After mastering the resurrection technique, they begged me to extend their lives.

Emotions are a battlefield.

Any emotion involving "appreciation," "liking," "admiration," or "desire" will, after fermenting and expanding, drag the self into an invisible battlefield.

Furthermore, the severity of the tragedy will vary depending on the other party's charm level.

The little fox knew perfectly well what was going on.

-

Having gained An Xiao's trust, she left the Stardust Harbor Inspectorate with him and returned to the Stardust Inn under the escort of an elite guard.

It was now just before dawn.

"Hoshimi, where are you staying? Tomorrow morning, I'll have Airi wait for you at the inn. But let's make this clear: buying clothes is buying clothes, and shopping is shopping. You're not allowed to leave the port's safe zone. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I get it, I get it! Hehe!"

The little fox pointed to the tallest and most luxurious building across the street and said:

"My home is right there! I live with my dad! He's really busy every day, so he leaves a lot of his work to me. I'll take a day off tomorrow to sneak out and play with the princess!"

"…All right."

An Xiao glanced at the six large characters that read "Starry Sky Chamber of Commerce Headquarters" in the distance, nodded, and said nothing more.

After she waved goodbye, I watched her leave.

Airi, who had remained silent until now, was somewhat bewildered by her attentiveness. "Brother, what do you think she's trying to achieve by helping us like this? Is it like what An said before... that she wants something from you?"

"I'm not sure either. But I'm certain that our journey is far too dangerous, and it's impossible to take her with us to Endedes. We'll need her help more before we buy the tickets."

An Xiao was an absolute realist before he came to Wayne; he wouldn't invest too much emotion in "non-creation."

After all, someone who has died once is able to maintain extreme objectivity and calmness when looking at danger and risk.

He remained silent for a moment, waiting until the little fox's figure disappeared and the elite guards accompanying it began patrolling and keeping watch at the inn's entrance, before speaking to the crow on his shoulder:

"Go and inform Miss Hela that I have been released from prison. If she has time, come and find me tomorrow at noon, and we can go to the Adventurers' Guild together to check out the quests."

"Yes, Master~"

Little Dark nodded its head, gracefully performed a raven salute, flapped its wings, and flew away.

With the matter settled, An Xiao weighed the money pouch in her hand, feeling the weight of the gold coins inside, before putting it back into her ring.

The 300 gold dragons came from Old Glenn's gift (which can also be considered as Xingmi's friend's fee), the 218 gold came from Hela's final payment as a life-saving fee for Xiao An, and the 4 gold coins were her previous spoils. In total, there were about 522 gold and 18 silver, which was still more than 300 gold short of the discounted ticket price of 850 gold.

Around the Aleient Empire, earning over 300 gold coins isn't easy; after all, even a small fox leading a large group of people on a trade trip only yields 500 gold coins.

If you don't engage in any business dealings or resort to shady methods, but instead try to earn money through legitimate means, you'll have a tough time.

An Xiao shook her head and decided to study it again tomorrow.

-

Not long after.

They took Airi back to the underground chamber.

The coffin is still there, and the door is exactly as it was before it was left, seemingly indicating that no one has ever been there.

However, the perceptive Airi noticed, the instant she sat down at the head of the bed, that there seemed to be an extra black and silver bird feather next to the coffin.

"Brother, no, that's not right."

"."

An Xiao, of course, also noticed the problem.

Frowning, he immediately raised his hand and opened the coffin lid of the Iron Maiden.

hula-

Inside the ice coffin, the Wind Sword Maiden's body remained fresh and beautiful.

"The body has not been touched."

"Yes, but rare magical particles are floating around the coffin, suggesting the lid may have been opened and inspected by something. My Radiant Vision can see lingering 'dark' aura in the vicinity."

"black?"

"Yes. In the perception of a white mage, all dark things or black magic particles will leave a trace."

Airi said seriously, "That monster that has been following us without making a move cannot be a low-level being. This can be seen from the fact that it was able to silently sneak into the port and leave."

"But why does it keep leaving its feathers behind?"

"Is there some message you want to convey to your brother?"

"..."

The two calmly analyzed the situation and quickly came to a valuable conclusion.

"If it was the one that first shot down the dragoon in the Radel Bushes... then it can be directly concluded that it was also the one that scared away the surrounding beasts."

"It's understandable that it doesn't make a move in the port. After all, with the Golem Starminer monitoring it, it can't easily make a direct move and risk not being able to escape unscathed."

"But this time, the fact that it specifically came to examine my coffin almost certainly indicates that it has a clear degree of curiosity about my 'creations,' or rather, my 'art.'"

"Under these circumstances, the fact that it did not actively touch the Wind Sword Maiden's body indicates that the probability of the former is very low."

"So, if we put everything together, we can tell that it might need my 'technique'."

"Leaving the bird feathers was most likely its way of telling me that it meant me no harm."

"."

An Xiaojian felt the pressure.

Being targeted by Lilia isn't so bad, because the target is clear, and she knows that the opponent's level is at most in the forties.

Moreover, she prefers direct confrontation, rather than appearing and disappearing mysteriously and hiding in the shadows.

But now he was facing an uncontrollable being capable of killing a dragon rider single-handedly... and most likely an evil spirit related to "black".

If the other party only needs your spells, the threat level is not too high, but what if it changes its mind?

For example, if desires become stronger, or there is a need to control oneself, or even a more deadly need... then, facing such a catastrophic existence, one can basically sentence oneself to death.

"Let's discuss this further when Miss Hela arrives tomorrow."

He calmed his anxiety and closed the coffin lid.

"Okay, brother. Miss Hela is very knowledgeable. Perhaps she can understand the owner of these feathers better."

Airi replied nervously as well.

-

The night passed by.

During her sleep, An Xiao experienced the sensation of "sleep paralysis" once again...

It was described as a misperception, but it was actually so real that it made my limbs feel weak, and this sensation was definitely not from love.

This time, he opened his eyes immediately, quite keenly, wanting to see clearly what was lying on his body, sucking up his already meager mana and magic power.

"!"

A wave of dizziness and weakness washed over her, and Airi beside her was also awakened.

"Brother, are you alright?"

"Oh no. That strange feeling is back. I'm being drained by something. I've had about ten Mana deducted from me, and I can clearly feel that the part I finally managed to recover has been stolen by someone."

An Xiao frowned deeply.

Unfortunately, even though both of them opened their eyes and even activated their pupil techniques to search the vicinity, they still couldn't find any suspicious signs this time.

"A vengeful spirit? A ghost...?"

I can't see it.

It's completely invisible.

An Xiao attributed her inability to detect the other party's movements to the vast difference in their levels.

"How could this happen..."

Airi was also in great pain.

She felt that she hadn't even started to exploit her brother yet, so how could there be such a shameless being repeatedly absorbing her brother's life force in this area, which was heavily guarded by the Golden Scale Guard?

Is that correct?

Moreover, that black aura, formless and intangible, isn't it just like what we just discussed—left behind by the owner of the black and silver feathers?

"Brother, I have a plan."

After much deliberation, Airi decided to come up with a new solution to see if it would work.

"you say."

"Since it's trying to get close to you so frequently, why don't you stop accumulating Mana for now, and instead store the energy within your body? Every time you recover a little Mana, try transferring it to me and placing it inside my body. When you need it, I'll use my magic to infuse it all back to you, achieving the effect of taking it as you please—"

"So, since my mana pool doesn't suit 'Dark's' tastes, she probably won't continue to sample her brother's empty mana pool at night. What do you think? Does what I said make sense?"

……

……