If the sky had darkened this much, the search could not continue any further.

With limited visibility, it would be difficult to find Yulia, and there was also a high chance of encountering monsters active at night.

After much deliberation, Martin ordered his team members.

“Alright. Let’s stop the search for now. Instead, we’ll set out early tomorrow morning to look for Yulia again. Understood?”

“Yes!”

The team members responded energetically and started to finish preparing the camp in an orderly manner.

Having traversed the snowy fields all day and searched for Yulia on top of that, their physical strength was already heavily depleted.

To move properly the next day, they needed to hurry and get some rest.

So while everyone was focused on preparing the camp, Martin alone moved his steps.

“Captain? Where are you going?”

To Oscar’s question, Martin replied without looking back.

“You all rest. I’m going to look around a bit more.”

“What? But it’s dangerous at night—”

“The one in real danger is probably the vice-captain. If she’s really stranded, she might be unable to fight right now. So I’m going to keep looking.”

Before Oscar and the other members could stop him further, Martin quickly left his spot.

To find the one who might be shivering alone somewhere between the pure white snowfield and the pitch-black sky.

“Ugh…”

I felt a slight pain from the back of my side.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked around.

Having fainted for a moment after being stabbed by Karl, I found myself in a completely unfamiliar place.

It seemed Karl had used his spatial transfer ability to move me unconscious to another location.

Examining my body, fortunately, the stab wound had been treated.

It still hurt a little, but I could bear it.

More importantly, where was this?

The one thing for certain was that it was a very cramped space.

It seemed I had been crumpled into a chest just big enough for a person to fit in.

My arms and legs were tightly bound, and an ability sealing item was even fastened around my neck.

Were they secretly transporting me somewhere?

When I concentrated on listening, I thought I could hear the sound of waves.

“…”

The sound of waves.

An ominous guess flashed through my mind.

Perhaps they were taking me to some uninhabited island—that was my conjecture.

It was entirely possible.

Ernant would likely view me, who doesn’t agree with his intentions, as a nuisance.

He might have ordered Karl to send me to some uninhabited island.

Karl would have followed that order and used his ability to put me on a ship or something heading for an uninhabited island…

Then was what he said about the execution order just a lie after all?

It was somewhat fortunate that I wasn’t killed immediately, but it was still dangerous nonetheless.

If I was really heading to an uninhabited island, I needed to escape right away.

I kicked the side of the chest confining me as hard as I could with my tightly bound legs.

Bang!

It was quite a sturdy wooden chest, but after kicking it about three times, it broke with a cracking sound.

Only then able to see the outside, I frantically looked around.

The place I was currently confined in seemed to be a cramped storage-like area, with only junk scattered around and no people in sight.

As I broke out of the chest, the sound of waves became louder.

It really did seem like I was being diverted to an uninhabited island while on board a ship.

Just then, the storage door creaked open and a man with a bushy beard entered.

“Tsk, you should have stayed put. You just had to break out.”

He must have come after hearing the sound of me breaking the chest.

I immediately asked this person, who seemed to be some kind of guard:

“Where is this? Are we on a ship? Where are you taking me?”

“Hmm…”

The guard seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if considering whether to answer my questions, but eventually spoke.

“We’re on a ship. You’re about to be abandoned on an island soon.”

“What…? Is this… by order of Ernant… I mean, His Majesty the Emperor?”

“What? No, why would lowly sailors like us receive orders from His Majesty the Emperor.”

The man burst into laughter, then continued to answer.

“We’re just following some guy who gave us some money and told us to take you to a certain island.”

“A red-haired man? Was his name Karl?”

“Didn’t hear his name, but he did have red hair. We agreed to get more money if we hand you over safely to some other guys on the island.”

It seemed this man was just an ordinary sailor with no connection to Ernant.

Karl must have offered them money and requested my transfer, which they readily accepted.

Not knowing how dangerous a request they had taken on.

“Release my restraints immediately and turn the ship’s bow towards land. I am Yulia von Schnestelen, from the Schnestelen Margrave family and also a member of the Silver Knights Order.”

