Giant pythons, disasters, orcs, elves, Sorceresses, dragons…

Night Frost recounted these stories one after another. Yan Xin and Qianchun were both left astonished.

These creatures were actually real. They weren’t human fabrications or made-up legends.

If Night Frost hadn’t returned from the Abyssal Rift, Yan Xin and Qianchun would most likely have thought she was spouting madness—or recounting a long, impossible dream.

After jotting down a few notes, Night Frost introduced the little Sorceresses to Qianchun and Yan Xin.

The tallest and most physically developed one, with a natural talent for leadership, was Fertini. She could manage simple exchanges with Night Frost.

The short one, who often stared at Night Frost with a scorching gaze, was named Keti…

“Trash fish! Trash fish!”

With her clumsy pronunciation, Keti spat out the words “trash fish.”

Night Frost suddenly remembered something rather unfortunate.

Back then, she’d told Keti that those were words they used to greet one another.

But now…

Night Frost’s gaze fell upon Qianchun and Yan Xin.

They were both looking at her with utter disdain.

Why could Keti speak Chinese? And who had taught her?

That was a really hard mystery to solve~

“Wait, listen to my defense… I mean, my explanation! I was only letting her experience a little of our culture!”

“[ ] Brats count as culture too, huh… That doesn’t sound entirely wrong, but you’re definitely the problem here.”

Qianchun glanced at the fidgeting little Sorceresses.

“We’ll have a proper ‘conversation’ with you later.”

Following Night Frost’s pronunciation, Yan Xin recorded all the Sorceresses’ names.

She didn’t understand the Sorceress script, so she could only write their names down phonetically.

“We’ll be counting on you from now on. (Dragon Tongue)”

The little Sorceresses couldn’t communicate with them because their languages were different.

The only ones who could speak with them were Li Dogegg and Night Frost. The Eye Orb could do it as well, but he had more important matters to handle.

After finishing the count, Night Frost, Qianchun, and Yan Xin said their goodbyes.

Guided by Qianchun, Night Frost and the others headed for Aklatia’s headquarters.

“This place is—!”

The Eye Orb leaped out from behind Night Frost.

He knew this place far too well.

“This is Aklatia. I ‘rented’ it back.”

“Most of the equipment inside was smashed, but it should still be usable after some repairs.”

Night Frost’s eyes widened as well.

She’d thought Qianchun taking control of so much territory was already outrageous enough.

She hadn’t expected Qianchun to seize Aklatia’s original headquarters too.

Although Qianchun kept calling it a “rental,” she probably had no intention of returning it.

“We didn’t change much of the internal layout. It should be exactly as you remember it, Doctor.”

Qianchun didn’t need to lead the way.

The Eye Orb once again stepped onto a road that had existed only in his memories.

Scenes of Aklatia as it once was appeared within that single eye.

“Let’s go…”

The Eye Orb swayed slightly as he spoke to Night Frost.

But the Aklatia of the past had already fallen. Everything that once existed was gone.

The past was worth remembering, but no one could remain trapped in it forever.

In the end, people had to live in the present.

The little Sorceresses, however, were fascinated by the place.

Their world wasn’t nearly as technologically advanced, and they had never seen such strange alloys before.

When they entered Aklatia, the Eye Orb saw many people bustling about.

Most of them handled clerical work and statistics.

The internal organization was practically identical to the Twelfth District branch.

It seemed Qianchun had simply copied the Twelfth District’s model wholesale.

That was only natural. The branch’s system was built from the accumulated experience of the Twelfth District’s predecessors.

Qianchun could use it directly without any compatibility issues.

Still, in the Eye Orb’s opinion, something was missing.

Aklatia had originally been a research institution.

Never mind that no one was conducting research now. They couldn’t even find any research equipment.

There was nothing they could do about it.

The current Aklatia had no researchers, and it had no research instruments either.

Qianchun settled the little Sorceresses in some empty rooms.

With Night Frost’s guidance, they roughly learned how to open and close the doors and operate some of the equipment.

If they ran into trouble, they could press the button Night Frost had left behind.

That would notify Qianchun and Night Frost.

They could also go directly to Li Dogegg.

Night Frost had completely let Li Dogegg roam free.

It had helped her quite a lot in the Mythic Abyss, so she decided to give it some freedom while she had the chance.

After everything was settled, the Eye Orb pulled Night Frost to a small door beneath Aklatia.

According to his memories, research equipment had once been stored inside.

He’d asked Qianchun about it before, and she’d told him that all the usable equipment had been placed back in its original location.

When they opened the door, a cloud of dust burst out.

It slapped Night Frost and the Eye Orb across the face.

The Eye Orb hurriedly shut his eye.

Night Frost instinctively raised a Magic Layer, but unfortunately, it couldn’t block the dust.

Night Frost began coughing violently.

Clear tears slid from her eyes as she waved her arms wildly, trying to thin the dust in front of her.

“These instruments…”

The Eye Orb searched through the room.

He found that one genetic analyzer had suffered no major damage and could still be used.

There were also two cultivation chambers and less than half of an extraction device.

These were the instruments the Eye Orb had used most often.

The most precise parts of the equipment were still intact, which surprised him.

He’d assumed the bandits had smashed or carried off everything.

The Eye Orb took out two more eye orbs.

