Chapter 55.1

Chapter 55 – Our Home

Flower buds in pots started to blossom on the roads of Carmian not long after the cold winter. Streams of rivers that were frozen thawed, the white snow piled up on the shade melted like a lie.

It was just like any other day. She was on her way back from delivering the potion to the Imperial Palace. A loud explosion roared when she was about to open the gates.

‘What, what is that?!’

Even though it was quite a distance, the loud explosion disturbed the surroundings nearby.

And Ashia soon realized: it was coming from the direction of her shop. She hurried through the gate and returned to her shop.

It, as well as the nearby buildings, collapsed as if it had been bombed. Chaos naturally broke out and many people also came out to watch.

The front of her shop, which was believed to be where the explosion started, was particularly crowded. The condition of the building was terrible. The building didn’t even look like a proper building.

“That’s what I’m saying! There was a flash of light!”

“Did lightning strike?”

“What lightning?! The sky is so clear!”

Everyone was talking about the current situation.

‘A flash of light?’

As Ashia looked around her shop with a frown on her brow…

“Ashia?!?!” A person came out from the crowd and called Ashia.

“Unnie?”

It was Verna. The deadly pale Verna ran and looked at Ashia’s face. “What happened? Are you hurt? Are you okay? Why are you here? Did you avoid it?”

“Oh, I’m okay. I’m not hurt anywhere. I was on delivery.”

Looking at the carriage behind Ashia, Verna nodded and let out a deep sigh. “That’s really a relief. I was so surprised. I can’t even get inside.”

“Of course. Entering a building like that is suicide.”

Verna nodded her head and agreed with her.

At that moment, there was another loud sound from some of the buildings that were barely standing. All the people watching nearby shrieked and ran away.

Watching that scene, Ashia grabbed Verna’s shoulder. “Unnie, I think it will be dangerous if you stay here. You can go back.”

“What on earth is happening?”

“I know, right? I’ll find out.”

“Be careful, Ashia.”

“Mm.” Soothing Verna’s tearful face, Ashia let her return home and looked at the building.

“Haa…”

The place that had been her home for seven years collapsed in an instant. All her happy and pleasant memories were buried under the pile of stones. It was also the place that became her support during the times when she wanted to put everything down. That place disappeared in an instant.

“…”

[Ashia-nim…]

Ashia heard Luke’s voice, which was as shaky as she felt. Staring at the building, she said with a deep sigh, “It was magic.”

[Yes… it was definitely because of magic if you look at the shape of the marks.]

“I almost died instantly.”

[Is this a warning?]

“Probably? They might have wanted me to die with this level of magic.”

[Who is it?]

“…Hmm…” Ashia softly whispered with a serious face, “There are so many suspicious people….”

She might have unintentionally met people who pretended while she was doing business. There were many traces of magic, but she couldn’t confirm if it was because of the wizards. Although it was being traded for such a huge sum, she couldn’t rule out the possibility that a scroll containing magic was used.

Ashia thought of the wizards who resented her.

‘Ah… too many.’

Since she made a scene in the Magic Tower, there could be one or two more people who held a grudge against her. No, it might not necessarily be a wizard.

Then, was it a merchant? A denied client? Someone who could use an expensive scroll… there were too many options.

[It’s a bit…]

Ashia’s head turned to her necklace at Luke’s serious voice. “…Huh?”

[Isn’t it a little bit wrong?]

“…”

Looking down at Luke for a while, Ashia grabbed him tightly and hurried her steps.

There was a voice like a death rattle. Ashia cast a spell on the building so that it would no longer collapse before she headed to a nearby inn. She needed a place to stay for a while.

But things didn’t work out as easily as she expected.

“There was… nothing?”

“What to do with this… Not only that building collapsed, but the buildings nearby as well. It must have collapsed and trembled. All the people who lived there came and left…”

“Ah….”

Many buildings in the vicinity, including Ashia’s shop, suffered damage. As the debris continued to fall, anxious people came to the nearby inn.

“What do we do? The inns nearby are probably full.”

“Yes… we can’t do anything about it.”

Ashia smiled widely. In fact, if she wanted to, she could use her gate to go to the inn of another estate.

‘It’s a lot of trouble…’

There will be an investigation as to why the buildings became that way. They will call for repairmen to repair it—no, they would surely build a new building.

’I need to go inside and check if there are any items that are still intact, also… Ah… my head hurts…’

Fortunately, she had a separate place to store gold and high-quality materials. That meant she doesn’t need to look for them under the huge pile of stones. Though of course, the potions and ingredients buried under were certainly a huge loss if it was converted into gold.

Ashia pondered for a moment.

Kwaaang!

“Noona!!” The old, creaky door of the inn swung open and Theros entered.

“Tero?”