On one side of the long table in the silver palace, Talia gave Lanqi a thorough lesson on demon culture, just as she used to do during their one-on-one card-crafting sessions in the past.
"We demons don't need to define seniority so strictly, nor do we care about age. Think about it: with the lifespans of long-lived species easily reaching thousands of years, wouldn't age and seniority become an utter mess if we tried to count it all up?"
"Understood, Master."
Lanqi still refused to change how he addressed her, clinging to it like his final act of stubbornness.
"Call me Tata."
Talia suspected Lanqi was doing it on purpose.
She was truly reluctant to let Lanqi use a title that implied a generational divide right now, yet she didn't want to repudiate their master-disciple relationship either.
"Teacher Ta—"
Lanqi stopped halfway through, sensing that Tata didn't want him calling her Teacher Tata either.
"Why don't you just finish what you were saying?"
Hearing Lanqi's pointed pause, Talia had given up arguing.
*Can you really weave in your daily quests even here?*
*Would skipping my daily quest make you suffer worse than death?*
These days, she genuinely couldn't even bother settling scores with him half the time.
Mentally exhausted.
In any case, she and Lanqi belonged to the same generation; of that, she was certain.
Lanqi's family thought so too.
She just happened to possess profound knowledge and had become Lanqi's teacher, but that didn't change the essence of their first meeting back in South Vantina: a boy meeting a girl, practically straight out of a novel.
"Wait, does any author actually write about a boy meeting an eight-hundred-year-old girl? What kind of books are you reading?" Lanqi challenged.
"Seven hundred ninety-nine! I was only seven hundred and ninety-nine years old when I met you!"
Talia grabbed Lanqi's tie and shook him, tears brimming in her eyes.
Her eyes were definitely glistening only because she hadn't wiped away her earlier tears properly.
Besides, physiologically speaking, there was virtually no difference between her and a human girl around twenty. Lanqi ought to treat her as an older sister who was only slightly older!
"Fine, fine, twenty, twenty! Converted to human years, you're twenty," Lanqi conceded hurriedly, flustered at the sight of Tata crying.
"My, to think Sister had such a cute side."
Sitting across from them with her chin propped in her hands, Iphatia watched their endless bickering and glanced at the little black cat.
"Tata has always been cute, meow," Boss Cat replied.
At those words, the two on the other side of the long table froze.
They sat up straight once more, putting some distance between each other, and the atmosphere instantly turned far more professional.
"Did... did we say something wrong just now?"
Iphatia pointed between herself and the little black cat, worried they had uttered some trigger word that tripped the pair's emergency brake.
"No," they answered calmly in unison.
*Meow, meow, meow?*
Boss Cat wondered what was wrong—he had only said "cute," not "so cute I want to eat you up." It shouldn't have caused this reaction.
Could there be new trigger words added without him knowing?
"Let's get back to business," Talia said.
"Do you have any more questions about our situation?" Lanqi agreed, turning to Iphatia.
Iphatia suspected they were changing the subject, but she had no proof.
Still, she truly had plenty of questions regarding the rapidly shifting situation on the Southern Continent. Even with the information she could gather from the Brierda mafia, her intelligence was limited.
Lanqi and Talia were different. Coming from the United Council of Kingdoms Alliance in the north, they carried a wealth of first-hand intelligence impossible to obtain within the empire.
"Sister, what's your combat strength like on your end? Do you have other allies from the coalition?" Iphatia asked Lanqi and Talia.
"We can get in touch with the allied intelligence operatives, but they also consider Landry—whom Lanqi is impersonating—to be part of the imperial forces. So... you know how it is."
Talia found it difficult to explain, offering Lanqi a pointed, meaningful look.
"Understood..."
Iphatia fully grasped why all their allies would misunderstand Lanqi.
He had genuinely crossed lines so many times he was practically unrecognizable.
No one would ever doubt Professor Landry's loyalty to the empire.
"So, you can assume it's just the two of us as allies. It might be better to have Barton contact the coalition alone; they'd probably sooner trust the mafia,"
Talia gave Iphatia the unvarnished truth.
"That is more than enough. With Sister here, that's more reliable to me than anything else."
Iphatia hadn't entirely recovered from the joy of reuniting with her sister. The support of an eighth-tier hero unit like Talia gave her significant hope.
"As expected of Sister! In this past century, you actually managed to gather all nine Great Demon Marks and become the new Demon King. I can feel how incredibly strong you are now,"
Iphatia spoke to her sister with profound admiration.
"..."
Talia's expression froze.
