When I reached the end of the new karmic threads, I arrived at the marketplace.

Unlike how I remembered it, this marketplace was bustling with activity. Elves called out, proudly puffing up their creations and wares. There were even a few human traders who created temporary stalls, setting up tents and dragging along chests to hold their stock.

I moved through the lively crowd and then made my way over to where the threads were leading me. When I arrived, I saw that I wasn’t the only one who reached that place.

Aria and Titania were staring off to the side of a stall manned by a young elven woman with short violet hair. Meanwhile, Saphira was in the middle of a fierce bartering process with the stall owner.

I frowned and made my way towards Aria and Titania before calling out. “Did you two find anything?”

Titania jumped, spinning towards me in a shock, her hand instantly going towards her sword. But seeing me, she sighed and said, “Could you stop appearing out of the blue like that?! What are you, a spirit?”

“By some accounts, yes.” I gave a blithe respond and said, “Aria? Report?”

The younger elven princess shook her head. “We didn’t find out too much. T- Sister and I went around to meet with various people, but they didn’t really want to talk with us about anything important.”

Hearing her sister’s response caused Titania to calm down and she nodded. “As my younger sister said, we could not gain much information.” She clicked her tongue and said, “I knew that some of us were tightlipped around humans, but I did not think it was to this extent…”

“Ah!” Aria’s eyes brightened and she said, “We did hear about one thing! The King’s latest child will be born soon and people are hoping that it’ll be a son this time!”

“Oh?” I placed my hand on my chin, thinking, and said, “Did you get any names?”

“Ah… No.”

I sighed. “Is it because we’re foreigners…?”

From the sound of things, it seemed like events were conspiring to prevent us from finding out information.

Titania shook her head. “I… am not sure.” She looked around and said, “This place is like a distorted mirror. I came across quite a few people that I recognized and knew to be fairly open. Yet, they were different.” She paused. “Though that may be due to my current appearance…”

I frowned. “Should we barge in directly then?”

I knew the way to the throne room as well as the Heart of Yggdrasil. But I had a feeling that wasn’t the right answer here.

Aria and Titania fell silent as well, lost in thought.

At that time, Saphira walked over. “Oh, Master. Did you return already?”

I nodded. “It was a dead end on my part… but I noticed you were negotiating pretty intensely with that elf woman. Did you find something interesting?”

Saphira nodded. “I did.” After that, she raised her hand, opening it to reveal a plain golden ring with a white diamond.

Aria walked over and peered at it before frowning. “An old ring?” She looked up at Saphira and said, “That’s what you traded for?”

Titania marched over as well and glanced at the ring. Seeing it, she sighed and said, “Was that old trinket really worth a scale and that shard of your core, Miss Saphira?”

“What?” I blinked and looked at Saphira.

She shook her head. “It’s fine, Master. I picked them up from the forest in the aftermath of our clash. But more importantly, look!” She gingerly held out the ring and said, “Can you sense it?”

“Hm…?” I frowned and picked up the ring. When I did…

“Huh?’

A strange sensation. Holding it, I felt both nostalgic and regretful. But also…

“The flow of time is distorted around it, Master.” Saphira smiled.

Right. The ring gave a similar feeling to that other place, something that seemed almost ageless. But at the same time, it was clearly weathered by time, the gold faded and the diamond cloudy.

Saphira said, “The elf was adamant about not trading it since she risked her life to procure it from an ancient ruin within the western mountains. She also said that it contained traces of divine power, but that she could never figure out what the ring was for.”

“Hm…”

It was an ordinary ring. A simple gold band with a small white diamond. But that was the strange part about it. In a world where artistry and craftsmanship in accessories was emphasized, to find such a plain ring…

Well, it wasn’t completely ordinary, now that I took a closer look. There seemed to be an inscription on the outside of the ring. But because it was so old, the words were worn out, leaving only behind a few legible letters of what seemed to be a name. ‘R’ and ‘A’.

“That’s sad.”

I blinked, realizing that Aria had somehow come close to me when I was examining the ring.

She stared at the ring and said, “It looks like a wedding band. For it be end up like this… I wonder what happened to it?”

Titania sighed. “Does it matter? Even if time is distorted or whatever around that thing, it changes nothing about the fact that we are here without a clue.”

“I don’t think that’s completely true.” I muttered and turned the ring around in my hands.

