The Arcane Emperor

Chapter 85 The Wolf King

Crimson and gold met the two golden eyes of the man claiming parenthood. Ymir suddenly took a step forward, only for his necklace to glow in heat again, the mage\'s seemingly all-seeing eyes boring a hole into him. Ymir did his best to calm himself as he took in the situation, now standing near the alley wall opposite of the mage and...demon.

"What does this mean?" Ymir asked confused. Was the golden eye another trick of magic or did she really…The Aura was unmistakable. Both parts of it spoke of a different familiarity. Her Demon half felt only slightly different to Vera\'s, and her Wolfkin half spoke of the hidden power of his bloodline, though still colorless in its unadvanced state. Even if her appearance was fact, Ymir couldn\'t conceive of someone fooling his senses when it came to Aura.

Rainer glanced at the now quiet and nervous elf sitting to the side of the Wolfkin. She immediately turned her eyes away. Rainer guessed that her ability to sense Souls would see that Kara\'s soul wasn\'t entirely a demon one, so there was little to hide Kara\'s race from this man specifically. Even more so, he ventured it might be to their benefit for Kara\'s race to be known in this situation. Worst case scenario, they run as planned. He gently nudged Kara who was thinking the exact same thing.

"I am the daughter of Vera Varg. I am a half-demon and a half-"

"Wolfkin? Me?" Ymir was stunned. Something like that shouldn\'t be possible. Even if his senses had already told him that, confronting the reality of it was something else.

All three other people in the alley looked confused as said provider of Kara\'s other half started laughing uproariously. "Of course. Only myself could create such an impossibility," he exclaimed joyously.

Rainer laughed a bit to himself, while Kara held back a sigh. Far be it for one of the people in her life to be normal.

Moments later, another wolfkin joined their group. Looking just a few years older than Kara, the white-haired, golden-eyed Wolfkin stood by the sitting elf\'s side. Kara had already hidden her crimson eye, and the aura that accompanied it, the second she felt another presence of Aura appearing.

"Father, what happened?" she asked, her eyes widening as she lingered on Kara\'s own golden ones.

[Wolfkin, Female, Auraweaver(2nd) lvl 19, Aura Manipulator lvl 24]

[Title: Aural Existence]

"A misunderstanding," the elder Wolfkin responded as his daughter knelt next to the elf to check on her well-being, "Perhaps we ought to take our conversation somewhere more private?"

"A good choice," Rainer answered, noting how the elder Wolfkin was already healed, even his hair reformed with the golden strings of Aura.

As the trio of Kara\'s supposed father, the supposed daughter herself, and Rainer sat down at a table in their Inn room, the white-haired Wolfkin took out three crystal glasses and an equally elegant bottle of alcohol.

"Such things are better done with something to drink, are they not?" Without prompting, he poured all three glasses with the clear liquid and drank his own first.

Still maintaining [Arcane Revelation] as before, Rainer glanced at all three and noted nothing out of the ordinary with the liquid. The alcohol itself seemed slightly magical, glistening like there were traces of gold within it, Though in a more natural way as opposed to something being added to it. And it wasn\'t as if they weren\'t at a huge disadvantage with not only said Wolfkin but also his daughter outside in the Inn. Poison seemed unlikely.

Rainer went next, noting that it could give the Fae wine a run for its money despite being far harsher. He also noted said magical alcohol being partially dissipated by the man\'s Aura inside him. So Rainer did the same.

"I am King Ymir Fenrar of the Wolves," The man started, "and your name, my daughter?"

Both Kara and Rainer grew surprised by the revelation, though Rainer now realized why said King dissipated the alcohol. He doubted a man of his station ever allowed himself to actually be completely drunk in barely-known company.

"K-kara," she replied and though she avoided taking a drink, quite stunned by the situation, "And this is Rainer, my love."

"Kara…" Ymir spoke, more to himself than anyone else, "That is a fine name. Am I right to assume you\'ve come here seeking me?"

Seeing that Kara wasn\'t answering, Rainer spoke, "Yes and no. Not you specifically."

"Yes, I can\'t imagine you came here to test me through a fight...but it was a fine fight!" Ymir said, laughing a bit.

"That it was."

"Your mother never told you who I was?" he asked Kara again.

