After briefly treating Polly’s injuries and ensuring that she was no longer in mortal danger, Edwina, Theresa, and the two White Feather girls who had previously fought the gray-robed figures gathered together and exchanged some information.

 

Among them, Edwina bluntly expressed her intention to take Theresa away and made it clear that the current manpower left in the Azure Sky Kingdom was completely insufficient to care for or protect her. The task would be handed over to the joint kingdom envoy.

 

Although it sounded a bit uncomfortable, the two White Feather girls had to admit that what the Holy Knight said was not unfounded.

 

Since the arrival of that gray mist, everything had gone completely chaotic.

 

People were dying suddenly everywhere, and the gray-robed figures, whose origins were unknown, were attacking everything in sight. Of the six members of the Wings of Freedom, half had to leave to suppress riots due to the excessively chaotic situation.

 

And after so long, there was still no support from headquarters, indicating that the situation elsewhere would only be worse than here. Even if Edwina insisted on taking Theresa away, they couldn’t stop her.

 

Moreover, the other party was a friend, not an enemy. Just now, she had saved Polly, and the name Edwina Cecilia was also well-known to them.

 

After weighing the pros and cons, the two White Feather girls left with their unconscious companion, realizing that helping their teammate stabilize the situation or sending Polly for further treatment was more valuable than watching over a village girl.

 

Captain Sigrid’s investigation had already yielded preliminary results, and she had planned to release Theresa soon, but had to postpone it temporarily due to the sudden disaster in the north.

 

Watching the three leave, the Holy Knight seemed lost in thought as she, along with the village girl trailing behind her and the conspicuous shining orb, approached the bodies of the gray-robed figures strewn across the ground.

 

Violet had already briefed Edwina on the matter of the Light Elemental Spirit, so although Edwina was surprised, she didn’t pay much attention. After all, it was something left behind by that deity, so it was normal no matter how powerful it was.

 

What she was more concerned about was these suddenly emerging peculiar things.

 

Some time ago, on the day when assassins appeared in the Feathered Emperor’s Palace, the Wings of Freedom and the Sky City Guards subsequently conducted a large-scale search. Originally, this was just a routine response to the situation, after all, the fact that the opponents could slip into the presence of Her Majesty the Feathered Emperor and then safely escape hadn’t been anticipated by the Winged people.

 

But for some reason, they were indeed found.

 

The individuals found at that time were just like these people, wearing gray robes, looking particularly strange. They had hidden in some residents’ homes, and when the army searched, they inexplicably started fighting.

 

However, Edwina was not part of the Winged leadership, so she wasn’t very clear about the aftermath of this incident. She hadn’t expected… there were still so many of them. Where did these enemies suddenly come from?

 

The Holy Knight squatted down, lifting the hood of one of them—a seemingly ordinary middle-aged man.

 

She then checked each of the other gray-robed individuals, most of whom were Winged, although there were also humans or hybrids, none of them showed any obvious racial characteristics or abnormalities. It was as if they had been randomly plucked from the city.

 

“Strange…”

 

She had been very concerned about this before. The others aside, how could Winged people voluntarily join these gangs and attack their own capital?

 

After all, the Winged were different from humans. This race generally had a simple and kind-hearted nature and rarely engaged in internal conflicts.

 

“Miss Edwina, who are these people exactly? Why are they attacking the residents of the city?”

 

Regarding Theresa’s question, the Holy Knight hesitated, her mouth opening and closing.

 

Although she seemed a bit straightforward, or perhaps clueless, as the heiress of a prominent family who had received excellent education since childhood, her overall perspective and judgment were actually not weak. At least, she wasn’t comparable to this inexperienced village girl.

 

At this moment, the face of a certain half-beastman suddenly flashed in the girl’s mind, prompting Edwina to think of a certain possibility.

 

“Swish!”

 

Edwina used her sword to cut open the gray robe covering the chest of one of the male humans.

 

“Wow!”

 

This abrupt action startled the village girl, her face blushing with embarrassment. She instinctively covered her eyes with her hands, but out of curiosity, she still left a small gap to secretly peek.

 

Ignoring Theresa’s subtle movements, Edwina, as a matured Holy Knight, certainly wouldn’t be shy like a little girl because of such trivial matters. Seeing the scene before her, her expression slightly darkened.

 

Inside the man’s gray robe, there were grayish tendrils attached to his chest, and… they were growing directly from within his body, even squirming slightly at this moment.

 

It’s similar to the situation with Epunia back then.

 

No wonder it felt strange when she was cutting through them earlier.

 

But the [Southern Calamity] should have been eradicated. Edwina didn’t believe that such a thing could escape under Miss Violet’s personal intervention.

 

She looked up at the gray clouds looming over the sky, then turned back to explain to the village girl.

 

“I have seen similar situations during my journey with Miss Violet. These people are likely local residents who have been parasitized and controlled by monsters. And now, the Sky City…”

 

It seemed she wanted to say more, but seeing the somewhat puzzled look of the green-haired girl, Edwina chose to remain silent.

 

“Anyway, come with me to the embassy first. There are guards from both the kingdom and the Winged people stationed there, so it’s relatively safe. These recent changes have come too quickly, one after another. No one knows what will happen next. Until Miss Violet solves the problem, I must ensure your safety.”

 

“Well, um…”

 

There seemed to be some hesitation, but Theresa eventually spoke up curiously.

 

“Has Miss Violet already returned to the Sky City? But considering the timing, shouldn’t she still be in the north?”

 

“Don’t ask me, I don’t know either.”

 

“Ah?”

 

The village girl was left baffled by the other’s casual attitude.

 

Edwina, who had already started to step forward, turned her head and smiled at her.

 

“Although I’m not sure of the specifics, Miss Violet, before she left, besides instructing me to come to your aid in case of any trouble in the city, also mentioned that if it were truly urgent, she had a way to quickly return here. So, there’s no need to worry.”

 

“For now, let’s focus on what we need to do.”

 

………………………………………………………………….

 

Countless silver streaks passed by her side as she felt the fluctuations of the familiar yet unfamiliar long-distance teleportation. In a certain moment, the girl stepped out of the doorway.

 

“Swoosh~”

 

This was inside the embassy of the Human United Kingdom, in a room belonging to someone named Violet.

 

“Phew… looks like it worked, hehe. Thankfully, I had the foresight. Before leaving, I set up an invisible spatial teleportation gate on this side of the Sky City.”

 

The priestess glanced around, ensuring that there was indeed no one intruding into her room, before she drew a summoning array with her hand.

 

“Come out, Xiao Guang.”

 

A familiar glow flashed, and the golden-haired dragon girl emerged from the pet space into this world.

 

As soon as she landed, the dragon girl frowned slightly, glancing at the pitch-black night outside the window.

 

“Master…”

 

“Yeah, it seems to be as expected. But given the current situation, our return shouldn’t be too late. Let’s go.”

 

Rather than leaving through the main door, after all, she wasn’t quite sure of the specific situation outside. In case she bumped into someone she knew, explaining would take too much time.

 

Without further ado, Violet simply pushed open the window and, without any grace, stepped onto the ledge before jumping out.

 

The howling night wind blew into the room through the window, with only the gradually fading and re-concealing silver door, witnessing the arrival of the two young girls.