An unexpected discovery.
'A mirror… The Fountain of Mana… Who would've thought that a map from a pirate-hosted tournament led to such an artifact?'
An ancient artifact made known to the world by a brave journalist before Jin's regression.
At the time, the journalist scrupulously revealed the mirror's existence together with the atrocities that the Zipfel Clan committed towards the Kollon natives.
Of course, this news was fatal for the Zipfels, who symbolized and protected peace and justice.
However, the journalist could not face the massive clan alone.
The Zipfels quickly silenced those who spoke angrily of the clan.
And the tragedy of Kollon's natives was never spoken of again.
Soon after, the first journalist disappeared. It didn't take long for the people to forget the journalist's brave deeds.
The Kollon natives then continued their civilization as if they were invisible.
'…Then this map must be made by the natives. And since its worth wasn't discovered, this map was just tossed everywhere. Just like Myulta's Rune.'
It was possible that the Kollon natives, who were oppressed by the Zipfels, wanted someone to notice the map and hoped an adventurer would come to free them.
Well, Jin planned on visiting the Kollon Ruins anyways.
He needed to find the mirror before the Zipfels and prevent them from creating a powerful magician army. Additionally, he needed to investigate the illegal magic experimentation in the area.
Personally for Jin, there were more reasons to go.
'Unlike the journalist, I don't have the heart to save those people… But I'd be helping them a little if I'm packing some punches onto the Zipfel Clan.'
But there was one problem.
"Hey, kid. Why the long face? Do you know what Lathry drew?"
They didn't know that Jin knew about the tragedy of Kollon and the mirror.
'This is what's bad about being a regressor.'
Though, it was an easy problem to solve.
"Hm, I don't know. But I got a bad feeling… Sir Kashimir, I think you should investigate the contents of this map."
This was why he settled in Tikan.
"Yes, I agree. I'm also worried about the history that my daughter envisioned. It's as if… I think this map came into your hands for a reason."
"That's right, Young Master Jin. First, I'll search far and wide for someone to read these ancient texts. Then we can find our first clue."
"Sir Kashimir, this is just a hunch, but I don't think the Seven-Colored Peacock should openly investigate this case. With that much resentment stored in the object, we may not know if the atrocities are still occuring."
"That's a good point. Hmmm, magicians who slaughtered the natives… I hope it's not related to the Zipfels."
The Seven-Colored Peacock immediately began their investigation, but they couldn't achieve much in two weeks.
It was expected.
The Kollon natives were part of the Peylon Kingdom, which was part of the Lutero Magic Federation. And centuries ago, a majority of them were slaughtered by the Zipfels. Due to this, not many remained on the land.
On top of that, since the few that were left remained trapped in the Kollon Ruins, it was definitely hard to find someone who could read the map.
However, the first clue was found in an unexpectedly close location.
February 17th, 1796.
After finishing his morning training, he sought the Tikan Central Defense Force with Euria and Lathry in order to find Alisa.
"Jin. Mommy will like it if she gets this, right?"
"Most certainly. I'm sure she'll toss you in the air and laugh."
Euria wanted to give her mother a family drawing, so she asked Jin to come with her.
"Welcome to the Tikan Centr—Oh, Euria. Hello."
"Hello! Where's mommy?"
"Oh, my daughter! Mommy's over here! I see you two are also here. Oh, what's this?"
"Present!"
Euria grinned and showed the drawing to her mother.
Alisa couldn't contain her maternal pride.
"My goodness, you're so good at drawing! Let's see… This must be daddy. This is Jin, and you drew Enya too."
Gilly, Murakan, Quikantel, and Lathry were also drawn on the small paper. Alisa picked up Euria as she looked throughout the entire page.
"Hahaha, you should be a painter when you grow up. Alright, wait a moment here. Mommy has to fight some papers and documents, and then let's go eat lunch. You wanna eat seafood stew?"
"Oh! Oh! Seafood! Yes!"
After seeing her mother so happy and hearing the word 'seafood', Euria began to sing a song containing only the word 'seafood'.
Jin and Lathry couldn't contain their smiles as well.
Fwip, fwip.
Sounds of moving pens from here and there could be heard. It was the defense forces dealing with legal documents and the criminals writing self-reflections.
Self-reflections.
After Alisa was promoted to the Chief of Defense, she was plummeting the already-low crime rate of Tikan.
