Lena steps into Athena, a city of fairies and lakes, where she spots a bard hyping up the Fairy Festival while handing out flower garlands. He offers her one, but she’s not here for the festivities. The city’s buzzing with energy, yet she stays focused on her investigation—if the Holy Sister’s secret is hidden here, she’s going to find it.
She asks a couple about Dratena Berberi, but the moment they hear the name Berberi, their faces twist in fear. Without a word, they turn and run. She tries again with others, but the reaction is the same—nervous looks, hushed whispers, and people walking away without answering.
Just as she considers her next move, she spots someone in a hood watching her from a distance. The second she locks eyes with him, he turns and slips into the crowd. She follows, weaving through the streets, staying on his trail until he disappears into an alley. Before she can react, he’s behind her, binding her with his skill—vines wrap around her. She doesn’t hesitate, slicing through them with her sword. In a flash, their blades clash.
The guy’s skilled, moving sharp and fast—if he were an adventurer, he’d be ranking higher than S. But Lena isn’t backing down. He acknowledges her swordplay, but she isn’t here for compliments. She demands to know who he is and what he wants, but he shuts her down, saying he can’t let some rookie snoop around like a spy. She smirks, ready to prove she’s no rookie.
Before either of them can make the next move, a voice cuts in, telling them to stop. Lena turns, ready to fight whoever’s next—until she sees Holy Sister standing there. She introduces the man as Yuan, her subordinate, explaining that she had him tail Lena because she was being way too obvious with her questions. Lena doesn’t like it, but then Holy Sister drops something unexpected—the Investigation Bureau is in the city for the same reason: Dratena.
That throws Lena off. She figured Holy Sister was on the Holy Sister’s side, but she shakes her head, saying she doesn’t take sides—her job is to gather information, nothing more. Yuan steps in, explaining that tracking Dratena is the key to stopping the Wicked Dragon. They’re still analyzing the dragon scale Lena brought from the Wicked Dragon Meeting, but until they get answers, Dratena is their only lead.
Lena realizes this is exactly why a bureau head showed up in person. Yuan makes it clear—stopping the Wicked Dragon is top priority. If that thing shows up in his city, it’ll be a disaster. Holy Sister points out that while Lena is busy digging into the Holy Sister’s connection to all of this, the bureau is focused on the dragon. If she keeps running around asking reckless questions, she’ll attract the wrong kind of attention and make their job harder. She tells Lena to back off and leave.
They turn to go, but Lena refuses to walk away empty-handed. She insists on tagging along, knowing it’s risky since Holy Sister holds the same level of authority as the Holy Sister, but she’s an expert investigator. Holy Sister eyes her and asks if she plans to mooch off their work. Lena doesn’t even try to deny it—she’ll take any scrap of info she can get.
Holy Sister agrees, but on one condition—if Lena’s coming, she follows orders and doesn’t question how things get done. Lena gets the message. Yuan, on the other hand, doesn’t see how bringing her along helps. Holy Sister leans in and whispers something—Lena has seen Dratena’s face, and that’s something they don’t have.
With that settled, Holy Sister tells Lena they need to eat first. The scene shifts to a restaurant. Holy Sister orders peanut butter sushi, leaving Lena completely confused. Before she can even process what’s happening, it turns out the dish name is actually a password. The waitress nods and leads them to a stairway going underground.
They step into a dimly lit bar where an informant waits. Yuan slides over 20,000 gold, telling him they need everything he’s got on Dratena, including where to find her. The informant raises a brow, surprised anyone would ask about that nuisance.
He spills the truth—Dratena is the daughter of what used to be the town’s prestigious Berberi family. He explains how the family collapsed because of her. She was a kid who loved to dance, but when she turned six, she awakened the Necromancy skill. At the same time, her family’s trading business tanked, and her mother passed away. Rumors spread fast—people started saying the family was cursed. Her father blamed her forbidden skill for all their misfortunes, disowned her, and sent her to live in a villa. Ever since, the whole town has treated her like a cursed soul, keeping their distance as if even looking at her would bring bad luck.
Holy Sister pieces it together—this is why nobody wanted to talk about Dratena.
The informant adds one last thing—the only person who ever stood by her was the Holy Sister.
He figures the Holy Sister must have pitied Dratena, considering she was there when she first awakened her skill. She wrote to her, kept in touch, and even invited her to the Holy City. But to the Holy Sister, she was probably just another unfortunate child she helped along the way.
Holy Sister starts thinking about where Dratena might be now. The informant casually drops that she’s in this very city. Lena wasn’t expecting that—she assumed Dratena had died when the mansion collapsed. But the informant shakes his head, saying she’s alive and doing just fine. Then he leans in, saying if they want her exact location, it’s going to cost extra.
Yuan isn’t playing that game. He reminds the guy they already agreed on a price, and that price included both details and location. The informant tries to act slick, but before he can push his luck, Yuan binds him with vines, pressing a blade against his throat and demanding Dratena’s whereabouts.
