Hearing about the fall of the city, Cornelia, Zen, and others mobilized their forces to Balicano City. When they arrived, the sun had already gone down, and the south gate was wide open.
They entered the city and rushed to their church branch. Rushing through the streets, they noticed that so parts were covered in ice as if a water magus had wreaked havoc in this place. So surviving civilians also peeked outside and stood in the streets, observing the commotion.
Cornelia stopped at one of the houses, which faced the main street. She rushed over and asked an elderly man.
"What happened to Brag Swan and the troops here?!"
The elder wryly smiled, "I don't know myself."
"Huh?"
"I was hiding in my house when Brag Swan's n plundered the city. But out of nowhere, we were all turned into ice. I thought I was going to die…" The elderly shook his head and sighed deeply, relieved that he was alive.
"Continue," Cornelia was interested in the story.
"Yes. I fell asleep when I was sealed in ice. B-But sothing weird happened."
"What's weird?"
"A…A monster rescued . She freed and woke up."
"…Hah? What monster?"
"She was a half-monster half-human monster… Right, what was it called?"
"A demi-human?"
"Yes! Yes! Her skin is full of scales. She has legs, though, so she shouldn't be one of those accursed Lamias."
"…"
Cornelia chose not to refute or reveal that high-ranking Lamias could transform and so variants or mutated Lamias were born with human legs. She took notes and asked for more information.
"Did the demi-human harm you?"
"N-No. She's very friendly. She even cured my wife."
"…I see."
Cornelia thanked the man and returned her attention to the troops. She ordered them, "3rd unit, go gather information in the city. The rest of you, co with ! We head to the branch headquarters first!"
The priestesses and paladins acknowledged the command and resud sprinting. All female warriors unsheathed their weapons, getting ready for potential ambushes.
The group reached the cathedral unhindered. Upon arrival, they found the elder priestesses and so survivors. Elder Zen rushed over and questioned the branch leader.
"Elder Jenna, are you alright?"
Jenna, the elder priestess who helped Felix, smiled at Zen.
"Headmaster Zen, thank Eleanor that you're here. You should have witnessed the miracle!"
"…What miracle?"
"Didn't you send a brave mage and his companion to rescue us?"
"What brave mage?" Zen deeply frowned as priestesses never referred to their fellowships as mages. They always called their colleagues 'sisters'.
"Well, a mage."
"What mage?"
"What?"
"What?"
Both Zen and Jenna exchanged a confused look. They both frowned and paused for a long ti.
While both were staring at each other, a commotion broke out not far away. The mysterious demi-human, who had thawed the civilians from ice prisons, returned from the citadel. She flew and landed in front of the cathedral.
Zen was interested in the mage. She walked over to see who it was.
As Zen approached, she got to see their benefactor's face. However, due to the nightti, the person's face was obscured by shadows. Zen cast a minor spell, enabling her to see in the dark.
As soon as Zen got to see the person's face, she widened her eyes in shock.
"M-M-M-Master?!" Zen exclaid.
Diana noticed the voice. She looked over and recognized the Ocean Tower's headmaster, "Oh, hey, little Zen? You're here too?"
Jenna was also shocked. She looked back and forth between Zen and Diana, wondering why their tower's headmaster called the Lamia 'master'.
"Erm, headmaster? Do you know her?"
Zen coughed as she cautiously stared at the lamia in her human transformation. Sizing her up, she noticed that Diana's strength had risen and caught up to her.
Bitterly smiling, Zen revealed a shocking background and her forr relationship with Diana.
"Jenna, this is Diana, the Black Forest's Lamia Queen and my forr ntor. Master, this is Jenna, my subordinate. I assu that you've already talked."
"W-WHAT?!" Jenna was stunned.
Zen coughed and shifted her gaze back to her forr ntor, "What are you doing here?! And what happened to the Black Forest?"
Diana smirked and rested her hands on her waist, giving her forr disciple a aningful look, "Talk about yourself. I was so kind back then and sheltered you. I taught you water magic and personally delivered you to the Ocean Tower because I no longer had anything else to teach you. Look at what you've done to my daughter. I heard from my master. You plucked my daughter's eyes and transplanted it to your disciple! Now, what should I be doing with you?"
"…T-That was…"
Zen sweated profusely. Indeed, she was the only one who plucked Jiji's eyes and sold her as a slave.
Diana pushed further, "And here we are. I follow my master here and rescue your subordinates. Am I not a generous enough? Now, you dare question what I'm doing here?!"
Zen shrunk back as she couldn't argue back. She lowered her head.
"I'm so sorry, master."
Diana sarcastically grinned, "Don't be. Your people tried to enslave my people, and I retaliated. We ended up waging war for decades. It's understandable that you never sent a letter or contacted after that.."
