Holy Calendar Year 903, Month of Summer Flowers, 13th day.
At the border of the Fresta Empire, in the Northern Territory Icy Plains, at the foot of Three Sages Snow Mountain.
These plains were once part of Ceylon's domain.
But at this moment, on the desolate town ruins, only a few wild beasts roamed, becoming the sole life in the shattered remains.
BOOM—
A thunderous storm suddenly descended upon the icy plains, whirling snowflakes into the sky.
It was a giant Crowned Griffin. Its pitch-black wings obscured the sun, and the majestic authority emanating from it made the nearby wild beasts prostrate themselves on the ground.
Among the beasts qualified to stand their ground in the polar regions, a considerable number belonged to the category of extraordinary creatures, and among these Beast Kings, there were not a few of 5th or 6th Order.
However, in front of that majestic Crowned Griffin, even Beast Kings of Emperor Rank seemed as insignificant as ants.
This was a 7th Order Mythical Rank Crowned Griffin, equivalent to a Legendary Beastmaster among humans, and even rarer.
After all, most Legendary Beastmasters formed Soul Pacts with Pet Beasts that were merely at the pinnacle of Emperor Rank. They could only stand shoulder to shoulder with Mythical Rank Pet Beasts through the amplification of seven Soul Pacts and the enhancement of their power.
The next moment, a graceful figure leaped nimbly off the back of the massive griffin.
Isadella patted the massive Crowned Griffin's head and spoke softly,
"You may hunt nearby. A good portion of the wild beasts here partook in the beast tide that once besieged Ceylon.
"Although that wanted fugitive is already dead, the fall of Ceylon is inseparable from those Beast Kings. Show no mercy."
Upon hearing Isadella's command, this Mythical Rank Pet Beast, which could have been worshipped as a totem in the Lost Realm, nodded obediently like a little cat and, flapping its wings, took flight once again.
As Isadella's contract Pet Beast, this Crowned Griffin had personally experienced the millennia of the Imaginary Zone. It was through this vast expanse of time that it had ascended to Mythical Rank.
Therefore, it knew all too well why its master had come to the ruins of Ceylon...
Everything was to remember that man.
The man for whom its master had defied the major historical currents and the entire world to bring back.
So at times like this, it was best to discreetly make oneself scarce.
The Crowned Griffin flapped its wings and swiftly flew away.
There stood Isadella, upright amidst the ruins of Ceylon, her crimson eyes calmly surveying everything before her.
Her silver hair fluttered in the northern wind, and the military cloak, black and red with gold threads outlining a black eagle, billowed in the breeze. Still, the Empire's Second Princess was unmoved.
"Is this the city that gave you birth and upbringing?" she murmured softly, the wind carrying away her words unheard.
And so she walked, step by gentle step, through the uninhabited ruins. Her path took her from the center of the ruins, where the Count of Austere Winter's residence had been burnt to ashes—leaving only a broken metal frame—to the desolate homes and shops at the town's outskirts.
In the end, Isadella stepped out of Ceylon.
Several miles from the outskirts of Ceylon, deep within a spruce forest, she came to a halt.
There lay a wooden cabin, deep within the forest—modest and unadorned.
Because it lay outside Ceylon's urban area, the cabin was not destroyed by the fire that consumed the city, nor by the subsequent beast tide that ravaged it. Thus, it remained remarkably intact.
"So this was Shiayar's home in Ceylon?" Isadella paused outside the cabin, eyeing the simple abode as she spoke softly.
"Yes, this is the place," replied Southern Inspector Fioran, who had also sent away his mount, the Black Scales Drake, and had silently guarded her side all this time.
"Although it's difficult to verify some information due to Ceylon's early demise," he continued.
"Still, after employing investigations facilitated by Time-type Pet Beasts and Sacred Relics, it was possible to reconstruct a part of Ceylon's past."
"Shiayar Egutt was taken in by an old hunter from the icy plains when he was very young," Fioran explained, gesturing toward the wooden house in front of him.
"And this hunter's cabin became Shiayar's home, where he lived and spent his entire childhood until the downfall of Ceylon."
After answering respectfully, Fioran cast a glance at the princess, confusion tinted his gaze.
Since the Month of Sprouting, the Second Princess he knew seemed to have become someone altogether different.
From the Month of Sprouting to the current Month of Summer Flowers, over the course of three months, whenever Isadella had the slightest free moment, she would seek the traces of that youth's past. Her search led her from the now-empty estate in the Empire's Black Lily District, to the Knowledge City Lokiya where he had stayed for a few years pursuing advanced studies at the Black Tower, and finally to the ruins of Ceylon.
Yet, the young man who had recently become the center of attention on the entire Western Continent for his brilliance at a banquet, had vanished without a trace. He disappeared along with a girl confirmed to be the sole daughter of the Count of Austere Winter.
The last known trace of them was in a hotel in the Arcane Arts City Lokiya.
There, Isadella had a clandestine meeting with the Gray-Silver Witch, the White Tower Master, who had also acted at the banquet, annihilating Count Guderian.