Chapter 1: Playing Dumb WE TOUCHED DOWN in the Adventurers’ District. It must have been…ten or fifteen minutes since we took off? “Whew.” I exhaled. I’d practiced this a bunch, so I rarely botched a landing when coming down from a magic leap anymore. No broken legs from the impact this time. It might have only been fifteen minutes in the air, but since Zenith’s disappearance, several hours had already passed. I needed to find her, quickly. As impatient as I was to get going, we needed to think this through. When I’d returned to Cliff’s house, Zenith was gone. Apparently, Geese had taken her on a walk. I’d thought she’d surely be back before long, but there was still no sign of her even as night crept up on us. Geese might have been an S-ranked adventurer, but he was no good in a fight, and he was a demon besides. Everyone knew how demonfolk were treated in the Holy Country of Millis. Because he could pass for beastfolk, Geese avoided some of the abuse, but it was possible the city guard had gotten the wrong idea and arrested him for kidnapping a mentally impaired woman. I also didn’t want to think about what the Latria family would do if they heard that Zenith was off with a demon… Claire Latria, that old bat, wanted to force Zenith to get married in her current state. Who knew what that woman was capable of? I needed to get Zenith in my sight and under my protection as soon as possible. “Let’s get going, Aisha.” “W-wait a sec, Big Brother…” Aisha replied. She sank to the ground, her legs shaking so badly that her knees knocked together. She seemed to be too weak to stand.