"Boy, do you find something?" Del asked Wolfie.

"Nope, I find nothing master," Wolfie replied.

"Weird…"

After yesterday's finding, Cassandra and Del brought Wolfie along to continue their search for the missing adventurer. Wolfie led them to a place colder than their camping site. However, Wolfie also didn't know where the adventurers ended up after they arrived at the location.

To make matters worse, all that Del could see was snow that was as thick as his feet. Every time he stepped into the snow, his feet sunk into the snow. Trees were also surrounding that entire unnamed area. Maybe the temperature there was in the realm of minus.

The location they were in was between the valley and the top of the mountain where the ice dragon lived. Del was quite struggling to reach the position, which was quite confusing considering that one of them was indeed wounded.

"You know, it took us an hour to hike to this height, how can they pull this off?" Del asked himself.

"Well, if you ask me, maybe this place had something," Cassandra said.

"Something like what? A hiding place? I'm thinking that they are going to ambush us right here. This is just too absurd. If they really wanted to treat the injured adventurers, why would they go higher instead of returning to the forest," Del said.

"Yeah, I also have the same feeling, but we have gone too far to abort this rescue quest. Even though we are probably going to walk over an ambush, I think we should keep searching for them," Cassandra commented.

"Damn, you health workers are really persistent in rescuing people. It can cost you your own lives, you know?" Del shouted.

Cassandra didn't like the statement, "Why do you have to shout like that? You know, the satisfaction of finding a survivor is immeasurable. I'm not even talking about the payment that is waiting for us later."

Del sighed, "I guess I can't understand neither you nor my mother."

"What happened to your mother, if you don't mind me asking?" Cassandra asked.

"She died in a car crash when the ambulance that she was in was speeding on the highway. The road was dangerous that day, my father didn't want my mother to go, and yet, she went there just to save a life that she eventually couldn't save," Del said.

"Oh, my condolence although I don't know what you're talking about," Cassandra said.

"That's ok, it happened a long time ago. It's just that, I don't understand why," Del said.

Cassandra rubbed his head, "I think you'll find the answer out if you become a doctor."

"How am I supposed to become a doctor in this world in which medicine hasn't advanced too much? I'm not even eligible to enroll in any educational system in this world. You have quite a good idea, but I don't think I am eligible to become a doctor," Del said.

"You know, Del, if you want to become a doctor, I think you can come to Ilbistirum and perhaps try our examination for university. I don't think you will do a major blunder, you just have to learn more and more," Cassandra said.

Del smiled, but it was a sarcastic one, "Good idea, but you have to remember that I'm not even eligible."

"I can make you eligible."

"How?"

"Just come to Ilbistirum, I can find a way for you to enroll, alright?" Cassandra said.

Thinking about it, Cassandra might find two solutions for Del's current problem. If he went to Ilbistirum, it meant that he didn't have to worry about being hunted down by the kings and his army. He also had the chance to fulfill his wish to become a doctor as long as he studied hard enough.

Still, if there was one problem, his sister wasn't even with him. She might really think that Del had died. It was not something that Del wanted. He wanted to live together with her as a family until the time came for them to choose their own way.

"Thanks for the offer, but right now, I don't think I can take it. I have another thing that I have to take care of before I can get out of this continent," Del explained.

"Personal issue?"

"Family."

"I see," Cassandra nodded.

After the long conversation, they continued searching for clues about where the missing adventurers were. There might be some other things that both Cassandra and Del overlooked. There were many trees, so it might be possible that the trees had the traces of human activity.

"Master, is there something troubling you?" Wolfie asked.

"Yeah, I need to find these guys before they are dying from hypothermia, or worse," Del commented.

"Hypo — What?" Wolfie said.

"Whatever…" Del sighed. Wolfie was just a wolf, after all.

Looking at the trees, there was something strange. It was hard to notice it at first glance, but some trees had "X" markings. It could be easily mistaken as something natural since the "X" was not that clear and there was more than one tree that had some of its bark broken, but not in a pattern.

"Cassandra, look at the trees!" Del said.

"What?" She then nodded, "Ah, there are some Xs. Good observation, Del," Cassandra said.

Del and Cassandra walked to a tree, and they inspected the X together. The missing adventurers must have made the markings while running away for something. Comparing one X to another revealed that the X's were inconsistent. Some trees had a clear one, but some trees had Y instead of X.

"Strange… I'm not sure about this clue," Del said as he held his chin. Although it was a good sign, it was too scattered and didn't point them in one particular direction. As a result, it still didn't tell them the direction.

"Why?"

"The clue is too scattered and isn't pointing in one particular direction that we can follow. Still, there are multiple Y in this forest," Del said.

"Hmm, if that's the case, let's put our tracking skill to the test again, shall we?" Cassandra asked.

"Sure. That seems to be plausible. Let's keep an eye on the Y, shall we?"

Different from the X's, the Y seemed to point them in one direction and that direction was pointing to the south direction, which meant they had to go downhill after going uphill like that. Still, it raised another question, why would they even bother making that kind of confusing clues if they really wanted to be rescued?

"I think these guys are hunted down by bounty hunters or bandits," Del commented, "All the clues so far suggest that they want to be found, but also not to be found. I think we might face quite a threat here," Del said.

"Bounty hunters?"

"I think so."

"How many of them are we going to face?"

"I don't know," Del said.

"Well, I think I can handle some bounty hunters," Cassandra said.

"Can you?" Del doubted that.

"I'm not really a person to be messed with. Don't worry, I think I can handle ten or twenty bounty hunters as long as they're not from the B-rank," Cassandra said.

"Good, because I'm only an F-rank," Del said.

"An F-rank that can handle a lot of bounty hunters at once, good luck convincing me you're not hiding your true powers," Cassandra said.

"Is there any reason for me to hide my actual power?" Del asked.

"No."

"Anyway, let's follow this Y symbol," Del started walking.

"Yeah."

With caution, they went through the dense snowy forest on top of the mountain. Del held his M240 in his hands instead of putting it on his back. He feared he would be ambushed by the bounty hunters. Del walked slowly while keeping an eye on any suspicious thing.

In this kind of situation, he felt that every single leaf on top of the trees had an eye that was looking at him. That kind of paranoia just happened when the threat of being ambushed to death could happen to him at any moment.

They kept walking downhill until they arrived at an open spot that looked like a campsite. That campsite was occupied, but Del did not know if that camp was hostile. Some people were walking in that campsite. All of them were dressed like adventurers.

Del stopped before he reached that camp, "Cassandra, I think I will wait here. I can't kill them unless they prove themselves to be a threat. Could you ask them if they are the missing adventurers?"

Cassandra sighed, "You know, let yourself relax a bit." She walked in the adventurer's direction camp.

Del laid down on the ground and aimed his M240 at the direction of the adventurer camp. Del hid among the snow alongside Wolfie. Hopefully, the adventurers were not hostile.

However, the moment Cassandra approached the camp, an adventurer threw a spear in her direction followed by a barrage of fireballs that got neutralized by Cassandra's own material barrier.

Del pushed the safety button of his M240, "Ah shit, here we go again."