We left the village and immediately began searching beyond the fence—that is, the forest and plains on the outskirts.
The familiar patrol route we had been traveling for the past few days.
As always, it was so familiar that I could remember every path underfoot and every thicket, but this time, something felt different.
“Damn it, are we sure he came out here? I can’t see so much as a footprint, let alone a single hair.”
Baldik spoke in an irritated voice.
“I know. At this rate, we’re going to collapse from exhaustion first.”
Sailun looked utterly worn out as well.
Sweat poured down my body, and my legs were slowly growing heavy.
Even so, the feeling that we were missing something would not leave my mind.
…Is this really the right way?
Or maybe he’s been inside the village from the start.
Or perhaps he left the path entirely.
“Even when the missing people turned up before, didn’t they say there were no traces?”
Aileen said cautiously.
“Mm, they did. Then how the hell are we supposed to find him?”
Baldik wiped away his sweat and shook his head.
Without realizing it, my gaze turned toward the hill.
I could see people searching in and out of the village.
It wasn’t just us. The villagers, and even a few mercenaries, had come out and were combing the surroundings.
At this point, it meant the rumor had spread through the entire village.
And yet, if they still hadn’t found him, this might not be a simple accident.
Woof! Woof!
At that moment, a sharp barking sound came from somewhere.
“…Isn’t that the puppy Bill used to bring around?”
Sailun was the first to turn his head.
At the edge of the thick grass stood a familiar little dog.
It looked at us for a moment, then turned back and barked again.
Then, as if telling us to follow, it trotted a few steps ahead into the grass.
“…No way.”
I moved without hesitation.
“Hey, Liv! Where are you going!”
“Wait, I think that dog knows something!”
I stepped through the grass, following the puppy.
The others, startled, hurried after me.
A little farther into the forest, the dog ahead suddenly stopped at one spot.
It whined, circling the area as it stared desperately at something.
“What’s wrong with it? Is there something here?”
Aileen tilted her head.
I carefully approached and looked at the spot.
At a glance, it was ordinary ground.
All that lay beneath my feet was soft dirt, moss, and a few fallen leaves.
—Tingle.
One step.
I had only stepped lightly, yet an inexplicable chill spread beneath my skin.
It felt as though ripples were stirring deep beneath my heart.
Even the air seemed to grow viscous, as if something were condensing.
Unconsciously, I stopped walking.
My eyes were on the ground, but my senses were pointing toward something unseen.
‘…What is this feeling?’
I couldn’t see anything, but something was definitely there.
Just as I was about to focus on my mana—
Srrk.
The air trembled.
With it, part of my vision gently warped.
As if a thin membrane were being torn, very slowly.
And beyond it, a scene that had not existed appeared.
“…A cabin?”
A small log cabin.
It stood amid dense undergrowth, as if it had been hiding there.
That spot had definitely been nothing but grass and dirt until just a moment ago.
“Wait, Liv. Do you see something?”
Sailun asked, but I did not answer.
This was a space only I could see.
It was clearly concealed by magic—an area under a fairly sophisticated visual distortion.
And yet the reason I could detect it… was probably because I was a mage.
I quietly turned my head and looked at the group.
“Yeah. Looks like you guys can’t see it.”
“You’re seriously saying you can see something?”
Sailun frowned and asked again, but I said no more and moved straight ahead.
The moment I carefully placed the tip of my foot on the distorted boundary—
Srrk.
The air in front of me split like a thin film.
One step. The moment I entered, the world changed.
“…!”
Even the density of the air was different.
The noises of the forest vanished in an instant, and only quiet breathing and the faint sound of wind brushed past my ears.
Behind me, I could no longer sense Aileen or Sailun, nor hear their voices.
Truly, this was a separated space.
I turned my head again and slowly leaned my body back out past the boundary.
“…Eek! You scared me!”
Sailun flinched backward, and Baldik and Aileen stared at me with startled eyes.
“You really disappeared…”
“What did you just do? You vanished for a second, and I thought my heart stopped!”
“…There’s a space hidden inside.
You can’t see it from outside, but something is definitely being concealed.”
I caught my breath quietly and looked back inside.
“Do I have to go in alone…?”
