By this point, Riezel had already realized that Lizbeth had truly become less and less guarded around him.
In the past, she would still feel embarrassed about being naked in front of him and would immediately fall into a state of panic and confusion, blurting out a string of self-destructive nonsense while putting herself down at every turn.
But now, as the number of times they shared a bed continued to increase and the occasions on which they faced each other openly became more frequent, the little princess seemed to have gradually grown accustomed to it. Even when she stood completely naked before him, she would only blush faintly and avert her gaze for a moment instead of falling into confusion again.
Sometimes, when she woke up in the morning, she would even cling to his body without any sense of caution, nestling against him as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Because of that, there had been countless times when he had nearly lost control of himself.
If not for the fact that Euryale was always nearby, watching him and Lizbeth with curious eyes all day long, he was certain that he would have already taken their relationship much further.
On countless nights and mornings, Riezel found himself questioning this very thing.
Yet the overly beautiful figure of the little princess curled up against him seemed to tell him that she had already fully matured.
Even Riezel did not know who he was saying that to.
He only knew that if things continued like this, losing control of himself was bound to happen sooner or later.
Tonight, as he held the little princess’s soft body in his arms while lying in bed, Riezel once again began reflecting on himself in silence. Beside him, Euryale seemed to be thinking about something as she hugged one of his arms and blinked up at him from time to time, as though patiently waiting for him to fall asleep.
With one arm wrapped around Lizbeth and the other held tightly by Euryale, Riezel felt as if he had been placed in paradise itself.
Especially because Euryale looked so much like Lizbeth—she was practically what Lizbeth might look like when she grew older. Now, with the two of them gathered around him like this, they resembled a pair of breathtakingly beautiful sisters, making the scene before him all the more irresistible.
Until...
"Master..."
Lizbeth softly called out to Riezel.
"Hm?"
Riezel responded absentmindedly, not paying much attention to her.
"We..."
Lizbeth hesitated, looking as though she wanted to say something but could not quite bring herself to do it.
Only after a long while did she finally gather the courage to speak.
"Are we really going to the Hidden Land?"
Hearing that topic brought up, Riezel finally managed to pull himself somewhat out of the temptation created by the two women’s excessively fragrant and alluring presence.
"Why do you ask that?" Riezel asked back, turning toward Lizbeth. "Don’t tell me you don’t wanna go?"
"I-I do want to go..." Lizbeth replied somewhat embarrassedly. "I want to meet that High Priest. I want to know about my parents, and if possible, I’d like to learn something about Grandma Mia as well. I always feel like Grandma Mia wasn’t an ordinary person."
Obviously, if Mia had been an ordinary person, how could she have possessed Moslow, carried that mysterious animal skin, and arranged for Lizbeth to one day return to the Hidden Land?
Although Ivy had said that she had never heard the name Mia before, names could easily be faked.
Who knew whether that had even been the old woman’s real name?
Because of that, Riezel also believed that the elderly woman called Mia had an unusual background.
"Well, that High Priest might know all the answers..." Riezel said to Lizbeth. "You know, it’s not just you who wants to meet her. I wanna meet her too."
Indeed, the decision to travel to the Hidden Land had not been made solely for Lizbeth’s sake. Riezel also wanted to know whether the High Priest understood the Dimensional Magic Cube and whether she knew the secrets behind this so-called God.
One should know that the Dimensional Magic Cube was the greatest secret concerning Riezel’s body, yet it was directly connected to the prosperity of the Reinnail Clan and the ancient magic civilization.
Since that was the case, he had to uncover the truth and see just how much these inheritors of the ancient magic civilization knew about the Dimensional Magic Cube.
Besides, he was genuinely interested in the Hidden Land itself.
A separate dimension that had developed and flourished for 11,000 years while preserving the inheritance of the ancient magic civilization—just how prosperous was such a place, and how many powerful individuals existed there?
He very much wanted to find out for himself.
Especially the High Priest, whom Ivy had vaguely implied might be the strongest person in the Hidden Land—he held an exceptionally strong interest in her.
Therefore, when he said he wanted to meet the High Priest, he had not been speaking casually—he truly meant it.
Lizbeth, however, still looked somewhat concerned.
"Will it really be okay?" Lizbeth asked worriedly. "I keep feeling like the people there might try to harm you..."
