Chapter 6 - "Escort me safely to Sahnper."

Act 1 - Private Training

"Hmm... What do you think?"

"I can't really tell, your highness. It seems plausible but then again, where did they learn this?"

King Galen scratched his head as he looked at the contents of the letter once more. The way he read it seemed like he couldn't actually tell if whatever was written was legitimate or not. Phoros, his trusted advisor, took a look as well, adjusting his glasses, and inching his face closer to the letter to see better.

"But then again, it is HIM who wrote this letter after all, it may be just hoax," Phoros inferred.

"What do you suggest we do?" King Galen asked, seeking for suggestions.

"I think you should go see for yourself along with him, however, you two must be discreet about it. Also, it's likely that she will come along as well so you really have to be careful."

"Alright, we can use this to our advantage as well, I'll go make the preparations. I wanted to check on him as well so this is perfect timing." King Galen said as he walked off out of the room to get ready for the trip. Phoros on the other hand, stayed inside, still examining the contents of the letter.

"Sahnper. How exactly did you do it?" he whispered.

Meanwhile...

Somewhere in a remote location at the southern half of the Ironblade territory, there stood a set of rocky mountains that reaches as far as the clouds could fly. The foot of the mountains consist of light vegetation, and a sandy beach that mostly surrounds a huge lake in the middle. The northern side of the lake connects to a river that flows down westward where Ironblade borders the ocean.

At the center of the mountain formation, two massive holes were carved. Above is a stone wall, with glass in its internal area, jutting out of the mountain a bit in a dome shape. Below it was an even bigger hole, forming a semi-circle shape, almost similar to a tunnel entrance. Behind that stone wall above lay a room, with a bed, and a white-haired demon slept peacefully in its comfort.

"Alright, time to wake up!" Ren shouted as he entered the room and spread open the window curtains.

Sunlight poured through, and the refreshing breeze of nature flowed inside the room. Ren went to the bed and positioned himself on all fours above Karis.

"Wake up, it's time for your daily routine," he said while he mischievously cupped Karis cheeks, forcing her to open and close her mouth like a fish underwater.

"Mmm..." Karis' eyes started twitching while Ren was still relentless in his assault.

"-iss" she said, her voice still sounded drowsy.

"What was that?"

"Kiss."

Karis pouted her lips as she groggily demanded her usual morning kiss. Ren, in response, lowered his head so that he can give the girl her request. They shared a light kiss, just touching each others lips, nothing more, but it was enough to form an adorable smile on Karis' face.

"Morning," she greeted, still with a sleepy voice.

"Morning," Ren greeted back.

Karis then lazily sat up on the bed, her eyes half open, and then stretched her arms upward. She gently rubbed her eyes, and let the morning sun bask her face in its light.

"Get changed now, come on," Ren said as he wrapped his arm around Karis' waist, helping her get up on the bed by pulling her up.

"A few more minutes," Karis replied as she leaned forwards and sunk on Ren's abdomen.

Ren tried to bring her up again by grabbing under her arm pits, and lifting her back up to the sitting position, but no matter how much he adjusted her, she just kept leaning too much either backwards, or forwards.

As a final resort, Ren began slithering his hands under Karis' torso, and started playing with her body.

"I said wake up!" he screamed as he aggressively pinched the tips of Karis' breast. Karis in response, began moaning softly but still wouldn't show any signs of waking up entirely.

"Fine then, you leave me no choice," Ren finally said. Moments later, a loud moan echoed throughout the mountain, sending some birds nearby to fly off in surprise.

"That was mean."

"Well you wouldn't wake up, you gave me no choice."

A few minutes had passed since their early morning activity. Karis was wide awake now, although her hair and clothes were a bit messed up.

"Also, you doing it every damn morning is fine, but me doing it just this once and suddenly I'm the bad guy?"

"At least be gentle about doing it with someone that's half asleep!"

"That's the point, I'm trying to wake you up!"

