"Deal!"

The clanging voice echoed through the quiet conservatory, symbolizing someone’s unyielding backbone—only to accidentally bend at the knees again in front of money.

But that wasn’t shameful, because in this world there probably weren’t many people who could resist the allure of being “a hundred-million-close to the people.”

"W-what are you looking at?!"

Ariel turned her head away, a little annoyed. "I’m just getting ready to break into Fifth Tier, that’s all. It’s not like I’m greedy—my advancement takes way more resources than ordinary people’s, okay?"

"...Is that so?"

"Do you think there could be any other reason? I’m telling you, Muen Campbell, letting {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} you off is only temporary. Accepting your employment doesn’t mean I’m just going to let you go—when this is over, after I take the pay, I’m still going to find a way to chop you to death!"

"...O-okay. Fine."

Watching Ariel shout and wave the Skyfire Greatsword around like she’d hack him apart the moment he said one more word, Muen obediently chose to shut up.

No matter what, his goal had been achieved. Even if one hundred million was no small sum for him right now with everything tight on all fronts, being able to stop Ariel from continuing to throw a tantrum—and get her to help—was still a very cost-effective deal.

Having a chosen-by-fate protagonist helping out always made you feel safer.

Come to think of it, this trick really did work every time. Up to now, a lot of difficulties had been solved with this move. The only tiny downside... was that it burned through a bit of his old man’s estates.

But whatever. At a time like this, he couldn’t worry about estates or not. Surely even his father would understand this good son’s heartfelt devotion.

But... then again, this time, for Ariel, this “employment” was less about money than it was about giving her a reason to step in and save someone.

This stubborn, self-deceiving idiot definitely needed a reason she could use to convince herself—only then would she temporarily set aside her resentment and keep acting with a clear conscience.

Huh? Since when did he understand her this well?

"No, no. Whether I understand her or not doesn’t matter. This isn’t the time to be thinking about that."

Muen shook his head hard, tossing all unnecessary thoughts out of his mind for the moment.

What mattered now was...

Muen looked at the chain around his wrist. The branch of the Myriad-Age Cycle was still quietly coiled there. If you didn’t actively trigger certain functions, it was just like an ordinary bracelet—no reaction at all.

But up to this point, every answer seemed to be tied to this tiny chain.

"You came here because of that thing, didn’t you?"

Ariel had seen the chain too and asked directly.

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"A branch of an ancient relic called 【Myriad-Age Cycle】. When I was teleported away, An left it with me."

"The core of that tower Miss An talked about before?" Ariel’s eyes flashed.

Her original purpose in helping Miss An reach the top of the tower had been that so-called core—she just hadn’t recognized it, because this chain looked far too different from that strange circle she’d seen before.

"The core? Probably. From what things look like right now, this ancient relic 【Myriad-Age Cycle】 really does hide an unbelievably huge secret about the entire demon race."

"The entire demon race?"

"That’s right."

Muen raised his hand so Ariel could see this thin chain more clearly—something that looked completely ordinary from the outside.

"If I’m not wrong, the souls of the entire demon race are being bound by this ancient relic 【Myriad-Age Cycle】. I still don’t know the method or the purpose of that binding, but from what I can tell right now, the only demon who doesn’t have their soul linked by the chain of 【Myriad-Age Cycle】 is... Grand Duke Shenyi."

And An.

But Muen only said one name.

For now, he didn’t want Ariel to know An’s true identity, and he didn’t know how Ariel would react if she did.

Of course, the most important part was... he didn’t acknowledge that so-called “true identity” at all.

An was his, Muen Campbell’s personal maid. Her home was the duke’s estate. That was all. As for demon race, demon king... that was just the bullshit Shenyi had forced onto him.

So he would definitely go again... and snatch back the girl who belonged to him.

"Oh? So this so-called 【Myriad-Age Cycle】 isn’t just the core of Gutongs Castle anymore. It’s even more likely the core of the entire demon race, and also..."

Ariel raised her head, looking toward that bright magic stone so huge even she had never seen one of this size:

"The core of this inverted tower."

"Whether it’s a core or not, I don’t know. But it should be able to take us to the most important place here."

No matter what, right now all threads led back to the ancient relic on his wrist.

But for Muen, the strange part about this ancient relic didn’t stop there.

The branch of Myriad-Age Cycle had been handed to him personally by An, but through several uses, Muen had vaguely felt the will of other people.

Like that bizarre dream that had appeared twice, with content almost exactly the same.

Muen didn’t believe that kind of dream was coincidence, and he absolutely couldn’t be some demon reincarnation either.

So it was like, besides An, there was some other existence in the dark that wanted him to come here.

【Please... save them.】

For no reason, Muen thought again of the dead girl in the dream, and what she’d said.

"Am I supposed to save the demon race?"

Muen murmured softly. "But up to now, the demon race has been the aggressor, aren’t they?"

Starting a war.

Colluding with the Kingdom.

Slaughtering innocent girls.

If what he was being asked to save was the demon race... then what was the point of saving a demon race this vicious and brutal?

He didn’t understand.

