“Did I really say that to Laila?”

Laila made a bewildered expression and looked up at Marnak this time. He seemed to flinch a little, but it didn’t matter.

“You heard it, didn’t you? Eustar told me that. He said it wasn’t a good idea. You heard it, right?”

Marnak didn’t answer, only alternating his gaze between the two like a poor, confused puppy.

Laila was on the verge of losing her mind! Lately, she had often wondered if something was wrong with her head —ever since meeting Eustar— but today she truly felt as if she were possessed by a ghost.

Eustar carefully grasped Laila’s shoulders and looked straight into her face.

“Laila, was it definitely my voice?”

“I’m telling you, it was! It was your voice. It was so clear that I could never confuse it with anyone else’s.”

Eustar was about to say something but changed his mind. He couldn’t make Laila understand everything right now. Maybe someday it would be possible, but honestly, even if that time came, he didn’t want to talk about it if he could avoid it.

“First, calm down, Laila. It could be an aftereffect of portal sickness. Sometimes… it happens. Some people see hallucinations or hear things. Right, Marnak?”

Marnak was flustered. People sometimes vomited or experienced dizziness due to motion sickness, and in severe cases even fainted, but he had never encountered anyone complaining of auditory or visual hallucinations.

But looking at Eustar’s expression, it didn’t seem like the right atmosphere to say ‘no.’

“Y-yes. That’s right. It happens to some people sometimes.”

“Really?”

At Laila’s question, Marnak hastily nodded and turned away, pretending to examine the man in the room. Then he clasped his hands over his chest and offered a short prayer of repentance.

Eustar said,

“If we can’t break the curse on that man right away, the first thing to do is to check the sync. If possible, we should find out the cause and eliminate it. Is that okay?”

He turned towards the man, and Laila followed suit.

The man beyond the glass had now stopped scratching his knees and was plucking out his hair, one strand at a time. And he was laying them out in a row on the floor.

We need to do something quickly. Laila thought. If they didn’t remove the curse on that man, or the source of that curse, he would surely die here.

“…Alright. I’m okay. Like you said, it was…”

“It was an auditory hallucination. Believe me. If you’re not feeling well, we can take some medicine before we leave.”

Laila made a gagging gesture.

“I’m absolutely not taking that.”

Elsik, where the Tentinella Branch 4 Adiak was located, was a port city in the western part of the Sierrow Kingdom. As they left the branch, a strong sea breeze blew, bringing a rancid, bitter, and salty smell.

“What’s this smell?”

Laila asked, furrowing her brow. Eustar suddenly remembered that she had only lived in the mountains of Rigikerus.

“It’s the smell of the sea, Laila. The smell of salt. There’s probably also the smell of dried seaweed.”

“I’ve never seen the sea before. I’ve only heard about it in stories.”

“Once we finish our work, we’ll be able to leisurely enjoy the sea.”

Eustar spoke as if it were a good thing, but for Laila, it wasn’t something to particularly look forward to. Above all, the smell was too pungent. She suddenly missed the earthy scents and fresh plant smells she could smell in the mountains.

“Where’s the sync?”

“Ah, right. Laila. Can you hold out your hand?”

It was an unexpected request, but Laila obediently extended her hand to him.

Eustar looked at the back of her hand for a moment, then chuckled softly and lightly kissed her knuckles. Then he carefully took her hand and turned it so her palm was facing up.

“You could have said palm from the beginning.”

When Laila said this flatly, Eustar stared at her with amused eyes.

Eustar asked,

“Did you dislike my kiss that much?”

“That’s…”

Laila, who was about to answer, closed her lips tightly and then briefly replied, “That’s not it.”

For a moment, she thought she might be lying, but on second thought, it didn’t seem so. What’s the big deal about kissing the back of a hand or fingers? Besides, it wasn’t the first time.

Eustar wore an expression as if he could see right through Laila’s thoughts, then gently placed something round and flat on her palm.

The top was sealed with a hard glass cover, and inside were numerous finely engraved markings.

And there were five black needles of different lengths. At first glance, it looked similar to a clock or compass, but its purpose was clearly different.

“Is this a magical tool too?”

“That’s right.”

Eustar answered simply and tapped the glass cover with his fingertip. The thin needles trembled as if alive, each with its own movement.

Laila said,

“It’s not a compass, I suppose.”

