|How interesting... the worst villain and the parasite, all in the same place|

'Villain?'

I could get why Lumaria would call Serolris a 'parasite' due to the nature of the Star element, but me, a villain?

'The worst thing I did was killing that kid in Arthur's orphanage... and letting many students die but that doesn't justify calling me the worst villain!'

I wanted to look straight into Lumaria's eyes and tell her that she was sprouting bullshit. However, I couldn't, not because I didn't have the guts to, but because her eyes were literally blinding me.

'Wish I had my sunglasses with me right now'

Thus, I decided to talk while focusing my gaze on anything but her eyes.

"Aren't you supposed to be with that pushov—"

|Silence! You dare to talk without my permission? Kneel and beg for forgiveness for your insolence!|

Instantly, a great amount of pressure bore down on my shoulders, forcing me to get on my knees.

'I- Is she actually mad? Using her divinity for petty things like this!'

Before my knees could touch the ground, however, the pressure suddenly disappeared.

|What are you trying to do in my presence?|, Serolris spoke as she put herself between me and Lumaria.

|Since when did you become so brave, parasite?|, Lumaria gracefully said.

|Drop your pretentious act already|, Serolris placed her hands on her hips as she glanced in the direction of Lumaria's room. |I can easily tell that your mortal champion is in that room right there, and I can just as easily erase him from existence|

|Do you think I'll just let you do it?|

Serolris gave Lumaria a mocking grin. |Unlike a certain pretentious lightbulb that had lately been spending too much of her divine power to recklessly interfere with the mortal world, I've been secretly amassing believers and resting in my domains for thousands of years|

|...|

|I guess even that stupid brain of yours can figure out what it means, right? If I decided to kill him right now, you wouldn't be able to do anything about it|

Instantly, Lumaria's reaction turned into that of anger and shock. However, she recovered quickly before speaking with utmost calmness and grace.

|You know that my father wouldn't let you alone if you did so|

|Did you forget that I have already left the neutral faction to join Prostor's side for a few thousand years now? Why the fuck should I be afraid of Chronzeit?|, Serolris smirked.

|You wouldn't dare!|

|Try me!|, Serolris grinned.

After a few seconds of thinking, Lumaria lets out a dignified sigh.

|Fine... I won't harm this bug right now|, she then looked straight at me. |My original objective is to have a conversation anyways|

|Be my guest then|, Serolris then stepped back.

"Shouldn't you be protecting me or something?", I glanced at Serolris.

|Nah, I just did what I did out of obligation for Sylvia. But don't worry, if this glorified lightbulb have even a speck of rationality left in her, she won't touch you|

I then turned towards Lumaria again.

Seeing that I was now ready to hear her words, Lumaria spoke.

|Your demeanor is completely different from last time. The frequencies of your intervention is much higher, and you're also only supposed to have interacted with Sylvia at this time... No, forget that, you weren't even supposed to enroll in Avaron in the first place|

'What bullshit is she sprouting?'

|So tell me, did father choose you as another regr—|

Lumaria suddenly halted her sentence and muttered to herself. |No, what was I thinking? If he chose another one, he would have told me. And there's no way he'd choose him as one|

"Choose me as what?"

Instantly, Lumaria snapped her head at me and glared. |Shut up for a second will you? I'm trying my hardest not to jump in and tear you to shreds right now|

'What did I even do to her?'

Confused by Lumaria's threat, I briefly glanced at Serolris to look for an answer. However, she just gave me a shrug, implying that she didn't know either. 

'Shit! The suspension is killing me...'

Thus, I decided to ask Lumaria herself.

"What do you have against me? If I recall correctly, this is the first time I've met you"

The atmosphere suddenly started to change as Lumaria's graceful demeanor started to crack and her voice trembled in anger.

|WHAT DO I HAVE AGAINST YOU!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH DIVINITY I USED TO REVERT ARTHUR'S IDEOLOGY AND PERSONALITY BACK TO THEIR PERFECT AND CLEAN STATE?|

'So the strands of Light were coming from Lumaria then?'

I had my suspicions on the origin of the strands of Light, but now Lumaria had basically confirmed it for me.

