"Ryan?"
"Hello to you too."
"Oh, sorry. I just didn't think you would be the familiar face the Pope mentioned."
Ryan stepped past Leo, entering the dimly lit room. His presence carried a certain ease, as if he had been here before. He pulled out the only chair in the room and sat down, stretching his legs slightly.
"I didn't know either—until a few days ago," he said, crossing his arms.
Leo closed the door behind him and took a seat on the bed. His gaze settled on Ryan, a mix of curiosity and anticipation flickering in his eyes.
"So? What now?"
Ryan leaned back, drumming his fingers against the chair's armrest. "Well, first, we need to get to the Kingdom of Magic. And second, you need a new name."
"Before all that…" Leo interrupted, his voice growing more serious. "Do you have any news about my family?"
Ryan gave him a reassuring nod. "Don't worry, they're fine. The Pope spoke to them personally."
Leo exhaled, tension leaving his shoulders. "Thank God." But another thought quickly darkened his expression. "What about Liamond? And the others?"
Ryan hesitated for a moment before answering. "That kid, Liamond, is still in the infirmary. He lost his arm, but he'll survive." His voice remained steady, but there was an underlying weight to his words. "As for your captain… He lost the ability to increase his rank."
Leo's head snapped up. "What? Why?"
"He used a dangerous magic item—one that cost him dearly."
A heavy silence filled the room as Leo absorbed the news.
"Tonight, there's a ceremony for the ones who died." Ryan's tone softened slightly. "That includes your other friend." He didn't need to say the name. Leo already knew who he meant.
Leo clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms. "And everyone else?"
"Most of them are either unharmed or only slightly injured."
Leo let out a slow breath, trying to steady himself.
Ryan leaned forward, watching him carefully. "You still have more questions, don't you?"
Leo hesitated, then nodded. "When I was running toward our headquarters, a massive surge of mana stopped me and everyone else from moving. What was that?"
Ryan sighed, rubbing his temple. Then, in a low voice, he told Leo everything he could—everything except the details that could corrupt him. Some truths were too dangerous to speak aloud.
When he finished, he stood up. "I'll give you some time to process. I'm heading downstairs for a drink." With that, he left the room.
Leo lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. His thoughts churned restlessly.
'The Icethrone Empress. A black knight so mysterious even Ryan knows nothing about him. And the Pope...'
Two S rank powerhouses had stood in the same place. And the Pope had stopped them both.
Leo's mind flashed back to the eerie moment in that dark house—the unsettling calm in the old man's eyes.
'Just how powerful is he?'
But in the end, none of it mattered right now. His family. His friends. His future. There was only one thing he could do.
Become stronger.
That was all that mattered, for his new family and for the old one.
…
The Pope stood solemnly before a memorial stone, its smooth surface engraved with the names of the fallen. Among them, two stood out—Leo Mantine and Frank Rove.
Behind him, rows of paladins filled the street, their golden and silver armor gleaming under the dim evening light. Those who could attend had gathered, their faces shadowed with grief. Beyond them, the people of the city stood in silence. Some wept softly, while others merely watched, their expressions unreadable.
The ceremony took place on North Street, the wide road leading directly to the Grand Cathedral.
The Pope inhaled deeply, then closed his eyes.
Near the front, Rosie stood beside her mother, her hands clenched tightly at her sides. She knew Leo was alive, yet the sight of his name carved into the stone, immortalized among the dead, made her chest ache. She bit her lip, but the tears still came.
Beside them, Eliza and her mother stood together. Unlike Rosie, Eliza didn't try to hold back. She sobbed openly, her small frame shaking, her mother's hand resting gently on her back in silent comfort.
The Pope finally spoke, his voice steady but laced with sorrow.
"To honor the souls of those who sacrificed themselves so that we may stand here today, let us observe a moment of silence."
He did not turn to face the crowd. His gaze remained fixed on the stone, on the names etched in unyielding finality.
And as the city fell into a deep, collective silence, the cold wind carried the unspoken grief of all those left behind.
…
Elna's eyes fluttered open. A sharp pain throbbed in her head, and her vision swam, the world around her an unfocused blur.
"You're awake?"
A voice cut through the haze. She turned toward the sound, blinking rapidly until the fog in her sight cleared.
She found herself in a spacious room—one that unmistakably belonged to nobility. The high ceiling, the ornate furniture, the heavy velvet curtains drawn halfway across the windows—it all spoke of wealth and status.
In front of her stood a young man.
"Who are you? Where am I?" she asked, her voice unsteady, betraying the lingering weakness in her body.
The young man took a step closer. "My name is Timon, and you are in a room within the Grand Cathedral."
The moment those words left his lips, something hit her—sharp and sudden, like a jolt of lightning: the Grand Cathedral
Then came the fragments—chaos, battle, a creeping cold, and Leo
She sat up abruptly, ignoring the dizziness that threatened to pull her back down.
"Where is Leo?" she demanded.
Timon lifted a hand, his expression calm. "Easy there." His gaze locked with hers. "What do you remember?"
Elna thought for a moment before answering. "I ate my dinner and went to sleep like always. The next thing I remember, I was in a cage… They told me I'm a vampire."
