To avoid needless attention, I used Light magic to make both of us invisible and snuck back into our room at the inn. Dasha almost screamed when I suddenly showed up, but she managed to stay silent somehow.

“Get off the bed. I’m putting the girl there.”

Though confused, she promptly did as told.

I let the dragonkin girl sit on the bed.

“Hmm. Got a name?”

I asked her.

“...M- Mariella.”

Her voice was shaky.

“Which clan’re you?”

“The... Wings of... Hrotyr.”

God fucking damn it...

That’s all the way up North.

And the Hrotyr aren’t exactly a friendly bunch.

If I manage to curry some favour with them, though, they can be reliable allies. However, in order to cross into the Northern lands from Corland (in the South), one must journey into the dominion of the Rotsgan empire.

Picking between the Rotsgani government and Hrotyr is like choosing to either eat ape shit or horse shit. You can argue which one stinks worse, but they’re both shit at the end of the day.

There’s also the option of going through the Western mountainous region which runs along the Western borders of both countries.The question is: do I want to piss off both the dwarves and frost elves?

My thought is: kindly fuck all of those.

I’ll have to keep the girl with me for now.

“How’d you get captured by the demon?”

“My family was exiled from the clan...”

I’ll hold off on asking the details for the time being.

“Hoh... where’re your parents?”

“They... hgk...”

She just started bawling.

‘Guess they didn’t make it, huh...

“Was it the frost elves?”

“Hgk... hgk... no...”

“Oi, don’t tell me you guys just walked into the Allied Nations of North Rotsgan...”

“Father said... hgk... it would hide us... hgk... better...”

“...”

I mean, sure, he’s not wrong...

But at this point in time (15 years prior to the holy war), those sons of bitches collectively are basically warring states Japan. The Rotsgani had kicked their asses and stablized their borders, but those countries (if you could even call them that) are still full of desperate outlaws. Their leaders barely had enough soldiers to guard their castles, much less defending farmers from getting murdered over arable lands...

“Please, don’t kill me. I can hunt monsters for you...”

She was desperate enough to play such a gamble.

I did save her from that priest, but she probably knew I was no Mr. Upright. I mean, my face isn’t exactly trustworthy, even though I’ve been made young by that guy.

Well, she was standing at a pretty crazy three-way where the path behind her was destroyed, while the two options ahead were: try to make a move and earn true freedom then die by my hands, or bet on what little mercy I might have and survive another day.

Such typical life choices of Eternia, I must say.

Staying weak and remain in hiding only makes you miserable in this world.

“I mean, I’m more than capable of feeding myself, and before you even mention it, you’re still too young as a female to do anything of that sort...”

Don’t get it twisted, mature female dragonkins are among the hottest in the continent, but is my milf-kink ass really interested in the equivalent of a 14 year old human? Surely not.

“I- I’ll pay it back when I grow up...”

“Can you do anything right now? See that dumb wretch over there? She’s fucking useless, but at least she can be a sex slave. Can you do anything useful? Cooking? Something?”

I don’t want her to think that I’ll just be here to help her free of charge.

The only time I’m a good samaritan is when the profit outweighs my effort, which laughably will never, ever happen in this world.

“I can kill.”

“...”

Huh.

Spoken like a bona fide Hrotyr, born and raised in battle...

I mean, I can kill well enough with or without her.

But the confidence in those swollen eyes got me interested.

Perhaps she wasn’t able to do anything against her clan and that demon, or the Northern Rotsgani scumbags who’d never fight fair in glorious battle, but after being put through all that, she might just have the potential to become as strong as her Death Dragon version, but without dying and losing her sanity.

Well, shit...

“Fine. I’m gonna make you kill a lotta’ fucking people, your kind included. Think you got the guts for that?”

“I- I do. Please don’t hurt me...”

“I won’t if you don’t lie, slack off, or try to run away.”

“I- I can’t anyway... you’re... too strong...”

“Huh... wait a minute...”

I grabbed her face and took a closer look at her eyes.

Well, fuck me six ways to Sunday...

She had [Dragon Eyes], and since birth, too.

The dragonkin are descents of Human-Dragon hybrids, but their human genes are always more dominant, so most dragonkin are born with more human than dragon parts, including their eyes.

