Laws

The owl's brownish-yellow eye whites and black pupils seemed to glow faintly in the night. The way it looked at Lumian was closer to looking down on him.

Lumian was no longer as frightened as he had been the previous two times. He cursed in a low voice, "What are you staring at?

"If you've got the guts, say something!"

It wasn't that he was determined to offend the owl. He wanted to provoke it into revealing its true purpose. Otherwise, having it fly over every so often at night just to stare at him was rather unnerving.

The owl remained silent, not even letting out a hoot.

A few seconds later, it spread its wings again and flew into the depths of the night.

"You lunatic!" Lumian cursed, but he didn't dare let his guard down in the slightest.

He continued staring intently outside, carefully distinguishing every shadow in the darkness.

He remembered clearly that after the owl's last visit, he had seen Naroka's figure. Then, after daybreak, he had heard the news of Naroka's death.

I wonder if something similar will happen this time... Lumian observed his surroundings meticulously but found nothing unusual.

Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, draw the curtains, and lie back down on his bed.

In the deep darkness, Lumian kept his eyes open and considered his next steps:

I still don't know what that owl wants... It acts so strangely and mysteriously. It probably isn't anything good...

Forget about it. With things in the village the way they are, I need to get Aurora out of here as soon as possible anyway. After that, I refuse to believe it can follow us all the way to Trier!

If we still haven't received a reply telegram tomorrow, we'll have to force our way out of Cordu the morning after...

If there's a reply, Aurora and I can openly take the road out of the village and down the mountain. If there isn't, hmm... Tomorrow is the Lent Festival, and everyone will still be celebrating the day after. They won't pay much attention to anything else. I can have Aurora borrow Madame Pualis's pony and go for an outing at a nearby alpine pasture. That won't require going down the mountain, so it won't look like we're leaving Cordu. It shouldn't attract too much attention from the investigators. Once we're there, we can leave the mountains by a dangerous little trail...

It hardly even counts as a trail. It's broken in several places, and even the shepherds don't think you can use it to get down the mountain. But with my current abilities, getting through it won't be a problem at all. Aurora knows witchcraft and can fly a short distance, so she'll definitely have an even easier time than me...

There's a good chance this will slip past the investigators...

After becoming a Hunter, he could now do many things that had previously been impossible. This gave Lumian tremendous confidence, allowing him to quickly put together a plan.

With that, he felt certain of himself and grew considerably calmer. He slept soundly afterward.

Early the next morning, Lumian got up and busied himself in the kitchen.

The thought that he had become a Beyonder, and that he would soon be leaving the anomaly-ridden Cordou Village with his sister, put him in an excellent mood. He even felt the urge to hum.

By the time Aurora came downstairs, two bowls of noodles with meat sauce were already on the table.

"How did you know I was about to get up?" she asked, pleased.

Lumian smiled. "I only started cooking the noodles when I heard movement in the washroom."

At the same time, he muttered inwardly:

Sure enough, just like always, you spend a while in a daze after waking up. You didn't even think of that.

Aurora nodded. As she sat down at the dining table, she asked in a seemingly casual tone, "Did that owl fly over again in the middle of the night?"

"Yeah." Lumian knew his sister had noticed him looking out the window instead of sleeping in the middle of the night.

Fortunately, the owl had appeared. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known how to explain himself.

He couldn't very well say he had been too excited after becoming a Beyonder, could he?

If he did, another round of lectures from his sister would be inevitable.

However, Lumian didn't intend to keep this from his sister for too long, since it would affect Aurora's decisions on many matters.

He planned to tell her when they forced their way out of Cordu the morning after next, so she wouldn't have to divide her attention to look after him.

With the situation so urgent, Aurora wouldn't have time to lecture him then.

"What a strange owl..." Aurora frowned slightly, her face filled with puzzlement.

She couldn't figure out what the owl wanted either. Each time, it only came to take a look.

Lumian slurped up his noodles. Only when he had nearly finished did he say to Aurora, "If there's a reply telegram, we'll leave Cordou Village this evening and take our usual road down the mountain.

"If we don't receive one, go borrow Madame Pualis's pony tomorrow morning. We'll head to the nearest alpine pasture. I know a little trail there that leads down the mountain, and those investigators definitely won't know about it."

Aurora twirled her hair around a finger and thought it over carefully.

After a while, she smiled. "That works. This plan has a pretty good chance of succeeding."

Then she clicked her tongue. "My foolish little brother has grown up."

Lumian felt a surge of delight and was rather pleased with himself.

After breakfast, he used the excuse of checking whether Ava was ready for the Spring Spirit's blessing procession to leave the partly sunken two-story house, then headed straight for the old tavern.

Now that he had become a Beyonder, he was eager to learn more of the basics.

And that lady had said she would tell him!

Not far from the old tavern, Lumian saw a familiar face approaching.

It was Pons Béné, the Parish Priest's younger brother, wearing a cotton shirt and a dark blue short jacket.

