Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

Luna and Tyr walked a short distance when they were met by Yorick Vensta, the captain of the royal guard of the Duchy of Hired, who was leading a team of heavily armored guards.

Yorick was rather slender, and wore exquisite golden armor that reflected a dazzling light in the sunlight.

He approached the two men, raised his hand to remove the golden helmet from his head, and handed it to a guard for safekeeping.

Then, looking at the two guests, he slowly said:

"Thank you for coming, two great wizards. I will now take you to see His Majesty the King. Please forgive him, as His Majesty suffers from a leg ailment and is unable to come out to greet you two distinguished guests."

His tone was soft and his eyes were full of fatigue, making it hard to believe he was a great knight.

"It's alright," Tyre said calmly.

Mortals and wizards are no longer two different species; even kings and great knights among mortals must treat even the first-class apprentice with utmost respect.

Meanwhile, some wizard apprentices who have no hope of advancement will choose to become nobles in mortal empires, enjoying a life of luxury and spending the rest of their lives there.

However, there are also many people among mortals who have the qualifications to be wizards. In order to ensure a sufficient supply of new wizards, the various academies will arrange some apprentices to solve serious incidents in the mortal empires within the jurisdiction of the academy that require wizards to solve, so as to ensure the population of the country.

The group arrived at the royal palace, where two rows of fully armed knights stood neatly in the spacious and magnificent palace.

Seated on the innermost golden throne was an imposing old man. Judging from his robust physique and the weathered cross-shaped longsword beside him, the old man was once a powerful knight.

Unfortunately, a metal frame replaced the lower half of his flesh and blood body, and metal gears meshed tightly with the golden throne. This mutilated body severely affected the dignity of a ruler of a country.

Upon seeing the newcomer, a hint of joy appeared on the old king's aged face, and hope rekindled in his eyes. He grasped the lever beside his throne and began to shake it rapidly.

As the joystick swung, the gears on the metal bracket began to work, the sound of the parts rubbing together rang out, and the metal bracket gradually stood up, helping the old king's body to slowly rise.

"Welcome, two great wizards. My name is Tom Hilled, and I am the acting administrator under Lord Zoma, managing this duchy. You must be tired. I have prepared a banquet..." Tom said respectfully.

"No, the sooner we finish this, the better. My name is Luna, and this is Tyr. We are wizard apprentices at the Academy of Nature Speakers. This is our mission certificate." Luna picked up a maple leaf with a mark on it.

"Yes, gentlemen, let me first report the whole story..." After confirming that the visitor was alright, Tom began to report the situation.

……

Rensley was known as Maple Leaf City because of its vast maple forests. After Tom Sheridan led his troops to defeat the enemy, he established Rensley as his capital and prepared to spend the rest of his life there.

However, recently, a large number of residents of Maple Leaf City have gone missing, and the missing persons are all able-bodied men. This has greatly reduced the country's labor force, causing widespread panic.

Fortunately, they all disappeared at night, so the residents didn't stay home to work. Yorick and Fender led patrols of the city every day, but people still went missing, and even some guards disappeared.

Tom had no choice but to seek help from the Natural Speakers Academy.

After the questioning, the two prepared to find the victims to understand the specific situation. The old king was very cooperative and even asked Yorick to lead people to assist them in the investigation.

This mission to Rensley was a mandatory assignment for Luna. She was already a third-class wizard apprentice, one year older than Tyr, who was accompanying her.

The two arrived at the scene of the first incident. The missing person was a retired guard. He was a full-fledged knight and had not slacked off in his training after retiring, still practicing his breathing techniques.

Afterwards, the two asked many residents, and found that most of the missing people were young and strong men.

……

"What are your thoughts?" Tyre asked.

"At first, because all the missing persons were men, and all of them disappeared at night, I assumed they were creatures like Night Bride or succubi, but..."

Luna took a sip of water and continued:

"But afterwards, most of the missing knights were retired knights, and later they even captured guards directly. This makes one wonder if the murderer needed a large amount of flesh and blood containing magic to accomplish their goal."

"A nighttime monster that is advancing in rank?" Tyr guessed.

Most wild, unintelligent magical beasts rely on eating to strengthen their vital organs and advance in rank.

"Impossible, it would be much easier to just eat it directly, but there was no blood at the scene, unless it was swallowed whole, but the size definitely doesn't match."

"I remember they said the door was opened from the outside," Tyre suddenly remembered.

"That could be a humanoid demonic creature or a dark wizard... Actually, there's another possibility—a flesh ritual!"

……

That night, Yorick led his patrol through the city as usual, while Tyre and his companion remained hidden in the shadows...

5:

"Report: No one is missing yet."

"This is already the latest possible time."

"I guess that monster knows that two great wizards have come here, so it doesn't dare to come anymore."

"Sigh, I wonder when I'll be able to get a good night's sleep."

"The one who has worked the hardest is Lord Yorick; he hasn't slept a wink every night."

"..."

Inside a room in the royal palace.

"Still no movement?" Tyre asked.

"The large amount of tracking powder we secretly scattered while questioning residents in various places was not triggered at all."

"So they're an intelligent enemy? And they knew we were coming, so they're deliberately hiding from us."

"Let's wait until tomorrow."

……

"Luna-sama! Taire-sama!"

Yorick rushed over.

His eyes were filled with terror, and his voice trembled as he said:

Someone is missing! During the day!

The two immediately went to the scene to investigate.

"Strange? The Tracking Powder wasn't triggered?" Luna murmured to herself as they walked.

The missing person was a blacksmith. Because he lived alone, he was only discovered this morning when someone came to his door to repair his tools.

The group arrived at the blacksmith's house.

"Who patrolled this area last night?" Warrick asked.

"It's me," said a young man with freckles all over his face.

"Did you check it on time last night?"

"Yes, we check every hour, and we see Uncle Sam sleeping at 5 a.m. every time."

Uncle Sam is the name of the blacksmith. To ensure that no residents went missing, the guards had the residents sleep next to the windows so that the guards could keep an eye on them.

The guards were divided into groups of five, each responsible for patrolling a specific area, and they would check the windows every hour.

Warwick asked questions from the side, while Luna and Tyre searched for traces of the murderer near the blacksmith Sam's house.