Eventually, she calmed down and spoke with her previous dignified tone.

|This is your first and final warning. Cease your interference immediately, or you will be crossing the Will of Supreme god of Time - Chronzeit|

"I'm afraid I can't comply with your order. Prostor's already too interested in me for me to even take a neutral stance now"

After all, I was supposedly the only thing that can help him win against Chronzeit.

I could see Serolris was giving me thumbs up from the side but I promptly decided to ignore her.

Similarly ignoring Serolris, Lumaria lowered her eyes at me.

|I do not care whether you're on Prostor's side or not. I've been observing you for quite and while now and you seemed to be fixated on keeping the plotline go as it is supposed to which I appreciate. However, stop trying to change Arthur's personality and steal chances of growth from him|

'She knows about the novel too? Isn't this supposed to be a secret?'

I was seriously considering to just reveal the existence of the novel to my friends since 3 out of 5 Divine beings I've met so far all knew about it. However, I eventually decided against doing so.

'It's too risky. I don't know how they'd react to that information and... maybe Vihar, Prostor, and Lumaria are just special cases...'

|The next time I see you try to change Arthur Kilvillain...|, Lumaria said, snapping me out of my thoughts. |...I'll make sure you'll regret it|

She then burst into particles of Light and dematerialized completely.

As I was absentmindedly staring at where Lumaria was, trying to process the new information, Serolris walked up behind me and slapped my back hard.

|HAHAHAH! I'VE NEVER SEEN THAT LIGHTBULB BE SO RILED UP BEFORE!|

"..."

After recovering for her fit of laughter, Serolris spoke while wiping a small tear in the corner of her eyes. |I don't know what you did to her mortal champion outside of the Hall but I can see that you have a natural talent for getting under people's skin|

"I guess so..."

|Don't be so humble! I feel like we're going to get along just fine! So what do you think? Do you want to be my friend?|

"I- I'll think about it..."

'Yeah, no'

I'd rather not acquaint myself with another Divine being. From what I've seen so far, they were either extremely arrogant and prideful or had a few screw looses in their head like Lyra and Serolris.

'Speaking of Serolris...'

I had a question I wanted to ask her since earlier.

"Hey Serolris!"

|Hm? Have you decided already? It hasn't even been 10 seconds yet. I guess I'm just too charismatic after all!|

"No, not that", I frowned, "Why are you here in the first place? Y- You aren't stalking the Hall like Lyra did, right?"

After all, it wasn't as if every Gods and Goddesses got a notification of some sorts whenever a mortal enters the Hall. So unless Serolris was really desperate like Lyra was, which was highly unlikely, she wouldn't have noticed Sylvia at all.

|Oh, why did I come here again...?|, Serolris closed her eyes in thoughts for a few seconds.

|That's right!|, she suddenly exclaimed. |I sensed a huge burst of Lumaria's foul mana near the Hall so I came down to investigate|

"I see"

'Fucking Arthu— no, what the hell Lumaria! She's ruining her champion's future and she had the guts to threaten me not to interfere!'

After calming down and thinking for a bit, I decided on what I'd do in the future.

'Much as I want to mess with Arthur's mind even more out of spite, it would be for the best if I refrained from doing so for now...'

Although I was technically on Prostor's side, my goals and Lumaria's seemed to have coincided somewhat. I needed to find my mother, and keeping the plotline intact would give me the best chance at doing so.

Despite the fact that all of this 'Prostor' and 'Chronzeit' bullshit was very obviously hinting at some bigger conspiracies going on, I couldn't care less about it.

'Meddling with the affairs of the Gods will just create more problem for me...'

However, I didn't feel safe knowing that Lumaria could be watching me at any given moment. Thus, I reluctantly turned towards Serolris for help.

"Hey Serolris, you remember what Lumaria said before she disappeared?"

|Yes|, as if already knowing what I was going to say next, Serolris stared at me with expectant eyes.

'Can't believe I'm using this again but I can't risk having my lies exposed to Serolris'

<[F - Emotionless]>

"I plan to ignore her words and... infuriate her as much as possible..."

