Because his voice was loaded with mana, it was incredibly loud and echoed throughout the inside of the Holy Temple. The apprentice priests, who were awake for the early hours and walking nearby, rushed to where the old man stood.
“What brings you here to the… Huk?! Your arm?”
“Senior…bring me a bastard that is a senior! I need to reattach my arm!”
“W-Wait a moment!”
The apprentice priests made haste to call for a senior priest.
Only a small while ago, there had been a patient who had come by with his arm cut off like Astroa, so fortunately for him, the senior priest that could fix his arm quickly arrived at the scene.
“Oh my. What in the world are the people in the Magic Tower doing at this early morning?”
“…”
“Not just one, but two came with their arm cut off. How did this happen?”
The reattachment procedure involved treatment of the cut-off area using holy power and then sutures afterwards.
This step was quite painful, hence Astroa’s face was scrunched up to the max.
Of course, it was not as bad as when he was cringing because of the two random runts that he had run into a moment ago.
“By chance, did something happen in the Magic Tower?”
The senior priest asked as he focused holy power in his hands to heal Astroa.
Since two people from the Magic Tower came with their arm chopped off, it was an obvious question that had to be asked.
The Holy Temple was located in Right Solia.
The senior priest had to ask because, if anything happened in the Magic Tower, it could also spread to the Holy Temple which was not far from the Magic Tower.
“…”
Astroa was about to tell them about what happened a moment ago, but he shut his mouth.
There was some weird bastard wearing a mask and a disposed product that he had abandoned. The two discovered the narcotics that he gathered in secret in the Magic Tower’s basement, and now, they even broke into the laboratory he was running in secrecy.
It was unfathomable for Astroa to tell such things to anyone, especially to people of the Holy Temple. That was an insane idea.
“…No. Nothing in particular.”
“Astroa, sir, your arm was cut off. Are you sure there is nothi”
“I said there is nothing in particular! Instead, hurry, just hurry up with attaching my arm back up and do it right. I didn’t get to finish what I was working on!”
The situation was such that Astroa had no idea what the two random runts could possibly do now that they had broken into the laboratory.
All Astroa could think of right now was to return after getting his arm reattached as fast as possible.
He swore on the inside to properly tear them apart and dispose of them once he returned.
***
It seemed that she was having a panic attack due to traumatic memories of her past rushing back to her. Nainiae was shaking helplessly at the back. Riley left her be.
He turned the door handle and entered inside the laboratory.
“…Tsk.”
Riley’s face crumpled on its own.
“Ugh…”
It was because the putrid air inside the laboratory, which had been trapped inside all this time, came right at him and buffeted his face.
That wasn’t the only reason. Inside the laboratory wafted a horrible stench.
The abhorrent stench was strong enough to completely bypass the mask Riley was wearing and penetrate straight through. It smelled of rotting corpses, unknown chemicals and excrements as well.
‘I sense a presence.’
From the inside, Riley could feel someone’s presence.
Just in case, after focusing mana to his senses and roughly figuring out how wide the inside was, Riley walked further into the laboratory.
‘The place doesn’t appear to be very spacious. As for the number of people still breathing…is it about three? It doesn’t look like they will be able to last long.’
As Riley looked at the state of the people caged behind iron bars, he thought Nainiae was quite fortunate in comparison. While glancing around the area, Riley asked the girl who was still standing just outside the door.
“Aren’t you going to come in?”
Nainiae was hesitant for a moment, but soon, she carefully traced the steps that Riley took and came right behind him.
“From what I heard a while ago, you said you learned magic from Peruda?”
To calm her down, Riley decided to strike up a conversation.
“You know my teacher?”
Hearing Riley’s question, Nainiae asked with curious eyes.
Riley answered,
“I don’t think I could say I know him, but I have met him recently.”
“Really?”