Ch29 [Mr.Fool–Nonexistent]

June 29th 1349. Tuesday, at Magnus Institute somewhere on the mountain ranges within the borders of the Luwen Kingdom.

" You wanted go back to the Intis Republic? " Johnson asks, appearing nonchalant. He casually rolled a die on the table. The dice rolled and revealed a pair of number six. He move his piece into 12 steps. There was a ladder and his piece climbed up.

" I'm first. " Johnson says, the other members of the watcher's crown frowned.

Currently, the members of the watcher's crown are playing a game called snake and a ladder which was invented by yours and truly, the great Caesar, Emperor Roselle. The first to step on the 100th step wins. And the steps that does have a ladder would cause the piece to step forward while the snake would cause the piece downward.

Luwen nodded his head slightly at his Senior Johnson's question. He stared at his piece. It has recently been bitten by a snake. It has been bitten by a snake 8 times.

" Why do you wanted to go back? "

Johnson asked. His soft purple eyes were inquiring. Luwen brought his hands together above the table. After some silence and hesitance in his mind, he speaks.

" There was this shop in the Intis Republic. I wanted to go back there. "

" The one where you have bought the music box, Luwen? "

Nicholas said as he joined their conversation. Luwen nodded and says..

" The music box is not working. It's broken. "

" You should get a refund. " Rosa immediately murmured. They heard her words. Embarrassed, she coughed and changed the topic. " Anyway...it was really unfair that you were playing with us Johnson. You are basically cheating with your beyonder abilities. "

" I haven't activated anything. "

Johnson says quickly. The other people on the 2nd floor can immediately sense the brewing conflict between them. Milka looked at her nails as if it was something interesting and said.

" Why don't you accompany the little twerp, Senior Johnson? You're the one who was with him the other day. As Senior Rosa have suggested, you should go with him. So he wouldn't be tricked by a deceiving and cunning vendor. " And we can freely play without your cheating ability. And maybe, it would become a game where we would gamble our contribution points. Milka said inside her mind.

" Accompany him. In case something happened, so you can help him. "

Connor supplied succinctly. In the end, under their convincing and the obvious want of him not being in the institute and playing with them, Johnson accompanied Luwen to the Intis Republic once more in the capital of Trier.

....................

Luwen stared, his eyes are in shock and disbelief. He immediately calmed himself down in front of the barren and empty infrastructure. The signage from before is gone. Leaving it unidentified and nameless.

" Is this the shop? "

Johnson asked, inspecting the infrastructure from the outside.

" It is this shop Senior Johnson. " Luwen said. " But I am certain that there was a signage from before. Inside of it, the eccentric shop owner sell mysterious trinkets and fake stuffs of occults. "

He already expected it. Expected that the shop owner wouldn't be here anymore when they arrived. Once he learned that it was the work of the music box that caused him to be dragged by Mr.Fool in that gray fog, Luwen immediately thought of the shop owner. If there was a possibility, he wanted to ask the shop owner. There's a high chance that the shop owner is a believer of Mr.Fool.

He already expected it, but Luwen can't still help to be disappointed when he see it with his own eyes.

The wind blows softly on them. Johnson glance at him before saying. " Let's go inside and investigate. "

He stepped forward and opened the door. It creaked loudly. Luwen followed after him. Inside the shop, dust and mold welcomed them. There was the sunlight coming from the glass windows.

The trinkets and fake items are still there which was surprising.

" If you were tricked. That shop owner should have already brought his items. I can hear that there was something wrong here. And I can't see the shop owner of yours with my ability. "

Johnson move forward and inspected the items. There was nothing special behind them. But he can't see the shop owner in his vision which Luwen was talking about. He frowned. Luwen had encountered something unusual.

" let's go out of here. "

He said to Luwen. The latter agreed to his decision. Later, Luwen decided to ask the people living near the shop. He only got a shake of their heads and frowning from them. They were looking at him like he was crazy and hallucinating.

" Trinkets? It is just a normal old house lad. Which the government can't bother to demolish. There's nothing there. Are you certain that you haven't seen an illusion? "

Beside Luwen, Johnson frowned. Later, he patted Luwen's shoulder and shook his head.

" You have done enough. No matter how many people you would asked, they would answer the same. Even with my ability, I could only discover the abnormality but I can't even divine the source of the mystery and found the shop owner that you are saying. "

Luwen sighed. In the end, he could only stop on his investigation. He was certain that the shop owner are protected by Mr.Fool.

" How about asking the head archivist for help? Even this matter looks like that it doesn't have anything to do with the Entities, there was a small chance that the head archivist would be interested. "

Johnson started to walked ahead of him.

" After all, it was clear to everyone, that the Head Archivist favors you. "

Luwen thought of Mr.Miller and quickly rejected the idea of seeking help inside his mind. No, he can't seek help. He can't offend Mr.Fool. He also can't afford of mentioning Mr.Fool to Mr.Miller. The consequences would be disastrous and it may end up with him paying for his life. Luwen thought anxious and secretly worried.

Hopefully, when Senior Johnson would mention it to Mr.Miller, the latter would end up discovering nothing beside the obvious abnormality of the shop.