Karis and Ren continued their bickering as they walked around their new home. Their walls were a perfect rectangular shape, and a lighting system lit up their cave-like home. Thanks to Ren's magic, he was able to effortlessly shape the insides of the mountain they are in as he wished, and with his knowledge from his former world, he was able to basically create an electric circuit within his mountain, powered by his own magic.

"Anyway, get changed now, we're already behind schedule."

"Fine, but I'm paying you back tonight, remember it," Karis said as she entered another room on the way.

Ren on the other hand, kept walking down the hallway, going down to a fancy staircase leading to the common room on the ground floor which has a massive area. He went straight through the hallway on the other side, and finally, exiting through a wooden door that leads outside to the mountain's tunnel entrance. He took a long breathe as he savored the scent of the mountain breeze. A pathway cuts through the grass, leading to the beach in the middle.

A few minutes later, Karis had exited their house's door. She wore a white tracksuit, and her hair was tied in a ponytail. She followed Ren who was already halfway to the beach.

"We'll start with some stretches, a lap around the beach, and a combat training."

"Again? Can we skip the combat training?" Karis complained.

"Nope, it's called a routine for a reason."

"But we're going all around the beach! I won't have any stamina left for combat training!"

"If you land a hit on me today, I'll let you chain me to the bed tonight."

"I'LL DO MY BEST!" Karis immediately changed her mind as Ren made a tempting offer.

Ever since they got a massive land all to themselves, Karis and Ren made it their daily routine to do some light exercises, and combat practice every morning, just barely after the sun rises. The combat training wasn't meant for Ren but rather to help Karis have a way of defending herself even without Ren around. Without access to her Demon Lord power, she had no choice but to resort to physical combat.

Their routine starts off with a few stretches to warm their muscles up, then either a whole, or a half lap around the beach which runs around the lake, only cut-off by the river at the north side. After their lap, they take a small rest, then proceed with the combat training. As for Karis' mode of combat, so far she had made quite the progress with a katana blade.

"Alright, same rule as before. We fight each other until one of us receives an attack that will 'kill' us. If you lost, we start again then repeat for an hour, if you win, then we stop for the day," Ren explained as he tossed a wooden sword over to Karis.

She failed to catch it, making it fall to the sand, but she picked it back up. She then assumed a combat stance.

"Hyaahhhhh!" she screamed as she charged forward with her sword trailing behind. Karis swung her blade, aiming to hit Ren's neck, but Ren stopped the attack with his own sword. They clashed for a bit, but Ren's superior strength overpowered Karis' arm.

"Your attack is to direct. We already went through this," Ren remarked as he let Karis back away, but to his surprise, instead of retreating, Karis' used the momentum of Ren's strike to turn around and attack from the other direction.

Ren was able to easily evade the attack by moving backwards and letting the wood travel through the air, and then again, Karis did something unexpected. She stepped forward with her momentum, and extended the reach of her blade. Unfortunately, the second rotation left Karis wide open, letting Ren dodge forward, grabbed Karis' swinging hand as it went past his head, and placed his sword on Karis' neck.

"And with this you're dead," he said while holding the wooden sword against her throat.

"That attack was not bad but you don't have the speed to follow through with the second strike," he explained.

"Well that's unfair since you're quite fast," Karis complained.

"Believe me, I'm moving as fast as a normal bandit right now."

"Mmm."

"Also I don't know if it's for giving you courage, but try not to shout when attacking, it makes you predictable."

"Isn't shouting good to scare off your opponents?" Karis asked confused.

"Animals that don't have proper ways to defend itself use scare tactics," Ren replied.

"Now, back up, we're going again."

Ren let go of Karis' arm and allowed her to regain her posture for another round. Karis on the other hand, was already breathing heavy though as the lap around the beach already took too much out of her. Sweat ran down her body, making her skin glisten against the light of the sun.

"Hn!" Karis attacked once again, this time with a softer grunt instead of an intimidating shout. She opened up differently this time, strafing left and right with magnificent footwork that displays her amazing speed, agility, and muscle control. She threw feint attacks randomly, trying to catch Ren off guard but Ren wasn't taking any of those.

