Upon receiving all the information, Kain fell into deep thought.

In his mind, he was piecing together the sequence of events, starting with Mera's mother.

Back in the Foggy Dungeon, Mera had revealed her past to Kain. From that, Kain deduced that her mother was likely being pursued for some reason. She had left her family, leading to the current situation.

And then, whatever it was that caused her to be pursued had been inherited by Mera, her daughter.

That "something" only manifested when Mera was completely exhausted. And the organization pursuing her had detected it, even without physical contact. In the Spiritual Phase, Kain had seen a thread extend from nothingness with the intent to touch Mera's spirit. Kain had to seize the opportunity to "ascend" to the Spiritual Phase, then construct a super-complex multidimensional labyrinth structure in the spiritual realm—a feat only his mind could handle—with the intention of misdirecting that thread, buying time until Mera recovered and concealed "that thing" again.

Kain hadn't severed the thread because he had a feeling doing so would mark him, and perhaps he was right, as everything had been quite peaceful afterward.

However, Mera's emergence had led that organization to mistakenly believe that her mother had reappeared. Hence, they began their pursuit anew.

But how did they know the person they were looking for was Mera's mother?

"Mera, are you sure those five Magus said they wanted to ask you a few things about your mother?"

"Yes, I'm certain."

"Then that's good." Kain breathed a sigh of relief.

It was true that the organization had mistaken the person who appeared for Mera's mother instead of Mera. If they had confirmed Mera was the one they needed to capture, they wouldn't have been so "gentle."

As for how they knew, Kain had a partial guess: most likely, after the "signal" reappeared, they re-investigated the nearest place the "signal" had previously originated, which was Whesling. Then, perhaps a clever individual realized the anomaly in the Mayor's wife's disappearance. This person might have realized that Mera's mother not only hadn't gone into hiding but had boldly married the most powerful man in Whesling and even had a child.

Indeed, Kain's deductions perfectly matched Ron's contemplations and investigations.

"What do we do, Kain? I don't even know how to solve this," Mera couldn't help but feel powerless. According to what Kain said, the organization pursuing her mother still didn't take her seriously, which was why they only sent five mid-class Magus. She couldn't imagine what it would be like if they were serious about capturing her.

On top of that, both she and her father were in their sights.

But at that moment, Kain stroked Mera's head, making her freeze for a second.

"Relax a bit, Mera. Aren't I still here?" Kain smiled, his familiar, confident, and certain smile.

Mera didn't know what Kain would do, but she always believed he would succeed, just like all the other times.

"Mhm."

"Alright, although the situation is passive, and it seems we're both in the enemy's sights. I bet they've already set up informants around the mansion. The situation might look bad, but this is actually a perfect opportunity."

"Because from last time and this time, I've confirmed that they can only distinguish the location of the signal, but not whether the signal comes from you or your mother."

"And that will be the key to this play. They want clues? Fine, we'll give them some."

"Mera, this time, I want you to become your mother."

"Huh?" Mera's face went blank, while Kain smiled mysteriously.

…

A day later, a carriage appeared outside the mansion. It entered the grounds and stopped in front of the residence. From inside the mansion, two cloaked figures with tightly drawn hoods emerged, entered the carriage, and it departed the mansion, intending to leave Whesling, choosing the route towards Adia. This was the path to travel by water via Adia to Esten and return to Kanzax Academy.

This information, of course, was recorded by Ron's spies and reported to him.

Surprisingly, he didn't act immediately.

Seeing him give no directives, a mid-class Magus asked in confusion, "Captain Ron, they're almost out of the city limits already..."

"Shut up, you fools!" Ron narrowed his eyes, coldly glaring at the mid-class Magus who had botched Mera's capture before.

"Was being tricked and counter-killed by a mere girl last time not enough to make you smarten up? She's clearly trying to trick us again!"

"She knows full well she's being targeted, yet she arranges such a conspicuous carriage? Furthermore, the two individuals you saw entering the carriage had their identifying features completely concealed. They're clearly decoys meant to mislead us."

"So, just wait. But don't worry, I'll still send people to follow that carriage."

Ron finished speaking, then leaned back, regretting why he hadn't personally led the operation that day. If he had been there, these Magus wouldn't have been so thoroughly deceived.

Half a day later, the spies sent back another intelligence report, stating that two cloaked individuals had secretly escaped the mansion via a different route.

The spies even reported that although both individuals were well-concealed, for a moment, a long silver hair was exposed, suspected to be Kain's. The spy even saw Kain subtly reveal part of his face to tuck his hair back in.

Currently, these two were hiding in a cargo cart about to depart Whesling.

"Got them!" Ron secretly rejoiced, but then he suddenly paused.

Something felt off. He could sense it.

Flipping back through the spy's report, Ron discovered that although a "vague sign" of Kain had been detected, there was absolutely no sign of the other person.

"Why is that?" This question appeared in Ron's mind, and he suddenly understood.

"That cunning little girl!"

Kain hadn't inadvertently exposed himself to the spy; he had done so intentionally. To make Ron believe that the person accompanying him would be Mera.

Ron deduced that Mera must have known he had spies stationed around, so escaping by using the first carriage as a diversion, then secretly sneaking out later, wasn't practical.

Therefore, Ron considered the "two secretly escaping, one of them Kain, and the other possibly Mera" to be another decoy. The real Mera was still in the mansion, waiting for him to shift all his attention before making her move.

"Very clever, but you're still too green. This kind of bait... it's too simplistic and rigid." Ron sneered, leaving Kain and Mera's body double in the cargo cart. He was waiting for the real Mera, still hiding in the mansion, to finally show herself. Only then would the true pursuit begin.