"No, she never talked that much about you specifically, though you came up in stories about her travels. Never a name or anything more than the obvious, you being a Wolfkin."

"And now you travel the same as she once did? I hope for your sake, Magus, that she doesn\'t leave the same way," Ymir said, pouring himself and Rainer another drink.

Kara quietly grabbing Rainer\'s hand under the table assured him that wasn\'t the plan.

"I always liked my mother\'s stories of her adventures. And...she does treasure the ring you gave much more than just its monetary value," Kara said, thinking of how her mother always rubbed and twisted the ring when she told parts of her story.

"That is good to hear...Well now, Liandra told me of what happened to her. That elf is always shaking off her guards. Looks like it won\'t be a problem anymore."

"I captured the man who assaulted Liandra," Rainer added, wondering on what relation the elf he met months ago had with royalty of the Dragon Isles, "He should still be nearby, tied with magic at the place where you...ambushed me."

"You mean you didn\'t start the fight?" Kara jabbed, a bit more relaxed than before.

"Who do you take me for?" Rainer asked, feigning insult. Even if he did technically start it by following after and later saving Liandra.

"And to think you avoided my ambush. While I am glad for it now, that was quite the feat. Well, would you like accommodations at the palace while I take care of the assaulter? Though, I do need an answer from you first, Rainer, on a different subject."

Rainer nodded for him to ask. Not having to pay for these expensive rooms every night would be a boon, and Kara\'s father seemed amicable. Like it or not, Rainer had to admit that he was heading towards a loss and that Ymir could have likely killed him if he wished. Meaning, there probably wasn\'t ill intent behind his invitation even if there was some sort of other intent. Unlike the still Aura-filled Wolfkin, Rainer was out of his Void Will, [Arcanum] Rituals and some of his Mana. That, and the pounding headache that came from overextending his mind with [Void Hold] once his Void Will ran dry.

A last-ditch Final Arcanum or a lucky hit with his [Arcane Blade] was really his only path left to victory. Even then, he had seen Kara clearly sever this Wolf King\'s spine and yet he healed it almost instantly. Rainer had no idea the limit of that ability.

"Are you affiliated with any Mage Guilds? It\'s fine if you are, but I will need to make the preparations more discreet."

"Yes and no."

"Explain."

So, Rainer did. That he had no affiliation himself, but that they were responsible for nearly killing the Skyborne Guildmaster and killing his father, Yazir, sometime after. He remembered the explanation he once received on the relationship between rogue mages who tried to affiliate with other countries and the Mage\'s Guild\'s response to that. They were already bringing a huge risk with Kara\'s half-demon nature; he didn\'t want to add to that.

"So you\'re responsible for killing that shitty old man?" Ymir responded with a grin, having been informed on the altercation between the Skyborne and a strange Foreign Lord Magus supposedly from the deep north.

"That I am," Rainer admitted, of course having no plans in revealing Sarah\'s abilities.

"Well then, we shall continue our talk in the morning. Let us go to the palace."

"We have a few companions joining us who\'ll need extra rooms," Kara added.

"It is of no issue. So is you being a Lord Magus from the deep North a lie then?" Ymir asked as they got up to leave the room. The idea that his daughter wasn\'t with a Lord Magus relaxed him. Apart from his own issues, he wouldn\'t want such an appealing experimental subject for them to be in such a position. A lover\'s spat could turn into Kara being locked in an underground cell. Perhaps it was her reminding him of Vera, but he felt more protective of her already than many of his other children.

"It\'s a lie. Real or not, It\'s easy to frighten people with the promise of a greater power behind you."

"That it is. I shall have my daughter, Alaya, get you the rooms you need."

Rainer followed both Alaya and Liandra to the palace. Kara wore her contacts again at the Wolf King\'s request. Rainer planned on grabbing the rest of his party whenever they were done with their run.

Ymir arrived shortly after and met them inside.

"Feel free to ask the servants for anything you\'d like. I\'ll have some assigned to you," Ymir spoke, "We\'ll speak more in the morning."

"That sounds alright," Kara replied simply. Noting how quickly her day went from relaxing in a Dungeon to fighting for her life and then meeting her father.

Rainer put an arm over Kara as they silently followed a servant to the four rooms they requested. They couldn\'t not get a room for Gunthar, even though he usually never bothered with one.

