The time reached eleven o’clock.

Phil and Encore returned one after another.

Only Doris had not come back yet.

The others noticed this too. Benovia asked, puzzled, "The marketplace should have ended long ago. Did she leave the camp?"

"It’s so late, what would she be doing outside?" Hilia frowned. "Don’t tell me she doesn’t want to go back to the dorm because of the bet?"

No matter how you looked at it, this didn’t seem like Doris’s style.

She might not handle losing well, but she wouldn’t just run away. At most, she’d storm off to sulk, then come back saying, in a stubborn tone, that she’d win next time.

"Something’s off." Hilia rolled out of bed and put on her clothes. "Benovia, if the instructor comes, just say I went to the bathroom."

Benovia was stunned. "Are you going to look for Doris?"

Hilia nodded, "Of course. She lost the magic puppet test, and as we agreed, she has to provide me with Ice Element puppet materials. How could I let her just disappear like that?"

Rose teased, "You’re lying."

Hilia argued, "How am I lying? Isn’t that all true?!"

"You’re clearly worried something happened to her."

"Isn’t it normal to worry about a teammate? I might find her annoying, but right now, we’re a team. If the captain dies, it’s bad for all of us!"

"Hahaha." Rose burst out laughing.

Hilia suddenly realized that Rose was messing with her and glared furiously at him.

In real life, being interrupted by Rose made Hilia’s expression shift constantly.

Still, she finished getting dressed, checked her gear, and got ready to leave.

"I’ll go with you." Phil suddenly said.

Hilia turned back. "Phil, you’re pushing yourself too hard. You should rest, or you won’t be able to enter the ruins tomorrow."

Phil shook his head. "If we don’t go in tomorrow, we’ll go in the day after. But if something happened to Doris, I’d never forgive myself."

"I’ll go too." Encore stood up, put on his glasses, and said seriously, "If the captain wanders off alone for adventure, how is that okay?"

Benovia said, "Let’s just all go together. Four people can look after each other."

She paused for a second, then grinned, "I thought about it, and realized our team doesn’t really need Doris. Every spot’s filled."

Hilia wholeheartedly agreed, "Exactly! If we don’t find her, we’ll just pick a new captain. We have support, a priest, a warrior, a mage—anyone can keep exploring."

Talk aside, they all quickly gathered their gear.

Ten minutes later, everyone had finished packing and quietly slipped out of the camp.

The school’s camp was surrounded by wooden fences, and there were instructors patrolling.

But, for Hilia’s squad with Rose reporting checkpoints, those patrolling instructors could never spot them.

Soon, they left the school’s base and reached the mercenary marketplace outside.

It was nearly midnight, and the camp was completely quiet.

All the mercenaries had gone back to their tents or cabins to rest, recharging for the next day exploring the ruins.

The vendors had also packed up, leaving piles of goods everywhere: some right outside tents, others bulging under canvas or cabins.

This camp was mainly made up of tents for ’buildings’, but there were also plenty of newer wooden houses—and camps like those of Divine Magic Academy built from stone, which were hardly temporary anymore.

The cold wind blew, lifting the girls’ hair.

Everyone couldn’t help but wrap their coats tighter.

Encore looked around nervously. "The camp is so quiet at night."

Hilia looked at Benovia, "Still no contact?"

"None. Whether using the school’s dedicated channel or Star Spirit Network, I can’t reach Doris—she’s no longer covered by Star Spirit Network."

If she wasn’t covered by Star Spirit Network, there was only one possibility—

She’d gone into the ruins.

The wind howled; the sky was pitch-black, and weird noises seemed to come from all around, as if mocking their courage for venturing out at night.

Encore moved closer to Hilia and Benovia, her voice trembling, "So cold, I’m shivering."

Hilia looked at her, pretending not to notice, "If you’re cold, you can convert Magic Power to fire element, run it through your body a couple times, and you’ll warm up."

"Doesn’t work much for me, because of my particular constitution."

"Oh, so that’s a special constitution? I thought you were just scared and that’s why you’re shaking."

"Encore’s dictionary doesn’t have the word fear!" Encore snapped.

Benovia looked at Hilia, "Hilia, which direction should we go?"

Hilia pretended to ponder, while she actually spoke to Rose in her mind. "Lord Rose, do you know where Doris is?"

Rose said, "Ruins direction. Nighttime is when the lighthouse is active—it’s very dangerous. Be careful."

Hilia said, "Most likely toward the ruins. Let’s search that way, and if we don’t find her, we’ll head back."

Phil asked, "Shouldn’t we tell the instructors?"

"I didn’t tell them in case they stopped us. But now, since we’re heading toward the ruins, we can let them know so they’ll help in the search." Hilia said.

Benovia raised her wrist and smiled, "I already told Mr. Abros and Ms. Alina. Hurry, if we wait any longer, they’ll come out and block us."

"Let’s go, then. We’ll stick together, no need to split up—I have a way to find Doris."

Hilia trusted Rose’s judgment.

So her tone was absolutely certain.

Rose thought even if he purposely gave the wrong place, this girl would still march forward without hesitation.

He didn’t do that.

Although he didn’t know exactly where Doris had gone—she wasn’t anywhere in Spiritual Scan range—at least, he could roughly determine her general direction by the traces left behind.

That meant toward the ruins.

"Doris most likely left, feeling upset, and forgot the warning about nighttime dangers, leaving the camp boundary." Rose said. "Coincidentally, the direction she took leads to the Lost Lighthouse, so something happened."

"She got pulled in by the lighthouse?" Hilia asked.

"Possibly. You four try searching first."

While talking, Hilia was also chatting with the others; not long after, the four arrived at the camp entrance.

On the ground outside the gate, intricate rune patterns glowed faint gold.

Hilia said, "This is the camp’s Protective Array, which keeps the camp safe from the lighthouse’s effects at night."

With that, she stepped past the entrance, crossed the Protective Array, and came outside the camp.

At once, the chilly breeze turned into a fierce, biting storm, lashing Hilia’s face hard.