Death Wizard Diary.

Chapter 717 Caterpillar

As Thor continued deeper into the now-dusty ruins of the archaeological city of Stene, Clare, whom he had left behind in the deserted town, suddenly looked up from her spellbook.

"I think I hear someone talking." Two strands of red hair by Claire's ears stick up, like antennas receiving signals.

Sitting next to Keli, Agu, who was occasionally answering her questions, paused slightly. "Ann just took a walk around the town, and it's true that no one has lived here for a long time. Could it be that other people have come to rest here?"

An, who had been keeping watch on the roof, jumped down.

She used her mental power to sense her surroundings again, but found nothing.

"Miss Claire, can you tell where the sound is coming from?"

Claire listened intently for a while longer, her long red hair falling down. "There's no sound now, but the sound we heard just now seemed to be not far from us."

This is even stranger, since Anke has been monitoring the surroundings the whole time.

If Keli could hear someone talking directly with just her ears, then there's no reason why she and Agu couldn't hear it.

However, they have not detected even the slightest fluctuation of mental energy.

Keli is not even at the second level yet, so her strength should be even weaker than An's. Her main focus is not on the spiritual body, yet she heard a sound that neither An nor Agu could hear.

However, Ann did not assume that Claire was hallucinating just because she had not found anything.

She transformed her lower body into a spider, climbed the wall, and used it to thoroughly inspect the small courtyard where they were temporarily staying.

However, nothing was found.

"Strange." Ann returned to her spot, looking at the surrounding walls and houses on either side. "Still nothing. Could someone have sneaked in and then left?"

Claire, on the other hand, seemed a little embarrassed. She tugged at her hair and said hesitantly, "Maybe I misheard."

She looked down at the magic book spread out on her lap. "It might be because of this book."

Agu quickly said, "Miss Keli, you should rest. If you're truly affected by this book, you should recover your mental strength as soon as possible to avoid further damage. Even if not, you still need to restore your energy to deal with other unusual situations."

Keli closed the book with some reluctance.

This book compiles the knowledge related to Kuroshio pollution research by Saul and Byron, and also includes laboratory-level inerting formulas.

Keli was deeply impressed and quickly became addicted to it.

If it weren't for Saul strictly limiting her reading time to prevent her from developing mental abnormalities, Claire could read for days and nights without closing her eyes.

"Actually, I only watched it for less than ten minutes today..."

"...When I have money..."

Ke Li's voice stopped abruptly.

Even Agu and An stood up warily and looked around.

Yes, the sound from before has appeared again.

The sound is clearer.

And this time, Agu and Ann also heard it.

"The sound is indeed very close." Ann squinted, her gaze finally settling on the house behind them.

"...I'll go to Archista too, but not now..."

The sound became clearer and clearer.

Ann gestured to the others, then slowly approached the house behind her.

There were still sounds coming from inside.

"...If I leave now, who will take care of you...?"

Andu could already hear through the window that it was a boy's voice, and he estimated that the boy was not yet 16 years old.

Her expression was solemn, ready for battle at any moment.

While she was conducting the inspection, she also inspected every house in this small courtyard.

There was clearly no one inside!

But why is there a little boy now?

Especially after clearly hearing several sentences, An still couldn't find the spiritual strength that should belong to a boy.

It's as if there's only sound and no one inside.

But just as Ann's head was about to touch the window, she vaguely saw the figures of two people.

However, both figures looked rather strange.

Keli released her protective gear and went to An's side.

"Why don't we just open it and see?" Keli also noticed the anomaly.

Her expression was serious, but she still pushed the window open.

As soon as the window was opened, both An and Agu tensed up instantly, as if their muscles were nonexistent.

There were indeed two people behind the window.

But these two people... were actually caterpillars with human heads!

Both caterpillars were as thick as a man's forearm.

Its plump white body is covered with black spots. Fine, sharp, long hairs cover its entire body, stopping only near its neck.

It was here that the white worm gradually turned into dark skin, and finally evolved into a boy's head.

The boy's neck and face were small, about the same size as the insect's body, as if his head had emerged from the insect's body.

Claire's action of pushing the door open did not disturb the boy, or rather, the boy caterpillar, nor did it disturb the listener opposite him.

An old man's head, with gray hair and a wrinkled face, also growing on a caterpillar.

The boy caterpillar is still talking.

"...Don't try to persuade me anymore. After I do some more work and prepare food for you to get through the winter, I'll go to the city to earn money..."

Keli pursed her lips and exchanged a glance with Ann beside her.

Then, she gently closed the window.

"Is it a hallucination?" Claire asked softly.

They spoke in a normal voice until they found the anomaly.

But Keli, who was so shocked by what she had just witnessed that she got goosebumps all over, subconsciously communicated in the lowest possible voice.

As if afraid that the caterpillars with human heads inside the house would hear their conversation, they slowly crawled out, their bodies writhing.

"It doesn't seem like it." Ann's expression was also very grim. "However, their mental energy fluctuations are very weak, like two ordinary civilians."

"If their heads weren't on the necks of caterpillars, the old man and the young man would be just like ordinary people."

Those two strange beings only emitted the fluctuations of ordinary people.

This is hard to believe.

"No matter what, let's leave this courtyard first." Agu lowered his voice, just like Keli.

The three of them tiptoed and quietly left the courtyard where they had just settled.

The faint sounds of conversation could still be heard behind them.

The sound was completely cut off only after they closed the gate to the courtyard.

Claire touched her arm. "Let's go take another look later."

Ann looked at Claire incredulously. "We don't need to go back in, do we?"

Looking back now, this little courtyard is quite eerie. As the warrior protecting Keli, An naturally didn't want Keli to return to this little courtyard whose secrets were unknown.

"They didn't show any aggression. The elemental particles here aren't very active either." Claire thought of the inerting formula she had just seen in the book and couldn't wait to try it out herself.

However, after a while, when they opened the gate again, they found the courtyard empty again, with no sound of conversation.

As the vanguard, An was the first to enter.

She went straight to the innermost room, and this time, when she opened the window, she did not see the caterpillar with a human face.

"It's gone." An stared blankly into the room.

The room was covered in dust.

There were no dragging marks that a caterpillar would leave when it moves.

(End of this chapter)