All of Conan’s instincts told him to run, as he sensed the danger coming from the man before him, even though Marion was clearly smiling.

Even his scanner only showed an error as his threat level, which meant he was as strong as Adrian.

Or at least, just as dangerous.

"Now that I think about it, you also have quite the interesting body," Marion muttered as he continued looking at him, "I wonder if it can also resist the corrupted mana within me."

Conan immediately went on guard at those words, but before anything happened, Marion suddenly moved to the side as a black string narrowly missed his head.

The string was pulled back, and Conan noticed that it came from Adrian’s clone, who just continued walking as if it hadn’t done anything.

"You do know that trying to kill me will get you disqualified from the festival, right?" Marion said as he finally let down his guard and looked towards Adrian.

"I believe you willingly crossing paths with us will be seen as an interference," Adrian answered calmly, "so you stand a higher chance of being disqualified."

"I see," Marion nodded in understanding. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

They had been told that the forest was big enough not to let representatives cross each other, except that they were deliberately searching for each other.

And the magic tool floating above him had clearly shown him searching for Adrian.

It wasn’t as if he cared about this festival anyway, but the cult Master needed him to remain in control of the East, so he had no choice but to participate.

Still, the disqualification issue was a problem he could deal with later.

For now, Marion turned his attention back to the kid, who still hadn’t lowered his guard, before he let out a chuckle.

"Relax," he said pleasantly as he pointed towards Adrian, "I have no interest in your body, I’m only interested in his."

Conan did not relax after his words; if anything, he became even more wary of whoever was wearing Cassian’s body.

After all, he was confident enough not to hide the fact that he was interested in taking over Adrian’s body.

Though from the conversation so far, Conan guessed he might’ve tried that already, so it was no secret.

Ignoring the kid that still had his guard up, Marion turned back to Adrian before asking, "You’re also searching for the S-rank beast?"

Adrian was a bit surprised at the fact that Marion knew about the beast; after all, besides him and Renelle, no one else should know the beast.

"Ah, I forgot to mention it, didn’t I?" Marion said, immediately picking up on the subtle change in Adrian’s expression, "The other reason I’m here is that the cult master needs me to prevent the Prince and his Saintess from gaining the egg."

Well, that confirmed the fact that the Cult Master also knew the future.

How? Adrian had no idea, but he was certain it had something to do with him being completely written out of the story.

His knowledge of the future would also explain why he called him an anomaly during the attack on the capital.

But then again, if he had as much knowledge of the future as the butler and his Saintess, then why not make your moves early?

Instead, he was in the shadows, moving one piece at a time.

"I’m assuming you already know where it is," Marion suddenly interrupted his thoughts as he glanced at him, "given that you’ve known everything else before anyone else did."

Of course, Adrian did, after all, this, like the sovereign lotus, was an opportunity for the two protagonists.

More accurately, the Saintess.

But unlike the Frost Sovereign Lotus, this was an even rarer opportunity, and it was also a bigger one.

"And if I do?"

"Then I’d like to propose a temporary truce," Marion said, his tone changing from the previously conversational one, "Just until the beast is dealt with and I ensure that the egg doesn’t land in the hands of the prince."

"What if I want the egg for myself?" Adrian asked as he looked directly at Marion.

Marion was silent for a while as he placed a hand on his chin before asking, "You’re not the prince, are you?"

He seemed genuinely curious, which was almost funny.

"I’m not," Adrian answered.

"As long as you don’t intend to give it to the prince," Marion said with a shrug, "then you can do whatever you wish."

After all, his task was to ensure that the Prince and his Saintess did not obtain the egg. Whatever happened to it afterward was none of his concern.

Though speaking of which, Adrian also seemed to be a pest on the Cult Master’s side, so his acquiring the egg would be just as problematic as the Prince getting it.

But then again, Marion was only following orders, and those orders said nothing about not giving the egg to Adrian.

He hid his smile as he imagined just how much of a thorn Adrian would become in the Cult Master’s side.

There was also the fact that whatever growth Adrian gained from the egg would just be an investment he made.

In other words, Marion was going all in on his potential vessel.

And since he wasn’t quickly running out of time right now, he had enough time to make more investments.

Of course, those investments would also ensure that the potential vessel didn’t grow past what he could handle.

Adrian silently looked at him, already guessing his line of thinking, but he wasn’t bothered in the least bit.

So instead, he turned around and continued walking before saying, "Just make sure you don’t get in my way."

Marion took that as a yes, and a smile surfaced on his face before he followed.

Conan looked at the backs of the two with an even, confused expression. The two were very clearly enemies, and yet, they were allying?

"Don’t overthink it, kid," Marion said, turning back toward him with a smile. "You’ll give yourself a headache."