“Oh, yes. That’s right. But who are you?”

    “What a coincidence to meet here. I came from the Imperial Palace. Let’s talk. No, let’s go there.”

    The woman flickered and rose above the ship. As expected, she met the wizard.

    But why is such a precious wizard, especially an Imperial wizard, here?

    “You’re Jack, right?”

    As the wizard shook hands, a cool yet slightly tingling sensation was felt. It was magic.

    Blessed with innate magical energy flowing through her body.

    Magic exists everywhere like air, and wizards use it to cast spells.

    However, in this unique constitution, magical energy is inherent in the body, allowing for more powerful magic than others.

    Some high wizards even make their bodies vessels of magic later in life, but this woman is too young for that.

    She was born with the destiny to become a wizard. Hence, she is here at the Imperial Palace.

    Quickly rummaging through the original knowledge, I realized belatedly that I had encountered a wizard while breaking the quest related to the Imperial Palace.

    Why would such a remarkable wizard come all the way to this rural area? Emitting an aura as if searching for me.

    “You’re handsome as I heard.”

    “As you heard?”

    “Wasn’t that what the 213th Battalion Commander said?”

    Ah, the 213th Battalion Commander. Referring to Lieutenant Nellion who visited our village for a Central Slave Trade matter.

    He left after submitting a report on our village’s achievements to the Imperial Palace. Is that why this happened?

    “After reading his report, His Majesty the Emperor was very pleased. He found it commendable how a village not even on the map is developing.”

    “Thank you.”

    “That’s why I’m here. His Majesty wishes for an immediate audience, and the distance from the Imperial Palace to here is quite far. But, the smell here is incredibly strong.”

    The Imperial wizard made an impression upon seeing the Siren’s corpse emitting a foul odor.

    “Why are there so many Sirens here? What are they?”

    Despite the knights throwing corpses overboard, the wizard asked, noticing no decrease in their numbers.

    “I’m not sure. I’ve never heard of Sirens living in rivers, let alone in such large numbers.”

    “It’s suspicious. More importantly, there are only two women here. How did they manage to kill so many Sirens?”

    “If you drink my potion, you won’t be affected by the Siren’s singing temporarily.”

    When Mirera interjected, the wizard frowned.

    “Kid, don’t interrupt adult conversations.”

    Annoyed, Mirera was about to retort when Liberone quietly pulled her back.

    Liberone also knew well that there was nothing good in humiliating the wizard.

    “Are you a Holy Knight? Your attire suggests so?”

    “Yes.”

    “Why is a Holy Knight here? No, forget it. We’re short on time.”

    Glancing around, the wizard swiftly moved his fingers.

    Suddenly, a huge dimensional portal appeared in the middle of the river.

    Everyone marveled at the sight, and the wizard, pleased with the reaction, openly smiled.

    Wizards have great pride in their profession and appreciate such reactions from those around them.

    They are demanding individuals who always need to be catered to.

    “Shall we return to the village?”

    “Just a moment! We came to find the missing people. We would appreciate your help with the search.”

    “Hmm, a search. You don’t know what happens if you encounter a Siren.”

    “We still need to find the bodies…”

    Before the sentence could finish, several strange eye-like objects floated up from the wizard’s palm.

    “Ah! What is that?!” Mirera screamed.

    A scouting magic shared with the wizard’s field of vision, quite useful in-game. But I didn’t know it could be used in such quantities simultaneously.

    The eyeballs that quickly rose to the sky spread in all directions.

    The wizard Hwang Sung stood silently with half-closed eyes, then soon smiled.

    “You’re alive? You’re walking hard back to the village right now.”

    “Really?!”

    “Don’t believe me? Just wait a moment.”

    A dimensional portal opened above our heads, and people started falling down from there.

    “Ouch! It hurts!”

    “Are you okay!?”

    The people who fell through the dimensional portal were all villagers who had gone to the market. They were all safe.

    “Jack?! What’s going on here?”

    “The wizard is here. But what’s happening with everyone?”

    “We were coming down from Odellin City when we saw sirens swimming ahead and just abandoned everything and jumped off the ship to escape. Damn it! Sirens!”

