Embracing Magic - E.M Chapter 56 (Part 2)
As Rodin moved north, he prepared for camping and sent Jito to scout the skies.
Usually, after waking up at dawn, he would have Jito scout the area. Dawn was suitable for quickly grasping what had happened overnight.
But today, he felt uneasy. Something cold and unpleasant seemed to dampen his spirits.
‘Jito, take a slower look around.’
While Jito surveyed the surroundings, Rodin shared his senses. Additionally, he infused plenty of mana, enhancing his vision.
“Was it just needless worry?”
It was an area with few villages, and there were almost no people around. The few he could see were ordinary villagers.
‘Good job. Come back… Wait. That direction. No, a little more to the right.’
Following Rodin’s instructions, Jito tilted his head slightly to the right. Below, he saw three figures climbing the mountain.
‘Let’s enhance my vision.’
Rodin injected more mana. The distant figures quickly became clearer.
“Damn it.”
Two of them were in imperial uniforms. One wore armor, and the other a robe. They were clearly a knight and a mage.
And the one walking in front of the knight, as if guiding them—it was a face Rodin recognized.
“Why is that bastard Albrecht here?”
It was Albrecht, the commissioner, leading the imperial soldiers.
Rodin couldn’t understand why they had come so far from the frontlines to this remote place.
‘Good job. Come back.’
Rodin cut off the shared senses. Jito made a wide loop in the sky before quickly returning.
“Thanks for your hard work.”
—Squeal.
Jito clung to Rodin’s body and soon transformed into clothing. It was a simple robe, not a uniform or training suit.
“What could be the reason? Are they following me?”
He couldn’t be sure of anything yet. But he had to prepare for the worst.
“Let’s change direction. Something might change.”
Rodin switched his course from north to south. Then, every hour, he sent Jito out to check on the movements of Commissioner Albrecht and the imperial soldiers.
‘So they are tracking me.’
Rodin confirmed that every time he changed direction, they did the same. It was clear they were following him.
“Why on earth? Did Albrecht decide to hand me over to the empire?”
Rodin didn’t know the exact details, but he understood his own value well.
A prodigy who became a 5th Circle mage at the age of 12. Any organization would see him as a desirable prey.
“But how are they tracking me?”
Rodin wasn’t someone who left traces. Wherever he went, he instinctively erased the traces of his stay.
Even yesterday, after finishing his camping, he covered the traces of the fire with dirt.
“No matter how I think about it, it has to be tracking magic… Didn’t I erase everything?”
Rodin was aware of the existence of tracking magic. Although he couldn’t use it himself, he had read in books that it involved reading and following the trail of one’s scent with magic.
So, when he left the Special Forces Training Facility, he had used Undine to wash everything he had used. Not only his bedding but even the utensils he used daily were cleaned thoroughly with Undine.
“What did I miss? Ah! The Advanced Archive 3. I didn’t think of that.”
The clothes he left in the Advanced Archive 3 weren’t something he wore often. They were clothes he wore only when Jito returned to his original form, so he had forgotten about them.
“If I want to survive, I’ll have to eliminate those people.”
He couldn’t keep running forever.
Moving with a tail following behind would only exhaust him. Eating and even sleeping would be impossible without anxiety.
“I can’t live trembling in fear. Hmm, where would be a good spot? This place looks good.”
He chose a suitable terrain. He had a rough plan in mind.
It was a narrow, long ravine with high sides and a sunken middle. It was a terrain any commander would avoid when moving troops.
“But you’re not an army.”
The enemy would follow carelessly. After all, there were only three of them, and they would be confident in their abilities.
But Rodin also had to make sure the pursuers didn’t realize he had noticed them. If they sensed it, they would become cautious, making it harder to lure them into the trap.
“Let’s take a wide detour.”
He didn’t go straight to the ravine, fearing it might be too obvious, so he took a wide detour. In the process, he found a small stream and caught some fish to eat.
This time, he only erased half of the traces. It wasn’t immediately visible, but if one looked closely, they could find signs of the fire.
He drew a large semicircle, gradually turning northward.
* * *
Count Ferrios and his group arrived at a small stream and temporarily halted their pursuit. While chasing was important, they couldn’t skip meals because of it.
Luckily, there were plenty of fish in the stream, and a large rock nearby blocked much of the wind.
“We’ll have dinner here. Edric.”
“I’ll prepare a fire.”
“Oh.”
While gathering dry wood to start the fire, Count Ferrios faintly noticed traces of a fire. It had been mostly covered with dirt, but a bit of blackened ash remained, leaving a faint trace.
“Ha, this is amusing.”
“Your Excellency, is there a problem?”
“The brat we’re chasing… What is he? He keeps erasing his traces as he moves. Can you believe a 14-year-old is doing this?”
“I-I’m surprised too.”
The mage Edric agreed with Count Ferrios’s words.
Today marked the fourth day of their pursuit of the brat mage. Yet they hadn’t found a single trace of him during his movements.
If it weren’t for magic, they wouldn’t have been able to track him at all. If they had been ordinary hunters relying on visible tracks, they would have given up within a day.
“Isn’t he an incredible kid?”
“Could he have noticed our pursuit?”
“No. That can’t be. If he had noticed, he would have erased his traces belatedly, but this guy hasn’t left any traces from the start. Even at that training facility, we couldn’t find any traces.”
“That’s true.”
Count Ferrios kicked the ground lightly. The slightly exposed black ash scattered in all directions.
“See this? He erased his traces here too. It’s only because I have sharp eyes that I found it. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have noticed anything here either.”
“Is this really a trace left by him?”
“Yes. It looks like he cooked something here.”
Count Ferrios pointed to the ground with his hand. The mage Edric then used earth magic to dig up the ground.
“Oh!”
“He grilled fish here.”
When they overturned the soil, they found traces of a fire and the remains of fish, with only the bones left. Judging by the number, he had caught and cooked about six fish, seemingly enjoying a leisurely meal.
“He’s an impressive kid. They said he’s 14.”
“Indeed. He’s remarkable. How do you even raise someone like that? Hey! Pig. Come here.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
At Count Ferrios’s call, Commissioner Albrecht, who had been lingering cautiously in the distance, hurried over.