It was obvious that she didn\'t particularly want to talk, so Rainer accepted the silence and just sat with her on the lush bed they found in the given room.

An indeterminate time later, Rainer left the palace and then Void-walked to grab the rest of his party and brought them to the front of the palace. He still had plans to run if need be, so there was no reason to reveal the full extent of his teleportation abilities by entering the shielded palace. Rainer redoubled his interest in visiting the resident Aura inscriptions after seeing that Aura, rather than magic, was the source of the anti-teleportation shield. Though, he could easily push through it if need be.

Hiding Tiamat and Luna in his jacket, not trusting her Glamour to put up with high-level scrutiny, Rainer realized he still needed to have a talk with Liandra about certain information after all.

Arriving with his party into his palace room, his sister spoke first after he told them about the meeting with Kara\'s father.

"Didn\'t you meet Amer by almost fighting to the death as well? Or I guess technically you did kill him..." Sarah asked, before continuing on without his answer, "And Gunthar too, and the Fairy his father is dating or whatever is going on, and his father actually now that I remember, and Laneth after you killed his Queen. Really, I\'m not even surprised." If anything, Sarah thought, it made the stories her brother told her of his time here more real.

"What is he like, little Wolf?"

"I don\'t know... he seems like he wants to get know to me," Kara shrugged. She didn\'t really know what to do with the new discovery. Even when Rainer first agreed with her to find her father it had always been a sort of distant thing. Until it wasn\'t.

"We can talk more about it in the morning, for now I\'ll show you whose rooms are whose," Rainer interjected.

In the white void of [Sleep Learning], Kara dove into training quite quickly, this time working with several of her class skills in preparation for her advancement. Rainer had already told her the requirements of his own advancements and what allowed for greater classes, something hidden to others who only knew they had options, but not why.

Moments later, Rainer noticed a Phantom Wolf performing combat-like movements while glowing in Body Enchantments, while Kara herself worked on her Void-Step enchantment in concert with her [Mystic Dancer] class skills.

Isn\'t that a little unfair?

He jokingly complained to himself. With the limitless Aura Kara had for use in [Sleep Learning], she could permanently maintain her phantom wolf and have it do other things while she trained herself. That it still had enchantments proved even more useful for Kara. Brought out of his thoughts, Rainer called Sarah over before she got too into her own training.

"So, what did you need my help with?" Sarah asked.

Rainer had been thinking of a way to utilize [Sleep Learning] to learn enchanting quicker besides just the usual. The whole [Ring of the Nalmar Knighthood] was too complicated for the current him, which was why he wanted to focus on only a single attribute, such as Constitution or Vitality, both things vain upper-class individuals would like for the benefits it would provide to youth and their skin.

Sure, it wasn\'t the main purpose of those attributes, but it helped nonetheless. But as of now, he couldn\'t separate any Attribute completely from the rest of the enchantment.

"I need you to use your [Enchantment Manipulation] to break part of the enchantment of this ring until it only improves Constitution or Vitality on your status screen."

"But I can\'t make items in here as well as you do, so know you\'ll have to spend all that time with me just watching…" Sarah paused as she saw Rainer create enough rings for the Charisma-infused [Archon] to propose to every Wolfkin in the city. Though a part of her got the urge to jump into the rings it like they were a pile of leaves in Autumn. Before, of course, remembering they were made of metal.

"Please?" he asked, knowing this was not something she wanted to do for hours.

"Fine, but I expect a new enchantment tomorrow. Hmm, I\'ll take the Shield one that Kara has next." Sarah had speed, strength, and Void-step thus far.

"Done." It wasn\'t as if he wasn\'t going to do that anyways. Perhaps she was giving him an easy trade so he wouldn\'t feel bad? He\'d have to get her some more fruits from the Fae realm when he had a chance.

As Sarah went to work, Rainer went on experimenting with [Metal Manipulation], occasionally mixing it with [Arcane-Fire Manipulation], as he tried to both figure out a way to apply his arcane bonus to his metal work and alter the swords without compromising their integrity.

[Metal Manipulation has reached level 2]

A few hours later, he saw a ring drop in front of him.