"There!" Karis thought to herself as she saw an opening in Ren's defenses. She dived towards the unprotected spot at full speed. Ren noticed the trajectory of her attack and began to block but the moment he began to act, Karis was already within range. She swung the wooden sword, aiming for a slice on Ren's abdomen.

"Not bad," however, Ren was able to pull a defense at the last second and block Karis' trajectory with it, deflecting away her sword but same as before, Karis used the same 180 turn to slice the other way.

"I got you!"

"Not so fast."

Ren quickly readjusted his body again to deflect the second attack with his own sword. However, as he did, Karis used every ounce of her strength to strike Ren's weapon as hard as she could, sending the blade flying out of Ren's grasp. The blade flew away, landing on the yellow sands of the beach.

"It's my win," Karis said as she pointed her sword against Ren's stomach.

"I won right!?" she repeated, asking for confirmation.

"Not quite."

"What?!"

To Karis' surprise, Ren quickly tackled Karis onto the sand, pinning her down with her arms above her head, and her legs being ridden by Ren, pinning them as well.

"Hey! That's dirty! I already won that match," Karis protested.

"What was your win condition?" Ren asked, reminding Karis.

"If I were to deliver an attack that can kill you..."

"Exactly."

"But what about--"

"A stab on the stomach doesn't kill that fast. Unlike aiming at your neck earlier, you would have been beheaded by a real sword, but if you were to stab me with a real sword on the stomach, I would've still lived for a few more seconds and pinned you down like this, ultimately killing you before I die first," Ren explained.

"So with this, you are dead," he added as he used his free hand to lightly touch Karis' throat with his fingers close together, mimicking the shape of a knife.

"I don't get it, usually duels already end like what I did earlier right?"

"True, but I'm not training you to participate in duels. I'm training you so that you can protect yourself."

"I don't...get it..."

"Listen, I know we're together most of the time, but that won't always be the case. There are times where I won't be there to protect you, and when that time comes, I want you to be ready so that I won't have to worry about you on your own. Also how long do demons live?"

"The oldest to die was above five hundred years old," Karis answered.

"Right so with that, you demons have more life expectancy than us humans, I don't exactly know how long humans live here because the timescale is different, but it is safe to assume that I will most likely die of old age ahead of you," Ren explained.

Karis fell silent at the sudden realization.

"If I were to die of old age, I want you to remain living normally beyond that, and of course you being a demon, you're no stranger to danger. So you would need to have some way of defending yourself," Ren added.

"Why are we suddenly talking about stuff like this?" Karis asked, her voice kind of shaking.

"I don't know either, maybe I'm just having an existential crisis. Nevertheless, I hope you understand what I'm getting at," Ren said as he leaned forwards and gave Karis a long, light kiss.

"Now, stand up, we still have some time."

Ren then got up from sitting on Karis, and let her stand up. Karis went back to her fighting position, however this time, she seemed more motivated than before after Ren shared his concern for her, or rather, their future.

And thus, the two continued their bout until the hour had passed.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Act 2 - Transportation Nexus

After their rigorous training session, Karis, and Ren both went to their local bathing spot to clean themselves off from the sweat they'd built up. Of course that spot being the massive lake that their mountain encloses. Crescent Mountain's lake makes for a good spot to clean themselves off as its crystal-clear water shows off its cleanliness. There was not a hint of murkiness in the water, not even near the shore where there were grains of sand. The bottom is also quite visible, and judging from its distance, the lake wasn't that deep.

"Ahh, this feels good," Karis said as the two of them, both naked, dipped themselves in the lake.

"Could do with a bit of warming though, but I'm not complaining," Ren remarked.

"So, do you have any plans today?"

"Yeah, I already finished the plan for the Transportation Nexus. I'll start making it later after our bath," Ren answered as he sat down on the lake's floor, letting his torso get submerged underwater.

"What about you?" he asked Karis.

"I don't really have anything in mind... maybe I'll help you out?"

