“And that’s how we reached the capital on someone else’s wagon. The merchant had a cart, so we brought the destroyed carriage and the coachman’s body with us too.”

“......Jihaira. I feel like I’ve heard that name before.”

Basto frowned.

Taking the note from Yvonne’s hands, he read through it again.

Then he suddenly lifted his head as though something had come back to him.

“Wait. Jihaira is a wanted criminal. That’s right.”

At last, he remembered.

A long time ago, a brutal massacre of an entire family had taken place near the capital.

The murderer’s name had been Jihaira.

The Imperial Army had captured her almost immediately, and according to the plan, she was supposed to be publicly hanged in the square the very next day.

But—

“She probably managed to escape from the Imperial Army.”

Tie, who had been listening quietly, swallowed hard.

An escaped criminal.

She remembered seeing similar news reports in Korea sometimes.

“The problem is that this woman managed to sneak into the capital without anyone noticing.”

Basto thoughtfully stroked his chin.

“When news spread that an extremely dangerous criminal had infiltrated the capital, the entire city was turned upside down. After the Imperial Army failed, even the Holy Knights were mobilized to search for her, but in the end, they still never caught her.”

“That’s true.”

Right at that moment, the conference room door opened.

Valentis entered, having hurriedly left the banquet.

“Grandpa!”

Tie immediately ran toward him, and Valentis quickly scooped the child into his arms.

Looking at Basto, he asked:

“But why did Jihaira’s name suddenly come up? Is she connected to this attack?”

Tie raised her hand high.

“Yes! Jirai wrote a letter to the bad coachman telling him to sell Brother Bale’s younger siblings!”

After that, Tie showed Valentis the Shadow Corps button she was still holding in her hand.

“And this too!”

Valentis’s eyes narrowed.

“......The Shadow Corps?”

Even though he had no personal connection to the Pope, he was still the Supreme Commander of the Holy Order.

And because he frequently had access to Church secrets and classified documents, he knew about the Shadow Corps as well.

He muttered quietly:

“If the Shadow Corps are involved, then this is no trivial matter. But there’s too little information.”

The only remaining leads were Merkon and Jihaira, both directly connected to the Shadow Corps.

“But Merkon is dead, and only Jihaira remains now.......”

He stared heavily toward the window.

And at that exact moment, the sealed conference room window suddenly flew open.

As everyone turned around in surprise, black smoke swirled through the air and rushed inside.

Gathering into a single point, the smoke slowly took the form of a boy.

“If we’re talking about Jihaira, I already found her.”

“Kkamani!”

Tie immediately jumped down from Valentis’s arms and sprinted forward.

Grabbing Lucarion tightly by the hand, Tie asked in astonishment:

“You found Jairi?! How? And Kkamani, weren’t you supposed to stay in the shelter?”

Lucarion awkwardly scratched his cheek.

“Well...... things just kind of happened. Actually.......”

“Actually?”

“You told me to stay in the shelter, but I still went outside. Because I was worried. You left without Elephantie, without Marbas, and without me.”

Tie’s eyes widened.

Lucarion continued:

“I got worried and secretly followed you to the Imperial Palace banquet hall.......”

A brief chuckle escaped him.

“But it looked like you were handling everything perfectly fine without me. So I left pretty quickly. Then I started wondering what I should do instead.......”

Lucarion turned his head.

His gaze landed on Bale Theodore’s younger siblings, who were staring at him fearfully.

“And I decided to check whether Bale Theodore’s younger siblings had arrived safely.”

Yvonne’s lips parted slightly.

After hesitating a little, she stepped closer.

“Then...... does that mean it was because of you that the cloaked people couldn’t sense our presence?”

Lucarion nodded.

“Yes. That was me.”

“Oh my god!”

“I didn’t show myself because I was afraid your younger brother would start crying again. Besides, you were handling things perfectly well even without my interference.”

An awkward expression appeared on Yvonne’s face.

Meanwhile, Noah continued hiccuping while staring at Lucarion.

“Kkamani, you’re so cool!”

Tie tightly hugged Lucarion.

Her eyes sparkled brighter than ever.

“You’re really amazing! The best! And that’s why you found Jahaira?!”

Lucarion stiffly nodded.

