"Nonsense! Feliciana should still be in the capital Norvale. Even if she could fly to catch up, there's no way Adrian could have learned about me being trapped so quickly! Because the Astralrealm Kingdom is currently in the midst of a monster invasion war, he's too occupied with the kingdom's military to worry about me!"

Unfortunately, Vivianne still didn't believe me, firmly refuting my claims.

"Moreover, I don't think news of me being trapped could reach the Astralrealm Kingdom within just a day, so you must be an impersonator without a doubt! Although I don't know why you're doing this, I've seen too many of these tricks to be deceived!"

"Huh? Wait! Did you misunderstand something?"

After hearing her reasoning, I suddenly realized something seemed off! Even if Vivianne didn't know I had already gone around the Dark Continent and even visited Edenmere after being trapped here; even if she didn't know the monster invasion war was already over...how could news reach the Astralrealm Kingdom within "a day"?

Not to mention anything else, it was at least half a month after her incident before the news was relayed to Adrian and Brennan by teammates returning to the capital. How could it be just a day?

"Misunderstand? Hah! I was only driven into the cave by phoenix yesterday, and just arrived at this place today, then you show up saying you came to rescue me. There's no way that's not a lie!"

Vivianne let out a cold laugh, then leapt at me without another word.

"Spear - Blazing Like Hellfire!"

I had seen this skill before when Vivianne used it against the Minotaur right after I was transported here. Its power was quite formidable.

"Calm down! There may be some misunderstanding..."

I saw her thrust her spear down at me from above. Although I had no intention of fighting back, I still had to draw my weapon to defend myself.

Immediately, an immense force traveled through my sword. With my current six-winged physique, I could handle it just fine. Unfortunately, being airborne with no leverage, I was forced back to the ground by her sheer strength.

"You still dare say you're not an impersonator? Feliciana and Nicola are dirt poor, how could they afford storage rings so quickly?"

Seeing the longsword in my hand, Vivianne let out a cold snort as she landed in the open area, startling the children playing there who immediately scattered and fled.

"Er, could you not yell things like that so loudly?"

I felt rather awkward. Luckily there weren't many adults watching nearby. Before causing a commotion, I had to quickly end this pointless battle.

"Besides, you almost endangered those innocent kids just now. If something happened, their parents would be furious with you!"

"Hmph, maybe those folks just wouldn't care!"

To my surprise, she didn't care at all, raising her spear as if to attack me again.

"Spear - Swift As The Wind's Wings!"

This time it was a speed enhancement. Just like before, Vivianne's movement speed instantly increased severalfold as she turned into a blur charging at me.

*Ding*

The raised sword didn't feel any impact force, but inexplicably made a light metallic clang.

Wondering what it was, everything suddenly went dark in front of me. It turned out someone had rushed in front of me to block that spear strike.

"Lady Angel, if you don't mind, would you accept the protection of Star Glory knights?"

Another familiar voice came from behind me - of course, not from the one who had blocked the spear in front of me, but from someone else! Casual and laid-back, with a blade of grass in his mouth.

"Ron!"

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No need to explain, they were naturally the two Guardian Knights who had entered the cave ahead of me. But when they saw it was actually me, they seemed perplexed.

"So it was Lady Feliciana...you entered that cave too? Didn't expect you to arrive here before us."

"That's not necessarily the case. We circled around the outskirts of this village several times, wasting a lot of time before getting here. Even so, your speed really was too fast. Could there have been a shortcut in that cave?"

Mike, standing in front of me, corrected in a matter-of-fact tone. Though speaking, his gaze never left Vivianne.

"Star Glory Knights?"

Having heard our whole conversation, Vivianne looked at the two unexpected arrivals in astonishment. She clearly knew the background of the Star Glory Knights. In that brief clash, she had profoundly felt Mike's power and speed exceeding the sixth rank, and didn't dare act recklessly again.

Unlike me - although I had been at the six-winged level for a while, in reality my overall abilities might not even reach the sixth rank apart from magic.

"Hey, don't hurt her! She's my friend and one of the targets of this rescue mission!"

The difference between them was too great. Afraid Mike might go overboard, I quickly intervened.