"No, there's no need. It's a one-man job so I can handle it, well it is a one-man job for me at least."

"You really don't want me to help out?" Karis asked again as she went and hugged Ren from behind, wrapping her arms towards his front and planting some light kisses on his neck.

"It's fine really, you don't have to. You won't even be able to do much anyway so feel free to spend the day lazing around. Maybe train by yourself, that sounds better."

"But I already had enough training. I'm tired," Karis replied with a cute voice as if trying to woo Ren. She even started rubbing her chest onto Ren's back as a massage.

"A little lower please."

"Right here?"

"Yes, right there. Ahh yes, that's the spot."

The two spent their time ogling at each other while bathing. About a few minutes later, the two final got out, and dried themselves with Ren's wind magic. They then went and got on their clothes and started to go about their day.

"Oh, Ren what about breakfast?" Karis asked.

"Why, you hungry?"

"No not really but what about you?"

"I'll go get something to eat after I'm done with this."

"Ok then," Karis said as she went back inside their mountain house. Ren then began simulating the construction of the Nexus in his mind. As for its location, he decided to place it somewhere in the middle of the lake. Materials to be used aren't a problem since there are quite a lot of lumber in their territory. He can also use the stones he shaved off from the mountain to build their room as reinforcement materials.

"Alright, I think I got it now."

A few hours later...

"And, it's finished!"

Ren stood proudly at his creation. In the middle of the lake stood an elegant looking, circular gazebo made from wood, and stones. The gazebo is anchored in the bottom of the lake to keep it from sinking, while a wooden bridge connects the gazebo from the mainland. A stone railing holds the bridge together and acts as a fence from the outside. He made the Nexus' location also a nice place for a resting spot with the surroundings as a relaxing sight.

"Alright, now for the Nexus itself."

Ren then went to the center where he will place his creation. In the middle of the Gazebo, he created a glass border to separate it from the relaxing spot. Inside the glass room, he placed a map of the entire world that he drew from his borrowed memories and placed it like a board. He then crafted a monolith, about a few feet taller than him, between him and the map.

"Now to place the marks."

Ren crafted a small wooden spear, then pierced his finger with it, letting a small amount of blood to flow out. He then used his blood to place over some marks on the map, one just outside of Warspite's gates, and another one outside of the Ironblade's capital.

"And now for the test."

With the small wooden spear in his hand, he pierced the mark that he placed near Warspite. Moments later, the same portal that he had been using as transportation appeared on the monolith's surface. The same view that he sees whenever he warps back to Warspite came into view. He then entered the portal and out he comes on a familiar clearing.

"Perfect!" he exclaimed as he finished his little experiment.

He then went back to the portal into his Nexus room, and there was Karis standing by as she waited for him to fully come through.

"Oh, hey," Ren greeted.

"I wasn't expecting you to make a little resting place," Karis remarked.

"Well, I just thought it would be nice. We have the entire place all to ourselves so why not make some things while we're here."

"So, this is you Transportation Nexus?" Karis asked as she inspected the monolith and the map.

"Yeah, although I can only go to places I've been so it's not that big as of yet. We can only go to the capital or Warspite, but that's enough on my book."

"What happens if we spend too much time on the other side though?"

"It's fine I can deactivate the portal at will," Ren assured.

"But what if I plan to go, for example, on Warspite on my own? Will the portal continue on working without you there to deactivate? And how can I go back?"

"That's some valid concerns...hmm then how about this..."

Ren held Karis' left hand, and pointed his blooded-finger on Karis' palm.

"This might sting a bit," Ren warned.

"Right."

Karis felt Ren's blood spread on a small area on her palm. After a few seconds, she felt a burning sensation carved through her skin that made her flinch a bit and let out a little noise. After a few seconds, Ren pulled away his finger, and in its place, a small mark was created on Karis' palm.

"Now I want you to do a little test for me," Ren requested.

"What is it?"

"Come."

