The Mage Emperor

Marriage

--- Leo’s pov ---

“My, my, if it isn't my trusted aide. What brings you here?” Mary smiled at me as I entered her room.

“Aide my ass, your little pets would beat me up if they ever found me in your room,” I grunted.

“Hahaha, I'm sorry about that, though I’m sure they don't pose a threat to you,” she simply shrugged it off.

“Any news about Seth? He still hasn't replied to our invitation and he ignored the challenges as well. The other nobles haven't attacked him out of consideration for my clan, but their patience is nearing its end,” she added, throwing her blonde hair over her shoulder. I felt her pheromones entering my nose a moment later. If I wasn’t careful, she’d brainwash me and start controlling me like she did to the others. She took control of the whole clan years ago, even her family.

“I told you he won't do anything about them. He’s a very troublesome person when you are trying to make plans. Like an X in an equation, he could become anything in the end,” I furrowed my brows, starting to feel a bit annoyed just remembering him.

“You must find out what sort of incarnation he is and what's his commandment,” she said with a sweet voice. Only she was more annoying to deal with than Seth, though I would never tell that to her. At least, not for a while.

“If you can find out his secret, I'll give you a reward,” she said as she licked her lips, believing that I was under the effect of her charm. I’ve been playing along with her for quite a long time.

“I'll do my best, my Goddess!” I shouted as I fell to my knees.

“Fufu, that's good then. Anything to tell me?” she asked.

“Yes. That's the second reason I came here,” I nodded.

“Then what's the first?” she tilted her head to the side.

“To see my Goddess, isn't that obvious?” I smiled at her.

Walking closer, she slowly encircled me and ran her fingers around my shoulders. Squatting down in front of me, she gazed into my eyes, her lips only inches away from mine. “Hmm~ You are quite handsome, maybe I'll sleep with you once.”

Shit, I have to avoid close contact with her.

Pressing my head against the ground, I shouted, “That would be my greatest pleasure, but I'm afraid I’m not worthy of your touch!”

“That's for me to decide, now report,” she said coldly this time.

Damn, I forgot that she hates when men start making up excuses like these. Fucking bitch… At least, I managed to get away from her.

Standing up, I started, “Hai! The lord of Light city sent his henchmen to tell Seth about their city. He will definitely want to check it out, but given that they bought a land and built a house here in the city, I don't think they'd move out. Then again, it's him we’re talking about. He's been hiding his strength for years, now he suddenly appeared out of nowhere with much greater strength, only to disappear once again. He even skipped school today,” I shook my head.

Given the way those idiots behaved up till now, they probably stayed home to make out all day.

“Hmm- that's troublesome. I must get in control of him before he leaves. I don't want one more god to strengthen Light city even more, especially because I have no idea what's his commandment,” she muttered.

“There's more,” I added.

“What else?” she raised her brows.

“During the weekend, he visited the forest and awakened Sylvanus, the local guardian of this area. He's likely to attack the city,” I replied.

Looking at me, she froze in place and kept staring at me in silence for a few seconds. Taking a vase of flowers into her hands, she screamed as she threw it against the wall, “Are you fucking kidding me!?”

“No, I'm telling the truth, but this may be your chance,” I added.

“How the fuck could a two hundred years old dragon be anything good for my plans?” she snarled at me.

It's not even your plan you stupid bitch, but you'll get me a lot of power by the time you realise and you'll be screwed.

“If you could beat the dragon, common people would definitely start calling you a hero and accept you as their leader. I’ll try to make Seth get away from that part of the city while we defeat it, so you can take all the credit for slaying it. Imagine your name being called for, ‘Mary, the dragon slayer’! I bet you’ll be able to take over both countries instantly, I mean, who would dare to disagree with you?” I asked.

“That’s nice and all, but how do you expect me to beat that freaking monster? He's much older than me!” she yelled at me.

“Don't worry about that, he's a lazy idiot and spent most of his time sleeping without progressing. Also, he’s only a doppelganger, so if you’re well prepared, you'll have no trouble killing him,” I replied.

