Just as Saul was considering whether Byron’s capture was related to the red worms, he suddenly noticed several sneaky figures surrounding this hotel.

Saul raised his hand to stop Agu from continuing. “Byron isn’t in life-threatening danger right now, but other people have found you. I’ll hide first. See if it’s the same group that took Byron last time.”

Senior himself was a second-rank wizard with an incredible half-elf in his body—even ordinary third-rank wizards wouldn’t easily capture him. There must be other hidden circumstances.

Rather than rack his brains searching bit by bit, it was better to draw the snake out of its hole and then follow it back. Chapters first released on novᴇlfire.net

Agu nodded, sitting back at the desk and pretending Saul had never come.

He even wrote a few addresses on blank pages as before.

When Agu turned around, Saul’s figure began to fade, finally becoming paper-thin and merging into Agu’s shadow.

Agu stopped writing, somewhat uncomfortably scratching his nose. Previously he was always someone else’s shadow—now his own shadow contained something extra, and it was…

It really felt like moving forward under a heavy burden.

Just then, he also sensed someone approaching. He didn’t pretend not to know—that would be too fake—but immediately became alert, standing up and destroying the book in his hands.

Exactly the same reaction as when he discovered Saul’s movement.

Except Saul had deliberately let him discover it.

After destroying what he’d written, Agu immediately jumped onto the roof, shrinking to mouse size and trying to hide in the beam shadows.

He had just hidden when the room’s door and windows were simultaneously broken open, blocking all escape routes.

Agu could have abandoned his current vessel and directly returned to consciousness form to pass through walls and leave. But his current purpose wasn’t to actually escape, so he just hid and tried to crawl out above the door while these people entered and began searching, showing some impatience.

The escape went quite smoothly—he actually reached outside directly.

Just as Agu hesitated whether to make noise to let the people inside discover him, a hand suddenly grasped his body and slammed him hard onto the corridor floor.

Agu was dazed from hitting the ground. Then a spell to remove magical disguise fell on him, restoring his vessel’s original form as he lay on the ground.

“Hmph, catching a first-rank wizard was still such trouble. Almost let him escape.”

Then pink vines appeared from nothing, rapidly growing and lengthening to completely bind Agu.

Agu, who had originally wanted to struggle theatrically, inadvertently looked back and stared blankly in bewilderment.

“Fiona…” he murmured.

Hearing Agu recognize her, Fiona wasn’t surprised, blowing away the black bangs covering her forehead.

“Since you know who I am, you should also understand why you were caught, right?”

But Agu continued staring at the woman in a daze, unable to speak.

Then a force gently disturbed Agu’s mind, bringing him back to his senses.

He lowered his head, not daring to look at Fiona again. “I don’t know why you’re arresting me.”

Fiona crossed her arms somewhat impatiently. “If you say you don’t know, then you don’t know. That doesn’t prevent us from arresting criminals. Take him back.”

The people who had just broken into the room now rushed out, surrounding Agu and taking him away. As soon as they left, they boarded a closed carriage.

In the dark carriage, four people simultaneously watched Agu, seemingly afraid he might transform and escape midway.

But Agu remained well-behaved with no intention of escaping.

“You know that woman called Fiona?” Saul’s voice sounded in Agu’s consciousness.

“Yes. Actually, I came here with Wizard Byron to look for her.”

“She’s your?”

“She’s… my daughter, I suppose.” The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the novel·fire·net

This answer was somewhat unexpected for Saul. “She shouldn’t be a Faceless One.”

Agu was a Faceless One, a race naturally born without father, mother, or kinship, with no clear reproduction method. Some suspected self-division, others believed it was original body rebirth.

People in the wizard world also weren’t clear about their origins and suspected they might have been brought from other worlds by ancient fifth-rank wizards.

In any case, Faceless Ones were extremely rare in the wizard world. Saul hadn’t seen other Faceless Ones on either Stat or Nephret Continents.

The woman who captured Agu was a capable second-rank wizard, but her body and soul matched well, unlike Faceless Ones.

“Mm, I once disguised myself as her father and lived for ten years. But later I was still hunted. To avoid dragging her down, I faked death and left, fleeing to Stat Continent. But because my injuries were too severe, I still died near Lord Gorsa’s wizard tower. Later he picked me up as a library administrator.”

So that was the relationship? But when Faceless Ones replace others’ existence, they need to devour the original owner’s body, right?

“You killed Fiona’s father?”

“No, no. When I saw Fiona’s father, he was already drowned, bloated from all the water, at that time, I really had no other suitable choice, so I devoured her father’s corpse.”

“Sigh, after consuming such a corpse, I felt terrible for many days. Fortunately, people thought it was the aftereffects of drowning and sent me to Fiona.”

Saul had guessed Agu’s experience. “So to avoid exposing your identity, you spent ten years with Fiona and developed real father-daughter feelings?”

“…Yes.” Agu was somewhat embarrassed.

“Then why didn’t you go find her earlier?” Saul said. “Didn’t I promise you freedom long ago?”

For Agu, Herman, and Ann, Saul’s feelings were different. They had gone through life and death together several times. Even if it was originally due to the diary’s binding, it later became true partnership. If Agu had told Saul earlier he had a daughter, Saul would definitely have let him seek his family.

“I never thought she’d also become a wizard. All these years, I thought she had already passed away.”

“Heh, after this time… forget it, can’t set flags. If you want to acknowledge her, just do it directly. No need to wait—she’s still outside the carriage now.”

With his daughter so close, Agu hesitated.

“I, I… let’s find Wizard Byron first.”

Saul didn’t persuade further. Some things always required the person themselves to figure out.

The carriage raced along, leaving Olga’s capital during their conversation and entering the suburbs.

Fortunately, the carriage came to suburbs on the side closer to the Star Observatory Tower, indirectly helping Saul cover some distance.

Soon after entering the suburbs, the carriage drove directly into a manor. After entering the manor’s stables, the entire stable automatically sealed, and the ground supporting the carriage began descending.

“From Fiona’s tone just now, she sounded like official personnel, but the subsequent actions don’t seem like official conduct—more like some secret organization.”

Saul, hidden in shadows, could observe the outside world without any hindrance.

“But when they acted within Olga, they faced no investigation or obstruction.”

The carriage that entered underground traveled another distance before stopping in a huge underground space.

Fiona, sitting in the driver’s seat, was first to jump down and had others escort Agu down too.

“Alright, you can speak here.” She looked at the still somewhat bewildered Agu. “Can you also see those red disgusting worms?”

(End of Chapter)

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