"Young Master is here too..."

In an instant, all kinds of scorching emotions poured into An’s heart, washing away every trace of the cold indifference she had been born with.

Countless thoughts surged and churned in her mind. Even she—who had been held to extremely strict standards since childhood, trained to become the perfect maid—could not stay calm at this moment.

Why was Young Master here?

Was he also captured by the demonfolk?

They dared to capture Young Master—shouldn’t those demonfolk pieces of trash be ground up and thrown into the fire?

But then again, for that purpose, the demonfolk should only be capturing female adventurers, so why...

So many thoughts, so many emotions, rising and falling like bubbles spinning in a whirlpool.

And when those bubbles finally vanished, her heart was almost completely filled by the joy and excitement of an imminent reunion. Half a year apart—unable to replenish her energy from Young Master—she had long since reached the limits of endurance.

She wanted to run to him right now, immediately, this very second. If she had to use an analogy, she was like a traveler in the desert about to die of thirst, finally finding the spring that belonged only to her.

"Young Master? What young master? Is he someone you know, Miss An?"

Ariel tilted her head in confusion. Didn’t the demonfolk only capture female adventurers? Where would a “young master” come from here?

Or was it just some kind of nickname?

But no matter who this “Young Master” was, it couldn’t affect Ariel’s current persona of being thoughtful and gentle.

"Ahem."

Ariel cleared her throat and said in a soft voice, "Do you want me to go find her with you? Even though we’re in the demonfolk’s main base right now, acting recklessly is a bit dangerous, and there are still some very important things we have to do, but I think we should go find that... huh?"

Ariel’s words stopped again.

Because An’s movements stopped too.

She had only taken one step forward, full of joy, and it was as if Ariel’s words reminded her of something. Her entire body stiffened in place.

Like a statue that could only stare blankly, and could no longer act.

"Miss An?"

"Right... I almost forgot..."

The burning emotions scattered like flowers in a mirror, the swirling whirlpool stilled without a trace, and those pupils returned to that dead, profound gray again.

"Right now... I have something even more important to do. Before I finish that, I absolutely can’t drag Young Master into it..."

If anything, now that she knew Young Master was here, for his safety, she needed to move even faster.

And besides...

An lifted a hand and gently stroked the delicate little horns she had called decorations earlier.

"I absolutely can’t let Young Master see what I look like right now."

"...Miss An, what is going on with you?"

Ariel felt even more confused.

Ever since they came out of that mirror, Miss An had looked so strange.

Not only was she constantly talking to herself, muttering vague, unclear things, but even though she had been so delighted just now—like she was about to hug the most important treasure in her life—her mood had turned cold again in an instant.

That faint barrier that pushed people a thousand miles away wrapped around the hem of her night-colored dress once more.

"No, I’m fine."

An folded her hands over her lower abdomen and kept her waist and back perfectly straight.

On her dignified, delicate face, she showed a smile so standard you couldn’t pick out even the slightest flaw.

"Sorry for making Miss Ariel worry. I just got distracted for a moment."

"Is that so?"

Ariel blinked. No matter what, that earlier strange behavior couldn’t be explained by “getting distracted.”

"Let’s put that aside. Miss Ariel, this may sound abrupt, but there’s something I want to ask you to do," An suddenly said with extreme seriousness.

"What is it?"

"Miss Ariel infiltrated this place to rescue people, right?" An did not answer directly, and instead asked.

"Mm, that’s right. I came to rescue people."

Ariel lifted her chest. "Not just Miss Muse—also all the pretty girls imprisoned here. I’m going to save all of them!"

"That’s really impressive. That kind of determination ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ and courage isn’t something ordinary people have. I’m sure those pretty girls will definitely be captivated by what you’re doing."

"Hehe, it’s not that far. I’m just doing what I can..."

Ariel shyly twisted her waist.

"But since that’s the case, I hope you’ll consider my request seriously."

"What request, exactly..."

"I hope you can help me..."

An paused, her tone turning heavy.

"Come with me to destroy this city."

"What?"

Ariel’s pupils shrank. She thought she had misheard. "What did you say—destroy... this city?"

"Yes. Destroy it."

"Th-this... Miss An, are you joking?"

Ariel stared blankly up at the ceiling.

This place looked ordinary from here, but when she came in earlier, the grand architecture and enormous urban area along the way were absolutely not something one or two people could destroy.

Even a Truth-Rank great mage would probably need to charge for a long time and then cast several city-destroying spells to wipe this place out. And she, a mere fourth-rank martial artist who was also an Ascension-Rank mage—what right did she have...

"I’m not joking, and it isn’t as difficult as you think. At the very least, it isn’t something impossible to accomplish."

An gently stroked the wall. Since Ariel had met her, she had done this action many times.

