*Twitch* “Hello, Jotun!” Elena turned around and raised her voice, showing a smile.
“Elena, dear Elena… You and your boyfriend are really nosy, don’t you think?” Jotun asked as he pulled out his hands from behind his back. He was holding Tron by his collar, who was beaten up and had purple patches on his face.
“He ran his mouth even though he was supposed to keep silent. It’s really interesting since he has never done it before, even if it was a nice person. I suppose you have some kind of mind related spell that lowered his guard, but he still betrayed my expectations.”
“And so you beat him up, even though he had been serving you for how many years?” Elena furrowed her brows.
“A hundred and fifty-six to be exact, but that’s not going to save him from my wrath. So? What are you looking for in my office?” Jotun dropped Tron to the floor as if he was a dirty towel and walked towards Elena and Dred.
Dred continued to look at the map, completely ignoring Jotun, while Elena stepped closer to Jotun and stopped in front of him. “Does it matter?”
“It does.”
“Well, I want to know what you know about the Ring of Wind and what sort of information you have about this mysterious Sealu planet. I also want to know what’re your plans. How do you plan to deal with Padinyss?” she asked, looking straight into Jotun’s eyes.
“Interesting… You’ve got more blood in your lower half than many other guys. Most of them would shiver in fear by now and beg for their lives,” Jotun said, visibly amused by Elena.
“Is that so?”
“Mhm. But don’t think that it’s a good thing,” he said as he grabbed Elena’s throat and raised her into the air. Dred appeared behind Jotun, his paw right in front of Jotun’s throat. A single movement and he could behead him.
“Oh, my… your boyfriend doesn’t like jokes, does he?” Jotun laughed unperturbed.
“I don’t like to be held by the neck either,” Elena replied as she turned into a black mist and reformed one step away.
“I see you’re proficient in Dark Magic. Have you reached the maximum level by any chance?” Jotun raised his brows.
“Mhm.”
“Haha, that’s really rare. And Dred seems to be the same.”
“Indeed.”
“What if I hurt him? Would you react the same way he did?”
“I’d kill you by all means, even if I had to run away now,” Elena replied with a smile.
“I must be careful then, haha.”
“You think I’m joking?” Elena asked seriously this time.
“You’re being cocky. Don’t test my patience because not even your rings will save you from my wrath-”
“Shut up.”
“Come again?” Jotun furrowed his brows.
“Are you deaf? I told you to shut up. You kings are always so full of yourselves, ordering around people as if they were your dogs. But what’d you be without your servants? Sure, you’re strong, but if they ganged up, they’d be able to kill you in a moment. And it’s the same with Padinyss. You kings are delusional, believing you’re invincible, but you always forget that you’ve got your power from your underlings.”
“Sure, they obey you, but I wonder how they feel about you…”
Clenching his fists, Jotun held back his anger. “What’s your point?”
“You should change the way you’re dealing with people or one day you’ll receive a cold shower,” Dred clarified Elena’s meaning.
“Are you threatening me?”
“We don’t,” Elena replied. “The future does.” Patting his shoulder, she walked out the door Dred behind her back.
Looking at his map on the wall, Jotun didn’t know what to say for the first time in his life. “This damned bitch… It’s good that none of my servants were here,” he grumbled. “As if my servants would dare to rebel, hmph.”
But why is she interested in my plans against Padinyss? I must be careful, I brought them here, but I don’t want them to reveal my plans to Padinyss in hope of rewards. Haah- why do they have to be of key importance to my plans? Damn it…
---
“Why did you annoy him?” Dred asked while going back to their room.
“Well, I wanted to see his reaction and I wanted to make him wary of us. Although he’d tighten his security around us, he won’t try to keep us in the palace. And while he was listening to me, you were able to steal that paper.”
“So you’ve noticed.”
“Of course, we’re soul mates! I’d notice it.” A smile formed on Elena’s face.
“Well, your Mana was around my head, so you read my thought.”
“Aww, I was caught. Quickly, spit it out.”
“Not here, I’ll do it when we’re back to our room,” Dred shook his head.
Shortly after, Elena jumped onto their bed while Dred’s belly split open and a rod of rock fell out through the hole. With the help of Earth Magic, he unwrapped the rock around the scroll and put it in Elena’s palm. “Here you go, read it while caressing me,” he said as he transformed into his demon form and laid down on the bed, his head in Elena’s lap.
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“You big baby, hehe. Let’s see, this scroll reads as…”
“Reinald’s Legacy.”
“My name is Reinald. Only Reinald because I was born an orphan and had no family members. I grew up fighting for my life in another universe, with a completely different world system controlling everything. We didn’t have tables and stat points… we cultivated the energy of the world and formed shells around our bodies to defend ourselves, and used the energy of the world to attack. If you’re reading this, it means I’m dead or not around anymore.”
“You may don’t know anything about the value of this scroll you just found, but you should read the following part carefully.”
“I had powerful foes chasing me, so I had to run away, through the Abyss, one of the most dangerous places in the world. I was lucky enough to get through alive and stumble upon a different type of universe. When I found a planet, called Dunk, it turned out I was the strongest person since I beat up everyone quite easily.”
“I became arrogant, I think.”
“I decided to create two other planets with my technique to control the energy of the world and the elements. I named one of them Dink, the other Sealu. It didn’t take a lot of time since I was above the six hundredth level if that makes sense to you. When I was done, I sealed these three planets, along with a few others smaller natural planets into a separate space with six huge formations.”
