Everyone’s eyes were honed in on the mysterious crystal ball.

“I’ll check this crystal ball myself, first… Since we don’t know who it’s connected to,” said Seol.

“Ah. G-go ahead.”

“Be careful... It was something he had. You should be very careful with it.”

“I will,” answered Seol.

After saying that, Seol went deeper into the forest, away from his comrades. And right before he could insert his mana into the crystal ball…

- Stop right there. Hold it.

Ur immediately stopped him.

“What’s wrong, Ur?”

- Your mana could leave a mark. Unless you want them to find out where you are and how strong you are, leave it to me. As long as I continue to change the mana’s characteristics while you call, they won’t be able to find anything about you.

There was no reason for Seol to refuse.

“Alright, I’ll leave it to you.”

Glow glow…

Ur’s mana slowly seeped into the crystal ball.

- Ur’s a VPN LMFAO

- They could find our IP, so we should…

- Seol’s wearing a mask right now too LOOOL

Wooosh…

A voice echoed from the crystal ball.

“Shuro?”

Seol mimicked Shuro’s voice in an effort to mock them.

“Yes, Miss Bria.”

“...So you aren’t Shuro.”

- She found out right away LOOOL

- It wasn’t even a good attempt. His voice should have been higher!

- I’m Shuro, I’m good at lying (falsetto)

Seol scoffed at her.

“Shuro is dead.”

“Don’t lie to me! There’s no way Shuro would die so easily! More importantly… Who are you?”

“Just a passerby. I picked up this crystal ball on the road.”

To be more accurate, he stole it.

“While wearing that strange mask?”

“Yup.”

“...How did Shuro die?”

“He died of natural causes. He should’ve taken better care of his health.”

“Hah… You… You’re on the princess’s side, aren’t you?”

“...No?”

- No…? LMFAOOOO

- How does he suck this much at lying LMFAO

- I’m… not…?

- He doesn’t even want to lie to her lmfaooo

- He’s like a kid prank-calling someone.

“...Where is the statue?” Bria asked, grinding her teeth.

“I don’t have anything like that.”

Not yet, of course.

“Since you’re so difficult to talk to… I will go find you myself. Let’s see…”

She then warned Seol.

“Let’s see if you still act like that when we’re face to face. Look forward to it.”

“Oh man…” answered Seol. “I can’t wait.”

Hum…

[You have acquired new information.]

[Obstructor ‘Shuro, the Sifter’ has appeared in this Adventure.]

[Obstructor ‘Shuro, the Sifter’ will join you in this Adventure as an enemy.]

[An influential figure makes their move.]

[Obstructor ‘Bria, the Venomous Spider’ has appeared in this Adventure.]

[Obstructor ‘Bria, the Venomous Spider’ will join you in this Adventure as an enemy.]

Crack!

The crystal ball was destroyed the moment the connection cut off.

Seol then took a second to think.

‘She didn’t ask anything about the princess. She really is only aiming for the statue.’

After taking a few more minutes to plan out their next moves, Seol returned to the others.

“Let’s go,” said Seol. “We have many more mountains to cross.”

They still had to deal with the transferees from Adeline and the kingdom itself, who wanted to maintain a positive relationship with Hain IV.

‘And now the Church of Eternal Life is joining too… How did they know the princess had the Joy of the Fallen? How?’

Seol then asked Earl Brispin a question.

“Earl Brispin.”

“What is it?”

“Are the Nevenian royalty the only ones who know about the statue being missing?”

“They likely are, for now. Even so, not a lot of people know about its value. Even Hain IV would have kept a closer eye on the statue if he knew it belonged to the Church of Eternal Life.”

Bria not only knew about the statue’s disappearance but also knew for certain it was with the princess.

‘Did Hain IV make a deal with the Church of Eternal Life?’

For now, the most that Seol could assume was 'maybe'.

In truth, there was nothing for Seol to worry about, even if the two of them had a connection.

‘Well… I guess there is one thing.’

It could be a problem if the Church of Eternal Life managed to control Nevenia’s army.

However, since the Church of Eternal Life had their own means and methods, they likely wouldn’t do that.

‘Still, the situation’s definitely worse now that the Church of Eternal Life is involved. Not to mention that it’s one of their leaders…’

It took a couple of days for their group with the limping Chadorf to make it out of the Nogurs’ mountains.

* * *

Translator - goguma

Proofreader - Karane

* * *

Shatter!

A wine glass shattered into a hundred pieces as it fell to the floor.

Attendants quickly rushed in after hearing the noise.