"Gutongs Castle... this city looks incredibly majestic, something human power can’t destroy. But in reality, it is already very fragile now—so fragile it’s like a sandcastle, supported only by a certain ancient relic."

"An ancient relic?"

Ariel’s eyes flickered. She remembered An saying earlier that there were many damaged ancient relics in this castle.

"So as long as we destroy that ancient relic, this city will be destroyed?"

"Yes. When that happens, everyone imprisoned here will be released and rescued. Naturally, that includes... the Miss Muse you keep thinking about."

An paused. "And more importantly, many of the things the demonfolk want to do are connected to this city. If we destroy this place, all their schemes will end up as nothing."

"You can do it?"

"I have a way to temporarily control that ancient relic. Once it loses the support of the relic, this city will naturally collapse."

"Is that so..."

Ariel’s gaze was no longer as gentle and frivolous as before. She carefully sized up An again and narrowed her eyes.

"As I thought, Miss An, you seem to know a lot."

"That is exactly why I came here."

An turned her head toward the numbers on those doors and said in a low voice, "Trying to use this method to force me out... but I was coming anyway... so why go through something this complicated?"

"..."

Ariel fell silent, as if stunned by An’s words.

But in reality, she was communicating with her teacher in her mind.

"Teacher, what do you think?"

"It has some credibility."

Ariel’s teacher said, "In this city, I really do feel a faint, strange power covering everything. It might come from the ancient relic she mentioned."

"Then this Miss An..."

"I can’t see through her yet, but she’s definitely not simple. She probably isn’t some ordinary girl the demonfolk casually caught."

Ariel’s teacher pondered for a moment. "It’s possible that the demonfolk have been acting strangely lately, capturing human female adventurers everywhere, because of her."

"Sounds like this is a lot more interesting than I thought."

Ariel rubbed her chin. "If that’s the case, it really does seem necessary to take a trip."

Sorry, Miss Muse, and all the pretty girls. Our fated meeting might have to be delayed for a bit.

But it’s fine. When this city is destroyed, I will descend before you like a savior hero. And when that time comes, my broad arms will always be open to you.

"But speaking of which..."

Ariel looked at An with a puzzled expression. "Why are you inviting me? Miss An, you seem to know me, but you don’t actually understand me. And that little exchange earlier was only a shallow taste."

"Yes. I don’t understand you."

An said, "But I know you’re strong."

"Oh?"

Ariel raised an eyebrow, crossed her arms, and made her magnificent chest look even more surging.

"So you can tell that?"

Ariel felt a burst of pride.

Looks like her gentle consideration earlier really had worked. Miss An actually trusted her this much!

If that was the case, did she also have a chance to crack that indifferent shell and enter her heart?

"My sense of smell is always sharp."

An looked at Ariel. This might have been the first time she had looked at Ariel so seriously.

Deep within those gray eyes, a streak of scarlet flashed. And in the reflection of that instant, what appeared did not seem to be only Ariel.

That was also her reason.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason.

She had originally wanted to face everything alone, but now time was tighter than she had imagined.

So she needed a helper.

But she did not want to drag Young Master into something this dangerous, so aside from Ariel, what other choice did she have?

"Hopefully everything will still be in time."

An looked toward the Mirror of Bewilderment at the end of the corridor.

"And hopefully this mirror can keep Young Master trapped longer."

Because this was both imprisonment and protection.

Fortunately, even damaged, it was still an ancient relic.

Even a superb Young Master like the one she knew could not possibly escape so easily, right?

...

...

"As I thought, something’s off here."

Muen rubbed his chin and stood in the silent, deserted corridor, sinking into thought.

It was too bizarre. It was really too bizarre.

Even if the demonfolk were so lax about them that they did not even care, they wouldn’t let them walk this far without even a single guard showing up.

Did they really think they were weak pretty girls who could only cry pitifully in the harem, waiting for the Enchantress Grand Duke to grace them? Believe it or not, Marwen alone could kick you to death with his big hairy feet.

"But speaking of which, I can’t see any trace of Marwen and the others at all, and..."

Muen’s gaze slid over the numbered rooms on both sides of the corridor.

He had originally thought that each room should be holding several girls, like a buffet, waiting for the Enchantress Grand Duke to pick at night.

But he had already checked. All of those rooms were empty.

Which meant that this huge corridor, and all these rooms, were actually only holding him and Marwen and Reta—the three of them.

"There has to be some problem here that I don’t know about."

Muen tried hard to remember, carefully replaying everything from when he entered Gutongs Castle to when he was locked in the room, but he still did not notice anything abnormal.

His keen sense of death was completely useless, because he was only trapped in this boundless dead silence, and there was no threat to his personal safety at all.

"Looks like I really did get hit by some extremely sophisticated method. If I can’t figure out a way, I might be trapped here for a long time."

Perception didn’t work, and searching would take too much time.

In that case...

The corner of Muen’s mouth curved up.

"Black Book."