Reivan mused on the things Mordred told him about as he descended the stairs to the first floor.

With how suspicious it would have been for Reivan to just stand in his room like a fool for too long, Mordred didn’t get to talk to him too much after suggesting a plan that he’d already considered. For one thing, the Treaty of Alexander was mentioned and its nature conveyed to him, but she hadn’t mentioned the specifics or what Aizen planned to do once Ascendants were restricted to their own nation’s capital regions—which for Aizen, meant the entire kingdom itself given how small it was.

There were a few smatterings of information and the loli knight had to talk very fast for it, which was both hilarious and enough for him to decide on his next course of action.

“You sure took your time,” Mira remarked with a hint of irritation, though her enthusiasm was apparent by how she stood by the door.

“Sorry about that.” Reivan laughed, finding it a lot easier to smile today than ever before. Like a heavy burden had finally left his shoulders. He reached her side and took her hand in his. “Let’s go?”

“Yes… Wait a minute, why are you suddenly holding my hand like we’re about to walk out of here like this?”

“Because we are.”

“No, no, no. We can't!”

Reivan chuckled, his grip slightly tightening to prevent her from getting away. “C’mon. Humor me. Just for today.”

Mira groaned, her lower lip jutting out in a cute pout. “You’re being really pushy.”

“This’ll be the last time.”

“What is that supposed to mean…?” she muttered. Yet she offered no resistance. “Fine. Do whatever you want.”

“That’s a very dangerous thing to say to a man who’s attracted to you.”

“Scoundrel. That's obviously not what I meant.”

Together, they stepped out of the lodging provided to their squad, basking in the early morning sunlight. The breeze felt cool against his face, filling him with renewed vigor. Birds chirped all around them and if he tried hard enough, he could even hear bees.

He’d initially expected the village to smell of manure and its paths caked in mud but that illusion had faded in the two weeks he’d spent here. This was a place where people lived. And people didn’t want to live uncomfortably like pigs. So it went without saying that the village folk strived to better their lives within the confines of this corner of the world.

It was beautiful. In its own way.

“Hey, people are staring…” Mira whispered as he pulled her along. “I think you should let go for now.”

Reivan followed her gaze and found a few scattered housewife congregations whispering about them with smiles on their faces.

It was early in the morning but the village was wide awake and in fact, they had begun working hours ago. Housewives took care of children, ranchers tended to the animals, beekeepers to the bees, farmers to the fields, milkmaids squeezed cow udders to fill buckets, and dairymaids were off somewhere making butter or cheese. Everybody was doing something to contribute to this community.

But even then, one couldn’t avoid being seen by somebody when walking through the literal village. Even if this was the better part of the settlement, where comparatively few people lived.

Reivan gave them a smile and a wave. Because why the hell not? “Does it matter if they see us? We’re not doing anything bad.”

“That wasn’t the issue.” Mira frowned again, the tips of her ears growing slightly red. “What in the world is wrong with you today though? You’re being weird…”

“Maybe there was something wrong with me from the very start. Today is just the day I reveal it.”

“Oh, dear. Is this where you confess that you’re a raving lunatic who seduces girls so he can murder them in cold blood?”

“Pff.” Reivan held in a chuckle. “If I was, would you let me kill you?”

“Of course, not. What the hell? Are you crazy?”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not out to murder you, then.”

She rolled her eyes. “Lucky me. I feel thankful for your amazing moral conduct.”

“You’re very welcome.” Reivan grinned before pointing at a dirt path just visible through a few buildings. “See that? That's a shortcut to the spot, apparently. Had to beat a villager at dice for the information. He had nothing but his pants on by the end of the night, you see, so information was the only thing he could give.”

“Gambling.” Mira tightened her grip on his hand so he couldn’t escape the pinch that followed. “On the job, no less. You oughta be ashamed of yourself.”

He winced at the sharp pain but found himself smirking. “I’ll be sure to change my ways after this terrible scolding you’ve put me through. The world will know that Mira Serandina is not a woman to be trifled with. An advocate of professionalism. A paragon of beauty and an exemplar of good conduct.”

“It's good that you understand this. Spread the word. Tell all your friends... Ah, but you don't have many, huh?”

Chatting and fooling around, they walked down the path and eventually reached a very small clearing with an abandoned shack in the middle that was probably the subject of local horror stories. Needless to say, this wasn’t the romantic spot they were seeking out, but circling around the shack revealed a hidden animal trail.

They followed it for about a dozen minutes and were left breathless.

The two of them were in a cave—wet, dreary, and normally starved of light. But spread out all around them was some kind of glowing moss that cast a brilliant reflection on the surface of a sprawling lake. Blue light filled the cave, casting dark shadows that should have menaced beholders with the unknown but enchanted them instead.

Reivan could have had something exactly like this arranged for back in Aizen but seeing one that was naturally birthed by time and nature, even he couldn’t help being moved just a bit.

“Oh.” Mira’s gaze wandered, a smile on her lips. ”We had a place just like this back home.”