She might have been inexperienced in worldly matters, but she was not foolish.
From Ivy and Leo’s attitudes alone, it was easy to tell that while the people of the Hidden Land treated her with exceptional respect, they were extremely hostile toward Riezel.
Naturally, the reason was the attendant contract between them.
"How about..."
Lizbeth’s voice became softer and softer, and there was even a trace of sadness and disappointment hidden within her tone.
At that moment, Riezel firmly flicked Lizbeth’s forehead.
"Oww!"
Riezel’s sudden punishment made Lizbeth cry out instinctively before she quickly raised a hand and covered her forehead.
"Hm?"
Beside them, Euryale blinked again, looking puzzled and seemingly unable to understand why Riezel had hit Lizbeth.
Riezel, meanwhile, stared directly at Lizbeth and narrowed his eyes slightly.
"You were about to say that, for my safety, we should end our contract, weren’t you?"
As he spoke, his expression remained calm, yet for some reason, that calmness only made Lizbeth feel even more frightened.
"S-Sorry, Master..."
Tears immediately appeared at the corners of Lizbeth’s eyes.
Seeing that, all of Riezel’s irritation instantly melted away, while his heart softened at once, and the calm expression on his face gradually gave way to one of helplessness.
"You... Don’t you know what kinda person I am by now?"
Riezel reached out and gently stroked Lizbeth’s head, his hand moving slowly through her soft hair.
"You should know I’ve never really treated you as an attendant. I mean, this so-called attendant contract can be dissolved anytime. If that’s what you truly want, I wouldn’t object."
"But it absolutely can’t happen because someone else is forcing or threatening you."
"Even if we dissolve our contract, it should be because both of us genuinely want it, not because of outside circumstances. Got it?"
Riezel looked directly into Lizbeth’s face from close range, speaking each word clearly and firmly.
"If you’re trying to dissolve the contract just so I won’t get dragged into trouble or hurt, then sorry, but I won’t agree to it."
For a relatively equal magical agreement like an attendant contract, there were normally only three ways to dissolve it.
First, both parties had to fulfill the promises made when the contract was originally established.
For example, if the contract stated something like, then once the agreed years of service had been completed, and the attendant’s wish had been fulfilled, the contract would naturally reach its conclusion and dissolve on its own.
Second, one party could breach the agreement.
In that case, not only would the contract immediately end, but the party who broke it would also suffer penalties and pay a corresponding price. As a result, very few people would willingly choose such an option.
As for the third way, both parties could mutually agree to dissolve the contract through discussion. Even if the contract’s terms had not yet been completely fulfilled, as long as both sides agreed to terminate it, the contract would still be dissolved.
Needless to say, those three methods were the normal ways of ending an attendant contract.
Of course, under unusual circumstances, there were also special methods capable of forcibly dissolving an attendant contract.
For example, Ivy intended to use Divine Arcana’s counteractive effect against magic to forcibly break the contract between Riezel and Lizbeth. It was a magic item comparable to a World Item, so its power was more than sufficient to nullify contract magic forcibly.
Furthermore, if a magician’s power greatly exceeded the strength of the attendant contract itself, they might also be capable of forcibly dissolving it through sheer magical force.
Naturally, that method did not apply to Riezel and Lizbeth.
After all, the contract document they had used when establishing their attendant contract had been a magic item of the highest level in the modern world. To forcibly break a contract of such an extraordinary level, almost nobody on the Akasha Continent could accomplish it.
Even within the Hidden Land, according to Riezel’s speculation, unless someone specialized in Interference System Magic, possessed Interference System compatibility above the 7th-Grade, and had strength comparable to a Level 9 mage from the world of Danmachi, forcibly dissolving a highest-grade attendant contract would be impossible.
Among all forms of contract magic, attendant contracts were the most stable, powerful, and durable—ordinary methods simply could not affect them.
Under such circumstances, as long as Riezel refused to agree, Lizbeth had absolutely no way to dissolve the contract on her own with her current abilities.
"Unless you go to the Hidden Land and ask those so-called priests to help you ignore my wishes and dissolve the contract on your own."
Looking directly into Lizbeth’s eyes, Riezel spoke with unmistakable implication.
"If you’re willing to go that far just to dissolve the contract, then fine. From that day on, I’ll just act as if I’ve never had an attendant."