"Finally," Sarah said with a deep sigh, "It adds about 1 Constitution. I couldn\'t get anything higher like the original +2, but that\'s good enough right?" She really underestimated how tedious that work would be. It left her wondering how her brother endured this every night for his various projects. Yes, her mind technically never grew tired, but that almost seemed to make it worse for her, as if time wasn\'t passing at all.

Watching the now far less complex enchant with [Arcane Revelation], Rainer realized this could be the way past his current enchanting difficulties. Opting to go with the object he was most familiar with, his gifted swords, Rainer went to work but stopped to thank Sarah first.

"Thank you, Sarah. Would you be willing to help with other attributes and enchantments? No rush."

"Hmm, shouldn\'t I technically get a percentage of profit or royalties from your enchanting?" She grinned.

"If you are willing to simplify other items I have in a similar way, I see no reason we can\'t do a 70, 30 split," Rainer offered. She was technically saving him weeks if not far more of work and he was, of course, going to give her any money she wanted anyway, but if this made it easier for her to do mind-numbing work, who was he to argue? She needed to level [Enchantment Manipulation], in any case, for her eventual 2nd Tier Advancement.

"We have a deal," Sarah agreed, and Rainer swore he saw the money signs in her eyes for a brief moment, "I\'ll get to work on Vitality then from that ring," she said, stretching her arms before walking back over to the now two piles, one of rings and the other of golden scrap.

Holding a sword in his hands, an outpour of Mana signaled the start of Rainer\'s rushed enchantment. Runes formed on the surface of the weapon as it wove into the pathways of the metal at his command. He briefly noticed how much easier the sword seemed to take in his Mana than previous items, wondering if it related to the class and title of the blacksmith who made them, before returning his focus onto the sword. With a final burst, he set the enchantment but found the sword unchanged, just with a gleam of magic across it. In other words, a more moderate enchantment failure. The alternative being the destruction of the item itself. But both left the item itself ruined for further enchanting. Not that it mattered here.

Rainer continued his enchanting attempts for the rest of the session, Sarah occasionally dropping by with either a Constitution Ring that was higher than just +0.8 or a Vitality Ring. He noticed at some point later, he was the only one in [Sleep Learning].

Realizing that the damage from overextending his Will usually came with increased sleep, he set his enchanting practice on Auto-pilot and went into an unconscious sleep.

Waking up, Rainer first noticed the entire party gathered in his room. They sat at a table away from him...playing poker? Luna seemed to have created cards, likely at Sarah\'s request. The fairy herself happily showed a straight flush to the rest of the party.

That little cheater…

He had seen that they were magically constructed in the first place with his sight. So he, of course, noticed Luna using her power to change the cards in her hands.

Sarah\'s pained groan made him chuckle enough though, that he had no plans of outing Luna. They\'d probably figure it out soon enough when she had cards that were clearly impossible.

"Ah, Rainer is awake. Come play the game the Mana Rainer invented," Luna said, throwing out yet another nickname that furthered Sarah\'s current \'depression\' from losing.

"Oh, that Sarah invented?" Rainer asked, wondering what on earth a \'Mana Rainer\' was, but decided not to ask.

"Yes, your sister seems to share your talent for making games, Sorcerer," Gunthar added, remembering the game they played prior to leaving the Fae Realm.

"That she does," Rainer said a bit awkwardly, glad he didn\'t claim chess was his invention as well.

"Ymir said we could come find him as soon as we are ready for some training," Kara spoke, quite excited after the conversation she had with her father this morning. He had offered to teach her how to unlock the power of her Wolfkin Aura and the basics of becoming an Aural Existence, though, anything more than the basics and she had to officially join the royal family. It was a bit disappointing as she had no intention of doing that with Demon-kind after her, but she hoped she could use both Rainer\'s [Sleep Learning] and her own intuition to fill in the gaps.

"He also said I and Lilia could train with the royal sensors," Sarah spoke, quite happy about that herself. Especially since she didn\'t notice those distant mages preparing their Group Spell when she killed Yazir. She had always been quite confident in her own abilities to sense Mana but it seemed she fell quite short by this world\'s standards in terms of distance.

