The two entered the grandfather's little house.

"Let's see if the old man has returned..." whispered Trugoy, pressing his finger to his fish-like lips.

Then he pressed it to Jeff's mouth when the boy seemed about to speak.

"Shhhhhh! Carefully, please!" the Village Chief repeated, looking at the annoyed face of the child.

They began to search the house, but there was no sign of the old man.

Jeff, suspicious, wanted to check even the garden.

The only peculiar object was a frying pan.

That's right, the frying pan Jeff had used to hit the poor old man on his big head.

Maybe he was still resting in the hospital.

Jeff returned inside with the frying pan, rejoining the chief in the kitchen.

"Did you find anyone or anything strange?" he asked.

The boy shook his head, increasing his perpetual neck strain.

After a deep breath, Trugoy stated:

"Well, well, could you tell me, my dear human, where you found the map?"

Jeff then led him to the attic.

As soon as they arrived, the chief saw the circle of the spell that the kids had used some time ago.

Before Trugoy could open his mouth, Jeff interrupted him:

"Here we found a piece of paper, on which there was a spell for an ancient map," pointing to the raised shelf.

It seemed that the little one wanted to continue his monologue, but the Village Chief grabbed him by the shirt again:

"YOU...? DID YOU MANAGE TO CAST A SPELL?"

With a bit of fear, the boy asked the adult to let him go.

"... Yeah, sorry. I was just very... surprised...

and amused..." he replied.

As promised, the chief of the tribes let the human go while trembling with excitement.

"... And tell me, boy. Who cast the spell,

among you four...?" asked the Village Chief, with a rather strange smile.

Before Jeff could answer, a thud came from the front door.

And it wasn't the old man for sure.

<Chapter 17 will be revealed on 01/19/25>