All alone, huh... Remembering how Pons Béné and his thugs had chased him through half the village last time, Lumian couldn't help breaking into a brilliant smile.

Having just acquired supernatural powers, he was already itching to try them out and find someone to practice on.

"Hey, my bastard son," Lumian greeted him. "How dare you go out by yourself without your daddy's permission?"

He intended to enrage Pons Béné so that he would attack first instead of running away in advance.

Pons Béné turned toward the voice and saw him.

The thug's expression changed slightly. He immediately turned around and broke into a sprint.

With a rapid patter of footsteps, the fellow disappeared around a nearby corner as Lumian watched, a little dumbfounded.

He really runs fast...

Pretty alert, too...

Lumian made these two observations silently.

Even before becoming a Beyonder, he had believed he could easily defeat Pons Béné one-on-one, but Pons Béné probably thought the same about him. After all, they had never truly fought, and both were full of confidence. Who would have thought Pons Béné would choose to flee the moment he saw him today, as though he had encountered a wild beast?

He couldn't possibly know I secretly became a Beyonder last night... Could it be that he's so stupid and brainless that he's developed an animal's instincts instead, allowing him to smell danger? Lumian disparaged Pons Béné inwardly.

He didn't try to give chase, because he had regretted it as soon as he finished his "greeting":

The village was full of anomalies, and the situation was rather dangerous. Until they truly left, the fewer complications, the better!

If beating up Pons Béné caused the Parish Priest's group to launch their plan early and interfered with his and Aurora's escape, Lumian wouldn't even have tears left to cry.

Besides, the Parish Priest's group was shrouded in mystery. There might well be something strange about Pons Béné. Lumian felt that if he really fought him, he would very likely expose his identity as a Beyonder, which would cause trouble afterward.

"Becoming a Beyonder all at once made me a little too smug and reckless. I didn't control myself properly..." Lumian gave himself a thorough reprimand, then entered the old tavern.

He had intended to go straight upstairs, but he saw the lady sitting in a corner.

Today, she wore a pearl-gray dress with a light-colored soft hat. There was no food in front of her.

"Have you had breakfast?" Lumian walked over and sat opposite her.

"Not yet," the lady replied casually. "I arranged to have it with someone today. I'm still waiting for her."

Her? So, not me... Lumian looked around. Apart from the tavern owner, he saw no one else.

He turned back to the lady and said earnestly, "I've become a Hunter."

You should keep your promise and teach me more of the basics.

The lady wasn't surprised in the slightest. She smiled faintly. "You're in pretty good shape."

She paused, then said in a slightly ethereal voice, "What you need to learn at present are two laws and one method."

Why does this sound like studying physics... Lumian didn't dare say anything.

The lady continued, "For most Beyonders, this knowledge is extraordinarily precious. They would give everything they have in exchange for it. But for you, since fate has arranged it, I'll tell you for free."

Free things are the most expensive. Where will I end up paying the price? For some reason, Lumian felt a little weighed down.

After becoming a Hunter, his intuition and powers of observation had improved significantly. At this moment, he clearly sensed that indescribable, peculiar emotion appearing in the lady's eyes again. It was stronger than before, but he still couldn't identify what it was.

The lady sat up a little straighter.

"The source of all supernatural powers can be traced back to the original Creator. As a believer of the Eternal Blazing Sun, you should know very well that the Creator's eyes became the sun."

"Yes." Lumian had heard the Parish Priest preach about it.

"That is actually a symbolic description," the lady explained briefly. "In short, the original Creator created this world and quite a few deities, then ultimately broke apart, splitting into Beyonder characteristics of different pathways."

"Is that why they're called Divine Pathways?" Lumian asked, suddenly understanding.

The lady nodded gently.

"Yes. Sequence 0 of every pathway is equivalent to a true god. For example, Sequence 0 of the Bard pathway is called Sun-the Eternal Blazing Sun you believe in."

Every Beyonder can become a god if they reach the end? Lumian was utterly shocked.

At the same time, joy welled up within him, along with an inexplicable fear.

If he had been a devout believer of the Eternal Blazing Sun, he would already have accused the lady before him of blasphemy. Unfortunately, he wasn't. He was the sort who believed because everyone else did, and wouldn't mind not believing either.

He even pressed further. "What is Sequence 0 of the Hunter pathway called? What about the Mystery Pryer pathway?"

"Haven't I told you? Red Priest. That position is currently vacant." The lady shook her head with a chuckle. "Sequence 0 of the Mystery Pryer pathway is called Hermit. It's currently occupied by an evil god called the Hidden Sage, who greatly enjoys instilling knowledge into Beyonders of the same pathway. In professional terms, this is called 'knowledge pursuing people.' A large part of your sister's problems stems from this."

"So that's how it is..." Lumian began to hold a grudge against the Hidden Sage.

The lady brought the subject back on track.

"Precisely because all Beyonder characteristics come from the original Creator, they neither disappear nor increase in quantity. They only transform from one form into another, or transfer from one object to another.

"This is called the Law of the Indestructibility of Beyonder Characteristics."