Then he turned around, pushing aside the tent in front of him after obtaining information about the ingredients for the herbal potion for free, even though he knew he would still have to pay when the seller actually prepared the potion.
"Fine powder from a Xie animal? Have you ever heard of that creature?" Zavi asked while crossing the road toward the two who were standing on the opposite side.
Moreira stared back at him, surprised but expressionless.
'I don't know what's going on in your mind, Sir,' Moreira thought.
The two of them looked at each other in silence for a moment. A few seconds later, Celvira, who knew about the creature, immediately explained.
"It's a mutated sea creature. Its meat can be eaten, but it doesn't taste as good as other meat. I can take you to a seller who sells powder made from that creature."
Seeing the crease on Zavi's forehead, Celvira knew he had realized that the fine powder from that animal was extremely expensive. Perhaps this year, ten grams were priced at one hundred and fifty-five Pace.
"Don't worry! I'll take care of it," Celvira added with a flat expression.
A faint smile appeared on Zavi's face when he heard that.
'Ah, that's a good idea. I can save some money,' Zavi thought.
He felt pleased, unaware of the fatal event that would occur afterward.
After deciding to leave that branching road, they walked through the district for several dozen minutes. They arrived at a row of large buildings where merchants sold various sea creatures, both ordinary marine life and those that had mutated into monsters.
The location was about one kilometer from the market in the Luand district, situated in the southernmost part of the district. When they first arrived there, they were welcomed by fresh sea winds, the chirping of birds nesting in tall trees, and an impressive street view where residents carried out their daily activities.
The residents there had adapted well. Some of them even dared to sell sea creatures that had mutated into monsters, knowing that such creatures were hunted by certain people and had high value when processed into fine powder. They not only had to overcome their fear while capturing those creatures, but at night the city's residents also had to face their own fear and survive in a terrifying world threatened by monsters from beyond.
"This place is a bit strange... and it smells bad," Moreira said with twitching lips.
Descending a small staircase in a narrow alley, they continued their journey until they arrived at a shop building at the end of the alley with a spacious interior filled with various tables and chairs.
Turning the corner, they found dozens of men and women lining up in front of a half-open door, waiting for their queue numbers to be called so they could enter.
"As I expected. Are they all the same as me?"
After muttering to himself, Zavi thought that these people had done the same thing he had done earlier. Ritual. Herbal potion. Receivers. Those words began to fill his mind.
Then from behind...
"You're blocking my way, bastard!"
A burly man with wrinkles on his face and wearing dark glasses grumbled irritably as he shoved Celvira with his muscular shoulder.
Celvira was pushed forward. Time seemed to slow before her head fully struck the stone road. From the impact, the left side of her forehead was scraped, and from the wound a red liquid flowed down along her white, soft cheek.
Her jaw tightened. Her hands clenched firmly as she supported her body that was beginning to lose control. Yet Celvira chose to restrain her anger, following the instruction from the fifth level and holding it back until 'he' could be present in this place.
"Are you alright?" Moreira asked while extending his hand. For a moment he had thought the man who shoved her would be killed instantly by her. But that thought turned out to be wrong. A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Thank you for helping me stand," Celvira said in a weak voice.
'Ah, people like that always hide something.' Zavi sighed while thinking that this world and Earth were not so different.
Then he looked at Celvira who had begun standing in front of him, while fear slowly spread through his body.
'An evil spirit, level three, Nammeridya who follows Moreira wherever he goes. What is the real purpose?'
A mysterious question crossed his mind, forcing his brain to work twice as hard to find an answer.
Recently, Zavi often thought about the strange Phantom that had been on his shoulder that day. He himself had not realized it before, but Ren had been the first to see it and immediately told him in the bathroom. Since the chase with the residents of the Hava district, it had never appeared again, as if it were paper thrown into a blazing fire.
Zavi laughed softly, stepping closer and trying to ease the tension in the narrow alley. "What do you think about someone like him?" he asked while rubbing the revolver inside his coat pocket.
Today was the first time he kept the revolver inside his knee-length black coat. Unlike the previous days when he stored it behind his shirt and trousers. But for now he chose to keep it there just in case.