Some dragonkin may develop new dragon parts in their adulthood, but a rare few are just born with pure dragon genes in certain parts of their bodies—the eyes are one of the least commonly seen.

“I’m sorry... hgk, hgk...”

She started crying again when she saw my face tense up.

“Uh, okay, fine. Just tell me why your family was cast out.”

“I don’t know why... hgk... I’m sorry...”

‘Guess I’ll be in the dark until we actually get to the North.

“No, it doesn’t matter. Just stay here while I go get some food.”

“Hgk... okay...”

“Do not step out of this room, and do not talk to that wretch. Ignore her, but if she tries to do something funny, tell me when I get back. If she bothers you too much, just... fucking hit her.”

“Okay.”

I left the inn while invisible.

[Theos.]

[Yes, my liege.]

[Create a portal that I can use to enter your office unnoticed.]

[It is done, my liege.]

Theos gave me the magic circle through telepathy. Using that, I was able to open the portal from this side and return to the cathedral for the third time, but now completely unnoticed and hassle-free.

“My liege, it is time for this priest to deliver his sermon. Shall I go?”

“That’s fine. I’ll be alright on my own.”

“Understood.”

Theos left the office.

I soundproofed the room with Wind magic before rummaging through all the books and documents stored in drawers and shelves. They were mostly historical accounts of the gods’ appearances in Eternia, but there were some kind of transactional receipts as well.

At first glance, they were just contracts for clergy clothing and equipment for the holy knights, but...

“Heh, oldest trick in the book.”

...with a little Light magic, the true content was revealed.

“Exorbitant amounts of gold crystals being moved from other branches back to their headquarters in the East... Negotiations with the dwarves... Skirmishes with the night elves...”

Night elves are one of the few peoples in this world who do not worship the gods. They only give thanks to the many aspects of natural order, such as the sun and moon, the rivers and forests.

They are one of my top candidates for an alliance.

“There’s gotta me more...”

I cast Light magic with my eyes and was able to have something like an X-ray vision.

Another secret was immediately found.

This time, it was hidden within the floor itself.

It seems like this document was hidden during the construction of the cathedral. That means whatever’s written here has been planned for decades...

To retrieve the document, the only way was to destroy the floor.

“Let’s see, where’s everybody right now... in the main hall, good.”

Since it was sermon time, it worked out in my favour.

I tore up the wood planks and revealed the hidden socket.

“What the fuck is this?”

It was the original construction plan of this cathedral.

However, the last page contained a floor I didn’t know about.

“How the fuck do I get in there?”

There was no mention of an entrance on the blueprint.

Hell, not even doors or windows were drawn on there.

However, there was a strange symbol at the corner of the last page.

“Hmm. Looks like one piece of an insignia...”

The number of mysteries surrounding this city continued to increase.

This feeling of discovery in a NG+...

How long has it been? Over a decade ago, huh...

Anyways, now’s not the time for nostalgia. The good old days are behind me now. Not to mention, the Earth version of me was a wussy ass bitch who couldn’t even tell his order to the cashier right.

I have an ambition, and nothing can stop me.

<An anonymous god smiles upon your determination>

<An anonymous god has gifted you an item>

Ah, that reminds me I still have two other items. Things kept happening one after another. First, Mariella the dragonkin girl, and now this piece of a mysterious insignia...

<An anonymous god is excited for the journey ahead>

<An anonymous god has granted you [Minor Blessing: Further increase Probability]>

That could be any of them.

It seems like I can’t tell who’s who just yet.

Well, it doesn’t matter. My overall plan has changed, but the final objective remains the same. Now, I just need to have more minions infiltrate other cathedrals and search for these blueprints.

[Thelynna.]

[Yes, my liege.]

[Once the archbishops leave, search for a stack of documents that are hidden within the floor of your office in the capital. I’ll have a look when you have the portal ready.]

[Understood.]

<You have unlocked [Mystery of Time Lv.3]>

I turned the broken floor back to normal using a low level Time spell.

<You have unlocked [Mystery of Void Lv.3]>

With Void magic, I obtained something very isekai-esque: an item box.

I secured all the important documents in there and left the cathedral.