However, those who were dragged in trampled some flowers in the public garden or acted poorly while drunk, so they just wrote a self-reflection and made a short visit to a correctional facility.
'The city isn't that big, but she manages it so well. Lady Alisa is amazing. The Huphester Alliance is managed by the Runcandels, yet they still have a lot of bad crimes.'
As Jin mentally applauded Alisa's work, Lathry looked around at the criminals.
"Humans are such mysterious creatures. Why do they make the same mistake if they know that breaking the law would get them punished?"
"Not sure. Are dragons not like that?"
"Mmmm… No. Now that I think about it, dragons are also pretty foolish. Haha, what am I saying? Please don't tell Sir Murakan that I tainted the dragon race's reputation."
"It seems you are very cautious of Murakan. Did he bully you or something?"
"No, not that. Did you know what my parents already pegged into my ear? 'Watch out for the black dragons. Especially the Murakan and Misha siblings'…"
Lathry definitely fell for Wind Dragon Vyuretta's tricks while avoiding black dragons.
"And amongst my fellow dragons, Sir Murakan is a legendary being. There's some bad and some good reasons… Oh?"
While explaining, Lathry stopped and fixed his eyes on something.
It was someone getting questioned by a defense agent. Jin naturally looked as well. The man's slow and slurred speech stuttered.
"Yesterday… I… drank… too… much. I… a-apologize."
"Hey, don't talk like that. You're not reflecting at all. If you're drunk, then go inside and sleep. Why sing in the middle of the night and wake everyone?"
"Because… I'm zad. Ah, I'm zorry."
"You've done this multiple times before. If you keep doing this, the bar will not take you anymore. Do you know how much I pleaded the local bartenders to not kick you out?"
"Thamk you. Oh, you wanna cigar?"
"Ha! Shit, I'm gonna die early because of you. Alright, let's burn through one, and you're gonna promise me that you'll drink and not cause a ruckus. Please."
"I umderstamd. But I don't have any cigar."
"Fuckin' hell."
It looked like an alcoholic who came in often. He caused nothing serious, but he formed relationships with the defense forces every time he came.
And the man had deep-red skin.
"A crimson-person? His skin is pretty red for one."
Nothing too abnormal for a diverse city like Tikan.
However, seeing that man, Lathry's expression was not great.
"Lord Jin… That man looks just like the natives I saw in the vision when I resonated with Euria."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, and that slurred speech… It means that he's not used to speaking this land's language."
There was only one way to find out.
"Why don't we show him the map? Let's take him to lunch as well."
As the man and the defense agent went to smoke, Jin followed them. The man lit a cigar. The officer took a puff as well, swore a little, then went back to work.
"Hey."
"A boy… Whomm are you?"
"Why don't we go eat something? I had quite a drink as well."
"Oh, soumds good. But I dom't got money."
"It's on me."
* * *
The man's eyes darted from place to place. The crimson-person's name was Alopan Tupan Meipan.
'Pan' for short.
'Boy… Why did you not tell me that the chief was coming? The chief is scary.'
Alisa wasn't really looking at Pan at all. She had already heard the story from Jin and Lathry.
"Help yourself, Pan. And stop getting caught. You're too innocent."
"I see this man a lot. He's always there when I go see mommy."
"Not… always."
Fwoooooo…
The delectable seafood stew was served steaming hot. Euria's and Pan's eyes glimmered.
"Thank you for the meal!"
The crimson-person no longer felt awkward and began to stuff himself. It seemed he had some pocket problems.
After an hour of eating…
"Uh… boy."
"Yes?"
"Can I take somme to-go? My sibling is humgry."
"Take as much as you need. But before you leave—Oh, they're here. Over here!"
Jin waved his hand at a very angry man who opened the door.
Murakan—the angry man—ran to Jin after getting the message 'Bring the map.'
"Now this… This is too far! I'm Murakan! Murakan! You can make the runt do this instead!"
"Sir Kashimir is always busy with his work, and Gilly does a lot of stuff. Enya has to study, and all you do is goof around. This is the least you could do."
"What about Quikantel?!"
"Excluding her."
Lathry fidgeted as he saw Jin reprimand Murakan. The young Runcandel snatched the map from the shadow dragon's hands and showed it to Pan.
"Pan, do you… know what this is?"
And as soon as he saw the map…
"Th-This… Where'd you get this?"
He looked very shocked.
—————