But Lord Euphemia refused to listen to Lady Jessica's advice, insisting on continuing to wait. No matter how Lady Jessica tried to persuade her, it was no use. Lady Jessica had no choice but to stay and wait alongside Lord Euphemia.

  Suddenly, Lord Euphemia seemed to notice something. She gazed into the distant grassnds and said with a hint of nervousness, "Two people have appeared over there — could it be that the Suzaku Guard Captain has returned?"

  Lady Jessica looked in the direction Euphemia was staring and indeed spotted two distant figures slowly walking toward them. She had a soldier bring over a pair of binocurs, and the moment she looked through them, an expression of disbelief crossed her face. "It really is him — he's actually still alive?!"

  The two figures were a man and a woman walking one behind the other across the grassnd. Lady Jessica did not recognize the red-haired woman in the back, but the brown-haired man in front was unmistakably the Suzaku Guard Captain.

  Though Lord Euphemia wanted to rush over and greet the Suzaku Guard Captain at once, Lady Jessica said that doing so would be beneath Lord Euphemia's dignity, so she sent only two soldiers to receive him instead.

  After a short while, the Suzaku Guard Captain was escorted by the soldiers to Lord Euphemia's side. Lord Euphemia looked at him with a face full of joy and said, "Thank goodness — you've finally come back. Are you all right? Were you injured?"

  The Suzaku Guard Captain nodded and said in a composed tone, "I'm sorry to have worried you, Lord Euphemia. I managed to fulfill my mission without disgrace."

  Lady Jessica adjusted her gsses and looked the Suzaku Guard Captain over carefully from head to toe. When she found that he had not sustained any serious injuries, she said with great surprise, "I truly never would have imagined that you could hold that creature at bay all on your own, Suzaku Guard Captain. How on earth did you manage it?"

  The Suzaku Guard Captain said, "The situation was actually extremely dangerous at the time. It was only thanks to the assistance of two outsiders that I was able to successfully restrain the beast."

  "Two outsiders?"

  The Suzaku Guard Captain turned to look behind him and noticed that Kallen, who had been with him moments ago, was already gone. He said, "They are visitors who came from outside the Sanctuary — and both of them are Ultra-capable, with considerable ability."

  Lady Jessica furrowed her brow. "Ultra-capable individuals from outside the Sanctuary? Who are they? Has their identity been verified?"

  "Not yet, but given that they helped me rescue Lord Euphemia, I believe they bear us no ill will."

  Lady Jessica said, "That may well be true. Now that the Suzaku Guard Captain has returned safely, Lord Euphemia, let us return to Yufei City. There is still much to deal with regarding that beast from earlier."

  Lord Euphemia agreed to Lady Jessica's suggestion and entered Yufei City through the city gates together with the Suzaku Guard Captain and the others.

  At the same time, elsewhere outside the city gates, Kallen had found Nana, C.C., and the others and rejoined them. When Nana saw that Kallen had returned alone, she immediately asked, "Why are you by yourself? Where's Rulu? Weren't the two of you acting together just now?"

  "That — how do I even begin to expin this." Kallen's expression was somewhat troubled, and her words came out haltingly.

  When Nana saw the look on Kallen's face, she seemed to sense something was wrong. She asked anxiously, "Did something happen to Rulu? Kallen, just tell me — what happened?"

  Pressed by Nana's questioning, Kallen had no choice but to expin that Rulu had stayed behind alone to face Hydra in order to cover their retreat. After hearing Kallen out, Nana's face instantly turned ashen. She murmured, "Why — why would Rulu do something so foolish?"

  Shari said with a sorrowful expression, "He must have done it to make sure we could escape safely. It's our fault this happened to him."

  At that moment, C.C.'s voice spoke up from nearby: "Much as I hate to disturb your grief, Rulu is perfectly fine."

  Nana looked over at C.C. and said with great confusion, "How would you know that, C.C.? You're not just saying that to comfort us, are you?"

  C.C. said, "I'm not lying to you. Rulu is on his way to us right now. Just be patient and wait a little longer — you'll see him soon enough."

  Seeing how confidently C.C. spoke, Nana couldn't help but believe her. By then, night had fallen and darkness bnketed the nd. Nana and the others lit a bonfire on the grassnds outside the city, sat on the ground, and began eating the food that Lord Euphemia had sent to them. Suddenly, a young man appeared at their side, sat down on the ground, and said breathlessly, "I finally found you all. I've been walking all day — I'm absolutely exhausted."

  Nana turned to look and was stunned to find that it was none other than Rulu. Though his clothes were a little tattered, aside from some light cuts and scrapes on his body and face, he had not suffered any serious injuries.

  Seeing Rulu appear, Kallen said in astonishment, "Rulu, you're really all right? That beast was so powerful — the three of us were barely able to handle it. How did you manage to get away on your own?!"

  Rulu said in a weary, listless voice, "Can we talk about that ter? I'm starving — is there anything to eat?"

  "Rulu, try this — I made it myself, and it turned out pretty well." Shari came over to Rulu's side and handed him a skewer of meat that had been seasoned and grilled. Rulu thanked her, took the skewer, and began eating hungrily.

  Upon finding that Rulu was safe and sound, the gloom that had hung over Nana and the others instantly lifted. Their faces bloomed with joyful smiles as they ate together and chatted cheerfully.

  Suddenly, C.C. leaned close to Rulu and whispered in his ear, "If I'm guessing correctly, you used your Spiritual-power to control that beast and get away — didn't you?"

  Not wanting Nana and the others to find out that he could use Spiritual-power, Rulu simply gave a small nod and said nothing.

  C.C. asked again, "How did you know that this power would work on a creature like that? If the Spiritual-power had had no effect on it, you would have been finished."

  Rulu gnced around, and seeing that the others' attention was not on him, he whispered, "I've conducted experiments on other living creatures before and found that while Spiritual-power can't fully control non-human beings, it can at least calm them down and stop them from attacking. If it weren't for that, I never would have dared face that beast alone."

  C.C. nodded and said, "I see."

  Rulu continued, "But there's something I found strange. When I used my Spiritual-power to control that beast, I noticed that it seemed to understand some human speech and could recognize simple human gestures. Why do you think that is?"

  C.C. thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps that Hydra was trained by humans at some point in the past, or was raised by humans. Otherwise, it would have no way of understanding human nguage and actions."

  Rulu said, "That's what I think too. It seems like what happened today was no accident — that beast was sent by someone to attack us."

  C.C. was taken aback and said quietly, "Who would do something like that?"

  Rulu said, "Within the Sanctuary, the only ones with the power to do something like this would be the Sanctuary's Emperor, or the Emperor's children, or one of the other Lords. I have a feeling this matter isn't over yet — there will likely be more things happening from here on out."