"You are quite the adaptable one."

Antra commented as a cup of coffee appeared before us.

Glancing at the cup once, I didn’t hesitate, as my mouth closed in on the cup, taking the first sip.

Bitter.

It wasn’t the best coffee out there, but it was good enough.

"If you aren’t trying to kill me, then I feel there being no need to fear you. Perception changes everything, you know?"

"Perception, huh."

Antra repeated my words as he took another sip from the cup.

"Just asking, but are my men—"

"They are safe. Before leaving, I had informed Dimitri about having a little chat with you, and I feel the guy isn’t foolish enough to ruin the peace between us. He would never want you to die, would he now?"

Antra was strong.

That much was clearly visible from his lack of fear towards Arthur. But the interesting thing was Antra’s ability to be able to bring me here, without being interfered with by Arthur.

I knew that despite Antra giving the message, Arthur might have still tried to locate me, or block Antra from taking me away—but none of that happened, which was proof enough that Antra was far more dangerous than what was visible on the surface.

At first, I had considered Antra to be a level below or at least equal to Arthur. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

But now—

Antra should have been a Sovereign to be able to dominate Arthur to such an extent, and not just any Sovereign.

He had to at least be in the higher tiers of the Sovereign rank, as Arthur was an individual who was magnitudes stronger than his actual rank.

"I must commend your ability to be able to make an individual like Dimitri serve you. Tell me... how did you cure his daughter?"

I slightly raised my brow at his question.

Though thinking carefully, it was a well-known fact that Arthur had always been trying his best to find a cure for his daughter.

There was no place that Arthur hadn’t visited, searching for a way to heal his daughter.

That naturally meant that the cults too would be aware of his daughter’s condition.

"I don’t think the cure for mana poisoning had been discovered. How did you do it?"

Sitting on his throne, Antra had crossed his legs while slightly leaning forward, in order to clearly hear my words.

Or at least that must have been the intent behind such an action.

"It’s... a trade secret."

Raising my index finger, I gently placed it on my lips, while staring into Antra’s eyes.

"Hahahaha! You surely don’t fear me, do you?"

"..."

"Hehe... Fair enough."

Not expecting such a reply from me, Antra burst into laughter, before pretending to wipe the invisible tears from the corner of his eyes.

This guy...

He was a lot more dramatic than I had assumed him to be.

Well... it wasn’t like any of my assumptions about Antra had been right.

Let alone Immortal 1, this guy was an entire rank above it or even more...

"You sure know a lot of things that should have never been known, Kael Frost."

Just as I was about to ask questions of my own, Antra’s voice dropped low, as he stared deeper into my eyes.

At the moment, I felt like it would be a crime to lie to him.

Like... I was meant to answer him.

Like he deserved to know about me.

Like—

Huh?

Mana rushed through my brain, as all unnecessary thoughts were filtered out of my mind.

"Impressive."

Surely Antra had done something.

"Such mana control despite being a Gold core... Hahaha... Maybe I am still not good enough in reading people."

Though Antra uttered the statement in a casual way, I felt like it would be beneficial for me to dig deeper.

"Reading people?"

At my question, Antra smiled once again, the only difference being this smile of his felt more real, unlike all the times that he might have smiled during our interaction.

"Well... how should I say it?"

Antra placed the index finger of his right hand on his lips, as he looked above at the black sky that had covered the entire area or whatever it was that I was present in.

"I had never thought of you being the leader of your organization or whatever it is that you had formed."

This...

The possibility of there being a leak—

"Ah! Don’t worry too much. No one had betrayed you, it’s just that a... uh... you could say an acquaintance of my lord had mentioned you, so on my lord’s instructions, I had been tasked with interacting with you. All of this exchange is being seen by my lord at this moment, if that is what you are curious about."

Antra...

He had just casually revealed everything that could have given him a lot of psychological advantage over me.

Why?

"We aren’t your enemies—we never have been."

As if sensing my thoughts, Antra spoke further, each of his words making me more confused and... wary.

If his lord could know about me, then what stopped the other major powers in the world from knowing all about my identity?

Haa...

There was no need to panic, as the situation still wasn’t out of control.

I had to know more... learn more—from him.

Taking a deep breath, I once again focused my attention on Antra.

This chat...

It could be a decisive blessing for me, while at the same time being the dagger that could end everything that I had worked to build, including my own life.

Antra had already leaned back on his throne, as he adjusted his position to make himself comfortable.

There wasn’t a hint of seriousness on his face, as if everything that was currently going on was just a side quest that he had to complete.

Yeah... a side quest.

As for me, it felt like the last quest I could ever complete.

Haa...

I wasn’t being negative, but practical enough to understand my position.

Antra could have been lying to me, but—

Was I in a place to think about it?

Surely not.