Evidently, the weight carried by those words was enormous for the little princess.
"S-Sorry! Master! I won’t ever say something like that again!"
Lizbeth immediately turned pale and threw herself into Riezel’s arms, pleading desperately as she clung tightly to him.
"You said it yourself..."
Riezel had naturally been scaring her on purpose.
Seeing her rush into his embrace, he finally smiled and gently patted her head.
"Once this is all over, if you still wanna dissolve the attendant contract, I’ll respect your decision."
"But if you’re doing it because of threats from the Hidden Land, then don’t bring it up again."
"We’re gonna visit the Hidden Land exactly as planned."
"I’d like to see what that so-called Sanctuary can actually do to me."
He was quite confident about that and did not believe he was boasting.
He had already defeated One-Eyed Black Dragon, a monster capable of single-handedly crushing the thousand-year alliance formed by the Zeus Familia and numerous great familias. Why would he fear a mere land that inherited the legacy of the ancient magic civilization?
In fact, the aura of One-Eyed Black Dragon had not been inferior to the Fire Dragon Lord beneath the ancient ruins of Reinnail. Since the ancient magic civilization had been unable to slay the Fire Dragon Lord and could only seal it away, he refused to believe that the Hidden Land possessed power exceeding that of the ancient magic civilization before its downfall.
Honestly, even if it did surpass it, he would not be afraid.
On the contrary, he would be delighted.
Because, as someone who loved thrills and challenges, that would make things exciting, wouldn’t it?
"Master..."
As Lizbeth watched the corner of Riezel’s lips slowly rise, as though he had just thought of something particularly interesting, she became momentarily entranced.
Now that she saw that expression again, she realized that she especially loved seeing her master wear that look. It was the expression of someone who regarded every obstacle in the world as nothing more than a hurdle he was destined to overcome.
Looking at him like this, the anxiety and unease lingering in her heart gradually disappeared without her even noticing.
Unable to help herself, she tightened her embrace around him and held him firmly, as though she never wanted to let go.
But...
"Eh?"
Suddenly, Lizbeth froze as she felt something hard pressing against her body.
"Master...?"
Lizbeth stared at Riezel in disbelief, completely unaware of just how tempting that expression of hers was to him at this moment.
"Lizbeth..."
Riezel narrowed his eyes and suddenly smiled.
"Honestly, I’ve never really cared about the attendant contract at all..." Riezel said with a smile. "How about we make a different contract?"
"A different contract?" Lizbeth asked blankly. "What kind of contract?"
What kind of contract?
Very soon, she found out.
"???"
Only Euryale remained off to the side, blinking her eyes in confusion and curiosity.
At this moment, she had become the sole witness to the brand-new relationship that was gradually forming between Riezel and Lizbeth. Yet, judging by the direction things were heading, it seemed she might even become a participant in that relationship as well.
===
At the same time, within the residence of Sorren Jinas, the third prince of the royal family of Jinas, Lilith had already been staring at Sorren inside his room for quite some time.
Yet the longer she observed him, the more something felt wrong.
It was not merely the faint sense that his life form and even his soul were somehow different from those of ordinary people.
As time passed and Sorren continued sitting there like a puppet, blankly staring ahead without the slightest reaction, the feeling of unease in her heart finally reached its limit.
Lilith came to that conclusion with certainty.
As a result, she decided to take a different approach.
In an instant, the voluptuous and alluring female demon suddenly appeared in front of Sorren, her crimson eyes glowing with an eerie red light.
Lilith was also proficient in mind-control magic.
Rather, as an expert in manipulating life and souls, her attainments in mind-control magic might have surpassed her mastery of most other forms of magic. Because of that, the charm magic she activated at this moment was not much weaker than the charm magic used by Riezel—it was powerful enough to affect even a Sword Saint.
However, the instant she cast her charm magic on Sorren, the latter, whose eyes had been lifeless and whose expression had been as numb as a doll’s, suddenly moved without any warning.
He abruptly raised his head and charged toward Lilith, completely ignoring the effects of her charm magic.
His speed was as fast as lightning.
His movements were utterly silent.
In Lilith’s eyes, those were not movements a human should have been capable of.
Not only was Lilith not alarmed, but she was actually delighted.
A dangerous glint instantly flashed across her eyes, and a tempting smile soon spread across her face.