Instantly, Serolris grabbed my hands and grinned. |You're not even afraid of threats made by the Goddess who is closest to becoming a Supreme divine being! I knew you had it in you! I take this as your confirmation to being my friend?|

"Yes. And I wanted to know if Lumaria can know what I'm doing whenever she wants to since my plans would have a much higher chances of failing if she actually could"

|Pffffffft!|, Serolris burst into laughter after hearing my question. |HAHAHAHA! Who do you think the lightbulb is? The Creator?|

I stared at her laughing face coldly.

After a while, Serolris calmed down again. |Keum! Anyways, you don't have to worry. She can only see through the eyes of that handsome champion of hers|

"Is that so?"

However, there was still a problem. 

"What if I don't want her to see or hear what I'm discussing with her champion?"

|In that case, tell Lyra. She should be able to block it for a few minutes...|

"I see, thanks"

|That's what friends are for!|, Serolris laughed as she slapped my back again.

Not really having anything else to ask, I deactivated the skill.

Sighing at the troublesome 'friend' I had just made, I turned my gaze down towards Sylvia, who was drooling on the floor.

"Aren't you going to wake her up?"

|Oh right!|

SNAP—!

With a snap of Serolris' finger, Sylvia's eyes suddenly shot open.

She quickly got up and looked around confusedly.

"Huh? Why am I on the floor?"

Sylvia urged Serolris to give her some explanations, but she refused with a grin.

And of course, Sylvia redirected her question to the only other person in the room - me.

"Okay, I can more or less guess that Serolris knocked me out but what happened while I was gone, Theodore? I saw Lumaria before I passed out! Did she say something!?"

'I'm not playing the role of the explainer again!'

As such, I merely gave Sylvia a mysterious smile. "Who knows? Maybe I'll tell you everything when I deem that you're ready to face the truth"

In response, Sylvia pouted at me and clung onto Serolris, who was frowning as if something was greatly disturbing her.

"What's wrong Serolris?", Sylvia asked, noticing her frown. "Are you okay?"

Serolris shook her head at Sylvia's question. |I'm fine, but you're not. You should get out of here quickly before the Hall forcefully removes you!|

Hearing this, Sylvia widened her eyes in realization as if she had just remembered something.

I, however, was confused. "Huh? Why would it do that?"

'Why would the Hall kick a member of Arthur's harem out?'

|You didn't know?|, Serolris stared at me in disbelief. |She's a V—|

Before Serolris could finish her sentence, she suddenly frowned and looked behind her, only to see Sylvia tugging the hems of her sleeves and shaking her head.

Nodding in apparent understanding, Serolris turned towards me again. |Ignore what I said. Just get her out of here as soon as possible. See you later!|

She then dematerialized without even sparing another glance at us.

Staring at me for a while, Sylvia finally spoke up. "I have enough mana now, let me heal you"

Seeing no reasons to refuse, I nodded.

As Sylvia was healing me, I couldn't help but to be worried. After all, it would be bad if something was wrong with her.

'N- No, I'm not worried about her. I'm merely worried about the plotline! Yes! That's all!'

After justifying my would-be actions, I turned towards Sylvia to ask her. "What was Serolris talking about? Is there something wrong with you?"

In response, Sylvia merely shook her head. "Nothing. I don't want to place more burdens on you. No need to worry about me"

Hearing this, I was about to press her for more information. However, I figured that this was a chance to drive a wedge between me and her.

Thus, I turned around and crossed my arms with a pout. "Don't misunderstand! I- It's not like I'm worried for you or anything, idio—"

I froze on the spot in realization.

'WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME?'

I was so hell-bent on creating conflict with Sylvia that I instinctively did that. It was almost as if I was a Tsunde—

'NO!', I slapped myself.

There was no way I was becoming such an abomination.

After repeatedly telling myself that I could never possibly become such a monstrosity, I turned towards Sylvia again.

"Forget what you just heard. It's morning already, let's get Arthur and get out of here before the Hall kicks you out or whatever Serolris said"
...

After regrouping with Arthur, whose hair had now turned silver just like Sylvia's and Eleanor's for some reasons, we went through the old transfer gate and returned to Alicia's cabin.

Of course, I also messed up the mana circuit just like Alicia did to make sure no one could get into the Hall without me, Alicia, or... Arthur's luck, I guess.

Though, staring at Sylvia who was asking Arthur about the color of his hair, I couldn't help but to have a strange thought.

