Time moved pretty fast, the sun quickly setting until it completely disappeared, replaced by the moonlight.
The stars began to appear, increasing more and more in number.
The valley, which had been filled with the sounds of screams of "Dickheads!" and mocking laughter, eventually grew quiet with time.
The only one who didn't seem to tire was Isha, still rowing around on the blue sea, icing some parts and seemingly trying to build some structure with her own ice.
From up the hill, Ryuk's eyes gazed onto her humongous figure, a small serene smile on his face—one that truly reflected how he felt within.
It was one of those rare moments when he felt a bit of peace inside him.
These were moments he could count on one hand, each vivid in his memory.
Like when he had passed the last phase of the Fallen Tests, the final day before leaving for the Ascension Academy after his talk with the Half-Fallen One.
Or the time he had told Morgaine goodbye, giving himself the chance to face the Trial Challenge and move forward without looking back.
Those were the moments when he had felt burdens lift off his shoulders, and now, he got to witness such a moment once more.
His eyes looked at the stars, their light illuminating his face.
But then, he felt a hand tug on his shoulder.
Lying on his back, he turned to his side and saw Morgaine laying on the ground beside him.
"You see them better if you lie on the ground..." Morgaine whispered.
Ryuk turned his gaze back to the stars.
"Tell me something, Ryuk," Morgaine said.
"What's that?" he asked, turning to her.
"Will you be going back to the academy?"
Ryuk shook his head softly.
"Aren't the instructors at the Cataclysm stages?" Ryuk asked.
"Well, I already have Isha at the Cataclysm stage, which, being a beast tamer, automatically makes me at the Cataclysm stage as well. So, do I still need to be a student?"
"You can still learn a lot—about mana, combat, and other things. Isha might be at the Cataclysm stage, but you yourself are only at the Initial Plane of Dominion. There's still a lot for you to learn," Morgaine said.
Ryuk paused for a while before grinning.
Now he understood why Arthur had looked at him mockingly when he asked for the location of the Pseudo-Lord-ranked gate that Morgaine had entered.
Ryuk was essentially only at the Initial Plane of Dominion stage. That was what people saw, and they judged him based on that.
But Ryuk himself was much more powerful than that, and he would have no problem getting rid of even a Cataclysm-stage expert.
So, he didn't really see himself as a Dominion-stage expert, though the rest of the world would look at him that way.
The silence that followed revealed to Morgaine what she needed to know.
"You've made up your mind, haven't you?" she asked, looking at the serene expression on Ryuk's face.
It didn't seem like a choice he regretted making.
"What about you, Morgaine? I trust you'll be returning to the academy soon?" Ryuk asked.
Morgaine nodded. "Yes, I would."
"What do you even want to do in the end?"
"I mean like, who do you want to be? An adventurer—going into interdimensional gates, completing quests? Or an instructor—teaching students? Or joining some company? Or maybe even becoming the spoiled princess of the Fallen Race?" Ryuk asked with a chuckle.
Morgaine rolled her eyes.
"Actually, I don't know. An adventurer would probably seem like the best choice since I have quite the experience with interdimensional gates. I've gone into them more times than I can count, and my experience is something some big companies would kill for."
"But... I don't think I want to go into those gates anymore."
"Because every interdimensional gate raid is a dance with death. You saw what happened last time, didn't you?"
"There are always anomalies."
"In some interdimensional gates, you can encounter vastly superior creatures that shouldn't even be there—creatures that can wipe out an entire group that should normally be able to complete those gates."
"In fact, I've heard of a group of Cataclysm-stage experts losing almost their entire crew when they found a Pseudo-Eternity-stage expert inside what should have been an ordinary Lord-ranked gate mission."
"It's just rumors, with not much proof to back them up. But still, that's what the gates are like."
"That kind of uncertainty—never knowing if you'll exit alive or dead—I don't want that anymore. Because now... I have a reason to live," Morgaine said.
"And what reason is that?" Ryuk asked, looking into her golden eyes.
He watched as her face slowly turned red, the blush spreading down her cheeks until it eventually covered her entire face.
Ryuk raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, you alright?" he asked.
Morgaine bit her lips, then turned her face away.
When she returned her gaze to him, the red had somehow receded just as fast as it had appeared.
"It's a special secret reason," Morgaine replied.
It was Ryuk's turn to roll his eyes.
"So, if you won't be an adventurer, what will you be? An instructor?"
"No! I'm not good with people, and I still hate some bastards from the other races. To be an instructor is to be able to ignore differences in race. I don't think I can do that when I look at a damn vampire," Morgaine said, a hint of bitterness in her voice.
"But as for the princess part, my mom has been disturbing me to come back to the Eclipsed Citadel. She wants me to take the throne."
"Is she starting to grow old?" Ryuk asked.
Both of them giggled evilly.
"That won't be happening for another 150 years at least."
"But who knows? The elders wouldn't be against her decision, so with enough time, she might eventually be able to convince me too..." Morgaine said with an uncaring shrug.
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In and Out_SnowySmoos