Digging up a grave didn’t require the three to do it themselves. Although Selene was eager to do it herself, the treant efficiently dug up the earth around the tombstone, revealing a small coffin wrapped in white cloth. A coffin, not a body.

Selene’s parents had truly loved their daughter. Had their daughter, this resurrected Regressor, this true Saintess Shinten, this little girl who had been found in the snow, loved them back?

Selene suddenly felt a pang of sadness, because there was no way her parents would know the answer. Two months ago, they had also been buried here.

And she, the transmigrator who had inherited their daughter's body, understood that they never had a chance to know.

Seeing Selene fall silent, Delight stepped forward, his right hand tracing the surface of the coffin. Faint mana flowed from his hand into the coffin, allowing him to examine the contents without having to open it.

A few seconds later, he retracted his hand.

“There’s nothing inside,” Delight frowned. Though this was as expected, a new question arose.

“Selene, when do you think you became a Regressor?” Delight turned to Selene.

Selene was startled for a moment.

“A year ago, when I climbed out of the grave…”

Before she could finish, she realized something was wrong—a year was plenty of time for Elemental Assimilation Syndrome to manifest. Historically, Regressors had determined their fate within a month! But she wasn’t experiencing any discomfort, and the elements hadn’t attacked her…

“Theoretically, either I became a Regressor recently, and my death a year ago was a ruse, or I have some method of suppressing the elements…” Selene felt her brain was overloaded. “Also, the priest said that when my body was brought to the church, it was barely recognizable as human. In that state, is it really possible for a soul to return to its body and be resurrected?”

Delight, having heard the priest’s description, also didn’t have an answer. This knowledgeable old man even took out a device said to detect undead and showed it to Selene… Ultimately, they couldn’t come to a conclusion.

“Let’s discuss this later. Let’s open the coffin first,” Selene finally ended this fruitless discussion. “How do we open it? Do we need a crowbar…? Little treant, can you spare a branch?”

The treant shrank back in fear.

“No need for that,” Delight stroked his chin. “I remember the Divine Glory Church prefers sliding lids…”

Richter stepped forward, carefully examining the coffin’s structure. Then he placed his hand on a protruding latch and pushed—it opened.

Three pairs of eyes focused on the inside of the coffin.

After a long pause, Selene said in a hazy voice,

“What’s this? A small hourglass and… a key?”

...

The deafening sound of explosions echoed in Alice’s ears. The mysterious cave was collapsing. But the Papal Knights continued to strike at the True Light cultists, who had transformed into fleshy monsters, showing no signs of retreat.

From the corner of her eye, she saw several mages chanting a high-level explosion spell. They were completely unguarded, and a fleshy monster was charging towards them.

A brilliant light appeared in Alice’s hand, but before she could finish casting the spell, a black bolt of lightning, moving erratically and impossibly fast, shot from behind her, reducing the monster to a pile of charcoal.

She turned around and saw a tall, slender woman standing there. From her pointed hat to her familiar-looking mage’s robe and her long, slender staff, everything was a deep black, giving her the appearance of an icy sorceress.

The sorceress was struggling with her staff. She didn’t pause, but suddenly flew to the side, herself and the staff tearing through the battlefield, or rather, the staff flew around, and the sorceress, holding onto it, was carried along. Her shouts even momentarily drowned out the explosions.

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“Help! Alice? Is your name Alice? Why won’t this staff listen to me? You said I was a superhuman mage… Aaaaa—I’m flying too high!!!!”

Bam! The sorceress hit her head on the ceiling and dropped her staff, falling to the ground.

The mages were about to finish their explosion spell. The temperature in the room rapidly increased. The Papal Knights skillfully retreated, using heavy shields to protect themselves. In an instant, only the sorceress and the melting monster remained in the center of the battlefield.

“What? What’s going on?”

Before the sorceress could react, the temperature reached its peak, and an incredibly dense fireball fell into the battlefield and met her gaze—if explosion spells had eyes.

After a brief moment of silence, the high-level explosion spell erupted.

