Hughberlian's Limited-Time Return

The next day.

In this age of war raging across the Southern Continent.

From the Nox Mountains to Palton Obsidian Island, and from Brin Twilight Snow Canyon to Isanti Starfall Bay, the homes and strategic points of the Eastern Kingdoms lay devastated. Towns had been razed, the harvests and wealth of the city-states looted clean, and innocent civilians slaughtered. The enemies were brutal and lawless, yet the warriors continued to fight them with bodies clad in blood and iron.

Although the southern front of the Eastern District, allied under the Kingdoms United Council, had already fallen into crisis, Ikelite, deep in the Hutton Kingdom's interior, remained the safest place.

At dawn, a faint blue-gray haze filled the horizon. In this autumn morning, with the sky barely bright, the entire city seemed more solemn than usual, as if winter would arrive unusually early this year.

Beside the Wooden House Restaurant on a street east of Iketerite Academy, in Ikelite's East District.

The flowerbeds in Cat Boss Restaurant's courtyard were blooming with flowers of every brilliant color, their fragrance drifting away on the breeze.

It was not yet time for business.

In a wooden room on the second floor, the walls had been painted soft cream, pale orange, and beige. The wooden furniture had taken on a natural texture after Cat Boss had polished it.

"'The southern breeze brings a touch of coolness~'"

"'The nightingale sings in a gentle voice~'"

"'The flowers beneath the moon all drift into dreams~'"

Hughberlian leaned against a carved wooden chair, holding a cup of fine flower tea and sipping it lightly. The tea's fragrance spread between her clearly defined red-and-white lips and teeth.

Beside her, an antique magic phonograph played a gentle little song. Its graceful melody flowed through the air, seeming on this morning to