When I stepped out of the portal for a few seconds there was a tense silence between me and the guards. It was broken when the guard in the middle of the formation, who, based on his strength, was likely the leader of the group, shouted a command.

  “Sheathe your blades!” he said, as he put away his own. “Welcome back, Miss Ilsa. Thank you for apprehending the criminal.”

  At this statement, I was a bit taken aback. Casimir had been their enemy, but I wasn’t exactly their friend. I had been half-expecting them to try to arrest or even kill me when I came out, since I had broken into the cave without permission. My unasked questions were answered though a moment later when two new figures popped into existence between me and the guards. One was the patriarch, Baek Ji-Min, and one was someone so unexpected that I did a double-take.

  “Anatoly?” I asked.

  “Hello, Ilsa!” he said with a smile. “It’s been a long time. It’s good to see you again.”

  “Er, yeah, it’s good to see you too,” I said. “But what are you doing here?”

  “Oh I was just bringing Ji-Soo along to meet with her fiance to try to cheer her up,” he explained. “And I knew you had come here too, so we decided to stay at least until you came back.”

  Baek Ji-Min cleared his throat. “Ilsa we are very grateful to you for how you not only brought back our lost family treasure, but also managed to kill the criminal who severely injured my daughter and son-in-law, but before we celebrate any further, I need to ask you some questions.”

  As he spoke, a few more people entered the room, this time through the doorway. One was the patriarch’s wife, Joo-Won, and the other two were a middle-aged couple that I didn’t recognize. All three had stern expressions on their faces, and the middle-aged woman was running her thumb along the hilt of her sword.

  “What kind of questions?” I asked. “Is it about what happened in the Dungeon?”

  “Yes. The Baek clan has some ancient records regarding the Dungeon, and we just need to verify that the information is true.”

  “It’s just a formality, don’t be too concerned,” added Anatoly.

  “Yes, just a formality,” agreed Ji-Min with an expression that said the opposite.

  The old man produced a blue orb from somewhere in the folds of his robe, and held it out in front of him.

[Pride] has nullified [Truth Orb]’s effect

  “When you were in the Dungeon, did you notice anything strange?” he asked.

  “Dungeons are always strange,” I said. “But no, I didn’t. Nothing aside from the complete lack of mana.”

  “And did any of the inhabitants… speak to you?” he asked.

  “The succubi and incubi kept trying to seduce me.”

  “Did any others speak to you?”

  “No,” I lied.

  “Did you make any kind of agreement with any of the Dungeon’s inhabitants?”

  “None.”

  The patriarch stared at the orb until he was sure it wouldn’t suddenly change, then breathed a sigh of relief and put it away with a smile. Behind him, the others also relaxed, and their expressions softened.

  “Good!” he said. “Very good! Now, the criminal has been apprehended, and our benefactor has succeeded in a place where countless others have died. This calls for celebration, don’t you think?”

  “I agree,” said Anatoly. “I would love another cup of that aged flower wine.”

  “Then let us have some aged flower wine!” said the patriarch enthusiastically. “And Ilsa, if you’d like, we can dispose of that corpse for you,” he added. “You don’t need to keep dragging it around.”

  “Oh it’s fine,” I said, casting [Greater Invisibility] on Casimir. “I’m going to bring it back to Ravel and give it to the Church of Order. He’s a bigger criminal over there than he is here.”

  “As you wish,” he said.

  You can move around now, I sent Casimir with [Message]. Don’t get too far from me though.

  He stood up and nodded, massaging his neck as the deep cut slowly healed over.

  “If you’ll follow me, We’ll go to the main dining hall so we can be more comfortable,” said Ji-Min.

  “Yes, please,” agreed Anatoly cheerfully.

  As the elf turned around to follow, I caught his eyes lingering on what should have looked like a blank space where Casimir was standing for just a little too long to be a coincidence. I knew he wouldn’t say anything to the Baeks, but it was still frustrating to be keeping a secret with someone else and being unable to talk beforehand to get our stories straight.

  Can you send him out of here? I sent to him as we walked up the staircase out of the cave. Back to the bookstore maybe?

  Not unnoticed, he replied. Be patient. We will have time to talk later and you will be able to leave without trouble tomorrow morning.

  Alright, I replied.

  I then switched over to messaging Casimir

  We’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to leave. We should be able to talk tonight though.

