Holding the upgraded mithril steel sword, Hulim "left" Charkin’s forging room.

  Clang! Clang! Clang......

  The forging hall outside was also filled with the sound of hammering iron.

  "Hmm? Hulim, did you get kicked out by Master again?"

  The one speaking to her was the apprentice who had first led her to meet Charkin—his name was Hokis.

  "......Hokis, you’re still as tactless as ever. Can’t it be that I came out voluntarily?"

  "Don’t tell lies!"

  "......"

  "By the way, I have something to remind you. A group of bad guys seems to have come to Langard, specifically abducting students from your academy. You need to be careful!"

  Hulim: "！？"

  "What? Where did you hear that?!"

  "This is a blacksmith shop, after all. All kinds of people come here to forge or repair weapons—including gang members. I heard about it from a regular customer."

  "Don’t underestimate them. Even though they usually hide in dark places, no one in Langard is more well-informed than them."

  That was the truth. No one had a sharper nose—especially when the smell of danger also came from the shadows. It was impossible to hide it from them.

  "Come to think of it, isn’t Manacos in its extracurricular research period now? Maybe those guys are taking advantage of the fact that many students are away for a long time. That way, even if someone goes missing, it will take the academy a lot of time to react, right?"

  Extracurricular research was a mandatory subject for every student at Manacos, to be completed before the end of the second year. The content of the research was entirely formulated by the students themselves. Once approved by the academy, they could go out for an extended period.

  Since many of the research topics required fieldwork outside Langard or even the Pasara Empire, many first and second-year students were not at the academy during this period and were basically unreachable. Even if an accident occurred, the academy couldn’t be notified in a short time.

  Hulim nodded: "You’re right. Just yesterday evening, I heard someone mention that two students are missing."

  "Really?! " Hokis looked shocked. "Has it spread among your students already? Those guys are even more reckless than I heard. You really need to be careful!"

  "I will. Thank you for telling me this."

  ......

  After leaving Charkin’s Blacksmith Shop, Hulim returned directly to the academy. Perhaps it was an illusion after hearing Hokis’ words, but she felt a faint sense of tension among the students.

  Could it be that the news had really spread......

  No matter the current situation, it didn’t change Hulim’s routine. She went to the Grand Library as usual to study the Rank 4 spell.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  After dark, she returned to the dormitory.

  However......

  "It’s too late......"

  Several hours had passed since nightfall, but her roommate Miko still hadn’t come back.

  She pushed open the window. Outside was a pitch-black night, with dark clouds covering the sky—another starless night.

  Staring at the deep darkness, an ominous premonition gradually crept into her heart.

  "No, I have to go check on her."

  She closed the window, took out the wand and sword she had already put away. Hesitating for a moment between her uniform and the mage’s black robe, she picked up the mage’s black robe.

  Thud——！

  As the sound of the door closing echoed in the quiet apartment, Hulim, shrouded in the black robe, quickly merged into the night.

  ......

  A few hours earlier.

  Slum Street, Lower District.

  Miko was wearing a black robe suitable for moving around the slums, heading toward an orphanage. When passing through a remote road, she suddenly sensed something was wrong. She stopped immediately and placed her right hand on the hilt of the short knife hanging at her waist.

  "Come out! Stop hiding!"

  "Hmph, quite sharp indeed. It seems a surprise attack won’t work."

  As a cold voice sounded, about twenty suspicious men dressed in black robes walked out from hiding places around her.

  "Who are you......"

  "Us? You ‘Righteous Thief’ are truly too noble to remember such trivial things. Well...... Anyway, we finally found you, so we won’t let you go easily. Come with us."

  "......"

  Feeling the dangerous aura emanating from these men, Miko’s expression turned serious. These were not ordinary gang thugs—they were a truly ruthless criminal organization!

  But where had she crossed paths with these people?

  Miko carefully recalled her experiences over the past few days. Suddenly, she remembered encountering a group of men with a similar aura a few days ago. At that time, those men were attacking a Manacos student. Naturally, Miko hadn’t stood by and watched—she had stepped in to help. As those men fled, they had indeed left threatening words like "You just wait!"

  "......So you’re accomplices of those men from a few days ago."

  "Oh~, finally remembered? Normally, we wouldn’t care if you, a little thief, play hero with those gangsters. But you made the biggest mistake of your life by messing with us!"

  "......"

  "Hehe~, judging by your expression, you won’t come quietly. Then we’ll have to teach you a lesson——!"

  In an instant, all the criminal organization members launched an attack on Miko at the same time.

  "Go ahead and try."

  Whoosh!

  Miko activated Strengthen.

  Combined with the lightness of Wind Attribute Magic, her speed instantly reached an astonishing level. Only an afterimage remained in her original position. When she reappeared, she was already in the middle of the crowd.

  The two short knives in her hands drew bright arcs, slicing past one person after another.

  "Ah!""Ah!""......"

  Several people were injured and fell to the ground on the spot.

  "Don’t panic! Attack together and block her offensive route!"

  Their organizational skills were clearly far beyond that of ordinary gangs. Even though several of them were easily defeated, the rest didn’t panic much. Instead, they quickly took countermeasures.

  For a moment, sword light flashed everywhere on the remote road, and the battle between the two sides reached a fever pitch......

  At the same time, on a nearby street.

  "Aunt Clea, you don’t have to take such good care of me. You can just leave me in the orphanage courtyard."

  A blonde girl with blue eyes sitting in a wheelchair was being slowly pushed forward by an adult woman.

  "That won’t do! Alice, you’re inconvenient to move around. If you stay cooped up in the orphanage all day, your illness will only get worse. You need to go out more often."

  "But...... Arthur and I used to get by like this. As long as I knew I was waiting in the courtyard, Arthur would always come back. I never felt bored at all."

  "Alice......"

  Clea sighed helplessly, but said in a firm tone:

  "What’s past is past! Anyway, now that I’m in charge of the orphanage, I won’t allow things to be like before! And I won’t let you say such discouraging words!"

  "......"

  "......But Aunt Clea, besides Arthur, I’m the oldest in the orphanage now. If you take care of me like this, I won’t be able to set a good example for the others."

  "You——"

  Clea gently tapped Alice on the head.

  "The only way you can set a good example now is to try to get healthier. If you look sickly, those little ones will worry too. How can you set a good example like that!"

  "Um...... But......"

  "Okay, no more ‘buts’——"

  Clang! Clang! Clang......

  The sound of a fight suddenly reached Clea and Alice’s ears. Before they knew it, they had arrived at another street.