somewhere in the village. Use mana to find me."
Bell stared at the note with a disappointed expression.
"Is this… hide and seek?" he thought.
Marc, on the other hand, looked thrilled.
"This must be part of the training, Bell!"
Bell shrugged slightly.
"I mean… I guess."
Marc tilted his head.
"But what does he mean by using mana to find him?"
Bell thought for a moment.
"I think he wants us to use our mana senses to track his mana."
Marc blinked in surprise.
"Wait… we can do that?"
"Yeah," Bell replied calmly. "As long as you remember a person's mana, you can spread out your own mana and try to find theirs."
Marc looked completely amazed.
"Whoa… how do you know that?"
Bell answered awkwardly.
"Well… I read it back at the library."
Marc frowned slightly.
"But that doesn't sound simple."
Bell leaned against the wall.
"It actually is. You could learn it too."
Marc looked curious.
"Then how do we do it? Do we just spread out our mana?"
Bell shook his head.
"That used to be the method. But people realized how dangerous that was. If you spread your mana everywhere, powerful people can easily detect you and target you."
Marc began thinking carefully.
"Then how are we supposed to track him with mana?"
Bell smiled faintly.
"Do you remember that feeling when he channeled mana into his fingertips?"
Marc blinked.
"That feeling?"
"Think back," Bell said. "What did you feel when he was channeling mana?"
Marc thought for a moment.
"Hmm… I felt excited at that time."
Bell shook his head slightly.
"I'm not talking about your emotions. What about his mana?"
"His mana?" Marc muttered as he tapped his chin while thinking.
"Hmmmm… Oh!"
His eyes suddenly lit up.
"The flow! I remember it now. When Teacher Juro was channeling mana to use Mana Bullets and when he used ice magic, the flow felt familiar. Even though it was faint, it still felt like the same mana."
Bell nodded.
"Mhm."
Marc paused again before suddenly widening his eyes.
"Now that I think about it… I felt that same flow of mana when we entered the inn earlier."
Bell smiled.
"Alright. Then let's go downstairs and check."
The two of them walked down and began looking around the inn. They searched the common area, but Juro was nowhere to be seen.
Marc scratched his head.
"Ugh… maybe I'm wrong."
Bell looked at him calmly.
"Are you sure? Try focusing on that familiar mana you felt."
Marc closed his eyes and began focusing on the mana around him. Slowly, he started sensing faint traces of mana from the people nearby. There were many of them, and each one felt slightly different.
But finding one specific mana among all of them was not easy.
Marc concentrated harder, trying to pinpoint the familiar flow he remembered. Sweat slowly formed on his forehead as he focused.
Then suddenly his eyes widened.
"Oh! I found it!"
He opened his eyes and looked at Bell.
"I felt a familiar mana. It's similar to Teacher Juro's."
Bell nodded.
"Where is it?"
Marc pointed toward a door near the bar area.
But then his expression turned confused.
"Isn't that… the back door? The place where they cook food?"
Bell calmly replied,
"But you felt the familiar mana there, right?"
Marc nodded.
"Yeah…"
"Then let's go check."
As they walked toward the door, Marc started to feel a little nervous.
"What if I'm wrong?"
Bell shrugged.
"Then we'll just apologize."
They opened the door.
Inside, they saw Juro standing beside the inn's chef, slicing pieces of meat while wearing an apron.
Bell stared silently.
( ￣-￣ )
Juro noticed them and immediately waved.
"Oh! Hey kids!"
Marc's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Teacher Juro! I sensed your mana correctly!"
Juro laughed and placed the knife down on the table.
"Good job, kids. You two did really well finding me. It didn't even take you an hour."
Bell looked at him.
"How did you know when we arrived?"
Juro removed his gloves and casually replied,
"I sensed both of your mana before you even entered the inn. And again when you two went up to the room."
Marc stared at him with pure amazement.
"Wooooah, Teacher Juro! You're amazing!"
Juro smirked proudly.
"( ´◡‿ゝ◡`) Heh."
Bell crossed his arms.
"Why are you even here?"
"Oh, I just thought I'd help out with the cooking," Juro replied casually. "That's my buddy Jerry over there, the chef."
"Hey Jerry."
Jerry waved at them with a friendly smile before returning to his cooking.
"Anyway," Juro continued, "let's head back to the room."
The three of them returned upstairs.
Once inside the room, Bell immediately asked,
"So… did you find any information about the Adventurer Guild?"
Juro stretched slightly before answering.
"Wellllll… the good news is there will be an Adventurer Guild here."
Marc leaned forward eagerly.
"The bad news," Juro continued, "is that it's still under construction."
Marc's excitement immediately dropped.
"Does that mean we can't become adventurers yet?"
Bell sighed slightly.
"Unfortunately, yeah. We'll probably have to register in another village… or maybe at a kingdom."
Juro waved his hand dismissively.
"Hey, no need to look so down about it. Let's just enjoy the two nights we'll be staying in this village."