  The place of the celebratory feast was a different place from where I had been taken when I first arrived with the Baek family sword. Instead of the somewhat smaller dining room overlooking the gardens, we were in a large feast hall, where servants were already hard at work setting the tables with plates, cups, and bottles of liquor. Anatoly and I both got seats of honor next to Ji-Min, while the rest of the family slowly filled in the rest of the seats around us.

  It was late afternoon this time, instead of the middle of the night, so nearly the entire family was awake and able to attend, including dozens of cousins and in-laws whose names I almost immediately forgot after they introduced themselves to me. The only new names that I learned there that I remembered were the middle aged couple, Baek Hye-Jin, and Chung Seong-Hun.

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  For the first quarter hour, we simply drank and talked as we waited for food to be brought out and for the rest of the family to arrive. I told a modified version of the story of my fight with Casimir, where I used magic to give myself an opening to cut his throat, as well as a few other stories about encounters with the various wild demons.

  The food that they finally brought out looked incredible, and not being able to eat any of it was very painful. I did my best to pretend to enjoy myself, but I didn’t do a great job at it, apparently, since Ji-Min at one point asked me if there was something wrong with the food.

  The atmosphere of the feast overall was quite pleasant, and aside from not being able to enjoy any of the food, there was only one other thing about it that made me feel unpleasant. A few seats down from me, where the grandchildren, Seo-Hyun and Ji-Ho were sitting, Ji-Soo was there too, hanging off of Ji-Ho’s arm. Ji-Ho seemed to enjoy this greatly, and the couple was practically glued together the entire feast. According to Anatoly, he was her fiance, so there was nothing technically wrong with it, but recalling the sounds I had heard from his room when I first got to the manor, I couldn’t help but feel disgusted. I refrained from saying anything about it at the time, because it was possible that Ji-Soo and Ji-Ho’s engagement was an arranged one, and that they had only grown close recently, but I still didn’t like it, and planned to ask Anatoly about it later.

  The feast ended three hours after it started, and all the guests except myself and some of the younger children walked away staggering from all the alcohol. Even the patriarch was completely red in the face, and he made his departure apologetically as his equally red and unsteady wife practically dragged him up to their room. Anatoly and I took our leave around this same time, heading to the east wing of the manor, which was apparently reserved for guests. The servants had prepared me a room while we ate, but I only took a quick peek inside before heading to the elf’s room. It was a minute or so before he joined me, since he had had to carry a snoring Ji-Soo to her own room beforehand. When he did, he immediately set up a few privacy spells, allowing me to finally disable the invisibility on Casimir so that the three of us could talk openly.

  “So, how was the Demon Realm?” asked Anatoly.

  “You knew about that?” I asked.

  “I knew about this entrance to the Demon Realm long before the Baeks settled on top of it,” he replied.

  “...Fair enough. It was fine. I wish you had told me sooner though, so that we wouldn’t have wasted as much time.”

  “Sorry about that,” he said, not sounding sorry. “I just thought it would be a fun surprise. If I had known that you were going to encounter the Fist God there though, I would have given you a proper warning so that you could plan appropriately. Speaking of the Fist God, it seems you figured out how to create other vampires.”

  “Yes,” I said. “I assume you knew how to do that already too though.”

  “I didn’t, actually,” he said. “The Vampires of the past were quite secretive about their race, and even I wasn’t able to learn much more than was common knowledge. If you don’t mind, would you sate my curiosity?”

  I considered for a little while, then shrugged. “Sure why not. All I had to do was give him some of my blood shortly before he died.”

  “And how did you figure that out?” he asked.

  “It was an accident,” I said. “He used the last of his strength biting my finger off.”

  “Oho, fascinating!” he said. “And I guess that your battle with him did not occur in the way that you told it to the Baeks?”

  “Not quite,” I said. “I didn’t actually beat him in a fight. I just fatigued him to death, since I didn’t need to sleep.”

  “Very clever,” he said, nodding. “And, Sir Lévesque, what are your plans now? You no longer serve Greed, correct?”

  “Correct,” said Casimir. “And I haven’t decided yet. I wish to see my family, but I don’t want to be noticed by Ophelia and put them in danger once again. Beyond that, I’d like to take that bitch down, but I know I cannot do it on my own. I was thinking of joining the Church of Order’s team to hunt her down, but I don’t have a way to meet with them secretly enough not to be noticed.”