Ren went back through the portal again, this time with Karis joining him. They appeared on the same clearing that Ren was a few moments ago.

"What do you want me to do?" Karis asked.

"Point that mark on that portal, and concentrate on it. Imagine the image of a glass breaking," Ren instructed.

"Alright."

Karis then did as she was instructed, and stretched out her arm allowing her palm to point to the portal.

"Glass breaking. Glass breaking. Glass breaking..." Karis repeated as she let her concentration focus on the chant and the portal itself. After some time, the portal got destroyed like a mirror glass breaking into pieces.

"I did it!" she exclaimed happily.

"Perfect, now concentrate again on that tree trunk, and imagine our beautiful mountain home as best as you can."

"Got it! So our home."

Karis then concentrated her mind again to the scenery of their home, and much to her surprise, it took a lot shorter than the portal to break for her to recreate it once again, and the sight of the map on the Nexus met her eyes.

"Well that was fast," Ren commented, surprised as well by the speed of the portal creation.

"This is amazing! How did you do this!?" Karis asked enthusiastically.

"Magic transfusion through blood. Basically, this monolith responds to my transportation magic on this map and sets the desired location based on where the pin is. Marking you with my blood just tricks the system that it is me who is activating the spell so you can deactivate it on your own, and reactivate the portal back here. Although you can only activate that spell on a standing surface, so ground portals are not doable," Ren explained.

"I'm not sure I get what you were saying, but that means I can use your portal right?"

"Yeah, but the activation will only send you back here," Ren confirmed.

The two then headed outside of the glass room and into the gazebo's entrance.

"Hmm?" but something caught Karis' eye as she turned her head to look around. A fancy-looking carriage made it's away around the island's beach. Its path headed towards the center of the mountain range where the entrance to their house resides.

Ren noticed it as well as he heard the trotting of the carriage's horses. Upon taking a closer look, he spots the crest of the Ironblade family on the carriage's door.

"It seems we have some unexpected visitors."

________________________________________________________________________________________

Act 3 - House Visit

"You've done something quite extraordinary again hero..."

"Agreed, this is unlike anything I'd ever seen before..."

King Galen and Phoros stared in awe at the entrance of Ren's house. Irina, and the queen as well were looking around, admiring the surroundings. The gazebo in particular, caught their attention since it looked out of place compared to the surroundings, yet was still attractive in their eyes.

"Welcome to out home, Ironblade's royal family. Please enjoy your stay while you're here," Karis politely said as she bowed her head to greet the visitors.

"What brings you here?" Ren asked without the slightest bit of welcoming in his voice.

"Your demon wife knows more manners than you. Some things just never change, as you said," King Galen sighed although he wasn't the slightest bit offended.

"Didn't I say I was going to come and check up on you anytime soon? You are in my territory after all, so I want to know what you're up to," he added, stating the purpose of his visit.

"Ok fine. What do you want me to do? I'm not used to accepting visitors."

"Nothing just, show us around, show all the interesting things you've been doing lately. You can think of this as a house inspection."

"Is that so? Hmm..." Ren looked back and forth between his mountain house, and the gazebo, thinking heavily on how he should do the little tour.

"Screw it, I'm starting here," he said as he started walking towards their mountain entrance.

"..."

"Well what are you waiting for? An invitation? Come on!" he screamed to the royal entourage who were just standing there, staring at him.

"Would it kill you to learn some proper etiquettes?" King Galen replied, annoyed.

"Sorry about that my liege, please allow me to be your guide for this tour," Karis kindly offered with a gentle voice.

"I never thought there'd come a point in my life where I would prefer a demon's presence over a human. I'll have to agree for now," King Galen replied.

"Great. So, just follow us, I'll explain explain everything on the way, although do note that I may gloss over some details because well, they're quite personal."

"Right. Proceed."

With that, Karis started leading the royal family to their home with Ren following right beside her. They first entered through the wooden double doors of the mountain's opening, appearing at Ren's sight-seeing area. The entrance splits the first room into left and right wings, both with no purpose yet but serve as a viewing area with its glass walls that allowed the outside to be seen.

