"Since when has Hans been like this?"

"Since this morning. Unlike usual, he didn't come to work, so Master Seridan went to wake him up and found him."

At that moment, the door opened and Seridan came in.

"Master! Hans! Hans won't wake up!"

"I'm looking at him now."

"I hit him really hard but he won't open his eyes!"

"So that's why Hans's cheeks are swollen."

Rudger looked at Hans lying peacefully.

Because Seridan had hit his cheeks trying to wake him up, both sides of his face were quite swollen.

Although it was a comical appearance, Rudger stared at Hans with sunken eyes.

Seridan, standing nearby, asked with a worried voice.

"Master. What's going on here?"

"Someone seems to have pulled an interesting stunt."

"Who on earth? I'll immediately use bombs to...!"

"Calm down. That's something we need to find out from now on. However, the situation isn't very good."

He thought it was just happening within Theon.

But the fact that Hans was also affected meant that Leathervelk wasn't completely unaffected.

That meant...

It could affect places beyond Leathervelk as well.

"Hey."

"Yes, Owner."

Rudger spoke to the guide.

"Check immediately for people who have fallen asleep in Royal Street."

"People who have fallen asleep, sir?"

"Yes. This incident probably isn't limited to Hans alone. The same goes for other people, so find out as quickly as possible. It's an emergency situation."

"Understood."

The guide hurriedly went outside.

"Master. Will it be alright?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Hans. What if he doesn't wake up like this?"

"It'll be fine. He's not dead, he's just sleeping."

But how long would this really last?

Even if someone has fallen asleep, the human body needs to replenish nutrients necessary for survival.

Not eating food might be fine for now, but what about water?

And they couldn't expect 21st century modern medical care standards here either.

If they could hook up an IV, they could last longer than normal.

But even that would just be a stopgap measure. If they couldn't solve the fundamental problem, eventually, the body would reach its limit.

The body would die, and the mind would eternally wander in the dream world.

How would that be any different from an ordinary death?

"Master. Is there anything we can do?"

"We'll have to find out from now on."

Rudger said as he moved his feet.

"Summon the Owens."

* * *

"Hmm. First, there are no special biological symptoms."

Bellaruna shined a small light while turning up Hans's eyelids.

"Li-literally just someone who has fallen asleep. There's no major physical problem. If there is anything, it's..."

"The mental side, I assume."

"Th-that's right. At this rate, no matter what medicine we give, it won't help. If anything, if his body develops problems, other issues might arise."

Bellaruna clicked her tongue regretfully.

She had thought that if perhaps another method might work, she could try using medicine made from rare herbs collected while visiting the Elven Forest but at this rate, she wouldn't even have that chance.

"So, what should we do about this?"

Alex asked while burying himself in the sofa.

"The situation isn't good. After recognizing the situation and asking around, quite a few people have fallen into deep sleep like Hans."

Violetta confirmed that quite a lot of people in Royal Street had fallen asleep.

If it ended here it would be one thing, but the numbers were still increasing one by one.

Pantos stood quietly with his arms crossed, and Arpa was also being quiet.

"First, a similar incident is happening at Theon as well. Initially, I thought it was an indiscriminate terror attack targeting Theon, but seeing the same thing happening in Leathervelk, that doesn't seem to be the case."

Who on earth, and why did they do this?

Rudger asked Violetta.

"Violetta. What about the timing of when people fell asleep?"

"Most of them haven't come out since this morning."

"So essentially since today."

Theon was affected one day earlier.

Usually, magic activates first around the caster, so it seemed certain that the caster was in Theon where this incident occurred first.

Then the question was who that caster was.

"What about the list of people who entered Theon through Leathervelk?"

"I checked them all. Because it's recently the start of semester, many people were coming and going, so it took a while to sort through the list."

Although she said it took a while, finishing the check on everyone was quite remarkable.

The number of outsiders who went in and out of Theon in the past few days exceeded 3,000.