'Does silver hair have anything to do with talent?'

After all, Eleanor, Sylvia, and Arthur are all geniuses in their own right. And they all have silver-white hair now.

'Dammit! Now I'm curious about what Serolris was about to say before!'

Maybe she was about to reveal the secret behind how Sylvia was so powerful. Maybe she was just talking bullshit to play a prank on me. But I was ready to take the risk to gain more power.

As such, I tapped Sylvia's shoulders and asked her again.

"Sylvia, is there really no chance that I can know what Serolris was about to say before you interrupted her?"

Staring at me for a few seconds, Sylvia answered my question with a smirk. "Who knows? Maybe I'll tell you everything when I deem that you're ready to face the truth"

'Damn you Serolris!'

I was fairly certain that Sylvia had learnt this way of getting back at me from that Star Goddess.

'Or maybe she learnt it from me... no, that can't be true!'

I refused to believe that I had that much influence on her.

Regardless of whether it was my fault or not, we eventually left Alicia's cabin and made our way towards Leiast city.

When the city was in sight, I stopped Sylvia and Arthur in their tracks. "This is where we part ways"

"Huh?", Sylvia tilted her head in confusion. "Aren't you coming with us?"

"No, I'm wanted for apparently kidnapping you"

After thinking for a while, Sylvia looked at me with even more confusion than before. "Even if that's the case, wouldn't going into the city with us be better for you? We can testify for your innocence. Right, Arthur?"

In response, Arthur nodded.

'It seemed that I underestimated her. She has common sense, unlike that pushover besides her...'

I sighed in frustration. I really didn't want to say this out loud but—

"I don't want to stand out too much"

Nothing good ever came out of getting too much attention. I'd rather have Arthur be the one that rescued Sylvia.

"I understand then", Sylvia nodded.

"Anyways", I sighed. "Tell the authorities that Arthur was the one who saved you and that I had nothing to do with this case. That should solve all of our problems"

Arthur looked like he wanted to say something but I gave him a glare to shut him up. 

'Don't you dare ruin this with your bullshit sense of justice'

Thankfully, Sylvia was more understanding than Arthur. "Alright. We'll make sure to do what you say"

Nodding my head, I turned around to camp on the mountain range for a few hours to wait for my capture warrant to be properly withdrawn before entering the city.

As I barely took a step forwards, however, I could feel something soft pressing against my back.

'S- Sylvia...? Why is she doing this?'

I was surprised to see Sylvia hugging me from behind. 

As I was about to shake her off, she suddenly spoke up.

"I can't thank you enough, Theo"

Freezing on the spot as if realizing something, she hurriedly added. "—dore"

However, I couldn't focus on her words, as I was checking Arthur for his reactions.

'Does he not care? Wait, is he smiling?'

As I saw the corners of Arthur's lips curl up slightly, I couldn't help but to shudder in fright.

'This is all wrong!'

Thus, I roughly pushed Sylvia to the ground and spoke with a cold tone.

"Don't have any delusions about me. I'm merely doing this for my own benefits"

Disregarding Arthur's frown and Sylvia's shaken gaze, I walked away.

'This is for the best...'

After all, I've interfered with the plotline too much in this little excursion. I needed to take any chances I can to bring the plot back on track.

...

After a few hours, I was finally back in Avaron.

As I had expected, the guards didn't stop me from going into Leiast city to use the Transfer gate there.

'The capture warrant must have been retracted'

Though, I couldn't say the same about the weird looks everyone were giving me.

Ignoring such insignificant problems, I returned to my dorm room again.

'I've skipped school for 3 days... but it doesn't matter, headmaster Alan will cover for me again'

Such was the benefit of being Alicia's father.

Pausing my thoughts there, I opened the door to my dorm room and walked in.

CLANK—!

'Ah... there's no place like home!'

Unlike the 2 days I spent in the wilderness, sniffing Sylvia's scale to find her, I could finally relax. 

'Everything's normal... I'm glad'

As soon as I entered my dorm, I could see Alicia disinterestedly waving at me while not removing her eyes from the TV in the living room. The placement of everything in the room was just as how I remembered them to me. It seemed that Alicia didn't let Lyra lay waste to this place while I was gone.