“Huh? Really?"

She nodded, letting go of his hand and finding a nice flat rock to sit on. “It didn’t have a lake though. But this really brings me back. Thanks for bringing me here.”

Reivan sat down on the ground by her feet, leaning against her rock. There wasn’t enough room on the rock for both of them, after all. “Are you thankful enough to make out with me? This is a makeout spot, you know? Some even go for a swim to clean off after… you know.”

“Screw off.”

“Ah. Well, I had to give it a try.”

With a shrug, he crossed his legs and appreciated the timelessly beautiful scenery in front of him. Melancholy sprouted within him as the thought of what was about to transpire here today.

'It seems my identity as Clover Salwyn has outlived its usefulness.'

That had been his conclusion after Mordred gave him her report and suggested a plan.

If he was being honest, he was relieved that he could finally return to his real life. The initial estimate for how long he'd spend as a spy was a year. Maybe even two, depending on how guarded the Tower was with its secrets. But the Tower was secretive. Even now, Reivan would have to give up on the accumulated knowledge of sorcery hidden in there.

Spirit dew would not be a problem anymore, according to Dame Mordred's hastily delivered report. Because in exchange for the release of the runaway spirit king that Sir Lancelot captured, the royal embassy here in Arkhan managed to extort the republic for a few crates of the stuff and its production method—which, sadly, used ingredients the kingdom had never heard of, making it was temporarily worthless.

Naturally, there was no actual intention of returning the runaway girl or letting the Tower eat her spirit king. Aizen would delay the process while making it look like they just wanted to squeeze as many benefits from the other side. All the while, the Tower would be happy to give those concessions because the value of the runaway was simply that high.

Anyway, Reivan hoped the potions they obtained would be enough for his special ability to memorize the effects. It would be very troubling in all sorts of ways if it wasn't, because its source was about to be destroyed.

As for spying on the battlemages of Arkhan, that was about to become irrelevant because their nation would soon become irrelevant too. A sovereign nation without a Transcendent. In a way, it was like a country on Modern Earth that didn't have nuclear weapons or defenses against it—they weren't even a threat anymore because they could be deleted off the face of the world anytime.

'Well, provided the assault on the Sage King succeeds, that is...'

It probably would. Even if the Sage King was the literal son of god, four Transcendents against one would result in an absolute loss to any Transcendent. Though with the unlikelihood of the Pontifex participating, perhaps the number of participants had to be cut to three.

Three was still a lot when it pertained to god-like beings though.

Even the Sword Star himself didn't think he could take three at once. Maybe two, but it would have to be against relatively unskilled opponents. If the Sword Star could take on that many without issues, Aizen wouldn't have waited so long to conquer Sentorale. He would have just killed the War God and Antonnel, ending all international conflicts in the continent and allowing Aizen to rule it all.

But he couldn't. The Sword Star, for all his strength, could not fight every Transcendent at once while also guarding the portal. That was why the kingdom had to resort to such roundabout methods, all while gambling on the possibility of another Transcendent sprouting up from one of its knights.

In any case, today was the day Clover Salwyn would die.

The fake one, of course. Reivan didn't know what the real one was doing, but if all were going well, the Salwyns should have a nice two-story house and a liveable monthly stipend. Their movements around the kingdom were restricted though, but that restriction would be removed soon.

“Hey,” Mira said, nudging him with her knee. “Say something. You’re the one who invited me here.”

“Sorry about that.” Reivan gestured at their surroundings. “I was just taking in the beauty, you know?”

The answer seemed to satisfy her since she nodded with a smile, looking upward and pointing at the moss. “See, I heard there were other glowing mosses in other places, but I really like this one.”

“Because your hometown had it?”

“I mean… yes. But it’s also because it looks prettier than the other glowing plant stuff!”

“That so? I wouldn’t know. Not exactly an expert on luminous fauna.” Reivan poked a patch of moss, his brows twitching when its light flickered off when he made contact. “Anyway, I wanted to ask you something.”

“I’m not making out with you,” she said preemptively, with a hint of exasperation.

“That wasn’t what I was about to ask. But it hurts that you’re so decisive about it.”

“Then what?”

Reivan took a jagged piece of rock and tried to draw a wolf on the ground, but failed to produce anything good because the ground was a bit too hard. “You’re really interested in Aizen, right? The kingdom.”

“Yes…” Mira regarded him with skepticism but nodded.

“Why though? What’s so great about it?”

“What’s so great about it…?” she echoed, looking as if the question itself was foolish. “What’s not? It’s a nation that has persisted for multiple millennia, Clover. The records are a bit fuzzy, but back in the era before the nations of Sentorale existed, no nation ever lasted for more than two hundred years.

‘Believable. That’s roughly how it went back in my old world too.’

Mira continued, her hand tapping on her knees as she went on her tirade. “Nations always got destroyed in war or by a dumb leader. Empires fractured in succession disputes when their leader perished. A hundred years or two was the best they could do until a different banner flew above their castles. But here stands Aizen, surviving for dozens of times that. They’re obviously doing something right.”

