Daniel stared at Kayn, who was sitting across from him. His face was expressionless, showing no particular emotion, but his mind was quietly analyzing the situation.
It had been a long time since he last saw Kayn, so long, in fact, that he had almost forgotten about him.
Kayn could be considered one of Daniel’s first friends in this world, the one who helped him save Eva and, in a way, even saved his life.
But after that, Kayn went to the Gulf of Sumer, and Daniel never saw him again, until today, when he suddenly came to the Central Plains to meet him.
"How did you find me?" Daniel asked with a slight smile, partly to start the conversation and partly to figure out what this old friend’s reason was for coming here.
"Shouldn’t we first greet each other and talk about old memories?" Kayn laughed, setting down the glass of wine in his hand.
"Do we really need to? I don’t think you’d want to waste your time like that."
"You’re right. Let’s get straight to the point. Finding you wasn’t that hard, I just used the organization’s information network. Contrary to what you think, you’ve become quite famous lately," Kayn said, shaking his head. He had come here with a purpose and didn’t want to waste time.
"Famous? I don’t think I’ve done anything that would make me famous," Daniel said thoughtfully, recalling his recent actions in the Celestial Domain.
He hadn’t done much, and most of the time he made sure to hide his identity, so how could he possibly be well-known?
"Destroying three bases of the Corruption Worshipers, helping the Lionheart family expose and eliminate their spies, becoming an honorary Elder of the Lionheart family, and the commotion caused in the capital after the disappearance of the Dragon’s Tear River," Kayn listed the reasons one by one.
"How do you know it was me?" Daniel frowned. The man’s tone was so confident that it was clear he was absolutely certain Daniel was behind all of it.
That gave Daniel a headache. It wasn’t like he had gone out of his way to hide these things, but he preferred to keep them quiet if possible.
The more famous he became, the more enemies he would attract, and that meant the Corruption Worshipers could find him more easily.
"Don’t worry, I’m the only one who knows it was you. The others just know someone’s been doing all those things, but they don’t know your identity," Kayn said.
Still, Daniel didn’t feel any calmer after hearing that.
"As for how I figured it out, it was because of what happened at the Ten Thousand Treasures Auction House. You killed several Wanderers there. After a bit of digging, I found out their mission was connected to a Lionheart. Funny enough, that same Lionheart just happens to be one of the two candidates for heirship right now."
"By piecing together the clues and checking your known travel routes where traces of your presence existed, I confirmed that you were behind everything," Kayn explained.
Daniel stayed silent. This couldn’t be explained by intelligence alone, it was pure boredom. How much free time did this guy have to spend it on something so pointless?
"I have to admit, I didn’t expect you to become this strong in such a short time. The last time we met, you could barely stand against a corrupted Bishop, and now you’re destroying their bases." Kayn sighed nostalgically.
"Time passes, and not everyone’s as idle as you. If you spent your time getting stronger instead of chasing after me, you wouldn’t have fallen behind so much," Daniel said sarcastically.
"Hey, finding you was my master’s suggestion. He told me to ask for your help. Otherwise, I’m not that free."
"Ask for my help? Can’t you just find another Wanderer to help you?"
"We Wanderers don’t really work well in teams. Most of us act independently. And besides, the rest of them are idiots. I don’t want to waste my time on them," Kayn said casually.
"What kind of help do you need?" Daniel sighed and asked lazily.
"Remember what I mentioned about the Gulf of Sumer in that letter? I want you to come with me there and help me with something."
"The Gulf of Sumer? You’d better explain properly, my schedule’s tight, and I need to know if it’s worth my time."
In truth, Daniel had already been planning to go there for a while.
After all, the Pagoda of Eternity was located there. Only by visiting the Pagoda could he heal the Flower of Eternity and use its power again.
He could also obtain the rest of the Eternal Faith’s relics there, rebuild the religion, and fulfill his duty.
He just hadn’t found the time to go until now, but maybe this was the right opportunity.
Of course, "helping" was a different matter. He needed to know what kind of help Kayn wanted and what he would gain from it.
"I’m not sure how much you know about the current state of that gulf, but it’s a real mess, a complete ruin. It wasn’t always like that, but because of the intense conflict between humans and demons, the place has fallen into chaos."
"Soon, a delegation of royal demon princes and princesses will be arriving at the gulf. I need your help to take them hostage."
"You mean you want to kidnap them? These princes and princesses, are they just nobles?" Daniel asked.
He could think of several possibilities for why Kayn wanted to do such a thing and exactly why he had been ordered to do it.
It was probably to extort them and implicitly force the demons to retreat, but would it really work?
He doubted that the lives of a few princes and princesses would be enough to significantly influence the overall decisions of the demons.
If only the princes and princesses die, can’t the nobles reproduce again?
"Well, to be more precise, they’re the children of the Demon King," Kayn replied.
"..."