Otto stood in the freezing Palace of Ice, staring blankly at the Cage of Ice before him.
Rubbing her hands together, Irene did not hang onto Otto, but stood a short distance behind him.
Even without the protection of tentacles, the cold would not freeze her into a block of ice.
Because the master of this Land of Extreme Frost was dead.
Watching Otto's back, Irene suddenly felt the figure looked exceptionally isolated today.
Like his own father had died.
What Irene did not know was that if Otto's father had died, the man might have started laughing in the middle of his tears.
Yet at this moment Otto stared blankly at the cage made of ice and snow, a giant cage resembling a birdcage stained red by the snow.
A young woman with waist-length white hair leaned against the edge of the cage, grasping the bars with both hands, her head tilted slightly.
Wearing a white crown and a dark blue veil on her head, a pitch-black veil concealed half of her pretty face.
Her entire upper body was black and blue, covered with white hexagonal decorations.
Her forearms faded into dark blue, her hands pierced by ice spikes.
Clad in a large cloak fading from dark blue to white, she wore white stockings with blue patterns and high heels on her lower half.
Her whole figure was petite and cute. Otto slowly crouched at the edge of the cage, raising his left hand, but hesitating a moment, he switched to reaching his right hand inside.
Pinching the veil covering her face, Otto swallowed, slowly lifting the fabric.
A familiar visage met his eyes, looking almost exactly like the Anna he knew, yet more mature.
Perhaps this was what Anna would look like when she grew up.
However, the pretty girl possessed no vitality. She kept her eyes closed, entirely devoid of breath.
A bloody wound sat on her chest. This injury was fatal, and looking closely, blood also splattered the edges of the cage.
Anna, the Herrscher of Ice, was dead, killed by an unknown entity before Otto arrived.
Although Otto knew this was not the Anna of his world, a strange heaviness still welled up inside him.
This marked the first time he had seen a dead person, let alone one with a familiar face.
His chest tightened, fingers tracing across Anna's cheek, carefully wiping away the blood at the corners of her mouth.
Otto noticed a smile resting on Anna's lips.
It seemed her death was not agonizing, but rather a release.
The dead might find joy, but the living could not feel any happiness.
Walking slowly to Otto's side, Irene noticed he looked like an abandoned child with his clearly troubled mood.
Watching Otto's fingers gently stroke the Herrscher of Ice's face, Irene did not think he was acting out of lust.
"Do you know someone who looks just like her?"
Only this explanation made sense. Little Brother Alpha must have met a girl identical to the Herrscher of Ice, and the two of them probably had a decent relationship. Otherwise, his mood would not be this troubled.
"My subordinate. Her name is also Anna Schariac."
Otto spoke. Anna was a subordinate he had chosen himself, leaving him quite satisfied with her. The two of them had also gone on missions together, giving him some understanding of her.
Oh, a subordinate.
Irene nodded. Watching someone identical to an acquaintance die right in front of you was a highly distressing experience. It was no wonder Little Brother Alpha wore such a pitiful expression.
However, since she was a subordinate, that meant Little Brother Alpha also held a position of high authority. That was certainly hard to tell.
Raising her hand, Irene reached into the cage as well. She pressed against the Herrscher of Ice's chest, noting that the Herrscher Core inside had already been taken away.
"The fatal weapon was a long spear. It pierced straight through the Herrscher Core. There are still some fragments left inside, fragments of the Herrscher Core."
"Ridiculously strong."
"And a girl must have been the one who killed the Herrscher of Ice," Irene analyzed.
"A girl?" Otto moved his hand away from the face of the Herrscher of Ice, feeling a bit of doubt. Why was Sister Irene so certain a woman killed her?
"Yeah." Irene withdrew her hand as well. It was a fatal strike, leaving nothing else worth looking at besides the wound.
She stood up, pointing at the footprints in front of the cage. They were a row of bloody footprints.
"If my judgment is not wrong, the person who locked the Herrscher of Ice in the cage was not her killer, but herself."
"And the one who killed her simply stood in front of this cage, thrust the spear inside, and directly stabbed the unresisting Herrscher of Ice to death."
Irene possessed incredibly strong reasoning abilities. She looked at that row of bloody footprints, offering a slight smile.
"This is also a careless woman, actually going without shoes."
One could observe from the footprints that the other party did not wear shoes. However, this also meant she could withstand the extreme cold here without wearing shoes.
Very strong. Could she deal with an opponent like that?
"You don't need to be so distressed either. Although they might look similar, this is not the person you know."
"And she left smiling."
Irene furrowed her brows. Someone smiling while being murdered was strange, and the scene lacked any signs of a struggle.
It seemed the Herrscher of Ice wanted to be freed, but why would she want that?
Herrschers were beings meant to wipe out humanity. Why would she and the Herrscher of Thunder lock themselves away? Those two were completely unqualified to be Herrschers.
Cowering Herrschers and a world no one was allowed to leave. This World Bubble was truly full of oddities everywhere.
Irene furrowed her brows. Leaving this world as soon as possible was definitely the best plan.
"Huh?"
Otto's soft exclamation caught Irene's attention. She saw a pendant in his hand, bearing a pattern of spread wings.
The design also looked like the character "非".
"This is the symbol of Schicksal, the largest organization in this world. They have killed or captured Herrschers multiple times."
Irene took the pendant from Otto's hand. The person who killed the Herrscher of Ice must have dropped it here.
"People from Schicksal must have killed the Herrscher of Ice. If it was that group, crusading against a Herrscher is quite normal."
Otto nodded without saying anything, nor did he explain that he himself was the boss of Schicksal in a certain world.
But a sudden thought came to him.
Since Schicksal existed in this world, did he exist here too?
Turning his head to look at Irene, he asked, "What is the name of Schicksal's boss?"
"Hmm." Pressing slender fingers against her lips, Irene thought. "I remember, I think his name is Otto."
Although she had played in this world for a while, she had not made contact with Schicksal.
The version of me in this world really does exist.
Otto's throat tightened. If the Otto of this world was a version of himself with over 500 years of experience, then he absolutely could not compare to him.
"What, have you met someone similar in other worlds?"
Irene asked, and Otto nodded.
"He is a very dangerous person." Thinking of those few reports, Otto could only evaluate his future self this way.
"Oh." Irene let out a meaningful sound. It seemed Little Brother Alpha and this person named Otto had quite a deep connection.
However, Little Brother Alpha seemed to have gone to quite a few worlds. Squatting beside Otto, she tilted her head, looking at the expressionless Otto.