'Speaking of Lyra...'

I sighed as the Celestial had just materialized right besides me, staring at me with a face white as sheet.

"What are you doing?"

Lyra ignored my question and continued staring at me in shock.

'Oh!', I finally realized the reason behind her weird actions. 'Of course she can sense it'

However, I was still deliberating on whether or not to actually give her it.

'Well... no one forbade me from doing it'

As such, I pulled Vihar's dead flesh from my pocket and held it in front of his daughter.

'Okay it sounds wrong when I put it that way'

Unaware of my thoughts, Lyra started shaking uncontrollably.

Seeing that she wasn't going to recover from her shock any time soon, I grabbed her hands and put Vihar's fragment on them. 

Her eyes moistened as she alternated her gaze between me and the fragment. Eventually, she collected herself and dematerialized almost immediately after. 

"What was that about?". Alicia, who had turned off the TV to watch us from a while ago, asked.

In response, I merely shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know either"

Losing all interest, she turned on the TV again.

I, however, was tired. As such, I plopped down on the couch and fell asleep.
...

'Huh?'

I was suddenly awoken in the middle of the night by the sensation of something soft pressing against my chest.

Opening my eyes, I was surprised to see Lyra hugging me.

"What are you doing here?"

In response, her molten-red eyes stared straight into mine as her voice trembled. |P- Please, j- just for tonight... d- don't leave me like m- my father did|

'Did Vihar really tell her?', I frowned.

Although I didn't know what happened in Lyra's domain after she dematerialized, I was fairly certain that Vihar's residual soul somehow managed to convince Lyra that he was dead based of what she had just said.

Mistaking my frown for something else, Lyra trembled even more.

Sighing, I patted her head to calm her down. "Don't worry, I won't leave you. Everything will be fine"

This seemed to have worked somewhat as Lyra had stopped shaking.

Normally, I'd have left it at that. However, I couldn't help but to remember Vihar's last words.

'Saving Lyra... is he talking about this?'

It would make sense for me to 'save' her emotionally, as I couldn't see myself saving her from any physical threats and not the opposite.

As such, I hugged Lyra even tighter to reassure her. 

Eventually, she fell asleep in my embrace.

'What a tiresome day...'
...

CRACK—!

'ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?'

I was woken up again twice in the same day. This time, however, the sound of glass shattering woke me up from my blissful sleep.

I looked around the room. Lyra was still using me as a hug pillow to get through her breakdown, so she couldn't have been the one who did it.

Eventually, I spotted Alicia right in front of the bathroom door, holding a half-shattered glass cup while looking at me with a cold gaze.

Finally noticing that I was awake, Alicia spoke. "I thought you and Sylvia were dat—"

"No, we weren't", I quickly shot down her misunderstanding. "And don't have any wrong ideas about my current position either. Lyra desperately need this right now"

That was the truth. After all, I was fairly certain that Lyra would just act like how she usually would when she woke up.

Alicia narrowed her eyes, clearly not believing what I had just said one bit. Eventually, she shrugged her shoulders and closed the bathroom door to do whatever she was originally planning to do in it.

It was then that I noticed Lyra slowly opening her eyes.

"Had enough of me?", I said in a sarcastic tone.

Removing herself from me, Lyra yawned as she answered. |Yep. Now I'll have to sever our covenant and find another guy to hug when I have a breakdown again|

I couldn't tell whether she was joking or not. However, judging by the grin she was giving me, I was sure that it was a joke.

Seeing Lyra acting shamelessly as if she didn't just begged me to let her hug me last night like this, I sighed in relief.

'Good, she's back to normal, just as I had predicted'

However, I was soon snapped out of my thoughts by Lyra's intense gaze.

"What are you looking at me for?"

Lyra ignored my question, grabbed my head and lets out an exaggerated kissing sound as her lips met my cheeks.

|Mwah!|

I froze on the spot as I tried to process what she had just done.

CRACK—!

However, I was soon snapped out of my stupor upon hearing the sounds of glass shattering again.

Tracing my eyes over Lyra's shoulders, I saw Alicia staring at me with even more shock then before. The glass cup she was holding on her hand was no more as I assumed that it was the cause of the previous sound.

