"They are really taking their time…"

Sitting down directly at the stairs leading to the open area of Monica's mansion consisting of nothing but columns and light roof, I gazed at the sky while resting my back against the front column of the entire row.

Since I didn't want to bother with all the attention that would be born out of Bonger's meddling, I had to use my hiding ability to have some time for myself. Yet rather than immersing my consciousness into reading through all the data stored in my library tool, I took this rare, free time of mine to ponder about my future.

No matter what, it was given that we would go to the great continent, if not for our own sake, then at least to fulfil my promise to Celeria. Yet even before doing so, I would have to wait for the rest of my group to find their own candidates to being a Jelleria's sister, so that this last bound that held me back to this place would be finally lifted.

Yet as I moved past all of those matters that were currently plaguing my head, I couldn't help but realise that I had absolutely no plan or even the hint of an idea as to what we would be doing in that great continent!

Grow stronger? And for what reason? To attract the attention of the protectors and immortals, who were bound to learn about Eve's bloodline rather sooner than later?

Yet as much as I would love to just live our lives peacefully and quietly, I couldn't underestimate the viciousness of this world and people inhabiting it. As long as I could produce anything of value in order to make a living, someone eager to steal it away from me was bound to appear. As much as I hated this notion unless one was strong enough to fend for himself, he would always be at risk of getting squashed like an ant by others!

Thump.

Before I could even direct my thoughts to any conclusion about what my objective should be on the grand continent, a loud noise of someone landing heavily on the ground resounded in the area.

Raising my eyes and directing them towards where that sound came from, I saw Celleria carrying a girl in her twenties in her arms. "With Eve's step-sister bending her knees to soften the impact of her fall, she looked like the kind of protagonist one would see on a wotpad fantasy romance novel, made by a middle-school girl who dreamt about a prince charming saving a poor peasantress.

"So you have come. Any ideas whether she is the girl we are looking for?"

Removing the cloak of magical energy that hid me away from other's view, I approached the duo, trying to ignore the terror seeping out of the kidnapped disciple's eyes.

"I'm not really sure, but her blood has rather good resonance, so I brought her here."

Shrugging her arms as if the part of the work that she was supposed to do was finished, Celleria brutally dropped the girl on the cold stones of the floor before moving a few paces away.

"Eh…"

Before I could even say anything else, a series of crashes resounded, accented by occasional moans of pain.

Turning my head to the source of those new, baffling sounds, I noticed a young girl, maybe fifteen years of age, rolling on the ground, while the stickman avatar of Bonger stood above her in the air with his hands crossed on his sticky chest.

"She is the subject that I picked. While I think she is way too young to be that sister you are looking for, but who knows? Maybe she can disguise her age? Or maybe someone made her look like this? Anyway, that's it from me."

Not bothered with the pitiful state of the girl that he somehow brought to us, Bonger quickly disappeared in the thin air by simply cutting off the supply of the energy that sustained his projection. While I could still feel his avatar in the proximity, with its physical form no longer cast to this dimension, unless I would really focus on discovering his whereabouts, I would be limited to just knowing whether he was close or not.

"Ah, it seems that we are last. I hope you didn't wait long, guys."

Rather than just crashlanding on the stone floor of this place, Eve was the only one who came in a civilised manner, helping out another girl who seemed to be the oldest of all the candidates that we found.

"Don't worry about it. Anyway, let's not hold you guys for long. First off, don't worry. We mean no harm, even if the way in which we brough you all here, might suggest otherwise."

While I would love to instantly move to the crux of the topic, with how two of the three people we brough were scared out of their minds, calming them down first was the most important part.

"Since you don't know how we found you guys, let me explain. Before I came to this city, I was helped by a certain group of people, and especially a certain girl. Unwilling to pass it off as good-will favour, she made me promise her that I would bring back a sister of hers, that was forcefully ripped apart from their family. While in fact, this is the entire story already, what you need to know is that all of you share some degree of blood resonance with the sample that the girl I just mentioned gave me."

Raising my hand just in time to stop a heck lot of questions that would otherwise pour out of the three victims of kidnapping mouths, I looked at each and every single face of theirs, before moving back to my story.

"As I don't want to prolong this unnecessarily, can one of you tell me, what could be the name of the sister that I mentioned?"