The group chatted for a while beside, occasionally teasing each other, seemingly quite relaxed.
Only two individuals felt less than happy at their side.
No, to be more precise, it should be one person and one beast.
The person referred to is Liel.
This Stone Woman was glaring fiercely at a group of Ice Woman in the village, as if staring at a life-and-death enemy, almost ready to challenge them.
Even the Dragon Race, recognized as the strongest clan, felt pressured by the return of the Ice Woman Clan, not to mention the Stone Woman Clan, which has always been ranked below them.
How could Liel possibly feel happy under such circumstances?
What distressed Liel even more was that her beloved master sneaked out with Shane in the middle of the night, witnessing the return of the Ice Woman Clan in its entirety.
Meanwhile, as a loyal servant, she stood guard outside her master's room all night, oblivious to her master's stealthy departure, foolishly guarding an empty room.
Upon discovering this, Liel was completely dumbfounded.
Hence, she experienced what it meant to be twice as unhappy, her face remained tense from the beginning, almost painted like stone, turning into a true stone statue woman.
Beside Liel was the Lion-Tiger Scale Armor Beast.
Yes, this loyal beast had also come along.
It seemed to be inseparable from Chafne ever since that night, following her everywhere, trampling the dignity of a Legendary Demon underfoot, becoming a pet at her command.
Liel initially wanted to stew it, especially in front of everyone, to make it clear not just any creature could come and go by their master's side (strongly hinting at specific individuals), but Chafne tossed out a remark.
"Forget it, let's keep it for now. When I'm tired, I'll bring it out for a ride."
Faced with such remarks treating it like a pig or dog, the Lion-Tiger Scale Armor Beast… well, it didn't rise up; instead, it was overjoyed.
Thus, this loyal beast appeared here, staying by Liel's side, always ready to serve as a mount.
However…the master appeared to ignore its existence, not riding it further, but rather staying around that not-so-tasty human...
As a result, the Lion-Tiger Scale Armor Beast's mood equally soured.
Under such circumstances, Liel glared at the Ice Woman, the Lion-Tiger Scale Armor Beast glared at Chafne, while Glati and Bretti glared at Shane, creating this silent, bizarre scene.
Lilith casually glanced at this scene, resolutely and slowly displaying a question mark.
"Don't look, you'll get infected."
You Lin saw this and immediately covered Lilith's eyes, quickly leading her away, as if encountering some virus.
Neither Ai Yi nor Chafne noticed, continually bickering by Shane's side, one teasing her younger sister, the other rebutting her elder sister.
Their chirping in Shane's ear was delightful solely because of their beauty and melodious voices; else, Shane might have found them rather bothersome.
Only after a long while did the gathered Ice Woman Clan members seem to finish receiving instructions, dispersing to find accommodation.
Despite being incredibly strong, none showed any objection living in the remote village, remarkably easy to accommodate.
Shane leisurely watched but suddenly felt a distinct gaze upon himself.
However, when Shane intended to follow the gaze, Hette Yada returned.
"Thank you for accompanying us, Lady Xiafunie, Lady Ai Yi."
Hette Yada first apologized to Chafne and Ai Yi.
"Don't mention it." Chafne casually responded, "Big sister already said your clan's current weak condition requires precaution against malicious exploits, so caretaking is advised."
Furthermore, with Shane intending to visit, Chafne naturally tagged along out of leisure.
For her, watching the Ice Woman Clan was merely incidental.
Otherwise, she indeed lacked interest in coming.
Ai Yi was even more straightforward.
"I just tagged along with him."
Ai Yi effortlessly attributed it to Shane.
"Meh." Shane shrugged, saying, "I was just curious, so think of me as wandering aimlessly."
Hearing this, Hette Yada refrained from further pleasantries, nodding.
Then, she began to describe the current situation.
"Currently, the return of the Ice Woman Clan is unpublished. Lord Sera suggested to avoid complications; it's best to announce after everyone recovers."
"For this reason, until recovery, my clan will reside here, with caretakers sent by Lord Sera."
"If nothing goes wrong, Lord Sera will personally visit soon and establish a Barrier to protect the Ice Woman Clan here."
Hette Yada relayed the situation of the Ice Woman Clan.
"Very cautious indeed."