Her sister's sincere praise was certainly flattering, but thinking carefully about it...
Just now, Talia had only managed to fight an injured Iphatia to a draw by relying on the Demon King's special attack bonus against demons granted by the nine marks, plus the overall enhancement for summons from the Sealing Stone Tablet.
Didn't that mean Iphatia was already far stronger than her actual self?
"Ah... ah, yes, that's right..."
Talia's face began to flush as she stammered in embarrassment.
With the mood having reached this point, she couldn't bring herself to reveal the truth to Iphatia, let alone explain the fact that her soul was bound to Lanqi's.
"You're as modest as ever. The Demon King! After getting three marks, I just stopped striving altogether. There's no way I could have risked my life like you did, Sister, to gather all nine and become the final Demon King, seeing the dream of restoring our nation through to the end."
"W-well, I didn't really risk my life that much..."
Talia wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole.
She shifted her gaze warily.
Lanqi sat beside her, fingers interlaced in front of him, deep in thought with an impassive expression.
Talia breathed a sigh of relief.
At least Lanqi wasn't laughing at her.
Surprisingly, he knew to stay serious at a time like this.
Wait.
She leaned sideways over the tabletop.
Hidden behind his hands, the corners of Lanqi's mouth were quivering uncontrollably.
"Lanqi!!"
Talia leaped to her feet on the spot, hooking her arm around Lanqi's neck from behind and dragging him backward.
"Ahhh, help! Boss Cat, save me! Tata! Miss Iphatia is still watching us!" Lanqi shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Meow... donation approved, meow."
Boss Cat had no intention of interfering in their game.
If Tata wanted to hit Lanqi, let her; if Lanqi wanted to get beat up, let him. Either way, both sides were willing participants.
Her heart fluttering, Iphatia pressed a hand to her chest as she watched the interaction between her sister and Lanqi.
Whenever she saw this side of her sister, so full of contrasts, it made the sister in her memories seem all the more endearing.
"Say, kitty, Sister and Lanqi are already this close, yet they aren't together yet. Are there other rivals?"
Iphatia gently tapped the kitten's ear, inquiring in a whisper.
A man who could catch her sister's eye was bound to be exceptional; it wouldn't be surprising in the least if other girls liked him too.
"Th-that, meow..."
Boss Cat stumbled over his words instantly.
"So there are?"
Iphatia practically had her answer. "How many?"
With a thoroughly gossipy smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, she pressed Boss Cat for answers.
"Two, meow."
Honest cat that he was, Boss Cat finally answered.
"Whoa! Then won't there be a wonderful show to watch once we return to Ikerite?"
Iphatia leaned back with a laugh, pointing across the table at the two of them.
Although she hoped her sister would win, she had always loved watching women fight over a man.
"..."
Boss Cat used Defense Curl.
A loaf of black bread, capable only of basic vital functions.
None of this concerned him.
Only after Talia finished "communicating" with Lanqi did she finally release him and return to her seat.
"Do you have any more questions for us?" Talia asked Iphatia, as if nothing had just happened.
"None for now," Iphatia replied with an innocent smile, tilting her head.
"Then I have a question for you, Iphatia. What happened with the injuries on your body?"
Talia's gaze grew far heavier, tinged with heartache as she looked at the scars covering Iphatia.
Branching crimson fissures started from Iphatia's neck, with lava-like veins of mana drifting downward. They were likely searing her at every moment, subjecting her to wounds that refused to heal.
"That started from my last trip to Blood Moon City. After confirming that the Blood Clan Duke wasn't there, I snuck in. But there was still a Blood Clan Marquis guarding the Blood King Palace. Not only did I fail to rescue Mikhail, but I was also injured by the Blood Clan barrier inside Blood Moon City."
The smile on Iphatia's face faded into a bitter one.
"With this mark, the Blood Clan has a way to track me, and I need massive amounts of healing just to stay alive."
Back then, she had been too arrogant and somewhat impatient, believing she could sneak Mikhail out.
Who would have thought it would plunge her into a near-deadlock dilemma?
From here on, her only possible way of defeating the Blood Clan was to cultivate until she was invincible and then go risk her life against them—yet in her heart, she knew full well how impossible that was.
"This 'Blood King Divine Fire' cannot heal naturally once it scorches you; only the Blood Clan is immune to its effects. If you don't follow the proper mechanics in the Blood King Palace, it gets triggered. Because it's a large-scale barrier spell that consumes the core of Blood Moon City, the Blood Clan can't trigger it frequently either," Lanqi noted.
"Brother, you even know about that?"
