Chapter 194: Then That’s Fine

Safety accident, occurred in the north of the city.

When she heard the location, Ella felt something in her heart, and the Grand Sage’s words confirmed it.

“There was someone who passed by this morning and suddenly caught fire, burned alive.”

It’s ‘burned’ in the physical sense, not the kind of thing the Blood Demon Tribe does.

As for the culprit, it’s obvious—the Elemental Residue of fire left yesterday.

“Go take a look.”

When Ella and Vina arrived at the scene, there were already quite a few onlookers, with guards trying to drive them away and setting up a cordon at the center.

Captain Lide, who had just visited the Magic Court, was also present, and a Chief Magician who came with him was explaining the theory:

“Elemental Residue is a magical leftover, basically undetectable by people. Even if you walk through it, you might only feel it’s a bit warmer here than nearby.”

“But he burned up,” Lide couldn’t help but say, “He burned himself to death.”

“Yes, that’s what’s so unusual, and what we can’t figure out. Without external interference, Elemental Residue theoretically can’t harm a person.”

“Why not?”

“Uh, let me put it this way.”

The Chief Magician fanned the air.

“Look, you can feel the wind element now. Although this isn’t caused by magical residue, it’s still Elemental Residue. Without an external force, this breeze couldn’t suddenly turn into a sharp blade and cut you in half.”

“………..”

Lide silently took a step back and swallowed.

Is it really that terrifying?

The Chief Magician spread his hands.

“As you can see, the nature of this morning’s death by burning is basically the same as the example I just gave, just with wind element swapped for fire.”

“So what’s the truth?”

Lide asked directly.

He was a warrior, didn’t understand all this magic or elements, just wanted to hear something he could comprehend.

The Chief Magician spread his hands again.

“If I knew the truth, I wouldn’t be talking about so much technical stuff.”

In other words, he didn’t know, so he was trying to analyze it.

“You…”

At that moment, Vina walked over and asked the Chief Magician, “Have you tried communicating?”

Ella also stepped forward to look at the scene.

Wow, it was all charred—it was obvious the death had been very painful.

“Ella, you came too?”

She turned to see the Saintess and Assassin Girl standing at the edge.

The former had just cried out in surprise, while the latter waved her hand.

“Good morning, Ella.”

One was the noble Saintess of Light, the other…

Though her face was unfamiliar, if she could stand beside the Saintess, she was probably important too.

The guards in charge of the scene didn’t dare stop them and let them in as well.

Leah immediately grabbed Ella’s arm, looked her up and down as if confirming something, then breathed a sigh of relief.

“Good, you’re okay. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“…….?”

Would something have happened to me?

Zero walked to the other side, looked at the corpse on the ground, then at the people talking.

“What’s going on now?”

“Vina is asking the Chief Magician on the scene if there’s any communicable information.”

Ella replied.

At that moment, the Chief Magician shook his head.

“Communication is impossible.”

Leah quietly hugged Ella’s arm and asked, “What communication? What does that mean?”

“The essence of magic is communication.”

The pink-haired Necromancer lady explained.

“You use mana to communicate with elements and make them act according to your will, achieving the effects of magic.”

“Vina was asking if it was possible to communicate with the fire element that caused the incident. The answer is no.”

Magic seemed mysterious—and it really was—but the principle was relatively simple.

For fire, earth, water, ice, wind, lightning, and other elements, you just communicated with the corresponding element.

The elves’ magic communicated with plants, and necromancy communicated with the dead.

“So,”

Leah blinked.

“This case is hard to solve?”

Ella nodded.

“There are no traces of a second type of magic at the scene, only remnants from yesterday. According to existing theory, there are only two possibilities. One is that the Magician who fled yesterday left Elemental Residue that somehow triggered a secondary explosion after a long time.”

“The other is that he secretly cast a spell this morning to burn this person, then covered up the act so it couldn’t be detected.”

“Neither possibility could actually happen.”

Vina returned and said,

“If anyone could do either, I’d have Old Deng step down and invite them to be Chief Magician.”

Ella shrugged her small shoulders.

“I think so too.”

For the first case, to use an analogy, casting magic is like hiring someone to do a job.

Once it’s done and payment is settled, it’s over.

But then, after a long time, the worker suddenly decides to do more work on their own.

Humans might do that, but elements wouldn’t.

The second case, covering up magical traces to fool a genius little witch—even the Grand Sage couldn’t do that.

“By the way, why are you here too?”

“Oh, I heard someone was seriously injured at the city gate, so I came to see if there was anything I could do.”

Leah glanced at the charred body on the ground.

“But it looks like there’s nothing to be done.”

To avoid disturbing the scene, she even skipped giving a blessing of comfort.

“By the way, Ella, did you sleep well last night? If you don’t go back to the Bonfire Camp, you could come to the Chapel with me.”

“What do you mean ‘go back’? I said I needed Little Ella for a few days.”

Vina walked over and snatched the pink-haired Necromancer girl’s arm.

“This is an investigation Mission assigned from above. If you have a problem, talk to them.”

With that, she dragged the girl away.

“You!”

Leah almost stomped her foot in frustration.

“Where are you all going?”

“Back to the Magic Court to discuss the case~”

***

Rural town.

Celes, who had risen early, finished three laps around the town, and suddenly had a revelation in the chilly wind.

She hurried back to the house and saw the man who had just finished washing his face.

“Master! I’ve realized the issue!”

The girl said excitedly.

“She and I are companions in the same Team, carrying a Mission of great importance, even concerning the fate of the world. So no matter what, we’ll probably always be together!”

Sitting alone in the fields in the cold wind—that kind of thing is impossible!

The former Kingdom Chief Sword Saint looked at her, took the towel off his head, and asked a small question.

“This Team you’re talking about—are there only two of you?”

Celes froze for a moment, then shook her head.

“There are five people in the Team. Besides her, there are three other companions. We’re all good friends.”

“Oh, then that’s right.”

The man nodded and smiled.

“We were like that too back then. She often told me they were just friends.”

“……….”