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 out of it.

that we'd only have about five months on our trip over here.

I only realized later that I had grossly underestimated something over here, and that was the

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

"It's perfect."

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

several bottles, each of which contained a substance I was familiar with,

"…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 with my newfound

Demonic energy.

***

was complete silence in the room as the white curtains that led to the balcony ballooned outward like the sails of

"Pftt…"

broke the silence

human made when she rejected his request, Priscilla

for not telling me he'd

acted in the manner that he did, it would

the past was the past, and what was

made the right bet

he was on

at the thought of being on the opposite

only was his strength extremely terrifying, but so were his

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

at 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

but they were also the house with the greatest advantage during the upcoming

others, they weren't

I think about

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

"Huh."

gazed at the moon outside. She then brought two fingers to her

"Huh?"

had nothing in her hand.

to ask the other

***

around him was devoid of any light as darkness

his face and the only movement that could be seen was

appeared

"It's been a while."

similar to that of the chained man. No, rather,

none other than

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

say anything and just stared at him for an unknown

though he was trying to check if he was still

eventually let out a sigh and

you going to

"…"

no response. Nonetheless, he

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,

"…"

because there's something wrong with

hand,

ahead, he

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