And he was…

‘My d*ldo!’

He was holding the d*ldo like a sword.

“Growl!”

Krita staggered and fell away from Rosé as Emmett struck him with the d*ldo. Emmett quickly ran to Rosé and hugged her tightly.

“Are you alright?”

“Cough, I’m, cough, alright.”

Krita fell to his knees and howled.

“No! I can’t disappear like this…!”

His body turned into black dust and scattered. The Ice Castle, which had been imbued with his magic, also began to melt.

“Master Krita! The castle is collapsing!”

The door burst open belatedly. What the white wolves saw were the legs of their leader.

“This can’t be…”

The choices left for them were few. They could either escape to their homeland before the passage to the demon realm closed, or…

“What did you do to Master Krita, you vile humans!”

Stay and fight the humans.

Thud!

“Aaah!”

But the latter option meant certain death.

“Huh? They’ve gotten weak?”

Rosé looked puzzled at the white wolf that fell to her bare fist. Emmett, who had draped a cloak over her, explained.

“The magic that formed the boundary is disappearing. They can no longer maintain their strength.”

The smarter monsters began to flee. Rosé, seeing the white wolves fleeing desperately, decided not to pursue them.

‘The cute ones should live.’

“Let’s go back to the camp.”

The three of them quickly descended the stairs. Though they saw monsters fleeing in confusion, they couldn’t afford to pay attention to them.

Finally, they reached the camp. A miraculous sight unfolded. The doors melted on their own, and people started running out. It was thanks to the diminishing magic.

“Look! The Blue Knights!”

“We’re saved! We’re saved!”

“The Blue Knights saved us! We can go home now!”

The situation was quickly brought under control. Emmett and Raiden skillfully led the rescued people, while Rosé stayed behind to guard against any potential monster attacks.

Outside, Rosé and the rescued people managed to escape the melting ice castle safely. But the problem was the rough mountain path ahead.

“What do we do now? We only have three horses…”

“Hey, don’t worry about that.”

A familiar voice suddenly came from behind Rosé, who was looking down the mountain with a serious expression.

Rosé screamed, “Aah!” as if she had seen a ghost. The owner of the voice, Podrick, nonchalantly picked his nose.

“You know how my brother is. He doesn’t trust people easily.”

― Podrick, enough.

― It’s time for civilians to step back.

Sergi had anticipated that the imperial knights would react that way. So he ordered Podrick to secretly follow the knights before they arrived.

Naturally, Podrick had faithfully carried out that order…

‘The d*ldo… really wasn’t…’

He had seen it unintentionally.

“Who are you? Civilians are not allowed here.”

“Why don’t you look over there and say that?”

Podrick arrogantly gestured ahead to the grumpy Raiden.

Raiden checked the direction Podrick pointed and pursed his lips. There were dozens of horses with the Pumong flag approaching.

Podrick shrugged. It was obvious that their cunning leader wouldn’t take the imperial knights’ words at face value.

It was clear that all the guild members from the Millerain branch had been mobilized. Well, it seemed they were a bit late, though.

“Are you from Pumong? We owe you our thanks.”

At least the silver-haired one knew manners. Podrick lazily nodded and draped his coat over Rosé’s shoulders.

“There’s no one like my brother, right?”

Rosé laughed awkwardly, nervously watching Podrick, wondering how much he had seen.

‘Did he come to the top floor too?’

Of course, he did.

“Come on, let’s get going!”

Podrick cheerfully pushed Rosé and the people towards the horses.

But something seemed off. Some guild members from Millerain were dismounting and heading towards the castle.

“Podrick, what’s going on? It’s already over there.”

“I know, I know. But there’s something important left.”

Podrick made an O with his thumb and index finger and winked. Then, making sure the two old-fashioned Blue Knights couldn’t hear, he whispered.

“We need to collect the byproducts. Do you know how much they’re worth?”

“Oh, then I want to join too!”

“You can’t. The silver-haired guy is already looking at me like he wants to kill me.”

Podrick blocked Rosé, who was about to turn back, with his body and said with a grin. The silver-haired one aside, that guy…

“My brother says the brown-haired one has a bad temper. Avoid him if you can.”

Podrick gestured towards Raiden. He was glaring at Rosé with a sharp gaze while helping people onto the horses.

