Under the moonlit sky, Crystal Capital remained relatively quiet, except for a few scattered places.
Nighttime was never a good time—darkness brought danger, a common sense shared even by ordinary civilians.
Even within the city, they were unwilling to take risks after dark.
Well, the truth was that most people didn’t go out at night for the same reason Ileya did in her previous life.
After a day’s work, who had the energy to wander about in the evening?
And above this somewhat silent city, a shadow, nearly blending into the night itself, floated through the air…until it slowly stopped above a three-story building.
A building.
According to the information Jenny had given her, this was the Hunter Blade Mercenary Group’s stronghold within the city.
A mercenary company of over a hundred members obviously wouldn’t stay at the adventurer’s guild or inns.
It was much more cost-effective to rent out a building like this.
Jenny’s intel noted that her second younger sister, Reliel, stayed in room 301 on the third floor.
Her adoptive father, the mercenary captain of the Hunter Blade Mercenary Group, had the room directly opposite.
Skipping the time needed to search, Ileya passed through the outer wall and entered room 301 directly.
Inside the room were five women in total.
They appeared to be the female members of the Hunter Blade Mercenary Group’s decision-making body.
At that moment, they were still discussing matters concerning Erika.
“So that Erika girl isn’t dead after all? She actually defected to those nobles…”
“Huh? Really? Do you think we’ll get revenge on us now?”
“There’s no doubt about it. Someone saw her this afternoon right beside that so-called ‘Demon’s Retainer’…She looked like his personal bodyguard.”
“What’s there to be afraid of? Tch, such a traitor…”
The women chatted casually.
Through their words, Ileya learned that Erika still had a younger brother.
The siblings had relied on each other since childhood.
No wonder that girl was so cowardly and greedy—there were such ties behind it all.
But no matter how she was, those weren’t things Ileya cared about!
After carefully observing the female high-ranking members of the Hunter Blade Mercenary Group, Ileya realized…
None of them were the illusion of her second sister.
There were six beds in total, meaning one person hadn’t returned yet.
Floating in midair, Ileya stroked her chin.
Should she wait here…or go look for her?
“Hey…don’t you feel this room suddenly got a lot colder than before…?”
“Yeah, I feel that too.”
“Isn’t this just the time when it usually turns cold…?”
Watching the others shiver and burrow into their blankets, Ileya lost interest in waiting around.
But just as she was about to leave…
“Eh! Did you notice that mute noble lady seems a bit strange today?”
A girl suddenly spoke, causing the ghostly figure ready to leave to stop in place.
“Heh…when is she not strange?”
“Always with that sour look on her face, really thinks she’s a noble lady…”
“Exactly! If the captain wasn’t her adoptive father, who would even look at her?”
“Hahaha~ The only women in the group who hang out with her are those loudmouths, but they’re both freaks.”
“Turtles looking for tortoises, huh?”
“Pfft~ She’s just a pretentious bitch…I really can’t stand her! Don’t you all find her disgusting?”
The five in the room seemed to have found a shared topic, chatting wildly and without restraint.
Ileya floated in midair, watching the scene before her.
There were two common traits among despicable people…
They liked to attack those weaker than themselves.
They liked to slander those stronger than themselves.
That much was certainly true.
But could it be that her own second sister was really so unpopular within the mercenary group?
Well, thinking about it, it made sense.
With a face as beautiful as hers—resembling both herself and their mother—and such a cold, aloof personality, she naturally came off as arrogant…
No wonder no one liked her.
Even the illusion of herself didn’t like that girl.
Of course, she didn’t like her now either, but…
No matter how much she disliked her, she was still her second younger sister.
When had it become okay for this pack of cats and dogs to slander her behind her back?
Suddenly, the sound of the window curtains closing by themselves interrupted the women’s laughter.
The room instantly became as silent as the night outside.
“Huh? What was that…?”
The girl who had called Reliel a bitch earlier, lying in the top bunk, was momentarily stunned and instinctively glanced to the side…
Only to suddenly come face to face with a wisp of black mist and a pair of glowing crimson eyes.
“De…?”
She wanted to scream, but in the next second, she felt her jaw being sharply lifted!
Pft…
“Guh glug glug!!”
Crackle crackle!
“Eh? Hey! Are you okay?!”
The others who heard the commotion on the upper bunk scrambled out of bed…
Thud!
But then something limp dropped to the floor in front of them.
By the pale purple moonlight, the others saw…a pale pink tongue stained with blood lying on the floor.
【Hehehe…Children who speak nonsense get their tongues pulled out~】
A stiff, icy voice seemed to echo in their ears…
“Eh?!”
“Ahhhh!!!”
Bang!!
Pat pat pat…clatter!!
The door was kicked open forcefully. Hearing the screams, the mercenary captain and several elite members of the group burst into the room directly from the opposite side.
“What happened?!”
Before them were several female mercenaries, hair disheveled and faces pale with fear.
Clear slap marks marked their cheeks, and their hair showed signs of having been roughly grabbed.
The worst off was Sha Lin, sleeping on the left side of the upper bunk.
She had lost consciousness, and blood covered her mouth and the bed.
On the floor lay half a severed tongue…
Ileya, who had flown away from the Hunter Blade Mercenary Group’s base, gazed down at the buildings and the patrolling soldiers passing by occasionally.
She thoughtfully scratched her cheek.
Come to think of it, if she wasn’t going to wait inside that room, where else should she look for her “second sister”?
Just as she was pondering, Ileya suddenly spotted someone standing at the entrance of a dark alley below.
The person wore silver light armor, a slender sword hung from their waist.
Golden short hair fluttered gently in the night breeze, and their blue eyes seemed utterly devoid of emotion…
Hiss…
wasn’t this her second sister she had seen in the illusion?
To actually encounter her here…
Was it a coincidence?
Or was it fate silently arranging this meeting?
Ileya frowned slightly, not believing either possibility much.
So…she looked toward where Reliel was staring.
It was true that the direction she drifted toward was once a large open space, but now there were huge round tents set up.
Like a traveling circus…
But no, it wasn’t a circus.
It was the “Slave Caravan” she had seen earlier on Red Copper Street, parading through the streets!
What was that girl doing here in the middle of the night?
Curious, Ileya slowly descended a bit…
“Hmm?”
The next moment, Reliel seemed to realize something.
She furrowed her brow and looked up.
But…she saw nothing.
Though her face showed no expression, a hint of confusion was clearly visible.