It was closer to the lunch time than morning.
Riley finished talking to Ian and then came out of the hotel. What Riley saw outside was… smokes going up in the distance towards Right Solia.
“What is that?”
The scenery of Right Solia viewed from Left Solia looked suspicious. Riley furrowed his brows and looked around to check the situation.
Other people in Solia who appeared to have been just passing by were all stopped as well. They were looking at the direction of Right Solia where the smokes were coming up. They had anxious looks on their faces.
“Excuse me. What happened?”
Ian tapped on the shoulder of one of the people who were looking at Right Solia. In Riley’s stead, Ian asked him what this was about.
“The Magic Tower is…”
It seemed the man was worried. He had anxious look on his face. By Ian’s question, the man vacantly mumbled,
“The Magic Tower collapsed.”
“… Pardon?”
The man mumbled in a low voice, so Ian didn’t quite hear that. Ian asked again, and the man explained again.
“The Magic Tower, the Magic Tower collapsed. At its top, there were what appeared to be lights flashing… All of sudden, the tower leaned to the side and just like that…”
Having heard the man’s explanation, Riley, who was looking at Right Solia, directed his gaze toward where the Magic Tower was.
Having examined the view again, Riley noticed that the Magic Tower, which used to be eye-catching because its top peaked out above everything else, was now gone.
‘What is this?’
Looking at the collapsed tower, Riley crumpled his face, wondering what was going on. Riley thought about Peruda, the current head of the Magic Tower who said he was going to seal entrances to the Lower Solia.
‘Just what did he do to make the tower collapse?’
Even if the dark mage from the Rainfield was revived, it was probably impossible for him to collapse the tower by himself.
The building’s wall was made of marble stones that were sturdier than ordinary things, which contributed to the building’s stability. Moreover, inside the wall, there was a special protective spell that only the head of the Magic Tower could disengage.
These were certain facts that Riley have heard from Peruda when he went to see the Magic Tower last time.
“The bigger problem is the direction which the tower collapsed.”
The man continued with concerned look on his face.
“The direction is… toward the Holy Temple.”
“The Holy Temple?”
The man raised his finger and pointed it to where the smokes were coming up. Ian and Riley directed their gazes to the direction.
“The direction which the tower leaned and collapsed is toward the Holy Temple. In other words, the smoke is…”
Not just the Magic Tower, but the Holy Temple was destroyed as well.
Riley realized what the man was trying to say. Riley had a mysterious and complicated look on his face.
It was because Rebethra, the one he was going to tail today, was a part of the Holy Temple.
‘Just what’s going on?’
Confused, Riley looked at towards Right Solia and narrowed his eyes. The man who was standing next to them gathered his hands and started to pray as if he could not let things be.
“I am worried. At this time, the Priestess must have been praying there… Ahah… I hope the Goddess Irenetsa helped her.”
It seemed he was a believer. The man started to pray to the Goddess of the Holy Temple. Riley looked at the man, and as if he thought he could not let things be, he promptly started to walk.
“Let’s move.”
Ian followed behind Riley. Looking at Riley’s back, Ian asked what he was going to do.
“Young Master, what are you going to do?”
Ian had a reason to ask. Their original plan was to go straight to the Lower Solia after leaving the hotel.
“…”
Having heard Ian’s question, Riley postponed answering. Riley walked and rolled his brain.
There were two choices.
First one was going to the Lower Solia and finding out about the corpses. The second choice was going to Right Solia which was now a complete mess.
“What is your intuition telling you?”
It was a hard decision to make, so Riley decided to trust a mercenary’s intuition.
“I think we should…”
Initially, before all this, Ian proposed that they should go check out the Lower Solia where corpses were instead of going to Right Solia where Rebethra must be at. Ian now took a moment of pause. He said,
“… go to Right Solia.”
Having heard Ian, Riley kept on walking without saying anything. He went to a corner with no traffic and brought his hand to his inner chest pocket.
“Well then, we’ll go there.”
Riley put on the mask that he purchased two days ago and quickly moved in Right Solia’s direction. Ian also put on the mask and followed him.