Timon sighed, then pulled a small mirror from the nearby drawer and held it up in front of her.
Elna looked into the mirror and froze. "Why is my hair white?"
"It's silver," Timon corrected. "It's the natural hair color for vampire. Sometimes it turns silver, other times a very light blond."
"So… I'm really a vampire?" There was a deep sadness in her voice.
Timon nodded.
"Are you going to kill me?"
He studied her for a few seconds, his expression unreadable, before speaking. "You have two choices. One is to stay here. I will teach you how to control your urges, how to be a vampire without becoming a killer, and I will also make you stronger."
"Why do I need to be stronger?"
"Don't you want to see him again?" Timon asked. "His life is going to change. He will grow more powerful. If you want to stand beside him, you'll need strength of your own."
Elna hesitated before asking, "And the second choice?"
"You can leave."
"Just like that?"
"Yes. But you'd have to leave the city, and if the paladins see you, they will hunt you."
Timon stood up and walked toward the door. "You don't have to decide now."
Just as he was about to open it, Elna spoke. "I'll choose the first one."
A smile appeared on Timon's face. "Rest today. We start tomorrow."
With that, he left, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
…
Leo sat next to Ryan at the bar, having already shared what had happened on his side—though, of course, he left out the part about summoning a god or anything related to Selvanna.
"We start our trip tonight," Ryan said, taking a sip of his drink. "By tomorrow, we'll reach Eklashire."
"Eklashire? Wasn't there an attack there?"
Ryan's eyes narrowed slightly. "How do you know that?"
Leo stiffened. He had completely forgotten that he'd heard about Eklashire during the secret meeting. His mind raced to come up with a reasonable excuse.
"I overheard two people talking about it while I was patrolling the city."
Ryan studied him for a moment before answering. "Yeah, there was a vampire attack. It was stopped by an unknown person." He downed the rest of his drink and set the glass on the counter. "Go get ready. We leave in three hours."
Leo nodded and stood up. He turned and took a few steps before stopping. After a brief pause, he turned back to Ryan and bowed.
Ryan blinked. "What are you doing?"
"Thank you," Leo said sincerely.
Ryan's face twitched in discomfort. "Ugh, that's disgusting. Please, just go."
Leo raised his head, a grin on his face. This time, when he turned away, he didn't stop.
He had already prepared everything, so when he went upstairs, he found himself with nothing to do. After sitting idly for a few minutes, he decided to go into Selvanna's domain.
After hearing Ryan's stories and knowing that he was now here to protect him, Leo felt a little less afraid to go there.
Lying down on the bed, he pulled the blanket over himself, just in case Ryan suddenly checked in on him. That way, he wouldn't suspect anything.
Leo closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was sitting on the stone chair.
"Selvanna, I want to thank you for your help in the cathedral."
"I did not help you," a voice echoed from every direction. "You called upon your domain, and it answered."
'My domain…' Leo thought about that for a moment before shifting the conversation.
"Can I read higher-ranked books here?"
"If they are not extremely dangerous, yes. But if you wish to read something rank A3 and higher, you must first grow stronger."
Nodding, Leo pulled out Creatures of the Night from his magic bag.
'It's like the secret meeting,' he mused. 'I can bring objects here.' Then another thought struck him. 'What happens if I leave something here?'
Curious, he decided to leave the book behind and see what would happen.
Opening to the first page, he was about to begin reading when another question crossed his mind.
"Bishop Oryu said that divinations couldn't find me. Was that because of this power? This domain?"
"Yes," her voice replied.
Leo turned his attention back to the book. On the first page, in bold lettering, the title stood out: 'Creatures of the Night'. Given that Elna was now a vampire, he needed to gather as much information as possible about them.
He began reading, flipping through the first few pages, which mostly covered the fundamentals of vampires—mostly their nature. Time seemed to stretch as he read, his focus sharpening on the details. After what felt like an hour, he instinctively reached for his watch to check the time.
To his surprise, only fifteen minutes had passed.
"That can't be right. Maybe it wasn't a full hour, but still... only fifteen minutes?!"
Testing his sense of time, he continued reading, making his way through the entirety of the first chapter—roughly thirty pages. When he glanced at his watch again, another fifteen minutes had passed. His brow furrowed. Something was off.
His curiosity took over. "Selvanna, is the flow of time different in here?"
There was a brief pause before the voice answered. "Yes. Time flows slightly slower here than in the normal world. For every two minutes that pass here, only one minute and ten seconds go by in reality."
Leo's eyes widened. "This is incredible. That means if I stay here for three hours..." He did a quick mental calculation. "...less than two hours will pass in the real world."
A realization struck him, and he glanced down at his watch. "But why is my watch still working like normal?"
He pondered the question for a moment but ultimately shrugged it off. "Not important right now. The real takeaway is that I can train and study at an accelerated rate. A lot faster."
A grin spread across his face. The possibilities were exhilarating.
With renewed motivation, he flipped to the next section of the book. The bold title at the top of the page read: The History of Vampires.
Deciding to save that part for later, Leo closed the book, taking a moment to scan his surroundings. Satisfied, he stepped out of the domain, his mind already racing with plans.