Spellcasting

"Ha… phew."

A young woman with short, black hair, a trenchcoat hanging over her shoulders, and an atmosphere of elegance and polish around her, adjusted her gloves, before entering the largest building on Carvenhill Street.

The 4th Administrative Department, belonging to the Silverstar Watchdogs Security Force.

And, this woman, who appeared on the outside to be calm, was Evelyn.

"…As quiet as ever, I see," Evelyn muttered, walking close to a candlelight, "I wonder, is it because you're always on edge, Nathan, or, is it because of your specific… tendencies?"

Once she had entered, there was no presence to be found, and all she could see in the large, central room were a few couches, a wooden table with a flower vase on it, and boards, written with chalk.

However, there was someone else with her in the building. The stealth master of the executive force, nicknamed, "Stylish & Sneaky" by an unserious fellow who was also a part of the security forces, while his real name was Nathaniel, or, Nathan.

"So, you're back…" Nathan whispered, "…Special Informant Evelyn."

Caspar remained unseeable, and he preferred to keep it that way. Through the knowledge accumulated by humans over the years, sorcerers and magicians began to come to be, normal humans who utilised supernatural means to access Spirituality.

Since they had no Runes, they could never use fully-fledged abilities, rendering them laughably weaker than Runebearers, but, their efforts to attain Spirituality were not entirely useless, as they were capable of mystic engineering, which made it possible to graft Spirituality to objects, creating "Magic Artifacts", like Nathan's cloak.

However, Magic Artifacts, of course, could only be accessed by the somewhat affluent.

"…Yes," Evelyn replied, "Scouting the area took less time than expected, and I noticed that an offshoot of an evil entity stronger than an Evil Spirit has taken root in Carbagana Village, sapping both the Spirituality in the air and the mental power of the villagers. If we defeat it, analyzing it may lead us to its source."

"…Sapping…? So, it's a Rooted Statue, huh?" Nathan murmured, as he suddenly appeared on the couch, revealing himself with one leg over the other, holding a ruby dagger and a ragged cloak.

"So, if we kill it and find the source, it is likely that we will be able to come closer to what has been attracting all these evil entities around recently… and even earn a great reward from the city's mayor after we get rid of whatever it may be..."

Evelyn nodded.

"…Then, inform Bleeding Needle that we have come closer to finding it," Nathan said, "And tell the others too. Also, what colour was the Rooted Statue, if you did manage to glimpse it?"

"…It was sickly green, on the verge of turning purple."

"Then, let us set the date on which we subdue the Rooted Statue to be next Sunday. It is only at its weakest just before it can "detach", after all."

Evelyn nodded again, but she was yet to leave.

"What is it?" Nathan asked.

"…There is someone else I want to recruit for the security force," Evelyn said, "A young man named Cairo, who I can vouch for…"

"Again? You already brought in a new member, Lynx."

"Ah… but…" Evelyn began, though she found herself unable to say anything.

"…Hah… yes, although she is very reliable, I'm not so sure about you bringing in another member so quickly," Nathan said, "This is a security force, remember? Only those suited to fight against evil can be accepted."

"If everyone could become one of us, you soon wouldn't be able to tell a criminal from someone who's meant to detain those cretins."

Evelyn clenched her fist. She knew that Cairo was not like that, one of the criminals. Even at the age she met him, as young as fourteen, they still became friends, despite his lack of a home at that time.

"…So, you won't accept him?" Evelyn muttered.

But, to her surprise, Nathan shook his head.

"…Hah, I get that you're still a young woman, but, get it together. I can notice your clenched fist." Nathan said, before leaning forward, "Whether I allow him to do an interview relies on this singular question, is he capable of this?"

Evelyn knew that Nathan's body language intended to say that, if Cairo did not mean the standards, he would be thrown out, and so would Evelyn herself. But even still, she didn't hesitate in her answer.

"Of course he is. I wouldn't have a reason to bring him up otherwise."

Nathan nodded.

"…I guess he'll be here on Sunday, correct? Then, it probably won't be me doing the interview, but Dreamer. I hope he'll be able to satisfy that unserious humorist."

Evelyn smiled and swiftly left the building.

***

Meanwhile, with Cairo, he was busy discovering the uses of Primordial Secret, his canvas, and more of his abilities, while writing it all down on a piece of paper he had found somewhere in his apartment.

With an impending threat that he seemingly "had" to face, unless he wanted to face unknown risks, he quickly hurried back home, quickly enough to spot his landlord and pay back the rent, and then some.

The landlord, as lenient as he usually was, couldn't receive that much money, so he gave the remainder of it back.

"…So, what I've found out currently is that, firstly, I currently cannot unleash my true abilities through anything else other than the Primordial Secret. However, secondly, writing words using the inkblot on the first page causes something weird to happen, like this..."

Cairo drew a random word, "silver," on the floorboard. However, nothing happened.

"Wait, what…? Nothing's happening this time? When I wrote the word, "guide", it… hold on, does it only show me something for specific words?"

He wrote the word "guide," again, and, lo and behold, a small shimmering trail, leading him somewhere beyond his apartment's door, suddenly appeared.

"…Intriguing," Cairo said, before jotting this down, "What if I write the word, "defend?"

He did just that, and, to his surprise, the words appeared before him, floating in the air for a moment, before they vanished, and a golden glow covered his skin for half a second, which also increased his vigour that that small period.

Cairo wrote the effect of the word, "defend," down as well, and then wrote down several words, which he thought would work but didn't.

And then, it wasn't until he wrote the word, "fight", that he saw something happen again, though, it was a bit lacklustre. The words vanished, and yet nothing happened at all.

"…Do I need to write something else along with it? Like, "sword" or something?"

Cairo tried that immediately, but no sword appeared in his hands. However, he decided he was going to give up until he found out all the uses of his current abilities that he could.

He drew many words plenty of times on the ground until things became a great mess that he had to clean up, like "blade", "attack", "summon", "summon blade"…

But, nothing worked out.

In the end, he ended up having to clean the floor up, and lay on the floor, exhausted by the end of it. But, it seemed he had the energy to draw one more time, as the word, "fire," crossed his mind.

But, before he could complete that word, he stopped. For some reason, his mind, his heart, and his bones were telling him that, if he completed that word, he would surely regret it.

Although he didn't know it, it seemed his ability allowed him to use "Divine Scripture", a somewhat rare ability shared among Runebearers, where he could write words and things would happen. Writing Divine Scripture with Runes would make it exceedingly more powerful, but, that was a level that far surpassed Cairo of the current.

"…I guess I should leave this for now," Cairo said, scratching his head, "But, now I'm just wondering where the shimmering trail from guide leads to."

"Since there's nothing else to do, I guess I'll just follow it for now, and stop if I'm about to become lost," Cairo said, lifting himself.

Little did he know, he would soon "disappear" into a Forest of Fog, among the spirits…