Even after filtering for people related to magic from all these people, there were still around 1,000.

"A thousand? That's a damn lot. When are we going to check all these?"

"We can narrow it down further from here. Since a caster capable of this level of magic must be highly skilled."

Narrowing it down that way brings it down to less than 50 people.

"Also exclude relatives of students currently enrolled at Theon."

"Ah, that makes sense. They wouldn't commit such terror attacks at an academy where their children attend."

"Unless it's the Liberation Army, those with status and family would never do such a thing."

After narrowing it down repeatedly, the final count was five people.

Among them, there was one person who had a record of entering Theon but not leaving.

"...This person is."

"Do you know them?"

Instead of answering Violetta's question, it was Arpa who responded.

"It's Gregorium. I saw him at the Night of Mystery. He's a mage from the old magic tower, and I remember he was a really nasty old man."

It was just as Arpa said.

The last remaining person on the list was Gregorium from the old magic tower.

"I heard he was expelled from the old magic tower because of what happened at the Night of Mystery."

"Perhaps, did he harbor ill feelings toward the Owner and do this?"

Violetta cautiously offered her opinion.

Gregorium's expulsion from the old magic tower was due to the incident at the Night of Mystery.

And it couldn't be said that Rudger had no influence there.

"But if it's about harboring ill feelings, the Yuta Kingdom can't be excluded from suspicion either."

Especially since Gregorium was even punched by Yekaterina in front of everyone.

If he were to hold a grudge, it would make more sense to head to the Yuta Kingdom rather than Theon.

"Isn't it because Theon is easier to target than the kingdom?"

Rudger shook his head and showed a negative reaction to Alex's opinion.

"Someone capable of doing something of this scale wouldn't calculate who's harder or easier to target. If someone enters a powder magazine with a torch, they'd rather want a bigger explosion."

"Hmm. That's true too."

"Moreover, there's something that bothers me. While Gregorium is certainly an excellent mage, at least as far as I know, he didn't possess such outstanding abilities."

Magic that makes an unspecified number of people fall asleep.

He had never heard or seen such a thing, and it wasn't something that could be learned immediately even if taught.

Everyone present had the same thought simultaneously.

"Gregorium is just a tail. There's something more behind this."

Rudger ordered everyone.

"All of you go around Leathervelk and inquire about suspicious people. It must be done as quietly and secretly as possible. I will chase after Gregorium in Theon. We need to at least catch the tail to get an outline of the body."

"Understood."

Just as everyone was responding in their own way.

-Yaaawn.

Seridan opened her mouth wide and yawned.

While it was a natural phenomenon that occurs when tired, in the current situation, Rudger particularly noticed that action.

"Seridan. Are you tired?"

"Yeah. Something feels strange."

"Did you stay up all night yesterday?"

Seridan shook her head left and right.

"No. I slept well yesterday. But why am I so sleepy~."

Seridan's voice gradually stretched out.

Her eyes were half-closed and her head swayed slightly up and down.

"Seridan? Seridan."

"Ah, uh."

Seridan could barely respond properly now.

Finally, her head fell sideways with a ‘thud.’

If Pantos hadn't caught her, she would have hit her head on the ground.

"..."

Seeing Seridan peacefully falling asleep, the expressions of the Owens members became serious.

Suddenly falling asleep as if collapsing when tired was absolutely not a normal situation.

It was the same phenomenon as Hans and simultaneously, it instilled great vigilance in everyone present.

None of them could be free from this strange phenomenon currently occurring.

* * *

"Master. It's me."

Rudger stood in front of Grander's room.

He hesitated about what to say to Grander.

Whether to ask for help regarding the strange phenomena occurring recently.

Whether to ask about the conversation with the priest of the Lumensis Order.

Or whether to apologize for being negligent by not showing his face too much lately.

Perhaps it was because there were mountains of things to handle immediately and future matters.

His head was complicated about what to say first.

