Although Saul didn’t see how Kismet intercepted Ophelia, he believed that guy definitely had a way.

Lost in thought, Saul had already landed on the westernmost coast of the Iskaper Continent.

Originally, to quickly find people from the Glare Family and escape Ophelia’s control, Saul had deliberately chosen the most populated harbor.

However, before Saul could land, a black shadow suddenly appeared on a small mountain near the harbor, then flew toward Saul at extremely high speed.

Getting closer, Saul discovered that the flying black shadow was actually a huge coffin, nearly three meters long, entirely made of black wood—the type that was wide at the top and narrow at the bottom.

Saul immediately stopped.

The coffin opposite also stopped less than thirty meters away from Saul, hovering in mid-air.

Saul squinted his eyes—the other party was also a third-rank wizard.

Although on the Iskaper Continent, at the Stargate Council’s base, there were certainly quite a few third-rank wizards, he hadn’t expected to encounter one near a randomly chosen city.

Because wizard resources were also limited, especially near ordinary people’s cities where high-level magical materials were scarce, most high-rank wizards would concentrate in a few areas.

After the pitch-black coffin stopped, the lid slowly opened, revealing black soil packed full inside.

The soil was mixed with withered leaves and grayish-white stones, looking like randomly excavated earth from some field.

Then a pale arm emerged from inside, followed by naked shoulders, an equally pale torso, and a slender neck where purple-red blood vessels could be clearly seen.

Except… there was no head.

The neck suddenly constricted above, and from a thumb-thick tip, a purple-red root emerged. After growing to a height of 5 centimeters, it suddenly split open, becoming two giant leaves with serrated edges.

Somewhat like a Venus flytrap.

Green on the outside, bright red on the inside.

A voice came from near the other party’s neck area.

“Wizard Saul, you should be in the Borderland. That is your territory and your responsibility.”

The other party should be from the Stargate Council, but Saul hadn’t expected him to speak so domineeringly.

“Since it’s territory, then it’s not a prison,” Saul said with a smile. “May I ask who you are?”

“Aurel. But that’s not important—you should go back.”

Saul looked down at the harbor and waves below. “What if I don’t go back?”

The grass-headed, human-bodied Aurel, lying in the soil, pulled his other arm out of the earth.

The arm contracted from the forearm onward, becoming a purple-red vine, with the tip also bearing a pair of serrated-edged leaves.

“Then I’ll send you back.” The other party’s voice was cold, not sounding like he was joking.

Saul smiled. “Then let’s see if you have that ability.”

Just as the two were about to erupt into conflict, the human-shaped bundle Saul was carrying trembled.

Although Kate couldn’t see outside, his mental power could roughly sense what was happening.

He definitely didn’t want to be caught between two third-rank wizards about to engage in battle.

Having finally escaped from the cat’s body, he hadn’t expected the price to be entering a mermaid’s body—and such an ugly one at that.

“I should have known better than to make a wish to the white porcelain cat so early. The wish was granted, but the way it was fulfilled is too much of a trap!”

Just as Kate worried about his safety and the atmosphere between Saul and Aurel grew increasingly tense, another powerful magical fluctuation erupted from the mountains where Aurel had come from, stirring up air currents and flying over with great momentum.

Saul and Aurel both looked toward the newcomer, neither choosing to act at this moment.

When the person approached, Saul discovered it was actually someone he knew.

Among those Saul knew in the Stargate Council, aside from Gorsa who could barely be considered an insider, there was another—someone who had once been his opponent but later became a companion due to the black tide outbreak in the Borderland: Corey, who specialized in emotion control.

Nearly a year had passed without seeing her, and she was still a senior second-rank wizard. It seemed that advancing to third rank was truly very difficult.

Corey still had an expressionless face, wearing an ornate Rococo-style dress, looking more like a doll than a living person.

Seeing the tense atmosphere between Saul and Aurel, she began emanating a clear, fragrant water vapor different from seawater before even getting close.

This made both Saul’s and Aurel’s taut nerves relax slightly.

Most obviously, Aurel retracted his arm that had transformed into a purple-red vine back into the soil.

Seeing this, Corey’s face showed no expression, but she felt relieved inside.

As a second-rank wizard, her influence on two third-rank wizards was limited. Being able to ease the atmosphere was mostly because both parties didn’t really want to fight.

It was more about arrogant probing and the confidence of direct confrontation.

After reaching the space between Saul and Aurel, Corey first nodded slightly to Saul. “Long time no see, Lord Saul.”

The two had once cooperated well, so Saul also nodded in return. “Hello, Wizard Corey.”

After greeting each other, Corey turned to face Aurel.

“Lord Aurel, since Lord Saul has come to Iskaper, he is a guest of the Stargate Council. Please allow me to receive him.”

“A guest? The Stargate Council didn’t invite him either, did it?” Plant-headed Aurel chuckled lightly.

Facing the pressure from third-rank Aurel, Corey stood firm. “If not a guest of the Stargate Council, then he’s a guest of the Glare Family.”

Upon mentioning the word “Glare,” Aurel finally relented.

“Since he’s a guest of your Glare Family, you should naturally receive him.”

After speaking, Aurel prepared to lie back in his coffin.

However, halfway through lying down, he suddenly stopped, extended his still-human arm, picked up something from the coffin’s edge, and threw it down before continuing to lie down.

The heavy lid automatically closed with a dull “bang.”

Then like a cannonball, it shot back into the deep mountains.

Only then did Corey turn back, smiling at Saul.

Her smile only moved the muscles around her lips—her eyes showed no change whatsoever.

Saul found it somewhat uncomfortable to watch and pinched his nose bridge. “If you can’t smile naturally, don’t force it.”

“No,” Corey’s voice had no inflection, her smile still fixed on her face. “The clan leader said I need to practice interpersonal skills more and can’t always be like an emotionless doll.”

But your smile has no emotion either!

Saul mentally complained and changed the subject. “Was Wizard Aurel at odds with the Glare Family?”

Corey glanced at Saul strangely. “He’s at odds with you. His student Luke died in the Borderland.”

Luke was indeed the final person who had competed with Saul and Corey for the third-rank wizard position.

“His death had nothing to do with me.”

“But you were the final winner,” Corey said bluntly. “A third-rank wizard is quite an important asset.”

“Are you considering yourself an asset by saying that?” Saul asked with a smile.

Corey didn’t answer. “Since you’re here, would you like to visit Clan Leader Norton?”

Saul stroked his chin, wondering if Corey’s appearance here to interrupt the conflict between him and Aurel was also related to the fate power that the Water God Floco had fed back to him.

“Were you specifically waiting for me here?”

Corey looked back in surprise. She pressed her lips together. “The clan leader said that if I encountered guests, I could bring them back to meet him.”

By now the two had approached the harbor, and people on the shore could see them just by looking up.

But Saul stopped. “I’m afraid I can’t meet him today.”

Corey had to stop as well. She followed Saul’s gaze.

A two-horse carriage had somehow stopped by the shore. The moment her gaze touched it, the two horses pulling the carriage suddenly spread a pair of huge black wings.

The two horses suddenly took off with the low-key carriage behind them, frightening the ordinary people around into scattering.

Watching the dark carriage rapidly approaching, Corey’s pupils suddenly widened.

“Flying horses of the Evernight Empire,” she suddenly realized something and immediately looked at Saul beside her, murmuring, “The highest-class vehicle the Tribunal uses to receive guests.”

Saul smiled bitterly. “I suppose they’re afraid I’ll be late.”

The Glare Family welcomes a guest, the Tribunal intercepts.

(End of Chapter)

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