Sylver arrived at the eastern gate with time to spare.

Now that he was aware of this “Ki bubble” business, he was on guard for it. But the interaction between these Ki bubbles, and the primal energy Sylver was able to feel, was too faint for him to figure out where one bubble ended, and the next started.

The only thing he could sort of feel was when someone near him was inside one of these bubbles. Even then, it wasn’t perfect.

Because if it was perfect, he would have noticed the fact that the transparent box leaning against the wall next to him had been replaced. He had been watching it since the moment he had the thing in his possession, and even then, someone had swapped the box out without him noticing.

The only reason he even noticed the package was different, was because he leaned down to scratch his knee, and accidentally touched the real 4th tier seal with his elbow.

And while he was worried about the fact that someone had so easily bypassed his net of [Necrotic Mutilation], as he had explained to Ria, there was nothing he could do about it, so he wasn’t going to worry about it.

It was bright enough outside now that the lamps had all been turned off, and people were gradually waking up to go to work. Sylver had been watching the eastern gate like a hawk, but either the person who had swapped the packages was already inside the city by the time Sylver got here or the group of guards guarding the entrance had failed at their jobs.

Sylver didn’t have any misconceptions regarding the current limitations of his abilities but having something he was actively looking after stolen right from under his nose, was embarrassing in a way that was difficult to put into words.

Thankfully, Sylver had gotten somewhat accustomed to failure and wasn’t even that upset.

Speed and Ki weren’t his specialties, so there was nothing wrong with someone running circles around him, without him even noticing.

Magic was his specialty.

Like that poorly put together barely functional piece of shit 4th tier seal.

But as much as Sylver enjoyed the thought of cracking it open, just to prove he could, he had enough sense to swallow his pride for the moment.

He twirled the large door-shaped box above his head as he walked towards Faust’s sect, as Ria quietly sat in the back of his robe. Since she spent the vast majority of her time back there, he had taken the time to weave a pocket of sorts for her, so she was comfortable.

The two guards outside of Faust’s gates nodded at him, as they swung the doors open, and allowed Sylver inside.

Sylver didn’t bother using the stairs, and simply jumped, and landed on the roof of the main building. Spring opened the hatch for him, and as Sylver descended down into his workshop, he realized the large box he was carrying wasn’t going to fit.

Sylver gestured at the square hatch, and pulled his hand towards himself, as the flat rectangular box tore through the small square hole. The shattered tile pieces fell down and smashed into even smaller pieces as they collided with the metal ladder, and hard wooden floor.

Sylver just looked at the pile of rubble he had created and forced himself to calm down.

“I take it, it didn’t go well?” Faust asked.

Sylver turned towards the man and saw that he was holding a ridiculously large bottle. It was as long as one of Sylver’s legs, and just as thick.

“How many hoops have I been made to jump through at this point?” Sylver asked, as he gestured towards the package he had been given, and made it float over to him, so he could sit down on it.

“Let’s see… Two?” Faust guessed, as he used his thumb to flick the cork out, and produced two large mugs seemingly out of nowhere.

“It was a rhetorical question. But no, my trip to the ice place alone is at least a couple of hundreds hoops worth of jumping. And now I’ve got this thing,” Sylver said, as he rapped the door-shaped box with his knuckle.

“On the bright side-”

Faust stopped mid-sentence as both he and Sylver turned their heads towards the box Sylver was sitting on, as they heard the box make a sound.

Sylver stood up, and pressed his ear up to the box, as he knocked three times on it.

He heard something knock back three times in response.

Is this Aurick, or the shield heir girl?

Or someone else?

It’s about big enough for a small human to fit, or a very thin dwarf…

"What’s in there?” Faust asked, as Sylver very very gently placed the box down, and ran his fingers along the edges of it.

The way Owl had spoken about it, he had been certain there wouldn’t be anything alive inside. Owl didn’t say a word when Sylver asked if it was alright to bury it to hide it.

Then again, if they have someone capable of crafting a 4th tier seal, a couple of life-supporting spells wouldn’t be that difficult in comparison.

Sylver pressed his ear up to the box again.

“One knock for yes, two knocks for no. Can you hear me?” Sylver asked.

He heard a single knock, yes.

“Can you talk?” Sylver asked.

Two knocks, no.

