The location that the property manager referred them to turned out to be a dilapidated farm in the woods, nearly at the edge of the Quest range, much further out of town than she had implied. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing for Cain and his party. There are no neighbors, with a property this rural being viewed as unsafe by the vast majority of the population.
The owner is waiting there for them, accompanied by two of his sons, all awakened Mythic and geared as hunters.
"What made you consider moving this far out into the woods? Even we moved to the other side of the river so that we were closer to town when the Crazed problem started getting bad a few decades ago." The farmer, one of the same species of water elemental Youkai that they met at the waterfall asks curiously.
"There is a high reward quest going on in the city, to hunt the crazed and make the roads safe for construction crews, but we were planning to do some magical experiments, and that isn't the wisest thing to do within the city limits. Out here, I can experiment all that I want and not risk damaging anything. Plus, if the experiment goes as well as I hope it will, there are plenty of Crazed available to volunteer for my attempts to break their curse." Cain answers happily and the Youkai laughs, a gurgling sound like a flowing river.
"Well, that's one way to do it. Do you think you really can break the curse?" One of the younger men asks, with a heavy dose of doubt clear in his voice.
"The Bog Witch says that it is possible. I don't really have much evidence, but after following the hints that she gave me, I have at least some hope that I might be able to fulfill her vision." The mention of the Bog Witch seems to actually bring some confidence to the Youkai, unlike the hunters in the city, who all reacted to her with revulsion and doubt.
"What did she want you to do exactly?" The older man asks, his face showing pure curiosity. They didn't react poorly to the mention of the old woman, so Cain decides to give them at least an inkling of what he is up to, in case they have ideas that might help him.
"She only saw the start and the end, but she thinks that we can close the vortexes that have formed at the Ley Line intersections and expel the people trapped inside, which will stop the Crazed from spawning. Then the hunters will only have to kill the ones that are wandering around and no more, or at least a lot fewer will appear every night."
"So she did give you a good clue. We have a great sensitivity to Mana flow, so all three of us have seen the vortexes, but doing anything about them is way beyond our abilities. Nothing we tried with water and earth magic affected them in the least, and none of us were brave or stupid enough to risk touching them to manipulate the mana directly." The more outgoing of the sons shares a bit of their knowledge with Cain.
"We buried one underground, to stop any more from entering it, but I couldn't do much to it. I tied a few of the damaged sections together again, but huge chunks are ripped out of the spell. I don't know if that is because they never formed or because something ripped its way out."
The owner of the farm nods. "Could be either. They had been active for a while before anyone noticed what was happening, so the cause of the damage remains unknown. There were intense battles here during the war though, so it is possible that a very powerful awakened was trapped inside when the spell that caused the dungeons in the rest of the world took effect."
"But more importantly, let us show you around the farm. Despite appearances, it isn't in terrible shape. It is a skill of one of the Earth Guardians to make a structure look abandoned, which helps keep people away instead of ransacking the place looking for treasures." The formerly silent son suggests.
He is proven to be telling the truth once they step inside. The actual house is sturdy and in decent interior shape. It was never a fancy or opulent place, but it has been recently cleaned and the furniture is in good condition. With three bedrooms plus a sitting room and kitchen, it isn't large, but the barn next to it has all the space to work that Cain could want. Under the faded red paint, thick, and weather-beaten boards, and a lingering smell of animals it hides four large side rooms plus a loft on half of the upper level. The open space was likely intended to allow the workers to throw down bales of straw and feed, but for Cain, it is a spot to summon larger creatures if he needs to.
He could actually do the practical experiments with his spell crafting outdoors since there is nobody around to see them, but just in case someone is paying them more attention than they should be, it is best if he does the more sensitive things out of easy sight.
"We will take it. Here is the month's rent, and we will be around most of the time if you need anything from us. I have some skill with summons, so it isn't often that everyone will be gone while I study over the next couple of weeks." Cain explains. The rural farming villages often suffer losses during attacks by Crazed or awakened monsters, so being available to help them out in an emergency is usually a highly appreciated service.
The Youkai leaves after a short farewell and Cain looks over the forms he recorded. Surprisingly, one of them is of the Earth element, at least by class specialty. So, it was likely the boy that cast the spell on the farm that makes everything look like it is in much worse shape than it is. That particular spell could come in very useful to Cain later to camouflage Guild assets.
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