Lena watches, thinking they’ve crossed a line, but Holy Sister shuts her down fast. She reminds Lena that she agreed to stay quiet. She also points out that the informant broke the deal first. Yuan adds that trying to swindle the Investigation Bureau was a dumb move. Now terrified, the informant spills everything—Dratena should be in the Theater District right now, preparing for the Dance of the Fairies. Yuan lets him go, but Lena can’t shake the feeling that they just forced that information out of him.
Holy Sister tells her she’s too soft—real information isn’t just lying around, waiting to be picked up.
The scene shifts to Dratena inside her home, getting ready to leave. Her butler watches her head toward the door and asks if she’s going out again. She nods, saying she’ll be right back. He doesn’t stop her but warns that if she keeps pushing herself without rest, her injuries will only get worse. Dratena doesn’t care. She’s been chosen by the Holy Sister to be a dancer, and she’s going to make sure she’s fully prepared for her performance. The butler understands and gets the carriage ready.
Elsewhere, Yuan fills Lena and Holy Sister in on what the Dance of the Fairies really is. It’s a sacred ritual held on the last day of the Fairy Festival. Holy Sister explains that a thousand years ago, the Fairy King protected this lake from an invading monster army. The ritual is a reenactment of that legend—a prayer for peace.
She adds that, according to the people of this city, purifying the Fairy Stone keeps them safe from disaster. If that’s true, this ceremony might be more important than it seems. Yuan explains that every year, daughters from respectable families are chosen as dancers, and a strong enough performance can raise their family’s status. This year, Dratena was selected. But Lena struggles to understand—why would she stay in a city where nobody wants her?
Holy Sister figures they’ll get their answers once they get inside. As they approach the building where the dancers practice, the guards stop them, saying only authorized personnel are allowed. Without missing a beat, they remove their cloaks, revealing their dancer uniforms and claiming they belong. The guards hesitate, trying to recall if they’ve seen them before, but after a moment of doubt, they decide their physiques match those of dancers and let them pass.
Holy Sister finds it almost too easy. As they walk through the building, they overhear a group of girls whispering about Dratena, warning each other to stay away from her because their father told them she’s cursed. Holy Sister notes that these girls come from well-known families, but their words are cruel. Lena listens, feeling a deep pity for Dratena, wondering what kind of life she must have lived to be treated like this.
They move toward the practice stage, and when Lena finally spots Dratena dancing, Dratena stops in surprise. Before she can react, Yuan binds her with vines. She demands an explanation. Holy Sister wastes no time—she asks directly where the Wicked Dragon is.
Dratena sighs and explains that from the moment it was summoned, it was never under her control. Holy Sister’s frustration grows as she realizes this lead is useless. She immediately decides that Dratena is coming with her to the Holy City so they can use magic tracking on her. Dratena refuses, saying she won’t go—not yet. But Holy Sister reminds her that they don’t have the luxury of time.
Dratena insists she doesn’t mind going, but she begs for two days—she wants to stay until the Dance of the Fairies. Holy Sister rejects the idea outright, but Dratena pleads, saying this is all she has ever wanted since childhood.
As Lena watches, she sees how much this means to her and tries to convince Holy Sister to wait. But Holy Sister doesn’t budge. She tells Dratena she’s being selfish and makes it clear—if she won’t go willingly, they’ll take her by force.
Lena realizes that Holy Sister’s way of doing things—getting information at any cost—is her version of justice. But it doesn’t sit right with her. Suddenly, she cuts through the vines, freeing Dratena. Yuan moves to stop them, but Lena grabs Dratena and rushes through the theater. They slip past him and leap from the building, disappearing into the city streets before he can react.
Yuan chases after them, but by the time he reaches the streets, they’re gone. Returning to Holy Sister, he apologizes for letting them escape, but she isn’t worried. She knows they won’t leave while the Festival is still happening—not when Dratena is so obsessed with the dance. She expected Lena to be obedient, but she’s proving to be more daring than expected.
Hidden in the city, Lena and Dratena catch their breath. Dratena asks why she helped, but Lena has no answer.
The scene shifts to a couple floating down the river, with the bard from earlier sitting nearby. As they admire the view, he asks if they’ve heard the legend of the loyal servant of the Fairy Monarch, sealed beneath the massive Fairy Stone at the lake’s base. For a thousand years, this servant has guarded Lake Athena. But the couple shakes their heads—they’ve never heard the story.
They comment on how magical the crystal looks at night. The bard explains that the Dance of the Fairies is a ritual meant to soothe the spirit of this guardian, who left the Fairy World on his own and chose to protect this land. They find it to be an interesting tale. But then, the bard wonders aloud—what would happen if cracks began forming in the crystal?
The couple looks confused, but before they can ask anything, he changes the subject.
Meanwhile, Monica is in her workshop, focused on crafting the perfect sword for Light.
Back in Athena, Holy Sister sends her birds to search for Lena and Dratena, but they return almost instantly. Something isn’t right. She plucks a flower from her hat and watches it wither. Frowning, she flips through documents, searching for answers. When she finds what she’s looking for, her expression darkens.
Something ominous is coming. And Lena and Dratena might be the only ones who can stop it.
The scene shifts once more—to the massive crystal at the lake’s center. Dark energy gathers, swirling as the crystal absorbs it, pulsing with an eerie glow.
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