He didn’t agree.

But no matter what...

"Let’s follow the guidance of this branch of Myriad-Age Cycle and explore everything here first."

Muen stood up straight away.

Some things—thinking too much didn’t help.

A thousand years was long enough to bury far too much. The so-called truth could only be explored and confirmed by his own hands.

And right now he didn’t have the spare capacity to save anyone anyway. Just rescuing his little maid from a top-tier powerhouse like Shenyi was already hard enough—he’d have to go all out.

"We’re moving already?"

Ariel crossed her arms. At some point she’d stopped sitting there hugging her knees, too. "How’s your recovery? You won’t drop dead before you pay me, right?"

"Mm. Relax. Your medicine is incredible."

Muen moved his limbs. Under the abundant medicinal power, the weakness in his body had mostly faded.

Purely in terms of effect, the medicine Ariel refined was far more effective than his blood.

Could only say she really deserved to be that universal-template phoenix-pride heroine, and with control over a flame Divine Favor, her refining skills were absolutely rock solid.

As for the mental side... that wasn’t something medicine could restore. It could only be recovered through complete rest. He hadn’t recovered much, but after sleeping, at least the tearing sensation wasn’t as obvious anymore.

"What about you?"

"Hmph. You think I refine my own medicine and don’t drink it myself? Your stinky blood didn’t do much of a damn thing."

Ariel lifted her fair chin proudly.

"Right now I’ve recovered at least seventy to eighty percent. Killing you with one hand is no problem at all. As long as there are herbs and I have the spare strength, my recovery speed is unmatched!"

"That really is you."

Muen smiled. He wasn’t surprised at all. Her power might not be top-ranked for the moment, but if you talked survivability, it was hard to find anyone in this world who could beat Ariel.

The reason she’d almost flipped over this time was probably because he’d dragged her down.

Wait... does that mean I really am Ariel’s nemesis? Muen couldn’t help sinking into thought.

"Hey. What are you spacing out for?"

"Cough, cough—nothing."

Muen cleared his throat twice.

"Since that’s the case, don’t waste time. Let’s keep going."

"Where first?"

"I already did a rough sweep in that direction earlier."

Muen pointed the way he’d come from.

Earlier, to find something that could treat Ariel, he’d rushed around in a blaze, but he’d thoroughly searched everything that needed searching. There shouldn’t be anything left.

And also...

"Now we’ll only check this side. The branch of Myriad-Age Cycle seems to react more strongly over here."

Muen looked toward a completely different direction.

On the other side of the conservatory—where it wasn’t bare at all, and was still lush and verdant—amid vines carpeting the ground, you could faintly see an ancient metal door.

Judging from the shape of this entire crystal container, beyond that door was more likely the central area.

"Fine then. Go open the door." Ariel tilted her head and issued the order.

"Yes, yes."

Who’s the employer here, exactly?

Muen complained to himself, but still obediently walked over to the door.

Just as he was about to use the same old trick again and have Elizabeth cut it open—

"Hey."

Ariel suddenly called from behind him.

"How long are you going to keep that look?"

"...What?"

"That look—Miss Muse’s look!" Ariel gritted her teeth.

It had once been her favorite face, but now, just looking at it made her hurt.

It hurt.

It hurt too much.

A heart-piercing kind of pain.

Compared to that, she’d rather stare straight at the face she hated beyond measure.

"Ah. Right."

Muen only reacted then, looking at his own slender, feminized hands.

Yeah.

Since Ariel already knew his true self now, there was no need to keep this appearance.

He’d even gotten used to it. If Ariel hadn’t reminded him, he almost would’ve forgotten he was still like this.

Terrifying.

Thinking that, Muen quickly took out the senior’s antidote. Just as he was about to tip his head back and drink it down—

Scrrrt—

A sharp metallic tearing sound—and the premonition of death in Muen’s mind—rang out almost at the same time!

A spear flashing with cold light punched through the thick metal door. Its momentum didn’t slow in the slightest as it stabbed straight for Muen’s heart!

"This—"

Muen’s pupils shrank violently. He was right in the middle of swallowing the antidote, almost completely unguarded. Even though he forcibly yanked his body to avoid a vital point, that spear still drove for his chest...

"Muse—no, Muen Campbell! Get out of the way! shoudaxsw.com heilhxs.com wenhuaxs.com ttmiaoxs.com zlexs.com"

Luckily, he wasn’t alone here.

From not very far away, Ariel arrived in the blink of an eye. The red-gold greatsword blazing with flames carved a gorgeous arc of light through the air, forcing that spear back by sheer force.

A piercing screech.

Then silence.

Just as Ariel and Muen both stared grimly at the spear-hole in the metal door, a crisp "beep—" sounded, and the vine-covered, time-scarred door began to slowly open on its own.

Clatter.

Heavy armor swayed and scraped.

"Yo."

A tall figure stood in the shadows beyond the door, using only the blood-red eyes visible through the visor slit to watch the two of them.

Like a demon peering at the human world from hell.

"Finally we meet again, you two little human mice. You really made me... chase you so damn hard."