The child was not taken by someone.

It was because Lucia would have never missed even the slightest sign, as she was in a distance where she wouldn’t be unaware of anything.

So why did she disappear on her own?

Without time to solve the mystery, her face quickly checked the surroundings, and for the first time in a long time, sweat dripped.

Though she knew the city’s map perfectly as a knight of the capital and would never lose her way, tearing through the mazelike alleys was a task too demanding to accomplish alone.

‘Insane.’

How desperately must the once slowmoving child have run for it to happen in the blink of an eye….

If you’re a parent who has lost sight of your child, even for a moment, you can understand how quick that blink of an eye is.

Even the legendary commander Lucia was no different in that regard.

However, her response could have been different.

Thud. Squeak.

She grabbed the puff on her shoulder and tore it off as easily as ripping paper.

Then, she picked up a sharp stone and, without hesitation, slashed across her exposed arm.

Although the wound was not deep, the blood eventually dripped down to the tip of her shoe due to the wide area.

Then Lucia closed her eyes and began to count.

88, 89, 90….

Exactly 1 minute and 30 seconds after she began counting,

Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump…

The sound of many hooves began to echo from afar.

And soon familiar faces appeared.

Berl, Vernon, Gilliana, Hiss led the charge, leaping off their running horses and kneeling before Lucia.

Among them, Vernon, Gilliana, and Hiss were in an amusing state, having not even taken off their aprons, probably because they were cleaning while the mother and daughter were out.

“Black Knights, we apologize for being late.”

Berl swallowed his bursting breath, maintaining his composure.

It seemed like he had brought a teleportation scroll, but since he did not land on the exact coordinates, he appeared to have run out of breath.

Those who had bowed their heads with him took a composed breath, but their eyes were only fixed on checking the commander’s safety.

Lucia showed them the stone she was holding to their busy eyes.

The sharp stone stained with blood and the wound on her arm.

As if showing that she had injured herself.

Seeing this, the members let out small sighs of relief as if saying, ‘So that’s how it is.’

The reason they could locate Lucia.

It was thanks to the tracking magic applied only to the 5 commanders of the Eldarion Empire.

That magic would change the red gem on the uniform to black if the commander was injured or killed, alerting the members of each unit to the location, a highlevel tracking spell.

Although a bit rough, it was a spell bestowed to be advantageous in various ways in war since the commanders were usually the first to be ambushed.

“We don’t have time. Find a 5yearold child with black hair in this area.”

Not only Berl but all the members who knew about Nia seemed to be in shock at her words.

And they looked around as if to find the child’s figure, but as she had said, the child was not there.

“Commander, did you perhaps lose the child?”

Lucia nodded to Berl’s incredulous question with a despondent feeling.

“……Fire a signal flare if found.”

Especially Vernon and Gilliana, who lived with her, seemed to have much to say, but approaching her, who was emitting an unreachable authority, was not easy.

As the commander’s order fell, the black hounds began to color the narrow alleys as if they were staining the battlefield black in those days.
And as she expected, it didn’t take long for a trace of a signal flare to blossom in the clear sky.

At the end of a narrow alleyway that was quickly reached.

To Lucia’s eyes, the gathered dark mass seemed like many members were watching over one place.

“Leader! The child is safe! But…”

“Captain! But he won’t let go!”

“…”

Upon arrival, seeing their relaxed faces, it seemed that the child really was unharmed.

But she had to see it with her own eyes.

“Move.”

At her terse command, the members quickly scattered, opening a path.

In the middle of that dark road, there was a girl staring as if she would kill, like an angry cat unwilling to let go, wrapping herself around Nia.

In her memory, the girl was one of the pickpockets.

It seemed that the unusual relationship between the two was why Nia recognized this girl and followed her.

Lucia mercilessly pressed the girl’s blood vein to knock her out.

“….Le, leader?! What are you doing to the child right now…?”

“I will check on Nia first.”

Some members and Berl who ran up late tried to stop the leader, but it was already done.

Lucia understood their feelings as well.

Metaphorically, the reason they couldn’t separate Nia was because it felt like taking a kitten away from a mother cat, so the members must have been troubled.