Chapter 14: The Existence of Gods

[Ding~ Conquered "Dragon Queen", "Crimson Despair", "Mother of Dragon Slayers" Irene Belserion.]

[Gained 1,200,000 experience + 50,000 x 4]

[Interface upgrading, countdown to upgrade completion: 360 hours, experience gain not affected during upgrade.]

From dawn till mid-morning...

"Ah!!!"

Mera, who had entered after knocking, ran out blushing...

"Experience can be accumulated?! And it even upgraded..."

"What?" a slightly drowsy female voice asked.

"Nothing, let's continue!"

[Ding~ Gained 50,000 experience.]

In the following days, Aegon was almost inseparable from Irene, hardly leaving their quarters, immersing himself in her company.

...

Aegon was lying naked on Irene's lap, exploring her curves with his hands.

Irene was no longer a young girl, quickly adapting to his presence by her side, especially after these days and nights together. Aegon's experience bar also grew rapidly...

"When are we leaving the Alvarez Empire?"

"No rush."

Aegon was examining the scar on Irene's left abdomen.

Slap!

Irene swatted his mischievous hand away, slightly annoyed: "What do you mean, no rush?"

Aegon laughed: "Looks like you've guessed?"

Irene smiled, looking at him sideways, "No need to guess, you won't stay here forever."

Aegon wrapped his arms around her slender waist, whispering in her ear, "I told you before, once we get news from August, we'll almost be ready to leave."

August had been gone for nearly a month and should be back soon.

In the past few days, Irene had shown Aegon what it meant to be lost in the gentle caress of a loving woman. He experienced the joy of being with an elder sister in Irene.

"Irene-sama, Aegon-sama~ we're back!"

Heine and Juliet, who had gone out to gather information on the five God Dragons of Giltena, returned to the office. As soon as they opened the door...

The two pure-hearted maids immediately fainted.

"Clean it up." A hand lightly pressed on her shoulder.

Irene gave him a playful glare.

"Advanced magic does change your life!"

Aegon sighed.

He increasingly felt that approaching Irene first was the right choice.

With everything already tidied up, Aegon and Irene sat upright on the sofa as if nothing had happened.

Juliet clenched her fists, her cheeks still red: "Irene-sama! Aegon-sama! How could you..."

Heine, with a vacant look, muttered something unintelligible...

Juliet and Heine shouted in unison, "Doing such things, can't you go to a room?!"

Aegon nodded calmly, uttering the freeloaders' creed:

"Next time, definitely."

Irene redirected the conversation, "Alright, tell us about the information you gathered."

"There are indeed rumors of the five God Dragons in Giltena. More precisely, it should be six God Dragons; the Earth God Dragon died decades ago, its body turning into a labyrinth."

"The other five are the Fire God Dragon Ignia, the Wood God Dragon Aldoron, the Moon God Dragon Selene, the Gold God Dragon Viernes, and the Water God Dragon Mercphobia."

Juliet clapped her hands excitedly: "Oh! I heard the Moon God Dragon Selene is a beautiful dragon!"

Seeing Aegon's lack of interest, Irene patted his mischievous hand: "What about their locations?"

"We only know the Water God Dragon is in the south, in Elmina, and the Wood God Dragon is in the central Dorahil, but the exact location is unknown. As for the others, we don't know."

After a moment, Irene spoke, "No information on the Moon God Dragon Selene and the Gold God Dragon Viernes?"

Among the five God Dragons, Irene was more interested in the Moon God Dragon and the Gold God Dragon. Judging by their names, they both seemed to be female dragons...

If possible, she wanted to capture them and present them to Aegon...

Heine hesitated, "That..."

Irene narrowed her eyes, "So, you don't know?"

Aegon hugged her, gently patting her shoulder, "It's alright, if they were easy to find, we would have discovered them by now. They must be hiding somewhere in Giltena."

Irene's tone softened, "But..."

"It's okay, we'll find them slowly."

"Alright, I'll listen to you."

Hearing this, Heine and Juliet breathed a sigh of relief. An angry Irene was too intimidating; they had almost been unable to breathe...

The now-accustomed Mira appeared at the office door.

Knock knock—

Mira stood at the door, knocking without looking directly at them.

"Aegon-sama, August is here to see you."

"He's finally here. Come, Irene, let's go meet him. As for Mera and Heine, you two can get acquainted."

Heine and Juliet had been out gathering information on the five God Dragons and hadn't returned until now.

Aegon had been waiting here for August's arrival.

"Let me change my clothes."

"Come on, I'll take you to change!" Without waiting for her response, Aegon picked her up and headed to the room.

Irene, arms around his neck, gave him a sidelong glance: "Is it possible that I don't need to go back to the room to change?"

She said it but didn't resist, letting Aegon carry her back to the room.

When it was time to change clothes, Aegon didn't do anything inappropriate to Irene.

He just appreciated her delicate figure as she changed and took the opportunity to tease her a bit...

Irene slapped away his teasing hands, "Alright, let's not keep Mr. August waiting."

Juliet and Heine opened the door from both sides. When Irene and Aegon arrived at the reception room together, August was already seated upright, quietly waiting for their arrival.

The moment August saw Aegon, he stood up, "Lord Aegon, Lady Irene."

