-1523- Where the Pope resides

The First Artificial Floating Island.

This is an artificial floating island established to house a massive energy supply plant.

When the floating cities of the Floating City Alliance fall into an energy crisis, the energy from this place becomes their lifeline, serving as the backup energy facility for the Floating City Alliance's floating cities—making it extremely important.

However, no one knows that the energy supply plant set up here is merely a decoy to deceive enemies.

The true value of the First Artificial Floating Island lies underground.

Within the underground structure designed to house basic facilities, there is a highly confidential underground city.

This underground city is the true purpose of the First Artificial Floating Island.

For this is where the Pope truly resides, using it as a place to hide her tracks.

At this moment, in a high building within this underground city, space suddenly twisted.

"Buzz!"

With a buzzing sound, Rozen and River suddenly appeared here.

River felt his vision blur, and then found himself in the familiar underground city.

"This... this is...!?"

Looking at the underground city before him, River was stunned.

No, more precisely, River was trembling.

"Wh... Why...?"

River was extremely confused.

Rozen, however, remained calm as he gazed at the underground city before him.

"You want to know why we suddenly appeared here? Well, it's because I used Space Manipulation Magic."

Upon hearing this, River became even more confused.

He was not unfamiliar with Space Manipulation Magic. In fact, space transfer had gradually become achievable and was being used for various purposes. However, River had never heard of anyone achieving space transfer solely through personal means.

In the past, space transfer magic was only possible through large-scale magical alchemy projects. The idea that an individual could achieve space transfer was something River had never even heard of.

But that wasn't the point.

What truly made River tremble was not Rozen's ability to perform space transfer on his own.

At this point, no matter how incredible Rozen's feats were, River wouldn't be surprised.

What made River truly tremble was something else entirely.

"How... how do you know about this place?"

Indeed.

What truly terrified River was this question.

This place was an absolute secret—a hidden location for the Pope. Aside from a few special personnel like River, no one else was supposed to know of its existence.

After all, if this location were exposed, the Pope's personal safety would be entirely compromised.

In his pursuit of gaining control over the human race and achieving dominion over all of humanity, Zeth was constantly plotting to take the Pope's head. Otherwise, the Pope would not have hidden here.

Thus, this place absolutely could not be exposed.

Yet, without River explaining the situation, Rozen had directly brought him here.

What did that mean?

It meant Rozen already knew about this place!

How could River not be terrified of this?

River didn't know.

"You think I did nothing after arriving in Vebel?"

Rozen glanced at River and shrugged.

"Since I intended to intervene in the conflict between the Pope's faction and Zeth's faction, I naturally made thorough preparations, including finding the locations of both the Pope and Zeth."

As he said this, Rozen extended his hand.

"Flap... flap..."

The next second, with the sound of wings flapping, crows that had been hiding in the darkness suddenly flew toward him from all directions.

At the same time, rats appeared from the ground, swarming toward them.

These crows and rats, upon reaching Rozen, either perched on his outstretched hand or leapt into his palm.

Then, the crows and rats transformed.

They turned into white talismans, neatly lined up, and obediently landed in Rozen's hand.

These were talismans.

Yes.

Ever since Rozen arrived in Vebel, he had been planning to meet with the Pope.

This idea had grown stronger after his encounter with Zeth, who had only dared to send a clone and not appear before Rozen in person.

So, after meeting with Zeth, Rozen immediately used his talismans to generate countless artificial shikigami, spreading them throughout Vebel to search for the whereabouts of both the Pope and Zeth.

Eventually, Rozen discovered this place.

"Although it's well-hidden, I sent out a vast number of shikigami, some capable of flying and others capable of burrowing underground. So even though it took some time, I still found it."

Rozen explained calmly, completely ignoring River's stunned expression.

"At first, I thought this was Zeth's hiding place. But then I noticed that many humans were living peacefully here. If this were Zeth's location, he would never allow a group of insignificant humans to live here."

Therefore, Rozen concluded that this was not Zeth's hiding place, but rather the Pope's.

Moreover...

"What convinced me even more was that my shikigami found several other hidden bases in Vebel, all of which were blocked by jutsuryoku-filled barriers or were destroyed the moment they infiltrated. By the time I arrived, Zeth was already gone, clearly using these locations as decoys to disrupt my search. I have to admit, he's a clever person."

Rozen explained with complete calm.

"In contrast, while there are barriers and concealment spells here, the scale, method, and style of these spells are different from the ones Zeth set up. Their purpose is concealment rather than defense or protection. Coupled with the fact that humans live here, I'm certain this place wasn't set up by Zeth's faction."

If it wasn't set up by Zeth's faction, then it could only have been established by the Pope's faction.

Thus, Rozen speculated that this was the Pope's secret hideout—the headquarters of the Pope's faction.

"And judging by your reaction, I wasn't wrong, was I?" Rozen smirked as he looked at River. "Or am I mistaken?"

River was rendered completely speechless.

Mistaken?

River wished that were the case.

But it was precisely because Rozen was correct that River was trembling.

Now, River was genuinely relieved.

"Thank goodness you're not our enemy."

Otherwise, with their position exposed, the Pope's faction might have been completely wiped out.

Rozen shrugged and looked ahead.