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

months on our trip over here. While it wasn't long, it

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

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

"It's perfect."

back on Earth was, I originally thought there wasn't enough time, but given the time I had, maybe… just

of which contained a substance I was familiar with, then I took several deep

"…I can only try."

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

Demonic energy.

***

as the white curtains that led to the balcony ballooned outward like the sails of a ship and moved in an odd wavelike pattern

"Pftt…"

broke the

the face the human made when she rejected his request, Priscilla found herself unable to hold her laughter

it for not telling me he'd

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

was the past, and what was done was

right bet in

was

thought of being on the opposite side

extremely terrifying, but so

a single day. In a single day,

looked at it from the sloth house point of view, then they were

busy with the succession war, and the House of Envy being the main target of everyone, the House

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

the others, they

about it, the

Prince ranked entities was enough

"Huh."

outside. She then brought

"Huh?"

nothing

ask the other human for

***

around him was devoid of any light as darkness restrained every inch of

movement that could be seen was

figure appeared before

"It's been a while."

strikingly similar to that of the

none other

at his other self, who showed no reaction to his appearance, Ren calmly sat down

at him for an

though he was trying to check

a sigh

when are you going

"…"

received no response. Nonetheless, he

Do you have no goals that you want to

"…"

it because there's something wrong with

his hand, several

straight ahead, he

you. I won't ask anything in return, but... if it truly helps you