Knock―! Knock―!

"Come in."

After hearing a knock on the door, Kevin turned his head to look up as Ren entered the study.

The moment that Kevin laid eyes on Ren, a peculiar expression emerged on his face.

Ignoring the look that Kevin was giving him, with his eyes curiously wandering around the room, Ren sat on one of the sofas and crossed his legs.

"Making yourself feel at home?"

"...It's a nice place "

Ren replied, his eyes still wandering around the room

Unable to remain silent, Kevin opened his mouth to speak. How could he not when Ren entered the room with an enormous black eye?

"...What happened to your e―"

"Don't speak about it."

Ren cut him off, his bottom lip twitching.

"I fell down the stairs."

"Oh."

Kevin nodded, pretending to fall for his bullshit.

'As if someone would believe an <S> ranker can fall down the stairs.'

Dropping his pen on the table and leaning back in his chair, he crossed his arms together and asked.

"What did you want to talk to me about? You are well aware of how hectic my schedule has become since I took over as leader of the Alliance. I have at most thirty minutes to talk with you."

"...Right, you're indeed a busy man."

Ren withdrew his gaze from the surrounding area and turned his attention back to Kevin.

After pausing for a brief period of reflection, he opened his mouth and began to speak.

"I'll be frank with you. I need your help."

"With what?"

"Information."

"Oh?"

Kevin raised his brow, curious as to what Ren's request would be.

'Information...What exactly does he want to know?'

It was an unusual occurrence for Ren to request information from him. He was typically the guy that knew it all.

It shows how desperate he must have been for him to even consider asking him for information.

After all, he had the memories of hundreds of different regressions.

"Shoot, I'm all ears. What is it that you want to know?"

As long as Ren did not ask for any private or confidential information that he was unable to disclose, Kevin didn't see why he wouldn't help Ren.

After all, he was still his best friend.

"Rather than telling you, I'll show you."

Ren shifted his weight back in the chair before suddenly raising his arm.

At this precise instant, the room began to tremble ever-so-slightly, and dark scales began to develop on

"Huh?"

Kevin abruptly sat up straight.

His eyes immediately widened, and his previously unruffled expression underwent a dramatic transformation.

"This..."

On the surface of Ren's skin, a dark colour began to emerge, pulsating with such intensity that it spread to every nook and cranny of the room.

With each passing second that Ren continued, the pressure that was already present in the room became even more intense, and Kevin, who could no longer take it, stood up.

"What have you done, Ren?!"

Kevin's eyes were wide open and were concentrating on Ren's arm, which had become completely covered in black scales at that point.

As soon as Kevin yelled, the phenomenon that was occurring around the room came to an end, and the demonic energy that had been lingering in the air vanished.

At the same time, the scales that were on Ren's arm began to slowly recede back.

Ren lowered his arm and looked up at Kevin, his smile bitter.

"...I don't think I need to explain myself. You should already be aware of what I've done."

"You..."

Kevin was at a loss for words as he looked at Ren. He was honestly speechless.

In spite of having recovered most of his memories, and despite thinking that he had seen it all, Ren did not fail him in bringing him a surprise.

Slumping down on his chair, the chair slid a couple of centimetres back, and Kevin raised his head to look at the ceiling before covering his eyes with his arm.

"...I can't believe you would do something as crazy as mixing demonic blood within your body...what in the world made you think that that was a good idea?"

Kevin muttered in a low tone, his voice still filled with utter disbelief.

He was having trouble trying to make heads or tails of the situation.

"I didn't have much of a choice."

Ren, on the other hand, appeared comparatively calm, anticipating Kevin's response from the very beginning and leaning back in his chair.

"You know...when one only has two more years to live, they tend to do things that they would normally not do for the sake of preventing their inevitable death...well, at least for me, it's mostly like that."

Kevin opened up his palm and peered at Ren from the gap in his fingers.

"I've already resigned myself to die one day...I just wanted to die after I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish...and for that, I needed strength."

Ren leaned in close to Kevin as he looked at him intently, and his tone of voice became very serious.

"Kevin, I need your help. I know that you're not the same Kevin that I know ...but fundamentally, you're still him. I know that you have a way to help me. At least, tell me of a way that can help me stop myself from getting corrupted by the side effects of the demonic blood inside my body."

Kevin lowered his arm and repositioned his body so that his back was straight.

His eyes focused deeply on Ren's as they looked at each other for the next couple of seconds.

"Haaa..."

