Versatile Mage

Officer Ozawa and several other officials in charge of the order of the West Guardian Towers gathered in front of the door. They checked the contents of the video with Kaede Takahashi and made a copy from his phone.

Officer Ozawa walked out of the house with a dark expression. Lingling was sitting outside the house.

“What do you think?” Officer Ozawa asked.

“Your intuition is right. Many strange things happened in the West Guardian Towers, and they all should be related to the two people who committed suicide. I’ll find the substance that affected their emotions as soon as possible,” said Lingling.

The magnetic field of the Red Demon had become more powerful. The emotions of people like Nagayama’s uncle, who felt guilty and tormented, were amplified. Finally, they chose to end their lives by committing suicide.

It might be the same thing that happened to Kaede Takahashi’s junior. It showed that the Red Demon’s magnetic field had greatly affected both because they might have come into contact with that powerful evil energy.

“I’m so sorry to trouble you. The East Guardian Towers are also in trouble, so we have many things to handle,” said Officer Ozawa.

Lingling returned to her room. She had obtained information on the daily activities of Nagayama’s uncle and Kaede Takahashi’s junior. After some simple comparisons, Lingling soon noticed a pattern.

“The Sacrificial Mountain.”

Nagayama’s uncle and Kaede Takahashi’s junior never crossed paths. One was part of the fortress’s military, and the other was in the academy. The Twin Guardian Towers were large, so the probability of the two meeting was small. However, the Red Demon’s magnetic field had greatly affected them more than anyone else.

In Lingling’s opinion, the two might have gone to the same place at the same time where the evil energy was manifesting. The closer they were, the easier it was to be affected.

The next morning, Lingling and Officer Ozawa went to the Sacrificial Mountain.

The Sacrificial Mountain was a Japanese temple. It was a place where the people of the Twin Guardian Towers paid tribute to their deceased relatives.

Every few days, Nagayama’s uncle would come here because of his guilt. He wanted to wash away the pain and guilt he felt by asking for forgiveness at this place.

“I have already confirmed what you asked me to look into. The spirit tablet of the father of the girl who committed suicide yesterday is indeed here. The day before yesterday was her father’s death anniversary. Someone saw her here. She stayed here for a long time,” Officer Ozawa said to Lingling.

“Everyone needs to register to enter the Sacrificial Mountain, right?” Lingling pointed to a monk who was guarding the gate.

“Yes. Everyone must register,” said Officer Ozawa.

“List down all the people who have visited this week. I’ll go in and take a look,” Lingling said to Officer Ozawa.

“Okay.”

…

Lingling walked into the Sacrificial Mountain. There was an old, small temple inside. Many people’s spirit tablets were in the temple’s main hall, and these spirit tablets were arranged in orderly rows and columns. Each spirit tablet had an oil lamp at the side. The bright oil lamps illuminated the small temple and made it appear mystic.

Lingling read the general instructions. Only the spirit tablets of those who had contributed to the Twin Guardian Towers would be displayed on it. Of course, they were all deceased.

A delicate scroll summarizing the lives of the deceased was under each spirit tablet. Golden ink was used to highlight the remarkable things they did for the Twin Guardian Towers.

Lingling was proficient in various languages. Although the scrolls were in Japanese, she could understand them.

She read a few scrolls at random. Officer Ozawa walked over with a book and told Lingling that he had noted down the list of recent visitors.

“Officer Ozawa, is this the one that Nagayama’s uncle accidentally killed?” Lingling pointed to one of the spirit tablets.

“Yes, he was a brave person. It’s a shame such a thing happened.” Officer Ozawa nodded.

“Didn’t you notice anything?” Lingling asked.

Officer Ozawa did not understand. After carefully observing the full name on the spirit tablet, he suddenly realized something. “The father of the girl who committed suicide was Akematsu?”

“Yes, they came here recently to pay tribute to the famous Akematsu, who was accidentally killed,” said Lingling.

“This…” Officer Ozawa was creeped out.

Two unrelated people suddenly committed suicide, and they were related to Akematsu, who was accidentally killed because of association with the evil group.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Officer Ozawa’s communicator rang. He glanced at it and found a text message about the Battle of the Night Sea.

The sea-facing part of the Twin Guardian Towers was a military fortress. In the past few days, the Ocean Demons had been trying to invade it. However, the main battles were at sea, so the Twin Guardian Towers would not be affected.

Officer Ozawa did not pay much attention to it at first. After all, he was not responsible for the Battle of the Night Sea. He was mainly in charge of the Twin Guardian Towers. After flipping through the list of deaths in the battle, he saw a familiar name.

“What’s wrong?” Lingling asked.

“I’m not sure if it is a coincidence, but a female soldier named Shizuka Sato, who died in the Battle of the Night Sea, also came here four days ago,” said Officer Ozawa.

Lingling took the book with the list of names and made a comparison. She found that a person had visited late at night four days ago.

“Officer Ozawa, I would like you to make some comparisons regarding this visitor to see if there are any other people who have had… similar accidents,” said Lingling.

Officer Ozawa nodded and took photos of the list of names in the book with his phone.

“That’s weird.” Officer Ozawa’s hand stopped moving, but he continued to pose for pictures. On one of the pages, he fixed his gaze on the last name. “Ki Kurokawa. Why would this person be listed as a visitor?”

Lingling leaned forward to observe. Since Ki Kurokawa was not a particularly unique name, she couldn’t figure out why Ozawa was shocked.

“Is there anything special about this person?” Lingling asked.

“It is impossible for him to appear here. He is imprisoned in the lowest level of the East Guardian Towers!” said Officer Ozawa.

‘He is imprisoned? That means he is a sinner who isn’t allowed to see sunlight for the rest of his life. Why would such a terrifying person visit here? How did he escape?’

“I must look into this!” Officer Ozawa uttered hastily. He appeared to be scared.

“Is it that bad?” Lingling asked.

“It is worse.” Officer Ozawa did not dare to stay any longer. He ran down the Sacrificial Mountain while calling the headquarters of the West Guardian Towers’ military fortress.