Before I could say anything, Alicia left the room while glaring at me like I was the biggest scumbag in the world.

"I'll leave you guys some private time"

CLANK—!

It was then that I finally regained my composure. Having calmed down, I could immediately guess why Lyra did that.

"Well that's a new way to ask me to find more believers for Vihar"

|It's not that|, Lyra chuckled. 

Her gaze then turned sad. |He's already dead... sorry for making you do useless things for the past months...|

Seeing this, my face softened.

"Don't worry", I patted her head. "It's not all useless. You've also gotten stronger thanks to it, correct? And I also benefit from you getting stronger so I don't really mind" 

Lyra's face then brightened up again. "I guess you're right. And I'll get stronger in the future too!" 

"Oh, how so?", I was intrigued. 

Puffing her chest in pride, Lyra continued. "I'm going to become a Goddess!"

I was pleasantly surprised my this news. After all, I'd become much stronger than I was now thanks to my <V> graded covenant if Lyra did succeed in becoming a Goddess.

However, her next words poured cold water on me. 

|Don't get too excited though. It'll take a few years before I can finally become one|

'Of course nothing's ever easy for me', I scowled inwardly.

However, the information of her becoming a Goddess really didn't answer my earlier question.

"But why did you kiss me on the cheeks then?"

'D- Don't tell me she—'

Before I could come to the obviously wrong conclusion, however, Lyra hurriedly answered by question.

|I just wanted to thank you|

"B- By kissing? I- I mean it feels good and all but—"

|Pffffffft!|, Lyra struggled to hold in her laughter. |Hahahah! No, not that! Check your Status!|

Not wanting to embarrass myself any further, I followed her words.

"Status"

Staring at my Status screen, I couldn't help but to be confused.

'It's no different than before... wait! What's this?'

It was then that I noticed something odd in my Skill tab.

'I gained a new Skill?'

===

[B - Ash veil]

The skill allows the user to conjure veils of ashes at will. Ashes affected by the skill can be condensed, dispersed, or manipulated to the user's liking.

===

I widened my eyes in surprise and looked at Lyra in shock. "A- Are you sure you want to grant me this Skill?"

|I'm sure|, Lyra said firmly.

She then fell back down on the couch and closed her eyes. |I'm a bit tired after spending so much divine energy to grant you the skill so I'll teach you how to use it later|

As soon as she finished her sentence, she fell asleep again, snoring.

Despite having heard her words, however, I simply couldn't wait until tomorrow to test the Skill out.

'It might be able to supplement my Illusions if I used it correctly...'

After all, Alicia's illusion spells had one glaring weakness: They merely tricked the eyes. 

As such, one could tell whether I was conjuring up an Illusion or not simply by touch, just like Semier did when he tried to grope me, or rather, Lyra's chest.

Stopping myself from shuddering when thinking of the sorry excuse of an Archangel, I focused on the Skill again.

'Let's experiment, shall we?'

<[B - Ash veil]>

Instantly, layers of ashes manifested right beneath my feet.

I closed my eyes in concentration, willing them to form the shape of a pen.

After a while, I opened my eyes to see a pen lying on the ground where the ashes were.

"It's shaped like a pen however I look at it but... it doesn't look like a pen...", I frowned as I picked the pen up.

After all, I could do nothing to hide the obvious dark-gray color of the ashes.

'Or can I?'

<[Alternate storage]>

I took out the brown grimoire and ran my mana through it. 

Instantly, the ash pen turned into a... normal one.

"It's still not perfect...", I muttered.

Although it looked exactly like a normal pen, I could still feel the crusty and somewhat dusty texture of the ashes in my hand. However, I believed that I could even manipulate its texture too if I had enough practice.

'I'd better start training now then'

Thus, I decided to leave my room to go train with my new Skill.

CLANK—!

Having not even taken 3 steps out of my dorm, however, I stopped dead in my track and slowly turned back.

"A letter?"

I was surprised to see that the mailbox in front of my dorm room had an envelope in it. After all, I wasn't expecting a letter from anyone.

'Maybe it's Alicia's...?'

On the off-chance that the letter was from a boy confessing to my daughter, I hurriedly pried the mailbox open and took the letter out.

