The Almighty Miss Emma

Dusk gathered its long strands of lingering sorrow and slowly opened its dark eyes.

Yet darkness did not descend.

Replacing the sunlight were rows of bright magic lamps.

This was a new technology introduced to Alana over a decade ago—linking mana-storing crystals with light sensors to create street lamps that automatically lit up at night.

Since then, there was no longer any need to hire “lamplighters” to spend hours igniting oil lamps one by one.

In the eastern district of Alana, a modest-sized potion shop located right in the center of a prime street had already hung up its “Closed” sign early.

The long line of adventurers outside dispersed in disappointment upon seeing it.

They couldn’t help but wonder—

Didn’t Inbas Potion Shop usually stay open until ten at night?

Why was it closing so early today?

Still, no matter how frustrated they felt, none dared to cause trouble here.

They could only obediently return tomorrow morning to line up again.

Because if they angered the shop owner…

It would likely be far more terrifying than venturing alone into the deeper floors of the dungeon.

Inside the small yet refined shop, a bell-like voice rang out.

“Ahhh~ this is bad! This is really bad!”

Anqi ran around with her hands raised, shouting nonstop, like a startled little rabbit.

Meanwhile, Lulu sat calmly in her chair, flipping through a book.

In truth, Anqi had been making noise in her ear for over an hour.

“This is bad! Someone help! Big brother is going to be in danger!”

Snap!

Lulu finally shut her book and frowned.

“Enough. He ran off on his own—what danger could he possibly run into?

Maybe he met someone from his old world and hurried after them. He’s probably catching up right now. Stop making a fuss.”

Seeing her grandmother finally react, Anqi rushed over and hugged her, pitifully saying,

“But… but he’s been gone for over a day! If he was just meeting a friend, would it take this long?

And… didn’t you say Travelers don’t really have true friendships…”

“Hah. You can’t remember your incantations, but you remember that perfectly.”

Lulu rolled her eyes.

She had indeed said that.

All Travelers came to this world for their own desires.

No matter how united they seemed at the beginning of the war—

In the end, they would turn on each other.

That was experience speaking.

A dear friend of hers had died because of it.

So she believed—

There was no absolute trust between Travelers.

Still… Anqi had a point.

Yesterday, the moment Ye Yousheng ran off, Lulu had chased after him.

And somehow—

She lost him.

Even if her tracking skills weren’t top-tier, she had still trained them.

Combined with enhancement magic and Wind Walk, there was no way she should’ve been slower than him.

Yet she failed to catch up.

And even lost his trail entirely.

After searching the area thoroughly—

Nothing.

It was as if he had vanished into thin air.

“Anqi, this ‘big brother’ you’re talking about—is he the Traveler Lulu saved?”

A voice came from the second floor.

A woman wearing black-rimmed gold glasses descended the stairs.

Her bangs parted neatly, golden hair tied up.

Her movements were unhurried, her aura relaxed yet composed.

Sharp brows, a refined nose bridge, and intelligent eyes hidden behind her glasses.

Her long ears revealed her identity—

An elf.

She was Emma Libelle—known as the “Omnipotent Miss Emma,” the one who helped Lulu spread the Inbas brand potions across the continent.

“Ah! Aunt Emma!” Anqi turned around in surprise.

Emma walked over elegantly, smiled sweetly—

And flicked Anqi’s forehead.

Bonk!

It sounded painful.

“Call me Sister Emma! I’m only a little over four hundred, okay? That’s like… twenty-three or twenty-four in human years!”

Despite her refined appearance, her tone was anything but serious.

Anqi clutched her head, teary-eyed.

“But… but grandma is only three hundred and she’s already grandma…”

“Then just call her Sister Lulu too. Honestly, you two look more like sisters anyway. Though Lulu looks more like the younger one.”

Emma hugged Anqi and rubbed her head.

When she pulled her hand away—

The swelling was already gone.

“Emma… do you want me to set that precious golden hair of yours on fire?”

Unlike Emma, who cared about seeming young, Lulu hated being called small or childish.

“N-No, no~ I was just joking~”

Emma immediately backed down with a laugh.

“Still, I didn’t expect you to come to Alana. Didn’t you say you hated noisy places and moved to some remote village?

Why the change of heart? Oh right—someone’s been looking for you.

And people from Gray Magic Academy came too, hoping you’d return as an instructor.”

She let her hair down—gold cascading like a waterfall—and removed her glasses.

“But how would I know where you are~ you never told me~”

“Oh? Even the omnipotent Miss Emma has things she doesn’t know?”

Emma winked playfully.

“I only know you’re in a village called Xingshou Village. I don’t know which house~”

Lulu could only smile bitterly.

Emma’s information network spanned the entire continent.

Anything she wanted to know—she could find out instantly.

And she herself was exceptional—

Mastering dozens of languages, brilliant in business and politics, and strong in both magic and combat.

Lulu even felt Emma’s magic might surpass her own—she just didn’t show it.

A true genius.

“Grandma! Sister Emma! Stop chatting! Let’s go find big brother!”

Anqi quickly cut in.

“Ah, right… that guy…”

Lulu turned to Emma.

“So, Miss Omnipotent—can I ask you to help find a Traveler named Ye Yousheng?”

Emma froze slightly at the name.

“Ye… Yousheng…?”

Lulu nodded.

“Yes. He came to Alana with us but got separated… What’s wrong?”

Emma snapped back.

“N-Nothing… Ye Yousheng, right? Got it. I’ll look into it.”

She turned and walked upstairs.

“Dinner’s ready in the kitchen. You two go eat first.”

Without looking back, she went upstairs.

“…Emma?”

Lulu noticed something off.

Emma’s reaction had changed the moment she heard that name.

Did she know Ye Yousheng?

But that shouldn’t be possible.

He had just arrived in this world.

After thinking for a while and finding no answer, Lulu gave up and went to eat with Anqi.

In any case—

Once they found him, everything would become clear.

Inside the dungeon labyrinth.

Ye Yousheng and Alicia were now between Floors 29 and 30.

After learning that stairways were protected by barriers, Ye Yousheng had more options.

The journey was still exhausting, but they hadn’t encountered anything as terrifying as the Frenzied Wolf again.

More importantly—

His Luck had finally returned to 0.

No more randomly falling into traps or getting surrounded out of nowhere.

“Phew… next floor is 30. Finally, the last step.”

Alicia said excitedly, “Yeah! As long as we find the teleportation array on Floor 30, we can return to the surface!”

“Yeah… hopefully everything goes smoothly…”

Ye Yousheng felt like he was missing something—

But couldn’t figure out what.

So he kept checking the map.

Alicia hesitated, then spoke shyly,

“Um… Ye Yousheng…”

“Yeah?”

“Can I call you Yousheng?”

“…Sure.”

“Then… can you call me Aili? That’s what my grandfather calls me!”

“Aili… hmm. I’ll call you Liya instead. That okay?”

“Okay!”

Just changing how they addressed each other made her visibly happy.

Even she found it strange.

“I’ll go take a look. Be right back.”

Ye Yousheng stepped toward the barrier at Floor 30.

As he approached—

He activated Observation.

<Skill [Observation] has leveled up to Lv.4>

<Skill [Killing Intent Detection] has leveled up to Lv.4>

A flood of monster data filled his mind.

But he didn’t even need it.

With his own eyes—

He saw everything.

Beyond the barrier—

A massive swarm of monsters.

They had completely surrounded the staircase.