“The empire and the republic are both pretty long-lived too, no?”

“Yes, but the structure of a republic means it can just keep on going. It’s made to last and it’s made so a leader can be selected from literally every citizen. And as for the empire… Well, I haven’t heard good things about it. Even if they’ve lasted just about as long, they’re not really a good example to replicate, no?”

Reivan chuckled. “Fair enough. But why would you even want to know about those kinds of things? Are you planning to be a politician at some point?”

“No way,” she said, giggling as she lightly slapped his shoulder. “That sounds like the most troublesome thing ever. I grew up with Inaria, you know? Politics is a mire I don’t want to get involved in.”

“Then why?”

Mira hummed to herself. “Let me ask you a question instead: why not…?”

Reivan frowned. “Why not...?”

“Uh-huh. Do I need some grand reason? I’m just curious why and so I want to know. I was curious about magic so I studied it and here I am, a battlemage. Oh, and I was also curious about spirit beasts like Boop, so I entered the Tower wanting to know more about them too.”

As if to punctuate her words, she summoned the white furry blob named Boop, who looked a lot like one of his spirit beasts—just bleached white and with a pair of tiny, but ultimately useless, wings. She squeezed the spirit beast, causing it to flap its wings excitedly as its beady red eyes squinted in what could only be perceived as bliss. With no mouth, however, it didn't make a sound.

Reivan watched her for a few moments before asking. “Then what about your fixation on that prince?”

“Oh, that?” Mira raised a brow, her lips slowly teasing upward. “What. Are you jealous?”

He shook his head and answered immediately. “Not at all.”

She frowned. “Well, that’s a terribly un-cute answer, Clover. This is where you blush and look to the side while pretending to deny it.”

“Are you actually serious about aiming for him?” he asked, ignoring her nonsense.

“Well…” Mira trailed off, giving it some thought before shrugging. “I mean, I was half-kidding. I’m not delusional. There’s no way I’ll be lucky enough to meet the prince. Plus, maybe I’m a little pretty, but that guy probably sleeps with gorgeous women every day. Maybe he lines them up and chooses them based on the weather. Probably does it with his maids too.”

Reivan tried very hard not to frown. He had a very professional relationship with all the palace maids and he did not, in fact, fornicate with them. It was quite hard to do that with people who literally watched him grow up. Hell, they had all helped him bathe when he was young. While they all had charming appearances, they were also much older than him.

There was the case with Elsa, who was more than a decade older than him, but she wasn’t among the people who changed his diapers, bathed him, dressed him, or doted on him as a child. They had met when he was physically mature enough to confuse people about his actual age.

‘Why the hell does she think that about me though? Is it just stereotyping princes or do I give off that kind of impression?’

One of the things he’d do when he got back was ask a bunch of people about this. He did not want to have such a bad aura around him. What would happen if his kids thought he was a sleazebag? That was a nightmare. Doubly so if he fathered any girls—which had a high chance of happening because the odds were literally fifty-fifty per pregnancy.

Breaking him out of his thoughts, Mira nudged him with her knee again, her tone hesitant. “You don’t have to worry about him… I, uh… I kinda like you more, you know? So keep at it and stuff… Agh! This is embarrassing! Why are you making me say this!?”

“You’re saying it by yourself though.” Reivan couldn’t help but laugh, slapping his knee. This earned him a light hit to the back of the head, but he bounced back immediately, smirking at her. “So. You like me?”

Mira groaned. “Comparatively speaking.”

“What the hell does that even mean?”

“I mean that, if all the men in the world were on a list and arranged by how much I liked them, Dad would be at the top.”

“And I’d be just below him?”

Mira shook her head. “No, I have a few nice uncles just below that. You'd still be in the top twenty though. Rejoice, puny mortal.”

Reivan clicked his tongue, earning an amused giggle from her that echoed pleasantly throughout the cave. “What if we removed relatives from the list? Am I at the top?”

“Hmm~? Who knows?”

“Alright, that’s it.” Reivan caught her leg and braced it under the crook of his arm, hastily taking off her boots.

“Hey! What’re you doing!?” she exclaimed.

Remaining silent, he pried off her boot and revealed a beautiful foot that would have likely been drooled over by certain perverted enthusiasts in his old world.

Sensing his intentions, Mira’s voice was tinged with nervousness. “O-Okay, Clover, let’s be civil here…”

“No.”

He mercilessly began to tickle her. Each second that his fingers wriggled on the flat of her foot, the lady with the voice of a siren produced unintelligible noises that bounced off the cave walls, creating a fiesta of unladylike sounds.

Oh, she struggled to break free. And maybe she could have, if hurting him was on the table—after all, his head was exposed to her fists, and fueled by her higher Might, would knock him out and probably cause a concussion.

But all she could do was beg and plead in between gasps and uncontrollable laughter.

