Death... and me

Back on Rean's side, he just finished explaining the same plan to Duran and Sevinia. Of course, he left out the fact that he would be healing the Divine Demon Beasts while explaining the plan, instead telling them that the demon beasts had a way of using the Bestial Sacred Ground to do that instead. "So, how is it?"

Hafel understood why the demon beasts would eventually succeed in claiming the territories and why they didn't want to completely dominate the planet. He couldn't be more aware of the lack of combat experience the Zasfins had after being in control over the world after so long without real enemies. "Very well. What do you need from our side?"

"Let's wait a few days. I need to go back, so I'll leave someone else in charge of passing the messages over to you. There's no need to worry. It's someone I trust. Just pretend that this person is one of your slaves that you've acquired recently." Rean smiled as he talked about that.

Duran didn't see an issue with it. With that, he said, "That's fine. I'll wait for this person to come. But until then, you have to stay here. There are a few things I want to talk about with you."

Rean wasn't surprised by that. After all, after accepting the plan, they would obviously have many concerns. "That's fine. I'll answer everything as much as I'm allowed to."

Duran nodded after hearing that, saying, "That's good." He then looked at Sevinia before saying, "Go back and prepare our army. We need to be ready for any possible call."

Sevinia couldn't help but become worried, though. "But Ancestor...what if they want to lure our Hafel Clan's army into a trap? Wouldn't we suffer even more than we are right now?"

Duran shook his head, replying, "We are in no position to be picky at the moment. You know that better than anyone else. Besides...you do know that I have some issues as well, which I would love to get over with now that an opportunity has appeared."

Sevinia's eyes widened as she remembered something from the past. "Ancestor, you can't be talking about-"

"Enough!" Duran cut Sevinia's words short. "I've already made my decision."

Sevinia quickly bowed after that. "Yes, Ancestor."

Red and Rean didn't know what was happening, but they were pretty sure it had something to do with Duran's 'death.' Otherwise, why would he pretend to not be around?

Sevinia quickly left after that. In the end, only Duran, Red, Rean, and the boy at the counter stayed. Rean and Red looked at the boy, who didn't seem to care about what was happening. Duran noticed that, of course. "Don't worry. Just pretend he doesn't exist. Now, let's talk a bit more."

Just like Rean mentioned, a week went by as he waited in Watisan City. Thanks to Red's concealing ability, none of the Spiritual Senses that passed over the store noticed that he was, in fact, a human. Another thing was that Duran seemed to also have a way to hide his presence. Every now and then, some random customers entered the store to buy something, but they would leave not too long after.

While Rean waited, Roan received a new visitor. "Roan!"

He looked behind and saw a black-haired girl rushing at him. Surprisingly, a rare smile appeared on his face, one that wasn't cold or disdainful. Well, it was very faint, though. However, just as the girl jumped to hug him, Roan stepped to the side, making the girl grab nothing but air. "This is not the right time for this kind of thing, Calina."

Naturally, it was Calina who arrived. As always, she kept her blonde hair dyed so that she wouldn't catch too much attention. Even if she was in the demon beasts' side during this war, blonde hair was still way too rare. She preferred not to risk it. "You're no fun. Can't you at least show some reaction?"

Roan shrugged his shoulders as he replied, "Maybe another time." Well, that was already a very big commitment from Roan. He then used his Spiritual Sense to check on Calina's progress.

"Oh-ho...Peak Stage of Core and Soul Fusion, huh? When we separated ways, you were just in the Initial Stage. You've improved a lot during these years." Roan then looked at Calina's demeanor and noticed that she had become a lot more mature during this time. "Leaving your overreaction when you saw me, it seems like you've had your own deal of experiences. How many times did you get close to dying?"

Calina bitterly smiled as she pointed at a few areas of her body. "So you still noticed the scars, huh? Well, you always said that I couldn't rely on being safe all the time like I was when I was with you and Rean. That being said, I tried to be a lot more careful. Nevertheless, there were a few moments that I really thought I was done for."

Calina then gave Roan a knowing smile as she continued, "However, you're not the type of person who would care about how I look, am I right? For you, we're all just bags of bones and flesh."

Roan nodded straight away as he quickly replied, "It's good that you understand that. Your appearance is the last thing I could possibly care about. If anything, those scars make you look a lot more attractive since they're proof of your development. Sadly, I also don't care whether they're there or not. It wasn't your body I took an interest in, but yourself."

Calina really liked that part of Roan. If he thought about something, he wouldn't feel flustered to say it. He would always put it in words that were as clear as possible. Well, seeing Frin by the side listening to everything they said made her feel embarrassed, though. "You could at least wait for us to be alone to say those things."

Frin was a Stage Nine Divine Demon Beast. It's just that he was in his human form. In any case, he lived for way too long already, so he couldn't care less about the two lovebirds either. "Don't mind me. I just need to keep this guy safe."