To the Guidance (1)

A glimmer of faint green light emerged under the orange rays of sunset which entered through the glass pane of the window.

"Yep, you should be like that."

Looking at the map scroll, which was soon to be complete, Lucas who was grinning as if he was filled with satisfaction, continued to give it mana to it, imagining about the Book of Knowledge. It was just like Tus had said, the map was deprived of mana for a long time so many mana was absorbed when it was first used but now, the rest of the map was soon to be finished with a lower amount of mana than before.

No one but him was in the room since he had told Tus and Eura to go out under the excuse of wanting to take a nap a bit.

Why?

Because he knew exactly that they were going to stop him again if they guessed what Lucas would be doing. Lucas had tried very hard in persuading Eura to give him back that map and he couldn't let her to take it away from him again.

"Come on, you sneaky little book. Show me where you are."

Of course, Lucas was not looking for the book. He was seeking for the owner of the book who would always put this little treasure nearby. The one who was going to give him some guidance in contracting with a familiar spirit.

But at the same time he was not that rushing to give it all at once since it had a risk of absorbing all his mana at one go, making himself recklessly drown in a dangerous situation. Certainly, it would have been not that bad to make a visit to Lucian but would he get enough time for that? He didn't know.

Some time had passed by and he wiped out some sweat coming out from his forehead as he smiled a bit.

To his enjoyment, the map now became full of mana, not accepting Lucas's own mana anymore which meant that it could feature the exact location of the book, with descriptions of the place, without making Lucas pass out from mana depletion.

But because of its mana usage, Lucas was still starting to get the feeling which was similar to anemia but it was at the stage he could completely ignore it, given that it was not so serious for him.

'Damn that curse…. And that stupid timeline, too…..' He inwardly cursed, giving some pity to the fact that all the things he was doing right now could be easily done later when he became a little bit older and had enough mana to spend, if it went on simply like the novel did but now he had to rush a bit.

'Let's just say the work is done earlier…. Haaaaa….'

And then, he looked at the map which once showed the Aurora valley was now shifted to a completely new location. A location he was not that familiar with.

Knock Knock

"Come in."

Lucas put down the map to the table as he gazed at the door since it could have been Edwin who was coming in. But fortunately, it was not.

"Lucas, dinner is ready in 30 min- Wait, what are you doing? Are you sick?"

Eura twitched her eyebrows, looking at sweaty Lucas who also seemed a little bit paler than usual which she thought that Lucas was definitely doing something fishy again.

"Ah, Eura. Nothing special. By the way, where is Tus?"

"Watching over the preparation of dinner as usual, of course. Should I call him over?" Eura had a puzzled look, thinking whether her little master had another mission to give him.

"No, don't!"

He absolutely had no intention to call Tus. Not right now. He didn't want to make the worries triple.

"Anyway, come look at this."

Seeing that the one that Lucas was afraid of was not following, he decided to show Eura. At least, she would be as worried as Tus could be. And he thought she should properly be able to see how the heirloom of her family worked.

"What is this? A map?"

She looked closely at the map that Lucas was tapping at, guessing what kind of place it could be. And instead of the map which showed the places of continents and towns, it contained the layout of an exact place, kind of similar to an overview of city buildings. And what caught her interest was a dot in green placed on a drawing which was similar to the building.

"Yep. That was how the map you brought turns out when infused with mana. All you need is enough mana to use it and the green dot, here, lasts unless you order it to disappear. Interesting, right?"

Eura looked at the map which looked nothing like the one which stated the Aurora Valley being in awe of how the map she thought utterly simply when she was young had such abilities.

"Wow…I didn't know it could be used like that. The head didn't tell us, either…"

But then, after her little astonishment, as if she remembered something major, her sharp gaze was shifted from the map to Lucas like a flash, which even made the said boy to flinch a bit in surprise.

"I told you not to use it for a while! You-"

Now Eura grasped the reason why Lucas seemed to be a bit paler and sweating.

"It is essential. And I am fine. Look! Is there any part of me that doesn't look fine? To be exact, I only need a slight amount of mana when I use it next! And more importantly, here look at this number."

'This topic needs to be passed by quickly!' And that was why Lucas didn't want to call Tus.

"Seriously,...."

Eura sighed while tapping at the side of her head but still looked at the place that Lucas was showing.

"Numbers?"

"They are coordinates of the place. Here, it is the city. So,..."

Lucas opened up another hardcover book which was a few inches thick. It was a book which contained the coordinates of the cities and places around the continent and this kind of book was mostly used by teleportation magic users for long travels. Besides, Lucas was glad that he asked Maria to find him this a long time ago and he didn't think it would be useful this early.

