"Tch, such a fool she is."

I couldn’t help but sigh as I looked in the direction Lyra had gone. She had said she was giving me some time to have a chat with the founder.

I shook my head in worry, wondering if that clumsy girl could even find her way back or get lost halfway.

She said she couldn’t help but worry about me, but in reality, it was me who couldn’t stop worrying about her.

Just the fact that this snake bastard had practically trapped her in his manipulation and nearly convinced her to kill me was enough to show how naïve she was in these kinds of matters. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Although... I doubted she would have actually killed me, even if this bastard had told her I was possessed. Hell, she would have tried to find some impossible cure or solution because that’s how much she cared for me.

Emotions were always like this, making people act in ways rationality opposed, and she was one of those who had plenty of them. That’s why I always called her and Viola emotional fools.

Alas, staying with these fools was affecting me too, making me irrational sometimes as well but honestly... it didn’t really feel bad.

With a long sigh, I turned to look at Naga.

"You’re lucky she is fine. Otherwise, I would have made you pay if she had gotten even a single scratch because of you."

I narrowed my eyes at him and he straightened his back immediately.

"I am sorry, Master."

He muttered, bowing down toward me.

"I’m a benevolent guy, so I’ll forgive this once since you were clearly unaware." I shook my head at him.

"Your mercy knows no bounds, Master." Naga bowed even deeper.

Damn, I really like these kinds of submissive slav—I mean, subordinates and well, it’s not like he wouldn’t pay for his sins...

Since I would be working him to the bone.

My smile widened, just thinking about it.

I looked at the plain golden-colored ring in my hand, with a red gemstone embedded on top of it. Through it, I could feel a strange energy.

I narrowed my eyes, scanning it for a few moments, but well, I didn’t exactly have divine eyes to see through something like this just yet so I gave up soon after.

"In any case, are you sure your soul is within this ring?" I asked, looking back at Naga. "And you want to proceed with what I planned...?"

"Yes, Master." Naga didn’t even take a second to reply. "My life, as it is now, is useless if I can’t even help you. So even if the process carries the risk of me vanishing, I do not care about the consequences."

I nodded.

"Okay, get back in the ring."

I ordered and he followed as his soul was drawn into the ring.

Looking at his vanishing form, I felt a hint of suspicion about his intentions for a few seconds. Honestly, ever since he realized I was the successor of Trickster, ever since I woke up after that headache after he told me the name of the First successor, he had been too obedient.

I mean, I could understand if the first successor had brainwashed him back when he didn’t even have sentience...

...but he had spent thousands of years around humans.

And that was more than enough time to learn a lot, especially since he was always bound to the eldest child of the family, someone trained in all kinds of political and manipulative tactics.

So why was he being so obedient? And more importantly, I could feel that he was hiding something from me. But oh well... I didn’t bother asking, because once I was done with my plan, he would have no choice but to follow my orders anyway.

There was nobody in this particular area of the garden, since I had requested it from Ashavar himself.

Still, I looked around for a few seconds, just to be sure, before taking a seat on the bench in the center of the field of flowers.

A gentle breeze carried a few petals around me but I ignored them and closed my eyes, leaning back comfortably against the bench as I willed myself to enter my Trickster domain.

Within seconds, I felt my body sinking deeper and just like always, a warmth spread through it along with a surge of power, making me feel euphoric as if I could do anything I wished.

When I reopened my eyes, I was back in the same crimson-dominated space, with an open ceiling and pillars massive enough to intimidate even giants. Some cracks spread across the walls and pillars but even they couldn’t hide the grandeur of the place.

Damn, I really feel like a God whenever I’m here after my break through to D-Rank.

I took a deep breath because even if I was just a consciousness, in my domain, I still felt as if I had a physical body.

I looked at the grand throne seated at the center of the domain and casually waved my hand as the space shrank and I was standing right in front of it.

I took a seat as Ra’s annoyed voice echoed.

"Quit acting like an excited child every time you enter."

I looked at him with a smirk.

"It’s just too euphoric to do anything I want. I really wanna climb ranks faster just to do these kinds of things in reality."

It was too exciting of a thought.

But Ra, being the one who had decided to embrace maturity after what happened in the Treasury and with the Mind Harvester, poured cold water on my excitement.

"Stop being a narcissist and focus on what we have to do. You don’t have much time, we have to spend some time with family too, you know. We won’t get to meet them much after entering the academy again."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, grandma."

I waved my hand at him and closed my eyes, feeling my physical body in the outside world, especially my hand where the ring carrying Naga’s soul was and willed it to appear in my domain.

It appeared immediately, floating calmly in front of me. I created a small barrier around it for a moment, blocking all sound, and looked at Ra.

"You sure it’s possible?"

He nodded.

"Well, we have endured the gazes of entities higher than gods, so removing the seal placed by a mere Demi-god should be within our capabilities."

I looked at him with a devilish, greedy smile.

"But you know, right... we don’t just have to remove the seal..."

He matched my smile. "Of course."

With our conversation done, I removed the barrier around the ring.

"You can come out now, Naga."

Naga emerged, his body returning to his original form as he looked at me and Ra, standing in front of him cluelessly, probably mistaking our smiles for benevolence.

Poor guy... he had absolutely no idea what he was in for.

Not that I had any intention of sharing that with him.

"Are you ready...?"

I asked as he nodded immediately.

"Yes, Master."

I glanced at Ra.

"Begin the process, Ra."

And with that... Ra began.