“Are you sure?” she frowned.

“Yes,” I nodded.

“Fine then, but you must find out more about Sylvanus before he arrives, I don't want to lose and then run away,” she said.

Shaking my head, I started, “I should die a thousand times if you got hurt because of my mistake-” she interrupted me by sticking her tongue into my mouth. Her mouth tasted so delicious, one just wouldn't want to stop kissing. This was the effect of her ancestor’s spells. Every part of her body could make men and women go crazy over her, which was very dangerous even to me. Slowly pulling back, she embraced me and whispered into my ear, “I'll give you my body if your plan works out, so make sure to work hard.”

My voice trembling, I thanked her for the chance and turned around to leave. Turning back one last time at the door, I looked at her smiling face and then left the room. If I really slept with her, I’d definitely fall for her and do anything for her, so I had to avoid it by all means. I’d rather get hit by her than to have sex with her.

As I left her room, I had the misfortune to run into one of her pets. The guy was walking towards her room, his pants bulging from his hard-on. He was a very handsome guy with great talent, sadly for him, he fell victim to this bitch along with the other five a few years ago. It turned into a habit of hers to pick up handsome guys and then fuck them until their brains turned into vegetables. At this point, all they desired and thought of was Mary’s body.

They lost their emotions, their ability to think and function as a normal human. It was worse than death and to make things worse, they were very protective of her. Noticing that I’ve just left her room, he charged towards me without any warning and wanted to punch me in the face. Quickly stepping to the side, I teleported a bit further away and then continued on the way out.

I felt disgusted just knowing that her tongue entered my mouth, even more so because it felt incredibly good and every inch of my body started desiring more. She was the second most disgusting human being I had ever seen. She used her powers as she pleased and controlled people to fulfill her needs. Not even her parents were exceptions, but it was no wonder. She got her commandment early on and with the mindset of a child, she took control of her own parents.

With no actual adult to raise her into a normal human being, she turned into an idiotic dirty bitch. She brainwashed her whole clan and the whole school, so about a quarter of the city was under her control at this point. Everyone was idolising her and desiring her attention and even a single smile of hers would be enough to send hundreds of people to their deaths if she wanted. But I needed her for my own plans, so I had to bear with her for now. It'd be never too late to get rid of her later. Well, she was the second on my 'worst person list’ for a reason. The first would be eternally me.

A grin formed on my face as I started humming. It was time to meet Seth as well!

---

On the way to their house, I started pondering about how to deal with the idiot couple. I had to make them leave the city somehow, or move to its other half.

Hmm, I could threaten him by capturing his parents, but then I wouldn’t be able to use him in the future. I confused him quite well last time by my behaviour, so I could either help him or screw him over, but it’s too early for the latter when I know so little about him.

It’d be for the best if he fell under Mary’s control since I wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore. She’s the best person who can help me in getting rid of my obstacles, she’s too stupid to realise that I’m using her.

I could also tell him to go to Light city, but I don’t want him to join them so that option is no good either. How can I make him leave the city in a peaceful way? Based on what I’ve seen in school, it’d be impossible to make him go somewhere he doesn’t want to and he wouldn’t listen to me either. In that case, I must use something he loves to cheat him over.

After thinking about it for a moment, I couldn’t help but start laughing. It was so simple! I just had to use Lien.

Looking around, I turned to another direction and visited a printing house to craft a fake document. After going to the furthest corner of the city, I entered a spa and bought two tickets. Going back to their house, I put everything in an envelope and threw it against the front door. Pressing the bell, I quickly turned around and ran away.

On the paper stood that they were randomly selected and won two tickets to the ‘Hot Bath’ spa. Knowing these two rabbits, they’d surely want to try doing it in all kinds of environments. The date was fixed on the tickets, so they couldn’t delay it either and I refused to believe that they would miss a chance like this. If they went to the other side of the city, even if Sylvanus attacked, Mary could take care of that stupid dragon by the time Seth returned.

