A day had passed since Rose's unexpected visit...
And surprisingly, the chaos she brought with her had been resolved in a single day-thanks to the tireless efforts of the Emperor and the Duke.
Honestly, I wasn't even sure how they managed to fix everything so fast.
A lot had happened yesterday, too much for to properly keep track of.
But at the very least, the worst of it was over.
Though... I doubted everything would settle down that easily after the stunt I pulled.
[Snow... Liyana... Rose... Seo... Alice.]
[I'll make sure their smiles won't fade.]
I internally cringed.
Why the fuck did I say sothing so unbelievably corny?
I knew that [Divine Will] influenced my thoughts and actions in subtle ways, pushing to act more decisively, more dominantly.
But outright declaring each of the girls' nas like that, in front of that crazy, overprotective emperor, was borderline suicidal.
Explaining the true nature of my relationship with Rose had already been a nightmare, and now I'd dragged the other girls into this ss too.
I had no one to bla but myself.
But... at the sa ti, I couldn't exactly regret it either.
Because at that mont, those words weren't just aningless bravado - they were a statent of intent.
A declaration of the future I was determined to hold onto, no matter what.
And in a way... saying it now might've been for the best.
Though losing so favor with the Emperor sucks...
It was only a matter of ti before the Duke found out about everything that happened, too.
Which ant... now I had two overprotective, daughter-obsessed fathers breathing down my neck, both demanding answers.
Just thinking about trying to co up with a plausible explanation made my head hurt.
Rose... should be coming to her senses soon...
I realized it too late yesterday, but the newly ford mana circle in Rose's heart had greatly influenced her actions and emotions.
I knew sothing erratic was going on with her, but I hadn't expected it to be that extre. "Riley, I just..."
The mory of her voice-soft, uncertain-echoed in my mind.
Yesterday, she had nearly cried in my arms, shaken by the sheer intensity of [Divine Will] and the sudden return of her reasoning.
I could tell she was struggling to process everything that had happened. But the way she looked at in that mont...
It wasn't just guilt.
It wasn't just regret.
It was fear.
She was afraid.
Now that I think about it, that was the first ti I've truly gone and be angry at her right....?
'I wonder what sort of look I gave her for her to act that way...'
While her obvious remorse did soften my anger, that didn't an I could simply forgive her so easily-especially with all the complications she had brought upon .
"Did you perhaps do sothing amazing in your previous life?"
I blinked at the sudden question.
"What's with that question out of nowhere?"
"I an, none of the situations you've been through would have happened without so sort of divine intervention, right? Even though I'm not really that faithful, I might just start going to church to rack up so good karma- Hehehe. Now you have a princess and ever great genius obsessed with you to top it all off you even have a rumored beautiful fiancé back ho truly how envious~"
Flam's teasing voice carried a light, playful tone, as if she were having the ti of her life. As always, she was weirdly bubbly-despite the fact that she had been in a state of technical imprisonnt for almost an entire week while I was gone.
And what was even more surprising was how, despite being similar in nature to Rose, their actions were the polar opposite.
In the ga, Flam was infamous for escaping every form of restraint that tried to hold her down.
Yet from what I heard she was, completely unmoved willingly accepting her punishnt. Not a single attempt at breaking free.
That alone was uncharacteristically strange.
"Hey, I'll take care of that big CUTIE over there!"
I barely had ti to react before she was already running off into the distance.
"Sure," I replied lazily.
Without hesitation, Flam summoned and materialized mid-ranked spirits all around her.
The air around her shimred as they took form, each one bursting to life with a different kind of energy.
In an instant, they launched forward, swarming the gigantic [Solar Bison] standing before us.
Its body, coated in golden flas, rumbled with power as it sensed the incoming assault.
Right now, the two of us were exploring-no, raiding—this A-ranked dungeon.
Just the two of us.
[Solaris Dungeon]
In the ga, this dungeon should've been raided by Lucas after making his way to the Imperial Capital—one of Snow's routes-long before being subjected to the trials inside the
Trails of Light.
And just as I rembered, this place was packed with C to A-rank monsters.
Though there weren't a lot of them compared to the typical monster-infested dungeons,
their sheer size and strength more than made up for it.
Unlike most cave-like dungeons, this was an area field dungeon-a special type of dungeon that transported its challengers to an entirely separate plane of existence.
A dinsion specifically designed to cater to the monsters within, giving them a ho-field advantage like no other.
Right now, we were standing in an endless great plain, a land devastated by drought.