Finally, her struggles brought her over the edge. Of the rock, that is. She fell off and landed on the ground, forcing Reivan to adjust so she didn’t break her leg or something. Unfortunately, both of them being on the ground gave her a lot more room to break free. After some rolling around, she somehow managed to find an unexpected weak spot—his thigh—making him surrender.

Curse Clover Salwyn’s body. Reivan didn’t know it was oddly vulnerable to tickling. The bastard’s thighs were ridiculously sensitive for some reason.

“You… bastard…” Mira panted, out of breath and covered in beads of sweat. Her clothes were also in slight disarray, though this was caused by her own attempts to get away rather than something he did himself. “I’ll… remember this…”

Reivan looked at her and found that she was poison to the eyes in this condition. So he took his coat off and threw it at her. “You’re unsightly.”

She seemed to understand just from that, sitting up and covering herself with it. “Scoundrel.”

He stood up and picked up the boot he’d thrown away earlier, finding it just on the lake’s edge. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“What?”

“The list.”

“Oh…”

“This…” Reivan walked over and knelt in front of her, helping her put on the boot he’d removed. “Well, this is the last time I’ll ask.”

Mira pursed her lips, staring up at him as he carefully tied the laces. And only when he was done did she answer. “Top…”

“Come again?” he asked, even though they were close enough for him to hear.

She glared at him in irritation but answered anyway, the dim light failing to hide the coloration on her ears. “You’re… at the top.”

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“If relatives are removed.”

“Yes…”

“So I’m basically the closest romantic partner, hm?”

“You’re being really annoying.” Mira scowled at him before looking away. “You’re the only one… I haven’t entertained anyone else…”

“I see.” Reivan smiled. “But that’s not quite enough for me. I want the top spot among all the men you love, both familial and romantic.”

“Y-You can’t… That’s Dad’s permanent spot.”

Her insistence on it made him smile. Hopefully, any future daughters he fathered would have the same sentiments about him. “Fine. I suppose I’ll have to make do with second place."

“Third. Grandpa’s second. He’s dead though…”

“Fine. Third.” Reivan cleared his throat and relented, not really willing to compete with a dead person. His sister in a past life had a special place in his heart that no one could ever replace so he understood her, in a way.

“It’s good that you understand,” she said.

“By the way.” He smirked as he brought his face closer. “How high do I have to get up the list to get a kiss?”

Mira grimaced, pushing his face away. “Why are you so insistent on that…? Are you sick in the head? And the only cure is a kiss?”

“No, I just really like the way you react to it. You’re such a prude.”

“I’m going to kill you.”

“Domestic violence already, I see.” Reivan placed the back of his hand against his forehead, feigning distraught. “At least buy me a ring first. You fiend.”

Mira’s lips curled in disdain. “I have to buy the ring? Isn’t that supposed to be your job?”

“I am an advocate of equal opportunity for all genders. Women should be allowed to buy the rings instead of men.”

Reivan laughed, knowing she probably wouldn’t get it. With a wistful look at the lake, he let his instincts take him as he walked toward it and started taking his clothes off.

“Why are you stripping!?” she exclaimed in shock. And when he looked over, her hands were covering her face, but there was a very obvious gap where she could peek through. Also, since both her hands were on her face, she’d dropped his coat on the ground. Which still irked him despite knowing he’d probably never use it again. “You went from kissing to that…!?”

He didn’t even bother to correct her as he took off everything but his pants, even setting his glasses aside. Breaking into a run toward the lake, he jumped at the very last second and performed a self-proclaimed picture-perfect dive. The lake was thankfully deep enough for such antics. And clean too, for some reason.

When he rose up to the surface, he shook his head like a dog and looked around, taking in a cold gulp of air. “The water feels great! Hey, hop in.”

“I’m not really dressed for that.”

“Just jump in as is. We can dry our clothes instantly anyway. You know the spell.”

“But my shirt...”

“I’m not hearing any downsides here.”

“I know an electrocution spell that seems very dangerous to you right now.”

Reivan raised both arms in surrender. “Okay. Fine. Don’t hop in.”

Mira groaned, but she eventually walked up to the water. “I’ll do it if you promise not to look.”

“I’ll try not to do it too much. I mean, realistically, I can’t not look, you know? It’s just that kind of thing.”

“Men are horrible… My dad was right.”

Reivan could only laugh at that because that was quite similar to what he always told Kyouka back then. And he’d probably warn any daughters he fathered about men too.

Mira hesitantly lowered her skirt and Reivan was slightly disappointed to discover that she was wearing something that resembled shorts. It reached just above her knees and didn’t look very stimulating when compared to the panties of his past life.

But it would have to do. For swimming, that is.

She understandably didn’t take her shirt off, but the coat she had was folded neatly and set aside nearby. Then she walked up to the water and dipped a toe in it. “So cold! I don’t wanna go in there!”

“It’s fine after the first plunge. C’mon.”