“Wait, it could be dangerous!”
Aileen cried out in alarm, and beside her, Sailun poked his head forward.
“Should I try it too?”
With a curious expression, he stepped in front of me.
Then he threw himself straight toward the boundary I had crossed.
…Whoosh.
Nothing happened. He simply passed through empty air.
Sailun turned back with an awkward expression.
“I just… walk through it?”
So really, only I can do it?
No, more accurately, maybe it was structured so only mages could pass through.
That was when—
“Wait, let me try too.”
Baldik, who had been watching with his arms folded, stepped forward.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, he took a step.
In that instant, as if seeping between sheets of paper, he vanished into thin air.
“…Huh?”
“What?! Mister just disappeared!”
Aileen and Sailun shouted at the same time.
The spot fell silent again, as if it had returned to being an ordinary clearing.
I stared at the place in surprise, then murmured quietly.
“…Don’t tell me, Baldik too?”
Now that I thought about it, Baldik was a priest as well.
I didn’t know about mana, but the divine power used by priests had always seemed structurally similar to mana.
If so, then perhaps it meant not only mages, but anyone who possessed “magical power” could pass through.
A moment later, the air wavered gently again, and Baldik walked out, scratching his head.
“It’s really there. There’s a weird house inside.”
“…Then the two of us will have to go check it out.”
When Sailun spoke from the side, Aileen asked with a slightly anxious face.
“Do you have to go right now?”
A worried expression.
Her gaze slipped toward Sailun, who stood beside her.
…Apparently, she absolutely hated the idea of being left alone with that guy.
“We can’t help it. First, someone needs to tell the others.”
I spoke briefly and nodded.
“Just in case, don’t wait for us. Explain the situation to the others and let them know. It’s almost certain Bill is inside, so if anything happens, call people right away.”
“Yes… understood.”
To be honest, I didn’t want to send Aileen off separately.
But right now, there was no choice.
We didn’t know what was happening to Bill in there, and whether anyone else could enter this space was still unknown.
We had to check as quickly as possible.
For now, the two of us had no choice but to move.
“We’ll be back.”
I gave Aileen and Sailun a slight nod.
Their faces were still full of worry, but we couldn’t delay any longer.
Together with Baldik, I crossed the boundary.
One step.
I had only taken a single step, and yet that strange, windless, silent space spread out before my eyes once more.
A silence so deep it seemed even sound had been suppressed.
Beside me, Baldik muttered in a low voice.
“…This is creepy as hell. And that cabin looks ridiculously normal, too.”
“It does.”
I answered quietly, looking at the cabin.
A small window, a worn-out roof, wooden walls half-covered in vines.
From the outside, it looked like an ordinary cabin that could be found on the outskirts of any village.
“But,”
I said.
“If someone’s inside, do you think they don’t know we’re here?”
Baldik gave a faint laugh.
That laugh was full of discomfort.
“They’ll know. If someone can create a space like this, they’d have set up at least that much as a basic measure. From the moment we stepped in, they might already know everything.”
I paused to steady my breathing.
What stood before us might not be a simple cabin, but a trap.
“Wait a moment.”
I quietly closed my eyes and gathered mana inward.
It was a sensation I had grown used to.
The moment I drove mana toward my eyes, the area around them tingled subtly.
At the same time, I felt mana trying to escape through the slits of my closed eyelids.
Matching the timing, I opened my eyes.
[Blue Eye]
The world changed.
Shapes and colors grew faint, and instead, the moisture in all things filled my vision, glowing blue.
The humidity in the air, the water soaked beneath the ground, even the sap flowing through distant trees.
And—
“…There’s someone inside.”
I said, looking toward the cabin.
Inside, moisture condensed faintly in the shape of a person, pulsing weakly.
A small but certain presence. Someone was breathing there.
“Is it Bill?”
“Are you sure?”
“I don’t know. But… there’s definitely someone inside.”
Baldik nodded.
“Good. Then let’s get ready.”
This was no longer a simple search, but an infiltration.
And our opponent was someone capable of concealing a space.
They were not an ordinary foe.
“We shouldn’t just walk proudly through the entrance, right?”
“Are you insane? We go around back.”
Keeping low, we carefully approached the cabin.