Kevin eventually let out a long sigh and once again reclined in his chair as he mumbled to himself.

"...I can't believe I'm doing this."

"Thank you."

"You shouldn't thank me just yet."

Kevin snapped, looking back at Ren, who had a satisfied smile on his face. Kevin's mouth twitched when he saw that.

'I didn't even say anything, and yet you're already showing me such an expression."

It simply demonstrated that, despite his transformation, Ren continued to put her faith in him. Kevin was genuinely confused about how he should feel, but eventually, he came to terms with the situation and opened his mouth.

"Melendoir."

He said in a low tone.

Ren looked back at him with a serious expression.

"What did you say?"

"I said Melendoir."

Kevin repeated himself.

"If you want to know of a way to help you with the problems you're currently facing, then your answer is Melendoir. It is the place that holds the solution to your problems."

"Is it a different planet?"

Ren asked, cautiously.

"It is..."

Kevin nodded his head.

"...and it's not just a regular planet like Immorra. This is one of the biggest planets within our universe and the planet that used to be the centre of the elven world."

"Don't tell me..."

Ren's eyes gradually opened, and he began to form an impression of the kind of planet Kevin was referring to.

"Yeah..."

Slowly, Kevin nodded his head and continued.

"Melendoir. The planet where the world tree resides, and the place where devil fruits are harvested."

***

Clank―!

I left Kevin's office, closing the door behind me.

I'll help you go there if you need. However, you'll have to provide me with an <A> rank core, and I can only let you stay there for at most a month. The time difference there is one day here is five days there, and you can bring at most three more people with you. Contact me when you're ready.

Thinking of the last words Kevin said, my brows gradually furrowed.

'I can bring a maximum of three people and can only stay at most five months there, which is about one month here...'

Five months definitely sounded like a lot...but considering the importance of the planet, it was very obvious that five months would actually not be enough for me.

There would be, without a doubt, more than one Prince/Princess ranked demon on the planet, and given my strength, I knew that I was still no match for them...

'Who should I call?'

It was very clear to me that I required the assistance of other people in order to succeed. If it were just me, I might have had some trouble.

It wasn't so much that I lacked the necessary strength; rather, it was because I was aware that I couldn't handle everything by myself.

At least things wouldn't be as slow if I had a couple of people helping me.

After all, time was of the essence for me.

"I definitely can't call the others since I've tasked them with some important things to take care of for when the Monolith actually attacks Ashton city..."

If I decided to bring anyone from the mercenary group along with me, it would only serve to stop all of those preparations, as the majority of them had not yet been fully completed yet.

"Who should I call...Who should I call..."

"Are you done with your meeting with Kevin?"

My head snapped up abruptly, and I was brought out of my musings by the sound of a voice that was familiar to me.

"Oh, it's you..."

"Wow, what an enthusiastic greeting."

Emma smirked, walking toward the reception desk and sitting on it.

My brow raised, and I looked back at Kevin's office.

"You've decided to become his secretary?"

"Yup."

Emma gave a nod, then leaned her body back and retrieved a couple of documents from the desk she was sitting on while she was doing so.

Taking note of her cheerful actions, my brows furrowed ever so slightly.

'I did notice this during the time when Kevin was elected as the head of the alliance, but it seems like he and Emma have patched things up...'

Good for him.

"So, how is life as his secretary?"

"Well, it's not too bad."

Emma slowly hopped off the desk and waved the papers toward her face.

After that, she moved cautiously toward the door that led to Kevin's office, which was where I came from.

"It's a lot of work, but the pay's good, so who am I to complain?"

"Wait, aren't you rich? Why would you even care about the pay?"

Emma's steps came to a sudden stop, and she gave me a long sidelong glance.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"No, nothing. I just didn't think you would care much about money now that your situation has been settled."

"Heh..."

Emma snorted, once again moving towards Kevin's office,

"It's exactly because I went through that situation that I realized how important money is. Even if my uncle is no longer here, I'll still save money just to avoid a situation like that again."

"Oh, I see..."

I nodded my head, enlightened.

"...So basically, you have PTSD."

Tak―!

As soon as I let those words escape my mouth, Emma stumbled on her heels and came dangerously close to hitting her head against the door.

I immediately turned around and left before she could utter any complaints.

Kevin sent me a lengthy message a long time after I had left, in which he expressed his regret at having helped me and his anger as my actions caused him a great deal of torment.

I only laughed and left him on read.

I may or may not have done that on purpose...