"So you really are Feliciana?"

Seeing this, Vivianne finally started doubting her own judgment. Even though Ron had mentioned my identity earlier, she still couldn't fully believe her eyes.

"It's unbelievable, it shouldn't be! And how did you get involved with the True Church's Star Glory Knight?"

"Let's confirm things one by one!"

Of course I understood why she had these concerns. After all that back-and-forth, plus the sudden appearance of the two Star Glory Guardian Knights and their strange reactions, she had vaguely grasped some key points.

There were issues with both sides' attitudes. They both consistently felt I had appeared too quickly, but that wasn't actually the case.

"First, Ron, do you know how long it's been since you entered the cave?"

"No more than an hour and a half, right?"

Seeing me suddenly turn the question on him, Ron clearly felt perplexed.

"An hour and a half..."

Just as I expected, completely confirming my suspicion. After witnessing so many similar phenomena alongside Nicola, I quickly guessed what was going on.

"So the key issue is, you've been thinking it was less than a day since you were driven into the cave by phoenix?"

I then asked Vivianne.

"How long could it be? Even if I lingered in the cave for a while before finding this exit to get here, I may have lost track of outside changes during that time, but it couldn't possibly be several days, right?"

Vivianne seemed uneasy as I kept bringing up the topic of time. Of course she noticed something from my insistence.

"Not several days, it's been a month..."

With no choice, I sighed and just stated the truth. The problem most likely originated from that ominous cave labyrinth. After entering, perhaps it only felt like a short time from their own perspective, but from an outside view, it may have been several days already!

"Because after you entered the cave, the flow of time on your bodies was far slower than around Volcano Sulide. It's even possible I wasn't an exception..."

This also explained why my magic clock only showed midnight right after exiting the cave entrance. But in reality, it could have been over a full night outside, with daytime already arrived!

Fortunately, we were out now. I and the Star Glory Knights probably didn't linger too long in the cave. As for the outrageous time differential experienced by Vivianne, it could only be explained by her staying inside for too long.

"A month?! How's that possible...but what does slowing time flow mean?"

Vivianne was instantly dumbfounded upon hearing this. From her reaction, it seemed difficult for her to comprehend what was going on in a short time. Not just her though, Ron and Mike also looked equally bewildered.

I guess in this other world, people don't encounter time-related topics very often, so their minds can't make the leap right away.

"In any case, our top priority should be figuring out exactly what time it is now! For all we know, it may have been more than just one night that passed."

I said. If they couldn't understand, they could take it slowly, but the situation had become rather pressing. Who knows what state Brennan and Yulanda waiting at Mount Sulide were in now? Unless something unexpected happened, from their perspective, Cysper and I had surely been missing for a long time too.

Plus, to go back, unless we returned the same way, the only method was to ask around and figure out where exactly this place was, then find the direction to return. Not to mention anything else, I didn't even know which way was east, south, west or north.

And what about Adrian and Cysper? Where were those two? Cysper could be set aside for now since he just disappeared out of nowhere. But there had been no word from Adrian at all - could he actually be somewhere in this village too? The worst case would be if he was still lost in that cave labyrinth, which would be really bad.

"You mean ask the villagers around here?"

Ron quickly understood what I meant, casually gesturing towards the children playing and scuffling with each other in the distance. These kids really had guts - they had just been startled into scattering by Vivianne's antics, but returned to playing again shortly after like we were nobodies.

"Better to find some adults, kids may not know the details..."

After a moment's thought, I replied. Considering this cave may have involved spatial transference, we could be far outside the borders of the Cresthaven Papal Dominion already. So we needed to ask someone more reliable.

"If it were other people, there wouldn't be a need, because we already tried many times!"

Mike shook his head to explain.

"The villagers here completely ignore outsiders like us, they're very unfriendly and won't speak to us at all."

"Really?"

I found that hard to believe. Of course I understood what being ignored meant - that woman I encountered earlier had the same attitude. But for the whole village to be like that seemed unbelievable. A local custom?

"However..."

I turned my gaze back towards those few children. I didn't notice it before, but after Mike pointed it out, I suddenly realized their behavior did seem rather abnormal.