Chapter 32: The Midnight Ritual
Arya quietly watched the villagers.
He immediately noticed something strange.
Every villager was silently walking forward.
Each of them was carrying a magic lamp in their hands.
Arya didn’t know where they were heading, but he wanted to follow them.
However, he looked back at Miyuki.
She was still sleeping peacefully on her bed.
He didn’t want to disturb her.
After thinking for a moment, Arya finally decided to follow the villagers alone.
But there was one problem.
Right now, he couldn’t become invisible.
He had given his ring to Miyuki, and she was wearing it on her right hand.
To use it again, he had to take it off without waking her.
Arya quietly walked over to the bed.
Miyuki was sleeping deeply.
One of her hands was resting beside her face.
Arya gently held her hand and slowly lifted it.
Then he carefully tried to remove the ring.
Just before it came off...
Miyuki suddenly turned to the other side.
For a second, Arya thought she had woken up.
But she was still asleep.
She hadn’t noticed anything.
Finally, Arya managed to take off the ring.
The moment he removed it...
Miyuki’s human appearance disappeared.
Her fox ears and fluffy tail appeared again.
Before leaving the room, Arya took out a magic item.
He placed it on the door.
If anyone tried to open the door from outside or inside, it would instantly create a barrier.
Even so...
Arya still wasn’t satisfied.
Now that Miyuki’s true appearance had returned, she would be in danger if someone entered the room.
So Arya summoned two Shadow Monsters.
They were only low-ranking monsters, but they could hide inside the shadows.
If anyone tried to enter through the window, they would attack immediately.
Even after that, Arya still didn’t feel at ease.
So he summoned two small Stone Soldiers.
The larger ones wouldn’t fit inside the room, so he summoned the smaller version instead.
Although they were small, each of them possessed strength greater than an ordinary human, while their height was equal to that of a normal human.
After making sure everything was ready, Arya put the ring back on his finger.
His body slowly became invisible.
Then he activated his Wing Skill.
A pair of white wings appeared behind his back.
Arya quietly flew out through the window and rose into the night sky.
Following the direction of the villagers from above was much easier.
A few moments later, he found them.
The moonlight illuminated the road just enough for Arya to see clearly.
Although it was midnight, it wasn’t completely dark.
Looking down from the sky, Arya noticed that many people were wearing the same clothes.
Each of them carried the same magic item in their hands.
Arya didn’t know what those items were.
But he quickly noticed another magic item among them.
It was a detection magic item.
Its purpose was to detect monsters or anyone secretly following them.
Every human, monster, and living creature in this world was born with mana.
Those with greater mana became stronger.
Even ordinary people who couldn’t use magic still possessed a small amount of mana inside their bodies.
But Arya was different.
He had been born without mana.
All of his powers came from the System.
Because of that...
The detection magic items couldn’t sense his presence at all.
Arya silently continued following them from the sky.
Then he looked farther behind the group.
Several carriages were moving along the road.
Many women and other villagers were following behind them.
Without making a single sound...
Arya continued observing everything from the night sky.
After following them for a few minutes, the villagers reached the side of a mountain.
They slowly climbed a small road that led to the top.
Arya quietly followed them from the sky.
When he finally reached the top of the mountain, he saw a large temple.
In front of the temple was a wide open area.
In the middle stood a giant stone statue.
Many magic lamps were hanging from the trees, lighting up the entire place.
The villagers stopped in front of the statue.
Then they all began performing some kind of ritual.
It looked like a strange ceremony.
Meanwhile...
Back at the inn, Miyuki was still sleeping peacefully.
Knock... Knock...
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.
The moment the knocking echoed through the room, the invisible barrier created by the magic item activated.
But whoever was outside didn’t notice it.
Knock... Knock...
The door was knocked on again.
A few moments later, Miyuki slowly woke up.
She rubbed her sleepy eyes with her hand.
"Who is knocking on the door in the middle of the night...?"
She turned toward Arya’s bed.
But when she looked...
Arya wasn’t there.
Then she noticed the two Stone Soldiers standing quietly inside the room.
At that moment, she realized...
Arya had gone somewhere and left them behind to protect her.
She looked at her right hand.
The ring was gone.
Then she quickly stood up and looked into the mirror.
Her human appearance had disappeared.
Her fox ears and tail were visible again.
Knock... Knock...
The sound came once more from outside the door.
Miyuki looked toward it and asked,
"Who is there?"
But from outside...
No one replied.
A strange feeling slowly rose inside her heart.
Something felt wrong.
If she still had the ring, she could have opened the door without any problem.
But now she couldn’t.
If she opened the door like this, anyone outside would immediately see her fox ears and tail.
So she stayed where she was and didn’t open it.
Instead, she spoke through the door.
"Who is there?"
"What do you need in the middle of the night?"
But there was no response from outside.
The room became completely silent.
Miyuki frowned slightly.
"It can’t be Arya..."
"If it were him, he would come through the window."
"He wouldn’t disturb me by knocking on the door."
She slowly stepped back from the door.
"I think someone is outside..."
"And I don’t think they came here for any good reason... or just to ask for something."
