Cristian had to admit that he was a little sad about having to leave the ruined castle. The place had grown on him. In the previous life, he had lived there for many years before he had been forced to move on. It had almost been like a second home. Almost.He trailed behind Miranda, who confidently limped into town with Fenrir trying to keep up with her. The wolf had rejected her offer to be carried and struggled through the snow after her.Speaking of snow, it was coming down heavier. If they didn’t find shelter soon, they might freeze to death outside or be unable to enter the place that Miranda was referring to. She hadn’t told him where they were heading, choosing to keep it a surprise.Cristian had tried to deduce the place she was referring to, but he had drawn a blank. There hadn’t been many places they had stopped to rest at in the previous life. They had mostly stuck to the castle and had rarely rested anywhere else, and those places didn’t have a running bathroom like she wa

Upon seeing Cristian and Fenrir’s return, Miranda stood up and asked, “How was your bath?”[Horrible.]Ignoring Fenrir’s complaints, Cristian said, “It was great. Thank you for letting us use your facilities.”“It’s no problem. If we’re going to live together, it doesn’t make sense to bar you from using anything,” Miranda said, waving a hand.Cristian nodded and said, “You mentioned that house has been set up to last a long time in cases of emergencies. What possessed you to think so far ahead, and how long will the house last?”She retook her seat and said, “Considering I’m living on my own, I thought it prudent to have a safe place where I could avoid interacting with people. As for how long, let’s just say a couple years.”He took a seat as he considered her words. The moment Cristian sat down, Fenrir broke free from Cristian and jumped down to the ground. The wolf rushed over to Miranda, who quizzically lifted Fenrir into her arms. Fenrir glared at Cristian, showing its displeasur

Cristian climbed up the ruins of the castle to peer beyond the boundaries of the town walls, looking for any signs of life. This time Miranda and Lupa hadn’t joined him and Fenrir on this trip, choosing to stay back at the house to check it over to make sure things were working properly. She made sure to check daily to ensure nothing escaped her notice, but today she had been particularly worried.Miranda had claimed that she thought something was wrong with the plumbing and was going to spend the whole day inspecting it. Considering how many years it had been, Cristian thought it was prudent and left it to her, which meant going alone.[Why do you insist on patrolling every day? There haven’t been signs of anything for some time.]“It’s because there aren’t any signs that I’m worried,” Cristian said, squinting.Before, they would only do a quick perimeter check every day and a serious check once a week. He and Miranda had discussed at length how often they should patrol and had settl

Neither of them ended up winning the bet. The group ended up staying for a full week much to their surprise. It seemed that this group was determined to stick around no matter what. For what purpose Cristian and Miranda couldn’t decipher. There didn’t appear to be any obvious reason they would stick around.The group simply searched through the entire town. Sometimes they would stop to thoroughly investigate one place while other times they would skip large sections of the town. It seemed completely random, but Cristian couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a method to their madness. There had to be something they were missing. He just couldn’t see it, but if they met with them, perhaps he would discover it.“Are you sure you want to speak with them?” Miranda asked hesitantly as they prepared to leave the house.Cristian gave her a bemused smile and asked, “What’s wrong? Getting cold feet?”“It’s not that. You were against meeting them before,” she pointed out.“Yes, but we’ve bee

Cristian led the unsuspecting group to the house that he and Miranda had agreed upon to use if the situation called for it. Even though he couldn’t see her, he knew that she was making sure to keep them within her vision and ready to act at a moment’s notice if she thought something was off.Once they arrived at the house, he stopped and said, “Can you wait out here? It’ll just be a moment.”“Just be quick. I think another blizzard will hit in a couple hours, and we want to leave as soon as possible,” Oscar said.How did he know that? From what Cristian had observed, none of the beasts had any power related to the weather. The closest would be the bull with its air manipulation, but that was a bit iffy. Maybe they had equipment to monitor the weather so they could be prepared for any possible changes. That made a lot more sense.He stepped into the house and closed the door behind him. Now that he was no longer within their vision, he could grab whatever he needed from the dimensional