Sydney's professional demeanor quickly returned, though her face paled as she pulled a heavily stamped dossier from the top tray.
"Well, along the past few months, more than six high-ranking mages were killed by demons," Sydney explained, her voice dropping to a tense whisper as she laid out the gruesome data. "They completely ignored the Caria perimeter defenses and went straight for the mages. Very recently, just a few hours ago, another high-ranking mage by the name of Catherine was kidnapped by a demon. The Bureau's scouting division says that the target was heading west toward the outer valley."
The moment that name left Sydney's mouth, the lazy, unbothered posture I was maintaining completely vanished. My single jade-green eye went entirely rigid beneath my hood, and my massive crimson blood wings gave a sudden, violent twitch beneath my dark cloak.
Catherine.
She wasn't just some random high-ranking Bureau mage. She was the gold-ranked healer from my big brother Elias's personal adventurer party. She was one of the few normal, caring people who had consistently watched over the Rynd family, healed my own broken bones after brutal fights, and stood loyally by Elias's side through the thickest trenches. And right now, some demon bastard had her in their clutches, treating her like a countdown timer to halt the Pope's summoning ritual.
"West," I repeated, my voice dropping into a dangerously cold, predatory deadpan that made Sydney instinctively take a half-step back from the counter.
"Eirene?" Friedrich asked, noticing the sudden change in my aura. "Do you know this mage?"
"She's family adjacent," I replied, a sharp-fanged grimace forming under my hood as my vanguard processing speed instantly locked onto the western sector coordinates. "And that demon just made a fatal mistake with their targeting metrics. Captain, consider the contract accepted. I'm going to go collect my blood quota."
Sydney gave a slow, cautious nod as she tapped the dossier against the counter. "Well, you're not the only one who will be working on this. Catherine's friend, Patricia, also insisted on participating in this task. She was practically tearing the deployment office apart to get a green light."
I paused, my single jade-green eye narrowing under the dark shadows of my hood. Patricia.
The name instantly triggered a vivid sensory playback of our brutal, chaotic clash in the moonlit desert dunes months ago. I remembered it with perfect, cold clarity: Elias and his elite party had mistaken my massive crimson blood wings for a rogue demon threat and opened fire. In that desperate, high-stakes tactical chess match, I had deployed chemical payloads, swung my shotgun Means of Communication, and used everything in my arsenal to keep them from killing me without accidentally killing them in return.
I remembered the exact moment Patricia had charged me with full holy paladin fury… and I remembered the precise, brutal force of the kick I had delivered straight to her helmet, knocking her completely unconscious to take her off the battlefield matrix. I hadn't killed her, because despite the agonizing wounds Elias had dealt me that night, I knew big brother saw his party as family.
Before I could comment, the heavy iron-reinforced doors of the bureau hall swung open with a resounding, metallic clank.
Walking down the polished stone corridor was Patricia herself. She was clad in her full, gleaming plated armor, her massive paladin sword resting securely in its heavy scabbard at her hip. Her posture was rigid, radiating a fierce, protective determination, but her face was softened by that same innate, kind paladin disposition I remembered from before the dunes.
She marched straight up to our group, her armored boots echoing against the floor tiles, and gave a respectful nod, completely unaware that the hooded, unbothered vanguard officer standing next to Captain Friedrich was the exact same "winged demon" she had faced in the wasteland.
"Greetings," Patricia said, her voice steady and full of resolve as she looked toward me and the Captain.
Patricia's eyes shifted from Captain Friedrich straight to me. The moment she realized who was standing beneath the heavy dark hood, a massive, brilliant smile broke across her face.
"Well, well, if it isn't Elias's little sister, Eirene!" Patricia exclaimed, her armored gauntlets coming up to clasp her hands together in genuine excitement. "I'm so glad to meet you properly!"
I blinked both my eyes in total, unbothered confusion beneath the shadows of my hood. My mind instantly scrambled to process the data.
Wait. She knows? She knows I was the 'winged demon' they hunted down in the desert dunes last year?
I figured big brother Elias must have finally cracked under the guilt and confessed the whole messy truth to his party after I fled into the sky that night.
Before the awkwardness could settle, Captain Friedrich cleared his throat, completely missing the personal history between us. "Patricia, this is Eirene, a high-ranking bounty hunter and a part-time Luminous Knight. You will be working with her on this tracking operation."
"Oh, I know exactly who she is, Captain," Patricia chuckled, stepping closer and giving me a playful, friendly nudge with her armored shoulder. She flashed me a wide grin. "Yeah, yeah... by the way, Eirene, that brutal kick you delivered to my face the other day completely shattered my front teeth. The impact broke them right through my helmet! So, I had to get them replaced with a golden one. See?"
She pointed a finger at her mouth, proudly showing off a shiny, polished golden tooth gleaming right in the front row of her smile.
I let out a lazy, highly amused chuckle, rubbing the back of my neck as my single jade-green eye softened. Since she was big brother's close friend and clearly didn't harbor any real holy paladin grudge, I completely dropped my rigid officer demeanor for some casual, informal banter.
"Oh, damn. I'm really sorry about that, Patricia," I said, a lazy, sharp-fanged smirk pulling at the corners of my lips. "Honestly, let's just say it was all part of my act. I've always wanted to star in a dramatic, high-budget action scene, you know? I might have gotten a little too immersed in the stunt choreography."
Patricia burst out laughing, waving her hand dismissively. "Oh, don't worry about it! Elias explained everything. Honestly, surviving a direct CQC exchange with the legendary Crimson Phantom and getting a cool gold tooth out of it? It's a great story for the tavern. Just promise me you won't kick my face in this time while we're saving Catherine."
"Deal," I replied, my crimson blood wing giving a subtle, cooperative twitch beneath my cloak. "This time, all the broken teeth belong to the demon."
I turned back to the Captain, crossing my arms over my chest as my signature, unbothered deadpan returned. "Well, back to the topic. The demon went to the west of Caria."
Captain Friedrich nodded solemnly, his hand resting on his sword hilt. "Indeed. Our scouts lost the mana trail right as it crossed into the outer waste borders."
"Which means," I continued, a lazy, calculating smirk playing on my lips beneath the shadows of my hood, "the demon is hiding out in Lulu City. Specifically, the jagged peaks of the surrounding mountains."
Friedrich blinked, completely taken aback. His eyes locked onto me through the dim light of the registry office. "Lulu City? Eirene, the report only pointed west. How could you possibly calculate that specific coordinate grid?"
I simply let out a dry, quiet chuckle and shrugged my shoulders, acting entirely casual about it. To be honest, I knew this purely from my past tactical experiences. Before my pregnancy rotation, I had spent weeks actively hunting down Don Anthony, the high-profile leader of the arms trafficking guild. The core smuggling hubs, hidden safehouses, and black-market transit routes for that entire network were deeply embedded right in the labyrinthine terrain of Lulu City. If a high-tier demon assassin wanted to kidnap a prominent mage and lay low while avoiding the main military grid, those mountains were the only logical destination.
Seeing how confidently I just brushed off a major tactical deduction like it was common knowledge, Friedrich stared at me for a long moment, completely bewildered by my boastful processing speed.
He let out a defeated exhale and shook his head with a faint smile.
"You never cease to amaze me, Rynd. Fine. If you're that certain, then waste no time. Anyways... good luck to the two of you."
"We won't need it, Patricia, let's move. We have a healer to bring home."