As I followed Philip, I couldn’t help but notice the displays in the hallway.

“Is collecting animal horns your hobby?” I asked.

He glanced at the displays before answering. “They are from my previous hunts. I was never keen on displaying it but my wife keeps insisting on doing such.”

He has a wife?

“She died a year ago.” He uttered as if he read what I had in mind as he opened the door in front of me. I can’t help but notice the familiar energy surrounding it.

“Veil, huh?”

He scratched his head. “It is necessary.”

We entered the room and what I expected to be the same design outside threw me off completely.

“Why is this room glittering?” I asked as I glanced around with my mouth wide open. The whole room is covered with pink! No one would expect that!

“Oh, it must be surprising. This is my daughter’s room and it is the only safe space around so I hope you can bear it.”

My left eye twitched. He’s sharing too much information since earlier. Gah, I can feel a serious business coming.

“It’s… alright,” I responded as I glanced all over the room once again. He offered a seat and I gladly took it.

“You must be wondering why I brought you here,” he started.

“Not exactly. I can tell you are under certain circumstances that forbid you to roam freely on your own guild,” It is something everyone with a working brain can tell, really. “Let me guess, that Burdman guy took your position by force. If that’s wrong, this whole hiding thing may be a ploy against Kanzas. Want me to continue guessing?”

He shook his head and sighed. “It was the first one. Burdman usurped my position.”

“Wow, what a familiar method,” I uttered, and before I knew what just slipped from my mouth, Philip stared at me wide-eyed for a solid minute before bursting out from laughter.

“To what pleasure does Cerres owe for Aswain’s king to visit us personally?”

I clicked my tongue and looked away. “Why are you so quick-witted?”

“I could ask you the same. As I said earlier, you are the first one to notice about my former position.”

“Not even the people working around you?”

“Yes. Not even my own daughter.”

I crossed my arms and leaned on the seat. “So, you want your position back?”

Without any hint of hesitation, he answered. “Yes. The current guild has been a mess ever since Burdman took over. I have already plotted hundreds of plans in my head but I found myself driven into the corner because he controls every member in this guild. It is his specialty.”

Is Burdman a puppeteer or something?

“So that’s why you didn’t hesitate to call me in when I figured out who you are. Alright, fair enough.”

He nodded. “I already know that I have nothing to offer to you so as shameful as it is, I will ask for your favor.”

I looked at him for a bit. “How sure are you I won’t go around and tell people this? I mean, this information is enough to free me from my…” I raised my two hands and quoted, “…mistakes.”

Philip laughed and shook his head. “I am certain you already know by now that the current guild master is not someone who does that.”

I sighed and clicked my tongue. “Alright. This young lad will help in whatever way she can,” I raised my right hand. “In one condition.”

He smiled. “If it’s anything I can offer,” he said.

“Of course it is! I want to trade your beer with that item I said earlier today.”

Philip face palmed as if he heard something ridiculous.

“Is that it?”

“Yeah, your beer is undeniably the best I’ve tasted for a while,” I uttered as I gave him two thumbs up. I grinned widely to show my sincerity… though, I doubt it reached him.

“There must be something else that you want? I can trade my beer for free! The help I am receiving is not something comparable to a beer!”

I crossed my arms. “It is,” I uttered seriously. I heard him sigh so I thought he gave up on the idea of offering something else but no. He stood up and walked to the door. “Let’s forget that this talk happened, young lad.”

What a persistent old man!

“Fine! Fine! Sit down, old man!” I exclaimed and ruffled my hair.

He turned his head with high hopes and sat down again.

“Well, you asked why I came here personally. I sent two spies a month ago and they haven’t reported to me yet so I came to check if they’re still alive,” I said as I scratched my head.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“You can order your own people to do that,” he responded while looking at me flatly. Wow, this old man sure is tenacious. He’s the one needing help but why am I the one compromising?

“I got bored in Aswain. Is that enough reason?” I said as I rolled my eyes. Why am I acting like a brat in front of him right now? I feel strangely comfortable around him that it doesn’t make any sense. Is it his power or some sort?

He sighed. “Okay, I see that you have no intention of revealing your real reason so I’ll leave it at that since I’m the one who needs help in the current situation.”

Ah, finally!

“I’ll tell you my plan if you give me your conditions.” He continued.

Still not giving up on that, are we?

“Be Aswain’s ally.”

He remained quiet for a while before nodding his head. “So it is your plan to reclaim the territories that once belonged to Aswain.”

Reclaim? He keeps saying words I could not comprehend since earlier. Not only does he call Aswain a country, but he also says something about reclaiming as if Cerres is under Aswain in the first place. I guess I’ll sneak into the library later. I have tons of questions in mind.

“Sort of. The former king of Aswain is a total lackluster.”

Philip pondered when he heard my statement. He was about to utter something when the shuffling sound inside the cabinet caught his attention. He stood up and went to open the cabinet.

“Dada!” A tiny voice shouted while running to Philip and jumping into his arms. “Dada!”

Oh, right. This was his daughter’s room.

“I’m sorry, Princess, Dada is currently talking to someone,” He said softly as he tried to tuck her into bed.

His daughter kicked her blanket and jumped out of the bed. “Dada, let’s play!”

