Midnight jolted me awake with a rumble of thunder. Rubbing my bleary eyes, I saw the candle still burning on the table—but Eunice, who’d been keeping watch beside me, was gone.

Most of my drowsiness vanished instantly. I sprang out of bed. Rosalynd slept soundly nearby, utterly detached from the world outside.

I scanned the room. No sign of Eunice.

Stepping outside the cabin, darkness swallowed everything. Frogs croaked restlessly in the surrounding marshes.

Back inside, unease tightened my chest. *Where could Eunice have gone?* She’d never abandon her own body lightly—that much I knew. She’d even volunteered for watch duty. Had something happened? Some hidden danger I hadn’t sensed?

If she hadn’t left willingly, there should be traces.

I pulled out Rosalynd’s badge, reshaping it into a glowing metal sphere. By its light, I examined the ground outside.

No footprints. Or had the rain washed them away?

I glanced up at the storm-lashed sky. *Worst possible timing.*

Returning to the cabin, I sank into a chair, damp strands of hair clinging to my fingers. My thoughts churned.

*Why would she leave? This is her body I’m in…*

Given how she treated me, vanishing with the Demonic Sword was near impossible. She wouldn’t flee before swapping back.

*We weren’t alone here.*

I stood, resolve hardening.

Time to question the old woman next door.

Her cabin was dark. My knuckles hovered mid-air before her door. *Rude to disturb her at this hour…* But Eunice’s warning echoed in my mind: *This place isn’t as safe as it seems. Can we even trust her?*

Could the reclusive Mage who’d lived deep in these woods for over a decade be why Eunice disappeared?

I lowered my hand and retreated.

Back in my cabin, I stared blankly at the candle’s flickering flame.

No tracks outside. No sounds of struggle to wake me. Had Eunice simply… vanished?

*Vanished?*

She wouldn’t leave without word. Unless she knew she’d return.

If she was certain to come back, telling me was unnecessary. And in this weather, she couldn’t have gone far—she’d need to return before dawn.

She’d slipped away while I slept. Somewhere nearby. Somewhere she could reach and return from before I woke.

*Where? And why hide it?*

One puzzle remained: Why no footprints at the door? Even flyers needed solid ground to take off.

Eunice couldn’t fly. Today’s flyers—Felix the dragon, Archibald of the Chaos Cross Chapter, Princess Royal’s guard Garia—all shared one trait: Crown Tier strength. Rosalynd, Radiant Tier, couldn’t fly either. Eunice claimed the same rank.

So no footprints meant no flight.

Had the rain erased them? Or… were there never any to begin with?

*Why would she brave this storm? She’s as lost in these woods as I am…*

Just as frustration mounted, a thought struck me.

*What if she didn’t use the front door?*

*A hidden passage?*

TV tropes flashed in my mind—trapdoors under beds. I grabbed the badge again, crouched, and tapped beneath the bed frame. Nothing. I bumped my head. *Stupid. Real life isn’t a drama.*

Undeterred, I combed the cabin walls. Finally, I stopped before the innermost wall of the rectangular hut.

Plain wooden planks. But the grain here ran darker than the rest—a subtle difference, easy to miss.

Within that shadowed patch, a small hexagon stood out, its hue even deeper. Hesitating only seconds, I pressed it.

Nothing.

I pushed harder.

*Click.*

My breath hitched. *It sank in?!*

Purple light flared across the wall, tracing an intricate sigil. With a soft *hiss*, the wood split down the middle, revealing a doorway just wide enough for one person.

Beyond it lay absolute blackness—like a gateway to some demon’s lair.

I froze.

*Go in? Or wait for her here?*

*Is it dangerous?*

The darkness pulled at me, thick with unknown promise. I steadied my racing heart and peered deeper. The candle’s warmth barely pierced the gloom.

*The old Mage warned against wandering at night… Does this count?*

Curiosity won. After all this searching—accidental or not—I had to see. The urge took root, unshakable.

*Fine. Let’s see what’s behind door number two.*

Badge raised, the white rose emblem casting a soft glow, I stepped through. Solid ground met my feet. *No traps. Good.*

Light pushed back the shadows, revealing a cramped room—barely five square meters. Three bookshelves lined the walls, crammed with black-bound tomes. A metal plaque hung on the first shelf:

**"Fire Magic: 371 Volumes"**

*Magic. So it’s real.*

I’d never seen this script, yet its meaning flooded my mind. These dark, cryptic characters opened a door to a world I’d never imagined.

I moved to the second shelf. Its plaque read:

**"Water Magic: 298 Volumes"**

*Of course. Where there’s fire, there’s water.* I almost smiled.

The third shelf’s plaque chilled me:

**"Curses: 450 Volumes"**

*Curses?* I hadn’t known magic had such a category.

Reaching to pull a book free, my gaze drifted past the third shelf—and locked onto the far wall.

Another dark hexagon.

I knew what it meant. A door.

Pressing the first had led here. What would this one unleash?

What secrets lay beyond that wall?