The sound of footsteps broke over the half-packed snow.

There were four of them—tired, wounded, clearly drained from a battle that had taken place just minutes ago.

The first one stepped forward. A boy of medium-to-tall height, short black hair, and sharp gray eyes like the edge of a blade.

Daniel found his face strangely familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

But where? No matter how hard he thought about it, nothing came to mind.

"My name is Aron Rigare. Leader of this group... and second son of the Grandmaster of the Saironblade Guild."

Without a moment's hesitation, he introduced himself.

Daniel stayed silent for a moment.

Lunaryl also gave Daniel a quick glance, as if she too realized they weren't dealing with someone ordinary.

Lunaryl was familiar with guilds—something created by humans, something like empires or kingdoms.

Though she had never heard of a guild called Saironblade before.

But unlike her, Daniel was familiar with that name.

Saironblade.

One of the country's top ten guilds.

A guild whose blood was soaked with swords, and whose name was synonymous with battle.

Unlike other guilds chasing political power, wealth, or fame, Saironblade was a sanctuary for those who lived to fight.

They said its members were born on battlefields instead of offices, and died there too.

Most of its members were swordsmen, which kept the guild's official ranking low.

But if judged by pure offensive strength, they were easily among the strongest.

And their Grandmaster, Kaelos, was the country's greatest swordsman—one of the strongest in the world.

Daniel gave a faint smile and nodded slightly.

If Naya really was who he thought she was...

Then had he already encountered two heirs of the top guilds in the country?

Aron threw a glance at Lunaryl.

"And you?"

"I'm Daniel.

I don't have any background worth mentioning," Daniel replied calmly.

Lunaryl also stepped forward, placed a hand on her chest, and prepared to introduce herself:

"I'm Lunaryl—"

Aron's gray eyes locked onto hers.

That pure blue color.

Blue?

So deep and bright that even among elves, it was rare and special.

Aron's breath caught for a moment.

Under his breath, he muttered:

"...a royal elf?"

His face stiffened for a second. And then... a spark lit up in his eyes.

Not awe. Not respect.

Just a simple fact: value.

But he smiled warmly.

He hadn't expected to meet a royal elf here of all places.

"It's an honor to meet you. Let me introduce the rest of my team."

He stepped forward with a welcoming hand.

He pointed to the three behind him.

"This is Karnae. She specializes in support and protective magic."

A short girl with silver hair and purple eyes nodded.

"That one's Neve. A swordsman."

A skinny boy with dark skin and leather gloves, looking serious and focused.

"And that's Lana." A tall girl with brown hair and brown eyes, silently watching their surroundings.

"Thank you so much for helping us," he added with a slight bow.

"Don't mention it. We didn't really do much—it was pure chance we ran into you here," Daniel replied with a small smile.

"Still, you saved us from those monsters."

Daniel said nothing, just giving a polite nod.

"Anyway, were you heading somewhere?" Aron asked suddenly.

"No, we just ran because of the roar," Daniel answered.

"I think you should stick with us for now.

This part of the forest isn't safe anymore, and... to be honest, we can't afford to lose two people like you," Aron said with a casual smile.

Daniel paused for a moment.

He looked at Aron, then at his own companion.

Traveling with the son of Grandmaster Kaelos... was not an opportunity to be taken lightly.

"What do you think?" he asked Lunaryl.

"I don't mind," she said.

"Alright. We'll stick together as long as our paths match," Daniel agreed.

Aron smiled.

And Daniel couldn't tell if that smile meant welcome...

Or if it was the smile of a trap opening its jaws.

Three of Aron's team had surface wounds.

It was decided that they would set up camp for a few hours to let the healing spells do their job.

Daniel and Lunaryl didn't object.

For the first time since the start of the "Last Winter," they could finally sit down.

Rest a little.

Think a little.

It turned out that Karnae also specialized in healing magic.

She sat down next to Neve and Lana, chanting softly.

Golden glowing lines flowed from her palms, falling onto their wounds like feathers.

Cries of pain turned into soft sighs of relief.

Daniel leaned against a rock, eyes half-closed but mind fully alert.

His gaze sometimes drifted over the others, but most of the time stayed locked on Aron.

Aron sat across from Lunaryl.

His gaze… was strange, though he tried to hide it.

Lunaryl didn't say anything, but her fingers were tapping silently on her knees. She wasn't at ease.

This human just kept stealing glances at her.

She admitted she was beautiful, but did he have to be this obvious about it?

"You really took down that one-eyed winter beast?" Aron looked at Daniel.

A faint smile, but with an odd seriousness in his voice.

The one-eyed winter beast... even as a D-rank awakened, Aron knew it wasn't something you could easily beat.

Yet an E-rank awakened like Daniel had defeated it? And even tamed it? But how?

"You could say... I tamed it," Daniel replied with a slight smile.

But Aron didn't laugh.

He just stared.

"That's dangerous.. I guess so."

A moment of silence.

Then Aron chuckled—or at least pretended to.

"By the way... you four. Did you know each other before? Or meet during the 'Last Winter'?"

Daniel paused, then said:

"No, we knew each other before. Actually, they're some of the most talented young people my father's guild recruited.

We trained together for a while before entering the tower."

Aron said it with a carefree laugh.

"But my sister said it's almost impossible for two people to enter the same world at once," Daniel said, eyes narrowing slightly.

Aron nodded.

"True. But in the Celestial Domain, there's a rare item. A special bracelet. If you have it, you can create a 'party' and enter the tower together, directly appearing on the same floor."

Daniel whistled softly. "That's pretty interesting..."

"I'm gonna go check on my wounded," Aron said, brushing a hand through his hair.

He started walking.

But he didn't head toward the wounded.

He walked over to Neve.

First, he glanced at Daniel and Lunaryl to make sure they weren't paying attention—seeing that the elf seemed to be chatting with Daniel, he turned his head back and leaned closer to Neve.

"That boy's dangerous... But the royal elf… she's worth it," Aron whispered under his breath.

"Aron, you know this could cause huge problems—" Neve whispered back, glaring.

"My father's been searching for one of them for years. I'm not missing this chance," Aron said, smiling.

A smile that carried a coldness underneath.

"You're a real bastard, you know that?"

Aron just laughed