Reunion

Arkenvalle wrapped her hands around Lancell, while Lancell didn't resist her embrace in the slightest. She rested her head on his shoulders and then asked.

"You noticed?" She spoke with slight surprise in her tone.

"Yeah."

"I see." Arkenvalle then went silent for a while. She then asked. "You're not gonna ask anything?"

Lancell gently shook his head. "You won't hurt me anyway."

Arkenvalle gave a smile to Lancell, as she then raised her hand, and a white light was emitted from it. It then split into countless white strands and each one then extended to the carcasses of the rats, as they seemed to extract power from them.

Lancell watched Arkenvalle, and then asked. "What's that?" Arkenvalle smiled, and answered. "A new trick."

"What does it do?" Arkenvalle didn't answer, but her sword form suddenly manifested in Lancell's hand. Lancell was surprised, but another thing had shocked him.

"My Levels are increasing?" he subconsciously muttered.

Arkenvalle smiled, and explained. "It was something I was enlightened with when I reached out for Arthur's soul. And I had to cut our connection in order to master it in three days. Otherwise it would have taken a month."

Lancell was suddenly enlightened at her explanation. However, he was baffled at something.

"What about the backlash of Laws?" He asked. It wasn't something he could ignore.

Arkenvalle shook her head and spoke. "It didn't attack me, but my authority over them suddenly got a lot weaker. I don't think I could do the same thing again."

"I see."

Lancell didn't doubt her words in the slightest. There was no reason to, and he wouldn't.

He then closed his eyes as he felt mana saturating inside his body as it increased his Levels continuously in a short time.

Level 37...

Level 38...

Level 39...

Level 40...

Level 45...

And finally, Level 46.

He had gained ten whole Levels in one go. Well, considering that it was combined mana from over a hundred Flame Rats, the momentum and volume must've pushed him higher than it should have.

Arkenvalle removed her hands around Lancell, as Lancell then stood, and called out. "Hey Valle..."

"Yes?"

"Will you keep accompanying me from now on?" He asked. Arkenvalle knew about the event from earlier, so she replied with a pout. "Stupid."

Lancell gave her a wry smile. "Yeah. It's a stupid question indeed." He then sighed, and spoke. "Let's go back, shall we?"

Arkenvalle nodded at his question, and then vanished as she returned within Lancell.

And so, together, they continued to walk towards what's to come.

◇◇◇

In Aria's room, Carlos had just woken up. And when he scanned the surroundings, he saw Arthur by the veranda, looking towards the horizon. Her beautiful face, along with her butler's uniform, made her seem like a handsome young man in love.

Carlos stood as he then approached Arthur, and asked, "Anythin' happened?"

Arthur glanced at him, and gave a wry smile as she spoke. "I think I might have pissed off Lancell."

Carlos grew nervous at her answer. "Y-You guys won't kill each other, right?" his voice stuttered. "Am' not good at fights."

"Haha. Pipe down, idiot. He'll probably be back soon. Stronger." She replied with a smirk. "Still, he's quite taking his time, huh?" she added as she looked at the horizons again.

Carlos could see she was worried, but he didn't dare say anything about it. He wasn't tough enough to take on her anger, if she does get angry.

He then returned into the couch, in order to bask in the warm comfortable feeling. He had already fallen in love with the couch, and he won't let anyone occupy it when he's here.

And so, tranquillity returned to the room, until two hour later.

The door opened as a person walked in. It was Lancell. Arthur saw him enter with a much better expression than when he left.

'Hm? Looks like he sorted it out well.' She thought. Unaware that Arkenvalle gad already awakened.

She waved a hand at Lancell, like nothing happened, and greeted. "Yo! You okay now?"

"Yeah. Or at least better than when I was worried about Elysion." He answered.

Lancell then called within his mind. ("Valle. Is it really fine not to tell her?")

("Yes. For now, I wanna see something.") She replied.

("Alright.")

"What's wrong? You're spacing out." Arthur asked Lancell.

Lancell smoothed it over as he asked. "It's about Aria. Did you tell her about the wave already?"

"No." She replied.

Lancell then pondered as he thought about how to tell Aria about the Wave.

Unlike him and Arthur, she completely had no knowledge of the future and perhaps wasn't even aware of the upcoming wave in two weeks. Lancell originally wanted to tell her, but her intuition in suspicious matters like these was unusually sharp, and Lancell wasn't ready to tell her about his secret yet. And he was sure Arthur wasn't too.

However, it had seemed that they had underestimated the eccentric princess.

"I see, I see... Wave, huh?...That's an unfamiliar term for me. Mind elaborating?" Aria's voice suddenly resounded from somewhere.

Arthur and Lancell panicked as they looked around in order to find her, but they couldn't feel her presence. Even the voice they heard seemed remotely spoken as they felt some mana fluctuations the moment it resounded.

"Shit...not again..." Lancell muttered. They had gotten them twice, and it was unexpected everytime.

Arthur cast a blaming look at Lancell, as she then pointed at him, and spoke loudly. "Uhh...I'm innocent! It was him! He's the one who knows everything!"

Lancell's mouth gaped at the unexpected betrayal. Though he was sure no one would get hurt as Aria was only satisfying her curiosity, betrayals still hurt.

Lancell could only glare at her as the doors suddenly closed and sealed with magic, and a hidden passage opened from the ground.

Aria emerged from the passage while holding a crystal, and looked at Lancell as she asked. "Now then, Lancell. Won't you tell me about what this 'Wave' is?"

Well, Lancell was definitely screwed.