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.

we make the most out of it. We've

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

underestimated something over here, and that was

amount of

"It's perfect."

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 can only try."

be able to rank up due to the lack of mana in the air... I no longer relied on mana alone. I could use my time to train

Demonic energy.

***

that hung high in the 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

"Pftt…"

sudden laughter broke the silence in

his request,

telling me he'd erase my

bitter about it. Even though she did comprehend the reason he acted in the manner that he did, it would have been nice if he

was the past, and

made the right bet

was

at the thought of being on the opposite

his strength extremely terrifying, but so were his

was a single day. In a single day, he managed to

from the sloth house point of view, then they

target of everyone,

did they not lose any of their forces, but they were also the house with the greatest advantage during

the others, they weren't

I think about

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

"Huh."

exhaled and gazed at the moon outside.

"Huh?"

had nothing in her hand. Immediately

I forgot to ask the other human for

***

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

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

figure appeared before

"It's been a while."

features were strikingly similar to that of the

was none

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

didn't say anything and just stared at him

was as though he was trying to check if he was still alive

a sigh and

are you going to

"…"

received no response.

that really all there is to it? Do you have no goals that you want to achieve before dying…

"…"

there's something

hand,

ahead, he

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