Perspective: Dale

Location: Unknown

We followed the light orb for quite a while, and the surrounding terrain slowly began to change. Not far ahead, we could see towering peaks of mountains, with even smoke lingering at the top.

"Oh! It seems like we've crossed over!" exclaimed Black Domi suddenly. "This is where some of our academy teachers live, up on the mountain. They dislike being disturbed by others, and their experiments are very risky, so they moved their living quarters and laboratories to the mountaintop."

"Wow," Fran looked up. "I want a mountain villa too..."

"Well, living in such a place must be inconvenient for going up and down every day," Mary commented. "Of course, if someone gave me such a building, I would gladly accept it."

"Such greedy individuals," I remarked.

"It sounds like you're one of them," Mary retorted.

"Do you really want a building like that?" Blanche chimed in.

"Well, we elves have a way to make trees grow extremely tall and automatically form treehouses on the top," she added.

"That sounds great!" Fran nodded. "Let's build a big one when we return to the Lost Continent."

"Exactly," Mary agreed. "But if the trees are too tall, the whole house might sway. It's best not to live there if you're afraid of heights."

"Sway..." Fran and Mary exchanged glances and shrugged.

"Maybe we should find a way to build on the mountain instead," I suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds better," Mary agreed.

Listening to their frivolous conversation, I gazed helplessly as the light orb flew towards the mountain peak and vanished into the clouds.

"The light orb flew up into the clouds, should we not go after it?" Fran asked.

"Into the clouds?" We all looked up, but the light orb had disappeared from the sky.

"It flew away so quickly? What a hassle," Fran chuckled. "But at least we now know who’s behind this, right?"

"Behind this?" I turned to Fran, then realization struck. "Right, Black Domi mentioned that the teachers from the academy live on this mountain top, so..."

"Which means someone is using the villagers to practice magic," Mary concluded.

"How could that be!" Black Domi exclaimed.

"It's very likely that the people in the village were either killed or taken away by those practicing magic at your academy, and no matter what, their mastery of magic must be very advanced," Mary explained, looking at me.

I just like to study technology, so what? I take pride in my tech; why bother with magic?

"Regardless, let's investigate first," I suggested, sending the drone towards the vanished light orb's mountain peak. "But the signal might be weak at this distance, so I’ll set it to autonomously circle and return.”

"Even if that's the case, what do we do next?" Fran furrowed her brows. "It seems like the people in this academy aren't mentally stable... I mean, have you ever noticed what your teachers are doing, Black Domi?"

"Well..." Black Domi hesitated, a troubled expression appearing on his face. "I'm still in the learning stage, and I rarely participate in regular experiments. I just know the teachers isolate themselves in their rooms for days while conducting experiments."

"I see," Fran nodded. "It does fit the profile of those old codgers. But let me tell you as a person with experience, in such cases, there are usually two possibilities: either they don’t want their research stolen, or they are conducting some unsavory experiments."

Ah, hearing such words from a dark mage like you is quite convincing. Didn’t you have a laboratory for undead experiments in the old imperial district? Wasn’t there a rift leading to the abyss?

These are minor things, but since it’s been brought up, might as well follow through.

"Thus, the teachers in your school are quite dangerous," I noted.

"Indeed, Black Domi, what do we do? Should we still go to your school?" Fran asked.

"Huh? Well..." Black Domi hesitated. "I... I don't know. While the school should be fine... but that village, I have no idea."

"Well, being doubtful isn't helping, right?" Fran smiled. "Here's the plan - we'll go to your academy, but our aim is to figure out if the village is connected to the academy. If they are, we leave. Of course, you're coming with us then."

"Is... Is that so? That's great."

Hey, hey, Fran, why are you framing this as if there’s a problem with the other party? I have no qualms about a wireless addition to the team from you, but is this really the right way?

Well, since Black Domi is fine with it, then I don't see an issue.

But there's a kind of feeling you're kidnapping a girl, and I have a hunch this isn't Fran's first time doing something like this?

"Well, let's get going. It's almost midnight, and we haven't eaten yet," I quickly changed the topic.

"Black Domi, the cafeteria at your school doesn't close at night, does it?"

"Uh... probably?" Black Domi seemed unsure.

We’re on the verge of starving here; this won't do.

Looks like I should keep some food in a ring for the future; otherwise, it might turn fatal like this.

"Well, sometimes the cafeteria attendant can't sleep and just stays in the shop all night," Black Domi finally said.

"Oh... Let's hope that's the case," I muttered.

——Domis Academy——

"Hahaha, I see. Luckily, Black Domi, you ran into them, or I might have never seen you again," the cafeteria attendant chuckled.

Well... Black Domi did mention the odd hours the cafeteria attendant keeps, but he omitted that this guy is a chatterbox!

As soon as we entered the academy cafeteria, we saw this man sitting alone, lost in thought, but on seeing us, he lit up like he had found a treasure.

This guy is probably just too lonely.

"Nonsense, it's quite late, and having you prepare food for us is truly kind of you," Fran said, smiling.

"Where, where, being able to cook for such lovely ladies is my honor. Ha ha ha, you know, most of the academy folks are bizarre researchers, usually eating in silence, acting all dead-like. I almost quit," the attendant rambled.

As expected, this guy is just too lonely.

"You have no idea, Black Domi, this place has been like a ghost town when you weren't around these past few days. If it weren't for people coming in for meals occasionally, I'd think everyone here was dead already," the attendant exaggerated.

"Haha... You're exaggerating, uncle."

"Call me Quark; 'uncle' makes me sound ancient."

Please, if people didn’t say that, could you please shave that beard?

Soon, various dishes filled the table, and at that moment, my drone returned with images.

"Let's take a look together," I suggested, seeing it was just us in the cafeteria.

"Oh, magical images?" Quark asked excitedly.

"Uh... you could say that," I replied as I pressed play.

Little did I know, what we were about to witness next was a tale shrouded in darkness.