'Muninn.'

The little bird on the branch above my shelter cawed in response.

'This Casimir dude is suspicious. So keep an eye on him, too.'

The raven cawed again and turned its head towards the boy.

Meanwhile, I looked to Audrey who was chatting with Dion.

Ever since we got to the Puppeteer's Grove, I had told her to be on the lookout for the two girls who killed her. But she had not run into them since.

She didn't know their names, so I had asked her what they looked like. She told me that they were identical twins with short black hair and black eyes. I tried looking for them using that description, but then I realized there were a lot of girls with that look at the Grove, so it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

'They are from the bastion of the Somarian Pride. While Muninn keeps an eye on that Casimir dude, maybe he might lead me to those girls too.' I thought, rubbing my chin slightly.

After a few minutes of being lost in thought, I turned my attention towards the chatter of my companions.

Evelyn took a long drink from her pouch, then looked over at both Celeste and Julius. She let out a weary sigh and began fanning herself with her hand.

"Is it just me," she muttered, "or is it actually getting hotter every single day?"

Celeste looked to her and replied, "It's not just you. And it's not just the heat. There are a lot of weird things happening lately." She raised a finger to emphasize her point. "For one, there's been a lot of Goblin attacks in the grove recently."

"Really?" both Julius and Evelyn asked at the same time with their expressions turning serious.

"Yeah," Celeste replied. "We don't get to feel it because we stay behind the tent area. However, those in the Ashen Campground near the forests have it much worse. Lots of people have died in the last few days."

Ino was walking beside them with her eyes fixed on the map projected from the whisper-globe. Without looking up from it, she added, "I heard it's not just the goblins. Even the land kraits and the golems from the far west are moving."

"That's strange," Evelyn muttered, her brow furrowing in thought.

It was indeed strange.

I already knew about this; after all, my feathers are everywhere, so not much escapes me in the Grove.

There have been a lot of attacks lately from various creatures. As the front line to the Grove, those who stay in the Ashen Campground usually go into the forest to stop these creatures before they can even reach the inner camp. But because we stay right behind the tent area, it's possible for Evelyn, who spends most of the day sleeping, to not even know this is happening.

Two days ago, there was a horde of goblins, kraits, and golems all appearing together. The people who reside in the Ashen Campground and had to fight them said they were behaving strangely. It was almost as if the monsters were running away from something.

Hmm…

It really was strange.

'What could be the reason?'

I was still thinking about it when someone suddenly nudged me, snapping me from my thoughts. I looked to my right to see Leon smiling like someone without a worry in the world.

I arched a brow and he chuckled.

"You're doing that thing again," Leon said, motioning to his face. "Your face gets all serious and you start staring into space. What's going on in that head of yours, Cedric? You're going to get wrinkles before you're twenty at this rate."

I sighed and looked away. Leon frowned, probably misunderstanding my silence. "If you're worried about this Yami guy, I know where he is. He's in the Orc's Graveyard."

I looked to Leon. "I already know that."

"Oh… you do?"

I nodded. "What I don't know is what's causing these strange happenings lately."

Leon's smile returned. He tapped my shoulder twice then muttered. "Then you should have asked."

"You know?"

Leon nodded. "I checked it a few days ago when the heat began to get unbearable."

'For someone whose cost is to go blind for hours a day depending on what he sees, he sure uses his bonded ability a lot.'

Leon looked to the others. They were a fair distance in front of us. The both of us were lagging behind. When he confirmed that they wouldn't hear, he spoke in a low voice.

"It's because of the Red Bridge that was moved. It was supposed to appear in the Garden of Abel, far to the west. But after it was moved, the causal backlash hit. The volcano located near the garden, which had been dormant for more than a hundred years, suddenly erupted, consuming the entire Garden of Abel. The creatures in the nearby territories are likely moving due to the unbearable heat."

"Oh…" I tilted my head back in realization, but then Leon said something else that pulled me into even deeper thought.

"I think the reason for this backlash is simple," Leon added, his voice dropping even lower. "Although the lord making these changes has the power of an Architect, he is not the Architect."

I halted for a moment, but then continued walking, and my mind began to race.

What Leon said made every bit of sense.

Every realm has a god who is the true Architect, and that includes this realm. So although the leader of the lords has the authority granted by Admin privileges, he is not the true Architect of this place. He is bound to suffer causal backlash whenever he tries to rewrite the original design.

But now, that led me to a new question:

I had not thought about it before because I had always been of the mentality that this game was made by the developers. That the worlds, rules, people and mechanics were all built by them. But what if there's more to that?

Suddenly, a new train of thought began to form.

What if this was an already existing universe that the developers simply copied and made a game of.

That would mean that I have been thrust into that universe, and not a game.

That would mean that the different realms were not designed by developers, but were built by gods.

That would mean that this realm was definitely made, and belongs to, a god.

Who and where is the true architect of this dastard realm?

Where is that god?

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