episode_0023

Lia moved swiftly as soon as she read the letter.

‘I expected the possibility of escaping today.’

That’s why she had prepared.

She had mastered every tracking-related spell written in the guidebook,

and cast them on her teacher.

### 1. Location Tracking Spell

One of the simplest tracking spells—it leaves a mark somewhere on the target’s body,

but its effectiveness is undeniable.

Since it requires minimal magical energy, it’s easy to cast without being noticed,

and its duration is relatively long.

That’s why it’s the most frequently used spell, but…

‘It’s undone.’

A simple spell also meant

it could be undone just as simply.

‘The guidebook did mention ways to remove it…’

The most effective method is to burn off all the lingering magic with fire magic, then wash away the remnants with water magic.

The only catch is that you need mastery over both fire and water attributes.

‘But since Teacher has both fire and water attributes…’

It was entirely possible—

erasing a mark I’d placed would be easy.

But.

This wasn’t the only thing she had prepared.

### 2. Tracking Through Summons

It didn’t matter what kind.

There were spells to control living creatures like sparrows or contract them as surveillance summons,

or spells to animate puppets made of ice or wood by imbuing them with fragments of spirits or souls.

So, she had also created a summons-ish entity for tracking.

‘…It was shot down.’

Creating a summons capable of autonomous tracking for hours required a significant amount of energy.

It needed controlled movement,

the ability to relay location,

and the speed to keep up with a fleeing target.

That’s why it was a difficult spell—

and why she hadn’t been able to add stealth functionality.

‘If I had just a few more days to practice, I could’ve perfected it with stealth…’

But there was no time.

As a result,

what she had created was essentially a massive lump of mana in motion.

For something made in a single day, it was a remarkably functional autonomous tracking puppet—

but its glaring presence made detection far too easy.

So, it was spotted. And shot down.

But.

She had expected this much.

All the tracking spells she had learned were straight from the guidebook Teacher had written,

including ways to evade or remove them.

It was only natural that Teacher would evade her tracking spells.

But.

The third tracking method—this one had no counter.

### 3. Marking a Magical Artifact

One might think it’s similar to marking a person’s body,

but it’s an entirely different league.

Leaving a mark on a human body is a straightforward process—slap it on carelessly, and it’ll stick.

But artifacts are different.

A sloppy mark could clash with the artifact’s existing enchantments, causing them to go berserk.

So,

marking an artifact is no easy task.

You must fully understand every enchantment on it,

then carefully calibrate the mark to avoid interference.

Only then can you succeed.

‘That’s why it was so exhausting.’

But.

The effort was worth it.

‘At Teacher’s level of magical expertise, detecting or erasing the mark I left on the artifact is impossible.’

This, too, was written in the guidebook.

Marking an artifact is an arduous task,

but once successful, the mark becomes permanent—unfailingly traceable.

Fewer than five people in the entire world could detect—let alone remove—a mark on a high-grade artifact.

Teacher wouldn’t even notice it, much less erase it.

…Or so she thought.

There was one drawback: if the artifact was discarded, tracking would fail.

But.

That was highly unlikely.

Magical artifacts were valuable enough that discarding them was rare to begin with,

and Teacher had even said they wouldn’t throw it away.

‘They said they’d use the every winter.’

Though functional in frigid regions,

it also made for excellent winter wear in temperate climates.

Not to mention—it was quite expensive.

Meaning.

There was no way they’d discard it.

…That’s what she believed as she tracked the mark on the , only to arrive

at a magic artifact shop.

“An artifact shop?…”

Teacher’s was inside.

“Customer?”

“What brings you here?”

“That… That Glay Robe!…”

“Ah-ha!”

“You recognize this, hm?”

The shopkeeper grinned.

“Some man barged in out of nowhere, claiming he knew how to refine one of my masterpieces—the !”

“Then he handed me this version with an upgraded enchantment.”

“Fascinating stuff.”

“The spellwork itself was amateurish, but the underlying idea—remarkably clever magic.”

“S-So then?…”

“I bought it outright!”

