"Hi, Silvie." Nevare flashed a bright smile, her gaze fixed on her childhood friend.

Silvie looked almost the same as the last time they had met, but Nevare could see signs of change on her face. There were fine lines at the corners of her eyes, and her glowing, bronzed skin now appeared more subdued. Time had left its mark on the beauty of this cheerful woman.

It was different for Nevare.

Despite her disguise presenting the face of an ordinary human, there was something undeniably distinct about her. She appeared younger and more enchanting than she had been before transforming into a Valkyrie.

At nearly thirty years old, she radiated a freshness no ordinary human could possess. Silvie noticed the change too, evident in the brief flicker of surprise in her eyes as Nevare smiled.

As a woman, it was only natural for Silvie to feel a twinge of envy at Nevare’s ageless beauty. However, she masked it with a sincere smile.

"It’s been a while, Anna... or should I call you Nevare now? You look even more beautiful and graceful than I remember," Silvie said, genuinely complimenting her.

"Hehehe, just call me Nevare now, Silvie. You’re being too kind. I haven’t grown more beautiful—it’s just the dress I’m wearing. If I wore my old clothes, you’d see another side of me," Nevare replied with a soft laugh.

The two of them were soon lost in a nostalgic conversation, sharing stories after so long apart. Yet, behind their smiles and laughter, there was an unspoken unease.

Both of them knew the close friendship they had shared as teenagers could never fully return. An invisible distance had grown between them over the years.

That’s just life, Nevare thought.

Time erodes human connections. Even if people see each other every day, something will inevitably change—whether it’s new priorities or the fading of things once deemed important. And for two friends separated for so long, that distance felt even more tangible.

From the corner of the room, Gupita observed their interaction with a strange feeling.

The warm smiles and kind words exchanged between these two old friends felt hollow to her. To her, the banter and jabs between the four Main Queens—infamous for their frequent clashes—seemed far more genuine and heartfelt.

As someone close to Nevare, Gupita understood that the bond among the Main Queens was incredibly strong, surpassing even familial ties. Yet, they kept their distance in public, presenting a façade of hostility.

As Nerphyl had once said, "A harem that hates each other is better than one that’s harmonious."

After all, they were monsters. Their place was on the battlefield, and threats were the soil in which they thrived. Peace would only dull a Valkyrie’s survival instincts—and that was as good as signing a death warrant on the battlefield.

"Oh, Nevare, I heard you’re married now and have two sons?" Silvie asked with a familiar smile.

It seemed their small talk had run its course, and the conversation was steering toward its true purpose. Nevare didn’t need to think too hard to understand why Silvie had come.

While there might be a hint of genuine longing to reconnect with an old friend, Nevare was certain there was a deeper agenda behind Silvie’s visit.

She suspected her brother, Artur, had invited Silvie here, likely hoping she could persuade Nevare in some way. But Nevare also knew Silvie’s presence wasn’t merely at Artur’s behest. Something bigger was at play.

The Wilwatikta Kingdom maintained an alliance with humanity, but the foundation of that treaty lay in humanity’s ignorance of Wilwatikta’s true power.

Humans believed that the evolved monsters were merely a new Mana species, unaware that Wilwatikta’s strongest warrior, Moku, was only on par with a Level 6 Constellation Mage. If the truth ever came to light, the alliance would collapse like a paper soaked in water.

Nevare understood that the Human Alliance would stop at nothing to dig deeper into Wilwatikta’s secrets.

Although the kingdom had hidden its existence well, she knew no secret could remain buried forever. The harder Wilwatikta tried to conceal its truths, the greater humanity’s suspicion grew.

Furfur’s pressure to launch a surprise attack on the Alliance only sped up the timeline for everything to unravel. The situation made Nevare feel as though Wilwatikta was nothing more than a pawn in a power struggle orchestrated by far stronger forces.

Nevare suspected that even without Artur’s invitation, Silvie would have come anyway. Most likely, she had been sent by the Human Alliance’s nobles.

"Ah, that’s right, Silvie. Their names are Nash and Kuja. Would you like to meet them? Even though they’re not yet fifteen, they’re already enormous. Arion blood grows fast, and it seems their Arion heritage is more dominant than their human side. Hahaha!" Nevare answered casually, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Oh, is that so? I heard you married a prince. Does that mean you’re a noble now?" Silvie continued in a light tone, as if the question were inconsequential.

Nevare merely smiled in response. "Hmm... that’s true. Ah, I also heard you’re married now? Wow... Who’s the lucky man who managed to win the heart of the city’s flower?" she asked, deftly steering the conversation away.

Nevare knew the Silvie she remembered wasn’t someone who enjoyed idle gossip. Silvie never cared about the lives of nobles and never dreamed of becoming one.

She was a simple woman who just wanted a peaceful life while creating beautiful clothes.

The questions Silvie had asked earlier clearly weren’t her own but those of the people pulling the strings behind her—the ones who had urged her to come and meet Nevare.