The sun blazed rcilessly above, its heat pressing down on us like an anvil.
Everything around us was dry to the core-cracked earth, dead trees, the faint shimr of
heat waves distorting the horizon.
In the ga, this dungeon was designed as a trial-a place ant to train players to withstand A-rank monsters' special-based attacks.
The entire environnt was built to force players to adapt, survive, and counter high-level elental abilities.
For reference, the Bison Flam was currently fighting right now was a pri example.
An A-rank monster with Solar Affinity, a beast perfectly suited to this environnt. From what I rembered, its special skill was to ignite its entire body in intense heat, combining that with a flashing golden light to blind its enemies-before charging at them at
sonic speeds.
It was fairly powerful mini boss of this dungeon that would often more tis than not resulted in players restarting into their latest save points...
Though in front of Flam... that ungodly level of strength didn't really matter.
Not when the spirits she summoned could fairly match-or even outmatch-the monster
itself.
"Go and kick his butt, Latty! Ah-Gother, attack the limbs! Tsk-Soma, I told you to go for the eyes! Ugh, why don't you guys listen?"
As I watched Flam cheer and bark out orders, I couldn't help but shudder slightly at the weirdly demonic grin plastered on her face.
That thing she was fighting?
That A-rank, unique-class monster that would normally take a full raid party to subdue?
Yeah.
It looked like a D-rank punching bag in front of her.
It wasn't even that she was fighting it. That would be one thing.
No-she was sitting back and watching her spirits do the work for her, without so much as
lifting a finger.
That alone was disrespectful enough to the poor Solar Bison-a beast who, under normal
circumstances, should be an absolute nightmare to deal with.
But the worst part?
The spirits she was using were all fire types as well.
She was beating it at its own ga.
'That was just cruel.'
I wonder if Raijin would've been treated the sa if Flam was the one he t that day...
ROAAAAARGGG!!!
A sudden, earth-shaking roar tore through the battlefield, followed by the thunderous sound
of sothing massive charging straight toward .
A [Sun Bear.]
Ignoring Flam for now, I sighed as I sidestepped its strike at the last second, letting its
blazing-hot claws swipe at nothing but air.
BOOM!
Its paws slamd into the ground, leaving behind a small, smoldering crater in its wake.
Damn.
Even though it was only a B-rank monster, the absurd strength behind that attack was no joke.
Too bad for it, though.
It was slow.
[Hidden Blade: First Form - Blue Moon]
-FLASH!-
In a single, fluid motion, my blade cut through the Sun Bear like a knife through silk.
There was no resistance.
Just a single, precise strike-swift, clean, and absolute.
The glow in the monster's fiery eyes flickered once before vanishing altogether, its massive
body collapsing.
And then-
Shhhhhh...
Unlike ordinary monsters that left behind carcasses, the Sun Bear disintegrated, its remains
scattering into the air as golden flakes of ash.
I exhaled slowly, my grip on the hilt steady, my stance firm.
Looks like I'm slowly getting the hang of it...
I had thought it would take a while to properly wield the Hidden Blade Technique.
But-
Between the grueling training sessions with Seo and the firsthand life-or-death battles I'd
fought against my other selves in the Trials...
It felt as though the skill had beco second nature to .
I could now instinctively tell:
How much force to exert.
How much mana to integrate into both my blade and body.
How fast I needed to swing.
How precise my posture had to be.
Every aspect of the technique had begun to seamlessly fall into place, as if my body already
knew what to do before I could even think about it.
Perhaps it was the muscle mory I'd built up.
Perhaps it was the fact that the Hidden Blade Technique had been integrated into my System,
accelerating my learning process.
Whatever the reason-
It was reassuring to know that it wouldn't take much longer before I could fully master the
gifts bestowed upon by my other selves.
There was also the blessing the Goddess had given .
But since I needed Emilia for it to properly function, there was no imdiate need to focus on
mastering it right now.
I shifted my gaze to the side-
And, as expected, the Solar Bison Flam had been fighting was already defeated.
In no ti at all.
Her ashen-gray hair swayed slightly as she turned, her usually colorless gray eyes
shimring under the flickering light of her fire spirits.
"Tsk~ you guys are still lacking!" Flam clicked her tongue, arms crossed as she faced her
summoned spirits. "Look at Refa as an example-he always listens to ." Although she was scolding them, it was clear from her expression that she was pleased with
their performance.
After all, fire spirits had an innate love for devouring the essence of those blessed with fla
energy-whether they were monsters or humans.
For them, the heat-infused essence of creatures like the Solar Bison was the ultimate
delicacy.
