“Nothing is faster than light” hell yeah! Maybe no.

While frowning, Elena replied: "The child is alright. But…"

"But?"

Elena told the raven about the crib.

After hearing her words, the raven asked: "Are you sure you put him in the crib before you left? Maybe you just forgot."

"No. I am certain about it. I put him in the crib before I left."

"Is that so? That is indeed strange. But I'm also certain I didn't notice any presence around here", the raven said in response. Its voice was that of a child but with the pitch of a granny.

"I see. Uhm, please, grandma. Can you scout in the farther area?"

The raven looked straight into her eyes before she sighed and said: "Hou~ Okay, I guess I don't have a choice."

After hearing that, the grandma raven spread its pair of dark wings and was about to take off but halted when Elena added saying: "Be sure to tell me if you find something, okay? No matter how insignificant it is."

The raven closed her eyes and said after opening them back: "Sheesh~ Be sure to prepare some good snacks when I come back."

"Alright, no problem."

After saying that, the raven then flew away. In just a blink of an eye, her figure was already a tiny dot in the vast blue sky.

When the raven's silhouette disappeared from Elena's sight, she then returned inside the house.

Elena stared at the peaceful sleeping face of Baby Sed. After confirming that there were no injuries or wounds on him, Elena gently rubbed his little palm. She noticed something strange as she did that. His hand seems firm. But Elena did not give much thought about it.

"Don't worry, Baby Sed. I promise I'll protect you."

After saying that, she took out something. She also took a thread and made it into a makeshift necklace then put it on Sed.

She smiled in satisfaction: "It looks good on you. Although it doesn't have a value, that thing was the most important thing I have in my possession."

Her voice had a tinge of sadness and longing as she said those words. Nonetheless, despite what happened, Elena was thankful that nothing bad happened to the baby.

Although she was confused as to where the crib had gone, knowing that Sed was safe and sound was enough to make her feel better at least.

While she was preparing food, Elena noticed the floor shaking. She also heard the noise from outside.

Twee--tweetweet--eeeet!!

Elena stopped and spaced out: 'Wait. Those noises are from little birds panicking to escape', she said in her mind.

Then suddenly: BAM!

There was an explosion. As she suspected, there was really something going on.

Suddenly, her eyes turned sharp once again: "Just as I feared", Elena mumbled.

Did they discover us already? But how? Perhaps I didn't realize I was being followed; While thinking that, she quickly ran inside her room and changed her outfit for battle.

When she came out, she already wearing a white dress with gold plates to protect some parts of her body. On her head, she wore a wing headdress.

Her figure was curvy and exuded an allure of a beautiful lady.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that she embodied beauty and strength in her current attire. Just that, the sword in her hand was only of poor quality.

Taking with her a sword about 1 meter long, she rushed outside. She looked around and tried to perceive where the commotion was coming from. She quickly realized that it came from the direction where the grandma raven flew, over an hour ago.

Before leaving, Elena took four luminous crystals from her pouch. Then she deliberately threw them on the four corners of the house.

Those crystals were no ordinary crystals. They were not the type of item that could be found everywhere. They were rare crystals and each cost lots of money.

After placing them in the right place, the crystals glowed and a dome-like green energy barrier was formed, covering the whole house.

Feeling satisfied, Elena looked into the sky, in the direction where the explosion happened.

The next second, she summoned prana on her boots. After a brief glow, each of her boots grew a wing. Then slowly, those wings flapped like real wings.

Her body ascended into the air. After fixing her stance and direction, she flew faster like birds in the sky.

She looked around as she was flying over the forest.

Arriving in the area where the explosion happened, Elena widened her eyes at what she saw.

The grandma raven was lying on the ground. And around her, there were four people surrounding her. Each of them looked familiar to Elena. Two males and two females. But Elena's attention wasn't on them, she noticed blood on the grandma raven.

"Grandma!"

Elena's scream reverberated in the forest and took everyone's attention.

"See? She showed up. I told ya", a man with red hair said proudly.

Although he looked petite, his body wasn't frail. He looked somewhat enthusiastic and healthy. He was a spirited type of person. He wore a light garb the same color as Elena. All of them do though. Perhaps it was their uniform for some sort of role.

"Elena! Long time no see!" This time, a handsome young man with jet-black hair greeted Elena with a smile.

"Ford, you….." Saying that, Elena rushed to land. "What have you done to grandma?" Elena asked while glaring at him.

"You call this thing your grandma?" With question marks floating above his head, the red-haired young man asked while poking the raven with his foot.

"Stop! Don't touch her!" Elena warned as prana swirled below her.

"Calm down, Elena. Don't worry, this thing is still alive", said Ford, the black-haired youth.

"Hey, Elena. Just give up and come with us. It's for your own good, you see?" A young female with brown waist-length airy hair, and was wearing a robe, said to Elena.

"Ema, you're also in this?" Elena asked as if she could not believe what she discovered.

"W-Well… they promise they won't hurt you unless you come soundlessly with us. The royal family also agreed to not punish you", so said Ema.

Elena looked disappointed at what she heard.

"I told you, they are lying to us! So why are you still following their orders? Have you already forgotten who we are? Aren't we supposed to find a way to return to our original world?"

"….."

Everyone fell silent.

Suddenly, they heard a chuckle: "Hehehe."

"Don't be such a fool, Elena."

This time, the fourth person in the group, another young female, stepped in front and said that to Elena.

"Lureen… what do you mean?"

Elena frowned as she whispered the other person's name.

Like the others, Lureen was also her classmate. She was also in her circle of friends back in their own world. She was a classy young woman with a lofty personality and sly nature. But despite that, Elena still befriended her.

"I see. You're so selfish, Elena", so said Lureen.

Elena frowned further as she could not get what Lureen wanted to say. In fact, she has never been selfish to her friends. She treated them equally.

Seeing that Elena could not understand where she was coming, Lureen moved another step.

"None of us wanted to go back on earth in the first place. It was only you who wished to return. This world gives us all what we wished for, so why would we want to go back to that place where we were treated low? In this place, we're VIPs. We can do all we want", said Lureen.

Hearing that: "What?" Elena felt dejected. She looked at everyone's eyes and noticed all of them wore the same expression as Lureen.

So none of them shares the same sentiments as her all this time? Elena could not believe it.

"Anyway, Elena. Where's the child? We need to dispose of him before he grows up into a problem later on", Ford asked.

Elena looked angry. "Try to do that and don't blame me if I hurt you a little", Elena took a stance with her sword in hands.

Aside from Ema, who looked so anxious, the other three looked somewhat calm.

"Let me take care of her", saying so, Ford stepped forward.

"I wanted to take on her personally, but I guess it's faster if it's you", said Lureen as she stepped aside.

That action confused Elena: "Are you sure about that, Ford?"

"Don't look down on me, Elena. I'm not what I used to be. I already surpassed you by a big margin."

A halberd materialized in Ford's hand.

Elena looked at them. She noticed their unusual behaviour. Ford was known to be the weakest in their group. He was a wimpy man who relied on others to survive all these times.

So their decision now was a big puzzle to Elena, who was the strongest and the former leader of the group.

"Before we start, I just wanted to warn you, Elena… Nothing is faster than light."

"R-un… Elena…" Grandma raven tried to give a warning.

But.

Toink-

Before Elena could react, a silhouette appeared behind her.

Later that day, Sed woke up and found out he was still alone.