"Ah, hahaha... It’s not he who’s lucky, but me~," Silvie said with a shy smile. Yet, Nevare could see the unease in her eyes. Her old friend seemed a bit annoyed that Nevare had so easily steered the conversation away.

Nevare smiled inwardly. While she wasn’t part of the noble circles skilled in offering warm smiles while stabbing someone in the back, she could still discern the hidden intentions behind Silvie’s words. Her method was simple—she sensed the vibrations of Mana within her friend’s body.

Their conversation had turned into a game of push and pull. Silvie sought to extract information about the Wilwatikta Kingdom, while Nevare skillfully diverted the discussion.

However, Nevare knew that if Silvie returned empty-handed, the Human Alliance would resort to far more unpredictable measures. So, she offered just enough information—enough to satisfy their curiosity without jeopardizing Wilwatikta.

She deliberately painted an ambiguous picture of Wilwatikta’s power, crafting a narrative that was hard to verify yet aligned with the image Wilwatikta wanted to project to the Human Alliance.

For instance, when Silvie asked about King Arion, her father-in-law, Nevare described him as an extraordinarily powerful yet enigmatic figure.

She mentioned that as a mere Level 5 Constellation Mage, she wasn’t even worthy of glimpsing King Arion. Even Moku, the king’s own son, had never met his father in person.

Nevare emphasized that Moku’s position as the weakest prince among his siblings rendered him powerless within Wilwatikta’s hierarchy. He could only command troops weaker than himself—and even that was solely because of his royal bloodline.

Without his lineage, Moku might have been relegated to leading a small, insignificant band of soldiers unworthy of the Human Alliance’s attention.

Through this narrative, Nevare aimed to shift the Human Alliance’s focus toward King Arion and the mysterious Wilwatikta Kingdom, rather than on Moku or his small contingent stationed at the West Fortress.

Nevare was confident that the Human Alliance’s leaders had already grasped this dynamic during their presence at the West Fortress. Yet, they continued probing deeper into King Arion and the kingdom’s secrets through Moku and her.

Nevare hoped that the information Silvie conveyed this time would be sufficient to appease the Human Alliance’s curiosity, allowing them to ease their scrutiny of Wilwatikta. That way, she and Moku could proceed with their true plans.

Still, Nevare knew that escaping the Human Alliance’s watchful eye wouldn’t be so simple. It would take time to lower their guard—time that, unfortunately, the Wilwatikta Kingdom did not have.

Furfur, the Demon of the Volcano, would not allow them to keep stalling. For now, Furfur appeared relaxed, as though giving the monsters a chance to make their move. However, Nevare knew that if there was no progress in the coming months, Furfur could turn on them and destroy them mercilessly.

Especially since, according to Ez’s analysis, they had only one year before the demons discovered the truth—that they were not a new Mana Species but monsters who had evolved. If that happened, all Mana Species in the world would unite to annihilate them.

The weight on Nevare’s shoulders grew heavier with that thought. If she, one of the four Main Queens, already felt burdened, how immense must the weight be on Moku, the king? Moku was the leader of all monster species—his responsibilities went far beyond what Nevare could fathom.

Nevare clenched her fists, forcing herself to remain focused on her conversation with Silvie.

She knew one of their top priorities was to lower the Human Alliance’s vigilance as quickly as possible. Time was running out. All of them—Moku, the asuras, herself, and the other Valkyries—needed to grow stronger, and they needed to do it quickly.

The conversation with Silvie continued, and time passed without her noticing. The sun was now setting, painting the sky in hues of red. Nevare realized that their conversation would soon come to an end.

From the expression on Silvie’s face, she could tell that while her old friend hadn’t obtained all the information she sought, there was a glint of satisfaction in her eyes. Silvie seemed to have gathered enough to satisfy her superiors.

Nevare knew that in their next meeting, she would have to be even more cautious. The flow of new information needed to stop and be replaced with repeated details she had already shared.

If she continued offering fresh information, the Human Alliance would grow suspicious—or worse, realize the information was a manipulation. Like gold and gemstones valuable for their rarity, information was only worth something if it was hard to acquire.

"Ah, look at the crimson sky. It seems I’ve intruded on your time for too long, Nevare. My apologies~," Silvie said, her face showing a trace of regret.

Nevare gave a small smile and waved her hand dismissively. "No need to apologize, Silvie. I’ve enjoyed talking with you, reminiscing about our past. Ah~ those were such beautiful times."

Silvie paused for a moment, as if taken aback, before a smile formed on her face. Yet behind that smile, there was a flicker of regret in her eyes. "You’re right. Those were the most beautiful times."

They gazed at each other, and in that silent exchange, there was an unspoken understanding. Both of them knew those times could never return—family, love, and responsibilities had weighed them down to where they stood now.

All that remained were faint smiles on their lips, full of mutual understanding.