Though his expression was calm, seeing Aegon and Irene walk in side by side surprised even August.

Walking side by side instead of one following the other indicated that Irene's status with Aegon was higher than August had imagined.

Of course, August knew the purpose of his visit, and he kept his focus.

"Please, sit."

Irene nodded slightly, "It's been a long time, Lord August."

After joining the Alvarez Empire, Irene stayed here as long as Emperor Zeref did not return to the Western Continent and convene a court meeting. And Zeref hadn't returned for a long time, so Irene and August hadn't seen each other in a while.

Aegon took the main seat, with Irene on his left. Mera, Heine, and Juliet stood behind them with their hands folded. It seemed the entire castle had come to greet him.

They didn't really need Mera and the others to greet them; they were just curious and insisted on coming along to watch.

August's gaze fell on Aegon. In just a month, Aegon's aura and magic power had improved again!

Considering their current levels, it was incredibly difficult to make further progress!

Both August and Irene had been stagnating for some time.

"!" August's pupils contracted sharply because he noticed that Irene's magic power seemed to have also improved...

But he quickly adjusted his mood and got straight to the point:

"Lord Aegon, I have results regarding the changes happening in the world. Please, take a look."

August lightly tapped his magic staff on the ground, and a new world map appeared before Aegon and Irene.

The new map displayed eight continents, marked in blue and red. The seas remained larger than the land, with the land-to-sea ratio being roughly 3 to 7.

"The blue continents are the original ones, while the red ones are the new continents I discovered during my exploration."

To the east of the Southern Continent, Ishgar, two new continents had emerged: Valoran and Castelan. These two continents were positioned one above the other, separated by a narrow ocean current.

"Between Ishgar and these two new continents lies a vast whirlpool area with strong gravitational forces. Even magic-powered airships would be sucked in."

"Besides the Minotaurs and Lizardmen already present in Ishgar, these continents host many unknown races such as Dwarves, Giants, Great Apes, Children of the Forest, Elves... and Half-Dragons."

Irene interrupted August, "Half-Dragons?"

"Yes, Half-Dragons, and they are quite powerful because the Castelan continent has another name."

August paused, curious about Aegon's reaction to this revelation.

He withheld the answer for a moment before slowly revealing, "The Dragon Continent."

Aegon raised an eyebrow, "The Dragon Continent?"

Aegon's reaction was calmer than August had expected, confirming his earlier suspicion: 'The current Black Dragon doesn't seem focused on slaying dragons or Dragon Slayers.'

He continued describing the Castelan continent:

"However, based on the information I've gathered, the dragons of Castelan are somewhat different from those in Ishgar and Alakitasia. Most of Castelan's dragons live in volcanoes and seem to only use fire magic. Their defenses are not as formidable as expected since I found records of human weapons killing dragons."

Irene and Aegon shared a thought: 'Weaker dragons, perhaps?'

"In addition, to the extreme north of the Alvarez Empire lies a continent called Westeros. It is unified under a single empire, divided into five major kingdoms.

Recently, this empire has been in turmoil, with ongoing wars among its kingdoms. Interestingly, they worship gods: the God of Light, the Sky God, the Earth God, the Sea God, and finally... the Demon God."

Aside from the five gods that most people worshipped, there were also some who believed in other deities.

Juliet's eyes widened, "What?! People actually worship a Demon God?"

She could understand worshipping the other gods, but the belief in a Demon God seemed strange.

August nodded, "Yes, the Demon God is depicted as a terrifying giant with six arms, said to possess the power to distort space. Negative emotions such as resentment, anger, and fear are his nourishment and offerings."

There were people in Ishgar and the Alvarez Empire who also worshipped gods, but they were relatively few.

The reason was simple: without visible miracles, most people preferred to rely on their own magic and... money.

August himself was skeptical about the existence of gods. If not for the curse of Ankhseram afflicting Zeref, he probably wouldn't believe in gods at all.

However, recent events had slightly shifted his belief towards the possibility of gods' existence.

Besides the observations in Westeros, he had also encountered Dimaria Yesta, who claimed to receive the soul of the God of Time, Chronos.

After transferring the collected information to Mera, August mentioned another piece of news before leaving:

"By the way, there's something else. Although you might not care..."

"Speak."

"Rumors of the Black Dragon's reappearance have been spreading, even reaching other continents."

Since Aegon had no intention of concealing his aura and magic power, news of his appearance in the capital of the Alvarez Empire and Alakitasia had quickly spread, growing more intense over time.

However, since Aegon had vanished for nearly a month afterward, some began to suspect it was mere hype...

August was right; Aegon didn't particularly care about the news. He would deal with anyone who came looking for him. Unless they were gods, they would just be offering him experience.

Aegon and August sparred once more after a month, but Aegon still couldn't gain experience from August.

It was unclear whether August hadn't improved or if the time limit was more than a month.

After August left, Irene let out a sigh, "I didn't expect it to involve gods..."

She turned to Aegon, looking him in the eyes, and solemnly said, "Promise me, never let your guard down."

Aegon responded seriously, "Alright, I promise you."

Juliet couldn't help but ask, "Lady Irene, do you really believe in the existence of gods?"

"It's better to believe than not, but I don't think gods will easily appear in Earthland. Even if they descend, there must be a price to pay."