"Nothing. Like all other villagers, he got nothing. We are not knights nor warriors who can use mana. Our lives were disposable. Our death didn't matter, nor did our contribution," Hiding his pain, Moss said.

'Maybe he has a reason to climb the social ladder,'

Zephyr thought, seeing the vulnerable side of Moss.

Zephyr came from a line of mages. He had always felt assured that he would be able to use magic, even if it was as a knight rather than a mage. He had a clear path in front of him.

However, Moss was not like that. He was a man from a village without any backing, and he had no clue if he even possessed any talent.

Yet, just like the original Zephyr, who ran away from home to become a mage, this young man was also trying his best to survive. Though the method he chose was questionable, he had every reason to do it. After all, who wants to be treated like a disposable pawn?

While Zephyr was thinking, Moss composed himself and continued.

"The name jinx stuck onto him even as he left the subjugation army. The very villagers whom he saved began to call him a jinx and a cursed man. It slowly sapped the life out of him."

"It gave him nightmares for days. He was truly breaking down as the sleepless nights piled."

"Meanwhile, the blame for occasional accidents that happened in the village was also being pinned on him. Like that, even his family began to avoid him."

"Only his four-year-old daughter loved him during that time without any prejudice. But, even that didn't last for long."

"Tom's wife left him a month later, forcefully taking his daughter away, breaking the last sanctuary of peace he had. Then a month later, the daughter died."

Moss tightened his grip; his knuckles turned white. He raised his hand with apparent anger.

"Because of that, the title of jinx was firmly placed on him. Despite his daughter's death having nothing to do with him, he was called a jinx and kicked to the isolated part of the village."

Moss ended the story with a deep sigh.

A heavy silence settled over the group. Now that they understood the events that had shaped him, Zephyr and the others looked at Moss with a new perspective.

Zephyr hesitated for a moment before breaking the quiet. "If I may ask… what actually happened to the daughter?"

Moss slowly unclenched his fists. "She drowned in a mountain stream while she was playing."

"Was there any witness?"

Moss's head snapped up. He paused, then shook his head. "No."

Zephyr didn't instantly believe it, but looking at Moss's visceral reaction, he felt there was no reason to suspect a lie—at least, not from Moss.

It seemed Moss was one of the few villagers who truly believed in Tom.

'His daughter died while playing. No witnesses,' Zephyr noted mentally.

The loose end annoyed him; he was the type who needed to see everything through to the end.

'I should look into that, too,' he murmured to himself.

After a moment of thought, Zephyr spoke up again. "By the way, did I mention the poisoned porridge?"

"Poison?" Moss's voice rose sharply. "What poison?"

"Tom was holding a bowl when you brought me to his house, right? He threw it away shortly after you left. It was laced with poison."

Aurelia and Elenor remained silent, as they already knew this detail. But Moss stared at Zephyr, his brows knitting together as the pieces clicked into place.

"I heard his wife visited him that day," Moss said, forcing the words out through gritted teeth.

Aurelia gasped. "Did the wife try to poison him?"

"Most likely…" Moss agreed.

The woman hated Tom. She believed he ruined her life and killed her daughter. It was not beyond her to poison his food.

The missing person case was becoming even more complicated.

Zephyr sighed. He never expected it to turn out this way.

"Moss, you should go around and ask if someone has seen Tom. I will go see if I can find him," Zephyr said suddenly.

"The merchant caravan is not here yet. We have plenty of time," Zephyr added, turning to look at Aurelia.

"Yes." Aurelia nodded.

The merchant caravan stays for a couple of hours to load the goods. If they come later in the day, they would rest until morning before they leave the village. Zephyr and his cohort had plenty of time to search and find the man.

"I know the basic search spell. Let me get some items we can use from his house," Zephyr added.

Aurelia and Elenor nodded, watching him turn around.

"Moss, you should meet the wife and check if she is okay. Also, try to be discreet when you ask around." Zephyr added and left, walking back to the hut.

—

A few minutes later, Zephyr returned with a broken bow and some arrows.

Tom was a hunter, and he had many hunting tools and knives. The bow was supposed to be one of his most treasured objects. It was perfect for using with a search spell.

Meanwhile, Aurelia and Elenor came out of the house, wearing their pristine robes.

"Take this." Zephyr handed them the arrows.

"Um!" They looked at him in confusion.

"Why are you giving it to me?" Aurelia asked.

"Duh! To use it with a search spell." Zephyr raised a brow.

Why were they asking such an obvious question, he wondered.

"But we don't know the search spell."

"You don't."

Aurelia's reply confused him.

"Why?" He asked.

"Why should we engrave a spell like that on our core? It's just a waste of space."

"Waste of space," Zephyr repeated the words.

Finally, it dawned on him that other mages don't have the luxury of having more core surface area.

Although both of them were four-star, intermediate mages, their core surface area would roughly be similar to his.

'Considering that I can only draw one rune per core when it is being used for a spell, I could draw 2,200 runes in total. That's a lot less than the 6,000 or so runes I could have drawn.'

'A four-star mage can draw almost 5,000 runes in their core.'

'Technically, just based on the surface alone, I am close to a normal four-star mage.'

'Now that I think about it, for a normal mage, drawing search spells in their core is a waste of space.'

Although a little late, he finally realized how awesome his multicore system was.

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