Next up, they went through an empty hallway that leads to an even bigger room with a pair of stairs positioned at the back end, curving to the second floor. As per Karis explanation, the room was their common room, or simply a room where they just spend most of their time doing whatever daily activities they have.

Below the staircase, there was a room that seemed to be their kitchen. Cooking apparatuses were stationed in that room, as well as utensils, and preserving tools. Since the royal family don't have that much interest in the kitchen, their trip there was short, and so they then proceeded to the second floor.

"It's unbelievable how this mountain was domesticated so much, how did you do it hero?" Irina curiously asked.

"With my magic of course. Earth spells allow me to shave off, reshape, and polish rocks. All I needed to do was plan the whole thing," Ren answered.

The whole group then reached the second floor where there was a wider hallway than before, and a room was place at its left, right, and center.

"Now these two rooms here are our storage rooms, unfortunately, I can't let you in for the sake of our privacy, but please, rest assured that there's nothing too dangerous in there," Karis explained

"And now finally..."

The group then went onward to the only room left to explore in the mountain home.

"This is our bedroom."

King Galen and his companions looked in amazement at the intricately designed room. White, polished tiles make up the entire floor. The walls are a fancy combination of variously shaped stone bricks. A chandelier hang in the middle of the room, giving it a pretty glow. A glass window allows the view outside to be seen, and finally a single king-sized bed was placed along the wall just between the entrance, and the glass window.

"Amazing. Such crafty works! I'm thoroughly impressed," the queen said, praising the furniture of the room.

"Agreed, I never thought I'd see magic used like this. Oh how proud I am to have been the one to share his knowledge to the hero," Phoros added, smiling proudly.

"But you know, doesn't it kind of smell weird here?" Irina suddenly pointed out.

At her sudden comment, Karis' cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. Ren did too, but he was able to hide it at least.

"N-now, now, maybe you're not that used to it yet that's why it smells weird," Karis nervously answered with a slight chuckle.

"No, I've been to many rooms before, even the inn we went to doesn't smell like this,"

"Ahem, I did say I'm going to gloss over some detail so let's forget about that. We still have one place to go to, and this one was just recently added," Karis replied, changing the topic as best as she can.

She then started walking back towards the hallway, leading to the staircase. The queen, and Irina followed right behind meanwhile Ren, King Galen, and Phoros trailed slightly behind.

"What is it?" Ren asked, feeling that the two was about to talk about something important.

"We're going to borrow some of your time after this tour. Would you mind, hero?" King Galen answered.

"Is it a request?"

"Yes."

"I'll give you ten minutes after this trip," Ren offered.

"Seems plenty enough."

The three then went to catch up with the girls who was already on the first floor. They then headed towards the door, and went straight to the gazebo floating in the middle of the lake.

"Wow! It's so beautiful here! It's like we're in a boat floating in the middle of the sea!" Irina exclaimed as she looked around, seeing nothing but water, and mountains everywhere.

"This is our newly built gazebo. It's a nice place to relax every once in a while but the main purpose of this place is within this room," Karis said as she slowly opened the entrance of the glass room in the middle.

"That's the world map!" Phoros said as he spotted a map of their world standing in the middle along with a tall monolith right in front of it.

"Right, so this here is the Transportation Nexus, with this, we can travel anywhere as long as it is marked on the map. Although, my master can only pin places that he's been to before," Karis explained as the others looked around the room.

"How does this work?" Phoros asked.

"Right. Using this wooden pin here, we only need to pierce this onto a marked area, and then a portal will appear in this monolith," Karis said as she demonstrated the function of the room. She pierced the wooden pin onto the Warspite mark, and then a portal appeared on the monolith.

"So I'm assuming this is similar to what we experienced back then?" King Galen asked.

"Exactly."

"You can access any place from this remote location faster than any of us...talk about convenient," King Galen remarked as he inspected the rest of the room.