"Let\'s not keep anyone waiting then," he said, and Tiamat sleeping by his pillow shrunk and tried to fly into his overcoat. She failed halfway and just used her claws to climb inside. He scratched under her chin as she poked just her head out, Rainer enjoying the purring from the spoiled dragon and wondering what the day held for them.

Rainer followed Kara while Sarah went with Gunthar and Lilia to meet with the sensors during their daily training. While walking, Rainer looked over his nightly gains. He hadn\'t managed to finish an enchantment, but his abilities in the craft improved. However, he felt an itching to do something else with his nights. His recent loss, for that what it truly was, to Ymir made him want to improve his magic once more. Absolute Dominion, and all he needed to accomplish it first, stood at the front of his mind now that he recovered from the effects of overextending his Will.

[Runic Engraving has reached level 3]

[General Enchantment has reached level 3]

"Did you speak anymore with your dad?" Rainer asked.

Kara shook her head. "We just set up a place to meet later before he was called away. Either he or Alaya, from last night, should be meeting us," she paused for a moment as she used the status screen to check the time, "in 30 minutes. I had hoped you\'d be up by then."

"I overdid it a bit, holding him down like that," Rainer said, rubbing his forehead as he ended up reminding himself of the pain.

"Rainer...are you sure the extra Void Will should go to me? Even if I receive it, I still would need to learn something to use it with. Nor would I have the proper bonuses for it. While I plan on using the dungeon here to level other classes for my subclass slots, I doubt I\'d choose something other than [Mystic Dancer]. Your enchantments are quite a large part of myself now," she ended with a slight blush.

"I suppose they are," Rainer responded, thinking it over. He had his [Void Domain] spell to use as a basis for transforming the skills [Void Hold] or [Void Grasp] into spells. There was no reason he couldn\'t eventually give Kara an anti-teleportation ability through her body enchantments as opposed to having her get Void Will implanted into her and then also learn the various skills from scratch.

"Besides, not everyone has your tolerance for pain…" Kara said a bit wearily. She had zero doubt in her mind that his process for learning and leveling his various Void skills had been extraordinarily painful for Rainer. Rather, when did he learn something in a non-painful way? He even on occasion made enchanting, a profession of scholarly and sedentary mages, into a cycle of life and death.

"Well, with Void Will it shouldn\'t be painful to learn any of it... probably. Either way, nothing I can do until Talvara deigns to visit again. Besides, I think you\'d technically be given talents related to the Void, which I can\'t have or it\'d also block me from magic."

"We\'ll do what\'s best for both of us then," Kara said, before they entered the technically underground, and yet higher in elevation than most of the city, training room.

Rainer sat in a corner a bit away from where Kara received instructions from Ymir. They seemed to be in decent spirits as Kara looked quite intense in her listening. Though, she most likely was more intense in studying his Aura rather than just his words.

Rainer himself stared at them both with [Arcane Revelation]-covered eyes as he tried to discern the Aural nature of Ymir as his Golden Aura moved and melded with parts of his body. Apart from wanting to help Kara do the same, he thought over his own path forward. Could he do the same with [Arcane Aura] without affecting his magic abilities? And what would be the result of becoming partially Aural with a magic-based Aura…

Sometime later Ymir had been replaced by Alaya, as the King had been called away by what appeared to be some sort of government official. Alaya demonstrated her own Golden Aura to Kara as she seemed to explain how to get to that point, switching between the two.

"Hello."

Rainer\'s thoughts were interrupted by a blonde blue-eyed elf.

"We\'ve met a few times, but I guess we haven\'t been introduced, I\'m Liandra." She spoke quite stiffly and sat next to Rainer on the floor.

"Rainer," he responded.

"I\'m sorry for earlier. I made the wrong assumption and you...had to fight." She wanted to say nearly got killed, but she had trouble imagining the monster beside her nearly getting killed. Something about his Mana still got her hackles raised. The baby dragon now joining the Fairy in his coat only furthered her original assumption even if she could clearly tell the difference between his and the dragon\'s soul with him.

"I can\'t say you were wrong to run," Rainer said and watched Liandra go as stiff as a board, "Can I assume you joining with royalty is unrelated to what I am carrying?"

"I have not told a soul," she quickly spoke before growing a bit somber at the thought, "I would never reveal the existence of her, I know what happens to her race when others get a hold of them…" Liandra thought of her own recent brush with becoming someone\'s slave, "Nor will me ever mention to anyones the most recent addition."