“We’ll get sick.”

“We’ll get sick together,” Reivan said, but then thought of an even better reason. “And then we’ll get to slack off even more.”

“That’s…” Mira’s eyes brightened. “You’re a genius. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Because you slack off regardless of whether you have a proper reason or not. That’s why you never tried to think of a good reason.”

“Hey. Can’t you be nice?”

In any case, it seemed he managed to talk down her hesitation because she sat at the lake’s edge and slowly lowered herself into the water, shivering as she did. Her teeth clattered from the cold but she still smiled. “Th-th-th-this is k-k-k-kind of n-n-n-n-nice.”

Reivan held in his laughter as he summoned his Wizard Claw, watching it be set aglow. This would likely be the last spell he cast as Clover Salwyn. With a snap of his fingers, orange balls of warmth appeared in the dozens, floating above the water. They melded beautifully with the blue light from the scattered patches of moss, shedding a warm light on this momentous occasion.

“That’s a bit better.” Mira swam unskillfully toward him, revealing that she wasn’t a very good swimmer. Her strokes didn’t have a rhythm and the movement of her arms wasn’t in sync with her feet. She barely even moved.

“You’re horrible at this,” he said with blunt mercilessness.

“I’m from a land-locked town that doesn’t have any bodies of water nearby, okay? Give me some credit.”

Reivan swam toward her, took both her hands, and brought her deeper into the lake.

She was more focused on the act of swimming, it seemed, but eventually, she realized something. “Wait a minute, it’s getting deeper! HEY! It’s too deep!”

“Just calm down. You won’t sink.”

“That’s what people who sink think before they sink!”

Reivan blatantly laughed at her but was surprised when she suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing herself to him. She was trembling. And it made him realize that maybe he went a bit too far.

“Okay, sorry. Let’s backtrack. We’re fine, don’t worry.”

She nodded but didn’t seem up for a conversation until the risk of drowning lowered a little.

They went back to the shallower parts, which was hard to do when she was deadweight. But it was his fault to begin with, so he didn’t complain. She still wasn’t letting go despite that, so he decided to just take her to the lake’s edge again.

He sat her on solid ground, taking the spot right beside her and patting her back. With a wave of his hand, some of the balls of warmth floating over the water flew toward them and started to revolve around their position. The gentle heat radiating from them dried their clothes slowly.

Mira’s clothes, he noticed, had grown quite transparent.

Poison to the eyes. Reivan tried not to look. “Sorry about that. Didn’t think you’d be so scared. I thought it’d be fun.”

She seemed unwilling to speak until she shook her head. “It’s not your fault. I didn’t know either.”

“I’m still sorry.”

“I don’t think I like swimming very much,” she confessed, ignoring his apology. “See, we’re land creatures at our core. That’s what our feet are for. We weren’t meant to be in the water.”

Reivan snorted with a grin. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Of course. I’m subjectively correct all the time.”

“You make it sound impressive, but it’s not actually.”

They shared a laugh, but when the silence eventually followed, they found worth in filling it with something else. Like physical contact, though not as sweetly as it seemed. She idly bumped him with her shoulders, her weight against his. Then she kept doing it again and again, being an utter annoyance.

Obviously, he had to return the favor. But perhaps he’d been too enthusiastic or she simply hadn’t been ready for it, because he ended up pinning her to the ground.

“Uh, I didn’t mean to do that,” he said defensively.

Mira averted her gaze. “I know… Get off me.”

“Right. Of course. I'm on it.”

Reivan was just about to, but he couldn’t help but notice how alluring she looked in that moment. Damp strands of brown locks clinging to her soft white features. Her blue eyes were slightly shaky from apprehension, yet her gaze flitted to his body on occasion, lingering on his stomach or his chest.

There was a reluctant invitation in her gaze. Hesitant and tinged with guilt. But welcoming nonetheless.

He’d seen it quite a few times, the most intense ones obviously possessed by his fiancees. That was why he instinctively took it. Maybe the warrior in him was responsible for his inability to let an opening go unpunished. This wasn’t a fight, but the moment he sensed the weakness, his body moved before his mind could process it.

While one hand remained pressed to the ground to support him, the other reached for her chin, hooking her face to force their gazes to meet. Her lips parted to let a gasp escape, and like a frightened animal, she seemed about ready to run off or take flight. But she didn’t. And there lay the proof that this was prey serving itself on a platter.

Reivan brought his face closer, slow but seemingly unstoppable. On his chest, her arms pressed with practically no resistance. And when he drew near enough for their breaths to clash, she closed her eyes and waited.

“Pff.”

“...Huh?”

Reivan pushed away and laughed uncontrollably, slapping his stomach. “Oh, man. You should’ve seen your face. Priceless."

Mira remained on the ground, staring up at the ceiling for a good ten seconds before she bolted up in anger. “YOU! You tricked me...!”

“Ahahaha~! It’s like you wanted me to kiss you. You were puckering your lips and everything!”

