Lord Duran’s eyes widened at my announcement before he shot Pait a look. “You snuck a lord of Aberis into our country?”

“Weren’t you just planning to sneak a group of priests in?” I asked.

Duran stiffened, and then he let out a sigh. “I suppose you have a point. I should have realized from your smell, but I’m not very familiar with Osterians so I thought I was mistaken. You also have a lot of strange smells on you, dragonkin, fairy, and some others besides. I thought you might live a peculiar life.”

I cleared my throat, not realizing my scent gave so much away. When I had Celeste with me, she would use her wind magic to cover up and block our scents so that no one could detect us. Well, I didn’t expect my scent to be a factor in a social situation anyway.

“I happen to have some experience with spirits. I was able to clear out old Chalm.”

“Yes, I heard of that matter. I’ve heard you’re particularly adept with dungeons.”

I was surprised once again that he had heard of me. Before, he had only mentioned he knew of a lord who was claiming the wilderness. It looked like his familiarity with me was a bit more than I originally anticipated. I ignored Pait who was glowering at me. By standing up, I revealed Pait’s indiscretions. This might cause Esmore some issues down the line. I would have to make it up to Pait later, but I had a feeling if I didn’t speak up now, I would lose my chance.

“Anyway, if you’re looking for someone to deal with this soul eater, I’m probably the most qualified person you’ll be able to find,” I explained.

I didn’t want to be too full of myself, but I had cut my soul in two and reforged it, and refined that soul in a soul dungeon. My blade also contained a soul. Whatever this creature was that was sucking out the souls of enemies, while such a thing did worry me, I had a feeling like it wouldn’t be able to suck out my soul. I had been told many times that my soul was on a completely different level, too resilient to be easily defeated. Considering my soul was now also anchored to a dungeon, and I didn’t think that this enemy could deal with me.

At worst, I could chop its attacks down with Alysia before it even reached me. I didn’t want to bite off more than I could chew, but if I didn’t have the confidence to do what needed to be done, then why even bother. Furthermore, who else was going to do it? This was an event that was killing lives. These may be people from another country, but they didn’t look all that much different from the residents of Chalm. I wasn’t a monster who would just watch while people needlessly died because it was inconvenient.

“If you say you have the ability and are willing, then I will have to implore for your assistance.” Lord Duran bowed his head.

“Ah, first, let’s talk about what I get out of it.”

What? I wasn’t going to be stupid either. If I was going to put my life on the line to help the Dioshin, then it needed to be worth my while.