“Well...... yeah. Like the Supreme Commander said, Jihaira was the only lead left. If she learned Merkon was dead, she might’ve hidden herself even deeper.”

“Waaah!”

“It actually wasn’t that hard to find her.”

Lucarion carefully pried Tie off himself.

“I asked around the underground passages in Flint Cove. I asked whether anyone had recently been looking for a ship heading to the Northern Continent.”

Bale approached with a stunned expression.

“You just asked around, and people immediately told you everything?”

Lucarion nodded.

“When I said I was Astie’s friend, everyone told me everything.”

He pulled an entire handful of things from inside his cloak pocket.

“......They even gave me these too.”

Tie’s eyes flew open.

“Candy!”

In Lucarion’s hands were candies, cookies, and honey coated nuts.

The girl’s eyes immediately filled with tears.

“The grandmas in the underground passages always gave these to Tie. They probably gave them to Kkamani too because he said he was Tie’s friend......!”

Tie remembered how she used to pass through the underground passages every day on her way to the training center.

Lately she had visited less often, but before that, she had always greeted the old people diligently.

‘Hello, Grandma! Hello, Grandpa!’

‘Oh my, our Tie is here!’

‘They’re not bullying you at home again, are they?’

‘If they start looking down on you over your studies again, bite them immediately, understand?’

Because of something Basto had once accidentally said carelessly, the people there still believed Tie was the illegitimate child of a noble family.

Of course, Tie had tried explaining the truth countless times.

But—

‘Actually, Tie isn’t illegitimate.......’

‘Of course you aren’t! My dear girl, it doesn’t matter what others say. What matters is standing proud yourself!’

‘Exactly! And what’s even wrong with it anyway? None of that is the child’s fault.’

‘Poor thing...... Grandma will give you candy. Make sure you eat it all yourself, alright?’

‘Nobody believes Tie.......’

Unfortunately, every attempt had ended in failure.

While Tie scratched her head awkwardly, Lucarion continued:

“Once I started asking around, it turned out quite a lot of people knew Jihaira.”

Valentis, who had walked over, frowned.

“In Flint Cove? How?”

“It seems she lent money to merchants with extremely high interest rates. And recently, since she was preparing to flee to the Northern Continent, she started pressuring her debtors even harder.”

Tie swallowed hard.

Lucarion glanced back over his shoulder.

“That’s how I realized it was Jihaira. She was using a different name, so I almost missed her.”

At that moment, a small subspace opened behind Lucarion.

Pupu and Marbas leaped out from inside.

“......Kkyut!”

Pupu flapped his ears, ran to Tie, and immediately dove into her arms.

Marbas also climbed onto her shoulder with practiced familiarity.

[My Lady! The great Pupu personally delivered Jihaira tied up inside subspace! Just give the order, and we can begin the interrogation immediately! Should we gouge out her eyes first? Or cut off her tongue— Ugh!]

Pupu immediately smacked Marbas away with a paw while he was still throwing around horrifying suggestions.

Tie let out a heavy sigh and looked around.

Bale and his younger siblings, Basto, the other squad members, Valentis, and Lucarion.

‘Right. Something this big can’t be dealt with here.’

Tie raised her hand high and announced importantly:

“First, we’re going to the shelter!”

Trtrtr, trtrtr.

The warm heat falling onto her knees made Jihaira abruptly snap her eyes open.

She frantically looked around.

‘W what is # Nоvеlight # this?’

She was in a completely unfamiliar place.

The last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was drinking good alcohol and dozing off for a little while.

“......What the fuck is this shit!”

The moment she tried to get up, she immediately cursed after seeing her body tightly bound.

“What bastard tied me—!”

But the instant she thrashed violently, she suddenly froze.

[......Ji...... hai...... ra.......]

Jihaira’s pupils trembled.

Inside the gradually darkening space.

Something glowing with blue light slowly transformed into a face directly in front of her.

“M, Merkon?”

Merkon’s blood soaked face, with an arrow protruding from one eye, approached her with deathly pale skin.

[What did you drag me into.......]

“M, Merkon, what happened to you?! Why do you look like......!”

[Tell me everything immediately...... Otherwise...... otherwise......!]

Merkon slowly opened his mouth wide, and icy cold air burst from inside, cold enough to make flesh itself tremble.

[I’ll kill you right here!]