"Certainly cautious."
Shane understood why Sera was organizing so prudently.
"...It's due to your sister's disappearance and the Angel Envoy's vanishing incident, right?"
These are two very unusual things.
"I really didn't expect it, even after using the Ice Luo Qianliu for thorough freezing and transferring the imprisonment to a space ten thousand meters underground, something still went wrong with that apostle. Those Old Demon Clan Faction guys are truly everywhere."
Lady Xiafunie pouted.
"To be able to undo your Ice Luo Qianliu imprisonment, it must at least be someone at your level, or even higher, right?"
Lady Ai looked at Hette Yada.
"...I don't know." Hette Yada was silent for a while, then said, "Generally speaking, even if they are at my level, without special abilities, it's impossible to undo my Ice Luo Qianliu imprisonment."
For people of the Ice Woman Clan, when they are frozen, the space-time around them is completely frozen. To release it, either forces that far surpass the freezing strength are needed, or abilities effective on space or time held by someone not too weak.
From this perspective, someone who can undo the Ice Luo Qianliu imprisonment set by a person of Hette Yada's level, even if they are of the same level, would need special abilities that meet certain conditions to succeed.
"Even so, it's impossible for the opponent to save the imprisoned person unharmed." Hette Yada said blandly, "Therefore, I think the opponent might have destroyed my imprisonment directly to silence, regardless of the subject's life or death."
At this point, Hette Yada paused and apologized to Shane.
"Sorry, Lord Shane, despite having promised to watch over your captive, mistakes still happened."
Hette Yada indeed didn't know how to explain to Shane.
Someone saved her clansmen, yet she failed to watch over the captives he valued; it's simply incompetence.
"I've already asked Lord Sera to send someone to investigate the place of imprisonment, where a large-scale destruction phenomenon occurred. It's very likely that some clues are left, and with Lord Sera's perceptiveness, she might see something."
Hette Yada cast her gaze upon Shane.
"I will give you an explanation for this matter sooner or later."
Hette Yada had made such a determination.
No matter who it is that caused her to fail her benefactor's request, making her lose face in front of her benefactor, she would settle accounts with them.
Shane seemed to see through Hette Yada's plans, waved his hand.
"Since the matter has happened, dwelling on it is useless." Shane had accepted it, said, "Those guys were always everywhere, in several events I've experienced there were traces of them, the grudge was long established, even if we can't extract anything now, we'll settle scores with them sooner or later."
Speaking here, Shane met Hette Yada's gaze.
"But you, how about your missing sister's matter?"
Shane's words prompted Lady Ai and Lady Xiafunie to look at Hette Yada, and Glati, Bretti, Liel, You Lin, and even Lilith turned their gaze to her too.
However, Hette Yada's expression didn't change in the slightest.
"Lord Sera is already investigating this matter." Hette Yada only said, "The disappearance of an Ice Woman Clan member, the matter could be big or small, maybe there's a shadow of the Primordial Demon behind it too, Lord Sera has already taken it seriously."
The implication was that she would treat it as official business.
Even if the person is her sister, it's the same.
Shane said nothing further.
But this event had already made him realize, maybe, the infiltration of the Primordial Demon into the Demon Clan is more thorough than he imagined.
How many things has the opponent done secretly that others don't know about? Latest content published on novel·fire·net
What could this matter mean?
Shane thought wildly, suddenly felt that clear gaze again.
This time, Shane followed the gaze.
As a result, he saw a little girl hiding in the corner, quietly watching him.
Shane almost couldn't remember who she was.
Hette Yada seemed to see her too, spoke directly.
"She is the first little girl you saved from the ice last time."
Hearing Hette Yada's words, both Lady Ai and Lady Xiafunie instinctively looked towards her.
The girl still stood there fearlessly, quietly watching Shane.
Her demeanor seemed to particularly impress Shane.
The crowd looked at each other.
"It seems she likes you quite a lot."
Hette Yada made such an evaluation.
Both Lady Ai and Lady Xiafunie, one cold, the other seemed to be smiling with a nonchalant air, looked at Shane.
"A true foolish master indeed."
You Lin expressed such a sentiment, making Lilith nod repeatedly.
As for Liel, Glati, Bretti, and others, they threw disdainful looks at Shane.