The suddeio Lynn momentarily puzzled.

  As a few figures approached, Lynn immediately reized the leader, the person he had been searg for – Jonny.

  The young woman, cloaked in bck robes, appeared to be around twenty years old. She had unique silver-gray hair and bright, gem-blue eyes.

  Jonny had grown thinner siheir st meeting, a result of stant evading and hiding. A sickly paleness now marred her plexion.

  "I don't uand what you mean, Jonny!" Lynn's tone was unwavering, his memories firming that Karl had not betrayed them in any way.

  At most, Karl might have harbored some thoughts, but that shouldn't have ated hiding in the slums, fearing for his life.

  "Where did you get that sword?" the gray-haired witch tinued her questioning, her eyes fixed on the longsword Lynn held.

  Lynn then noticed that Jonny had been staring at the hunter's longsword in his hand. He realized where the problem y.

  "This is a on only used by witch hunters!" a burly wizard apprentiamed Buck excimed, his emotions running high.

  "Of course, it's my trophy. Is there a problem, Buck?" Lynn replied calmly, though he was breaking into a cold sweat.

  He had unwittingly been carrying around what was essentially a tig time bomb for days. But it was uandable; he had left his personal short sword back at the slum's hideout, and it wasn't wise to just throw away a readily avaible on.

  More importantly, Karl's memories tained no information about "witch hunters carrying standard ons." sidering that Lynn had entered no trouble i days, it seemed that very few people knew about this detail. However, it evidently didn't escape the old Hawk from the "Drunken Ghost" tavern.

  No wohey had hesitated and offered excuses wheried to buy Galroth wihe information about him possessing a witch hunter's longsword robably passed on by old Hawk to Jonny's group.

  "Your trophy? Are you saying you killed a witch hunter and took his sword?" Bueered. "Karl, if I remember correctly, you couldn't even master the most basic elemental spell, Frostbde. You'd be better off with a more pusible excuse."

  As ckeys of the Church, witch hunters were the cream of the crop, highly skilled and usually operating in small teams. Even seasoned wizards found them formidable oppos.

  For Lynn and the other apprentices, simply surviving an enter with a witch hunter was sidered a stroke of luck.

  "Sometimes strength isn't everything, Buck," Lynn shook his head. "Besides, the st time we met was four months aght?"

  As he spoke, Lyended his hand, maniputing the hydrogen and oxygen in the air to swiftly create a diamond-shaped ice bde, a bizarre yet strangely beautiful form.

  The other wizard apprentices preseaken abaot by the unfamiliar shape of the ice bde, but by the incredible speed at which Lynn had cast the spell. In their world, before being full-fledged wizards and gaining access to memory slots, rapidly perf plex spells presented a signifit challenge.

  Real bat didn't wait for you to finish casting your spells, and most apprentices were sidered good if they could prepare a spell within two seds. Lynn had pressed the entire process into about a sed, opting for pure speed, even if the shape of the ice bde wasn't the perfect Kro'ah figuratioheless, it was enough to capture everyone's attention.

  "Furthermore, I don't think the Church would make a wizard a witch hunter and provide them with such a on," Lynn tinued before the others could recover from their surprise.

  Buck was left speechless. The Church had a strict policy of not letting any wizard they suspected of "demon corruption" bee a witch hunter, let alone equipping them with a witch hunter's on. This was seen as bsphemy against the gods.

  The other apprentices also realized the gravity of Lynn's argument and softeheir hostility.

  Jonny, however, remained vigint. She turo one of the apprentices, Dove, and asked, "Have you checked the surroundings, Dove?"

  Dove, her voice trembling, responded, "No one has surrouhis pce..."

  With the firmation, Jonny then turo Lynn and apologized, "I'm sorry, Karl, but the situation is urgent, and we had to be cautious."

  "So you're only suspicious of me and ready to kill without evidence?" Lynioned.

  "I assure you, the magic I used was just a test. No one would want to harm their rade," Jonny expined ear

  Lynn was briefly taken aback, then rummaged through his memories to recall that Kent was Kora's third disciple, the only one of the wizard apprentices who was absent. He couldn't believe that Kent had met his end.

