Chapter 329 Ofilis Kidnapped
“No… Ophi doesn’t seem to be here.”
Fran’s slender eyebrows couldn’t help but furrow slightly, and her crimson eyes lifted as she shook her head at Verafia, “Sister, I can’t even sense Ophi’s magic.”
“This… could it be that the little ice dragon is still asleep and hasn’t woken up, and the communication crystal isn’t with her?”
Seeing Ignet’s anxious face, Verafia blinked and guessed.
However, she also knew that such a situation was likely just self-comfort, so she didn’t object to Ignet’s suggestion. She placed two gold coins on the table and then hurried to follow him into the carriage.
The carriage, traveling at its fastest speed, arrived at the castle from one side of the city in less than half an hour. Before the carriage even stopped, Ignet jumped to the ground and, with Verafia, rushed to Ofilis’s room and pushed the door open.
In the ice dragon girl’s room, the bedding looked a bit messy, but the girl’s figure was indeed not there.
“Young master, are you asking about your friend? She left the castle this morning.”
The black-clothed butler in charge of castle affairs shook his head, “Miss Ophi said she was coming to find you. Could something have happened?”
Hearing the butler’s words, Ignet’s face suddenly became anxious.
Fran frowned slightly and said, “Ophi is a dragon. If she were in danger, she would reveal her true form… A Frost Dragon could not possibly hide her traces completely.”
Ignet took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, nodded, and said, “Fran is right. I’ll have Father mobilize a knight squad.”
Marquis Mays knew Ofilis’s identity. Even if Little Fei wasn’t his friend, as the lord of Mies Territory, he couldn’t allow the Black Flame Dragon King’s descendant to encounter an accident in his territory.
“Wait.”
Just as Ignet was about to leave, he saw Verafia’s delicate body blocking his way and stopping him.
Although Ignet was anxious because of Ofilis, he still managed to suppress his emotions in front of Verafia and asked in a deep voice, “Veer, do you have another opinion about Little Fei?”
Hearing the young man’s address, Verafia’s slender eyebrows raised, but she seemed to remember her agreement with this young man and couldn’t lash out. She could only swallow her words and glare with her big eyes:
“Isn’t this simple? If this idiot was deliberately kidnapped, would the kidnappers not know her dragon identity? You know, this little ice dragon must have Gedohoya’s protection, but it wasn’t triggered… It’s obvious they must have been prepared to capture her so easily. In that case, since they dared to act, why would they be afraid of you interfering?”
Verafia paused, hugged her chest with her little hands, and pouted her lips, “In my opinion, even if you put the entire city on high alert, by the time you find her traces, that little ice dragon would probably have been chopped into dragon bones.”
Ignet was choked by the girl’s words, which seemed logical but were actually nonsensical. He thought that even if what the little phoenix said was true, they couldn’t just not look for her, right?
But Ignet was also quite familiar with the character of Miss Phoenix, so he patiently asked, “Then what do you mean, Veer…?”
“Of course, it’s to confirm her whereabouts first.”
Verafia glared at the young man, seemingly dissatisfied with his reaction, “This is for you!”
Ignet lowered his head and saw that the girl was handing him a palm-sized ice dragon scale. A slight coolness could be felt from its crystal-like luster. The young man looked up, “Is this Little Fei’s scale?”
“Yes.”
A few days ago, when Verafia asked Ofilis for dragon blood, she casually got a few of her dragon scales, which could now be put to good use.
Verafia didn’t waste any more words and stuffed the dragon scale into Ignet’s hand, “Do you remember how I taught you to use the ‘Eye of Insight’?”
Ignet recalled the skill the girl had taught him to search for Fire Blast Trees using her talent when he first met Verafia.
At that time, Ignet had also found the injured girl using a strand of Verafia’s hair.
However, he didn’t have time to reminisce now, so he quickly took it and found a quiet room used for astrology. On the dragon scale, he activated the ‘Eye of Insight’ derived from his ‘Appraisal’ talent. With the spiritual power transmitted from Verafia’s little hand, he used the ice crystal dragon scale to investigate the karma traces left by Ofilis that had not been erased.
More than ten minutes later, Ignet emerged from the quiet room with a grim expression.
Verafia followed behind the young man, her delicate face slightly pale due to the recent depletion of spiritual power, but it didn’t affect her spirit much.
“This idiotic ice dragon was taken so far away… and it looks like her condition isn’t good either.”
Verafia’s golden eyes flickered as she watched the black-haired young man giving orders to the Commander Knight, who was waiting at the door, already equipped, and murmured softly.
Because Marquis Mays was not in the castle, Ignet feared that he couldn’t order the castle’s knights, so he had to use the Marquis’s name.
Fortunately, the Marquis seemed to have given orders beforehand, so there was no resistance.