“Later, Princess. We could play as much as you want. Let Dada finish his conversation first, okay?”

She stomped her feet and crossed her arms. “No! Dada is always busy!”

“Princess, some other time, okay?”

I could sense his desperation to leave her out of the conversation so I cleared my throat and stood up.

“I’ll be lurking around in the next 3 weeks. Let’s continue our talk later,” I opened the door and went out. I peeked inside and saw him calming his daughter down. “See ya, old man!” I bid goodbye and went down to the first floor. The shadows following me around seemed unalarmed, much to my surprise because they were keen on following even my single step since yesterday.

“I cast a spell on you earlier. You are currently undetectable to everyone actively tracking your movements.” Philip’s voice echoed in my ears as he walked past me. Did he calm his daughter down? That quick?

“That’s certainly helpful, though I can’t help but be suspicious,” I said, raising my right eyebrow as I kept following his stride.

“The spell can be only activated when the person whom I cast the spell into is unaware. It was the condition of my magic,” He explained. He stopped walking and turned his head to me. “I thought you would need it, so I apologize if this is unnecessary to you,” He added.

I walked past him and said, “It seems harmless so I’ll let it pass. Just this time, Philip.”

I exited the tavern and went to the library. Since I am currently undetectable, I ran through the records without any care.

“The History of Atlas and the end of its Country: Aswain”

I opened the book after I read the title. I sure hope this is the real backstory of this world, unlike the ones I read from Aswain.

[solemn background music]

A long time ago, there was not a single object that existed. Not even a single light can be spotted in what seemed to be an endless cold void. Million years have passed and a sudden occurrence appeared in the void, though unsure of what it was, it was clearly the beginning of something. Another million years passed, and a dragon was formed unexpectedly due to the violent activities in the void now called universe. That dragon is Al’Treus, the God of Atlas. Al’Treus spent millions of years in solitary because their existence is not something that can be formed again. Al’Treus’s existence affected the flow of the universe greatly. After floating millions of years in the universe, they finally met its end and thus, Atlas was born.

Although their body was torn to pieces, Al’Treus’s soul remained in Atlas. Al’Treus gained a basic understanding of the events. They began roaming around as a soul for thousands of years, experiencing everything for the first time. Their soul flourished and an energy was born from them. It was the existence of the first human on its planet. Al’Treus, who has seen the same occurrence from the animals they observed for years, became fond of this child. They felt conflicted because it could not touch the child as Al’Treus is but a soul so all they can do is watch from afar as this child grows. Hundreds of years passed just watching the child, Al’Treus finally decided to float closer to the human, and much to their surprise, their soul got pulled to the human’s body. They became one.

Al’Treus, who was thrown in yet another new situation, didn’t know what to do. They spent a long time pondering their own existence and finally came to an understanding. After years, they grew bored roaming around their own planet so they started wreaking havoc, and lo and behold, due to their contact with the planet’s energy, humans were born! Instead of being happy about it, Al’Treus was afraid because seeing another human was not something they expected. Al’Treus is used to being alone and this occurrence made them go into hiding. Al’Treus only decided to come out from their nest after thousands of years, hoping that those humans were gone only to be disappointed because it multiplied even without their interference. Al’Treus, whose fear tripled, decided to face this situation. They started to study humans and eventually learned how to blend among them.

Al’Treus’s affection towards humans developed and thus, they decided to help humans in any way they can. That includes teaching them how to channel the planet’s energy to make human’s life easier. Years later, Aswain was founded. Aswain became the first and only country that is known to mankind. The land is located at the center of Atlas, peaceful and is abundant in natural resources and beautiful sceneries, all due to Al’Treus’s favoritism to this place.

Existing for millions of years from the creation of the universe down to witnessing the enormous progress of humans, Al’Treus’s soul and energy are finally exhausted. They are depleted and vanished without a trace, not even having the time to utter their goodbyes to humans they love. Humans, who were left with Al’Treus’s knowledge and wisdom, decided to not weep and continued living, as they all know this is what Al’Treus would want.

After a hundred years of peaceful ruling, a stupid mutt with other several disorders were born as the only descendant of Aswain due to the practice of inbreeding in an attempt to summon Al’Treus, and thus became the starting point of the country’s calamity. The people and the formed guilds were frustrated by this occurrence so they blamed Al’Treus for putting such foolish idea to their descendants. The guilds decided to cut ties with their main roots and became independent. The once-massive land of Aswain was then separated into parts and it was possible because of the guild master’s determination to be away from Aswain as much as possible, and that is the origin of the sea. After years of cultivating their own territories, the ruling of Aswain has come to an end.

[background music ended]

Hmmm… so there’s a moment that even I, a sentient AI, can’t skip. That’s news to me.

Then, to make it short, Al’Treus is basically just an energy, it exploded and boom, Atlas is born. Humans began appearing, created a county with tons of guilds who decided to cut ties with its roots because of inbreeding— something that Al’Treus is surely opposed to, but for some reason, humans decided to warp their beliefs and blamed it to Al’Treus. Wow, classic humans.

Why have I not read such information in Aswain anyway? Are the developers tripping Aswain players? There’s no way I would miss such crucial information.

*Thud*

Ah, right. Until when will Philip’s magic last on me? I forgot to ask.