Simultaneously, Empire College Girls' Dormitory

Oyado, who had just changed clothes and was preparing to take a bath, suddenly stopped in front of the bathroom door.

"What's wrong?"

Aliyah, who was in the same dormitory, looked strangely at Oyado standing at the bathroom door.

"Brother..."

Oyado slowly turned around.

"I can't feel him anymore..."

"Can't feel him?"

"The master's soul signal is missing!"

Suddenly, the door of the room was opened by Pure White, who rushed in.

"The master's soul signal is missing. Can both of you please help me check on the master's condition?"

"Of course!"

Oyado quickly put on all her clothes in a flash and even the armor next to her.

"I understand, I..."

Aliyah also looked at the small map and the surroundings.

"By the way, did you hear any sounds of battle just now?"

"Yes, indeed. Could that be brother... but there didn't seem to be much presence of ice magic in that aura just now."

Oyado said strangely.

"I see, but without ice magic... it's very likely that Fir is facing a formidable opponent and can only use other methods to fight... There's no other way, it seems like we need to call in others. Let's go, let's go check it out."

After saying that, Aliyah also started putting on clothes, while she sent a message to the others on her terminal.

"The right rear of the school, Fir might be in very serious trouble, urgent!"

————————————————————————

Less than a minute later, the three girls arrived at the top of the teaching building near the scene of the incident just now. It was only at this moment that they realized why the sound of battle was so indistinct, because the surroundings had already been enveloped by a special enchantment. Through the enchantment, they saw the remains of the ice dragon on the ground, the corpses of the dead ninjas, and Ryuki lying there.

Although they had wounds on their bodies, the values on their HP bars told the others that they were still alive.

However, this enchantment blocked their way completely and they couldn't enter.

More importantly, through the enchantment, they did not find Fir.

"Where's Fir?"

Oyado looked at the others.

"I felt that the master's last signal disappeared here, so..."

Pure White also said anxiously.

Meanwhile, Aliyah, who was beside them, had been observing the surroundings. She knew that Fir didn't have the ability to remove his name, and if his soul signal disappeared here, then only one situation was possible.

He disappeared from this location, probably by using something like spatial magic to leave.

"...Taken hostage?"

A voice came from behind Aliyah, speaking out her thoughts.

Turning around, the person behind her was Ms. Mary.

"I came as soon as I received your communication. It seems like something serious has really happened..."

Ms. Mary looked at the ice dragon and said,

"If I remember correctly, Fir only uses the ice dragon when he encounters someone who is at a similar level or stronger than him. And if you look at the head of the ice dragon, it's obviously been forcibly crushed, which can only mean one thing..."

"The opponent is stronger than Fir and forcibly terminated his skill... This means Fir must have suffered magic backlash, but the only thing that can be deduced now is that... Fir might have really lost and been taken away by someone."

Dale, who appeared next to them at some point, said as he rubbed his eyes and touched the enchantment.

"A pure magic enchantment... Bai Yueguang, it's up to you."

"Great ultimate · separation."

As soon as the words fell, the sword flashed, and a crack like a door appeared directly on the enchantment. At the same time, a white figure rushed in and stabbed something in the middle, causing the entire magic enchantment to disappear.

Bai Yueguang put away his sword and looked at everyone.

"It seems that this situation is troublesome. Without the enchantment, it probably won't be long before someone discovers it. Let's collect things and leave here quickly."

"It's already done."

Oyado, who had appeared in front of everyone at some point, threw a bag on the ground and carried Ryuki and Longyang on her back.

"All the things on those ninjas are here. Let's discuss in another place."

"Well..."

The last one to appear was Yaling in armor, who walked out from behind the nearby house. However, Aliyah had already noticed that Yaling had rushed over not long after they arrived at the scene.

"I heard what you guys were talking about. Fir... has been kidnapped?"

"Yes, do you have any clues?"

"No... but... come with me. I'll take you to meet Emperor Ais. Maybe he can help with something."

