The town was still shrouded in a desolate, broken atmosphere.
Unlike last time, when he had come at dusk, now at least he could see more clearly the details of the streets.
It was just as deathly silent as before, not a trace of living presence.
Not even a rat or an insect could be seen.
Although he wasn’t too familiar with the street layout of the town, Stillday Town wasn’t large; from one end of the street to the other, you could see all the way through at a glance.
(—Ah, there it is)
After walking for about ten minutes or so, Weiss saw a spot that was more obviously destroyed than the rest.
Collapsed houses, crumbled walls, shattered ground.
Everything around looked eerily familiar.
This was the place where he had encountered the Soul-devouring True Lord; it was also where Lortissa had burst in and driven off that lord-level Aberration.
Without another word, Weiss quickened his pace and rushed straight to the pile of ruins, eyes scanning everywhere as he began searching.
But all around was just rubble, broken tiles, building debris, and miscellaneous items scattered from the collapsed houses.
To find a component of a cloak here was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Seeing how anxious he looked, beads of sweat forming on his brow, Lortissa approached.
“You, what are you looking for?”
Fia also eagerly moved closer:
“If you’re searching for something, I can help look too.”
Weiss paused, his lips moving as if he was at a loss for words.
Back then, it was Lortissa who had picked up his belongings for him, so that “Wandering Traveler’s Cloak” must also have been retrieved by her.
He turned to look at Lortissa:
“Um… Tissa, where did you find my equipment and items back then?”
Lortissa listened, her emerald eyes going distant for a moment, as if replaying the scene in her mind.
She quickly returned to herself and pointed back:
“Right in the middle of the street over there.”
Weiss followed her gaze.
That spot wasn’t buried under rubble and debris but lay right in the middle of the road, in plain sight with nowhere to hide anything.
Thinking back, when the wish was granted and the Wish Star fell, the glowing point had indeed fallen forward.
Although the spot was a little offset from where Lortissa had charged in, it should be close enough.
Besides, Lortissa had picked up the items afterward; if she said it was nearby, it couldn’t be wrong.
A sliver of hope reignited in Weiss’s heart, and he hurried over for a careful look.
Yet he paced back and forth on that empty stone-paved road, his gaze nearly scraping the ground raw, but still found nothing.
Fia looked at him in confusion, then asked:
“If it’s something really important, you can tell me. It’ll be faster if more people help search.”
Weiss hesitated.
It concerned an item obtained through wishing, drawn from a pool—just explaining its existence was nearly impossible, and he didn’t know how to start.
Seeing that he was struggling to speak, Lortissa took the initiative to help.
“Did I forget to bring something back for you that time?”
Weiss waved his hand quickly:
“No, no, it’s not your fault, Tissa. It’s my own problem.”
“Is it some kind of magical tool?”
Hearing this, Weiss nodded slightly.
“Sort of.”
“If it’s a magical artifact, it should contain some magic power.”
Lortissa’s tone was certain,
“Try searching for traces of magic different from the environment.”
With that reminder, Weiss’s mind suddenly cleared.
Right, searching with just his eyes was tough, but looking for traces of magic was another matter.
Fia also nodded in agreement:
“If it’s a pretty important magical item and it’s nearby, detecting it shouldn’t be hard.”
With the conversation at this point, Weiss could no longer keep hiding it and spoke frankly:
“Strictly speaking, it should be a piece of magical equipment, much like the cloak Tissa put on you back then.”
Lortissa immediately understood.
She didn’t know all the details, but she had also worn it in real combat and used it to defeat the Aberrant Knight.
That cloak was no ordinary item; with its quality, even just a component should emit magic fluctuations that would be easy to detect.
She didn’t ask further, focusing her mind to sense traces of magic in the surroundings.
Fia also became serious, closing her eyes and carefully distinguishing the lingering energies in the air.
Weiss, being an ordinary person and lacking natural talent, was far less sensitive to magic than the other two, but he had his own advantage.
Since the item, the “Wandering Traveler’s Cloak,” was something he had obtained through wishing, as a component he could see the corresponding color of Wishglow on it.
But the three of them searched the area back and forth, almost turning it upside down, yet found nothing.
Fia couldn’t help but break the silence:
“Mister Weiss, how big is the thing you’re looking for?”
“It shouldn’t be too big, just a component of wearable equipment.”
“Could it have been blown away by the wind, or taken by an Aberration?”
Weiss thought for a moment, then shook his head.
Unlikely the wind.
The town was eerily still and lifeless, the air only just now starting to move again, let alone a gust strong enough to blow away metal or leather components.
And Aberrations weren’t cats, dogs, sparrows, or squirrels; they didn’t have the habit of carrying things off to build nests.
Just as the search reached a stalemate, the long-silent Lortissa seemed to have noticed something.
“There.”
Her voice was soft, but it immediately caught the other two’s attention.
Weiss and Fia looked in unison and saw that Lortissa was staring toward the other end of the town gate.
It was the direction of the bridge-fort where Weiss had first entered Stillday Town.
That far away?
Weiss pondered, finding it odd.
That was already outside the area where he’d met the Soul-devouring True Lord, wasn’t it?
But Lortissa had sensed a magic reaction—given her strength, she couldn’t possibly be wrong.
There had to be something over there.
“Let’s go check.”
Weiss didn’t hesitate any longer and ran straight over.
Lortissa and Fia followed close behind.
The three quickly reached the town gate, and sure enough, on the ground outside the archway, something was standing upright.
Fia had the sharpest eyes and recognized it at a glance.
But—
“An arrow?”
—On closer inspection, it really was an arrow.
The fletching and shaft were nothing special, but the entire arrow was clearly radiating magic power.
Weiss looked closely and realized that rather than innate magic like in enchanted weapons, this arrow’s magic seemed to be from a spell infused into it, meant to activate some magical effect when mana was injected.
Lortissa had seen plenty of such things:
“A detection arrow? Imperial standard, huh…”
Still, whatever it was, this wasn’t what Weiss was looking for.
After searching this much and still finding nothing, it felt less like he’d lost something and more like he was finally sure.
The “Wandering Traveler’s Cloak” wasn’t some multi-component thing after all—it was complete to begin with.
He’d assumed too much, thinking that the small pity reward would be a more complicated set.
Thinking this, he felt helpless, like he’d worked hard for nothing.
Just as he instinctively took out his phone, wanting to double-check the item information, the distant sound of horse hooves suddenly drew near.
The pounding hooves grew urgent and clear, rapidly approaching the town gate.
Fia instantly became alert, instinctively wanting to hide.
Lortissa’s eyes also sharpened, her stance turning defensive.
Weiss looked up in the direction of the sound, and when he saw the banner the newcomers carried, he blurted out:
“Wait, coming from that direction is—”
A small squad of cavalry, galloping at full speed, had already appeared at the far end of the road.
Their armor was uniform in style, their helmets adorned with a ring of distinct chestnut-red plume.
On the accompanying flag lance, a banner fluttered, the center marked with a blazing sun totem.
“—Cavalry of the Mane Sun Empire.”