One had been given to him by Night Frost earlier.

The other had been obtained after killing Aphrodite.

The auras surrounding the two eye orbs were remarkably similar.

Even an idiot could tell they had come from the same person.

Though “person” wasn’t quite accurate.

They had come from the same creature.

While the Eye Orb tinkered with the equipment, Night Frost went to listen to Qianchun recount recent events.

Combining Blade’s information with Qianchun’s account, she gained a rough understanding of what had happened in the Twelfth District.

After Night Frost left, the Blood Clan invaded.

The other districts, which had finally settled down, began plotting against the Twelfth District again.

This time, they went straight for the kill.

They were even willing to send several Chapter Three members to seize the Twelfth District.

If Night Frost hadn’t returned in time, the Twelfth District might truly have been destroyed.

Moon Owl had exhausted herself.

Thunder Slash had been unable to defeat the two of them.

The other Cantata Two members couldn’t even break through Hrubess’s defenses.

If Night Frost hadn’t cut down Blood first and stabilized the situation, Hrubess’s defection and the betrayal of the Zone Fifteen Guardian would have been enough to destroy the district.

It was difficult to imagine how much Qianchun had done for Aklatia and the Twelfth District all by herself.

Of course, everyone in Aklatia was outstanding.

Without them, Aklatia could never have developed this far.

Night Frost felt like a hands-off manager who had dumped everything onto Qianchun before vanishing without a trace.

“You’ve really worked hard.”

Night Frost felt a little ashamed.

For a moment, she didn’t know how she could reward Qianchun.

But Qianchun seemed to see through her thoughts and immediately stopped her from giving her a present.

“What about the side effects from your Magic Armor? Are you all right?”

Night Frost knew that the Magic Stones Qianchun used had side effects.

“It’s only this little bit. I’m fine.”

“I just need to use them less.”

“But what about you…?”

“When you were telling me about the Mythic Abyss, I saw a trace of sadness in your eyes.”

“Something else must have happened after you entered the fortress, right?”

Qianchun hadn’t suddenly become smarter.

No, she had always been very clever.

Besides, Night Frost rarely hid her feelings. Everything was written plainly across her face.

“I found my parents.”

Night Frost pulled a notebook from her chest.

It contained a great many things, but she hadn’t had time to read it yet.

“But they had already become a handful of dust.”

“I know everyone is born, grows old, gets sick, and dies. But it still feels unreal somehow.”

“Human life is just too fragile.”

Night Frost unconsciously clenched her fists.

She had accepted her parents’ deaths.

So why did a trace of unwillingness still linger in her heart?

“You searched for your parents for so many years, only to find two skeletons and a handful of dust.”

“Anyone would feel bitter about that, wouldn’t they?”

“Yeah…”

Night Frost lowered her head.

Tears seemed to glimmer in her eyes.

She remembered the years she had spent growing up.

She had often envied children who had their parents by their side.

She’d thought time would eventually numb her to everything.

Instead, she’d realized that this envy was something she could never truly let go of.

Night Frost forced down the ache in her eyes.

She had risen before dawn and stayed up past dark, earning money while attending school.

She had signed a contract with the Black Dragon and transformed herself into a disaster.

She had hacked her way through every obstacle, leaving countless dead beneath her spear.

All so she could find her parents.

All because she wanted to experience the happiness of the complete families she saw around her.

Night Frost let out a long sigh and pressed down the sorrow in her heart.

But Qianchun suddenly stepped forward and placed both hands on Night Frost’s shoulders.

Their eyes met—Night Frost’s red-gold gaze against Qianchun’s.

Night Frost startled at first.

Then she froze.

A blush spread across her cheeks, and she turned her head away.

“W-What are you doing?”

“You look like you really want to cry…”

“You act so strong when you’re outside, but you’re actually incredibly fragile inside.”

“Anyone who spends enough time with you can tell, can’t they?”

The moment Qianchun finished speaking, Night Frost immediately protested.

“Men don’t cry, you know!”

Qianchun silently reached into the Spatial Box and took out a mirror.

“Take a look.”

“Does the person in that mirror look anything like a man?”

Night Frost accepted the mirror in a daze.

She looked at her reflection.

Her eyes were red, and the blush on her face hadn’t faded.

With her delicate features, there wasn’t the slightest trace of manliness left.

At some point, Qianchun had moved behind her.

She wrapped both arms around Night Frost.

“If you want to cry, then cry…”

“You’re a girl now, anyway. What’s there to be embarrassed about?”

“And it’s only the two of us here~”

For some reason, after hearing Qianchun’s words and feeling the warmth of her arms, all of Night Frost’s bitterness and resentment transformed into tears.

They burst from her reddened eyes in an instant.

Qianchun gently stroked Night Frost’s head, carefully avoiding her small dragon horns.

She understood how Night Frost felt.

She had no parents either.

For more than a decade, she had struggled through the darkness.

She knew that feeling all too well, and she hadn’t been able to let it go, either.

Every night, she cried.

She envied those who had beautiful, loving families…

“You feel a little better now, right?”

Night Frost slowly recovered.

Tears had soaked her Magic Armor, but the next second, she dried them with a burst of flame.

She wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes and nodded slightly.

“Thank you… Qianchun.”

“What are you thanking me for~?”

“After all, we’re friends for life.”