“I’m…” she muttered, her hands trembling as her wand appeared in her grasp. “I’m going to kill you… I'm going to kill you and then kill myself!”

Despite that surprisingly sincere-sounding threat, Reivan’s laughter did not abate. And Mira just sat there, looking like she was about to cry from embarrassment.

Reivan gasped for air, his palm to his chest. “I’m dying… I’m dying of laughter.”

Finally unable to take it anymore, Mira reached forward and strangled him. “Stop it! Stop laughing!”

He did not, in fact, stop. Reivan even threw fuel to the fire by puckering up in an imitation of what she looked like. This did not go over well, naturally. But he continued up until her grip tightened so much he couldn’t anymore. It seemed she wasn’t truly out to kill him, however, since she let go when his eyes were about to pop out.

“I can’t believe you!” She punched him on the arm, a little harder than she usually did. It would likely bruise if left as is.

“Agh!” Reivan winced, raising both arms to block any more incoming jabs. “Why are you so mad? You’re the one who told me kissing’s not allowed until I meet your parents. Or get married.”

“That’s…”

“I’m right, aren’t I? Shouldn’t you be thanking me for keeping my cool? You were practically begging me to do it! And it would have happened because you didn’t resist!”

Mira groaned, her shoulders slumping. “You know, I’ve been doing some thinking of my own…”

“Oh yeah?”

She nodded. “I’ve been thinking that maybe I’ve been too unfair to you.”

Reivan grunted, confused. “About what?”

“You know what I mean…”

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking.”

Mira bit her lip, grabbing a portion of her hair and squeezing the water out of it. “About… skinship and that kind of thing. Like kissing.”

“Huh. You do understand that I was just joking around when I mentioned wanting to do the kissing stuff, right…?”

“I do.”

“Okay, great. It’s good that at least that part is clear,” he said, flicking his wrist dismissively. “You don’t have to feel pressured about that kind of thing, you know? Just go at your own pace. Do stuff when you want to. Screw what other people think or say.”

As long as it's not NTR or Loli stuff, that is.

She bit her lip and looked at him. “It’s because you’re like this that I feel confused.”

“Hah?”

“Nothing.” Mira palmed his face and shoved it away gently, with affection. “I’m saying that… Maybe kisses aren’t something I should hold out until marriage… That kind of thing.”

He paused, not really expecting her to say something like that. “Seriously…?”

“But!” She turned to him, a serious look on her face. “But you have to promise you’ll come meet my parents. A-And you’ll try to get their approval and stuff…”

“Wait a minute, aren’t you moving a bit too fast…? This is just because you’re horny…”

“I’m not horny! What the hell!”

Reivan frowned, noting the lack of notification from [Lie Detection]. But then again, he was aware that his gift had a weakness against the ignorant or the inexperienced.

Maybe she was horny. She just didn’t know what that state felt like. Hence, she didn’t tick his special ability’s sensor.

‘Well, it doesn’t really matter. Because I have no intention of going that far. Not today, at least.’

“This is marriage stuff we’re talking about,” he clarified. “That’s what you mean, right?”

“You don’t want to?”

Mira’s eyes trembled, just a little. But they remained fixed on his own. As if watchful for any hesitation.

Reivan suddenly thought back to what his sister—the crazy one who legalized polygamy just so she could have a harem—had said, about how a woman’s boundaries were unassailable because she’d simply never met someone she was willing to tear those boundaries down for. Once they do, all that talk of “can’t” or “won’t” will vanish.

The hard part, of course, was being the person they’d want to lower those boundaries for.

And it seemed he’d managed to become that person for Mira. Because she’d been unwilling to go beyond hugs and hand-holding with anyone but her husband.

‘Well, well. I guess I was right about the eighties being the Favor range where women start considering marriage.’

“I wouldn’t take it that far…” Reivan cleared his throat. “But I suppose I’m not opposed to the idea.”

Mira poked his chest with a finger, her brows furrowed. “Yes or no.”

“I reserve my answer for a future occasion.”

“No kisses then.”

Reivan tilted his head. “You think that’s a threat? I literally refused one just a few minutes ago.”

Mira grimaced, her brows furrowing in annoyance. “You don’t think I’m worth kissing?”

“You’re such a pain in the ass…” Reivan chuckled in mild exasperation. “Fine. If you really want one, I’m willing to do it.”

“Wha—I didn’t say I wanted one!”

“Well, you could’ve fooled me! You were puckering your lips and waiting for it.”

She tried to punch him again, but he blocked. It still made his palm hurt though. “Can you stop mentioning that already!?”

“Don’t try to make this out like it’s something that happened years ago. It was literally just now. Right there. See that spot?” He pointed at said spot on his cheek. “That’s where. That’s where you were eagerly waiting for me to take your lips and go beyond.”

Mira’s face blushed crimson. “I did not.”

[Lie Detection] has activated!

Boom. Checkmate. But only in his head.

With a smirk, Reivan teased her some more. “Just one should be fine, right? You obviously want to.”

