The girls stood speechless for a moment, processing Ryan’s unexpected inquiry as they looked at each other in evident bewilderment.

Helen wrinkled her nose, resting her hand on the hilt of her sword while staring at the ceiling with a look that said she understood absolutely nothing.

Ryan decided to explain the reason for his curiosity before Helen could start complaining about the lack of simple explanations.

"It’s because of the telepathy we know the demons use with their dragons, just like how Solaris communicated with Irnina when we faced them," he commented, crossing his arms in front of them.

"That’s why I became curious to know if it’s possible in this world, through some relic or magic, to communicate in that manner," he added, looking at the girls standing in front of him.

Mirian and Helen shook their heads at the exact same time, indicating they hadn’t the slightest idea if an item with such properties actually existed.

Helen let out a short scoff, frustrated by not understanding what Ryan was talking about.

Karol looked at them with disdain at that moment, owing to the fact that this was something the two of them should know from simple adventurer experience.

The mage girl puffed out her cheeks with pride, raising her staff a couple of centimeters to claim the room’s full attention.

Ryan once again noticed the girl’s smug smirk and decided to ask just to keep her from getting lost in her own ego.

"So, does it exist?"

Karol confirmed that it did, nodding her head with a smile that denoted her superiority over the rest of the S-rank warriors.

"It is perfectly normal for large kingdoms to have that kind of tool stored away in their castle treasuries," Karol explained.

"Although, according to what they say and what I’ve come to understand, they aren’t easy to use at all," the mage continued, adopting the posture of a teacher.

"It’s because of the distance," she clarified, staring fixedly at Ryan.

"It’s impossible for them to communicate with other kingdoms if they are too far away. And since they were incredibly difficult to manufacture in past eras, only some SS-rank heroes use them to transmit orders on the front lines."

Then Irina intervened from behind the rest of them, speaking with her usual timid tone of voice but instantly drawing Ryan’s gaze.

"That’s right, in fact, the elven nation used to have one of those relics," the elven princess contributed softly.

"Well, actually, they should still have it under their custody in the royal palace’s secret chamber," she added.

Ryan remained deep in thought for a few moments, processing all the information.

"I would like for us to possess something like that so we can communicate whenever we are far away from each other. If we get separated during the battle against the demon king, a relic like that will be incredibly useful," Ryan commented aloud.

"But I think that will be impossible to acquire for now," Karol interjected, crushing his expectations with a sharp tone of voice.

"We have absolutely no way to infiltrate the corrupt king’s castle just for a communication toy," the mage added, crossing her arms.

"What if we forge it ourselves?" Ryan suggested, diverting his eyes toward the portal leading to the village.

"I mean, Kenia and Runa... maybe they could achieve it if they combine their skills."

Irina blinked in total surprise at her king’s audacity, weighing the idea in her head with evident concern in her clear eyes.

"It would be a good idea to ask them as soon as we head down to check the workshop, but even so, I don’t think it’s something easy to achieve," the elf murmured.

"Well, we’ll see once we talk to them," Ryan declared, turning half around toward the rift of the portal.

"For now, let’s just enter the village already. We need to check on how the inhabitants are doing after the relocation."

"Right," they all responded in unison, dispelling the discussion entirely to focus on Ryan’s direct order.

Everyone gathered together to enter the portal floating in front of them, shining with a bluish light that pointed the way.

Karol walked in first, vanishing into a flash of light in the blink of an eye.

Then Helen advanced with her firm step, crossing the line of energy without showing any hesitation on her face.

Finally, it was Ryan’s turn, walking straight ahead while Irina and Beatrice followed him right toward the portal’s rift.

While he was deep in thought about everything that had happened, right as his body entered the portal, reality completely shifted.

Suddenly, everything all around him turned pure white.

The blue flash of the transport abruptly vanished, being replaced by an infinite clarity that blinded his eyes for an instant.

Ryan blinked hard, trying to focus his vision amidst the intense light that erased any trace of a familiar place. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

He definitely hadn’t entered the village along with the others, as the environment lacked any trees, houses, or inhabitants.

And he wasn’t in the S-rank dungeon either, where the journey through the magic portal was supposed to be completed.

The ground beneath his boots felt hard upon taking a step, but visually, it was a smooth plane that merged perfectly with the white horizon.

There were no stone walls, no wooden ceilings, nor any shadows that would allow him to orient himself within the sheer immensity of the light.

Everything around him was a brilliant, white space that extended infinitely as far as his enhanced perception could reach.

Ryan felt his skin crawl at the anomaly of the transport, immediately realizing he had been transported to somewhere else.

’What the hell is this, the portal isn’t supposed to deviate like this.’

He moved his right hand toward the hilt of his chimera sword purely on instinct and drew it, putting up his guard as he spun around, trying to find any trace of his companions, or of enemies.

He took a step forward, trying to locate the opening of the entrance portal to force an immediate return, but every single trace had been completely erased.

He was completely alone in the middle of that luminous nothingness.

It was in that very instant of silence that he heard a faint whisper; the sound of that voice was like an echo resonating from multiple directions at once.

It was a slow, measured voice that he did not recognize at all.

"I finally found you."