Staring at the shifting radiance, Weiss felt as if his mind had been put on pause—a blank void consumed him for an instant.
Only when the light of the collar fully withdrew did he snap back to himself, hurriedly pulling out his phone and tapping rapidly on the screen to open the “Wishing” interface.
The moment the loading meteor streaked across,
the number under the “Wish Power Points” column
displayed, glaringly,
“300”.
He immediately opened the detailed income and expenditure—
Promised to: “Morpheana”
Wish Power +300.
Three hundred.
Earlier, in order to complete the commission, he’d deliberately lost to her during the sparring match, yet didn’t even earn a single wish point.
But now, after destroying the source of the calamity, he’d effortlessly scored a side reward dozens of times greater.
It was practically a gift for nothing.
Comparing the two, Weiss suddenly felt that being threatened at sword-point by someone wasn’t such a big deal after all.
If every job came with this kind of compensation, then even if someone pressed a sword to his throat at night, he’d be grinning in his sleep.
Ah, well, as long as he didn’t actually get killed for real.
But as the saying goes, the bigger the waves, the bigger the fish; if you’re capsized by a little turbulence, you can forget about accumulating wish power and turning things around.
Well, even if you measured it by the gacha cost—one draw for 160—
Three hundred wish points wasn’t even enough for two pulls.
But for someone like him, who depended on mercenary commissions and painstakingly accumulated wish power point by point, this was absolutely a massive haul.
Yeah, just like the first time he opened a container and pulled out a Grand Crimson, it was exhilarating.
“Weiss.”
Lost in his delight while staring at his phone, Weiss was snapped back to reality by Lortissa’s voice.
Along with her words came the hurried rhythm of approaching footsteps.
Morpheana also came to herself, rising to look toward the far end of the narrow gorge.
Sensing the faint aura of magic approaching, Lortissa reminded him:
“It’s the border army support.”
Now that the fighting was over, they were probably here for the aftermath, right? Weiss watched as the figures in uniform grew clearer with each step closer,
Maybe it was the increase in allied numbers that brought a sense of relief, but only now did he feel, for sure, that “it’s all over.”
“So, you mean, arrange for her to hide for now.”
Catching Lortissa’s look, Weiss nodded.
He gave Morpheana a glance, and the knightess nimbly slipped off to a corner.
The first to appear at the mouth of the valley was none other than the vanguard squad’s vice-captain, Karin.
At first, the scene was a total wreck—shattered rocks everywhere, the mountain wall split open,
The lingering stench of calamity was thick with ominousness, and the residual magical waves were enough to make one’s hair stand on end.
“—Captain!”
She strode over quickly, breathing a bit heavily but not breaking her pace, and when she set down the warhammer she carried, it smashed a deep pit into the ground.
But looking around, there weren’t any enemies left—only Lortissa and Weiss were standing safely at the edge of the battlefield.
The burly female warrior paused, hesitantly removing her helmet visor.
“You, alone?”
Lortissa looked into the distance, glancing past the vice-captain’s shoulder.
“For now. As usual, I came first, tracking your mana marker. The other captains who joined the battle are behind me—they’ll arrive soon.”
Karin lowered her voice,
and as she spoke, her gaze shifted to Weiss, pausing briefly at the sight of the bandages on the mercenary youth’s chest.
“Looks like the fighting was fierce… What’s the current situation, and the calamity’s aberration?”
“As you can see, it’s resolved.”
Lortissa’s voice was even and calm.
Having worked together for so long—not just as superior and subordinate, but as partners—Karin could pick up the tiniest shifts in the girl captain’s expression better than anyone.
“What about Captain Northen?”
Even though the battle had barely ended, people on site were already searching for survivors and investigating the enemy.
Among the fallen Sacred Inquisition Knights, Northen was nowhere to be found—which, honestly, was something anyone would notice right away.
Mindful of this, Karin had to ask.
But—
“Dead.”
Lortissa uttered the word without embellishment.
Karin was dumbfounded,
not because she didn’t understand, but because it didn’t feel real.
That was the Knight Commander sent by the Hall of Knights to support them, a veteran of the Calamity Tide two years ago—renowned for his battle record and exceptional strength—and yet he was dead.
Even harder to believe was that Lortissa had made it to the battlefield and still hadn’t managed to save him?
A look of pain crossed Karin’s face.
Of course, Lortissa could see it too and, knowing what her vice-captain was thinking, simply took the initiative to explain:
“I didn’t deliberately refuse to save him. He was already beyond saving.”
“Beyond saving?”
“He… had fused with the Aberration.”
Lortissa stated it succinctly.
Usually, Karin handled the cleanup; while she herself didn’t manage these affairs, she wasn’t ignorant of how complicated things would be in the aftermath.
So Lortissa just described what she had objectively witnessed, keeping her feelings out of it and letting Karin judge for herself.
Even knowing that battlefields change by the second and nothing is surprising, Karin couldn’t help but wince after hearing it all:
“He suddenly fused with the Devourer Sovereign, and then you two defeated him… Why it ended up this way is another matter, but Captain, you can say this to me, just don’t repeat it to anyone else.”
Lortissa made no comment, only gazing quietly at Karin.
Weiss found himself agreeing; it seemed this warrior vice-captain’s thoughts lined up with his own.
Not to mention the rumors this would spark—just within the army, it would be impossible to explain.
Now Northen and the Devourer Sovereign were both dead and utterly annihilated; there was no real evidence left.
If they insisted on telling the truth—that “the honored Captain of the Knights fell into calamity and turned into its source”—the hero who cleared the Calamity Tide would become the Hall’s black sheep. That would not end well.
Thinking from Lortissa’s point of view, Weiss unconsciously rubbed his chin and glanced aside, just as his gaze met the girl captain’s.
He couldn’t tell what she was thinking—her face was so aloof, it was as if someone else had slain the aberrant knight.
“This is trouble… really big trouble—”
Karin muttered, her fingers drumming the warhammer’s grip.
The proud Captain of the Knights, future head of the Higrivel family, rising star of the Covenant Kingdom—he hadn’t died in the tragic northern Calamity Tide, but instead fell at the border of Silent Sun Gorge. It was hard to make sense of.
Even if he had simply died in battle by misfortune, they’d likely still pin a “failed assistance” charge on them.
A high noble’s son comes to the border and doesn’t make it back—it was inevitable that his family’s power would blame and target them. No doubt about that.
After a while, as if she’d finally regained her composure, Karin raised her head:
“Captain, and Mr. Weiss. The two of you had best agree on your story.”