  "On the same day our teacher was captured by the Church, the guards of the Nordory unched an atta Kent's hiding pce. Afterward, Buck, Barton, and Will were also pursued. Only Dove, with her unique abilities, mao evade the attack beforehand," Jonny expined.

  "Unique abilities?" Lynn asked, raising an eyebrow.

  He instinctively g Dove, who seemed incredibly young, probably around thirteen or fourteen. She was siderably shorter than him, her face adorned with sparse freckles, her hair disheveled. She was feeding a few gray crows in a er.

  Lynn quickly recalled the crow cries he had heard iavern and guessed that she possessed some kind of animal-trolling magic.

  "I suspeeone has leaked our information. That's the only way the Church could have found our hiding pce so precisely," Jonny said with a worried expression.

  "Hoeople are supposed to know our hiding pce? It should be just a handful of us, right?" Lynn asked, getting to the core of the matter.

  Jonny pondered for a moment and then shook her head. "In normal circumstances, only a few of us should know."

  "Could it be our teacher..." Buck hesitated and asked.

  "Absolutely not!" Jonny shot back firmly.

  Buck immediately fell silent. Lynn didn't dwell on this issue too much. Instead, he asked the sed question that had been on his mind.

  "So, what's our pn from here?"

  Lynn was starting tret seeking out these apprentice wizards. He had hoped that, even though they were pursued by the Church, they would have a stable internal anization. He believed that even if he couldn't find another full-fledged wizard to join him, they would still be a valuable asset. However, it didn't seem so now.

  If Jonny didn't have a reliable pn to evade the Church's pursuit, he would look for an opportunity to leave the group. Solo a was much safer than stig with a group of rookies.

  Bud Will also looked at Jonny, and even Dove paused her feeding of the crows in the er.

  During the time they had been pursued by the Church, they had asked the same question multiple times, but Jonny had always evaded giving a clear answer, insisting they wait until everyone resent.

  Jonny didn't hide this time and answered promptly, "We will take a boat to cross the Misty Sea ao the Wizard's Land - Greenrill!"

  "Does Wizard's Land actually exist?" Will, who had been silent until now, suddenly asked. "I've heard that beyond the Misty Sea is a dead nd, and those who set sail never return."

  "Yes, I've been there with my mentor. It's a nd exclusively for wizards, with no presence of the Church or witch hunters. Everyone freely study magic there!" Jonny stated firmly.

  "That sounds as wonderful as the Holy Land of Ai," Barton muttered softly. He couldn't imagine a world where wizards weren't hunted and could practice magic freely. It was like a dream.

  "Just so you know, Ai doesn't like wizards..." Dove, who had been squatting in the er, spoke softly, interrupting Barton's fantasies.

  "So, how do we get there?" Will asked eagerly.

  Jonated for a moment but then replied holy, "The town of Uhl is close to the Nordory's port. We take a boat from there. I believe... Lame Loude will help us."

  "Loude?"

  Lynn was somewhat surprised. The owner of the "Drunken Goblin" tavern, Old Hock, had also mentiohis name. Rumors had it that Loude had been a pirate in his youth, earning quite a reputation, until he lost a leg in an attempt to raid a mert ship. He had narrowly escaped death by pretending to be dead. However, this event turned his fortunes, and Loude had surprisingly bee a legitimate businessman. He now trolled the liquor trade in Uhl and the port, making him the biggest kingpi of the Nordory.

  Lynn immediately realized that the so-called liquor trade was just a cover. Loude's true business was likely to maintain tact between the Wizard's Land and the outside world.

  "Anyway, we have to act quickly. The road to the Wizard's Land will only be open for five days this year, as indicated by the stars," Jonny said as she outlihe pn. Lynn and the others listened carefully, itted the pn to memory, and, when finished, Jonny created a fireball to destroy the drawing she'd made on the ground.

  "Let's end it here for tonight," Jonny said, looking at everyone as the fire flickered. Finally, she added, "Dove, you're in charge of the night watch. Tomorrow, Karl will carry you on our journey."

  "Why me?" Lynn couldn't help but feel a little ahat he was singled out. Were they targeting the newer?