Chapter 235: Flame

Reiji can already guess his future rank up quest and he knows that it wouldn't be easy… 

As a matter of fact, he had barely encountered any Unique-Rank Arcana and what he can mostly see were all at the Rare Rank and Common Rank Arcana…

Aside from that, it will also be a huge trouble for him to find an Epic Rank… 

That level of weapon can be considered a national treasure as only the top Arcanists were capable of wielding them…

'But Yui is holding a Mythical Wand… I wonder if she had already experienced attempts to steal her weapon…' 

The shinai suddenly had a random thought. 

Any wielders of the Epic Rank must be really popular… After all, there's not many of them and the officials or aristocrats of the Kingdom must be watching them closely…

On the other hand, the wielder of the Legendary or Mythical must be having the same concern on a different level… However, it appears that Yui had no such concerns considering that her weapons is at the peak of the Arcane World.

Anyway, Reiji put this at the back of his mind as there could be many reasons involved. The Arcanist Tower might be helping her or perhaps this is due to the position of their Sakura Clan that wasn't originally here in the kingdom.

'Master… Are we going to sell these items we looted?'

Rufus asked after the three members of the Night Brigade hastily left…

It seems that they have something else to do so they decided to leave them after confirming that the Ancient Gazelles were nowhere to be seen. 

'Go ahead. We also need to replenish our supplies… Right, you also have to find other potions that may be more effective to drive away weaker beasts…'

'Ahh… You're right, master… I'll also look if they have an alternative to Null Flower Essence… They aren't as effective as they were before.'

'Mhmm… So you noticed that… I'll leave it to you. I'm curious with their new potions here as well.'

Reiji replied. He knows that depending on the region, the villages, towns, or cities would have their own specialties for their trade. 

Since they're hunting in the cold region, they might be able to find various kinds of support potions that are meant to last in the cold environment…

"Hmm?"

As they are getting near to the city, they can hear that there's a commotion going on.

"A festival?"

Rufus muttered. He's unsure about the event within this city but he's curious to see such an event so he decided to hurry…

Ruthren and the four ladies followed. Now that the Haste magic was removed, they can already feel the weight of the horns and beast cores they've taken… It was heavy but still acceptable. 

"No, young master…"

"It seems a problem occurred."

"They're panicking…"

The slaves answered as they managed to make out the almost inaudible sounds behind the wall of the city…

Rufus nodded at this. They have finally reached the gates of the city and realized that there was a huge fire going on…

Even without asking any questions, they know that the huge fire they see was the cause of the problem…

Ruthren did his best to investigate with the other curious people…

After a while, he returned with inconclusive information.

At the very least, they learned that the house was owned by some nobles… The worst thing about it is that it is the third mansion today…

The other two mansions were completely burned to charcoal.

"Why aren't they stopping the fire?"

Rufus asked. It was quite weird that they are all just watching the fire consume the whole house.

Is the owner of the house that hateful? To the point that no one wanted to help them splash some water on it?

As soon as he asked this, one of the onlookers answered… It seems that he's been watching this for a while now as he doesn't seem to be worried that the fire would spread on the surrounding establishments.

"The fire can't be extinguished. Many Arcanists have tried already."

He didn't explain too much. His words are simple but Rufus and Reiji know that this is such an incredible discovery…

Does a fire with such power exist?

First of all, who can create such a powerful fire? The Fire Deity?

Reiji had some theories about it… Nevertheless, it appears that the fire would only stop burning after the target was burnt to crisp…

This is why the first and second building's fire was already over and only this third one is remaining. 

'Master… Should we take a closer look?'

'Nah… It's just fire… Just settle the loots we have.'

'I understand, Master.'

Reiji then used his Arcane Sensitivity and noticed that there's about 21 Arcana in the surroundings. It wasn't that surprising since this is a city with a huge population. He wanted to make it a habit to check in his surroundings...

'Reiji! You guys are safe… Did you really hunt some Ancient Gazelles?'

Odette's voice was suddenly heard in his mind.

'Yes… It was quite tough so we decided to just hunt the young ones… Right, we didn't find any Nightmare Lynx this time.'

'Oh, that's fine… Yui already received plenty… Are you planning to move to the fortress now?'

'Me? I'm still unsure. Maybe I'll just send this kid there since he wanted to experience some skirmishes as well. It would be too soon for him to help the Western Border anyway.'

'Mhmm… Now that you said it, I heard that it wasn't looking good… Alexander has a Mythical Arcana, after all. If he learned the Beast Arts as well, he'll become really strong.'

Odette said but her tone lacks any concern about the situation at all… Well, Reiji could understand that.

'How about Yui and you? Aren't you being summoned?'

He asked since this has been bugging him for a while. A Mythical Arcana celebrated by the kingdom shouldn't be loitering around like this.

'Oh? Don't worry about it. After I was almost destroyed when my first awakening failed, the true colors of the people surrounding Yui were revealed… They left my wielder thinking that I won't be able to return stronger… Kekeke… I'm just hoping that they would all be sent to the Western Border and die there…"

Now, Reiji could feet the subtle hate that Odette is showing… He could even feel that Odette would destroy those people if they were able to meet again.

'The Awakening… Is it really that difficult?' Reiji asked.

'What? You've completed your Awakening but you're still asking?'

'Eh?'

'Hmm?'

Reiji was a bit confused… 

'She really thinks that I'm Awakened already?' He could somehow guess based on her tone… She's not joking.

Because of this, he decided to look at his status again just in case he missed something.

[ Name: Reiji Miyazaki ] 

[ Form: Shinai ] 

[ Rank: Unique ] 

[ Wielder: Rufus Magnolia… ] 

[ Title: The Gentle Hardworker, Blessed by a Sword Deity, Forest Range, Inspired Arcana ] 

There was still not a word telling him that he's already awakened. 

He recalls that when Stella summoned her Spectral Cloth Vambrace, there was a classification added to its status telling that the Arcana was Awakened.

'Hmm… I think I'm not Awakened, Odette…'

Reiji said after double-checking his status… He's unsure how the other Arcana works, whether they have a Guide or past life's memory with them. 

But he fully knows that each Arcana didn't start the same… He can easily conclude this after meeting Felix and the others…

There is also this Odette that was summoned around the same time as him and she had myriad colors during her summoning… It was unlike him who was said to have been summoned without any light, so perhaps he was mistaken as trash…

'Really? Or are you hiding it as your secret weapon in case we fight you?'

Odette guessed completely wrong… 

It seems that she won't be accepting his explanation as well since she decided to change the topic. 

'Right, did you see the fire?'

'The one that burned those houses? I saw the third victim… What about it?'

Reiji asked. It seems that this Arcana has news about it. 

'Hehe… I did it with Yui's help… They're the establishments of those disgusting nobles… Yui said that they're doing Human Trafficking or something… Too bad that the nobles weren't there…'

'That unending flame is yours? I heard that they can't extinguish it, is that true?' 

Reiji asked… He has Fire Resistance with him but he's unsure whether that would stop Odette's flame so this made him a bit curious.

'That's correct… That's the power I got after taking the Cursed Mask's powers… Amazing, right?'

The Wand Arcana seems to be boasting already but she's a Mythical Rank… She definitely deserves to possess such power… 

Anyway, as long as she knows who to target with that ability, that shouldn't be a problem… 

Then, Odette mentioned to him her idea… She wanted to let Reiji visit the locations of other Cursed Arcana and take their powers as well.

Reiji can only smile wryly after hearing it. After all, this is not the way he ranks up… What he needed is the Skill Points and sacrificial Arcana for his advancement.