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.

have time, it's best we make the most

on our trip over

had grossly underestimated something over here, and that was the fact that one day here wasn't actually the same as one day

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

"It's perfect."

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

pulled out several bottles, each of which

"…I can only try."

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

Demonic energy.

***

night sky. There was complete silence in the room as the white curtains that led to the balcony ballooned outward like the sails of a ship and moved in an odd wavelike

"Pftt…"

sudden laughter broke the silence in the

human made when she rejected his request, Priscilla found herself unable to hold

not telling

acted in the manner that

past, and

the right bet in

was

shuddered at the thought of being

extremely

him was a single day. In a single day, he

sloth house point of view,

House of Envy being the main target of everyone, the House of Sloth was the one that gained the most from the

were also the house with the greatest

others, they weren't

think about it, the scarier

ranked entities was enough to prove

"Huh."

gazed at the moon outside. She then

"Huh?"

had nothing in her

I forgot to ask the other human

***

him was devoid of any light as darkness

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

appeared

"It's been a while."

that of the chained man. No, rather,

none other than

reaction to

at him for

was as though he was trying to check

eventually let out a sigh

are you going

"…"

response. Nonetheless,

want to die, but is that really all there is to it? Do you have no goals that

"…"

because there's something wrong

his hand, several

ahead,

won't ask anything in return, but... if it truly helps you and your sanity returns, will you