Diary of a Dead Wizard
Chapter 460: A Slight Unease

From the outside, Caugust City felt completely different than living inside it.

The carriage moved along a road that wasn’t particularly wide. Compared to the towering buildings on both sides—some with dozens of floors—the narrowness of the road made those otherwise magnificent structures feel suddenly oppressive.

Especially when traveling between the two rows of buildings, the massive shadows they cast brought a damp and weighty darkness to the ground below.

And up close, those towering buildings didn’t seem so magnificent after all.

The windows were tiny—so small that even an adult would struggle to climb out through one.

The densely packed windows made one feel stifled, like countless eyes hidden behind the walls, watching and coveting everything on the streets.

In stark contrast to these dense and oppressive buildings was the surprising emptiness of the street itself.

Only occasionally did a few oddly-shaped rickshaws speed by.

Saul glanced at them. They seemed to run on gears and other mechanical parts, but were quite fast.

Marsh was clearly distracted by the spectacle too, and couldn’t maintain his usual speed—his carriage was quickly overtaken by the rickshaws.

Then came a loud humming from above. Marsh looked up to see a small airship flying about ten meters overhead.

As the sky gradually darkened, black pillars lining the road suddenly lit up, startling the horses pulling the carriage.

Seeing this, Saul couldn't help but marvel with a tinge of doubt. “The moment the lights turned on, there was a pulse of magic. That means at least one kind of magical infrastructure runs through this entire district!”

If it were just an isolated facility like a wizard tower, using such magical devices would still be considered reasonable, but this was an entire city!

Caugust or rather, the Bayton Academy behind it—how had they managed to pour this much magical resource into serving ordinary people?

Wasn’t the base-level productivity of magic far too low for that?

Five minutes later, Saul finally arrived at the destination marked on the Guide Manual map.

The Brokerage Center.

According to the guide, this place handled everything from job hunting, house hunting, even spouse matchmaking and various other intermediary matters.

It was the first recommended stop for anyone newly arriving in Caugust City.

Even if one was just visiting, this was the place to find a suitable guide.

As soon as the carriage stopped beneath a particularly square-shaped tall building, Saul heard faint harp music drifting down from the buildings on both sides.

And then, as if someone had flipped a switch, the buildings on both sides suddenly erupted with a chorus of noise.

Dark figures began emerging from various doorways, gradually merging into the street like a gloomy flood.

“So… many people?” Even Agu, who had seen quite a bit, was stunned by the sight.

And it wasn’t just the buildings on their sides. Ahead of them, buildings on the next street over—all of them began spewing out streams of people.

The already narrow street was immediately crammed full.

Everywhere one looked, aside from a few rickshaws, everyone was traveling on foot!

Most of the passersby had numb expressions, only showing a hint of life when exchanging a few words in hushed tones.

“They’ve centralized the entire surrounding population into Caugust City.” Saul rested his chin on his hand, looking out the window. The scene before him stirred some old memories.

“Mass population concentration, highly regimented lifestyles, the constant lure of serialized novels to draw people into the city... The city's master is turning people into mere components of the urban machine. What is he trying to do?”

Hearing Saul’s analysis, Agu spoke in a low voice, “The true master of Caugust is Bayton Academy. And its current head is their old dean, Pond—a Second Rank wizard.”

Bayton Academy sold various magic tools to the outside world. It was even said that as long as one had enough money, even those with poor magic or mental aptitude could become wizard apprentices.

Bayton Academy was casting a wide net. Not only were wizard apprentices caught in it—even the little fish, the ordinary folks, weren’t spared.

“They must be working on some major project.” By now, the stream of people emerging from the buildings had begun to thin. Saul leapt down from the carriage. “No point overthinking it. Right now, we’re just a pair of tenants looking for a place to stay.”

On the surface, Marsh stayed behind. But hidden below, one of Little Algae’s clones burrowed into the soil to keep watch.

Saul only brought a storage bag with essential items and Agu, and the two entered the red, square-shaped building on the right.

Once inside, they encountered more marvels: an automatically guarded gate that required a pass to open.

There were elevator-like chambers that could go up and down, though they required manual operation by a designated attendant.

It seemed the harp music earlier marked the end of the workday—there weren’t many people inside the building now.

The “elevator” brought them up to the 20th floor, which was the top of the building.

The top floor was an oval-shaped hall. There were likely hidden rooms on both sides. The center was empty except for a few long benches, and a ring of counters surrounded the room.

Posters and scraps of paper littered the floor, and someone was cleaning up.

As soon as Saul entered, he saw a boy pulling a woman, both arguing with another woman behind one of the counters—apparently over rent.

He glanced at the sign above the counter—it was indeed the rental section.

Saul walked over to the next counter and asked, “Do you have housing available for wizards?”

The man behind the counter had been looking down at some documents. Hearing Saul’s voice, he looked up and immediately broke into a beaming smile, tossing his papers aside without a care.

“Of course, my lord. Welcome to Caugust!”

In just ten minutes, Saul had a key in hand. It looked like a copper leaf, with constantly shifting patterns etched on it. When Saul pressed a certain spot, the patterns stopped moving.

The man who’d helped him was all smiles, escorting Saul to the entrance.

At first, he had been just professionally polite, producing a standard booklet of housing options. But the moment Saul picked a place and pulled out a silver pass for registration, the man’s expression changed dramatically. His demeanor grew twice as respectful, and he even brought out a different, more exclusive housing catalog from the back room.

The apartment Saul had originally selected was the top floor of a tall building.

The new catalog only listed villas.

After a brief glance and price comparison, Saul still went with his original choice.

He had no choice—his wizard tower was gone, and he still had a mini wizard tower, four consciousness entities, and two pets to support. He had to keep expenses down.

Despite Saul not choosing the larger, pricier option, the agent showed no disappointment. As Saul was leaving, he even respectfully offered a business card with both hands.

“This is my card—basically my personal info. It has our communication code on it. If you need anything, you can reach the Brokerage Center through the communicator in your room. I can personally come serve you.”

The familiar scene stirred a bit of nostalgia in Saul. He took the card and looked down.

“John…?” Saul thought of a certain novel and looked up. “You wouldn’t happen to be that farmer boy John from the story, would you?”

The man named John gave a sheepish grin. “Actually, ever since that novel got popular, a lot of people started calling themselves John—hoping to get lucky like he did.”

Taking the card, Saul once again declined the offer to use an air pod for transport.

No reason—he’d have to pay.

Back at the carriage, Agu looked utterly dumbfounded.

Saul, though outwardly calm, was just as shocked internally.

If he hadn’t noticed that many of the tools were built on magic rune logic, he really would’ve thought some omnipotent transmigrator had become the city’s master.

But in the end, he was sure—though some things looked similar to earth, at their core, they were fundamentally different.

Back on the carriage, Saul had Little Algae withdraw its underground clone and gave Marsh the directions to head to their new home.

But just as the wheels began to turn, Little Algae suddenly extended from behind Saul’s neck, flopping its head onto his face.

“Ugh… Little Algae, what are you doing?”

Little Algae wiggled in the air and wrote a word.

“Tree.”

Everyone leaned in.

“Tree? What tree? Which tree?” Penny chattered on.

“There’s a stroke missing from the character,” Agu said, frowning.

But Saul froze.

“Now that you mention it… I haven’t seen a single tree here.”

He slowly looked down at the ground.

“The tree you’re talking about… could it be underground?”

(End of chapter)

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