“We will clean it up immediately.”

Bria, the person who threw the wine glass, suddenly screamed.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!”

The rather stout man standing next to her tried to calm her down.

“P-Please compose yourself, Miss Bria.”

“Why?! Why is everything suddenly going wrong?!”

"I-I believe you think the problem is bigger than it actually is."

“So you disagree? What about the incident with Zeri? How did an influential noble’s manor end up being raided? And by someone who was strong enough to toy with Zeri before he killed her?!”

The man glanced at the attendants cleaning up the wine glass before carefully opening his mouth once more.

“It definitely is worrying. Even though we’re working as hard as we can to expedite it, it feels like it’s only getting more off track.”

“It’s almost like they’ve been waiting for this moment the entire time! What is…”

They…

Bria had made a mistake due to her lack of information.

She didn’t know that Seol, the person who killed Zeri, was also the one who swiped the Joy of the Fallen from her.

“Are you done yet? Have you found their coordinates?”

“We are still looking into it. Please give us another second, Miss Bria.”

Tap…

Tap…

Bria grimaced as she crossed her arms.

It was clear from her fidgeting that she was not only upset but also running out of patience.

“Do you still need more time?”

“Yes, Miss Bria.”

Tap…

“Still?”

“Yes, Miss Bria.”

Tap…

“When will you…”

“I’ve just finished, Miss Bria. Please, calm down.”

“Fine, who are they?”

“We don’t know.”

“...You’re joking, right?”

“I-I am not, Miss Bria. Th-They… just did something unbelievable.”

The man’s face turned as white as a sheet as he continued.

“This… is extremely worrying.”

“......”

“It seems that an archmage is allied with the princess.”

“...What?”

“This flow of mana is not at a level that can be achieved just by intention alone. It’s almost like… like… it’s something only a spirit is capable of.”

“A spirit?”

“They’re the ones closest to magic and mana. Even so, it likely isn’t them. Archmages are capable of controlling mana that finely as well, after all.”

Bria slowly realized how dire the situation was as the man continued.

“Fuuu…”

She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

Bria then asked another question, radiating a much more dangerous aura.

“...Explain it in more detail. What happened?”

“The mana they inserted into the crystal ball was distorted from the start. If it had been simply altered or distorted, we could find the original information by examining the conditions within it. But this… this is a complete mess.”

“I’m sure you would have been able to find their information if it was only that. What else?”

“They didn’t send just one wavelength but multiple new wavelengths after a few seconds to disrupt the flow. This was obviously to mix in fake information. However, this also means that everything could have been fabricated, and none of the information is real.”

Bria closed her eyes.

“...What else?”

“This means that they created all of those wavelengths on the spot and… and the most ridiculous thing about it is…”

“What?”

“The connection was never disrupted while they were distorting the flow. And for those reasons, we weren’t able to acquire much information from them.”

“...Then tell me what you did acquire.”

The man sweated as he combined the points together.

“Our opponent has someone on their side capable of all these ridiculous feats. The most probable hypothesis is that they have an archmage trained in this field. If that's the case, the person you talked to before, or their helper, is likely an archmage.”

“Anything else?”

“It is extremely likely that Shuro did die.”

“......”

“Miss Bria?”

“We must recover that statue. No exceptions.”

“Then…”

“I will go myself. I want you to bring believers to accompany me.”

“Yes, Miss Bria! However, we don’t know where they are or if we could even catch up to them...”

“If we use a teleportation circle, we could arrive before them.”

“That would require an immense amount of mana stones, and we would need to transport the believers too… there will be a number of side-effects.”

“Just use the sacrifices.”

“...Understood. However, because we don’t know where the princess is headed…”

Bria quickly cut him off.

“It’s obvious. Also, prepare a few boats, the large ones. Actually, it might be better if they took over it entirely. Never mind.”

“By boats… is our objective… Frion?”

“Where else would the princess go? Do you really think she would go through the smuggling route and cross over to Adeline to continue going through the land? No, she’s only headed for one place,” Bria laughed. “The sea.”

“Certainly…”

“We’ll wait for her there. And we’ll sink her and the others to the bottom of the ocean. Look forward to it.”

“What else could happen?”

Despair was lurking at Seol’s final destination.

* * *

[(NEW) [<RewardsAllBelongToMe>’s Post]

[Post Date: Just now]

[Title: I should have caught her lol]

I would’ve impressed her with my skills and then said something like, “You have the right to remain silent, princess.” ????

Then we’d go off into the sunset to further our love ????

- Die, loser!