"Just ignore that person..."
After answering with a faint smile, Celvira turned her body and stepped closer until her chest almost touched Zavi's body.
"I… want to follow you. I will follow your orders no matter what happens to you…"
'Actually, those are the words from the level five evil spirit speaking to me and telling me to deliver them.'
A faint yet frightening smile appeared on her beautiful face.
Zavi frowned. His body suddenly shivered as his fingers trembled inside his coat pocket.
Moreira, who was standing behind them at that moment, could only watch them with a deep gaze.
After the tension and conversation ended, they continued walking since the shop was only a few steps ahead. After receiving their queue number, they stood leaning against the wall, waiting for their number to be called.
"Number 23..."
Two minutes passed.
"Number 24... Number 24."
There was no response, and no one entered the shop.
"No one?" the caller muttered in confusion. "Next, number 25."
The queue continued smoothly for twenty minutes.
"Queue number 40."
The three of them looked at each other, then stood upright and prepared to enter the shop because they were already too bored from waiting.
After buying twenty grams of fine powder for two hundred Pace, Zavi felt his pride drop. He did not know how to react and could only thank Celvira who had paid for it, even though he did not know where an "evil spirit" disguised as a human obtained that much money.
Zavi almost cried with happiness, feeling embarrassed about the cold and indifferent attitude he had shown earlier during his visit.
After leaving the narrow alley, they decided to return to the husband-and-wife stall to prepare a potion that could restrain the spirituality inside the body so it would not leak and interfere with the function of the Prisoner ability at its first level, Error. However, when they arrived, Zavi was surprised because the other ingredients were not yet available.
He clicked his tongue. "So I have to search for the other ingredients?" Zavi asked with veins and muscles clearly visible on his neck, showing his frustration.
The stall owner, named Ulriech, merely raised both hands beside his head as a sign that he knew nothing.
"Don't worry," he said calmly, "maybe some of the ingredients can be found in the market, but let me buy them. As for the other half, you may have to search elsewhere, perhaps inside that forest or in the black market."
After a long explanation, he drew a map showing the location of half of the ingredients, their shapes, and the possibility that they would have to fight silent-type Chalog or hunters. If they were unlucky, they might even face ferocious hunter types inside the forest and deep valleys.
Hearing that explanation, Zavi hesitated a little about continuing. But on the other hand, he felt fortunate because Celvira, a third-level evil spirit, was with them, as he already knew.
However, before continuing the search, he first asked for the approval of the two people who had followed him since yesterday.
"What do you two think about this search?"
Moreira felt slightly anxious, unsure whether he might die later without his three friends ever knowing, and afraid of causing trouble for them.
"I will carry out this cooperation until the end; my determination is already firm to remove that influence," Moreira said confidently, although he still felt uncertain about the writing in that letter.
Celvira gave him a faint smile. "Are you actually not afraid?" she asked while placing her hand on her chest.
"What do you mean?" Moreira asked, not understanding her words.
However, that answer seemed to vanish like mist swept away by the wind.
Twenty minutes later, after traveling on horseback toward the east of Luand, Kirei, they began entering the outskirts of the forest. Unlike the road they had taken the previous night, which had been located at the farthest corner from the forest, in this place there were still Chalog roaming around.
Inside the dark forest filled with branches, leaves, and vines covering the available path, there was something—something far beyond human imagination—waiting and ready to appear in the future.
"Be careful. There are many thorny branches, and I don't know what will happen to us next."
Zavi's voice was filled with nervousness and surprise when they, including himself, entered for the first time a forest full of supernatural monsters. The existence of those creatures alone was already a threat to humans because of their great numbers and destructive power. However, as long as humans did not disturb their territory, they would not attack.
The same also applied to humans. Yet some of them needed something from inside the forest, such as food and animals to eat or sell.
But the monsters misunderstood, assuming that humans threatened their habitat and attempted to kill them.
That was exactly what was happening to them now.
Their lives were in the hands of the forest and the aggressive monsters roaming within it.