HPxLOTM: A Wizard's Path to Divinity

[Frozen Town]

Beyond the town's border, the howling wind swept up flurries of snow, painting the entire world a stark silvery white.

But within the town itself, trees stood lush and blooming flowers filled the air, forming a jarring contrast to the desolate cold outside.

Grumble~

Klein clutched his stomach.

The gnawing hunger was growing unbearable.

He hadn't eaten in a long time.

Had it not been for his enhanced physical resilience after becoming a Magician, his old body from when he'd first transmigrated would've likely collapsed by now.

He forced himself to look away from the lavish dinner spread just a dozen meters away—an entire table laid out as if awaiting guests.

But he didn't dare touch it.

Because the yellow crystal dangling from his finger was spinning rapidly in a clockwise direction, each turn silently screaming the same thing:

Danger.

Fors held a cigarette between her fingers, taking a deep sniff beneath her nose before reluctantly tucking it back into her cigarette case.

It was her last one.

As long as it stayed in the case, at least she still had hope.

"It's almost sundown. We'll have to call it for today."

She glanced up at the reddening sunset on the horizon, annoyed and restless.

How she missed her old life—lounging around on the sofa, spacing out in peace.

These past few days, she'd gotten more exercise than she had in months.

This eerie little town…

Though every resident wore a disturbingly forced smile during the day, it still looked like a peaceful, idyllic place.

But once night fell, those residents would transform—into scaled beasts that began hunting them.

Some of the monsters resembled hyenas covered in scales.

Others looked like fish demons crawling out of the abyss.

Some were piles of scaled sludge, while others were like giant lizards.

The first night, the two of them were torn to shreds within thirty minutes of the chase.

In other words, they died.

But in this strange place, death didn't mean the end.

It simply meant losing part of your memories.

Fors had only lost some blurry childhood memories.

But Klein…

He'd already begun to forget details from before his transmigration.

That thought alone chilled him to the bone.

He immediately tried to summon Mr. Azik's messenger for help—

No response.

Then he tried summoning Edward's messenger—

Still nothing.

He thought of praying to himself, reaching out through the Tarot Club.

But even after countless divinations atop the grey fog, he still couldn't pinpoint where he was.

If "The Blessed" Klein didn't know, fine.

But if even The Fool didn't know, that would completely shatter the mysterious and omniscient image he had built.

So he had to hold back, for now.

On the second day, using his divination abilities, they figured out a survival method:

If they could infiltrate a house before sundown, kill the resident and replace them, they could safely stay the night.

Of course, the next morning, the resident they killed would rise again, completely unharmed.

With the same grotesque smile.

Warmly welcoming them as if nothing had happened.

On the third day, they scoured every corner of the town—

Still nothing.

Now it was day four. Still nothing.

But after enduring life-and-death scenarios together several times, the two had developed a strong synergy.

Klein swallowed hard, trying to trick his body into feeling full.

"If this keeps up, we won't last much longer…"

He pulled out a map they had found in one of the houses and laid it flat on the floor.

"Have you noticed? The area shown on this map is bigger than what we've actually seen."

Fors pointed to a location marked "Church" on the map.

"Right. But up until now, we haven't seen any sign of a church in the entire town."

"I think that church is the key to getting out of here."

"But how are we supposed to find a place that doesn't exist?"

Klein shook his head.

"Maybe it only doesn't exist during the day. We've never searched the town after nightfall."

"But those monsters…"

Fors froze mid-sentence. Realisation dawned.

"You're saying…the monsters exist to keep people from reaching the church?"

"Let's start by heading to the spot on the map closest to it."

——

As the final ray of sunlight dipped below the horizon, darkness swallowed the town.

Shrill howls echoed from every direction.

All over the streets, strange, scaly monsters dripped with viscous water and came in all shapes and sizes.

Their dull yellow vertical pupils lacked clarity, relying mostly on scent and sound to locate prey.

Fors crouched at the window, watching the beasts stalk past in the streets below.

Behind her, a man and woman lay in a pool of blood on the floor—dead for some time.

Even in their final moments, they had worn smiling faces.

"How's it looking?"

Ironically, Fors was more alert now than before. Her thoughts were razor sharp.

This always happened—when she procrastinated to the deadline on her novels, her focus would skyrocket in the final stretch, and she would write like the wind.

Klein leaned back in the chair, eyes closed as he divined.

After several fragmented visions, he opened his eyes.

"The location of the church has changed. To get there, we'll have to cross most of the town."

"Tch. Of course it wouldn't be easy. So what now?"

Klein pulled out the dowsing crystal and began murmuring rapidly:

"The house on the left is empty."

"The house on the left is empty."

---

After the seventh repetition, the yellow crystal began spinning clockwise.

"Let's go. Use your Door Opening ability."

Fors grabbed his arm and sprinted toward the wall on the left.

Just before impact, she muttered:

"Open."

Their bodies turned ethereal and phased through the wall, landing in the neighbouring house.

It was empty—just as Klein had predicted.

He explained:

"Those monsters are the townsfolk transformed. Since most of them are wandering outside, their houses should be empty."

