The Author's POV

"Tsk."

Coming out of the Duchess's room, I clicked my tongue.

'I tried at least.'

Lowering my head, I looked at the three other tubes in my hand before putting them away.

Moments prior, I tried to negotiate for a devil fruit, but I was flat out rejected by her.

In the end, all I could do was leave with my head lowered.

'I can't be too impatient.'

I could've negotiated for a devil fruit before, but the Nectar was far more important to me. While I wasn't completely healed, I felt far more refreshed than I had in a very long time.

I even had a very good night's sleep for once.

Plus…

'It's not like there won't be an opportunity later.'

"You're back?"

"Yeah."

As I made my way back to our residence after secretly escaping the estate, I was greeted by the sight of Melissa tinkering with an odd substance. Nothing unusual.

Already used to this, I found a chair not so far from her and took a seat.

"Have you found what you've been looking for?"

"Not really."

Melissa shook the test tube in front of her and quietly observed it.

Though faint, I caught sight of a couple of bubbles on top.

…Just what sort of potion was she making?

"When are we going to leave?"

"When the time comes."

The only way back was through Kevin, so until the designated time, we'd be stuck here for a bit more.

"Thankfully, I'm already finished with what I needed to do, so I guess we can take it easy until the time is right if that's okay with you?"

"That's fine with me."

Melissa nodded her head without a change in expression.

It seems like she was enjoying her stay here.

"That's great."

I stood up from the seat.

best we make the most out of it. We've got

assumed that we'd only have about five months on

something over here, and that was the

that on earth; consequently, the amount of time we

"It's perfect."

there wasn't enough time, but given the time I had, maybe… just maybe—by the time I returned, I'd be strong

out several bottles, each of which contained a substance I

"…I can only try."

able to rank up due to the lack of mana in the air... I no longer relied on mana

Demonic energy.

***

by the bright moon that hung high in the night sky. There was complete silence in the room as the white curtains that led to the

"Pftt…"

broke the silence

his request, Priscilla found herself

it for not telling me

Even though she did comprehend the reason he acted in the manner that he did,

and what was done

the right bet in

he was on

the thought of being

extremely terrifying, but so

day. In a single day, he managed

it from the sloth house point of view, then

other houses busy with the succession war, and the House of Envy being the main target of everyone, the House of Sloth was the one that gained the most from

but they were also the house with the greatest advantage

others, they weren't

I think about

ranked entities was enough to prove just how scary of an individual

"Huh."

and gazed at the moon outside. She then brought

"Huh?"

had nothing in

to ask the other human

***

restrained by chains hung in the air. The world around him was devoid of any light as darkness restrained every inch of

on his face and the only movement that could be seen was the very slight contraction of his

figure appeared

"It's been a while."

similar to that of the chained

was none

at his other self, who showed no reaction to his appearance,

anything and just stared at him for an unknown period of

to check if he was still alive

a

you going to be like

"…"

received no response. Nonetheless,

there is to it? Do you have no goals that you want to achieve before dying… like, perhaps killing

"…"

because there's something

hand, several tubes

straight ahead, he

have something that may potentially help you. I won't ask anything in return, but... if