Author’s notes: yeah so because of my procrastination the previous week, I have had to do a five page history assignment. Double-paged. And a poster. And some letter or something for English that I will get to later. So, add that I had to keep watch of my younger family members for a few days while the rest my family went to various doctor appointments, I didn’t get much writing done. I wanted to write a full chapter and release it yesterday, but that didn’t happen. So I will just post chapter ten in parts. Two. I will post another either Saturday or Sunday.

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Reina left the dragon, unable to find any words of comfort.

What could she have said?

Nothing that would have made a difference.

She found her way back to the depths of Roland’s mind. She knew she was back because that familiar presence of his surrounded her once again.

Once back, she called out to him and he soon broke their connection.

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Roland observed Reina through narrowed eyes. She seemed different. Not just the way she looked at him, almost pitying, but the way she glowed with an inner light as well. They had no corporeal bodies, but the changes here would be seen as though they did.

Her skin, previously white like Jade, held a soft golden tone to it now and her hair was no longer a simple blood red but held a deeper, more lustrous shade which was harder to describe.

She looked even more beautiful than before.

Her temperament also changed a bit. She was normally a very bright girl, although a bit shy. Now, though, she seemed a bit gloomy, as though heavy thoughts weighed her down.

Even more, she could not meet his eyes. She did that occasionally before, but it was mostly because he was male and she was likely a bit inexperienced wit the opposite sex.

Roland knew how he appeared to females, and so he was quite used to such reactions from them.

But this was different.

This time it was more like she hid something from him. She was definitely acting odd.

“. . . Reina?”

She jerked slightly at my voice, the reaction showing that her thoughts were elsewhere.

“ Y-Yes?”

He frowned. Something was clearly wrong, but he didn’t press the issue.

“No, nothing. It just seemed you were acting strange. But never mind that, I assume you came back with something good?”

“ Ah, yes, right. Look at this!” Her voice gained a tone of excitement.

Suddenly golden flames erupted from her hand, giving off a gentle, soothing light. It looked oddly familiar to him.

Strange, he had no knowledge of a technique that created a flame such as this. The energy it gave off was very pure and warm. A true Divine Flame. Not something that could simply be created by a mere battle technique or magic spell.

No, a flame like this was something that only a rare few Higher Beings could possess. Unless they passed on a portion of their power to another, no one could wield a flame such as this. Not to mention this was a Divine Flame, one of those with special properties. Definitely not something ordinary.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

So if it did not come from any technique or spell he knew of, how could she come to have it?

Unless . . .

“Is that from my treasury?” he asked her.

His treasury was a like a world in his soul space that he used to store things. The size of it was truly extraordinary. He had always known it existed within him, but its contents he was less sure of.

This was pretty important. He had many things in his treasury even he did not know of. They were . . . fragments of the lives he used to live. He didn’t like to touch them.

Well, that was a bit of an exaggeration. Still, the items or things within his treasury may have been important to him in the past, and to handle them without care was something that he would not do.

Some things there were very dangerous.

Usually he only touched the money or items that could be used for trade. A portion of the things within his treasury gave him a slight feeling of familiarity, and those were the ones that he didn’t touch.

She nodded apologetically. looking like a child caught doing something they shouldn't have. her body and expressions don't match at all. Though, it wasn't a bad contrast.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to take it, but when I got there it just--”

“No, it’s fine. If you found it, then it simply means you were meant to. Besides, that flame is quite good. I do not know everything about it, but the flame seems to have a gentle nature and should be easy to assimilate. Well done” he praised.

Of course, he didn’t say that she should not even know what his treasury was in the first place. Even if she entered his mind and looked through his knowledge, she wouldn’t be able to know he had such a place within him. So, who told her about it?

There was only one person he could think of, but. . . . Well, that person only does things that he wants to do.

Roland didn’t like to think of or talk to him though, because doing so would be pointless and in the end they would both end up hurt.

Reina, upon hearing him, let out a small, self-satisfied smile.

“Alright, now that your back we can really get started. I know that you were able to learn the very basics of sword play, so for around 40 days we will have a non-stop sparring match.”

He saw that she seemed a bit apprehensive.

“Ah, don’t worry, although you will feel pain, it will not truly harm you. Here attacks are converted to mental pain, meaning that if I stab you, you will not bleed at all and only receive a very painful sensation in your mind. Like a migraine times a hundred. So you don’t have to worry and can just let loose.” He gave her a reassuring smile

Reina, for her part, felt that smile of his looked decidedly evil at that moment.