He laid out the map.

"Plus, this town is laid out in a perfect grid. The houses are side by side. I'll divine which ones are empty, and you phase us through—bit by bit, we close in on the church."

"And if all the nearby houses are occupied…by monsters?"

Klein shrugged.

Though exhaustion dulled his eyes, his gaze remained resolute.

"Then we fight."

Truthfully, with his current power, killing a few monsters wouldn't be hard.

The problem was—

Making too much noise would draw the entire horde.

He traced the symbol of the Evernight Goddess over his chest and whispered:

"Let's hope our luck doesn't run out."

———

After wandering around the whole day, it was already 8 PM when Edward finally returned to the small villa.

When it came to Klein, he truly had gone above and beyond.

To settle dinner quickly, he boiled a pack of instant noodles he had brought from the Harry Potter world.

Lilith joined in for a few bites and began seriously considering the idea of creating "instant mouse."

—

By around 10 PM, Audrey arrived.

"Ughhh, I'm so exhausted…"

She flopped face-first onto Edward's bed without the slightest concern for ladylike manners, looking as if she'd been utterly drained.

"What happened?" Edward asked.

Audrey stared blankly at the ceiling.

"I spent the entire morning packing," she said lifelessly.

"Huh? Don't you have maids for that?"

"Some things…I can't let them see," she said, wrinkling her nose. "Don't interrupt."

"By the time I was finally done in the afternoon and ready to relax…the Psychology Alchemists called for a salon."

She propped herself up with her arms behind her and sat up.

"Today's topic was—witnessing the magic of hypnosis."

"But didn't you tell me before," Edward asked, "that whenever you attend anything from the Psychology Alchemists, I should pray to The Fool for a blessing?"

Audrey's eyes lit up.

"Yes! And The Fool actually sent down a blessing through an angel! An angel, Edward! I've only ever read about them in books!"

She looked like she was still starstruck by the experience.

"And then?" Edward prompted.

"And then…they had all of us experience what it's like to be hypnotised."

She sighed helplessly.

"But with an angel of The Fool protecting me, obviously I couldn't be hypnotised. So I had to pretend I was."

"And when they snapped their fingers to 'lift the hypnosis,' I had to act like I didn't remember anything. I had to pretend to be amazed, shocked, full of wonder…"

"Thank the gods I've had some training for this kind of thing. You know…like how noble ladies are taught to faint gracefully when faced with social embarrassment."

Edward burst into laughter.

"Hahaha!"

"Anyway, I really don't want to go through that again."

Audrey then looked at him and asked:

"What about you? What did you do today?"

Edward's expression turned serious.

"Mr. World has gone missing. I spent the whole day investigating it."

"Huh?"

Ten minutes later, after hearing the full story, Audrey frowned.

"And what did Mr. Fool say?"

"He said Klein is fine."

Audrey immediately smiled in relief.

"If Mr. Fool says he's fine, then he definitely is. Edward, maybe you're overthinking things a bit too much."

Sigh…Miss Justice, even Mr. Fool himself isn't as confident in himself as you are in him.

———

The next morning.

In the small villa in Backlund's Empress Borough.

Edward prayed to The Fool again at the designated time, then sat on the sofa in deep thought.

Lilith lay nearby, crunching on her dried mouse snack. The smell was so 'enticing' that Edward couldn't help glancing at her a few more times.

She suddenly tilted her head with a playful sparkle in her eyes and asked sweetly:

"Why are you staring at Miss Lilith? Want half my mouse?"

"…Thanks, but I'll pass."

Knock, knock, knock.

A knock echoed at the door.

"Dunn."

The Captain's voice was as calm and composed as ever.

Edward opened the door.

In stepped a man in a grey wool coat, a gentleman's hat on his head, and a pipe in his mouth—classic detective attire.

He removed the hat and took out his pipe, getting straight to the point with a serious expression.

"I followed up on the leads you gave me yesterday."

With his pipe still in hand, Dunn continued:

"I found that Klein isn't the only one looking into the missing maid—there's at least one more group involved. They appear to be from MI9, Loen's military intelligence service."

Edward's eyes widened in surprise.

Why is MI9 involved in this too?

Dunn went on, "Also, when I expanded the search to include recent missing persons in Backlund, I discovered something quite interesting."

"Excluding cases related to gang violence or kidnapping, there have been dozens of people who simply vanished without a trace—just like Klein."

"The Church has already taken notice of this. But due to lack of clues—and deliberate suppression by the Church and the government—it hasn't caused any public panic."

"All of those missing people disappeared shortly after leaving Backlund…except for one case."

He paused.

"That one person is a fairly well-known novelist. Her name is Fors Wall."

"???"

Edward blinked, unsure if he had misheard or if it was a coincidence.

Fors Wall?

Miss Salted Fish?

"She disappeared yesterday morning after going out to buy cigarettes. According to the shop owner, she took a pack of smokes without paying. If they hadn't known each other for so long, the owner would've thought she was trying to sneak a freebie."

A novelist.

Chain smoker.

No doubt about it.

It's her.

———

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