The Author's POV

Hearing Edward's brittle voice that was pent up with all his emotions, I smiled softly.

"Sorry, I had to take a little detour."

Clank—! Clank—!

With my sword unsheathed, I hacked at the chains that bound him and freed his arms and legs.

Following the release of the chains, he started to fall down. In response, I lowered my body and pressed my hand on his shoulder, preventing his fall.

"Are you okay?"

"…yeah."

Glancing at me, Edward had a bitter look on his face.

"It's been a while since I've moved, and with my mana sealed for this long, my muscles just gave out."

"It's alright. I'll help you out for now."

Supporting Edward's body up, I helped him out of the room. On our way out, Edward opened his mouth and asked.

"…Did you do it?"

His voice sounded rather weak and frail. Glancing at him from the corner of my eyes, I nodded.

"Yeah."

When I recalled my other self's conversation with the Duke, there were times when I was afraid that the deal would've fallen apart.

Especially during that time, my other self had threatened him.

If there was one thing you learned at the Lock about demons, it was never to threaten a demon belonging to the Pride clan.

If he hadn't been wary of the rumors about my strength, I would've been afraid he would have just attacked me then and there.

Fortunately, my other self knew when to back down, and from there was able to make a deal with the Duke.

Thankfully, I didn't have to give anything up. Initially, the Duke was against the idea of me keeping my stuff, but considering what he would gain, he eventually relented.

It wasn't every day he would get a core belonging to a Duke-ranked demon. Furthermore, with multiple alibis pointing out the fact that I had killed him, he could consume it without worrying.

No Duke would refuse such a tempting offer.

Well, it wasn't like my other self gave him any choice to begin with.

"Took you a while."

While I was carrying Edward on my shoulders, appearing right in front of us was Lightning Dragon.

His appearance shocked Edward as he looked at me.

"What is he doing here?"

Nodding in Lightning Dragon's direction, I glanced at Edward.

"He's our ticket out of the Demon Realm."

"Our ticket out?"

"Yeah. He knows of a portal that can lead us back to earth."

Edward's face relaxed as soon as he heard those words. Staring in Lightning Dragon's direction, he nodded his head.

"I'll be in your care."

"Don't worry about it."

Waving his hand to brush him off, Lightning Dragon took a couple of black robes from his dimensional space and handed them to us.

"For now it's best if you wear this."

"Sure."

"Okay."

Simultaneously nodding our heads, Edward and I took the hoodies and put them on.

This was something that the Duke had ordered.

Since he was planning on consuming the core, he couldn't let it seem as though he was working with me.

If it did, his plans would instantly crumble. Well, that was unless he decided to kill all witnesses, and realistically speaking, that was a bit more of a hassle than doing things this way.

"So…"

In the midst of putting on the robe, I suddenly heard Edward's voice.

I turned my head to look his way. Did he need something?

His next words made my expression harden.

"…I've been meaning to ask this for quite a while, but what's your relationship with my daughter?"

"Ehm…"

Scratching the side of my cheek, I carefully answered.

"The both of us attended the same academy, so we can say we're classmates."

Honestly, it was a bit more complicated than that, but my gut told me to leave it as it was.

"I see.."

As Edward raised the hoodie to cover his face, he nodded his head.

patted me

curious. No need to stiffen

he walked up

my head to stare at his back, I

incredible pressure coming out of his body that

wasn't even channeling his mana or anything of

'Overprotective dad…'

followed him from behind and caught up with Lightning Dragon who looked at

"What?"

in his

I turned

let's go. We

*

"This way…"

Edward and another figure,

destination was the portal Lightning Dragon used to travel to

that was through portal devices they created. Not only that, but they also needed to have

desyncs could be used to access the demon realm, the same could not be said

only way to enter a dungeon was through the portals that were set

hoodie, I stared at Lightning Dragon who

long do we have left till

"We're here."

abruptly halted

stopping, I curiously looked around the place. It soon dawned on me that we were in the middle of

my head to glance at Lightning Dragon again, I

exactly is

"Eh…"

Lightning Dragon embarrassingly

another look at his surroundings, a wry

"…I forgot."

"Shit."

I heard his words, I couldn't

about his crappy

he is

the one that told me that Lightning Dragon was the only one that could

"You don't remember?"

Edward's voice echoed throughout the forest. Sharing the same dumbfounded look,

you say that you knew

"I did."

Liam nodded

that

turned to look at the other figure that

of a way to sense where

"...I can try."

lowered his hood and displayed his horns before nodding his head and

can help

to lend a hand as he too started to look for

the threes, I shook

only the Duke had

was necessary to know the coordinates of the two locations in order to set up a portal. And since the Duke had

energy was required in order to activate the portal, and since none of us could use it,

part of the deal

"Haaa…"

and tired sigh and stared at the sky. Although I wanted to help, my body was still aching from the side effect of the skill, and although the pain was a lot

hope they

But...

hour eventually passed, and the results remained the same. My

'How useless.'

me help out as

quickly scanned my surroundings. But upon realizing

take a

"I've found it!"

about to

in the distance holding a small circular

"You found it?"

a look filled with relief and excitement, Edward walked up to him before looking at

"Can you activate it?"

"Yes."

hand, demonic energy suddenly sprang out from the

Crack. Crack. Crack.

his demonic energy, thin black threads appeared in

a black portal started to appear

portal was forming. It was evident that it took him a lot of demonic energy to activate the portal. In the end, he struggled for a couple

"Haaa…haa…haa…I'm done."

throughout the forest.

done a good

up to the demon, I calmly patted my

doing

Crack—

his abdomen area and broke his core before he could

I'm also doing this for the

the deal I made with the Duke,

one could know about the fact that I struck a deal with the

of the agreement

after I cracked the core. But once he did, a breeze brushed past,

at the area where the demon died, I glanced toward

It's time

***

Duke Adramalech's voice.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Duke Adramalech stared at a small

acquaintance of mine might come soon, give this to him if you

"An acquaintance?"

was he talking about?

at the figure, the Duke decided

he couldn't feel any strength from