“At the time, this is what happened. In the middle of the night, we heard noises in the distance, so we rushed over to check it out. What we found was a forest devastated on a massive scale, countless insect corpses, and clear signs of a fierce battle.”
Inside the camp, Momoka was recounting every detail of what she had experienced before returning.
“We followed the tracks, but they suddenly disappeared. Still, we kept moving forward, following the scattered insect corpses, which led us bit by bit to another place. It was there, nearby, that we encountered that dream demon.”
“Although the two of us did our best to stop her, that dream demon still escaped from our grasp. She didn’t seem to want to fight us—she was in a hurry to do something else. Not far away, in a cave, we found Promi. She was gravely wounded and delirious, so we decided to turn back.”
Everyone gathered in the camp fell silent in thought. Many had a lot to say, but even if they wanted to sort out what had just happened, they needed to find a starting point first.
The Lord of the Night, dream demons, abnormal movements—everything seemed connected, yet no one could find the thread tying it all together.
“How strong do you think that dream demon was?” Maggie was the first to voice a question everyone had, even if it wasn’t their top concern, breaking the silence.
“Very strong,” Momoka replied. “She committed numerous crimes in the city, and now she’s appeared here. Yet she managed to escape from us without a scratch… Very strong… I think…”
“What do you think?” Maggie pressed.
“I think, maybe the dream demon is the real mastermind behind all these incidents in Sorus City, even the insect swarm rampage. If it’s her, she absolutely has the ability to do all of this.”
Cecilia was unusually quiet today, seemingly lost in thought the entire time.
No one tried to disturb her. Cecilia had become the de facto core of the group—her decisions could determine everyone’s fate, so they simply gave her all the time she needed.
Only Cecilia herself knew how distracted she was today.
After the meeting, Cecilia returned alone to her tent, almost calling out to ask Rita to pour her a glass of water.
But she caught herself, got up, and filled the cup herself. Only then did two realizations hit her at once.
Rita was no longer here—and the reason for her absentmindedness was precisely because of Rita.
Promi was gravely injured, brought back by Momoka, and nearby they’d found Rita’s broken sword and a blood-stained note. Even someone with no sense at all would know that Rita’s fate now hung by a thread.
Before Rita left, Cecilia had told her not to act as if they were parting forever. Now it seemed her words had been all too prophetic.
But the one in trouble was not herself—it was the other party.
Cecilia came from the Royal Capital. Even if she didn’t know everyone there personally, she at least had a first impression of most people.
As for Brownie, the Silver-gray Fang, who’d recently become famous as a personal knight, of course Cecilia had heard the name. She’d also heard that the Silver-gray Fang had a little sister.
Even the Silver-gray Fang’s sister had ended up that badly. Was it possible for Rita to make it out of that chaos unharmed…? The answer seemed obvious.
It was a pity that Promi was still unconscious, so there was no way to get any useful information from her.
Even though Cecilia’s judgment was more acute than that of an ordinary person, she still hoped for a miracle.
But what makes a miracle a miracle is its rarity.
Rita could see the truth of the curse on Cecilia’s body—this had already been a miracle for Cecilia, one she had not cherished, letting it slip away from her side.
From now on, she might never see that foolish face again, never hear Rita timidly call her “Lady Cecilia,” never glimpse her standing behind her out of the corner of her eye, never again feel that warm, sincere embrace.
Just thinking this made Cecilia’s nose sting a little—for someone she’d barely known, for someone she hadn’t even really trusted.
At the same time, another voice inside told Cecilia that she needed to do what must be done now.
She still held the lives of countless people in her hands. Hoping for a miracle was only human, but putting more people in danger for a hopeless wish was just weakness.
That afternoon, Cecilia sat alone in her tent for a long time.
At dusk, Cecilia finally stepped out of her tent and issued an order.
A full retreat—all units, return to the city.
“What? No way! This can’t be right! This is all wrong!”
Rita hovered in midair, fluttering her little wings, frowning in thought for a long while.
Below her was their target, the Outpost they were originally supposed to retake in the assessment.
In Rita’s imagination and reasoning, this should have been crawling with beetles by now.
But the reality was quite different—it was just an abandoned, overgrown ruin as far as the eye could see.
So where was the strange Great Stone Gate?
From the vague scenes she’d glimpsed, Rita guessed the beetles must have been building something terrifying.
Based on games she’d played, a giant stone gate like that was ninety-nine percent likely to be a teleportation portal.
Either it was for some mysterious ritual to summon a demon from beyond, or it was a key to another world—light it with a flint, and it becomes a gateway to hell. Or maybe it was the Dark Portal, and once opened, a horde of orcs would pour out screaming, “I’ll crush you!”
Whatever it was, it didn’t look like anything good!
Rita’s original plan was to first locate the Great Stone Gate and then return to camp with the information, even keeping her dream demon form active and flying around with her wings for speed.
Of course, she’d taken care to disguise herself—if she hadn’t dyed her silver hair pink, Momoka would have recognized her at a glance.
But after flying around everywhere, Rita still hadn’t found a thing.
Had she been misled all along? Was the Great Stone Gate not near the border after all?
A booming roar snapped Rita from her thoughts, followed by a surge of powerful psychic energy pouring into her mind.
[Dream demon, why do you side with the humans and oppose my kin?]
Rita rubbed her slightly throbbing head and looked down at the ruined outpost.
She hadn’t found the massive stone gate, but it seemed she’d stumbled upon something else extraordinary.
At dawn, the fully-equipped soldiers had packed up the tents and formed up in ranks, ready to set off.
Maggie herself entered Cecilia’s tent, a little surprised to see Cecilia already prepared.
In her impression, Cecilia always needed Rita’s help to get up and dressed, which had left Maggie with the mistaken belief that, though clever, Cecilia couldn’t take care of herself.
Maggie swallowed and spoke.
“Your Highness.”
“Mm.” Cecilia nodded gently, rising slowly from her chair.
“Everyone is ready. The advance scouts and messengers have already set out. The city lord has sent troops to meet us. If there’s nothing else, we can depart at any time.”
“Good. Understood.”
Cecilia answered and walked slowly out of the tent.
As she stepped out, countless pairs of eyes turned to her in unison.
Cecilia said nothing, only walked forward to a small earthen mound built at the center of camp. Rita’s broken sword stood upright in the mound.
Beneath it lay a few of Rita’s belongings: a set of clothes inappropriate for the season, a wooden wine cup she’d used.
“Everyone.”
Cecilia spoke, her fingers—she didn’t know when they’d started trembling—gently stroking the cold blade, stained with both human and beetle blood.
There were many things she ought to say: recount what Rita had done these past days, take this chance to inspire the troops by her example, or at least say a few words of farewell.
But Cecilia didn’t want to say anything at all, and in the end, all she uttered were a few short words.
“Let’s go.”
Noon.
When Rita returned to the site of their old camp, relying on her memory, she couldn’t help letting out a wail.
“Where’s my camp? Where’s my whole huge camp?!”