When Loran stepped into that familiar corridor of Raya Lucaria Academy once again, the moonlight spilling through the windows stretched his shadow long and thin across the floor.
The air carried the musty smell of old books, mixed with the cloying sweetness of some unknown aromatic—the lingering aftermath of the “fashion empire’s” recent activities.
He rubbed his throbbing temples.
Ever since leaving Waypoint Ruins, his brain had been running at full capacity.
He had really gone and made a huge mess of things.
That was the only thought left in his head.
Ranni’s “Age of Stars” had originally been one of the more respectable endings in his plans, and one of the paths most likely to bring him closer to the truth of this world.
Now, he had personally sealed that route shut.
And not only had he sealed it shut, he had also made an enemy of someone so powerful she was nearly impossible to deal with.
A genuine Empyrean.
Melina was another ticking time bomb.
That one “We’re Not Compatible” had temporarily defused the situation, but what would happen the next time they met?
No one knew.
The secrets hidden within that woman ran far deeper than he had imagined.
Of the two paths he knew—
One was blocked.
The other, he did not dare take.
For a moment, he even felt the urge to delete his character and start over.
But reason told him that this was not a game.
There was no save file to reload.
Every step forward was a road with no turning back.
He had to find a way to bring things back on track.
He could not keep letting the system and this group of unreliable teammates drag him around by the nose.
Surely he was not actually supposed to give up, head into the sewers, find that disgusting Dung Eater, collect Seedbed Curses, and end with everyone eating shit together?
He needed information.
More information about how this world truly operated.
And that meant he would have to make contact with those standing at the very top of its power structure—
Empyreans.
Demigods.
The ridiculous part was that this line of thought eventually circled right back to where it had started.
In the end, he still had to deal with Ranni.
The faction that was now hostile to him.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Look at that miserable face. You look like someone just blew up your whole family.”
A gleeful voice came from beside him.
At some point, Kiro had wandered over.
She stood with her arms folded, still wearing the first-generation blue version of The Queen’s New Clothes.
The hem had picked up plenty of dust over the past few days, but she did not seem to care in the slightest.
“What’s wrong, Master?”
She circled around Loran once, teasing him.
“World too complicated for your little brain to process?”
Loran ignored her.
He simply leaned against the wall in exhaustion and closed his eyes.
He had no energy to bicker with this woman right now.
“Hey, don’t play dead.”
Kiro poked his arm with one finger.
“I’ve got a new idea.”
She continued on her own, completely ignoring the dead-inside expression on Loran’s face.
“We’ve pretty much done everything there is to do at the Academy. Seen what there is to see, caused what trouble there is to cause.”
“So next, let’s go to Volcano Manor!”
“Volcano Manor?”
“Yeah!”
Kiro’s eyes lit up.
“I asked around. At the very bottom of that giant waterwheel under the Academy, there’s an Abductor Virgin hiding down there.”
“If you let that metal cage grab you, it’ll transport you straight into Volcano Manor!”
“Think about how cool that is!”
“You get swallowed by a monster, then come out somewhere completely different!”
“Isn’t that way more fun than using those boring teleporters?”
Cool?
Loran could not understand Kiro’s thought process at all.
“You can go yourselves.”
His voice was filled with exhaustion.
“Huh?”
The smile on Kiro’s face froze.
“What do you mean, you’re not going?”
“Something that cool, and you don’t want to try it?”
“I don’t think it’s cool.”
“You…”
Kiro pouted and planted both hands on her hips.
“You’re seriously such a killjoy!”
“Every day it’s either scheming about this or scheming about that, or acting like the sky is about to fall.”
“Can’t you just have some fun for once?”
“The most important thing in life is being happy!”
Loran looked at the expression on her face that practically screamed, Why are you so boring?
For some reason, he found it a little funny.
“Then do you want to join my plan?” he asked.
“Your plan?”
Kiro looked at him suspiciously.
“What are you plotting now?”
“I’m warning you, if you’re trying to drag me to that hellhole Caelid, I’m not going.”
“It’s not Caelid.”
Loran paused.
He decided to lay his cards on the table.
Or rather—
To throw out a new piece of bait and see how this woman reacted.
“I’ll be honest with you.”
“Just now, I accidentally…”
“Made Ranni’s faction hostile toward me.”
He had expected Kiro to look shocked.
Or worried.
After all, they were talking about an Empyrean.
But once again, her reaction went completely against his expectations.
She froze for a second.
Then—
“Pfft.”
She burst out laughing.
She laughed so hard she doubled over, tears nearly coming out.
“Hahahaha… Hostile?! How did you even manage that?”
“Did you go confess to her too?”
Loran’s expression darkened.
“…No.”
“Then how did you make her hostile?”
Kiro finally managed to stop laughing.
“But…”
She leaned closer to Loran and lowered her voice, her eyes sparkling.
“You’re hostile with her.”
“I’m not.”
Those words struck Loran’s mind like a bolt of lightning.
The fog instantly cleared.
“Besides…”
Kiro rubbed her chin, looking increasingly eager.
“Going against an Empyrean sounds pretty fun.”
“Fine. I’m in!”
“I’ll play along!”
[Kiro’s Affection: -70 → -50]
[Status: Gloating / Excited / Strongly Interested]
Kiro’s words snapped something into place in Loran’s mind.
Of course.
He was hostile.
That did not mean Kiro was.
According to the system, although they were companions, they seemed to possess separate faction relationships.
More importantly—
This woman was not afraid at all.
To Kiro, “making an enemy of an Empyrean” was no more dangerous than “letting an Abductor Virgin swallow you so you could sneak into Volcano Manor.”
Both belonged to the same category—
Sounds fun.
Her obsession with entertainment gave her something almost like an invincible immunity.
She was unaffected by most of the fear and reverence that would paralyze any normal person.
She was the perfect chaos variable.
Perhaps…
This idiot, whom Loran had always treated as a source of trouble that needed to be constantly calculated around and guarded against, had another use.
One far more suited to her nature.
“How do you want to play this?” Loran asked, looking at her.
“No idea.”
Kiro shrugged.
“Aren’t you the ‘Master’?”
“You figure it out.”
“As long as it’s fun, I’m good.”
“Fine.”
The corner of Loran’s mouth slowly curled upward.
“Then here’s the plan.”
“You need to go…”
“And become a spy.”