'Not good...', I frowned as I realized that the envelope was the kind that was most often used for invitations.

'That bastard really wanted to seduce her, huh?'

However, I soon sighed in relief as I recognized the seal of the Ecertold d—

'THE ECERTOLD DUCHY?'

With trembling hands, I slowly removed the wax seal that could have only been used by duke Evanos Ecertold and read the content of the letter inside the envelope.

===

Join Arthur to go to my estate immediately or I will make you regret living

===

"Ah, I'm fucked"

***

In a land to the East of the Empire, separated by sea.

2 men were sitting in a room filled with complex and bizarre machinery.

The younger-looking man, who had just turned away from a monitor with an expression of shock, called out to the other man.

"GENERAL BAEK!"

"What is it?", Baek Taeho, the man who looked like he was in his early 30s, replied with much irritation while still slouching on his comfortable armchair.

"It's important! Please pay more attention!"

Seeing that Taeho was promptly ignoring his words, the younger man sighed and decided to continue regardless of whether his superior paid attention to him or not. "It's about the recent anomalous surge of Angelic energy"

Instantly after hearing this, Taeho shot up and stared at the man in disbelief. "Did it happen again?"

"Yes sir. The intensity this time is even greater than before"

"How many has it been now?", Taeho frowned as he muttered to himself. "2 times? 3 times?"

"It's 4, sir!"

"Is that so?", Taeho nodded his head thoughtfully.

"..."

"The energy bursts all occurred across the West sea, correct?"

"That is correct, sir!"

After a while, Taeho heaved a sigh of annoyance and ordered the man.

"Send some scouting planes to find out what's happening beyond the West sea"

"With all due respect, sir...", the man said with slightly shaken voice. "...shouldn't we get the Minister of Defense's permission on this? No, shouldn't we at least seek cooperation from the Hunter association?"

"Trainee...", Taeho's voice suddenly turned cold. "...Do you understand the weight of the words you had just said?"

"N- No, s- sir!"

"It can't be helped then", Taeho sighed. "Let me re-educate you"

"..."

"Tell me, what did the higher-ups do when we first detected the energy bursts?"

"T- They told us to ignore it, sir"

"Correct. And what did they do when the bursts happened 2 more times with the intensity increasing each time?"

"T- They also told us to ignore it..."

"That's right. I hope that you see the incompetence of our higher-ups now. And here's another question, what if there's another civilization beyond the <Wall of Fog>?"

Hearing this, the trainee stiffened. "T- That's impossible!"

"No, it's possible", Taeho pointed towards the monitor that the trainee was previous staring at. "There's our proof"

Seeing that the trainee was still not convinced, Taeho sighed again. "Look, the first burst happened exactly when the 1st ranked hunter - Park Sungchul cleared the <Wall of Fog>. Furthermore, there had been reports of the Constellation of Lumaria going silent that day"

"..."

"Thus, I came to the conclusion that there is a civilization of Constellations just across the West sea. Or at least a civilization that can utilize the Constellations' powers much more efficiently than we can"

"I- I get what you're saying, sir, but that doesn't explain why we shouldn't contact the association"

"Is that head of yours empty?", Taeho shouted. "We could be making our first contact with another civilization outside our own's and you want to send those arrogant and bloodthirsty hunters as possible envoys? Are you out of your mind? DO YOU WANT TO WAGE WAR WITH THEM WHEN WE GOT OUR HANDS FULL DEALING WITH DEMONS AND DEVILS?"

Hearing this, the trainee hung his head down low in shame.

After a while, Taeho calmed down and plopped down on his chair again.

"Forget it. We'll take it slow then. Just send some unmanned scouting planes to the coordinate of the bursts. Those old fogeys won't be able to complain if we do that"

Seeing that the trainee had ran out of the room to carry out his order, Taeho muttered to himself. "A land where humans co-exist with other races huh? That sounds a lot different from the Republic I'm living in..."

He then chuckled to himself. "I hope you're not deceiving me, Karin"

Sighing, he took out an old picture of a black-haired, blue-eyed woman before stuffing it back into his pockets with a pained expression.

"I get that you want to meet your son again but I can't help you if I don't know where you're at now, dammit! Why did you have to disappear?"