Iphatia looked up in astonishment.
She had heard that Professor Landry was quite extraordinary in Brierda—a visionary imperial scholar—but she had never imagined that the man himself was this erudite.
"I have to understand Blood Moon City. Otherwise, why would I want to develop a Mana Fission Bomb?" Lanqi replied with supreme confidence.
He was thoroughly delighted by the news that Iphatia had been to Blood Moon City. Since she had attempted a raid once, it meant she definitely knew its coordinates and had accomplices who could help her slip in and out.
"No wonder... no wonder..."
It dawned on Iphatia, as if everything was finally falling into place.
She had wondered why she so desperately needed Professor Landry's research project; it turned out it was no coincidence at all, but because they were aiming for the very same goal.
"I promised Hyperion that I would bring Duke Mikhail back," Lanqi assured Iphatia.
Now that they had found Iphatia, only one person remained on their rescue mission.
"R-really?" Iphatia asked, her voice fragile.
She had never imagined hearing someone say so resolutely that they would help her bring Mikhail back—not in a coaxing or comforting tone, but making it clear that this near-impossible feat was a mission he had long since pledged to fulfill.
"I always say what I mean, and I do what I say."
Lanqi had never forgotten what he had promised Hyperion so long ago.
"Rest assured, Iphatia. I didn't believe in this guy's knack for finding people at first, but now I've found it's genuinely uncanny. As long as they're alive, he can track them down. If he ever manages to bring a dead person back to life, I'll be thoroughly impressed."
Talia gave Lanqi a rare pat on the shoulder, offering him praise.
Lanqi had helped her find her sister just as promised, which put her in such a good mood that cooking for him for another few years didn't seem so bad after all.
"Sob... Thank you, Lanqi," Iphatia spoke through her sobs, frantically wiping away the tears streaming endlessly from her unseen eyes.
A reunion for the Aransal family—she hadn't dared dream such a day would come even in her wildest dreams.
She had never imagined that someone, in places she knew nothing about, had been striving tirelessly for her family all along.
"It's all right, Iphatia. Sister is here. Sister is right by your side."
Seeing this, Talia hurriedly stood up and walked around the long table. Stroking her sister's back, she wiped away her tears, holding and comforting her until Iphatia's emotions finally calmed down.
"Still, Blood Moon City is ridiculously tough to raid. Looking back now, all I feel is powerlessness. I really am a useless princess," Iphatia sighed, hanging her head.
Even if someone taught her the mechanics, she still felt clearing Blood Moon City was impossible.
"It's really not your fault. Blood Moon City is at the level of a fortress raid; you need a raid group of about twenty people. Soloing it is definitely out of the question. Just coming back alive makes you incredible enough."
Lanqi understood that Iphatia only wanted to rescue Mikhail.
Still, storming Blood Moon City alone was bold to the point of audacity.
She must have possessed some spatial artifact to force an escape.
"Are you planning to blow all of Blood Moon City to ashes?"
Iphatia was stunned.
She had thought Blood Moon City called for infiltration mechanics, like a prison-type Shadow World, where rescuing Mikhail meant mission accomplished.
She hadn't expected Lanqi's plan from the get-go to be a full-scale assault on the entire Blood Moon City.
"Of course. If we don't tear Blood Moon City down, we won't catch the Blood Clan. Having a base makes them far too slippery—they can always retreat into the shadows," Lanqi answered with certainty.
He could never allow this scourge to commit atrocities right beneath his Creti Empire!
"Hang in there, Brother! I'll definitely help you," Iphatia said, pumping her fist with a tearful smile.
"Could you please stop calling me Brother...?"
No matter how many times Lanqi heard it, his scalp still tingled.
Even though Iphatia's youthful girliness wasn't an act, still...
There were no stills.
Under Talia's glare, he caught himself mid-thought.
"Uh..."
Iphatia pressed an index finger lightly against her lips, hesitating, seemingly worried that Lanqi disliked her.
"Lanqi, Iphatia wants to call you Brother. Is that okay?"
Talia looked at Lanqi with a smile, while simultaneously pressing her invisible hand of mental power directly over his heart.
"..."
Lanqi froze, completely motionless.
*What can I say?*
"He doesn't mind," Talia granted.
"Great!" Iphatia gave a bright, refreshing smile.
"I..."
Lanqi cycled through several expressions in a row.
He felt it was far too weird to be called that by Iphatia.
What if she got into the habit?
If Hyperion ever saw this, Lanqi felt he wouldn't even know how to face her anymore.
Chapter 746