"And with that, that's ends our small tour. My master did say he was planning something more for the future so expect that the next time you visit, things may not look the same," Karis said as she ended her tour guiding duties.

"Splendid work demon, thank you for saving us from whatever the hero was doing," King Galen replied, giving thanks in behalf of his family.

King Galen took a quick glance at Phoros, and then at Ren. Three looked between each other and started nodding as if communicating with the act.

"Karis," Ren called out.

"Hmm?"

"Why don't you treat our lady guests with some of your delicious snacks? The three of us need to be left alone for a while," Ren requested.

"Right, of course, take your time. Now come on madams, allow me to offer you some hospitality with my homemade snacks," Karis said as she led the females away from the gazebo, leaving Ren, King Galen, and Phoros alone.

"Now, let's get started,"

________________________________________________________________________________________Act End - The King's Request

"10 minutes, that's all you have to explain to me," Ren spoke as he sat down on the gazebo. Phoros, and King Galen followed his lead and sat as well a fair distance away from him.

"Well then, I'll cut straight to the chase. I'm requesting for your assistance to escort me to Sahnper's capital," the king answered with a straight face. Phoros decided to just simply listen in on the two, and didn't blurt out a word.

"Sahnper huh? That's on the east right?"

"Exactly. The journey there is quite dangerous considering the fact that I'll have to traverse quite a sandy desert. There are a whole bunch of dangerous creatures there that may show up on the way," King Galen explained.

"Then why not bring your usual knight convoy?"

"We can't. We're shorthanded currently. Right now, I'm dedicating most of my knight force into security in different cities. I allowed the demons to live here in my domain, but that doesn't mean I fully trust them, that's why I've reinforced every knight order in every major cities."

"Quite paranoid are you?" Ren mocked.

"Never mind that, what do you think about my request?"

"Mind if I get some more information? I'm too busy to be going on boring escort missions, tell me what makes this matter urgent, or at the very least tell me something that might convince me," Ren demanded.

"Fine, but I won't be telling everything," King Galen replied.

"Go ahead."

"Alright, so my first goal for this is to have you travel to Sahnper and connect it to your network of places that you can warp to. I believe this will be beneficial for the both of us. For me, I can just go to you whenever I have business there, as for your benefit, Sahnper is the center of trades of the central continent. You'll find various products there that you won't find here in Ironblade."

"Quite convincing."

"Sahnper is also the center of the slave market. If you really want to abolish this practice from the rest of the world, then you'll have to deal with it over there, though I won't be helping you on that regard, you're on your own." King Galen added.

"Ok, now that's got me eighty percent convinced. Tell me your other goals if you want to complete the progress of persuading me."

"Right, so, just a few days ago, exactly the day that we departed to go here, we received a letter from Sahnper's monarch. Unfortunately, I can't disclose this information to you yet, but that's the reason of our urgency this time."

"Hoh... now you got me intrigued..."

Meanwhile, inside Ren's house...

Karis, Irina, and her mother were sitting around at the sight-seeing room. Karis prepared a set of snacks for the three to enjoy as they talked casually with each other.

"So, he was about to leave you?"

"That's right, but I ran after him. I felt so nervous back then, but I'm glad I moved my legs, or else I wonder where would I be now. I mean, those slaves that we rescued may have accepted me into their new community, but where would it go from that point on?"

Karis was in the middle of telling her story with Ren as requested by Irina. She went through everything without leaving a single detail. From her asking him for help, him brushing her aside for the first time, and finally that time that Ren earned Karis' loyalty at the bandit camp.

"And since when were you in love with him?" Irina asked although she sounded like she stuttered a bit there. The queen just listened to the two as she enjoyed the sight of her daughter having a friendly conversation with someone.

"I don't know really. At first it was pure admiration, and respect. I'm just someone who wanted to stay by his side no matter what, I even went as far as suggesting that he makes me his slave so that he can enter into human civilization without much issue..." Karis reminisced the time that they first went into Warspite, and the hostile looks that the people gave to her.