Alice immediately stopped her movements. A beam of holy light emanated from her feet, covering the crucial structures of the cave. The deafening explosion followed instantly, accompanied by a blinding white light, and an intense torrent of flames erupted. The Papal Knights’ shields were scorched by the flames, and the shockwave sent the knights in the front row stumbling back two steps.

The explosion unleashed its intense heat and flames, destroying everything—the walls, stalactites, murals, and everything else in the cave, was quickly destroyed. Only a faint holy light covered the crucial load-bearing structures, barely maintaining their integrity.

The violent explosion lasted for a minute. Everything around them was scorched black. The fleshy monsters were reduced to ashes, scattered throughout the cave. A five-meter-deep pit remained in the center of the explosion.

Seeing this, the knights stopped defending and began to check for survivors. Some of the mages used Shadow Stones to record the remaining clues. Others used magic to reinforce the structure of the cave. The wounded were carried out to the cathedral in the north of the city for treatment…

Only after everyone began the post-battle cleanup did Alice, replacing the mages, jump into the large pit. She found the sorceress amidst a cloud of dust.

She was huddled in a ball, trembling. But upon closer inspection, it was clear she hadn’t suffered any physical injuries. Her robe was undamaged. She was clearly just scared.

A touch of resignation appeared on Alice’s cold face. She bent down, intending to pull the sorceress up.

“Lady Lilith, the battle is over. Will you return to the Magic Society?”

“Great, great!”

Lilith, who had been trembling a moment before, immediately jumped up, scrambling out of the hole and running towards the cave entrance, as if she’d forgotten she could fly. The staff slowly floated up from the ashes, following its owner.

Alice summoned a beam of light and returned to the ground, watching the sorceress’s figure disappear into the night. Then, she turned her attention to the search for the royal family.

Passing a wall, she vaguely heard some mages whispering.

“President Lilith’s condition seems particularly severe today… Did she play the role of a novice mage today?”

“I hope she’s better tomorrow…”

“Superhuman mages always have their quirks. I heard that Mittal’s Chief Mage likes to spar with magical beasts, and he always wins…”

“Terrifying, terrifying…”

...

As night fell, Selene, Richter, and Delight finally found the room corresponding to the key. It was a simple, two-story wooden house near the magical machinery factory district in the north of the city. The residents were mostly workers and their families.

Selene carefully inserted the key into the keyhole, and the door opened silently.

Delight entered first. A faint light emanated from his fingertips, illuminating the room.

The room was simply furnished with a table in the center, a small kitchen in the corner, and stairs leading to the upper floor. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that the bedroom was connected to the living room. A simple wooden bed was in the bedroom, and that was all.

The treant carefully squeezed itself into the room.

Selene and Richter followed, observing for a moment before Richter went to the table and placed the lantern he’d bought on it. A soft light illuminated the room.

Delight extinguished the light from his fingertips and went upstairs. A few dozen seconds later, he came back down, saying,

“That’s your room. We’ll spend the night here. Richter and I will stay downstairs…”

Selene nodded in agreement, waved her hand for the treant to put down her belongings—her clothes, the books they had just bought, and her sack—and then went upstairs.

She was surprised by what she saw.

This was clearly a girl’s room. A pale blue tone dominated the room. On the right wall was an ornately carved window, offering a view of the white tower in the center of the city and half of the sparkling starry sky. A small bed was in the center of the room, made of rare, magically-inscribed wood, with soft bedding and a warm-colored blanket. A valuable bedside table, a desk, bookshelves, and a small chair were placed near the bed. A dozen or so books were scattered on the shelves. A fixed Fluorit lamp emitted a steady light.

She couldn’t help but compare this room to the one downstairs, which was clearly her parents’ room. It had only a simple bed, less than half the size of this room. It was directly connected to the living room…

She carefully organized her things, putting them away in the cupboard, on the shelves, and on the desk. Then she sat down in the chair, quietly looking at this simple but loving room, which held her parents’ affection and care.

Richter was carefully sorting his magical materials when he suddenly heard soft sobs coming from upstairs. He looked up, a little surprised, but saw Delight gently pressing his hand down, shaking his head.

He pondered for a moment, then continued his work.

A few minutes later, everything was quiet again. The peaceful night enveloped the city. Everyone fell asleep.