“Sothing’s off about him.”
Shuna stared intently at the newspaper photo of Will being carried princessstyle by Treya, scrutinizing it as if she needed a microscope. Finally, she spoke.
“Seriously? We just sat down to discuss important matters, and you’re fixated on a newspaper photo of him. Are we going to talk or not?” Pevran said, exasperated.
In a nondescript town in the southeastern corner of the capital, Pevran and Shuna had finally t up—not thanks to Eir’s guidance, but because Shuna had received word from Pevran in Novice Town, the forr newbie village. She had gathered information about the famous “White Fortress” and sent ssages through the Adventurer’s Guild to find a rendezvous point.
It had been a week since Shuna and Will parted ways.
“Well, can you bla ? Wouldn’t you be glued to a photo if you saw your first love getting engaged to soone else?” Shuna said, leaning back in her chair and speaking casually.
“......”
Pevran had intended to tease her but was taken aback by Shuna’s candid admission.
To be fair, even after years apart, Shuna was still as straightforward as ever—so much so that it was hard to get the upper hand in a conversation with her.
In so ways, she hadn’t grown up at all.
“What? He’s about to beco soone’s husband—an Empress’s husband at that. Are you planning to swoop in and steal him away?”
“...Not really. It’s just that sothing seems off about him.”
Shuna’s eyes remained glued to the newspaper.
She squinted at the blackandwhite print, which seed especially glaring in the sunlight.
To be honest, even she couldn’t fully explain it.
If she went by what Will had confidently told her before he left, this “engagent” on the newspaper might be exactly what he wanted.
He had successfully assisted the princess, executed his plan, and was now walking down the aisle with her.
At least the princess seed to “dote” on him and “love” him very much. She hadn’t hard him or driven him to despair.
She had even announced their engagent to the entire nation.
Oh.
How wonderful. Truly wonderful.
He was so confident, so assured of victory—he deserved congratulations.
But...
“What exactly is off? Explain,” Pevran urged.
“Didn’t you say we were here to discuss important matters? Why are we gossiping about now? You’re not my team leader anymore; you need to break that habit,” Shuna retorted.
Pevran glanced at the newspaper and then at Will, viewing him more like a distant public figure caught in a scandal than soone she knew personally.
Pevran felt no connection to him but had heard plenty of stories about him along the way.
The Hysterm family’s young masters were always surrounded by rumors, and this one seed particularly significant.
“I’ve heard about this guy from his maid. How should I put it... He seems even stranger than you. That’s why I want to hear your take on him.”
“Strange, huh.”
Shuna didn’t deny it.
In so ways, it might have been Will’s strangeness that attracted her to him for so long.
After all, a “normal” person wouldn’t post questions like “How to use lowlevel ice armor spells to withstand 200degree steam” on the Adventurer’s Guild ssage board—especially not at ten years old.
“Alright. He is pretty strange.”
That quality was part of what drew her to him.
“So what’s off about this engagent photo? Isn’t being carried princessstyle by a princess just another one of his quirks?”
“This photo... He looks too normal. That’s what’s off.”
Shuna’s answer seed cryptic and roundabout.
“You call that normal?”
“He’s smiling—not too happy but genuinely. There’s no hint of acting—that’s too normal to believe.”
In Shuna’s eyes, that was what was off about Will.
When she first t him, he had thick emotional walls, as if he couldn’t integrate into this world—as if he wasn’t truly “living” here.
After that witch took him away, those walls thinned sowhat, and he seed more alive.
But...
“The Will in this photo looks like he’s living a completely different ‘life,’ experiencing the joy of being carried by his fiancée as if it were a delightful surprise. But I don’t think he’s soone who would feel that way.”
“Will should be soone who outwardly shows more enthusiasm but is colder inside.”
As Shuna spoke, her fingers traced circles on Will’s face in the newspaper, smudging it with gray ink.
The more she talked, the more agitated she beca.
She had thought she could make Will more honest with himself—now it felt like soone else had stolen her dungeon boss kill.
To her, Will now seed very “off.”
“It feels like he’s been forcibly painted with bright colors on a gray stone—sothing doesn’t add up.”
As she said this, Shuna paused for a mont.
The newspaper was black and white, but one could infer colors from the shades of gray.