"But, he was not having any of that. He said that he would make an enemy of the entire world if it meant treating me wrong, and from then on... I guess that's where it all started. I was timid back then if you remembered, but slowly as I saw my people living peacefully with the people of Warspite in result of the country opening up to the demons, that's when I started gaining confidence, and soon, that confidence was enough to let him know of my feelings."

"That's...amazing!" Irina stared in admiration as Karis recalled that important development in her life.

"His devotion to you, and your loyalty to him, such an amazing thing indeed," the queen remarked before taking a sip of her tea.

"Thank you so much," Karis replied.

"..."

"Hmm? What is it Princess Irina?"

"Wha- no, I mean what is what?"

Karis saw the princess feeling dejected all of the sudden, prompting her to ask in concern.

"You look like you have something to say, and your face had been looking sad occasionally."

"You noticed!?"

"It's hard to not to," Karis replied with a gentle smile.

"F-fine...but first, will you promise me that you won't get angry for whatever I'm about to say?" Irina asked.

"Oh but why would I get angry? Please say whatever you wish to. But for the sake of your peace of mind, I promise I won't get angry."

"Ok then...well..." Irina began moving in place as her nervousness was getting worse every second.

"I--I think I'm in love with him to...with the Hero I mean," Irina replied sheepishly.

"Oh my..." the queen said out loud in shock as she heard her daughter confess their love about someone for the first time.

"..."

"Y-you promise you won't get angry right!" Irina panickily said as she noticed the surprised gasp, and Karis' eyes widening.

"Oh, but why would I get angry over someone telling their feelings. That wouldn't be right of me," Karis replied with a giggle.

"You're not angry?"

"Of course not. In fact, I'm glad finally felt the same thing I have."

"Wait what?"

"So tell me, since when?" Karis enthusiastically asked.

"Oh uh... well, I said I think, I'm not quite sure yet. It's just that, every time I see his face, my heart gets all excited, and when I see him leave, there's this longing feeling, and wishing that I wanted to see him again. And everytime I see you two flirting with each other...I couldn't help but feel jealous."

"I see, that really sounds like you're in love."

"Also... well, from the stories I've read, it was always the princess from the country that the Hero was summoned that ends up being the Hero's first love. So I was really looking forward to the summoning ritual, but then he went rogue and became my father's enemy, so that dream scenario in my head can no longer come true," Irina said with a melancholic voice.

"That's true, I ended up becoming his first love after all."

"It's fine its fine, no need to think about it..."

"If you can't be the first, then why not just become the second?" Karis suggested suddenly.

"Huh?!" both mother and daughter shouted in unison.

Back at the gazebo...

"So Hero, what is your answer?" King Galen anticipatingly asked.

"Fine, I'll help out but of course I'm expecting a reward for this," Ren answered.

"Reward is not an issue. Thank you for your cooperation. Also..." the king trailed off.

"Remember, unless your life is in danger, leave everything to me. Sahnper's king... well he is short-tempered, a small issue will become an international conflict if he wants it to. I would like to avoid that as much as possible."

"Is he really that bad?"

"Well, if you think I'm a scum, then this guy is a hundred times worse. I'm at least reasonable, but this insufferable fool, whatever he decides on a whim, he will do it without a second thought, and if someone speaks against him, then let's just say bad things will happen. So please, I beg of you, leave everything to me," the king pleaded.

"You know I don't attack unless I'm provoked right?"

"Exactly, and I know someone talking bad about your wife is enough to boil your blood. Sahnper's king will exactly do just that every chance he gets, and I'm begging you to hold your temper when he does so, I'll take care of the situation, I promise."

"Tch. Fine, I'll do my best to hold back my anger."

"Thank you," King Galen bowed his head as a sign of appreciation for Ren's response.

"Well, that just about handle everything I came here for," he said as he stood up with Phoros following him.

"I expect you at the capital three days from now."

"Yeah sure," Ren nonchalantly replied.

"Great, well then, I'm counting on you Hero..." the king trailed off.

"Escort me safely to Sahnper."