“No!”

“Well, maybe I’ll answer after I get a kiss. Who knows? Give me a nice sloppy one.”

“My lips don’t give out free samples like shops in Aizen do sometimes!”

Reivan’s brows rose, surprised she knew that obscure aspect of the kingdom. And with its mention, he was jolted out of the comfortable happiness of the present. He wasn’t a guy fooling around with a pretty girl.

He was Prince Reivan of the Aizenwald royal family.

“Hey, Mira.”

She frowned, crossing her arms under her chest as she averted her gaze. “What? I’m not changing my mind.”

Undeterred, he continued. “If Prince Reivan showed up right in front of you. Right this instant. And said he’d take you in, whisking you off to the kingdom. Would you go?”

“The heck? You’re still on about the prince…?”

He smiled. “Just answer.”

Mira frowned in thought. “You’re really hung up on him… Which is partly my fault for gushing over him so much, I guess. But really, you don’t have to worry about him. He’s out of reach…”

“I’m saying what if.” Reivan took her hand and gripped it tightly. “What if Prince Reivan was right here? Holding this hand. Talking to you right now. Telling you he fancied you and he would like to bring you to the palace.”

“But I have you…” she muttered, but quickly covered her face in embarrassment. “Forget I said that! Forget it!”

Once again, he held her by the wrists and pried her hands away from her face. “Hypothetically. If I wasn’t around. Or if I stayed as just another squad member. That kind of thing.”

“These are a lot of hypotheticals…”

“Just humor me.”

Mira groaned under the weight of his gaze, but she seemed to give it some thought. His hands distracted her though, since they had returned to holding her hands instead of wrists.

Eventually, she seemed to find an answer she was satisfied with.

“I don’t think I would go, in the end…” she laughed awkwardly.

Reivan’s breath caught on his throat, but he managed to ask. “Why?”

“Uhh… This is really hard to explain… But, you see, I just like it here.”

“Here? You mean… The republic?”

She nodded. “Even if it’s always really cold. Even when there are all sorts of monsters all over the place that someone powerful should exterminate. Even when every stagecoach driver tries to fleece you. And even when everybody in the city’s too frivolous with their bodies… Well, I like it here.”

The silence hung in the air between them, and she chose to fill it with even more of her thoughts.

“It’s not the prettiest place. And really, it’s not that great at all.” Mira said, a bright smile slowly blooming on her face. “But it’s my home. It’s where my grandparents were born and buried. It’s where my parents met and decided to have me. It’s where they raised me with love and care. So maybe it’s not as great as the kingdom. And maybe I’m too lazy to make this country a better place. But I like it. With all its strengths and flaws.”

Reivan slowly let go of her hand, though she didn’t seem to pay it any mind.

“So, yeah!” Mira chirped with a smile that would melt the sun. “I’d stay here. With you. A-And the others too, of course. Even Aldimir… though he’ll have to be kept on a leash so he doesn’t get half the women we encounter pregnant.”

“I see.” Reivan sighed, a decision forming in his head. “I see…”

"...Hm?" she tilted her head as she looked at his face. “Something wrong with my answer?”

“No. It was a wonderful answer.”

“Well, you could’ve fooled me.” Mira frowned, leaning forward and closely examining his face. With some reluctance, she reached up and held his face. “Did I say something wrong? Tell me.”

Reivan shook his head and reached into his pocket, pulling out a couple of stones. “There was never a wrong answer. I just wanted to know how you felt.”

“Well, okay… By the way, what’re those?”

“Precautionary measures.”

“Huh…?”

Not bothering to explain, he knelt to place the stones around himself. She watched with muted confusion, but her observant gaze focused on the stones he held.

“Huh. Those look like runestones,” Mira said, a bit unsure.

Reivan chuckled, placing down the last of the twelve stones. “That’s because they are.”

“What? I heard those are really expensive since only the kingdom knows how to make them properly.”

“They normally are, but I didn’t pay for any of these.”

“Huh?” Mira paused to process his words. “Where’d you get them then?”

“I asked nicely.”

Reivan stood up and smiled as the surface of his flesh squirmed, unshackled.

His legs grew longer and consequently made him taller. Reivan's arms grew a bit thicker than they already were too. What used to be a head full of blonde hair turned to a gunmetal silver as blue eyes took on a bestial gold tint.

“Hello. Recognize me, I hope?”

Prince Reivan Aizenwald, in all his glory, purged his clothes in a burst of frost just as his usual regalia wrapped around his body—black as night with lines of gold. The glasses he once needed as Clover were tossed like dirt to the side, as he grinned, revealing his sharp canines.

“What…” Mira backed away.

But how could Reivan let her get away? With a quick step forward, he grabbed her shoulder and a pulse of darkness erupted from his fingertips, immediately draining her stamina. She collapsed, her body falling to the floor like a discarded doll. He caught her just in time, though, gently carrying her like a princess.

An easy task given his strength.