We concealed our presence and reduced our noise as much as possible, but there was still no sign of anyone inside.
Deliberately ignoring the front door, we slowly circled around to the back of the cabin.
Since magical concealment had been placed here, there was no doubt that something was inside.
At the rear was a small, simple window.
There was no way it had glass. At most, it would be covered by thin boards or a piece of cloth.
It was only meant to block the wind, not to open and close.
I quietly narrowed my eyes.
‘If Bill was inside here and conscious… there should at least be traces of him making noise through this window or trying to escape. So why is there nothing?’
Something felt off.
Perhaps he had already lost consciousness, or maybe his mouth had been covered.
Baldik must have been thinking the same thing, because he whispered quietly.
“We need to confirm a bit more whether what’s inside really is the kid.”
Baldik silently gestured to me with his chin.
It was a clear signal telling me to look over the window and peek inside.
…To be fair, he was a little too short to do it himself.
I took a small breath and carefully raised my head over the window.
Suppressing my presence, as slowly as possible… because one small mistake could change the situation entirely.
The window was small and the interior was dark, but little by little, my eyes adjusted to the darkness.
A dusty table, an old cloak hanging on the wall, and an inner door shut tight.
The location I had seen earlier with Blue Eye seemed to be not this room, but the space beyond that door.
Because the wall blocked it, I couldn’t sense the presence from where I was now.
‘An inner room…’
Carefully withdrawing my head, I whispered.
“I can see inside, but I think what we’re looking for is behind that door. I can’t see it from this room.”
Baldik nodded slightly and muttered.
“Then… it’s a gamble. Either we open the door, or we break through the wall.”
His tone was calm, but his hand had already gone to his waist.
It meant he was already prepared for battle, just in case.
Strictly speaking, Baldik was not someone with outstanding martial prowess.
He had originally been a priest, and it had not been long since he started working as a mercenary.
In terms of experience, he might even be the shortest among us.
But the reason Baldik felt unexpectedly reliable in battle was precisely because of that fiery temper of his.
His bold forcefulness, pushing through regardless of the situation.
Perhaps that was why, even in a moment like this, when we had stepped into an unidentified space, his recklessness felt strangely reassuring.
When things truly happened, having someone who would rush forward first without hesitation was, surprisingly, a great comfort.
“…Do we have to climb in through the window?”
The window was small, but if the two of us lowered our bodies, it was just barely large enough to pass through.
I leaned in again and checked inside.
Just in case there was something dangerous below.
After scanning the area for a moment, I quietly withdrew my head.
“There doesn’t seem to be anything dangerous. I’ll go in first.”
To reduce noise, I handed my helmet to Baldik.
The helmet made clattering sounds even with small movements, so it was better to take it off if I didn’t want to be discovered.
Carefully, I placed my foot on the windowsill and pushed my body inside.
—Tap.
Because I had to move broadly, a small footstep was unavoidable.
My heart flinched for an instant… but fortunately, it remained quiet inside.
I barely managed to squeeze in and carefully set my feet on the floor.
I had successfully entered the cabin.
Just as it had looked from outside, the interior was dim.
Only damp, quiet air lingered, without a single ray of light.
Looking around roughly, it seemed this place was divided into several areas.
“Hey, hey. You all right?”
Baldik’s low whisper came from outside the window.
“Yes. Pass me the helmet.”
“Here.”
I reached out, took the helmet from him, then immediately picked up a small wooden chair from inside and held it back out through the window.
The structure was a little too high for Baldik to climb over the window, so he needed a foothold.
A moment later, I heard a soft thud of footsteps, and Baldik carefully came inside.
He brushed off his shoulder once, looked around, and muttered in a low voice.
“…It’s quiet. But the smell’s a little strange.”
“It’s kind of like mold… and there’s something rotten mixed in too.”
Just as it had looked from the outside, this was a small, old cabin.
The interior was divided into a kitchen, a living room, and a bedroom, and the place we were in now was the kitchen.
Other than the faint light coming through one small window, there was nothing illuminating the inside.
The air was damp, and it felt like the place had been abandoned for a long time.
I gripped my staff again and, together with Baldik, carefully moved deeper inside.