"I appreciate it. Truly," Rainer responded genuinely, momentarily turning off [Arcane Revelation]. He sensed her with [Mana Reading] and found no lies.

A few awkward seconds of silence passed and his sight returned to the training pair. Rainer felt Liandra nudging him with her elbow seconds later.

"So...we both lucked out with getting such nice pieces of ass, huh, huh?" The elf spoke looking at Alaya, who wore a quite a short leather skirt, "Boy those girls sure are troublesome though, you know what I mean. Definitely sisters."

"Are you drunk?" Rainer asked, only now noticing Liandra\'s face had been slightly red.

"Maybe." How else could she gain the courage to go up and talk to him? "And can you believe it? My beautiful wolf has to go be some guard for several weeks for the stupid Neutral City ambassador. You should treasure your time with your wolf!"

"Why don\'t you just go with her?"

"Oh…I can do that…"

"You know, as the first elf I\'ve ever met, you\'re ruining my perception of them."

"What, \'cause I\'m a girl I can\'t leer at my woman and drink like anyone else?"

"No, because you\'re an elf," Rainer said while noticing the said woman, Alaya, took a moment out of her instruction to look embarrassed, with Kara joining her. Wolfkin did have good hearing, he recalled.

Liandra paused for a moment, thinking of most of the elves she knew growing up back home.

"That\'s reasonable. So do you want some?" Liandra said, taking out a flask from inside her green shirt, "I took some from Ymir\'s personal stash when he wasn\'t looking."

"How about I just keep you company?" Rainer also doubted Ymir didn\'t notice her taking it. The man had even looked like he noticed when Rainer used [Void Seer] on him back when he confused the Wolf King for a woman.

"Suit yourself…"

Rainer then went on to ask her about her home, interested in the south beyond the Tarainien Empire while keeping most of his attention with [Arcane Revelation] on the training pair of Wolfkin.

"Rainer, we need to speak for a moment," Ymir said walking over to him, having returned sometime later.

"Sure," Rainer followed Ymir out of the room. Though first, he had to gently remove the sleeping and drooling Liandra from his shoulder. How did she end up hired by Royalty as a sensor? She truly must have impressive skills; she had noticed Luna\'s existence after all.

"I need you do something with that Undead of yours. I cannot have a Necromancer staying in the palace so openly. Kara and your other companions are welcome to stay here for at least several months. But, no matter what I feel for my daughter, I cannot risk my nation by permanently housing her here."

Rainer paused, he hadn\'t expected that last part. Why was he telling him this instead of his daughter? And how did he know the risk that Kara brought as a half-demon? Or was it something other than the prophecy?

"And you\'d like me to convince her to leave without your input?" Rainer then guessed. It wasn\'t as if they planned to stay for too long anyhow, he doubted Kara would want to bring that risk here herself. While thinking how to explain that Gunthar wasn\'t just some mindless undead he could do away with, Ymir spoke again.

"In exchange, I can-"

"I don\'t need a bribe to spare Kara from unnecessary pain."

"Take it nonetheless. Either way, at least take all the information we extracted from the Harpy Demon we caught lingering around the city."

So that\'s how he figured it out. No matter, Kara herself would probably want to leave once she knew about the Demons finding her here.

Rainer didn\'t want Kara\'s notions of her father to drop either, especially since once they eventually solved the issue of the entire Demon race coming after her, there would be no more barriers, though he felt wrong to trade that for anything. He sighed; what was some guilt if it meant saving her anguish? The truth only set free its speakers.

"I don\'t think Kara herself would want to stay too long, given her condition."

"Then we are agreed. And about the undead?"

Rainer grit his teeth. Wasn\'t this exactly what he wanted to escape in the Dragon Isles and with his Academy as well? Places where they couldn\'t belong simply for what they were. But there was no point in being antagonistic here, nor to create friction between Kara and her father. Rainer\'s thoughts spun, he wasn\'t just going to tell Gunthar to go somewhere and take residence in the city. Not a chance.

He needed a better a solution. Thinking a moment about what he learned about Neutral City and the nearby mountain range, and how Amer theorized Gunthar could reach the second tier, he came to a solution.