If Emmett was like a child showing pure jealousy, that guy was like a dark-hearted adult. Whatever he was thinking, it was definitely not pure. Probably all dirty thoughts.

“We won’t see each other again anyway.”

Well. Podrick was pessimistic.

The moment Sergi requested the Blue Knights, the situation surrounding the Black Cloak changed. She could no longer be owned by a civilian guild.

So, what the crown prince would demand from her was…

‘Obvious.’

“Alright, let’s move out!”

Pushed by Podrick, Rosé eventually mounted a horse.

She regretted not being able to collect the byproducts, but she couldn’t say she was going to join in collecting them when Emmett said this,

“You saved the people, Mora.”

She absolutely couldn’t say it.

* * *

“It’s been 15 hours since they went missing. We can’t wait any longer.”

White Knight Eren said, looking at the rising sun. Marien groaned, rubbing her forehead.

Last night, two knights were lost to the monsters coming out of the forest. As Eren said, they couldn’t wait indefinitely.

As the commander of the Red Knights who led the operation, she had to make a decision. The conditions for retreat had already been met. What remained was her stubbornness.

But if it meant leading her knights to their deaths, she had to give up.

“Let’s trust Pumong. They have already been deployed.”

Marien’s deputy tried to comfort her. They had learned that Pumong was following them shortly after sending the search party into the forest.

Dozens of horses carrying Pumong rode past them without a word and headed toward Mount Kaitored. They were likely on their way to rescue their member in the black cloak.

With that level of manpower, they might even find Emmett and Raiden. Marien could only hope for that.

Retreat. The word weighed heavily and wouldn’t come out. But it was something she had to do for her members.

Just as Marien was struggling to open her mouth, it happened.

“Commander!”

A desperate shout came from the Red Knights. They were the ones who checked the magic meter every hour in shifts.

Could it be the appearance of a monster? Marien’s steps quickened.

“What is it!”

“The magic…!”

The Red Knight couldn’t continue and pointed to the meter.

Marien checked the meter with a chilling feeling. But it wasn’t black; it was a grayish white.

“What does this mean?”

It was a color rarely, if ever, seen in an unclosed boundary. The white hue on the meter usually signified closure.

The Red Knights, almost in a daze, sought out the Blue Knights. Patrick was the first to arrive.

“Sir Patrick. Is the meter broken?”

Marien asked in a trembling voice. Patrick knelt and pulled the meter from the ground. It wasn’t broken. It wasn’t broken, but…

“The boundary… is closing.”

“What did you just say?”

“Someone has closed the boundary.”

Just then, a commotion arose from the Blue Knights. They, too, had sensed the diminishing magic.

Patrick closed his eyes to gauge the magic in the air. Though not as precise as the Commander, he could sense the change in the magic.

He was sure. The boundary was closing.

A jubilant smile spread across Patrick’s lips. If anyone could close the boundary, it had to be Emmett, Raiden, and the one in the black cloak.

“They’re alive.”

Entering this place, they had wondered if they would survive today.

‘They survived.’

Marien finally let out a relieved laugh.

* * *

Closure.

A word never spoken or likely to be uttered in Kamit.

But the color shown on the magic meter was unmistakable proof of closure.

“I see flags!”

A Red Knight from the watchtower shouted.

Below the castle walls, the Blue Knights’ flag fluttered, signaling their return. The Red Knights’ faces lit up as they saw the red and white flags following behind.

And then.

“A black flag… it seems Pumong is with them.”

“Wait, what’s that?”

Deputy Commander Billy snatched the binoculars from a subordinate and focused on the black horses of Pumong.

There were two people on each saddle, dressed in shabby clothes. They weren’t guild members from the Millerain branch.

Billy, unable to speak for a while, finally ran his hand over his mouth and said in a dreamy voice.

“The missing people.”

The imperial knights and Pumong’s black horses, carrying the missing people, closed the distance to the castle walls.

Red Knights rushed down from the watchtower to wait at the opening gates.

They weren’t the only ones. The residents of Kamit, waiting for their missing family members, and people who had come to watch after hearing the news from Millerain, all gathered around the walls.

Hundreds of people anxiously watched the gates.

Soon, three horses came into view first. Emmett Bovir, Commander of the Blue Knights, Raiden, Captain of the First Division of the Blue Knights, and finally…