In the end, after much deliberation, what Rudger said was something else.

"...I'll come back another time. Please rest well."

Just as he was about to turn around and leave, a voice came from inside the room.

"Remember. There is always a path even in dreams."

Rudger stopped his steps and turned around but Grander didn't say anything more than that.

‘A path even in dreams.’

Doesn't it seem like she knows everything about what Rudger is going through right now?

'No. If it's Master, it might be natural that she knows.'

He thought about seeking advice, but immediately realized it would be useless because that one line she just delivered was her first and last piece of advice.

It might sound like grabbing at clouds, but that was Grander's own way of consideration.

That meant that in a situation where the future was uncertain, her advice held value worth its weight in gold.

"Thank you."

Rudger conveyed his honest feelings.

There was still no answer.

"Don't worry. I'll solve it soon."

Rudger left the place, swaying the hem of his frock coat.

* * *

Time passed after the incident occurred.

The incidents of people falling asleep eventually began to spread throughout Leathervelk through word of mouth.

Articles about people suddenly falling asleep appeared on page 2 of the morning newspaper.

People knew that this article would grace the front page the next day.

The frequency of people not waking up from sleep was increasing day by day.

Even at Theon, the story eventually came out, and lectures were suspended.

"This is quite troublesome. To think it would affect even nearby cities to this extent."

Even Elisa, who would normally maintain composure, couldn't take the situation lightly this time.

This incident didn't end within Theon.

The fact that the effects reached Leathervelk meant that the scale of the situation was beyond imagination.

"Is Gregorium really the culprit?"

Elisa asked Rudger, who was continuing the search with her.

"Even if he's not the exact perpetrator, he must have played a role equivalent to it. At the very least, he'll be the center of this unidentifiable spell."

"We've searched Theon internally like combing through lice with people mobilized. The fact that we still haven't found him means he must be hiding very thoroughly."

Theon's large grounds acted as a poison at times like this.

But since they had checked almost all places worth searching, the remaining locations could be counted on one hand.

"What remains is the forest area."

"It's also a place rich in mana, so there's no worry about being caught immediately. However, it won't be where the spirits reside. If it were, the spirits would have sensed something."

"Then we'll find him soon."

Rudger and Elisa headed to the Forest of Silence.

It was a place with its own memories for both of them.

For Rudger, it was where he almost died from Elisa's attack because of the Wish Stone, and for Elisa, it was where annoying bugs had escaped.

But now the two were people pursuing the same goal and the Forest of Silence evoked yet another new feeling.

"It's very quiet."

That was Rudger's assessment upon seeing the eerie forest.

While fitting for its name as the Forest of Silence, originally the Forest of Silence was named for making those who entered become quiet.

There were no eerie laughs or presence of evil spirits to be felt.

"Seeing how surprisingly quiet it is, this seems to be the right place."

"Be careful. You never know when you might suddenly fall asleep."

"My, are you worrying about me right now? I've set up my own defenses against mental attacks, you know?"

Still pleased about receiving consideration, Elisa hummed a tune.

The Forest of Silence was vast.

To find Gregorium hiding there would require quite a lot of time but even without the interference of evil spirits, to find the hidden Gregorium..

"Mr. Rudger."

"Yes. I saw it too."

The two people saw the same thing simultaneously.

Beyond the forest where bare branches were thickly gathered the figure of one person was visible.

Although only the back view was visible, who else would be in the Forest of Silence in this situation?

The two people slowly approached Gregorium, the man who had his back turned to them.

Even though the distance was getting closer, he showed no signs of noticing their approach.

Just as they were about to launch a simultaneous surprise attack Rudger noticed something strange about Gregorium.

"Principal."

"What is it?"

"Gregorium isn't moving."

Rudger's sharp gaze examined Gregorium's appearance in detail.

Gregorium didn't have the very subtle signs of life that should appear when breathing in normal people.

"That's a corpse."