A group of night guards holding lanterns gathered at the fork in the road Gro had mentioned, chatting among themselves. Gro immediately stepped forward and began speaking with them.
Ileil stood behind Gro and the guards. She did not move closer. After thinking it over carefully, she roughly understood the current situation, and the clues in her mind connected together.
Roughly twenty days earlier, Gro had returned to Renn Town heavily injured.
At the time, she still had no idea where his wounds had come from.
Ileil had heard rumors about ‘Blood Axe’ Regnar, but just now Gro had suddenly mentioned ‘I personally chopped off Regnar’s head.’ This made Ileil realize with sudden clarity that Gro’s injuries had likely been left by Regnar.
For the cautious Gro to be ambushed and wounded was no simple feat.
……
Ileil had finally pieced everything together.
She knew that ‘Blood Axe’ Regnar was a wolf-headed, human-bodied demi-human warrior. Such wolf demi-humans were extremely rare within Aressto. Combined with the exaggerated axe marks they had seen yesterday at the site of Cole’s disappearance and the mutation on Cole’s body, it was not hard to deduce that Regnar—whom Gro had killed—had also turned into a monster like Cole.
Thinking of this, Ileil couldn’t help but shiver.
Even an old slacker like Cole with almost no combat ability had nearly wiped out their entire group under the effect of the black-gold flames. If not for her own resistance to the witch’s flames, Prinshitt would likely have been in grave danger…
Ileil didn’t dare imagine what kind of monster Regnar would become under the influence of those flames.
—And Kaze and Alyssa, who had gone missing two hours ago, had most likely encountered Regnar’s attack on their way back.
Ileil was forced to reach this pessimistic conclusion.
‘Let’s see what Gro finds out…’
The flickering torches in the night guards’ hands cast shifting shadows that illuminated the messy traces on the ground. Ileil stood at the edge of the crowd, her silver hair swaying lightly in the wind as her golden pupils reflected the dancing firelight.
…….
“You found nothing at all?” Gro’s questioning voice reached Ileil’s ears. “You mean several living people could completely vanish from your sight?”
The night watch captain rubbed his hands uneasily. “I’m truly sorry… Mr. Gro. We did hear sounds of fighting and rushed over immediately. But when we arrived here…” His gaze swept across the crisscrossing footprints and several deep axe marks on the ground.
“We didn’t miss even a single mosquito! Aside from these traces, nothing else was left behind.”
Ileil stepped forward slowly. Her boot stepped on a blood-stained blade of grass; the viscous liquid gleamed darkly under the moonlight. The signs of battle were fresh—soil churned up, broken branches scattered—yet there was no trace of any person. This eerie disappearance reminded her of their previous investigation into the missing mercenary squad.
But the situation seemed different from last time.
At the very least, human bloodstains still remained at the scene instead of vanishing as completely as Cole’s group had. Moreover, Ileil could sense residual magical energy here—one of the few positive benefits her identity as a witch had given her.
“Wait a moment, Gro.”
Although Ileil was unwilling to actively help Gro, with Kaze and Alyssa’s lives still uncertain, she decided to share her discovery.
“Oh?” A glint flashed in Gro’s eyes. He looked at Ileil with some surprise. “What did you find, kid?”
“There’s a very strong residue of magic here. But the spell cast doesn’t feel like the ones Alyssa usually uses. I can’t tell what kind it is.”
“Thanks, kid.” Gro’s hand gently rested on Ileil’s shoulder. He seemed to confirm something and let out a relieved sigh. “This must be one of Alyssa’s contingency escape spells. They should still be alive for now.”
“Don’t act like we’re close.” Ileil immediately showed a look of disgust and slapped away Gro’s rough hand.
Before Gro could respond, a solemn voice rang out from behind them.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Gro.”
Ileil and Gro turned at the same time. Dorias’s figure gradually emerged from the darkness. His arrival made the night guards unconsciously straighten their backs—unlike the not-so-authoritative mercenary leader Gro.
Originally, upon seeing Dorias appear, Ileil had felt as if a savior had arrived. After all, even Gro rarely dealt with spell-related matters.
But right behind Dorias appeared someone Ileil did not want to see.
For some reason, the nun named Emilia had come along with him. Her plain white robe stood out strikingly in the night.
Gro glanced sideways. He quickly noticed that Ileil’s expression when looking at the nun differed from the way she looked at everyone else.
“You’ve come at just the right time, Your Holiness the Saint.” Gro stepped forward first and briefly explained the situation to Dorias. “I’ve already spoken with the guards here for a while, but my two missing top subordinates vanished after what seems to have been a fierce battle. I suspect someone cast some kind of spell here. Could you take a look for me?”
“I’ll try.”
Dorias nodded, then knelt on one knee with his palm hovering above the ground. In a situation where lives were at stake, the saint asked no unnecessary questions.
“Any findings?”
As a layman, Gro had no idea what the golden magic array appearing at Dorias’s feet was for. After waiting roughly half a minute, he asked urgently.
“The people here seem to have used teleportation magic.”
After quite a while, Dorias answered somewhat uncertainly.
“This must be the spell Alyssa used to escape danger.” Ileil let out a long breath. In her mind, she and Kaze should be temporarily safe.
But Gro remained silent. He had never heard of Alyssa mastering such high-level magic.
—If Alyssa could actually use teleportation spells, Gro wouldn’t even have time to laugh.
“……Your Holiness the Saint.” After a moment of silence, Gro spoke slowly. “Could you try to track where they went? I don’t want them still being chased by that Regnar guy.”
“Let me handle it, Mr. Gro.”
Sister Emilia stepped forward slowly, her hands clasped in front of her chest. “Tracking is one of my specialties.”
Holy light flowed from her palms, tracing faint blue trails across the ground.
‘Hah, why did it have to be you?’
Ileil stared at the light in Sister Emilia’s hands but felt no sense of reassurance. She recalled the ink-covered text in Cole’s diary and the sense of wrongness the nun gave her. No matter what, Ileil didn’t think she was a good person.
“Ileil.” Gro had somehow moved behind the girl. He lowered his voice. “You noticed something. You’ve been staring at that nun ever since she arrived.”
Ileil did not answer immediately. She glanced at the man out of the corner of her eye. Gro’s expression was unusually serious.
“I don’t trust her,” Ileil mouthed to him. “I think there’s something wrong with her.”