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.

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

on our trip over

was the

on this world was significantly different from that on earth; consequently, the amount of time we had over here was

"It's perfect."

the situation back on Earth was, I originally thought there wasn't enough time, but given the time I had, maybe… just maybe—by the time I returned, I'd be strong enough

with my hand and pulled out several bottles, each of which contained a

"…I can only try."

to the lack of mana in the air... I no longer relied

Demonic energy.

***

There was complete silence in the room as the white curtains that led to the balcony ballooned outward

"Pftt…"

broke the silence in

face the human made when she rejected his

it for not telling me he'd erase

did comprehend the reason he acted in the manner that he did, it would have been nice if

was the past, and

made the right bet in the

was on

shuddered at the thought of being on

his strength extremely

was a single day. In a single day, he managed to do what she had deemed to be

from the sloth house point of

and the House of Envy being the main target of everyone, the House of Sloth was the one that

they not lose any of their forces, but they were also the

the others, they weren't

more I think about it, the scarier this

seven Prince ranked entities was enough to prove just how scary of

"Huh."

outside.

"Huh?"

she had nothing in her hand.

to ask the other

***

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

and the only movement that could be seen was the

appeared

"It's been a while."

strikingly similar to that of the chained man.

was none other than

to his appearance, Ren calmly

anything and just stared at him

trying to check if he was still alive or

eventually let out a sigh

are you going

"…"

no response.

you want to die, but is that really all there is to it? Do you have no goals that you want to achieve before dying… like, perhaps

"…"

something wrong with your

hand, several

straight ahead,

something that may potentially help you. I won't ask anything in return, but... if it truly helps you and your sanity returns, will you listen to my