First of all, it should be noted that Naoki isn't someone who cares too much about his living environment. An old apartment, a cramped rental house—as long as it's livable, he can sleep there.
However, after Bersac brought him to what was called the "Hunting Lodge", he was truly stunned.
The level of disrepair was worse than Bersac's house. The wooden bed frame was clearly infested with fleas and mites, and the musty smell of dust hit Naoki's nose as soon as the door opened, almost making him forget he even had a nose.
'Even though I expected it, this is too much...'
Seeing Naoki's clearly uncomfortable expression and gaze, Bersac spoke with resignation, "The environment is a bit simple, my apologies. There are rarely any guests in this village, so this is the only place we have to accommodate visitors."
"It's fine, it's fine, I understand."
"Good. For dinner, I'll bring it over later. I'll take my leave now."
"Thank you."
After watching Bersac leave, Naoki let out a long sigh and placed his belongings on the floor of the hunting lodge. A cloud of dust immediately flew up—when was the last time this place was cleaned?
"Sigh, luckily I've learned a bit of Magecraft to make life easier. Otherwise, cleaning this up would be a hassle."
As he spoke, Naoki snapped his fingers, and a small spark ignited the oil lamp on the wooden table. Then, a slightly stronger gust of wind suddenly enveloped the blanket on the wooden bed, rolling up all the dust on it and blowing it out the window.
This was basic elemental Magecraft—basic application of wind and fire elements. Taught to him by Waver.
Naoki's magical attributes were fire and wind, and his Magecraft characteristics were transformation and release. In terms of compatibility, he was very well-suited for elemental Magecraft, which was why Waver taught him this first.
After cleaning up, he immediately lay down on the bed. Staring at the dimly lit ceiling, Naoki stretched vigorously. "From a cheap rental house, to an old British apartment, and now to this dilapidated wooden lodge... After a seven-hour car ride, I have to stay in a place like this. It's truly torture."
Besides, it seemed like there was no way to take a bath in this village. Even though it was late autumn, almost winter, and the temperature in Britain had already dropped significantly due to its geographical location, theoretically, a simple wash would suffice. But if possible, Naoki still wanted to take a proper bath.
Who could resist a hot bath in winter?
However, the current situation didn't allow Naoki to demand too much.
"Alright, before dinner arrives, let's think about the Blackmore Cemetery's request."
Turning over, he pulled out the mission letter from his backpack. Naoki read it again.
The content of the mission was roughly this—some time ago, about half a year back, the energy flow around Blackmore Cemetery suddenly became abnormal. Compared to other places, Blackmore Cemetery had relatively abundant Mana, so the abnormal energy flow also caused the Mana to become unstable, leading to some villagers experiencing health issues. Therefore, Bersac hoped that the Clock Tower would send someone to investigate the cause of the abnormal energy flow and restore it to normal.
This was a mission that could be said to be both easy and difficult.
Easy because, for Magus, this wasn't a particularly challenging task. After all, every Magus had their own workshop, and workshops with fixed locations were mostly built on energy flows. If the energy flow had issues, the operation of the workshop would also be affected. So, to ensure their workshops didn't run into problems, Magus more or less knew how to solve issues related to energy flows.
The difficult part was—Naoki had never built a workshop. He had no idea how to solve energy flow problems.
How to put it? It was quite embarrassing.
It was like a math problem. The teacher had just explained it yesterday, and everyone knew how to solve it, but one student didn't hear it because they skipped class, so they didn't know how to solve it—Naoki was probably in that kind of mindset right now.
"But... there's actually a way. I remember Waver mentioning that most abnormal energy flows are caused by 'blockages' and 'contamination.' As long as the object blocking the energy flow is cleared, or the source of contamination is removed, the energy flow will basically return to normal after some time."
With that in mind, all Naoki needed to do was investigate where the energy flow was problematic, then go there and resolve the issue.
Thinking about it, it seemed quite simple.
As for how to identify the problematic energy flow locations—a Magus's magic circuits were connected to the Mana source. If the Mana in the air was unstable, the magic circuits would also react negatively. Later, Naoki just needed to walk around the village. Wherever he felt uncomfortable, that's where the problem was.
Of course, this was just a traditional method. Unfortunately, Naoki only knew this way. Hopefully, it would work later.
"Magus."
Suddenly, Bersac's voice came from the door.
He had returned, holding a lamp and a plate of simple dinner in his hands, standing at the doorway.
"I've brought dinner. The conditions in this village are simple, my apologies."
"It's fine, I'm not picky about food. Thank you."
As he spoke, Naoki accepted the dinner—thick soup and stew. It was indeed very simple.
"After you finish eating, just leave the plate by the door. It'll be collected tomorrow morning. The three meals a day during your stay here will also be delivered. Is that acceptable?"
"That's perfectly fine."
Naoki's unexpectedly cooperative attitude made Bersac somewhat satisfied. Most Magus were people who didn't listen to others and acted as they pleased. Initially, Bersac thought Naoki might be like that too, but now it seemed...
"Also, if possible, I hope you can follow a few rules in this village."
"Rules...? Specifically?"
Bersac raised four fingers: "First, you must pay respects to the statue of the Virgin Mary. You've already done that."
"Second, do not go out at night. Third, do not approach the cemetery alone. Fourth, even if you enter the cemetery with others, never go near the swamp. I hope you can abide by these rules."
"Strange rules. Makes me feel like I'm in a horror movie. But alright, I understand. I'll follow these rules."
"Thank you for your understanding. Then I won't disturb you further. Have a good night."
After saying that, Bersac disappeared from Naoki's sight again.
Reflecting on what Bersac had just said, Naoki leaned against the doorframe and laughed. "This village really is full of mysteries..."