“…”

“If my family and the knights order find out I’ve been kidnapped, they will make you pay dearly for it.”

The man who had been listening to me in silence suddenly burst into laughter, spitting as he did so.

After laughing for quite a while, he wiped away the tears that had slightly welled up in his eyes and stared at me again.

“What a load of nonsense.”

“What did you say…?”

“We’ve heard of Lord Schnestelen too. He’s famous after all. I hear he’s an incredibly strong knight? Does it make sense for such an impressive person to be helplessly captured like this? If you’re going to impersonate someone, at least do it properly.”

Momentarily flustered by the unexpected response, I quickly opened my mouth again.

“Wait, the reason I can’t use my ability right now is because of the ability sealing item fastened around my neck—”

“Oh shut up, just stay quiet. We just need to take you to the island and get our money. We have no obligation to listen to your nonsense.”

“…”

It didn’t seem like persuasion would work.

He didn’t believe that I was that Yulia von Schnestelen, and thinking about it, even if he did believe me, he probably wouldn’t let me go.

If they realized they had actually kidnapped a noble, they might even try to kill me to silence me.

Kidnapping a noble was a serious crime.

The moment he let me go, this man would become a serious criminal who would have to live in hiding for the rest of his life.

“Anyway, if you cause any more trouble, I’ll tie you up hanging upside down next time. So stay quiet. Tsk.”

The man left me tied up and went out of the storage room.

He probably thought I couldn’t easily escape since we were currently at sea and I was also tightly bound.

Considering the lax surveillance as somewhat fortunate, I began to carefully formulate an escape plan.

The morning in the snowfield was chilly.

It wasn’t just because of the snow covering everything.

Despite searching all night, Martin had not been able to find Yulia.

His mood was visibly bad, and the other members were silent, wary of him.

In that uncomfortable silence, Karl was lost in thought while drinking the cold stew that was their breakfast.

He was wondering where Yulia might be by now.

Last night, he had pushed his power to the limit and used his spatial transfer ability 4 times.

It was to move from this northern snowfield to Nuremberg, a port city located in the eastern part of the empire.

Ernant had previously ordered Karl:

If he failed to persuade Yulia, he was to confine her on an uninhabited island owned by the imperial family, not far from Nuremberg.

So Karl, following that order, had gone to Nuremberg using 2 spatial transfers, and then returned to the northern snowfield with 2 more spatial transfers.

By using his ability to travel quickly, he had been able to avoid Martin’s suspicion.

However, even so, Karl still couldn’t shake off his worry.

Surely nothing bad happened on the way?

His mind was full of such concerns for Yulia.

Although he had done such a thing to Yulia inevitably for his brother’s sake, he didn’t want Yulia to get hurt.

The time they had spent together was real regardless, and it wouldn’t disappear just because of one or two conflicts.

It was then, as Karl was thinking this.

“Duke Habicht. I have something to report.”

Raymont approached Martin with those words.

When Martin furrowed his brow, signaling him not to come any closer, Raymont stopped in his tracks.

Then he spoke. One sentence that would freeze everyone there.

“One of our members says they’ve found traces of Lord Schnestelen.”

Martin had always been wary of Ernant’s personal guards.

But at that moment, he asked them in a desperate voice.

“What did you just say…? You found traces of Yulia… our vice-captain?”

To Martin’s question, Raymont replied in his usual businesslike tone.

“Yes, would you like to see?”

“…Of course. Guide me.”

As soon as Martin answered thus, Raymont led him somewhere.

Only after walking quite a distance did Raymont’s steps come to a halt.

Stopping in front of a rock that had turned white from accumulated snow, he pointed to its side.

“It’s here.”

“…!”

Where Raymont pointed, there were bloodstains.

The red color staining the white snow was clearly blood to anyone who saw it.

Martin carefully picked up a piece of torn cloth lying on top of it.

“…It’s a piece of Yulia’s clothes.”