‘They’re taking their time.’

Just as he had that thought, a resounding boom almost shattered his ears—though fortunately, one of the runestones at his feet protected him against most attacks. Under the force of an Ascendant’s might, the cave shattered into nothingness and even the lake evaporated.

In an instant, the surroundings became a wasteland of flattened earth.

But not even a moment later, rather than enemies, two figures appeared in front of him—both familiar.

Valter, his trusty guardian knight, slithered out of a dark puddle in the ground in full armor. Freed, a black hawk, was perched on his shoulder with bloodstained wings.

And the other was Dame Mordred who, like Valter, was covered in steel everywhere. The only difference was her lack of a helm. Noticeably, she was smiling and holding three heads by the hair.

Three severed heads. There were no bodies attached to them.

‘Ugh, why is she bringing them over here…’

Reivan wouldn’t balk at a severed head. Not even if there were three of them. But he also found no love for looking at them. They were creepy. And disgusting too. These ones were especially so, for they once belonged to elderly women, shock frozen on their faces forever.

Clearly, they belonged to the Ascendant battlemages sent to watch over Mira.

“We did it, Your Highness~!” Mordred gave him a V-sign, making him wonder where she learned it. But the question lasted only a single second before it was answered: the founding king probably spread it around at some point. “We killed ‘em all~! We beat them with the power of friendship and a sword through the neck! A sharpened wing through the neck works too.”

“I can see that.” Reivan adjusted his hold on Mira before turning to Valter with a smile. “Glad to see things turned out well.”

“It was an ambush while their attention was gathered on you and the target, Your Highness. It could not be any easier.” The thousand-year-old knight's armor disappeared, revealing the handsome man underneath. He looked at the bird on his shoulder, a smile on his face. “Right, Freed?”

Freed screeched, though not too loudly. Then it snapped its beak in greeting toward Reivan, past feuds settled long ago.

Reivan nodded, his smile slowly falling off. “Let us address the elephant in the room; why is Dame Mordred carrying three heads?”

Mordred snickered, purposely showing off the heads. She raised them up and they bumped into each other, which did not make for a pretty picture. “They’re trophies, Your Highness.”

“Trophies…?”

“Indeed. Also, I’m trying to see if I can turn Ascendants into puppets,” she said. Almost as if she was talking about the weather. “I’m not hoping for it too much since there's no way I can be as good as the War God. We don’t really leave behind bodies when we die. This head won’t last long before it starts turning into… well, nothing. You don’t mind if I keep them, right?”

“Uh…”

“Please?”

Reivan groaned. He saw no need to hinder her studies. “I don’t mind. You didn’t have to ask for my permission anyway.”

“That’s not true. What if you wanted them for something? Lowly knights can’t be stealing loot from princes, Your Highness.”

‘Why the hell would I want a head!?’

Reivan couldn’t help but sigh and he was quite sure Valter did too.

He looked around at the destruction and was satisfied. Actually, Reivan had intentionally thrown away his glasses so traces of it would be found here, but that was a failed endeavor because everything was obliterated into dust. The attack that turned the surroundings into a wasteland had been allowed so he could fake "Clover Salwyn's" death as well.

With any luck, the Tower’s investigators would think Mira Serandina and Clover Salwyn perished as collateral damage in a fight between Ascendants.

Scryers who could peer into the past wouldn’t be deceived by such things but they had a makeshift countermeasure against that.

Exhausted in many ways, Reivan looked to his guardian knight. “Sir Valter. Please.”

“Understood.” Valter nodded. “Are you sure you have no unfinished business here? It is unlikely we’ll ever return.”

‘That… That sounds like something an NPC would say to the player just before moving to a different area.’

With that stupid thought floating around in his head, Reivan looked back in the direction of the village, where Aldimir, Kantor, Alini, and Inaria were. He’d probably still get in contact with Inaria at some point, given what would likely happen here in the republic soon. But he’d likely never interact with the other three again.

Thinking about it, Reivan would be lying if he said it didn’t matter at all. But they were, in the end, just passing acquaintances in life. He had to move on while wishing them well for what was to come.

“I’m sure, Sir Valter. Let’s go.”

With a snap of his fingers, a portal on the ground appeared and Reivan made to jump into it with Valter. As for Dame Mordred, she would be staying behind to kill any battlemages who tried to scry the area’s past for the next hour—according to her, a battlemage was most vulnerable when they were scrying, providing the perfect condition for a stealthy ambush.

Once an hour passed without anyone getting away with the truth of what happened here, then Reivan would have gotten away with kidnapping Mira. They could then use her any time they wanted to lure out the Sage King. There was the runaway girl from the Everpresent incident too. With two seeds as bait, that old coot was sure to come out of his hole.

As his foot sunk into the puddle, Reivan nodded toward the knight who would stay behind.

“Good hunting, Dame Mordred.”

“Thank you, Your Highness. I'll give 'em hell!”

With that, Reivan’s vision turned black.