"Huh."
Ritzy looked at the ruffian's crumpled corpse on the ground with a slightly surprised face. It was almost like he hadn't expected that to happen.
"Huh, indeed—No, wait! Kiddo!"
"Yeah?"
Mognog felt like hundreds of words were struggling to leave his mouth at once, and while he didn't have a tongue, his tongue was in knots trying to make all those sounds. But eventually, he settled on the most emergent word.
"Run!"
"Right."
The dead ruffian hadn't been alone, and while he seemed to have been the strongest, the others probably weren't that far behind. They also wouldn't be that easy to kill, especially now that the first one was dead.
"Where to?"
"Main street. Lose those guys in the morning crowd and leave the city."
"Sounds good."
Ritzy began running but stopped after one step.
"Can't forget this."
"Kiddo, we don't have time!"
"No worries. I'm getting pretty good at this."
Mognog sighed.
"Deathbed!"
'Why did he have to shout it out?'
Mognog knew Ritzy didn't need to chant to cast Deathbed, but he still insisted on doing it every now and then.
'He might like the dramatics a little too much.'
Mognog didn't say anything else while Ritzy sent the ruffian underground atop a Deathbed before running.
The other thugs-for-hire were about to catch up, but Ritzy managed to slip out of the alley before they could box him in the way the first one had done.
Mognog didn't need to say anything after that since Ritzy knew what to do and how to do it. He remembered where the main street was and quickly sprinted through the winding streets until he reached it.
Once there, Ritzy wasted no time nicking a hat from a nearby person to cover his white hair before disappearing in the crowd like a drop of water in a pond.
The group of rough-looking men spread out like a net and grabbed the hats of everyone they could see, but Ritzy had disappeared.
"One could almost think you've done this before, Kiddo."
Ritzy also managed to leave through the city gates before that Shopkeeper Mercel or his thugs could post anyone at it. However, merely leaving the city wouldn't be enough. The Little Specter Mana Method still had tracking magic on it.
Mognog didn't know how the magic of the Killgara continent worked, but they could either get rid of the book or the magic, or get out of the magic's range.
Getting rid of the book wasn't an alternative if Ritzy had anything to say about it, and neither of them knew how to go about getting rid of the magic. That meant their only option was to hope that the magic had a limited range and continue to run.
"Yeah. It's not the first time I've been unjustly accused of thievery. Can you believe it?"
"...Yeah. Unbelievable."
Mognog reluctantly agreed to Ritzy's indignancy.
Ritzy and Mognog followed the road out of Benin at marching pace while looking back to see if they had any pursuers. Apparently, none of the ruffians knew he had left town, which was a good sign. Maybe.
Once there was no one in view either ahead of or behind them, Ritzy and Mognog turned to the side and headed straight for a nearby forest.
"Kiddo, are you sure it's a good idea to enter the forest? Unlike Banta, it's not covered in rain summoned by a Grandmaster. Drychness' mana will also promote the growth of monsters and beasts. It will be a lot more dangerous than the road."
"Don't you mean more exciting?!"
Mognog's words of caution didn't even make Ritzy lose half a pace, and he stomped toward the forest with eager steps.
"No. I mean more dangerous. Ritzy, you got lucky with that Apprentice back there, but there's a world of difference between humans who have let down their guard and wild beasts."
"You worry too much, Moggy."
"I think I worry just about the right amount. I've gotten attached to the mortal plane again. It would be a shame to go back just because my master is reckless."
"Don't you trust me, Moggy?"
"I would trust you a whole lot more if you got rid of that nickname."
"No can do. Besides, things will be alright."
Ritzy held up the manual in front of Mognog.
"I'll break through and become an Apprentice real quick with this, and then I'll either use the pile of bones or that poor sod that died in an accident just now to summon something that can fight."
Mognog sighed.
"Alright."