"I have a proposition of my own," Rainer said.

"Speak," Ymir responded, suddenly seeming a bit more formal than usual.

"I can take Alaya\'s place in guarding the Ambassador from the Neutral City and take my… Undead… with me," Rainer said, very much disliking to refer to Gunthar as such. Liandra\'s earlier descriptions of the city had made him deeply interested when she mentioned it after talking about her home. Even more so at the opportunity of meeting someone of their higher-ups in friendly terms.

"I had been reluctant to send Alaya away after she just returned home, but there had been no one else I could easily offer as a returning guard when they requested it. The waters for them had grown more dangerous as of late."

"Then we are agreed?" Rainer still planned on checking with Kara and his party first, but he didn\'t see why they would reject his idea.

"With my introduction, I see no reason why they would say no. They are not called Blood Moon Elves without reason, they should have no issues with a Necromancer and Mage of your strength."

"I\'ll see that no harm comes to them."

"I as well," Ymir responded, referencing his current guests.

Sometime later back in Rainer\'s room, the rest of the party had just returned to their own for the night after a discussion.

"So you might be leaving for a while?" Kara asked Rainer, the two sitting mostly alone in their room. He had just explained to the party his plans to go with the ship to the Neutral City as a guard with Gunthar, Luna, and Tiamat. No one seemed to disagree and Sarah herself ventured she wanted to visit once he set up a [Soul-Trace] there.

With all the time he\'d spent here, he\'d gotten used enough to the magic to Void-walk with at least one or two people over a long distance, such as back to the Northern Continent. At least, he thought so. He had yet to test it. Perhaps if the Demon who tracked Kara here was still alive he could get Ymir to give him or her as a test subject? But all three he\'d take with him were technically his familiars, making it far easier.

And Kara, Sarah, and Lilia would be safe here in the palace on top of them all having Rainer\'s [Soul-Trace]s on them.

"Having an already neutral party as an ally, and as well as an example of a surviving neutral organization, would be useful."

"I\'ll miss you," Kara said. This would be the first time they would really be apart for a long time.

"Yeah I\'ll miss you too," Rainer said, grinning. And soon after he earned himself a hit on his shoulder.

"And what\'s so amusing?"

Rainer wisely stopped grinning when he saw Kara was most certainly not joking with him.

"Kara...I can Void-walk."

"You can…" Kara\'s face turned red when she realized it. He wouldn\'t actually be leaving, and he could visit whenever he wanted.

"And you couldn\'t have told me that?"

"But I did tell you that." Did she think he would only come back if they were in trouble?

"Yeah, after grinning about it."

"I thought you were playing around so we could have an emotional goodbye and then I\'d see you tomorrow night as usual," Rainer had no plans of sleeping on a rocking ship.

"That does sound nice…"

The night had been spent in Auto-pilot to make sure he healed fully from his overuse of Void Will, with Rainer trying to level both [Void Domain] and [Arcane-Spatial Domain] along with the manipulation skills they involved. He felt an increase in familiarity with both spells, but neither seemed to have a numerical increase from his brute forcing. They were tier 6 and tier 5 spells.

In the morning, Ymir agreed to Rainer\'s request of temporarily handing over the Demon to him.

Rainer looked over the Harpy Demon as she was called. Clearly, she wasn\'t in a good state, seeming to be barely alive.

[Demon, Female, Demonic Harpy lvl 24]

She had varied black feathers instead of hair and talons instead of feet, but the rest of her body seemed quite normal, lacking any sort of wings. Perhaps that was part of her Demonic Transformation and how she had found them so quickly?

With her already set to be executed and, here in the first place for the sole purpose of helping to capture Kara, Rainer found it hard to garner any sympathy. He took the unconscious demon by the wrist and prepared to Void-walk.

Moments later and with a [Void Seer], Rainer silently Void-walked into a room on the Northern Continent Port City he set off from. Checking that the demon arrived with him with no issues, and without even waking the man he used for the [Soul Trace], he went back with her. The magic still distorted him and he had to use Void Will in addition to extra Mana for his Void-walk, but he was growing used to it. So long as he maintained his focus and grip on his target, there was no issue. Especially with a familiar bond to aid him.

"Impressive…" Ymir remarked.