“Offered him a hefty reward plus the upgraded robe, and he handed it over!”

“Y-You mean… They exchanged it for a new robe?…”

“Precisely!”

“The payment was steep enough to strain my coffers, but…”

“What’s money matter?!”

“To gain such groundbreaking inspiration—how could I balk at mere coin?!”

“Kekeke!”

The shopkeeper roared with laughter.

In other words…

The marked was still here.

And Teacher had gone elsewhere?

“Ah… Agh…”

Lia despaired.

—

The same time.

Cain arrived in another city using a warp gate.

“So I can visit places the original Cain had been to.”

“This is perfect.”

Originally, he had planned to head to ‘Thebe,’ the agricultural city he’d visited with Lia.

Since she could also access it,

he intended to throw her off the trail after arriving.

But.

Thanks to the original Cain, he could now go somewhere else—

A city Lia had never been to,

one only Cain had visited.

Now that he was in a city Lia couldn’t track via warp gate,

there was no need for interference tactics.

‘There’s no way to track someone who’s fled this far.’

Seriously—none.

Even as a veteran of , he couldn’t think of a viable method.

‘Well…’

‘Technically, hiring an info guild to track me might eventually dig something up…’

But that’d take at least a month or two—

by which point he’d have countermeasures ready anyway.

For Lia to find him now would be near-impossible.

‘If this were Korea, maybe CCTV could be used…’

‘But this is a medieval fantasy world, remember?’

No such technological marvels existed.

So.

This game was his victory!

Cain was now free!

Goodbye, Hero Party route—

Straight to the True Love route with his favorite character!

…Or so he thought.

—

Lia was in despair.

So was Elise.

Because they knew what kind of man Cain was—

how he would sacrifice his own life to alter the fate of someone precious.

Of course,

this was all a misunderstanding.

While he would defy destiny to save someone dear,

he had no intention of throwing his own life away.

But.

Unaware of this, Lia and Elise were steeped in funeral gloom.

“Teacher…”

Though they desperately pursued every lead afterward,

only one thing became clear:

Cain had used a warp gate to reach some city.

They didn’t know which,

but it wasn’t ‘Thebe,’ the agricultural city they’d visited together.

A completely different destination.

Thus,

tracking Cain was now nearly impossible.

Yet they refused to give up.

‘If I quit now…’

‘Teacher will die in my place!…’

She couldn’t bear that.

But.

The problem was—Cain wasn’t someone she could find through sheer determination.

‘And there’s a time limit…’

The longer it took, the more unpredictable Teacher’s fate became.

The mounting urgency left her restless—

“Lia.”

“Mm… Yes?…”

“I hate to resort to this, but…”

“There’s no other way, so…”

“You have a method?!”

“There… is one.”

“What is it?!”

“Tell me!”

Though she’d heard it wasn’t ideal,

she was willing to do anything to save Teacher.

With that resolve, she pressed for answers.

Trembling, Elise whispered:

“W-Well…”

“If you truly are the daughter of the Goddess of Light, Serenna…”

“Couldn’t we… seek the heavens’ aid?”

“The heavens?”

“Y…Yes.”

Normally, such a plea to the gods would be unthinkable.

Humans pray to deities—

deities grant blessings in return.

Power scales with faith,

but no one could make requests of the divine.

Communication alone was beyond mortal reach.

Only those genuinely cherished by the gods—

a rare handful—could ever converse with divinity.

Saints were the prime example,

yet even they couldn’t speak freely with their gods.

Only when permitted—

typically when the gods sought entertainment or had tasks to assign—could they hear their voices.

Thus,

requesting divine intervention was fundamentally impossible.

Even if a saint prayed desperately enough to be heard,

such cases were vanishingly rare.

After all, saints existed to serve the gods—

not to make wishes.

Pleading for divine aid was exceedingly uncommon.

Even when saints did pray fervently, it was for humanity’s salvation—

not personal matters like finding one person.

But.

What if the beloved daughter of the Goddess of Light, Serenna, made the request?

Perhaps…

It just might work.