For instance, if Will’s eyes were deep blue, Treya was often praised for her “beautiful pale blue eyes” by those who had seen her as a princess.
Looking at it this way...
Why did Treya’s left eye seem darker? Darker than Will’s deep blue—almost black but not quite like Shuna’s black eyes either.
Could it be...
Violet?
Shuna thought of an empress from a remote dungeon whose eyes were violet—the sa color as the demonic power source of the Entark royal family.
Pevran listened quietly to Shuna’s explanation and watched her fingers stop at Treya’s eye in the photo.
After waiting for a while without Shuna continuing, Pevran asked:
“Is that all?”
“That’s all. What more do you want?”
“Alright. What can I say? He really is a strange person. The won around him seem to have different opinions of him. Even Her Majesty probably sees him differently than you do.”
“Forget it. Let’s get back to your issue.”
Shuna scratched her head, seeming reluctant to continue discussing it.
“As I ntioned earlier, you’re not an ‘isolated case.’ In Novice Town, we found individuals similar to your origin. And... their bodies also had black hair and black eyes—just like you.”
“No surprise there. Was it found in the Green Wilds dungeon?”
“Yes. That’s the only dungeon there in recent months.”
“Hmm...”
Shuna began to ponder.
Though there wasn’t an obvious connection, the “Green Wraith Stone” was also found in the Green Wilds—and it was processed stone, indicating that Green Wilds was wellinford about the Green Wraith Stone trade line.
“Did this person also kill the dungeon emperor—or did you find them holding a knife with the emperor lying dead?”
Pevran’s expression turned serious imdiately.
“...How did you know? Could it be...”
“Yes, that was my situation too. But beyond that, I can’t provide any more clues...”
Shuna withheld so information.
Though Pevran hadn’t ntioned the cause of death, Shuna suspected it was likely suicide.
Because...
She had considered it herself once.
“Do you have anything else to say?”
“Not much. Just that there have been more incidents of inexplicable combat power increases in dungeons managed by the Adventurer’s Guild recently. Our rescue team has reported many anomalies, but higherups haven’t found anything conclusive. I thought maybe you could provide so clues given how strange these events are.”
“!?”
Shuna felt she had heard sothing significant.
Inexplicable combat power increases and reported anomalies... When she and Will set out, they couldn’t get complete Green Wraith Stones anymore. With only fragnts available, the rescue team wouldn’t know about this information.
So these dungeons might... no, must also have “Green Wraith Stones.”
The clues they thought were “cut off” had extended through the Adventurer’s Guild side.
“Where can I find information on these anomalies?”
If there were clues about Green Wraith Stones...
Clues about what he cared most about...
He would definitely take the bait, right?
He would definitely find an opportunity to go out with her again, right?
Just like before—his eyes lighting up at the ntion of it, brimming with excitent and eagerness to investigate with her.
Then... then there would be a chance!
She held in her hand the card most likely to attract Will—the one held by the Adventurer’s Guild.
...
When Shuna realized this, her fists clenched tightly.
Was she really soone who got this excited over such things? It felt like...
She was acting more like a “failed lover” showing her ugly side after the story ended.
“Why are you suddenly interested? You seed clueless just now.”
“The Adventurer... The Adventurer’s Guild couldn’t solve this issue despite sending so many people. Of course I’m curious. What? Is this sothing the Guild won’t handle?”
“...”
Pevran knew Shuna well enough to see through her lie—she had another motive.
But...
She also believed that if Shuna investigated, she’d do a better job than herself.
Most importantly, Shuna had more freedom; she didn’t have to drag an entire adventuring party along like Pevran did.
“There is a way. Register with the Adventurer’s Guild as an Srank mber. You can join this investigation directly and gain access to relevant information. The dungeons with anomalies have been reported but are classified.”
“If they’re reported, why not clear them out?”
“They’re just ‘slightly harder’—not worth sending an adventuring party for. We’d only intervene if there were incidents of people getting trapped.”
“If they’re classified, how can I find out so easily?”
“The Guild probably wants soone to quickly figure it out too.”
“Alright.”
Shuna nodded.
Then she looked at the “wedding” date on the newspaper—a month from now.
Hmm...
If he wasn’t in the royal palace at that ti, wouldn’t things get interesting?
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