Dan Feng pulled over a chair and sat in front of the fireplace, then used fire magic to ignite the firewood inside.
The flames quickly lit the charcoal within, and the room's temperature slowly began to rise.
Although this level of cold was nothing to Dan Feng's current physique, sleeping in a warm environment would still make for a more restful night.
Before long, the room's temperature had finally risen. Dan Feng added some more charcoal, then slowly walked toward the bed.
The bed was an ordinary single bed with no strange odors—likely because the innkeeper changed the bedding regularly.
In such a peaceful setting, Dan Feng lay down on the bed and quickly fell asleep.
The next morning, Dan Feng slowly awoke.
He got dressed, washed up, and prepared to go find Roxy, who was staying in the next room.
Today, they needed to locate the contact person the principal had mentioned, then follow him to retrieve the magic tool belonging to the principal.
However, the principal had said that the contact might not be at home, as he was always busy running around. If he wasn't there, they should wait a few more days—the principal would reimburse the lodging expenses.
Dan Feng opened his room door, feeling the rather chilly air outside.
"As expected, the temperature is lowest at night and early morning—even indoors it's colder than yesterday during the journey," Dan Feng murmured. Then he headed straight to Roxy's door next door.
Knock knock knock.
Dan Feng knocked on Roxy's door. From inside came a few slightly hurried footsteps, and the door slowly opened bit by bit.
A small head poked out, looking outside with a wary expression.
At this moment, Roxy's hair was no longer in her usual twin braids but loose and disheveled—though that signature sky-blue ahoge still stood upright on her head as always.
Upon realizing it was Dan Feng, Roxy lowered her guard and fully opened the door.
"You're here so early, Dan Feng? I just finished washing up," Roxy said softly, gesturing for Dan Feng to come in first.
"I just wanted to wake you up. Since you're already awake, I'll go downstairs and see if there's anything to eat that I can buy," Dan Feng shook his head and said to Roxy, then headed down the stairs.
Seeing this, Roxy didn't say anything. She decided to tidy herself up first—for example, tie her hair.
Dan Feng went downstairs and noticed that the old man from yesterday wasn't on the first floor. Right now, the first floor only had the young man who had been cleaning yesterday.
This young man always wore the same expression, as if someone owed him money—he looked very impolite.
However, Dan Feng didn't say anything to the youth and simply walked straight outside.
Dan Feng strolled around outside. The food being sold nearby was only soup and white bread.
After thinking for a while, Dan Feng decided to buy a bit of both—after all, it wasn't expensive.
The soup was made from beans and potatoes; drinking it in this chilly environment would warm the stomach, while the white bread would fill him up.
...
"Dan Feng, you bought so much?" Roxy sat at the table, watching as Dan Feng placed breakfast on it.
Two bowls of steaming soup and a bag of white bread.
"Eat quickly. We have to return this bowl to the breakfast vendor later," Dan Feng said to Roxy, then sat down as well.
"Oh, okay, got it." Roxy nodded, picked up the bowl, and began drinking the soup.
Soon after, the two finished breakfast. Then they prepared to head to the address the principal had given them to find the contact.
Dan Feng and Roxy arrived together in the residential area and began searching.
For some reason, there wasn't a single person to be seen in this residential district. This was, after all, the second city of a duchy—could it be that everyone was staying indoors because it was too cold?
However, Dan Feng and Roxy didn't notice anything unusual, so they could only assume everyone was staying in due to the cold.
Since the principal had given a specific address, finding it was very quick.
"Found it." Dan Feng looked at the number on the building—it was exactly the one the principal had told them.
So Dan Feng prepared to knock on the door.
Just as his hand was about to fall, he heard an unusual sound from inside.
Though faint, the sound clearly reached both of their ears.
"We've already found the batch of magic tools you're supposed to hand over. Speak! Where are your accomplices?" A rough, menacing voice came from inside the house, laced with obvious threat.
Immediately after, another male voice rang out: "I'll never tell you anything! Aaaahhh!" The scream was hair-raising, as if one could feel the immense pain the speaker was enduring.
Dan Feng frowned, turned to Roxy, and asked in confusion: "Did you hear that? Something's off with those voices."
Roxy nodded gravely and analyzed softly: "From those snippets, it seems the people inside are being threatened in some way."
Dan Feng shrugged, then glanced around the area and said calmly: "Isn't it possible that all the residents in this area have been kidnapped? That's why it's so quiet here."
Hearing this, Roxy quickly scanned the surroundings and indeed noticed something abnormal.
There were mercenaries in heavy armor quietly encircling them from both sides.
Their eyes glinted with ruthlessness, clearly displeased by the two's intrusion.
Just as Dan Feng had said, the residents of this area had all been tied up by these mercenaries, which was why no one was visible in the residential district.
"In any case, I've already sensed their malice. At this point, I no longer care to distinguish right from wrong." A cold glint flashed in Dan Feng's eyes. Instantly, dragon horns and a dragon tail appeared on his body, and the Heavy Abyss Pearl materialized in his hand.
"This is Basheran Duchy territory. Aren't you afraid the Ranoa Kingdom will hold you accountable for this?" Roxy said to the group, while secretly gathering mana for Ice Lance Blizzard.
"Heh, if we mercenaries feared death, we wouldn't take this job. You'd better surrender obediently to avoid unnecessary pain. Little miss, you're so fair and pretty—you wouldn't want extra scars, right?" The lead heavy-armored mercenary said viciously.
"Ice Lance Blizzard!"
The moment the words left his mouth, Roxy unhesitatingly raised her staff high, pointing it at the heavy-armored mercenaries on one side.
Her action was decisive—she had been mentally preparing this move since earlier.
A powerful surge of mana erupted from the staff, rapidly condensing into countless sharp ice spears in the air.
These ice spears fell like a dense rain, hurtling toward the group of heavy-armored mercenaries at astonishing speed.
Though the mercenaries wore thick armor, the ice spears easily pierced through their defenses, accurately striking their bodies.
The impact sent the mercenaries dying or wounded. The one at the very back was directly knocked flying, crashing heavily to the ground.
The unharmed mercenaries were shocked at the sight.
However, they did not retreat. Instead, they quickly regrouped, shouting in unison as they charged straight at Dan Feng and Roxy.
These mercenaries had all crawled out of piles of corpses in the Conflict Zone—they truly held death in contempt.
Two words: loyalty and righteousness.
Facing this ferocious group of mercenaries, the corners of Dan Feng's mouth curled slightly into a disdainful smile.
He let out a cold snort. Then, with a light wave of his hand, the Heavy Abyss Pearl that had been hovering quietly beside him suddenly burst with dazzling golden light.
At the same time, countless streams of water appeared out of thin air, rapidly converging.
These were no ordinary waters—they were formed by Dan Feng's immense mana.
Under his control, they moved with lifelike agility, ultimately gathering into a massive azure-green dragon.
A deafening dragon roar echoed as the dragon emanated an intimidating aura.
Its body was enormous, every scale formed of water shimmering with emerald light.
Under the terrified gazes of the mercenaries, the dragon shot forward like lightning, charging at incredible speed.
In the blink of an eye, it reached them. Its massive form slammed heavily into the mercenaries.
In an instant, the sound of water crashing against flesh rang out. The mercenaries' bodies shattered under the impact, blood and flesh flying everywhere.