"Wh-who are you?!"

Surprise, bewilderment, and wariness.

A cocktail of emotions played across the middle-aged man’s face as he barked at Walfred.

"How did you get in here?!"

"Down the stairs."

"No, that’s not what I... !"

The man clamped his mouth shut as if at a loss for words.

Then raised his voice again.

"The whole stretch from Philadelphia Station to the Central Avenue mall entrance is crawling with spirits! I’m asking how the hell you made it all the way here!"

"I just walked."

Walfred answered flatly.

He couldn’t be bothered to explain the whole deal with [Frost Resonance]. His nonchalance sent the men whispering among themselves.

"He just walked? Then that means..."

"He got lucky and didn’t run into any?"

"One lucky son of a gun."

After finishing their hushed discussion,

the men turned back to Walfred.

"Did you come here hoping to join the shelter?"

"If so, we’ll open the door, so get in here quick. It’s dangerous out there right now."

The men were friendlier than expected.

Probably because the shared threat of the gate liberation and the frost spirits gave them common ground. But Walfred remained rooted in place in front of the barricade.

"What are you doing? I said get in here!"

Was his stubbornness getting on their nerves?

The middle-aged man urged him along.

Meanwhile, the two men who had just opened the barricade door suddenly shivered.

"Hey, is it just me, or has it gotten way colder all of a sudden?"

"Yeah. Why is it so freezing all of a sudden?"

The two men exhaled clouds of white breath.

Walfred answered honestly.

"It’s because I have the frost attribute."

"...What? Frost attribute?"

"That’s right. I appreciate the offer, but if I go inside the shelter, it’ll cause problems for everyone."

His [Cold Emission], now at Level 4, periodically released cold air every 15 seconds in a 65-foot radius around him.

Going into the shelter like this?

That would be a nightmare for everyone inside. The non-Awakened, in particular, would be in serious danger.

"So I have no intention of going in."

"But... if you didn’t come to join the shelter, then why are you here?" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

A fair question.

Walfred answered readily.

"I’m looking for someone."

"Someone in our shelter?"

"I don’t know."

"...What?"

"All I have is a name, a face, and some basic personal details. So I was wondering if maybe..."

Could I ask you to help me find them?

That was what Walfred was about to ask.

But then.

"W-wait!"

"Hey! Look over there!"

"What? Why all of a sud... gah!"

The men’s faces went rigid.

As if they’d seen a ghost.

The middle-aged man whipped around at the same time, eyes wide and lips pressed tight.

"A frost spirit...!"

A faint chill followed right after.

Walfred turned his head as well, and there it was: a frost spirit descending the stairs he’d come down just moments ago, heading straight toward them.

The instant he saw it,

the middle-aged man seized Walfred’s hand.

"Frost attribute or not, just get in here!"

"No, really, I’m fine."

"Like hell you are! Even a graze from one of those things is lethal! So hurry up and..."

The man lunged for Walfred’s arm.

In the meantime, the frost spirit had already closed in, nearly at the shelter entrance.

And then.

"Oh! Did you come to play with me?"

It came face to face with Elsa.

Had it only just noticed her?

The frost spirit froze in place as if seized by an invisible hand.

"Aw, you’re so pretty."

Elsa, meanwhile, reached out her tiny hand to pet the frost spirit.

And the moment she did,

The spirit flinched violently.

Then it flapped its wings in a frenzy and fled without looking back. Elsa, having failed to pet it, widened her eyes and huffed.

"Ugh, meanie!"

Walfred managed an awkward smile at the sight.

The men, on the other hand, were not smiling at all.

After a moment, they murmured in trembling voices, as if unable to believe what they’d just witnessed.

"Wh-what...?"

"Did that spirit just run away?"

The three men stood there with their jaws hanging open.

They looked back and forth between the direction the spirit had fled and Walfred, utterly dumbfounded.

Deciding there was no point hiding it any longer, Walfred shrugged and answered.

"It’s one of my skills."

Better to say it was his own skill than to reveal it was Elsa’s. Walfred gave them a condensed explanation of [Frost Resonance]’s effects.

And then.

"...A skill that drives off elemental monsters?"

"That’s insane! That’s a completely busted skill!"

"I thought he just got lucky making it here in one piece, but he had a skill like that the whole time."

The men each reacted differently.

Walfred got straight to the point.

"Anyway, I have a favor to ask."

"About finding someone?"

"Right. Her name is Erica. She’s twenty-five, and from what I’ve been told, she was on a business trip from a company in Silicon Alley, New York to Philadelphia. And..."

Walfred rattled off every detail about Erica’s physical description and personal information that Lauren had given him.

After a moment, when the explanation was done,

"So? Think you can find her?"

"I’d say the chances aren’t slim."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We’ve got a fair number of out-of-towners here. I’d say it’s worth looking into."

The middle-aged man nodded.

After conferring among themselves, the men turned back to Walfred and said,

"We’ll ask around. Hang tight."

"Thanks."

Things were going smoother than expected.

Walfred grinned.

The youngest of the three men took off running deeper into the shelter. While Walfred waited for word to come back,

one of the men spoke up.

"By the way."

"...?"

"If my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me, that frost spirit earlier ran away because of the kid, not you. Am I right?"

"That’s right. I put the skill on her."

Walfred answered without missing a beat.

"I can handle myself if a spirit attacks, but as you can see, my daughter’s still little."

"Makes sense. I’d do the same in your shoes."

The man nodded in understanding.

After that, Walfred and the man talked about various things. The main topics were the different shelters in Philadelphia and what was currently happening across the city.

That’s when he heard something unexpected.

"What? You were trying to relocate the shelter?"

"Yeah. The second the Major got word that a gate had appeared at West Philadelphia Station, that was the call she made."

The Central Avenue underground mall shelter.

And every member of the Philadelphia subway station shelter as well, they’d all been planning to relocate to another area.

The man let out a sigh.

"But it all fell apart."

"Because the gate was liberated?"

"Exactly. Nobody, not the Major, not us, expected it to be liberated just 24 hours after appearing."

"...What?"

Walfred’s eyes widened at that.

Normally, a gate that wasn’t cleared was liberated 72 hours after its initial appearance.

But 24 hours?

"You’re sure you didn’t get the timing of first appearance wrong?"

"Positive. Plenty of hunters saw the moment the gate’s entrance formed. And the Major witnessed it herself."

The man denied it flatly.

Then it wasn’t a mistake.

"How is that even possible?"

"We don’t know either. Though the Major seemed like she might know something..."

The man trailed off.

Rhythmic footsteps could be heard approaching from the corridor deeper inside the shelter. Before long, the source of those footsteps came into view.

Thud, thud!

One was the young man who’d been standing guard earlier.

And the other was a striking woman with sharp features and a black bob cut.

’Could that be Erica?’

That was his initial guess from a distance, but he quickly realized he was wrong. She didn’t match a single detail of the description Lauren had given him.

Her face looked to be early thirties.

The woman wore a black combat uniform with a Major’s insignia. What Walfred zeroed in on was the black uniform itself.

’...A hunter from the Bureau.’

A military organization composed entirely of hunters.

Only hunters belonging to the Hunter Bureau were authorized to wear that black uniform.

’And if she’s a Major...’

That meant she was at least B-rank.

Just as he finished that line of reasoning, the woman had already closed the distance. The moment she saw Walfred, she gave a slight nod and spoke.

"Pleased to meet you."

A businesslike, stiff tone.

Her introduction followed immediately.

"I’m Margaret, A-rank hunter. I’m in charge of managing the Central Avenue underground mall shelter here in Philadelphia."