“Sister.”
Fran tugged at Verafia’s little hand and called out. Her small face still showed some self-reproach, and she lifted her crimson eyes again.
“If Ignet’s judgment is correct, Ophi is in a small town tens of kilometers away. Such a long distance… will it take at least an hour for these knights to bypass the city? Won’t that be too late?”
“Of course. In my opinion… the kidnapping of this little ice dragon is likely related to those bad guys who came to this city. If that’s the case, I think it’s better not to delay too long.”
She paused, and Verafia’s golden eyes swept around, gazing at the castle’s hard black stone walls.
Because the Marquis was stationed in the city, and due to the vigilance against the Church of the Dead Word, there weren’t many high-level combat forces in the entire Black Knight Castle, and not a single mage or knight who mastered space or could fly through the air.
Although she didn’t know the opponent’s purpose, Verafia’s intuition told her that if they were allowed to capture Ofilis, something bad would happen.
Thinking of this, the girl simply tossed her little head and called out to the black-haired young man, “Ignet, are you done over there?”
“En. I’ve made it clear to the knight squad, and we’ll set off immediately.”
Ignet came to the girl’s side and replied, “Also, a messenger has been sent to inform Father.”
“When will this take until?”
Verafia pouted her lips, suddenly waved her hand, and the magnificent dress that adorned her delicate body revealed scorching gold markings, which instantly rendered gorgeous and bright colors. A cluster of magnificent golden flames ignited from her body.
“Miss Vera, you are…”
Ignet was startled, afraid that this Miss Phoenix was angry because of his slight negligence just now and would blow up the castle.
“Hmph, of course, I’ll be inconvenienced and take you to find her! Forget it, I’ve ridden that little ice dragon anyway, so consider it repaying a favor.”
A clear, girlish voice came from the blazing golden flames.
Before Ignet or the knights standing at a distance could react, a slender and exquisite figure rose from the ground. The high temperature of the pure gold flames instantly melted the castle walls, and in the blink of an eye, the sky was reflected in the burning, magnificent flames.
The moment the flames appeared, the silver-armored knights, who were Marquis Mays’s personal guards, instinctively drew their swords. However, after clearly seeing the beautiful figure of the fiery bird, they realized what was happening and their faces showed shock.
“This is a phoenix! Wait, it’s that girl…”
Verafia’s identity as a Fire Phoenix had been rumored, but it was mostly among the upper echelons of great nobles and Saint-level domains. Clearly, this quite skilled personal guard of the Marquis didn’t know.
Verafia naturally ignored their voices. With a wave of her golden flames, the Phoenix Fire Wings swooped down towards the ground. Her slender, beautiful, and richly crimson-colored magnificent feathers brushed the ground as she rose, and a clear phoenix cry, like a taut string, swept up Fran and Ignet beside her and landed them on her fiery body.
The immense heat melted the residual bricks and stones. Rolling golden flames rushed into the sky. Ignet hastily gripped a long feather on the divine bird of fire to prevent himself from falling.
“This young lady…”
Ignet couldn’t help but look back at the castle wall, which had been turned into a large hole by the girl’s phoenix fire, and muttered to himself, “Miss, couldn’t you wait until you reached the top of the castle to transform if you wanted to use your true form?”
However, Ignet remembered that the last time he saw the girl display her phoenix true form was during the Night of Blood in Rubiel City.
Completely different from Ofilis, this young lady didn’t seem to like revealing her true form, let alone letting people ride on her wings…
“Hey! I told you not to grab my feathers! It hurts!”
A girlish voice, clearer and more pleasant than usual, like the singing of an oriole, came from Verafia. She unhappily flapped her wings, as if intending to throw Ignet down, scaring the young man into letting go and apologizing repeatedly.
…
The girl with golden hair walked out from the shadows of the castle. Her eyes gazed at the lingering afterglow of the golden flames in the sky, the beautiful colors adorning the clear sky. Her fingers couldn’t help but clench the long robe as she murmured.
“She is… a Fire Phoenix?”
“Naturally. I warned you before. But you don’t need to worry, her existence won’t change anything.”
A slightly sarcastic female voice broke the silence in the air. Beside the girl, a tall woman in black walked out, “Do you know, have you considered that matter you were asked about these days?”
“That’s none of your business.”
The girl’s reply became noticeably colder than her initial voice, with a hint of hidden hatred.
But the other party didn’t seem to mind and smiled slightly, shaking her head, “I sensed a conflict of karma before… their destination is likely that Ice Dragon Miss. I wonder, my dear ‘Witch’ Miss, what will you do?”
The girl called “Witch” couldn’t help but fall silent. She raised her eyes to look at the other party, “That Ice Dragon… won’t change anything. I warn you, don’t interfere.”