“…” Sylver’s voice caught in his throat, as he tried to figure out how to approach this.

If this is Aurick, I need to pretend to be on their side, so Owl, Hound, and presumably Lion, don’t try to kill me. But why would they bring Aurick here in a box?

On the other hand, if this is the shield heir girl, I need to get her on my side, so she cooperates and I can sterilize her. What can I ask that would-

“What’s your name!” Faust shouted at the box.

Sylver, Ria, and Spring, all turned to stare at the wise cultivator, who had enough power to take over an entire sect in a week.

“Is everything alright with you?” Sylver asked with a gentle voice.

Sylver felt physical pain in his stomach, as it took Faust too long to realize the problem with the question he had just asked.

Sylver did his best not to show it in his body language, but apparently, Faust could tell Sylver was looking at him while asking himself “this is my ally?”

“I’m a bit under the influence,” Faust admitted, and Sylver chose to believe him.

He very quietly stood up from the box, and with a guiding hand on Faust’s shoulder, walked him towards the corner, away from the box.

“Do you have a technique to peek inside that thing?” Sylver whispered at the possibly drunk cultivator.

“No,” Faust said.

Why did I bother asking?

“I could make a hole and-”

“You can’t. I mean, you can, but it will kill whoever is inside,” Sylver interrupted before Ria even had a chance to finish her sentence.

Wait, I’m overthinking this. If it’s not the girl, does it matter who it is? Even if Nameless/Aurick is in there, so what?

Should I just ask if she has a birthmark on her shoulder?

Then what? Sterilize her, and tell Tarragon I will kill his whole team if anyone so much as thinks about healing her?

What if the current emperor is aware of the prophecy, and once Owl tells him they have the girl, he will come looking for her?

Sylver looked up at Faust and furrowed his eyebrows as he considered the wisdom of his idea.

“I need you to bring 10 people to the roof,” Sylver said, as Faust nodded and disappeared into thin air.

Sylver reconsidered his idea once more, and when he couldn’t think of a better alternative at this exact moment, used [Fog Form] to get to the roof.

There was something almost sinister about the way the Faust’s people stood.

It was the middle of the day, and yet that somehow made the 10 men dressed in black with white skull masks look all the more intimidating.

“Could all of you please think the word “Chrysanthemum,” while picturing this girl in your head,” Sylver said, as he gestured towards the 10 men, and created a life-sized illusion of Chrys.

Almost immediately Sylver felt a pressure in his chest that nearly made him gasp. No more than 5 seconds passed, before an impossibly pissed-off and terrified sparrow landed on his shoulder. Sylver swiped his hand towards the illusion and dispersed it.

“That will be all, thank you,” Sylver said to the group. Similar to Faust, they disappeared without a word.

Sylver held the tiny bird in front of his face.

“I’m sorry, it was urgent,” Sylver said to the tiny bird with a single glowing left eye.

Sylver shifted his vision just in time to see a black raven land on the top of his head.

“Please. Never. Do. That. Again,” the raven said.

“I promise I won’t. There’s a box downstairs, and a person is inside of it. I need you to tell me who’s inside,” Sylver said, the raven and the sparrow turned their head towards the location of the box, as if they could see it through the thick wooden floor.

As the sparrow flew off Sylver’s hand and disappeared through the torn open hatch, the raven jumped down to replace it.

“Can. Not. See. Inside. Box,” the Chrys raven said, as the glow in its eye sputtered for a second before it became consistent again.

“Right… Thank you for trying,” Sylver said, as the light in the raven’s left eye flickered, and then disappeared.

The bird was beyond confused as it remained where it was and stared at Sylver. He grabbed it with his other hand, carefully placed it down on the floor, and walked away from it.

“Now what?” Faust asked as Sylver ran his fingers through his hair.

“I don’t know. I didn’t expect for her to react so fast, I thought I had at least half an hour…” Sylver said.

“If you open the box, can you put it back to how you found it?” Faust asked as Sylver made a face.

“I can, the seal has all the components I need, but I would have to spend at least 50 hours channeling mana into it. And to be completely honest with you, I’m not entirely certain my mana channels will be able to handle that,” Sylver explained, as Faust nodded.

“So, the answer is no,” Faust said, with a smug tone that Sylver didn’t need right now.