"So there\'s no problem with me coming back at night?"

"None, so long as the undead doesn\'t come with you. I can\'t be known to be housing a dark mage."

"Then there\'s no problem." Rainer was still bothered with Gunthar being called just an \'undead\' but now wasn\'t the time to make a fuss about it and reveal such a large secret.

Rainer took Gunthar and Void-walked from the palace soon after saying \'goodbye\' and making sure everyone could at least easily send a basic ping through their [Soul Trace]s.

"Can I keep Tiamat with me?" Gunthar asked as they walked down the port. Before Rainer could respond, Tiamat jumped from Rainer and onto Gunthar\'s clothes, before burrowing in and finding a spot in his rib cage. In the busy morning of the Port, no one even paid the two any mind. Apart from a few stolen glances at Rainer from sailors they were mostly ignored by the busy crews. Not that anyone could discern what Tiamat was from a glance.

"I suppose that\'s her saying yes. You look quite happy about that," Rainer said before he realized there was no way for Gunthar to look happy about anything.

"I am. I wonder if she\'ll manage to fly soon. She\'s been getting better and better at it. Any day now."

Rainer chuckled a bit at Gunthar who sounded like a proud parent.

"Humph, she clearly doesn\'t understand who the superior mobile home is," Luna said in a muffled voice from Rainer\'s pocket.

"I thought you preferred having me to yourself?" Rainer asked. She had fought over his coat pockets with Tiamat in the past.

"That is that and this is this."

"Anyways, part of the reason I agreed, Gunthar, is for you to reach the next tier."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Neutral City functions through an underground pass beneath a mountain range maintained by Dwarves all the way past the Tarainien Empire\'s territory. The mountains themselves have natural guardians. Where is better to get you the Souls you need?"

"Would they allow us to hunt in such a place?"

"It\'s a moderately popular hunting ground since, unlike most places, the monsters are quite aggressive regardless of strength levels. But it comes with an equally high rate of death. But that won\'t matter when I can just Void-walk us away," Rainer spoke. Liandra had been a surprisingly knowledgeable source on the Neutral City.

"Even if that won\'t advance me, I\'m sure the Souls there would be worth it," Gunthar added. As strong as his [Devil King] Soul and even [Devil Lord] Soul was, it required such an amount of Aura from him that it wasn\'t always practical.

Rainer took the rest of their walk to think over his plans. This was a good opportunity to meet with possible future support for his Academy. He still planned on having the Academy itself in the Dragon Isles to take advantage of the Magic in the air, but they were close enough to the isles and intertwined with trade enough to be a worthy future ally.

He was, of course, just a guard. Even if his strength made him one of a high status. But it was an opportunity to meet with the ambassador and get acquainted with someone of rank.

They reached the ship they would be taking soon after. It was of an elegant yet harsh design and quite large, painted with red outlines across its sharper points, a carved figure stood at its bow. The ship\'s design seemed to speak more of battle than it did any sort of diplomatic mission.

Rainer presented the letter from the King and was let aboard. Ymir had also sent his own messenger ahead of time regarding the change in guards. They strangely had no issue with it, something that surprised Rainer. Perhaps the Wolf King\'s word was heavier than he thought? Though, it could be that the Wolf King had continued the ploy of him being a Magus from past the forbidden North. According to him, the information on Yazir\'s death had spread quite far from spies and others.

A veiled Moon Elf approached him, two second-tier guards flanking her on each side.

"I am most appreciative of your aid, Lord Magus of the Deep North."

[Moon Elf, Female, Magic Bard lvl 14]

[Title: Bard of the Moonlight]

The Bard from a few nights ago?

"It\'s my pleasure, Ambassador. I have long wished to visit your magnificent city. To provide you protection on the way, is of no matter." Rainer bowed as the Wolf King had told him to this morning, a simple nodding of his head. Anything more, and he\'d be suggesting himself as far beneath her.

"If it is alright with you, might we set sail immediately? We can head to more private quarters for a morning feast." Unknown to Rainer, her own eyes opened in recognition. She wouldn\'t forget the magic and mana she had sensed that night.

Rainer agreed, and one of her guards set the rest of the crew preparing to leave. It wasn\'t long before they set sail to the southwest, and whatever dangers may or may not await them.