Instead of trying to make Ritzy reconsider his choices, he should do his best to make sure Ritzy's choice is the right one by supporting him until he succeeds.
"Let's find shelter and do that first. It will be easier to run from the Benin bastards if you're an Apprentice, granted they continue chasing you."
"I have a feeling they will."
"You do?"
"Yep. This thing's been growing hot in the corner."
"Huh?"
Mognog looked at the manual. Of course, since he didn't have any hands, he couldn't sense anything. But there was no logical reason for the manual to grow hot.
"Do you mean that you can sense the tracking magic being activated?"
"I guess."
"How?"
"Beats me."
Ritzy shrugged, not really caring about Mognog's incredulity.
"Kiddo, tracking magic is supposed to be covert, at least where I'm from. If someone takes something secretly pinned with tracking magic, the user of the spell will track down and ambush them to increase their odds of success. If that Grandmaster can summon a week-long rainstorm, I have trouble seeing how the magic in this place would be so undeveloped as to make tracking magic that alerts the thief that they're being tracked."
"Maybe it's the distance? The mana has to work harder to convey information over such a large distance."
"Hmm."
Mognog lamented the fact that he wasn't an expert on magic. If he was, he might have been of more help, even if the magic he used was different from the magic of the Killgara continent. What good was a warrior without a body?
"Let's put that aside for now, kiddo."
"Okies."
"How long do you think it will take you to become an Apprentice, kiddo?"
"Dunno."
"Approximately."
"Dunno."
"Alright. Find shelter and get cracking after surrounding yourself with the Deathbeds. They should be good enough at scaring away others."
"Yep."
After walking through the forest, which was a lot more pleasant compared to doing so during endless rainfall, for almost an hour, Ritzy found an old and large uprooted tree that would provide cover on three sides, thanks to its crooked trunk and root umbrella.
He didn't waste any time. Ritzy pulled the four Deathbeds out of the ground and set three of them in front of himself and the fourth on top of the trunk to give him some protection and cover from beings that could climb atop the trunk. The tree was almost Ritzy's height in diameter, but there were a lot of beasts agile enough to leap that kind of hurdle.
Hopefully, Talia's deathly countenance would be enough to dissuade any such foolish beings.
With the Deathbeds and Mognog in place to ward him, Ritzy sat down cross-legged with the Little Specter Mana Method in hand. Eager and full of anticipation, Ritzy flipped it open and began reading the method, which cut to the chase.
Little Specter immediately started detailing how Ritzy should control and move his mana to condense an initial vessel for his mana.
"Wait a minute, kiddo."
Ritzy didn't even hear Mognog talk since he was so entrenched in reading the manual.
"Kiddo!"
"..."
"Kiddo!"
Ritzy reluctantly looked up as Mognog continued whisper-shouting.
"What?"
Ritzy glared at Mognog, upset at being stopped from learning the method.
"Let me see."
"Fine."
"Also, I was wondering whether we should try to combine the methods I know with the ones from this continent. Or at least compare them to see which one is better. I forgot about that in the haste of the situation."
"Can't we do that later?"
"I think we should at least check it out before you break through and something irreversible happens."
Ritzy sighed and got up to move Mognog back to his shoulder.
"Alright, fine. But be quick. It's stifling."
Mognog wondered what was stifling but let it go since he had to hurry.
He skimmed through the Little Specter Mana Method quickly. Ritzy couldn't help but do the same, even if he couldn't practice it at the same time. But maybe it was a good thing that he read it in its entirety before he started using it.
"Hmm."
Mognog let out a thoughtful hum as Ritzy closed the last page.
"What? Didn't you say we needed to hurry? Moggy?"
"I think it's possible, kiddo."
"What's possible?"
Ritzy crossed his arms and huffed. He was ready to become an Apprentice. It even felt like his mana was on the verge of bursting if he didn't do something soon.
Mognog smiled widely. No, he didn't.
"You are going to be so fucking strong, kiddo!"