  “I can assist with that,” said Anatoly. “I can come up with a way for you to meet with your family again as well. There is no need to worry.”

  “Can you really?”

  “Of course!”

  Casimir bowed deeply. “Thank you. Is there any way I can repay you?”

  “Oh, I don’t need any compensation,” said Anatoly, waving him off. “Though if you feel that grateful, you now have plenty of time to figure out a way to repay me on your own, now that you are immortal.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Not a problem.” The elf turned to me. “And what are your plans now, Lucy?”

  “Well, first I need to go to Wrath,” I said. “I have a new skill that I want to test on him.”

  “Ah. That may be difficult.”

  “Why?”

  “Wrath is dead.”

  “What?!”

  I checked my HUD and sure enough, the number of remaining incarnations had been reduced from five to four.

  “How?”

  “Suicide,” said Anatoly. “They found him hanging from a tree above his brother's grave. Maradona is a mess right now, since he didn’t have any heirs.”

  “But-? Why?”

  Anatoly shrugged. “I do not know. Angelina did not tell me anything about it.”

  “Dammit,” I said. “What about the other Demon Kings? Any news there?”

  “Nothing important. A few skirmishes with Envy and a few Lust sightings, but neither of those are unusual. The investigation into Ophelia has only gone in circles, and we are no closer to locating her or defeating her than we were when you left.”

  “No news on Sloth?”

  “None,” he confirmed. “So, armed with that knowledge, now what do you plan to do?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I guess I’ll search for the other Demon Kings. My new skill should make it possible for me to spot Envy, even if she’s in disguise, and Casimir has told me enough about Ophelia that I have a couple leads on her. I’ll probably start with investigating those, and see where that takes me.”

  “A skill that will let you identify Envy? What skill is that?”

  When he asked that question, it suddenly occurred to me that I had not bothered to read his window. I turned off the skill during the feast, since seeing all the windows while trying to talk to people was distracting, but I turned it back on right then to see the elf’s weaknesses.

Minor Weaknesses:

Former husband of a Demon King

Major Weaknesses:

Pacifist

Fatal Weaknesses:

-

  “...It’s a skill that lets me see other’s weaknesses,” I said. “It would probably show Envy’s need to play her roles properly as a weakness.”

  “I see,” he said. “I’ve never heard of such a skill. What does it say about me?”

  “It says you’re a pacifist.”

  He laughed loudly. “So that is considered a weakness? I guess I can understand how some would see it that way. It’s a very interesting skill. Very useful too. I’m sure it will be a great help to you.”

  “It already has been,” I said. “I wanted to use it on Wrath to figure out how to kill him, but…”

  “A shame,” he said. “Is there anything else you want to know before you leave again?”

  “Mmmmm, no I don’t think- Wait, actually there is! Ji-Soo. Have she and Ji-Ho always been that close?”

  “Yes,” said Anatoly. “They’ve been engaged for a decade now, and they were friends since childhood. Ji-Soo likes him quite a bit. Why do you ask?”

  “When I got here, he was sleeping with one of the maids. Loudly.”

  Anatoly grimaced. “Well that’s… quite unfortunate. I had been hoping that this trip would help her heart heal some, but I fear this news will only make it worse. Don’t say anything to her, please. I will handle it.”

  “That’s fine,” I said. “I’m no good with that stuff anyway. But make sure you tell her.”

  “Oh, I will,” he said. “Don’t worry about that. I wouldn’t hide it from her. I just need to make sure I say it in such a way that it will not push her too far over the edge.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  From there, the conversation took a turn to the casual, and the three of us talked until the sun had begun to rise again, and Anatoly could barely make it through more than a few sentences without yawning. Casimir and I left to give him some time to sleep. I was ready to leave the Baek manor at that point, but I needed to stay at least until Anatoly woke up again to keep Casimir invisible, and so as not to be rude to the Baeks, who were expecting to see me again that day.

  Anatoly woke up a few hours later looking still tired, but he refused to go back to bed. Ji-Soo was still snoring in her bed, so we left her behind to go see the patriarch again so I could say my goodbyes. They offered to let me stay longer, but I declined, saying I needed to get back to the East to deliver Casimir’s corpse and the news of his death to the church.

  After the meeting, I made my way to the gate, said one last goodbye to Anatoly and Casimir, then teleported back to Ravel. Once in Ravel, I began making my way northeast to Griegland, to investigate the first of Casimir’s leads about Ophelia.