"Become my Second-in-command and serve me for a hundred years."

Emperal blinked; he almost thought he had misheard. "Can you repeat that?"

"Become my Second-in-command and serve me for a hundred years." Vara smiled, twirling her hair. She continued.

"In return, I’ll help you get that accursed Mirror."

Emperal just stood there, processing what this woman had just said.

"For a hundred...years?"

Emperal immediately shook his head, "A hundred years is too long, and I’m searching for some items right now. That would, at least, take me fifty years altogether."

Vara frowned a bit when she heard that, but before she could continue, Emperal interjected.

"I will serve you exactly fifty years later, and I need one more thing from you personally. If you can give me that, I will serve you for two hundred years."

Emperal concluded, making Vara raise her brows. She couldn’t help but stare at him.

"After fifty years, huh? And you want something from me...personally."

She repeated, earning Emperal’s nod.

"...What is it?"

She asked, catching Emperal off guard. He genuinely didn’t expect she would ask about it right at this instant.

Looking at her face, he sighed. "I’ll tell you when the time comes."

He was already asking her a favour; if he asked her about her Nirvana flames at this moment, there might, just might be a chance she would outright refuse. So, he had to be careful.

"...Hmm, as long as I’m not harmed or your desired thing I cannot obtain, I will give it to you."

After thinking for five minutes, Vara nodded.

"Deal."

Emperal smiled, sighing inwardly in relief.

"...If I had your luck in my earlier days, I would’ve become stronger and surpassed even my fifth sister."

A groan echoed in his mind, making him chuckle.

"Who told you to be so ugly?"

"Brat...take that back. I was the most handsome man under the heavens in my prime! You know nothing."

"Yeah, sure."

But there was one thing he had to figure out, looking at Vara’s smiling face. He understood there was something far deeper that connected them—no, connected her to him. He still didn’t know anything about her obsession with him.

"Alright, shall we go?"

"H-Hey! What is happening? Did I miss something?" Calder interjected, his face filled with THICK curiosity ingrained into it.

"...I’ll explain everything to you later, now let’s go."

Just as he was about to step forward, Vara grabbed his hand.

"Let me have peace of mind by giving myself assurance." Saying that, her palm lit up lightly.

Emperal immediately felt a burning sensation on his palm, and he raised his brows. After a second, Vara left his hand with a satisfied nod.

There was a small pair of wings ingrained into his skin, acting as another layer of his body itself.

He didn’t question her, after all. They had agreed without even a contract, and Emperal was the one getting his share first. So, it was natural to be cautious.

...

"So it is in the Ashenfields region, huh?" Emperal spoke, standing at the helm of a mid-sized boat.

It was large enough to carry a dozen people at once, but there were only three of them on board right now.

The Ashenfields was a certain area in the seas, where a collective group of islands makes up the so-called Ashenfields.

It was at least three hundred miles away from the harbour; now one prominent question arises.

Why didn’t Vara just fly there, or heck, if she even leapt from here, she could have covered double the distance in one single jump, but...she said she wanted to travel with him.

Emperal couldn’t do anything but agree, well, even he was not opposed to this. Vara stood beside him closely...a bit too closely.

She said nothing, just kept staring at him, for...two hours straight. Calder sat at the boat’s stern, looking at the sea with childlike curiosity.

The Ashenfields were visible on the horizon at midday. The change wasn’t some cliffs or coastline, but the colour itself.

Solmere’s sea was gold-tinted from the residual Phoenix Verth saturation, but the waters around Ashenfields were dark and gloomy.

The islands were low and had dark soil covering them; the thin and pale coastal trees were absent here, replaced by sparse vegetation that grew in the specific minerals the soil had provided.

"Hmm, this is certainly something else."

Emperal spoke, his eyes gleaming curiously. The ruin was visible, even from such a distance.

"So that is the famous Ashenfield ruin, huh?"

It was nothing special, yet it carried a deep and ancient presence. Its construction, design, and style didn’t match anything Emperal had ever seen in Draventhar.

It was old, and the layout’s logic system wasn’t apparent.

"Damn, the closer we get, the bigger it becomes."

Calder muttered, earning a nod from Emperal.

"Yes, Emperal I can sense it now. The Consciousness Mirror is indeed in that ruin. But..."

The Infernal Dragon paused, seemingly in deep thought.

"Are you worried about the beast in there?" Emperal asked curiously, after all, he was walking and talking with a living and breathing apex predator of Verandis.

"Nah, of course not. I am worried about the mirror itself. Be careful when handling it."

Hearing its warning, Emperal nodded seriously. No matter how arrogant and haughty this lizard was, at the end of the day...he was experienced.

The boat stopped when it hit the sand. Emperal and Vara were already down.

Looking around, Emperal saw nothing of significance. There was not a single healthy fruit to taste, nor any meat walking around.

"Shall we go directly to the ruins?"

"Yes, let’s go."

Vara nodded, stepping forward.

"Calder, watch the boat. We will be back in a few hours."

"Heh, just a few hours? Boss, you should learn something from me—!! Ouch!"

Calder hurriedly covered the bump on his forehead; the stone had cut deep. His face darkened as he saw the smug face of Emperal vanishing into the forest.

"Hmph."

He snorted and got back.

...

The duo finally arrived at the ruin’s outer perimeter. It was a space roughly forty meters across, enclosed by the original surface walls.

"There’s the entrance," Vara pointed.

"Let’s go."