Tie walked behind Basto.

But she kept looking ahead, past him.

A few paces in front of them stood two people — a large man and a slender woman.

‘Those are the second and third mercenary squads...’

You could say she was lucky.

Bale at the entrance to the Weapon Pavilion had quickly explained the situation, so Tie already understood everything.

Only it made things worse.

‘What to do... really, what to do...?’

Tie had learned about the Association only today.

And of course she’d heard for the first time that most of the top mercenary squads belonged to it.

The important thing was different.

Unlike Agavert, which was far from recognition, these people were already vetted.

And the reason those vetted people were here was one.

‘They came to take Puppu!’

Tie suddenly felt ill and hugged the bag to her chest more tightly.

Before exiting the subspace, Lucarion had turned back into a black stone.

Puppu, as if gloating, had teased Lucarion for five straight minutes, then deliberately crawled out of the front pocket and moved into the main compartment of the bag.

He looked as happy as someone who had won the lottery and moved from a cramped rental into a spacious owned apartment.

He rolled about in the roomy bag, enjoying his freedom, and had only recently finally fallen into a deep daytime sleep.

Then a conversation sounded ahead.

The leader of the second mercenary squad was speaking with the leader of the third.

“The master said Krazar’s core has disappeared.”

“Is that possible? He destroyed the beast, and there’s no core?”

“I don’t know the details either. That’s what the master said. He had long been under the influence of the haze, but now his mind is clear. That means Krazar was somehow destroyed.”

“Exactly. Then where is its core?”

The woman squad leader demanded an answer irritably.

The man frowned.

Even to Tie it was obvious he was annoyed.

“I told you I don’t know, Elanes. If anyone knew, would Valentis Luminel have come here personally?” 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Wait — Valentis Luminel?

Hearing the familiar name, Tie tilted her head.

No wonder.

She already knew that name.

Where had she heard it... it was before they were trapped in the subspace...

Tie suddenly stopped.

Her eyes widened.

‘The weapon!’

She remembered where she had seen the name.

On the plaque before the weapon that started all this.

Before the weapon “Heart of Krazar.”

[The core was extracted thanks to the siege conducted by Valentis Luminel,

and in the hands of Master Berugon Gregor it was turned into a weapon.]

The conversation with Bale also surfaced in her mind.

‘Bale oppa. Who is Valentis Luminel?’

‘A holy knight.’

The man who at only twenty had besieged a giant magic stone and alone escaped Krazar’s subspace.

And who then led the Order of Holy Knights for thirty years.

“Tie?”

Basto, noticing she had stopped, bent down and called to her softly.

But Tie only blinked without answering.

She was concentrating hard.

‘Will Valentis Luminel come here? Really?’

Since arriving in this world, Tie had one goal.

Find the headquarters of the Order of Holy Knights and ask about Father.

But everything had gone wrong at the capital gate.

After passing through the gate and entering Pearlcity, the incident with the sea magic stone had occurred.

Then, even in the weapons district where they planned only a brief stop, a new incident happened.

‘I’m tired already...’

Even cheerful Tie began to feel utter despair.

And she worried more and more about when she would finally be able to reach the Order’s headquarters.

But if—

“Valentis Luminel will really, really come here?”

If that were true, wouldn’t Tie have to go to the headquarters herself?

After all, Valentis Luminel himself would come to them.

“Yes. I just learned that myself.”

Hearing Basto’s answer, Tie opened her mouth wide.

But she still could not rejoice carefree.

“It seems the Imperial Council also heard the news that Krazar’s core disappeared.”

Because the reason Valentis Luminel comes is precisely the core of Krazar.

‘But the core...’

Tie swallowed.

Her gaze dropped again to the bag she held tight to her chest.

‘It’s no longer a core...’

Her heart thudded loudly.

Thoughts spun feverishly in her head.

What if she said the core of Krazar had actually been an egg, and Puppu hatched from it?

First, Agavert members would be very surprised.

Basto and Nordix would probably worry, thinking it dangerous.

But in the end they would believe Tie.

That Puppu knew nothing.

And that he was not the same Krazar monster that had once brought so many victims.

‘But if it’s other mercenaries or the holy knights...’

Tie’s face darkened.

To people outside Agavert, Puppu would look exactly like Krazar.

Just as Lucarion regarded Puppu warily.

‘What if they try to kill Puppu?’

After all, Puppu was a cute, weak baby elephant.

Even if they didn’t kill him, could the Church Order try to take him from Tie?

‘...The Church Order.’

In Tie’s mind that was exactly who they were.

‘Doesn’t the Church Order always take artifacts when mercenary squads find them?’

‘And even if the Order of Holy Knights finds an artifact, the Church Order still takes it.’

‘So there’s a high chance they’ll try to take the little girl’s bracelet too.’

Looters who seize trophies from magic stones without hesitation, taken by squads with great effort.

“I won’t give him up. I’m his mother.”

Tie muttered.

At that, Basto widened his eyes.

But Tie snorted as if nothing had happened and walked on.

‘I need a plan.’

After a few steps she stopped again.

Because ahead Reaper and Elanes had already stopped and now watched her with curious expressions.

Weapon District. Smelting sector.

Tower over the Furnace of Origin.

Upper conference hall.

“It’s interesting, isn’t it? To meet in a place like the weapons district for the first time. A little grim even.”

Hearing Elanes’s words, Tie pursed her lips.

Even for little Tie, Elanes was stunningly beautiful.

Silver wavy hair.

A long, slender neck.

It was hard to believe such a beautiful woman was the leader of the third mercenary squad.

And next to her stood a man utterly opposite in appearance.

“I’m Reaper. # Nоvеlight # Leader of Grimreaper.”

He extended a coarse hand.

Tie hesitantly rose from her seat.

And she carefully shook the tip of his thick index finger.

Meanwhile Elanes spoke again.

“We’ve heard a lot about you. They say you use very unusual magic?”

Tie rolled her eyes and answered.

“Yesss. Necromancy.”

The ability to summon bone friends and call a ghost ship the squad called necromancy.

So Tie roughly understood she was a necromancer of dark magic.

“When did it awaken for you? Our mages say magic usually awakens in adolescence.”

Tie tilted her head.

She had already heard the word “awakening.”

Nordix had said Tie seemed to have awakened her power at a fairly early age.

But to be precise—

“Um... about a month and a half ago...?”

It was best to count from the moment she came to this world.

But for some reason Elanes fell silent.

Then she added with a laugh.

“So you mean you awakened magic one and a half months ago and already formed a mercenary squad?”

“Yes!”

After that, Reaper’s look also turned strange.

Tie tilted her head again.

‘Why do they look like that?’

But she simply did not know.

For mages, after awakening it usually took at least three years to utter their first spell.