"Uh, where are... your espers?" Keeran looked behind Ayen again, as though not used to not seeing the two espers behind him these days.

"They met someone." Ayen did not elaborate, and Keeran quickly accepted and stopped prying.

Ayen sat beside her.

"Why are you alone?"

At first, Keeran was surprised by Ayen’s recent change in behavior. She soon adapted and welcomed it with open arms.

"They are helping there. A new dungeon has been discovered."

Keeran also wanted to come, but the others stopped her because her injuries had not healed yet. Everyone here knew of her connection with Ayen and with the SS-class espers, too.

Ayen nodded slightly.

"Do you want to come with me?" Ayen, after thinking about it, decided to bring her over.

Keeran quickly became interested.

"Where?"

Ayen offered her hand; after glancing at it for a second, Keeran grasped it.

"It’s something amazing. I want you to meet someone."

There were a few people Ayen regarded as his own; Keeran was definitely one of them.

Before Keeran could ask again, the scenery suddenly changed. Her eyes widened slightly, glancing at Ayen. Seeing him calm, she forced herself to do so as well.

Her eyes swept around; the new scenery was then completely unfolded before her eyes. Her mouth parted slightly, not expecting this place.

"W-Where is–" she paused, nearly stumbling to her knees, if not for Ayen holding her. As they entered this place, the sofa they were sitting on disappeared.

Ayen was prepared for that and had already stood, but Keeran was not.

Ayen supported her as his eyes stared ahead of them. It did not take too long, and a cute child was running with his dinosaur outfit towards them.

Keeran became tongue-tied as well and could only watch a child no more than four years old excitedly run to their direction.

Ayen’s lips hooked up in a genuine soft smile.

"Welcome to... Aegi’s paradise, Keeran."

Just as Ayen was introducing Keeran to Aegi and his paradise, Khal and Devion were having a meeting with Farrah and Calson, who had not left yet.

Khal decided to take a rest here, but he could not just stay idle.

"Any latest updates on the front lines?"

As Khal was in a good mood, his tone sounded far too casual than usual, something both espers rarely heard. They could not help but glance at Devion sitting beside Khal.

The two wondered where Ayen was.

Devion did not care enough and was only playing on his phone.

Despite that, the two managed to answer Khal’s question.

"The situation on the front lines changed after the Commander General and Clynne arrived. The battle’s tilting in the government’s hands," Farrah started, her voice calm.

Khal nodded slightly. He was not worried about this.

So, the two stopped updating about this and went to the clan situation instead. Even though they were not worried about the S-class situation. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

It would not be a battle where an S-class esper would fall. The city was definitely valuable, but no forces would risk S-class espers for that.

"We have tracked the Nevaris clan’s movements. They are trying to take over a green zone in the west."

The Nevaris clan was more important this time. Khal had this matter of utmost priority.

Devion had stopped looking at his phone and decided to listen.

Farrah now had both espers’ attention; her voice shook a bit. Calson remained silent.

Khal did not respond to that. Instead, he asked another question.

"Did you get everyone who quit or retired from the institute?"

Farrah quickly nodded and took documents from her storage and put them on the table.

"We also took the records of those who died in the past decade."

Khal nodded at that. Devion leaned slightly and read the documents with them. Soon, he stopped and let Khal inspect it. He was not that smart.

He looked at the two espers. They were not his subordinates, but he saw them often. Devion was more than familiar with the two of them, being the one who sorted out their harvest in the forbidden zone.

"Did the Nevaris Clan reach out to retrieve their members?"

There was a practice where direct clan members should not be killed immediately. Clans fought among each other, but they rarely escalated to killing each other.

The reason was that they had the government as an external enemy. Mostly, they just exchanged members, especially direct ones with resources behind the scenes.

The only way to reach out to Khal and Devion was through the institute; they were affiliated with it, as most espers were. Just that they had their exclusive branch inside.

"None. We haven’t received any."

She could not say that this was expected. Aicel was a direct line, yet they did not dare ask for any conditions to get him out.

This was no normal kidnapping incident. Two SS-class espers were like the whole world pressing on them, and no one would ever dare go against them.

Devion’s brows moved. He frowned slightly but did not say a word. He somehow expected it too, but he hated the Nevaris clans’ lack of action.

Not because he was worried, but because he could not use Aicel’s captivity more. If anything, this also proved how useless they were, abandoning a direct descendant just like that.

Devion’s interest dropped, and he fell silent again.

"Julie Mavens..." Khal spoke after skimming the documents; he lifted his gaze and looked at Farrah. "Isn’t she the one who created the guiding simulator?"

He had an impression of her. Khal almost invited her to be part of his team.

"She quit? Why?" Khal was not updated with the institute matters unless they directly concerned the issues he cared about.

Julie was among the underrated researchers, but produced magical results. Why would the Institute let her go?

"Yes," Farrah, as one of their middlemen in the Institute team with Calson, knew of Julie. "From what I’ve heard, she quit three years ago."

Khal put down the document and listened attentively. Farrah continued.

"They said her husband died with a... curse. And, so, she began studying it. Around this time, she quit."