After Saito’s business with the Village Chief of the Hidden Village was done, in a certain town far away, Tiffania had just arrived with a small squadron of scouts. This was the third day of their search for the missing princess, and the first village they arrived at after the search commenced.

Tiffania immediately sent the scouts to gather information in the town. She herself went to the back alley to look for a certain someone. Needless to say, Ragna was going with her. ⌈¹⌋

The atmosphere in the back alley was gloomy, the number of people walking in the main street compared to the back alley was worlds apart. The buildings in the back alley also looked shady when compared to ones at the side of the main street. Hardly anyone would come to this area, unless they had some shady business to conduct.

But of course, the reason Tiffania came to the back alley was not to conduct some shady business. The back alley was also home to brokers, who buy and sell information. That’s right, Tiffania came to the back alley specifically to meet a certain broker.

As expected, even Tiffania felt uneasy in this kind of gloomy environment. She was secretly casting a glance left and right in a fluster. On the other hand, Ragna was totally unfazed.

As they continued to walk on the empty street, they eventually arrived in front of what looked like a pub. The building was made out of woods like the other buildings in the surrounding. On top of the pub, directly above the entrance, hanged the trademark of the pub. And the entrance was affixed with half-width saloon doors. It was possible to see the inside of the building from the top and the bottom. In general, the pub looked like a classic wooden house you’d find in a cowboy movie. ⌈²⌋

Tiffania and Ragna pushed the saloon doors open and walked into the pub. Inside the pub, behind the counter, a middle-aged man with extended goatee ⌈³⌋ was standing there, with both palms placed on the counter. The middle-aged man looked at the two with suspicion, they were clearly wearing high quality clothes, what business did they have in this backwater?

Tiffania was frightened by the middle-aged man’s glare, Ragna walked in front of her and said to code words to the middle-aged man, “Give me two bottles of dragon liquor.”

The middle-aged man asked in return, “How strong?”

Ragna immediately followed up with, “As strong as possible.”

After hearing the reply, the middle-aged man nodded once and said, “Alright, come with me.”

With that, Tiffania and Ragna was led to an empty room in the pub. Not long later, the broker entered the room to greet the two. “My, my… what a rare guest, what brings you here today, Your Holiness?”

Obviously, this was not the first time Tiffania had met this broker. In the past, they met on several occasions due to unfortunate circumstances. And now, they have already become acquainted. However, this was the first time Tiffania had actually come to find him personally.

When Tiffania saw the broker, she smiled politely and said, “It’s been a long time Mister Samuel. I have come to find you today with a top secret request.”

“Oh? Pray tell…” When the broker heard the words, top secret, he immediately put on a stern expression. That was because he knew top secret requests normally involves extremely high risks.

When Tiffania saw the broker’s expression, she immediately put on a wry smile and said, “Mister Samuel, you don’t need to be alarmed, I just need you to help me gather information regarding the whereabouts of the princess.”

“Princess? You don’t mean…” When the broker heard Tiffania’s words, he immediately raised an eyebrow.

Tiffania nodded her head dejectedly and said, “That’s right, three days ago, Elwyn suddenly disappeared from her room. I believe the cause to be familiar summoning. If that’s really the case, then the princess should still be fine, but… I fear for the worst…”

After finding out the situation from Tiffania, the broker promised her that he will do everything in his power to gather any information regarding the princess. Tiffania reminded the broker one last time that he mustn’t let any outsiders know the princess of the elven race are currently missing. After that, they bid their farewells and left the pub.

On their way back to the main street, they saw a figure standing at the side of the alley. On top that person’s left hand, that was raised by ninety degrees, there was a crystal ball about the size of a basketball. And his face was covered by a black hood, it was impossible to make out his appearance.

That person looked like a fortuneteller no matter how you looked at him. Even if Tiffania was desperate, she wasn’t desperate enough to cling on to some superstitious stuff. Magic could still be logically explained to some extend, but fortunetelling was completely unsystematic. There’s no way to verify whether the fortunetelling was accurate or not.

Moreover, there’s also a lot of frauds. Therefore, Tiffania didn’t pay any attention to that fortuneteller and walked past that guy. However, just when she walked past him, the fortuneteller suddenly said, “The light you’re seeking for is at the place where five stars aligned.”

“What…?” When Tiffania heard the fortuneteller, she turned back and asked in suspicion, “What are you talking about?”

Ragna could sense a strange vibe coming from the fortuneteller, he raised his guard and whispered to Tiffania, “Master, it is best if we just ignore him.”

Tiffania shook her head and continued to ask, “Where is the place where five stars aligned?”

The fortuneteller didn’t answer the question directly, he only said, “You should know the place better than anyone here,” before he continued, “However, the light is quickly getting devoured by the darkness.”

Hearing those words, Tiffania’s face immediately turned deathly pale, she started to think of many tragic things happening to Elwyn. The more she thought about it, the paler she got.

Just at this time, Ragna was finally unable to remain silent anymore, “That’s enough! Stop your nonsense at once!” He shouted and threw a punch at the fortuneteller.

However, his punch didn’t connect and hit the thin air. Before anyone knew it, the fortuneteller had already disappeared on the spot. Ragna felt a chill down his spine and tried to turn around immediately, but it was already too late, the fortuneteller had appeared behind him and used his index finger to lightly poke a certain acupuncture point at the back of his neck to paralyze him.

When he was sure that Ragna’s movements had been sealed, the fortuneteller looked at Tiffania calmly and said, “It matters not whether you believe me or not, the wheel of fate is beginning to turn once more, and it can no longer be stopped.”

After saying all he had to say, the fortuneteller disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving only Tiffania and the paralyzed Ragna behind on the empty street.

Only until a long time later did Ragna finally regain his freedom of movements, and only now did Tifannia finally regain her composure. She whispered to herself, “The place where five stars aligned, the light getting devoured by darkness… I need to hurry! Elwyn is in trouble!”

Author’s Note:

Phew… took a while to write this. Mainly because of my busy schedule and lack of fresh ideas.