“Why can’t you just ask her about the birthmark?” Ria asked.

“Because then she will think we’re only interested in her because of her birthmark,” Sylver said.

“But we are only interested in her because of the birthmark?” Ria asked.

“Yes, but then she will associate us with the same people who kidnapped her. She won’t trust us, and she’ll think us releasing her is a trick,” Sylver explained.

“Alright, but do we need her to trust us? We don’t need her to do anything, all we want is to stop her from doing something,” Faust said.

“Do keep in mind, she’s part of an ancient bloodline, so there’s a less than zero chance that she isn’t a normal human girl. Once the box is open, who’s to say she won’t run away, and we’re unable to stop her?” Sylver asked as he waited for his tired mind to come up with a solution.

“So, what do we do?” Faust asked.

Sylver gave himself a solid minute to think through his options.

“If she is the girl I’m looking for, those 4 don’t matter… I’ll just take her back to Arda, and have Lola watch over her… If she’s not, then Owl will know I’m not on his side, and I might not find the real girl in time… Technically, as long as the emperor is killed, the girl doesn’t matter… The question is, assuming they’re using these boxes to transport the girl, would they give her to me?” Sylver asked.

“They gave her to you because they consider you to be weak, compared to everyone else, right?” Ria asked.

“That’s what they implied, yes…” Sylver said as Faust looked at him with a very unpleasant look of pity in his eyes.

“I mean… There are people who are well above level 500 here, compared to them you’re not exactly… Not to mention the locals don’t consider mages to be…” Faust’s voice trailed off, as Sylver just stared at him.

“That’s a fair point… Except they’re not local. Or I don’t think they are…” Sylver said.

“Why are you in such a rush to decide now?” Ria asked. “Sleep on it, and-”

“Because now that she knows we know she’s in there, the longer we wait, the greater the chance she decides we’re enemies, and tries to run away. She’ll pretend to be on our side, and then-”

“I think you’re overestimating her. If her family was hiding from the emperor, that means it’s very likely she isn’t even aware of what’s going on. I’ve seen it before, it’s why three-quarters of the greatest warriors always come from nameless villages,” Faust offered.

“We could ask the dragon,” Spring chimed in, and Sylver glared at the shade.

“That’s a last resort,” Sylver said with a tone that left no room for argument.

“Can’t you open the box a little, look inside, and close it back up?” Faust asked as Sylver shook his head.

“No. It’s a binary seal, either it works, and the box is closed, or it doesn’t, and the box can be opened,” Sylver explained.

“And making a hole is out because it will kill whoever is inside…” Ria added.

“Why don’t we kill her? A dead person can’t get pregnant, no offense,” Faust said.

Sylver considered the question. And was unpleasantly surprised that Ria barely reacted.

“If we kill her, that means we’ll have to wait for the emperor to die. But if we kill her, we won’t get help from Owl and the others, and I’m not sure how long it will take for me to get strong enough to kill the emperor… I would prefer to keep her alive until I was certain that using the emperor’s sword to free the dragon is impossible,” Sylver explained.

In all the images the dragon showed Sylver, the sword was always stabbed into a living girl’s and boy’s chest, not their corpses. That, and Sylver was familiar enough with bloodline magic to know it very rarely survived the death of the blood’s owner.

“Can I trust those 4 to underestimate me enough to leave something so valuable with me?” Sylver asked the 3 people/creatures, around him.

All 3 of them looked beyond uncomfortable, but Faust was the first to break the silence.

“If I… Wait, can’t you just trace the magic the seal is made out of, to find the other boxes? Assuming this isn’t the real one?” Faust said as Sylver did a quick estimate. A 4th tier seal would have more than enough mana for tracking.

“That would work if we assumed they had 1 mage create all the seals for them…” Sylver said.

There was also a chance that this was a trap. A test to see if they could trust Sylver, or not.

“We could spend all day arguing hypotheticals,” Sylver concluded.

“We could flip a coin?” Faust offered.

Once again, Sylver, Ria, and Spring stared at the cultivator. Sylver pulled a single gold coin out of his [Bound Bones] storage into his hand and looked at it.

He closed his hand into a fist and made the coin disappear after a moment.

“No, no coins, I know what I’m going to do,” Sylver said.