Ethan slowly looked up. A young woman around eighteen or nineteen stood there in a gorgeous long dress with a fur coat over her shoulders, staring downstairs with an annoyed look.
Beside her stood another woman, pale but with very bright eyes, speaking gently:
"Alright, they didn’t an to be loud. Why scold them?"
The woman in the fur coat looked a bit wronged and said: "Cousin Aurora, you finally feel a bit better and wanted to go out. I can’t let them disturb you."
Hearing that na, Ethan’s pupils narrowed. He hadn’t expected to actually run into the daughter of Shawn, the City Lord of the Ice City settlent.
Ethan didn’t hesitate. Just as he was about to head upstairs, he heard Aurora’s voice again.
She said to her companion: "I know you’re worried about , but we shouldn’t make others feel bad. How about this: go apologize, we’ll head back, and I’ll bake you so little cakes."
By then, Ethan had gone up the stairs and reached the second floor.
Aurora saw him coming. Her pale face was full of apology. She gave a small nod and said to Ethan:
"Sorry. My health isn’t good, and I’m sensitive to noise. My cousin didn’t an it. I hope you won’t mind."
Before Ethan could reply, Amy whispered at his side: "Sir, this is the City Lord’s daughter, Miss Aurora."
Ethan thought for a mont, wondering how to get to know Aurora. This was a chance he had to take.
Right then, the woman in the fur coat—Aurora’s younger cousin—stepped out from behind her.
She lifted her chin, looked at Ethan, and said: "My cousin already apologized. Why aren’t you answering?"
Ethan glanced at her. Sothing occurred to him, and he said calmly:
"Oh? Says who? Who says you must answer just because soone apologized? I was downstairs and didn’t do anything over the line."
Aurora glanced at Ethan in surprise. She instinctively reached out to pull her cousin back, but it was too late.
Her cousin Jenny had already hurried up to stand in front of Ethan. She rose on tiptoe, trying to et his eyes, but Ethan was much taller.
With her head tilted up and a frown, Jenny said:
"All the gossip and noise downstairs were caused by you. My cousin’s health has been bad for a long ti. What you did bothered her!"
"You’re the one who should apologize!"
Ethan shook his head, ignored Jenny, and spoke to Aurora instead:
"The most basic moral stance is to demand morals only from yourself, and allow others to act immorally."
Jenny jumped on that at once. She turned to Aurora and said: "See, he admits what he did just now was immoral."
Aurora couldn’t help but smile. She knew Ethan was talking about Jenny—and those people downstairs who were loudly talking right in front of others.
This was a tiny matter, but because of her health and Jenny’s temper, it got blown out of proportion.
Still, this stranger was interesting. He didn’t feel fake; instead, he made you want to argue with him.
Aurora thought for a mont and said to Ethan: "Sir, by your logic, wouldn’t that let immoral behavior spread everywhere?"
Ethan shook his head. "That’s how the world is. If you don’t have the power, just do your own part."
Aurora asked with interest: "And if you do have the power?"
Ethan’s lips curved in a small smile. He didn’t answer. Instead, he said: "I heard your teacher is a master smith from Basalt Crown Main City—Master Ridge?"
Aurora nodded. At first, she had thought Ethan was only trying to get her attention by using her status as the City Lord’s daughter. She didn’t expect him to bring up her teacher.
The ti Aurora spent in Basalt Crown Main City learning forging from her teacher was the happiest ti of her life.
Sadly, after her [Heart-Eater] flared up, her father took her to the Ice City settlent, and she never saw her teacher again.
Aurora drifted into mories of her teacher, and only after a while did she rember to answer Ethan.
With an apologetic look, she said: "Yes. Sorry, my health has been very weak lately. It’s getting harder and harder to focus."
Ethan didn’t rush to say he could cure Aurora’s illness. As the City Lord’s daughter of the Ice City settlent, many people would try to use her condition for their own ends.
Saying it now might only make things harder.
Ethan took a deep breath and pulled the [Damaged Blood-Drinking Long Knife] from his [Inventory].
Aurora froze for a second. She stepped closer, studied the long blade in Ethan’s hand, then looked up into his eyes and asked:
"T-this long blade was supposed to be destroyed, wasn’t it? How did you get it?"
Ethan only said he found it by chance and wanted to know how to fix it.
Aurora shook her head. "Sorry. If I were still healthy, I might have a way to repair this long blade."
"My teacher hasn’t forged anything himself for a long ti. Even if you put this long blade in front of him, he won’t fix it for you."
Ethan looked a bit disappointed and asked, naturally: "Miss Aurora, when do you think you’ll get better?"
Aurora lowered her head, hiding her fear and sadness, and tried to keep her voice steady as she said:
"I don’t know. Maybe after so ti, I can be normal again and start forging again."
She looked up, smiled at Jenny, and said: "Then I can make you tasty little cakes every day!"
Jenny didn’t notice anything wrong and looked full of hope.
Ethan felt it was about ti to bring up Aurora’s illness and the [Saint Healer’s Secret Formula].
He was just about to speak when shouts ca from outside:
"City Lord! It’s the City Lord!"
"Quick, tell the shopkeeper—the City Lord is here!"
At the doorway of the first-floor hall, Shawn—two ters tall, broad and strong, a greatsword on his back—strode in.
As soon as he entered the equipnt shop, he lifted his head and looked toward Aurora, his face full of concern.
But when he saw Ethan, his brows drew together.
The next mont, Shawn vanished from where he stood.
Then his voice ca from behind Ethan, calm and cool: "Who are you?"
Ethan felt a sudden, deadly danger at his back.
His hairs stood on end, his heart sped up, and his blood rushed.
It felt like if he made the slightest wrong move, Shawn would kill him in the next second.
He forced himself to stay calm. This intense threat made him think of [Plague Ghost] Jade. He wondered who was stronger, Jade or Shawn.
Ethan said: "City Lord, I’m just a player."
"A player?"
Shawn frowned, looked Ethan over again, and saw he really was a player. Players are easy to tell apart from people of the Dawn World. They always carry a faint, strange feel—that’s the Dawn World rejecting them.
At first, Shawn was too worried about his daughter to look closely, so he didn’t notice Ethan was a player.
Even so, he stayed on guard. The danger coming off Ethan was much higher than from normal players. He might be a threat to Aurora.
Shawn walked over to Aurora, patted her on the head, and said helplessly:
"You sneaked out again. If you really want so fresh air next ti, rember to bring the City Lord’s Mansion guards. That way I can relax a bit."
Aurora nodded. "I rember, Father. This ti I asked Qianqian to take out. Please don’t bla her."
"I haven’t been out for more than a month."
Shawn sighed. He knew his daughter’s condition. She was already at the end of her strength—at most, she could hold on for one more year.
Within that year, he had to find the legendary [Saint Healer’s Secret Formula]!
So reckless people kept bringing him fake [Saint Healer’s Secret Formula] intel, trying to use his urgency to get benefits from him.
Shawn had already killed more than a dozen bold con n. He wasn’t a fool; he wouldn’t trust others so easily.
Thinking of this, Shawn glanced at Ethan. He felt this player probably hadn’t approached Aurora on purpose to use her illness and trick him.
After all, players right now didn’t even know about this intel.
Shawn planned to take Aurora back, and Ethan imdiately grew uneasy.
He had heard what Aurora said: the last ti she left the City Lord’s Mansion was a month ago. That ant if he missed this chance, he might have to wait another month.
He didn’t have that kind of ti.
Ethan thought for a mont. When Aurora reached the stairs and was about to go down, he suddenly said:
"Wait."
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