    When people who belatedly saw the sirens’ bodies panicked, they were reassured by the explanation of the tranquilizer guns.

    “Well then, shall we go?”

    As per the wizard’s will, the river began to churn automatically, pushing the ship into the dimensional portal.

    Impressive. In the game, I was always stuck in Hwang Sung, catching the tail end of quests, unaware of the vastness until I saw it in reality.

    “Captain…! Look at that!”

    Meanwhile, the guards of Odellin City were left speechless at the scene unfolding before them.

    They had received a bizarre report from travelers passing nearby and had rushed to the scene.

    The unbelievable report stated that monsters resembling sirens were appearing by the riverside, engaging in combat with merchant ships.

    Initially dismissing it as an absurd false report, they soon responded to consecutive similar reports.

    Upon arrival, they witnessed sirens’ bodies being thrown out of the ship incessantly.

    And then, an inexplicable scene unfolded as the ship was sucked into a suddenly opened dimensional portal.

    Nearly twenty sirens’ bodies floated along the river.

    Sirens are considered dangerous creatures due to their enchanting singing voices that no man can resist, despite their individual weakness.

    It was incomprehensible how so many of these creatures had been killed, let alone the fact that the entire ship was being swallowed by a dimensional portal.

    “Captain, those seem to be people from that starting village.”

    One of the guards said.

    “Why, wasn’t there a ship that came up the river recently for trade?”

    “Yes, that’s right. There’s only that village’s ship that goes up and down the river…”

    “With rumors of angels and gods descending on the village, the strange incidents like the pig plague and goblin horde deaths in the past, and now sirens. What is really going on in that village?”

    “How would I know? I never even knew there was such a place as the starting village.”

    “Anyway, it seems suspicious. Let’s report this directly to the mayor. This doesn’t seem like something to overlook.”

    “Alright. Let’s go back. Bring one of the sirens’ bodies. And send a patrol team to the starting village. Let’s find out what exactly happened.”

    The exit of the dimensional portal led directly to our makeshift pier in the village. The villagers were already gathered there.

    “Mr. Jack…!”

    As soon as we landed on the pier, an official ran over and hugged me. It was so heavy that I almost fell backward.

    “You’re safe…!”

    “I’m fine. Could you please step aside? You’re too heavy.”

    “I absolutely… won’t let go… If I do, you might go somewhere else… I won’t let go… We have to die together…”

    The villagers, knowing that the official’s mind was not right and that he showed slight symptoms of potion poisoning, either ignored or supported him as they passed us, clearing away the sirens’ bodies.

    Everyone knew about the official’s unstable mental state and even the mild symptoms of potion poisoning he displayed.

    Except for one person, Mirella, who couldn’t accept it. But…

    For some reason, Mirella, who should have been rushing towards the administrative officer like a lunatic by now, was nowhere to be seen.

    Looking around, Mirella was already walking past us in the opposite direction. What’s going on…?

    “What? Who’s that seaweed-like woman?”

    The sorcerer Huang Sung remarked while looking at the administrative officer.

    “Clearly another crazy person in the village. Tsk tsk. Shouldn’t have been born so pretty.”

    “You’re the village administrative officer.”

    “Huh…? Really…? What kind of administrative officer is this?”

    Whether intentionally or not, the administrative officer frantically searched for the potion at my waist, even going as far as reaching into my shirt.

    “Oh, there’s no potion here. I’ll give it to you later at the store.”

    “Ha, unbelievable, really.”

    Watching this, the sorcerer grimaced.

    * * * * *

    “So… this is the potion you make?”

    In the village hall, the sorcerer eyed the potion suspiciously as the administrative officer drank it down eagerly.

    “It looks like an ordinary potion at first glance. Any secrets to it?”

    “None. I just put my heart into making it.”

    “I see. Okay then. Let’s start with His Majesty first.”

    A portal opened right above the table, dropping something that smashed the table to pieces.

    “Kchak!”

    Startled by the sound, the administrative officer choked violently.

    What broke the table was a large, hefty pouch that could easily fit a person inside.

    “Open it.”

    As the pouch was opened, the administrative officer screamed in shock.

    The pouch was filled to the brim with gold coins.

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