"No. I wish to go back to Taizhou immediately"

Viel answered Sect Master Li Xue.

Seeing the determined look on Viel's eyes, the Sect Master could only sigh, "I see..."

"Then...once you arrive there, may I request for you not to say anything about us yet?", sect master Li Xue said in a low voice, "Except Elder Xing Cai, of course. We are still rebuilding, we do not want the other sects to know of us just yet"

Viel nodded.

"It is already a miracle that the place is still standing after 7 years. We did find some unlucky bandits loitering around when we arrived, though", Sect Master Li Xue chuckled, "When do you plan to leave?"

"Now", Viel said.

"N-now? Then please, allow us to atleast give you food for your travels", Li Xue said as he signaled a follower to come near.

"We will fly, it won't take long to reach Taizhou", Viel replied, "But sure, we will take a sack of food"

"A..a sack?"

"Yes, and a bag of sweets"

Sect Master Li Xue could not help but squint his eyes as he chuckled, "T-then we will prepare it."

"Fly?", it was then that Sofia interjected, "I do not have any more mana, Vi"

"It's alright", Viel smiled, "This time, I will be carrying you."

"What?"

A huge grin appeared on Viel's face.

***

"Whaaaaaaaa!"

Sofia felt her ears almost deafen as the wind entered her ears. She casted a small barrier around her head, but it would seem that wasn't enough due to the meager amount of mana she had left.

But after a few minutes of flying at a high speed, she finally calmed herself down as she found herself adjusting to the flight.

This world was not that different from her hers, she thought as she looked down at the vast field. But the distances between places and cities seem to be farther, as they have been flying for about half an hour now at unbelievable speeds and yet they still have not reached their destination.

They also passed by a flaming gigantic bird along the way, which her world definitely did not have. It immediately flew the opposite direction when it saw them, though. So she did not really take a good look at it.

An hour later, Viel's speed finally started slowing down.

"That's it, Sofie", he shouted, "That's the city where I was born"

Sofia quickly looked down, even at daylight, the city seemed to have different lights emitting from it. The city was huge too, the gates were bigger than what she saw at the Golden Pavilion earlier.

"This is your city!?", Sofia asked, "I thought you said it was smaller than the King's city?", Sofia shouted as the wind covered their ears.

"..."

"I think we're in a different city!"

"What!?"

"But this is where Mr. Voice pointed us to!"

"Shall we go down and check?", shouted Sofia, "I...I need to pee as well!"

"Alright! I'll bring us down!"

And so, Viel slowly landed in a secluded part of the city where there weren't lots of people to see them go down.

As soon as they got down, Viel summoned one of his clothes, the one he wore during Karl's party and immediately proceeded to undress.

"W-what are you doing!?"

Seeing Viel taking off his shirt out of the blue, Sofia almost jumped back in surprise.

"Well, I might meet people I know", Viel said as he continued to change his clothes, "I must look nice when I meet them again, don't you think?"

"...Do you know what excessive is, Vi?", Sofia sighed, "Just go with normal clothes!"

"Eehh", Viel said as he held his red cape, "But I like this one"

"Then just wear the cape! Don't wear all the frills!"

"..Eeh"

***

"Miss! Why are you not unlocking the door!?"

A woman in robes was currently rapidly knocking on a door, dark circles under her eyes.

"Miss? Are you there!?", she repeated.

"Yes!"

The woman in waiting let out a sigh of relief as a voice answered her from the other side of the door. But her relief instantly turned to restlessness as she heard the miss' next words.

"A dungeon has popped up near here!", shouted the miss.

"W-what!?", the woman in waiting let out a stuttered shout, "But the madam has already forbidden you to go to dungeons!"

"But Miss Xing Cai is also going!", the miss inside the room reasoned, "If so, I must go as well!"

"Your wedding is near, Miss!", the woman in waiting once again knocked on the door, "You must not do anything dangerous, it is bad luck!"

"..."

"Miss?"

"..."

"Miss Diao Mei?", the woman in waiting widened her eyes as no one was answering her anymore.

She then quickly unlocked the door with a key, "Forgive me for entering, Miss Diao Mei!", she said as she opened the door.

And there it was, an empty room, without a soul in sight.

"N...no", the woman in waiting twitched her eyes, "She escaped again!"

***

A woman with long brown hair in the middle of a busy street let out a long sigh as she stopped running.

"Wedding this, wedding that", she murmured, "I've only met him twice!", she shouted in frustration as she kicked a pebble on the ground.

Why does she even need to marry? Not like their city needs more allies. She thought as she looked around her.

Due to the influx of dungeons, and also due to the advantage that they had, their city flourished. The disaster that happened 7 years ago felt like it did not even happen.

A lot of people also migrated to Taizhou due to their growing economy, led by dungeon hunting. Even the ordinary people were now capable of matching some low-level cultivators due to the rewards that the dungeons bring.

A lot… a lot has changed.

'A lot has changed since you were gone'

Diao Mei immediately shook her head as she remembered someone a friend from years ago. She has been trying to forget about him, but every time she sees her city, or visits the new academy, his image resurfaces in her mind.

Diao Mei continued to walk around the city, looking for interesting things to buy from the dungeons.

People tend to greet her, as she was the daughter of General Diao, but she didn't mind as she nodded towards the people.

"I have a new item! Identified as a C-rank item from a field dungeon!"

"Did he say C-Rank!?"

"L-let's look!"

As soon as one of the vendors presented an item that he got from a dungeon, almost all of the people that were walking around the market rushed towards him.

Diao Mei also could not help but be curious as to what the item was, as she too, wanted to approach the vendor.

But she stopped, as a particular conversation caught her ear as a civilian passed by her.

"Did you see those two earlier?"

"You mean those people from the west?"

"Well, they could also be drifters"

"D-drifters? Do you think they're illegal drifters?"

"I doubt it, seeing as they are confidently walking around the city"

"I hope that's the case, did you see the shorter one? Her skin looked so smooth"

"The golden haired one?"

"Yeah! The one with the glasses is fine as well, but too mature for my type"

"Isn't the golden haired one a boy?"

"What? Pft... "

"!!!"

"You two wait!"

Diao immediately stopped the two as they were walking away.

"L-lady Diao!"

Seeing who it was that stopped them, the two immediately bowed. But Diao Mei quickly waved her hand as she stuttered.

"D-did you just say you saw someone with golden hair?"

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