After the heavy snow had fallen for about half the night, Annie was still wandering aimlessly through the snow-covered Sanctuary. Eventually, after discovering there was nothing fun to do, she had no choice but to turn back after strolling around for half the night. She'd seen that Emilia still hadn't finished her trial, so she decided to head back to the village where the Abhumans and demi-humans lived, and get some sleep in the little temporary house she'd been assigned.
But...
When she returned to the village, she was astonished to find that the nasty guy who'd given her trouble earlier—Garfiel Tinsel—and a certain lazy fellow covered in bandages, that clownish uncle, had both gone to the village entrance. They were staring outside with grave expressions, as if waiting for or guarding against something.
"Hello?"
|?˙?˙)!!
"Hey! What's going on? Is something wrong here?"
-=????=?????(?)?
Seeing that something interesting seemed to be happening up ahead, little Annie hurried over through the thick snow, rushing to the two of them like a gust of wind. The snowflakes and ice chips kicked up by her even splattered all over their heads and faces.
"What are you two looking at?"
?(????)?
After reaching the village entrance, Annie didn't wait for either of them to answer. She stood on tiptoe and peered intently at the snowy fields and woods outside the village, which were just as white as everything else, trying to see what had made the clownish uncle and that nasty Garfiel stand there as if bracing for a great enemy.
Unfortunately, even after looking for quite a while, she still saw nothing. Nor could she sense any powerful presence with enough magic to make the clownish uncle and Garfiel beside her take such a wary stance.
"Hmph!"
"You'll find out in a