They ended up circling right back to the same question again—where Mevis actually was now.

Leon and Rosvisser had come to the Cold Mist Forest in the first place to look for clues.

After everything that happened, there weren’t many usable leads to show for it, but at least one thing was now certain:

The portion of power that belonged exclusively to the God of Wisdom had not completely dissipated.

And Mevis had hidden himself well.

Using “falling” as bait to draw the attention of those with ill intent—while protecting himself in the process—was a very clever approach.

Aside from the progress on Mevis, there was another unexpected gain.

They had learned about the cult known as the Church of Communion.

It might be connected to the Void Sovereign.

After all, whether it was the current Void Sovereign or the previous one, both possessed the ability to connect to the Void and persist without dying.

To defeat such an existence, the only way was to extract the soul.

And then seal it.

And according to what Leon knew, aside from Noah’s self-sealing back then, the only other force that sounded capable of doing that was the Church of Communion they had just heard about.

So next, beyond finding Mevis, they also needed to determine what the Church of Communion truly was.

Once they had sorted through their thoughts, Leon and Rosvisser returned the Mevis Bracelet to the forest altar.

They successfully removed the illusion magic from the slimes and from the sea-dragon guards stationed along the perimeter.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Leon, Mrs. Rosvisser, and…”

Fanny looked at Noa, who was standing a little farther back.

“…Miss Noa. I’m truly sorry I attacked you right away.”

Noa shook her head.

“Our side was the one that acted rashly first. You don’t need to apologize.”

As she said it, Noa didn’t look toward Tucker at the rear of the group.

She felt she had no right to keep “kicking the corpse” of that mess in any way.

It would be a pure waste of time.

“What do you plan to do now?” Leon asked. “You and Owen, I mean.”

At that, Fanny lowered her eyes and shook her head.

“…We’ll probably keep running. We’ve offended the Church of Communion. They won’t let us go.”

Leon and Rosvisser couldn’t help feeling sorry for the pair.

They had grown up together, married, and thought they would support each other as they went further and further down the path of illusion magic.

Who would have imagined that the life they hadn’t even begun yet would be shattered by a cult?

And that they would end up like this—forced to wander.

Leon thought for a moment, then said:

“If you’re willing, I do have a place that can offer you temporary protection.”

Hearing that, joy rose instinctively on both their faces.

“When we recover a bit… we can start over. Mr. Leon… you’re really willing to help us?”

Leon nodded.

“Because the Church of Communion involves people and matters that also concern us. We may need your cooperation later. And we genuinely lack specialists in illusion magic.”

Compared to useless mouths to feed, they understood the value of having people who could be relied upon when it mattered.

And Leon and Rosvisser had saved their lives—so if they could offer shelter, it wasn’t something they could reasonably refuse.

“Then thank you, Mr. Leon.”

Leon smiled, then gave a sharp whistle.

A massive shadow swept through the fog overhead, beating six wings as it descended slowly beside them.

Leon walked over to Little Bro the hawk, smoothed its feathers, and said:

“It’ll take you to the place I just mentioned. After you arrive, contact a girl named Rebecca. She’s reliable. Don’t worry.”

After a pause, Leon added, “Well. Reliable most of the time.”

Fanny and Owen exchanged a look, then smiled despite themselves.

Their saviors were good people, but from everything they had seen so far, Mr. Leon, Mrs. Rosvisser, and their social circle were all a little…

“Distinct,” to put it politely.

“Oh, right.”

Noa stepped forward.

“If you need us, use this to contact us.”

She took out a spare communication recording crystal and placed it in Fanny’s hands.

Fanny accepted it with both hands and bowed.

“I truly don’t know how to thank you. If you ever need anything in the future, Owen and I will do everything we can to help.”

The tragic couple had evolved into a lucky couple.

Leon’s group could also consider the matter successfully resolved.

Little Bro brought Fanny and Owen back to the Empire.

And because the Adult Dragon Division was present, Leon still didn’t state the real meaning out loud.

Even though Leon was someone they saw often, the vast majority still did not know his human identity.

Once he appeared on a battlefield and fully released a true dragon’s dragon pressure, anything below a certain threshold would be excluded automatically—

But if his human identity were exposed, it would still invite unnecessary trouble.

More importantly, it would also have a major impact on Rosvisser’s silver dragon clan and on their daughters.

That was why Leon had never made it public.

“We’ll rest for half an hour,” Noa instructed. “Use the spare recording crystal to document the altar area. We’ll need it when we submit the mission back at the academy.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Two members headed toward the altar with the spare recording crystal.

The others settled down to rest where they were.

Noa and Helena walked over at an easy pace toward Leon and Rosvisser.

“Uncle Leon, Aunt Rosvisser, we didn’t even get a chance to greet you earlier,” Helena said obediently.

Rosvisser smiled and ruffled the sea-dragon girl’s hair.

“Hello, Helena. You get prettier every time I see you.”

As she spoke, the queen’s gaze drifted downward.

The slime was back on Helena again.

The little creature seemed to like her quite a lot—after secretly eating the bracelet earlier, it had climbed right back to find her.

“Yes—Um really likes me,” Helena said brightly.

Noa raised an eyebrow.

“Um? Is that its name?”

Helena nodded.

“Yes. I just named it.”

“You named it after the sound it makes… isn’t that a bit lazy?”

Helena teased, “You’re the last person who should complain about lazy naming when your pronunciation is copied straight from a primordial dragon king.”

Before Noa could respond, Rosvisser reached over and gently pinched Helena’s cheek.

“I see you’re not just getting prettier—you’re getting better at sarcasm, too. Do you have a problem with the name your aunt chose?”

“No, no, I didn’t mean it—stop, stop—Aunt, let go...”

“Um, um...”

Amid the laughter, Noa completed her first mission as captain successfully.

While Rosvisser chatted with Helena, Leon stepped up beside Noa.

He looked at his daughter with open pride and relief, then praised her.

“You did very well, Noa. You protected everyone, and you completed the mission.”

Noa scratched the back of her head, embarrassed.

“But if you and Mom hadn’t come, we couldn’t have handled it this smoothly.”

Leon smiled and shook his head, then patted her shoulder lightly.

“Even without us, catching up to Fanny and Owen would only have been a matter of time. This is your first step, Noa. Have confidence # Nоvеlight # in yourself.”

With her father’s encouragement, Noa nodded hard.

“Yeah. I understand, Dad.”