Chapter 481: Source of Pollution

Saul stood in the stairwell, watching the girl bound at the wrists, ankles, and mouth, convulsing in struggle.

As she struggled, her skin began to crack open bit by bit, revealing the black stains underneath.

Tiny black particles trickled down from the cracks in her skin, falling to the floor and quickly gathering into a small pile of pointed ash.

Saul, peering through the crack of the stairwell door, saw the man inside return to his room. Only then did he signal Little Algae to continue helping the girl upstairs.

From time to time, someone would pass by Saul and the girl in the stairwell, but none of them noticed anyone else walking nearby.

Saul followed the staircase all the way to the top floor—his temporary residence.

By the time they arrived, the girl’s skin had split and deformed severely from her struggles. Her entire body had all but turned into a charred lump of coal.

She looked like a scorched corpse.

“Master?” Agu and Morden came up to greet him.

They took the girl from Little Algae’s hands and easily restrained her, trapping her within a magic formation.

Next to that formation were five others—each containing wraiths Saul had previously brought back during his tasks as a Cleaner.

The charcoal girl became the sixth.

“Never expected Penny to be out and about every day without finding a single wraith, and yet one was just born right downstairs.”

Little Algae shook the ash off it’s body, then panted slightly as it slithered close to Saul.

Saul reached out and scratched under it chin. “Mm, this was your achievement.”

Little Algae twisted its body happily, like a dancing snake.

Saul looked at the unmoving, blackened corpse within the formation. He had encountered such charred remains once before, not long ago. That wraith had been taken away by Kent, who was in charge of task logistics at the time.

Saul hadn’t stepped forward back then since others were present. He hadn’t earned much from that mission—just a few magic crystals.

But he had paid close attention to the wraith’s traits. If he found a similar one later, he could exchange magic crystals or other magic materials for it.

Over the past few days, he had accumulated quite a few wraiths this way.

Which was how he came to realize the one he’d just obtained was identical to the one Kent had taken before.

Saul stored away the wraith, it wasn’t particularly useful, then set off for Bayton Academy.

All of these were things he had discovered openly. Others might have noticed too, so reporting it to the Dean wouldn’t seem out of place.

But on his way to the academy, he unexpectedly ran into Julie. Her face was grim, and she too was heading toward the academy.

“Saul.” Julie’s face brightened into a smile when she saw him. “What a coincidence—running into you again today. Are you still looking to trade for wraiths?”

Saul’s tendency to gather newly-born wraiths during missions and exchange them with others was no longer a secret. Some wizards, knowing he had rare magic materials, even sought him out to trade.

Saul looked at Julie and got straight to the point.

“Recently, I’ve encountered a newly-born wraith type. They all share the same characteristics, but they appear far apart from one another. So I suspect a new pollution source may have emerged.”

In Caugust City, wraiths usually appeared alone—typically transformed from ordinary people or soul-bearers exposed to magical or mental force far beyond their tolerance.

But on rare occasions, multiple similar wraiths would appear at once.

That usually indicated the presence of a pollution source extremely dangerous to ordinary people. If not eradicated, the same type of wraiths would continue to emerge endlessly.

While these wraiths weren’t especially powerful, they were lethal enough to ordinary folk. And since many industries in Caugust City relied on ordinary labor, any pollution source that caused mass casualties needed to be dealt with swiftly.

Those who reported a pollution source would be given extra rewards.

To Saul’s surprise, Julie’s expression grew serious after hearing his account. “You’ve seen the same kind of wraith too?”

The two compared notes and discovered the wraiths they had encountered were indeed identical.

They were all completely blackened, shriveled, and small—as if burned alive in fire.

But outwardly, they looked like normal people. Only when attacked would their skin crack open, revealing the black powder within.

What worried Saul even more was that the wraiths Julie and he had discovered were located in completely different parts of the city.

That meant the pollution source wasn’t fixed in one place, making it much harder to eliminate.

Both of them believed a dangerous pollution source had appeared, but when they went to Dean Pond, he seemed preoccupied and simply told them to report everything to Kent for handling.

Julie smiled sweetly and agreed on the surface, but once they left the academy, she warned Saul quietly, “If we hand this to Kent, it’ll probably go nowhere.”

Saul’s eyes flickered as he feigned ignorance. “You think Kent’s suspicious?”

Julie twirled a strand of her white hair between her fingers as if speaking casually. “Who knows? He’s been collecting wraiths too lately. When we go on joint missions, he’s always the one who ends up with them. And he never turns them in at the academy.”

What Kent was doing sounded a lot like Saul’s own activities.

Julie probably suspected that Kent wanted to stockpile wraiths, so he wouldn’t deal with a pollution source that could mass-produce them.

If they told Kent, he might even try to exploit it.

After reporting the matter to the academy, Saul instructed Little Algae and Penny to scout the area around their temporary home, checking for any more newly-born wraiths.

Little Algae found nothing, but Penny noticed a girl.

“…Her name is Izzy. She was the roommate of that wraith Brother Saul captured last time. I think there’s something off about her.”

Penny fluttered through the room, recounting her observations as she flew.

“I kept noticing a burnt smell around her. And her shadow—it keeps acting strangely.”

Saul paused mid-action while helping Ann adapt to her new soul weapon.

“What do you mean, strangely?”

Penny flew over, glanced at Ann—whose back now has four spider legs—then rose higher.

“Her shadow doesn’t match her body. Hee hee, there must be some pollution hiding in her body that hasn’t fully erupted yet.”

Saul thought for a moment and said to Ann, “You and Agu continue adapting to the new soul weapon. I’ll take Morden out for a look.”

Originally, Saul had intended to modify Ann after her scorpion tail needle was absorbed by the diary, but for some reason, Ann had begged him to continue using her for experimentation. She also adapted extremely well to the new soul weapon—Poison Spider—that Saul had crafted.

He didn’t know why, but could only guess it was because Ann was a fusion of multiple souls and thus could easily adapt to other soul forms.

And so, at present, only Herman remained lying in the diary—alone.

After assigning tasks to the others, Saul was just about to leave with his strongest combatant, Morden, to check on the girl named Izzy.

But just as he reached the door, the communicator in the room suddenly rang.

Saul picked it up, surprised to see the caller was Shaya—who had never once contacted him on his own initiative.

“Saul, I’ve found a new wraith, but it’s extremely dangerous. I can’t handle it alone.”

Saul replied, “In the past, didn’t you always abandon the mission when something like that happened?”

Preserving his life above all else was Shaya’s core belief.

Shaya fell silent for a few seconds after Saul’s words, then said softly, “I only contacted you and Julie. If you’re interested, come to my place within the hour.”

With that, he cut the transmission.

Morden, standing nearby, remarked, “He’s probably hiding something he couldn’t say over the communicator.”

Saul nodded. “If this isn’t a trap, then anything that can make someone that cautious take a risk… is more likely to be fatal than not.”

(End of Chapter)

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