It felt familiar. Nostalgic and regretful. Right, that was my first impression on seeing it. Holding it, that sensation only grew stronger. But more than that, there were threads of karma leading away from the ring. Shimmering threads that looked almost like they were trying to lead me somewhere.

“Master?” Saphira looked at me, frowning. “Did you realize something?”

I closed my hand around the ring and nodded. “I think so. And now…” I turned my gaze to where the threads were leading. When I saw where, I frowned. “…Back to the Lost Woods?”

Titania groaned. “Again? This accursed loop… We should never have gone back to Alvheim.”

I let out a wry smile. “At this point, I agree… But let’s not waste time.”

Instead of wasting time walking there, I concealed our presences and then distorted space, bringing us to the edge of the Lost Woods.

Titania staggered when arrive, shaking her head. “I will never become accustomed to that jarring sensation…”

Aria looked a bit pale too, but she smiled and said, “Cheer up, Tani! At least it’s better than walking, right?”

Titania responded by swallowing down a gag and then shaking her head.

Saphira looked a bit pale too… paler than usual at least and nodded. “Spatial leaps are… always disorienting.” She paused and then looked at me. “Though you seem awfully at ease with them, Master.”

I shrugged.

It was probably like motion-sickness where the driver wasn’t bothered by it but the others were.

In any case…

“Let’s go.”

I stepped forward, crossing the threshold into the misty Lost Woods.

Behind me, the others did the same.

The moment I entered, I half expected it to end up like before where time and space immediately distorted. That, or a trick played by the goddess that sent me and Aria away. But instead-

“A light?” Saphira blinked and stared at the ring in my hands. “Did you learn how to use the divine power, Master?”

I glanced at the ring, lighting a path through the forest and then frowned. “No… But I’m even more curious now.”

It was a familiar divine aura, one I was well-accustomed to now after all my time in this world. But…

‘Why is Serena’s divine aura on this ring?’

If it was just her divine aura, I wouldn’t be too bothered. But there seemed to be a connection from the ring to me and then it was also leading me somewhere.

Aria looked over and said, “Mister Nowun? Should we… follow the light?”

I nodded. “It should be fine.”

I walked forward, following the lit path.

Was it because this place was different? The ring? Or coincidence?

Along the way, the only sounds we heard were our footsteps.

As a result, I started getting wary of what might happen. But it turned out I didn’t need to be.

The light died down when we arrived at a forest clearing. And when it did, showing what was hidden there, I froze.

“That’s… the Immortal Door?”

It was different. Rather than pristine ivory like I saw it in the past, it was decaying and covered in dirt. The door itself was partially shattered, leaving only empty space behind it. If anything, it looked like it broke and fell from the sky.

Did someone manage to break through in the past then to reach her?

“Master?” Saphira moved beside me and followed my gaze before frowning. “What are you looking at?”

I frowned. “You… can’t see the door?”

“Door?” Saphira frowned as well.

Titania rolled her eyes. “This mysterious act of yours is getting old, Nowun.”

“Don’t be like that, Tani!” Aria spoke up and said, “Maybe there’s really something there that only Mister Nowun can see!”

I ignored their conversation and glanced back at the ring, following the karmic threads. A few connected to me, and others led through the door.

Just as I was wondering why that might be-

A fragment of a memory emerged.

A scream filled with despair. A dark alleyway. Gunshots, gloves being tossed to the side. And then collapsing in a bed, reaching out to the ceiling.

I flinched and grabbed my head with my left hand. At the same time, light shone from the ring and connected with the Immortal Door.

“What the-?!” Titania stepped back. “There really was a door here?!”

A light rumbling. The door that was half sunken into the ground slowly lifted up, standing properly once more. While it was still broken, it seemed semi-functional now, illuminated from behind by an unknown source.

It wasn’t substantiated, but I could sense it. The door was the way out.

“Seems like this is our ticket back.” I lowered my left hand and glanced at the others. “Get ready for anything, as always.”

Saphira nodded. “Understood, Master.”

Aria smiled. “I’ll be right after you, Mister Nowun!”

Titania sighed. “Again with these unknown dangers… Whatever. Go ahead with whatever you plan, Nowun.”

I nodded and then stepped forward, waving my hand.

The door flew open, revealing an all consuming light. And then-