“At the locations of these formations lie hidden six rings, each related to a different element, controlling different aspects of the planet. I named these rings the Ring of Calamity for I’m sure if anyone learned of their true potential, a calamity would break out to get all of them.”
“But there are two other rings hidden in the world, one on Dunk and one on Dink. I’ll give you hint, the third Ring of Calamity is on the eastern island where elves reside. The rest of the rings are hidden in a hexagon shape if you look at the world map, but where their exact locations are, is something you’ll have to find out yourself. I might have left behind clues everywhere. Hehe.”
“Once you find all the eight rings, go to the Moon-lit Sea at the center of the world and stand on the circular rock. That sea has been calm for many years, so it won’t be hard to get there, even if you aren’t a strong person. When you’re there, wait for the full moon to shine on the circular stone and the rings will open the gate to the Sealu planet. There lays the key to the six formations, which sealed your world from the outside.”
“It also contains scrolls describing my defensive and offensive methods, you may learn them.”
“Be well, and good luck on your treasure hunt!”
“Mark my words. Never be arrogant like me, even if you find true strength. For you will fall alone…”
“...is what Cor wrote when he was still a human.”
Their heads hung, Elena and Dred sat in silence for a few seconds. “I wonder how he exactly died,” Dred muttered.
“Mhm. Let’s show this to him later. Hopefully, Jotun won’t realize we stole it,” Elena laughed.
“How many of them have you collected?” Dred changed the topic.
“I copied, Padinyss’s mind, Tron’s mind, Jotun’s mind, I also have Inhe’s, Ekrok’s, and a few other more important looking people. I copied everyone’s mind in the throne room as well, so I’ll be able to use my hivemind on numerous people. But first, we’ll have to assassinate them without them realizing!”
“Heh, that’s the harder part of the deal. We should get our hands on some kind of poison. If nothing else, we can always use mine and try to make it look like a bad dream.”
Elena hugged Dred’s head into her bosom and closed her eyes, visibly in a good mood.
“What are you so happy about?” Dred asked.
“Nothing~ It’s just that things are going smoothly at the moment and it turned out I can have a loving and caring boyfriend. I didn’t think something like that was possible, after all, I’m still a monster race and there is no way any other person would be able to start a relationship with me. Not this kind, so I’m really happy to have you around.”
“Same, I’m glad to have you,” Dred mused. He closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep in Elena’s loving embrace. She stopped caressing his head and laid down beside him, hugging him gently. Feeling the warmth of his body and his arms wrapping around her back, she too fell asleep.
---
The next day Elena and Dred wished to leave the palace and check out the city, but of course, they weren’t allowed to leave without a few of the Royal Guards following them around. Although they could have snuck out, they didn’t wish to reveal their ability to walk around unnoticed.
They had to wait at the main gate of the palace until three Royal Guards arrived, accompanied by a small demon, the same race as Tron. Two of the guards had black leather armours with golden patterns on them, while the tallest demon in the middle had black metal armour on.
“Good day, Miss. I’m replacing Tron as of this day, please call me Tren,” the small demon said.
“You must be brothers, your mother sure is creative,” Elena said in a low voice.
“Pardon me?”
“Nothing… Is Tron your brother?”
“Yes, he is.”
I knew it!
“You’re being really rude right now,” Dred commented.
“Sheesh, I’m just kidding.”
“Yeah, you don’t…” Dred shook his head.
“Heh, we’re accompanying a beauty today~” the demon in the metal armour said laughing.
“Keep your eyes on your weapon instead,” Elena said coldly, surprising the demon.
“*Cough* Where does Miss want to go?” Tren quickly reacted and smoothed out the spark between the two sides.
“I want to visit a few places. At least one good weapon and armour store, a herbalist, and a spell book store if there are any,” she replied.
“I’m being a background character…” Dred grumbled in Elena’s mind while she was talking.
“...”
“As you wish. Which of these do you want to visit first?”
“Let’s go to a weapon store!” she said as she jumped onto Dred’s back.
“I suppose you don’t plan to get off of my back, right?” Dred asked.
“No~ this is my private place!”
“Whatever.”
“Miss, we’re supposed to travel on the royal chariot,” Tren pointed at the black coloured chariot to the left of the gate, with intricate gold patterns on it and two black beetles in front of it. Inspect.
Race: Black Sand Beetle
Rarity: Uncommon
Level: 465
Threat Level: 5
Great, even this shitty tamed monster is at a higher level than me, Elena grumbled in her mind. Looking at the sandstone paved roads and the buildings, she said, “We may be supposed to, but I want to see the city, not just sit in a chariot and look at its interior.”
“It’s fine by us, let’s just move already,” the same demon as before said and pushed Tren forward. Tren fell to the ground with a loud thud and hit his chin. “You shouldn’t banter with our king’s guests either, just do what they want, hahaha,” the demon added.
Tren stood up and looked at the demon enraged, knowing he was just looking for a way to bully him.
“What? Do you want to fight?” the demon asked, his two companions laughing at Tren.
Gulping down his anger, he dusted off his clothes and used Water Magic to heal the wound on his face. He turned around and led the way to one of the best weapon stores in the city silently.
Looking at his small back, both Elena and Dred sighed, imagining the demon’s life in the palace. “I wonder if everyone is an asshole like these three,” Dred asked aloud.
Everyone kept silent, but unlike Tren who started smiling, the other three demons made angered faces. Looking at the Ring of Calamity on Dred’s foot and Elena’s finger, the tallest demon clicked his tongue and followed them.