"The Emperor... "

Ms. Mary touched her chin.

"It sounds interesting."

————————————————————————————

48 hours later

Location: Eastwing District, Imperial Capital

The Eastwing District was one of the first five districts in the Imperial Capital. In theory, after a long period of accumulation, this place should be very prosperous.

However, in reality, this place is now the poorest in the Imperial Capital. Most young people rely on working in other districts to support their families, while families that cannot provide labor force will gradually disappear following the basic principles of evolution - survival of the fittest.

As part of the Imperial Capital, the royal family has proposed many policies to restore prosperity to this area, but most of them have been opposed by the nobility and have come to naught.

For the nobles, they greatly enjoy the cheap labor force generated from this area. As long as this area can still provide such high-quality, low-cost labor force, it is difficult to implement favorable policies.

And in such an area, there lived a pair of sisters.

The older sister worked in a coffee shop in the neighboring Lander District, while the younger sister joined a mercenary group by studying magic on her own, relying on the meager commission to support their family's survival.

Although their lives were busy, the sisters never complained about it. Having lost their parents at a young age, they understood that their current life was already better than most families in this area.

The conditions were harsh in this area. It seemed that disasters never spared anyone in this district. During one expedition, the sister was directly struck by the electric shock of a high-level Lightning Wolf. Although she survived, she fell into a long coma. It has been exactly three months since then.

This put the family in a new predicament, and the sister had to work longer hours to earn the necessary money. Fortunately, the manager of the place where she worked was a kind-hearted person who, upon learning about the sister's situation, raised her hourly wage and allowed her to take home the remaining food from the store.

And today...

"Philia, I'm back~"

The door to the room slowly opened, and Lylis walked in, holding some packaged food.

Lylis was only seventeen years old, but the long hours of labor had made her look more mature. Her golden curls were carefully groomed, after all, she worked at a coffee shop, so she had to dress up properly.

This room was their home, and their beds were simply covered with curtains. Further on, there were the living room and the kitchen, and the only partition was the bathroom.

Lylis put down the things and walked to Philia's bedside.

"Hey, Philia, are you feeling better today? The manager brought some corn chowder for me today. I'll feed it to you later, okay? Oh, and there's a little gift too, something you've been wanting. Today, Marl, the one who cleans at the Imperial Academy, found something good inside and exchanged it with me after I told her about you. I'm sorry, there was supposed to be apple pie today, but what I got in exchange is definitely worth it.

While Lylis spoke, Philia just lay there on the bed with her eyes open, motionless. Unlike her sister's golden hair, Philia's hair came from her father, and it was long and black. However, due to lying in bed for a long time, it had been trimmed slightly before because of the battles.

Even though her eyes were open, they lacked any spark, staring fixedly at the cracked ceiling.

"Hehe, I know you'll like it, but first, let's have some food."

With that, Lylis took out an iron thermos and slowly opened it. She took a spoonful of corn chowder, chewed on it, and gently opened Philia's mouth with her hand, feeding her the thick soup mouth to mouth.

There was no other way. In this era, you couldn't rely on anything like intravenous fluids. In this world that depended on food for energy intake, without this method, Philia would have starved to death due to malnutrition.

This scene continued for about fifteen minutes, until everything had been fed to Philia. Lylis breathed a sigh of relief.

"As we agreed before, it's gift time now."

While speaking, Lylis took out a necklace from her jacket pocket and slowly put it on Philia's neck.

"It suits you well. Alright, let me clean up things."

Lylis smiled as she picked up the dishes, closed the curtains, and walked towards the kitchen.

But...

Just as she took two steps, suddenly, a voice came from behind.

"Um... is there any food? I feel like I've been sleeping for a long time, and I'm very hungry."

Lylis turned around in surprise, and her hand holding the things dropped to the ground.

"Ph-Philia... you're awake?"

"Philia?"

The girl called Philia ran her hand through her black hair, her face full of confusion.

"I'm not called Philia, though. I'm Fir, Lin Fir."