The Bookkeeper

Unlike the usual teleportation portals Raiden had walked through, this one seemed to thicken the air itself, pressing against the skin with a presence that remained frustratingly beyond comprehension.

It lasted only a moment, a fleeting second that made the strangeness all the more difficult to grasp. Yet Raiden's dragon instincts picked up on it immediately, and the wary look that crossed Noelle's face as she emerged told him she'd felt it as well.

Still, the ability to cover vast distances so quickly was a relief, and given how little Raiden understood about Matoe's capabilities, puzzling over the sensation seemed pointless.

Raiden paused before his mansion, eyes closed as he absorbed the familiarity of home washing over him. The others had already gone inside, leaving Matoe, Klein, and King to wait with him.

After a brief moment, Raiden turned to Klein and his crew. Klein wore his typical eager expression, a stark contrast to King and Matoe's composed demeanor.

Raiden narrowed his eyes slightly before sighing. "If you can actually see everything, then there must be a timeline where I asked the questions that mattered."

Klein drew a deep breath and moved closer, his excitement replaced by something unreadable. His hands settled on Raiden's shoulders, and despite the blindfold, his gaze seemed to pierce straight into Raiden's gray eyes.

"About timelines, there's one where you died," he said with complete seriousness, his voice steady and grave. The next second, he completely broke character, erupting into uncontrollable laughter.

Raiden's irritation was written all over his face, making King giggle.

"You know I can't tell you anything I see, right?" Klein managed to say while suppressing his laughter.

"I didn't ask you to tell me the future!"

Klein's laughter finally died down, and he grew serious. "I know that," he sighed. "This journey is going to open your eyes to many things."

Raiden stared hard into his blindfolded eyes as he listened.

"Consider this journey your second birth—learn with a newborn's curiosity and react with a newborn's innocence."

Raiden rolled his eyes with a smirk. He already knew nothing. If someone asked, he couldn't even thoroughly explain this new life he was living.

Klein looked back with curiosity. "Where's everyone else?"

Raiden gave him a lazy look. "Couldn't you see that in the future?"

Klein chuckled softly. "Not everything in the future is set in stone, you know?"

Raiden shrugged, turning toward the entrance behind him. "I think they're resting, but Freya's probably eating."

"You people are leaving now."

Raiden raised his eyebrows. "Now?!"

Klein patted him on the shoulder once more. "Don't worry, no one will realize you've left your duty." His smile widened. "I'll take care of everything."

Something in Klein's expression suggested he wasn't referring to Raiden alone. He wanted the entire group to go.

"I mean, all of them." He added.

This wasn't an easy thing to accept. Leaving the book of ashes behind and unprotected would mean Klein could take it at will. And what if that was precisely his intention?

Raiden stared at him for a moment, lost in thought. Klein could kill them if he chose to, and he obviously had allies strong enough to help. He wouldn't need to trick them to get the book. But what if he actually couldn't kill them?

Raiden stood frozen, uncertain about his next move.

"Okay, we're ready to leave." Noelle called out from behind him, with MK carrying their luggage.

Klein smiled once more as Matoe began creating a new teleportation portal, the opening hovering in midair.

Raiden had few choices available. Klein remained impossible to read, and once he had the twenty-eight pages, the books of Devourers would be crucial for getting back to his world. The pages were his priority now. But was such a gamble really necessary?

He sighed. Noelle wasn't going to back down because she had her own strong motivation for the pages—destroying them to free her mother. This wouldn't be only his burden to bear, and they were already in a situation where risk was unavoidable.

Moments later, the others began emerging from the house; Soul, Speed, and Leo, who was carrying both his own luggage and Raiden's.

Raiden took a deep breath and looked at Klein, who gave him a skeptical smile and shrugged.

"Alright… we'll leave now." His expression grew dark. "You're taking us to Dark City, though."

"I'm afraid that's not possible," Klein said, looking toward the portal. "We're not taking you anywhere close to there, though."

Klein sounded suspicious, but given that it would take them at least a month to sail there by themselves, this was preferable in many ways.

Raiden remained silent, just motioning for his comrades to move forward. They walked through the portal one by one without difficulty.

However, Klein motioned for Noelle and Raiden to hold back. The moment the others went through the portal, he positioned himself in front of the pair.

For the first time since they'd known Klein, his expression was genuinely serious. "I meant what I said… learn everything like a newborn and react like you know nothing."

Noelle kept flicking the aether cigarette between her lips, radiating disinterest, while Raiden's eyes seemed to look through dimensions as he tried to determine if Klein was speaking with purpose.

"Be reborn by each knowledge…" he added.

Raiden waited for a moment for his words to settle in before he shrugged it off.

"Okay… we will be leaving now," Raiden said and began making his way past Klein, King, and Matoe while Noelle followed behind.

Raiden waited a moment for Klein's words to settle before dismissing them with a shrug.

"Alright… we'll be leaving now," Raiden said, stepping past Klein, King, and Matoe as Noelle followed.

"I mean it!" Klein yelled as Raiden stepped through the portal.

The moment he emerged, a harsh, dusty wind struck him, almost knocking Ash from his shoulder. Raiden grabbed his familiar before she could fall and covered his eyes against the wind. Sandy gusts obscured everything around them, making it nearly impossible to tell one direction from another.

"We're in the desert near Dark City!" Levi shouted over the wind.

"I used to train my mana here," Freya called out. "There are sand wolves in this area."

Raiden's expression turned disgusted as he understood why Klein had looked so strange when mentioning where they'd be teleported.

The air burned with dreadful heat, making their bodies sweat instantly, while the powerful wind provided no relief whatsoever.

Now, they had to somehow find their way through the harshest landscape Raiden had ever encountered.