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"You're insane." Charles did not spare her any mercy. As he looked at the unconscious arcanist on the bed, bitterness and jealousy filled his heart. This was the man—this was why Gwendolyn had rejected his pursuit.

"I know. Maybe I really am insane." Gwendolyn wiped away her tears and cast another Healing Spell. "Two days ago, we were attacked by crazed beasts in the Green Forest. Bitter City's curse had spread there, affecting many of the animals in the forest. I don't know how Eugene ended up in the Green Forest, but if it hadn't been for him, I would probably have been infected by the curse. I might not even have made it back alive."

"Didn't they say the Holy See had already contained the spread of the curse?" Nagg frowned.

Gwendolyn shook her head. "Their so-called containment means keeping the infected under control. Purification spells cannot completely dispel the curse. I went to see my former mentor, April, but she shut her doors and refused all visitors. Charles and I found a way out after Bitter City was sealed off. Divine spellcasters always have certain special privileges at times like this. Not long after leaving the city, we encountered the Order of the Light Knights sent by the Holy See headquarters. They had been ordered to slaughter every infected person, so we had no choice but to flee into the Green Forest."

"And then you were attacked by infected beasts and happened to run into this arcanist?" Nagg said. "Doesn't that seem too much of a coincidence?"

"I don't think so," Charles said with difficulty. In truth, he did not want to speak for this arcanist—his rival in love—but a knight's sense of justice and fairness made him tell the truth. "We saw him removing the curse from the beasts."

"Arcanists can do that too?" Winnie asked curiously.

"They know how to remove curses because they know how to cast them," Eli answered. Then he asked Gwendolyn, "How exactly was he injured?"

"Wind Wolves," Gwendolyn said. Even now, the memory still frightened her. "For some reason, a large pack of Wind Wolves appeared on the outskirts of the Green Forest, and nearly all of them were at the fourth tier. The Order of the Light Knights retreated immediately after the first encounter. The nearby villages were all attacked by Wind Wolves. Eugene was surrounded while protecting me. When I found him, he was already barely clinging to life. I deceived Charles into returning first. I told him I would send Eugene away, but I brought him back anyway. Captain, I'll accept any punishment from the order, but please let me heal him."

"Can you heal wounds caused by Wind Blades in a short time? His symptoms seem to be more than simple blood loss." Eli looked at Eugene's pale, bluish face, which remained unchanged despite treatment.

Gwendolyn looked at Eli, the hope in her eyes fading bit by bit. "Then... what should we do?"

Nagg paced back and forth for a few steps, then gritted his teeth. "Three days. I'll give you only three days. After three days, whether this arcanist is dead or alive, he cannot remain here."

Gwendolyn looked at Nagg and parted her lips, but in the end she said nothing. She merely wiped away the sweat brought on by Eugene's high fever.

Nagg had already gone downstairs with Charles and Winnie. Eli lagged behind by a few steps, and before leaving, he spoke with his back to Gwendolyn. "I know a great divine spellcaster. She's a very interesting person. If you need help, you can talk to me."

"Will she... report us to the Holy See?" After a long silence, Gwendolyn's voice sounded behind Eli.

"I don't think so. She isn't a divine spellcaster from the Holy See," Eli said.

Early the next morning, Elufiel was awakened by a series of clattering sounds, seemingly the noise of armor and weapons striking each other. The elf, clearly still half-asleep, covered her two pointed ears and struggled for a while longer in the warm bed before finally dragging herself up. The moment she opened the door, she saw the mage, also in his sleepwear, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Hi?" The elf waved at the mage.

Odovish's hand shifted from pinching the bridge of his nose to rubbing his temples. One side of the elf's nightclothes had slipped off her shoulder, but she clearly had not noticed and seemed ready to walk outside just like that. "Eluer, perhaps you should change before going out."

"Huh?" Elufiel was forcibly pushed back into her room by the mage. It took her quite a while to realize what she had just done, and even after changing into a robe and going downstairs, the tips of her ears were still faintly red.

The fireplace was burning inside, making the room pleasantly warm. Elufiel stood beneath the first step in a white-and-purple robe. As the mage looked at her slender neck and the adorable flush on her ear tips, he was briefly distracted. No one could deny an elf's beauty.

Odovish had changed into a house robe and was sitting on the sofa. Before him stood a little girl of thirteen or fourteen, while a swordsman was organizing his equipment by the door.

Elufiel guessed that the little girl with reddish-brown hair was Odovish's niece, Goliath. Yet the way the girl nervously twisted the hem of her clothes made her seem very afraid of this guardian.

When the elf came downstairs, the swordsman's body tensed for an instant. The female housekeeper immediately said something, and only then did he relax and continue what he was doing. Goliath, meanwhile, secretly glanced at her before lowering her head again and twisting her clothes in her hands.

Odovish beckoned to Elufiel, signaling for her to sit wherever she liked. The elf sat beside Goliath. The little girl stole another glance at her from the corner of her eye, unable to conceal her curiosity.

Odovish spoke. "Goliath, what did I tell you?"

"Um... before advancing, don't keep running off to challenge Vampire Bats." After saying that, Goliath hurriedly added, "But I'm really about to break through."

"Vampire Bats?" Elufiel recalled the mage's large-scale purchase of Moon Soul Grass, and the corners of her lips curved upward.

Odovish glanced at her and forcibly interpreted that expression as the elf's curiosity about Vampire Bats. In an even voice, he explained this common low-level magical beast found in Kanado.

Elufiel found the mage's awkwardness amusing. He was obviously worried about his niece, yet he still wore such a stern expression, like some old-fashioned stickler.