- What sin has she committed to deserve that…

- Your honor, we believe the punishment is too harsh.

- Princess Riona really was pretty, though…]

[(NEW) [<FightFight>’s Post]

[Post Date: Just now]

[Title: Isn’t attacking her from both sides overkill?]

Is it really a good thing to pinch her from the north and south?

- There's no room for her to escape with that plan.

- Yeah, and the mountains there are rough, so the paths she could take are limited.

- She’ll get caught for sure now.

- I feel bad for her…

- I’m annoyed by all of the knights laughing about getting more rewards too >:( Should I just not go?

- It’s too late to go now, dumbass.

- Really?

- I don’t know either LOL. There are people saying that they’re already near the Bragrand Mountains, though.

- What? Then I should just stay here. I won’t be able to catch her anyway.]

[(NEW) [<I’llCatchHerForSureThisTime>’s Post]

[Post Date: Just now]

[Title: How the fuck did we lose her in the cave LOL]

They're like moles at this point, haha.

I don’t know who suggested setting up two lines at Bragrand, but are they Zhuge Liang?

They quickly realized they would lose them if they only set up one line, so they set up two to crush them if they tried to slip through the rifts.

But hey, if you disagree with me, you're right.

- I came here to disagree, but I’m going now.

- It’s not just Bragrand either, they’ve set up people on the east and west as well, they can never escape… Has there ever been a hunt for someone like this?

- It’s not like she’s a monster, she’s just a princess… I feel a bit off about doing this.

- You save her then.

- Nah, I’m just going to eat popcorn.]

Dressed as mourners visiting a cemetery, they entered the city.

As this small city was essentially the slums of the nearby region, they weren’t properly inspected.

‘Well, it was for those exact reasons that we were able to enter the city, but… anyway…’

The first thing Seol did after entering the city was obviously gather information.

He learned that Adeline had begun their official search.

[You have acquired new information.]

[Sudden Adventure ‘Bragrand Sandwich’ is now active.]

It would take too long to go around the mountains. It was now a matter of arriving at Frion before their enemies could find them, and they found themselves lacking in terms of strategies.

‘The only option is to forcibly break through them...’

However, this would likely be the most dangerous part of the princess's journey to seek asylum.

“From this point on, we’ll leave behind our horses.”

Nod…

Turn…

Seol looked around the mountains, searching for the dispatched scouts.

“Do you really think they’ll pass through here?”

“What would happen if she does?”

Soldiers were littered everywhere.

‘...There are a lot of them. It won’t be easy.’

It seemed like forcibly breaking through their lines from the start was impossible.

Seol and the others were inevitably forced to head through a narrow channel in the mountains, and breaking through that would be impossible if they were discovered before they reached it.

‘We need to be as careful as possible.’

Rustle…

Rustle…

“No one found anything?”

“Maybe they’re not coming this way?”

“Hey, concentrate! Who said you were allowed to talk?”

“I-I apologize, sir!”

Though there were many soldiers, there were always bound to be some gaps. Seol expertly weaved in between them to make it through.

Seol had still yet to be discovered, even though it had already been an hour.

The problem wasn’t Seol now, but the other things around him.

Rustle…

‘Urgh!’

A plump squirrel scurried past Seol, creating a lot of noise. However, even that was more than enough to raise suspicion here.

“I’ll go check it out,” said a guard. “Maintain position here!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Hahaha, incredible! We must make sure to do our best, even for jobs like this, so that Adeline’s citizens can sleep easy knowing that we are protecting them.”

“You are right, sir!”

Then…

There was no choice.

Not only was there nowhere for them to hide, but they were also on limited time.

It seemed like whoever was in charge of guarding here was walking toward them.

‘Do I need to kill them?’

Gather…

Seol began to gather shadows in his right hand as he locked his eyes on the man approaching them.

He was ready to kill them if they screamed or made any strange movements.

“Fufu… With our new night vision capabilities, no rats will be able to run away from the Veregion Knights…”

It was Bren.

“The Veregion Knights…” stammered Bren.

“What is it, sir?”

After taking the night vision goggles from a female knight beside him, Bren had arrived to where Seol was.

He had clearly seen Seol.

He had also seen the shadows in Seol’s right hand.

As Seol began to wonder whether he should kill Bren or not…

“Sir Bren? Did you find something?”

Bren immediately looked up toward the sky.

"Th-the stars look beautiful tonight, don’t they, men?"

Bren looked like someone who was desperately putting on an act with his life, pretending as if he hadn’t seen anything at all.