That being said, fire spirits didn't kill humans.
Unlike monsters, humans-along with elves, dwarves, and other humanoid species-had the unique ability to materialize spirits into the physical world through Spirit Contracts. Because of that, rather than harming their summoners, spirits simply absorbed the energy
they liked from our mana flow, feeding off it in a way that was beneficial to both parties.
Flam approached with light, skippy steps, her usual playful grin plastered across her
face.
"So~? How was my spirits' performance? Does it match the energy of whatever trial you faced
in the Trails of Light?"
I gave her a flat look before answering.
"...No, not really."
"What!?"
She spun around dramatically, throwing her arms up in exaggerated frustration.
"See!? I told you guys-you need to be a bit flashier!"
For so reason, I could actually hear the spirits sighing-a mix of disappointnt and sheer
annoyance.
Ever since I told her a few stories about what happened inside the Trials-like facing an unknown monster, which I knew was a version of my other selves, or battling creatures that could unleash flashy, destructive flas-she had been acting like this.
Whether it was just excitent or so strange desire to recreate the feeling of the Trials, I
wasn't sure.
But if I had to guess... she was just disappointed that she couldn't experience the Trials
herself.
Right now, we were blazing through the dungeon at an extrely fast pace.
At this rate, we'd reach the Boss Room in under half an hour-which was convenient since I
was planning on raiding at least three dungeons before the day ended.
With my return to the academy coming soon, I needed to at least make sure the blessings and
gifts bestowed upon were in a usable state.
Flam's eyes sparkled with curiosity as she casually swung her arms while walking beside
.
"By the way, I've been aning to ask this since earlier, Senior Riley-but what exactly
happened to Senior Rose after the incident yesterday? I heard she did sothing even more troubleso after being released from prison~?"
Her voice carried a playful lilt, but there was clear intrigue behind it.
I walked in silence for a mont, my thoughts drifting to the punishnt I had given Rose.
It wasn't anything particularly cruel-at least, not in my opinion.
But whether or not she saw it that way was another matter entirely. Snow, who was also caught up in the sa punishnt, wasn't exactly having a good ti
right now. That was also why Flam was the one accompanying in clearing these dungeons today, despite the fact that Rose and Snow were both powerful, borderline cheat-like existences. I allowed myself a small, amused smile before glancing at Flam, who was practically
buzzing with anticipation for my response.
"She's on a date."
"...HUH!?"
Flam stopped mid-step, her expression twisting into pure, unfiltered confusion-as if I
had just told her the sun had turned blue.
It was, without a doubt, the most dumbfounded face I'd ever seen her make.
-----
anwhile, back in the Imperial Capital...
Two stunning beauties, each radiating an almost goddess-like presence, sat across from one
another in a high-class café, their drinks resting elegantly in front of them. The café itself was one of the most prestigious establishnts in the imperial capital- designed like a luxurious mansion, it easily outclassed even the most extravagant cafés back
at the academy.
The mont they stepped inside the cafe earlier, all eyes had inevitably turned toward them. Couples paused mid-conversation.
Groups of noble friends and acquaintances exchanged glances, whispering amongst themselves as they stole glances at the two won who seed almost otherworldly in their beauty.
"Hey... who are those two?"
"Isn't that the silver-haired girl... Princess Snow?"
"No way-she's supposed to be in the academy, isn't she?"
"And the other one...? Who is she?"
Curious murmurs filled the air-a common habit of nobles whenever they stumbled upon
sothing particularly interesting.
Yet, as expected of them, Snow and Rose paid the idle gossip absolutely no mind.
Still, their brows twitched ever so slightly, a telltale sign of their shared annoyance at the
situation they now found themselves in.
Spending nearly an entire day trying to better understand one another, all for the sake of earning Riley's forgiveness, was a punishnt neither of them had anticipated. Snow let out a quiet sigh, feeling mildly betrayed by Riley's decision to rope her into this
ss.
But as much as she wanted to complain, she had to admit that she was partly at fault.
After all, it was her teasing that had triggered Rose into acting out, leading to the disaster
that landed them both here in the first place.
She couldn't exactly bla Riley...
On the other hand, Rose was simply irritated beyond belief.
She had absolutely no interest in wasting an entire day sitting across from the "white-haired
thieving cat" in front of her.
Yet, despite their vastly different frustrations, there was one unspoken similarity between
them.
Though their expressions remained impassive, their eyes conveyed the exact sa thought -They both just wanted to go back and spend ti with Riley.
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