They both discussed the situation in the capital, the Alliance, Frozen Swarm, the Monolith's emergence, and another Monolith that appeared inside a Monolith.
Arden was shocked when Starling began talking about the Monolith that appeared near the village, and it was doubled when the topic of the parasite Monolith was brought up.
After their discussion, Starling offered Ardan some of her knights to assist his group in dealing with the Frozen Swarm.
Then, when the dawn arrived, Starling and her knights resumed their march to the village.
When they arrived at the village, it was clear that the residents were on edge.
Not only did the Monolith still stand firmly near their village, but two of the knights who had initially entered suddenly returned and asked for horses to deliver a message to their commander.
In addition, they returned with an army of knights along with the commander herself. If not something dangerous was going on in the Monolith, then what else? They didn't want to imagine. They only hoped it was over already.
As charismatic as an individual she was, Starling managed to reassure the villagers and quickly organize her knights for the sweep of the Monolith.
For the next two days, the search team scoured the Monolith's twisted realm. The environment inside was a labyrinth of tunnels and caverns. Fortunately, it was empty after Eliana destroyed the core before the thing happened.
The realm was small. But it being a labyrinth required the search team to explore multiple times in case there was a path they hadn't taken yet. But despite their thorough investigation, they found no sign of the second Monolith that Alphonso and Eliana had reported.
The lack of any evidence of the second Monolith only deepened Starling's concern.
What had happened to it?
Had Niveus encountered something far worse than they had imagined?
Massaging her head, Starling stared at two young knights across her, separated by the table inside the main tent.
"Are you really sure you didn't see it wrong? Was it really a Monolith? Not a shapeshifting monster?"
Feeling as though they were being accused, Eliana stood up from her chair, slamming the desk brazenly toward her superior.
"It's really a Monolith, commander! Are you accusing us right now?!"
Seeing Eliana agitated, Alphonso grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her back.
"What are you doing in front of the commander?!"
Glaring down at Alphonso, Eliana let out a hmph and slapped his hand. Her aristocratic temperament was leaking out, and she didn't realize it.
"Shut up, commoner!" Eliana said bluntly.
"Enough!" Starling said, her voice cutting through the rising tension like a blade.
Her calm, steady tone returned and demanded attention, and both knights turned their focus back to her.
Eliana, her chest heaving with barely contained frustration, bit her lip as she met Starling's gaze.
Alphonso, though still uneasy from Eliana's outburst, took a step back and lowered his head in deference, silently urging his companion to do the same.
"I'm not trying to accuse anyone of anything," Starling continued. "But it still feels unbelievable to hear that a parasite Monolith appeared. That's why I want to be absolutely sure this won't turn out as a false alarm."
Eliana slowly sat back down. Her eyes remained locked on Starling.
"I understand, Commander," Eliana said quietly. "But I swear on my name as a Phoenix's descendant, it was a Monolith. I saw it with my own eyes."
Alphonso nodded in agreement.
"It wasn't a trick or a monster. Because if it was, I would have known already," he began. "It was a Monolith, Commander. But... what happened to it after Niveus entered. I can't explain because we were already on our way to bring the news to you under his order."
Hearing Alphonso's story and his emphasis on the word 'order' caused Starling to sigh heavily.
Starling knew Niveus very well. He wasn't a person who would use his authority as a captain to give someone an order unless it was an emergency, a trait which he got from her tutelage.
Leaning back in her chair, Starling rubbed her temples.
"Very well," she said at last. "We'll continue the search for one more day. If we still don't find anything..."
Starling let out a heavy sigh before continuing, her voice a bit shaken and grim.
"If we don't find anything, we'll abort the search and rescue mission and return to the fortress at once."
Eliana was about to retort, but Alphonso stopped her. She could only bite her lip until it bled as Starling walked out of the tent.
"How could she be like that to her brother? Even if they don't share the blood relation, isn't she too cruel?!"
"You know nothing about the commander," Alphonso responded to her slander toward Starling.
Eliana turned around at Alphonso. Her eyes glared, and her pupils seemed to burn with fierce flame, but she didn't say anything.
"What? Do you think you can burn me with your glare? Hah!"
Alphonso stood up and strode toward the exit, stopping and glancing back at Eliana after he pulled the cloth covering the gap.
"If the commander doesn't care about Niveus, just like you said, she won't even spend this much effort and time to conduct a search and rescue mission."
After speaking his mind, Alphonso disappeared from sight, leaving Eliana, who had a blank stare, alone.
As the day wore on, the search team continued to scour the labyrinth-type realm. Yet, time and again, they found nothing.
It wasn't until the last day before Starling had to give out an abort mission order, as the sun began to dip behind the snow-covered mountains, that they finally discovered something.
In a large chamber deep within the Monolith's labyrinth, where Alphonso and Eliana last saw and witnessed the emergence of the second Monolith, they found a lone figure lying unconscious on the cold stone floor.
"We found someone here!"
The knight's voice echoed through the tunnels.
Hearing the announcement, Starling, who was investigating the area close to the sound source, immediately rushed toward the largest chamber where the second Monolith was supposed to settle.
As she neared the location, she heard the knights murmuring and sounding as if they had been charmed.
"W-who is this beauty?"
"Is there someone like this in our knight order?"
"My God, she looks like an angel sent by Celestia..."
"But why did this pretty lady sleep here?"
Starling frowned when she heard them. But one thing was certain—she finally found it.
As soon as Starling arrived at the location, she rushed forward, cutting through the crowds, her heart pounding in her chest.
Then, when she finally saw the figure lying on the ground, Starling smiled and chuckled. Her body dropped into a kneel as she carried the sleeping figure.
As she turned around, the knights were looking at her with confused looks.
"Uhh... Commander, who is that lady?"
Instead of giving them the answer they wanted, Starling gave them a death stare and used the Return Stone.
Then, when the commander and the sleeping beauty disappeared from their sight, Alphonso spoke.
"Hey, Eliana... the clothes the pretty... person wore... isn't that..."
Eliana glanced at him and nodded.
"Y-yeah... there's no mistaking it..."
"It's the clothes Niveus was wearing!" They both said simultaneously.
The knights around them gasped in shock.
"W-what?!"
"Then that means..."
"That pretty lady is..."
"Niveus?!!"
Oh, man.
It seems... The misunderstanding has begun…