Zen bowed deeply, "Master, I'm very sorry. I… I was wrong."
"Forget it." Diana snorted as she had finished venting her frustration. She no longer held Zen accountable for the past transgression. Predicting that they might be living on the sa flying island, Diana chose to forgive her. "Anyway, good timing. How many people have you brought?"
Zen snapped back to her senses. Reminded of her primary objective, she asked back, "About a thousand. But master, what happened to Brag Swan? Did you kill him?"
"For that, you have to ask my master."
As they were about to talk about Diana's master, a figure descended into a mansion and went silent for a few minutes. He quickly leaped out of the mansion and flew toward them.
Zen looked up as she sensed a fifth-circle mage or a five-star aura knight approaching. She frowned as she couldn't figure out if the person was a mage or a knight.
A minute later, the figure landed in front of everybody. Landing with a superhero landing pose, the person looked up and stored his jetpack in his inventory.
Felix rose to his feet and found Zen, Rosaline, and Cornelia. However, as Felix had secretly trained in the Chrono Gym for half a day, aka four years to him, he couldn't rember them.
"Have I t you before?" Felix tilted his head.
Zen paused for a while before she recognized him. She pointed her finger at Felix, "Are you… related to Felix Ariel? Do you have a brother?"
"I don't have a brother, but I'm Felix Ariel. And you are?"
Zen didn't answer. She widened her eyes and looked at her forr ntor, flabbergasted. She asked Diana to make sure, "M-Master, is… is this person…"
Diana mischievously grinned and dropped a bomb, "Well, you guessed it right. This esteed person here is my new master, my husband, and the very person who dominates !"
Zen coughed so hard that she almost got choked by her own saliva. Jenna dryly laughed and secretly observed the situation. As for Rosaline, who tagged along with Zen, she couldn't help but be astonished.
Felix looked more mature than before. He got taller, more toner, and more refined.
Even though Rosaline couldn't physically see him, her mana sense could tell that he had beco more attractive than before. Moreover, his aura and mana harmonized, emitting the profound presence of a powerful adult.
"…Wow." Rosaline softly exclaid. As a curious adolescent teenager, she instinctively scanned him with her mana, wanting to see him better. She had the urge to remove the blindfold and look at him directly, but she was afraid of accidentally petrifying him.
On the other hand, Felix completely forgot about Rosaline. He pursed his lips, still not recognizing Zen. He then turned to Diana, "Who is this again?"
Diana grinned, "This is Zen, the headmaster of the Ocean Tower. She was once my disciple, but her strength caught up to at one point, so I dumped her at the Ocean Tower. We ended up becoming enemies because of Saucon. You should have heard everything from Jiji."
Felix shrugged as he felt like he had heard about it, but he didn't pay attention to the details. He changed the topic and returned his attention to the current battle, "Anyway, let's catch up about our past later. What about the citadel? Did you take care of it?"
Diana pouted, "Already demolished. The reinforcent has already left. Master, they're all stronger than . What are they?"
"No clue. Probably so guys from the Terminator movies?"
"Not funny, master. Their weapons are stronger than ours. They could have invaded and killed us if they wanted to."
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"That shouldn't be our concern. They're from my system, so they're allies."
"…I wonder about that." Diana didn't trust the sci-fi killer robots, who possessed high-tech weaponry.
Felix stopped talking to Diana as the local citadel and the Swan House's forces were no longer a threat. He shifted his attention to the primary goal of his quest.
"Um… Senior Zen?"
"Yes?" Zen regained her composure and faced Felix, "Is there anything you need?"
"Yes. Actually, I want to ask you for a favor. My territory is in need of population right now. Can I ask you to relocate and build a village in my new land?"
"New land?" Zen raised her eyebrow. She recalled the flying island that she had seen while she traveled through the scorched land. She wondered if the flying island and the 'new land' were connected. "Let guess, are you the owner of the mysterious floating land over the Terra City?"
Felix brightly smiled, surprised by Zen's sharp deduction, "Yes! Wow, you're sharp! How did you know that?"
"…"
Zen gulped. She wondered what Felix had done to grow so much stronger and ta the Lamia Queen. Moreover, he already infiltrated the place and claid ownership.
But Zen couldn't make the decision at the mont. She was more worried about the others.
"I can't make the decision right now. I have to rescue the other captives first. Do you know where Brag Swan is? I need to interrogate him about what they did to this city."
"Oh, don't worry about it. I already rescued the captives and killed the fool."
"…Huh?"
"Here's the deal. I already clean up the ss. Let's get back to our previous conversation," Felix paused and gave Zen a stern look as if he wanted to tear her apart if she dared to refuse, "Will you bring your people to live in my land?"
"…"
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