"You just need to search it up in such books…"

Turning the pages which were aligned by the numbers, Lucas stopped at one page that he had wanted. Seeing the place, a chuckle was out from his lips, thinking of the fact that it existed in a place which was not out of reach. In fact, Lucas couldn't believe that it was near to him all the time.

"That's it! This is how you find the location with this map. Well, we just know the city now because we are a bit far and when we are in the city, the map will show something more specific."

Eura took a glance at the page that Lucas stopped at as she looked back at the young child once more who was explaining to her earnestly.

"So, you are going there again?"

"Yep, of course."

"For what?"

"I have already told you long before…." Lucas sighed as he continued.

"I just need to find someone, there."

'Let's go find that damn mysterious veteran.'

***

"Lucas, when you are in the capital, it would be better to refrain from going out much, though." Edwin warned before Lucas left using the teleportation magic. He thought it would be safer in the capital and he was indeed delighted when Lucas finally agreed to leave Evandall.

Although he wanted Lucas to go a bit far, at the same time, he supposed that this place should be enough for now. He was starting to feel anxious just from letting Lucas go alone to the capital, and he couldn't picture him going to the further place.

"Lucas, I am not casting you away, you know. It's just that the things are a bit complicated here and I will tell you instantly when you can come back. It won't take long…"

'Why do you have to be so worried about it? I am glad that you provided a ready-made opportunity to go there, you know?'

He sincerely appreciated his brother really much as this said brother handled the part of persuading his dear father to get the permission. Or else, Lucas had to think of a whole other reason for his visit to the capital.

Lucas smiled, telling that it was really ok and he looked at Leo who was standing tall behind Edwin as his personal bodyguard.

"Please take care of my brother! And don't let him do reckless things, please! You have to stop him no matter what!"

'I really need you to refrain Edwin in case, so please…'

Leo might be a partner in crime with Edwin at some points but he was also a friend who would stop Edwin when he was doing something stupid, given that Leo had more of a cool head than Edwin as far as Lucas had noticed.

"Leave it to me, young master!" A wide grin was on Leo's face as always.

"Who is worrying who now…."

Edwin just sighed looking at the two and he just glanced at the three who would be going together with Lucas. Given that they had already listened to his long briefing, Tus, Eura and Carl instantly knew he was telling them to take care of Lucas and a lot of consequences would be coming to them if some harm fell onto Lucas. But it was something that didn't need to be told or warned to them, though.

But there was someone who almost blew out hot air in distress, thinking that no matter what Edwin was saying, this little young master was doing something on his own again. Eura just gazed at Lucas as if she had given up. She was the only one who knew Lucas was planning something fishy again.

"Take care, Lucas."

"You too, big brother!"

Edwin was left behind, looking at how his little brother and his little party disappeared after the cast of teleportation magic by the magicians of their family, wishing for the best. The place which was chatty before was now quiet for a few seconds before the young lord started the conversation, again.

"Leo, how is the situation in Ereck forest?"

Since Leo had just come back to the mansion this morning with the rest of the squads that Edwin had left behind, he had to ask him for the updated report.

"Sir Brook had already done with the raids and was preparing to withdraw as we have nothing to investigate further. I supposed he will be coming back tomorrow. We also have arranged for the tightened security and more allocation of patrols around the town and forest. And about the orb…."

"Anything new related to it?"

An aura of coldness was surrounded near Edwin and Leo also gulped down at how he was different from interacting with his little brother just a few minutes ago.

'Yep! That's my lord when working!' Leo secretly noted in his mind as he continued.

"A low-ranked demon had been captured. He seems to know something about it so Sir Brook hoped he would be able to leak some info from it."

"Great. If it is him, I am sure he will use any means to get the answer."

Sudden appearance and inhabitants of demons in some few areas around the kingdom, disappearance of some hunters, now added to a suspicious disease which was once named demon's curse. All the things added together, Edwin believed that the demons were up to something again and it was not as simple as the attacks and defenses that humans had done with demons for a long time.

"For now, let's head to Sansa."

"But, my dear lord, wouldn't you trigger the duke for this? I mean, he would definitely say 'Pay attention to your own work!' and such."

"What do you mean by own work? This is related to our territory and as a future lord, I should prioritize this situation, first right?"

As if Leo had said something which should be oblivious, Edwin stared at his friend before commanding the magic users to teleport them to Sansa.

"Don't worry, Leo. I can manage those things even when I am there. I am a multi-tasker, don't you know?"

And no matter which kind of consequences he would get for doing this from his father, Edwin didn't really care. He could accept everything later.

'Yes. Nothing is important to bring out that idiotic sister of mine from there.'

It was indeed what Edwin had believed.