“No, it’s not. But it’s a similar object. While a compass is used to find direction, this is used to find syncs. It’s a magical tool called a seeker.”

“Seeker.”

Laila, echoing his words, looked down at the seeker placed on her palm. The five needles pointed in different directions and remained still. Even when she shook it slightly, they didn’t move at all.

“This is yours now, Laila. I’ll slowly prepare other things you’ll need as well.”

“How do I use this?”

“It’s simple. Do you see the small button on top? Yes, that silver button. Press it.”

Laila did as he instructed. The button was stiff, but when she applied force, it soon clicked and went in. Surprisingly, the needles that hadn’t budged suddenly started spinning rapidly!

“Now wait a moment. These will find the energy of the sync. It will prioritize finding the closest sync first.”

Laila asked,

“Why are the needles different lengths?”

“The energy of syncs has different wavelengths. Some emit long waves, some short waves. We’re still researching this, so it’s hard to explain exactly, but… anyway, each of those needles detects a different wavelength. However, when three or more needles point to the same place, there’s definitely a sync there.”

The seeker’s needles continued to spin. For a moment, Laila worried what if the needles never stopped. Just as she suffered terrible motion sickness every time she traveled through a portal, what if she couldn’t handle this magical tool properly…?

But that didn’t happen. The five needles, starting from the shortest, began to slow down gradually, and eventually stopped one by one, pointing to a single point.

“They’ve stopped.”

Laila looked up.

“It’s northwest from here.”

Eustar took a monocle out of his jacket pocket and put it on. Laila stared at him as he carefully touched the ornament attached to the monocle and said,

“You said you need that to see ghosts properly, right? That must be a magical tool too. Does it have a name?”

“Of course. It’s called the Tilar Augusy. But no one calls it by that name.”

“Can it only see ghosts?”

“That’s its original purpose… But members with medium abilities can use the monocle to approach the ‘core’ and attempt overlaying. But it’s not an easy task. If you’re not careful, you can suffer internal injuries from the rebound. No one likes having their memories forcibly examined. Even if they’re a ghost.”

Laila’s eyes flickered strangely. According to him, she was the only one who could freely see the core of souls and even perform overlaying without that monocle.

Now she understood why Eustar needed her. Without a pure and powerful medium like herself, dealing with the ghosts created by syncs would be no easy task.

Eustar said,

“Look at the needles of the seeker, Laila. What color are they?”

Laila lowered her head to look at the seeker on her palm and was surprised. The tips of the needles, which were clearly black at first, had changed to a faint yellow color.

“They’re yellow.”

“Yellow, hm. That’s fairly good. Sometimes they turn white, which means the distance is quite far. Yellow means it’s within walking distance. Let’s look around and try to find it.”

Eustar, who was about to move, added with an “Ah” sound,

“Marnak said that this sync seems to be small in scale but has a strong influence in various places. So be careful, Laila. Always stay by my side. If that’s difficult, at least keep me in your sight at all times. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“I know. I understand.”

Laila answered. Her voice was clear, but for some reason, her own words sounded meaningless and distant, as if in a dream.

The unfamiliar pungent smell of the seaside, the complex streets… Was it because of these things? Suddenly, everything felt like it was floating away, losing its sense of reality.

“These damn brats! Can’t you play quietly!”

Suddenly, a booming voice struck Laila’s back.

Turning around, she saw a woman with her headscarf askew, hurling incomprehensible curses at children who were running away giggling. At the woman’s feet, withered apples were rolling around.

“Damn kids.”

The woman grumbled as she picked up the apples one by one and put them back in the basket. Five or six children ran far away, cackling in shrill voices. They scattered here and there, bumping shoulders or bodies against each other.

“Here you go.”

Laila picked up an apple that had rolled nearby and handed it to the woman. She took the apple with a grumpy face, but in complete contrast to her expression, she spoke in a soft voice.

“Thank you, kind miss.”

“It’s nothing.”

As Laila was about to turn away after giving a brief smile, she noticed the woman’s skirt. There was a dirty handprint on one side of the apron.

“Looks like the kids played a prank.”

The woman looked down at her apron and exclaimed, “Ah!” Then she grumbled and haphazardly dusted off her apron.

“Those damn little rascals. I should have caught them and spanked their bottoms so they couldn’t sit down. This was definitely on purpose. They must have had their hands covered in mud, pretended to bump into me, and left this mark.”