Believing that my plans would turn out as I hoped, I left the city to make a deal with Sylvanus.

--- Seth’s pov ---

“Who was it?” Lien asked.

Looking around, I picked up the envelope and looked at its contents after closing the door. I took the tickets into my hands and looked at them as I answered her, “We’ve won two tickets to a spa.”

“Are you serious?” she asked.

“Yeah, but the tickets will be accepted only tomorrow, not sooner, not later. That’s really unfortunate,” I replied. Leaning on my shoulder, she took one of the tickets into her hands and took a good look at it.

“Well, isn’t it strange to win two tickets out of nowhere? We’ve never been to that place either,” she muttered, crumpling it in her hand.

“I don’t really care, we have to go to school anyway and honestly, I don’t think I’d want to go to a place like that,” I said.

“Why?” she raised her brows.

“Think about it, even if there are coed pools, I don’t want to risk running into other people and going there just to soak my ass in hot water all alone doesn’t sound that fun either. I’d rather dig a hole in our yard, fill it with water, and then heat it up,” I explained.

“That… actually makes sense,” she nodded.

“See? Now then, since we forgot to buy food yesterday and woke up this late, we should go and buy ingredients. It’s never too late to cook something delicious,” I said.

“Uh, don’t even mention it, I’m starving,” she grunted as she turned around and made her way to our room.

“Where are you going? The door is this way,” I remarked.

“Do you want me to go out like this?” she waved her hand, not even bothering to turn around.

“Never mind, go ahead…” I cleared my throat, realising that she wasn’t wearing anything under her nightgown. Well, her clothes wouldn’t be fit for going out even if she did. Feeling my little brother being filled up with blood, I covered my face in my shame.

I was so terrible!

“What’s the weather like?” she shouted from the room.

“The sun is shining, but it’s not too hot. I’d say it’s perfect!” I shouted back.

“I’m so stupid, I could have asked it this way,” she laughed in my mind.

“What? I also forgot about it,” I replied.

She returned a minute later, wearing a simple black legging which reached down to her knees and a thin light blue shirt. Walking up to me, she spun on her toes and asked, “Do you like it?”

Catching her hand in mid-air, I pulled her into my embrace and gave a small kiss on the ring I gave her. “You look beautiful as always,” I replied. Whenever I saw her ring, I was reminded of the day when I met her for the first time after years, followed by all those sudden events.

“Why are you chuckling?” she asked.

“Ah, I’m sorry, I was just thinking about the time you returned and we met in the corridor. It’s quite funny when I think back how quickly we turned into a couple,” I replied.

“Hahaha, yeah, that’s a good one. Honestly, it feels as if it’s been years ago for some reason,” she shook her head.

“Mhm, though we’ve been going out only for a bit over a month,” I nodded.

“Have we? I don’t remember going out with you, ever,” she smirked.

Raising a brow, I said, “True. You’re engaged to me.”

“See? That was my point,” she smiled at me.

“Good for me. Now let’s go,” I said as I pulled her out of the house and then left the yard. I was a diligent person, but going to school was such a huge waste of time for me that it hurt. At this point, even Lien was much stronger than the teachers and she was on par with noble clan leaders. Thankfully, our society wasn’t relying on the laws as much as in the past and exceptions could be made anywhere and everywhere.

“What should we eat? If you really want-”

“Wait a moment. I can’t say I like eating out that much, but how about we make an exception this time?” I interrupted her.

Before answering, she started sniffing the air, noticing the same smell I did. “Pizza?” she asked, followed by the growling of her stomach.

Smiling at her, I nodded my head, “A good hot pizza! How about buying the ingredients later?”

Licking her lips, she nodded her head and started pulling me towards the smell. She must have been really hungry. Both of us devoured a whole pizza by ourselves and then we left to buy the ingredients. Although it was convenient and I had the money, it wasn’t like me to waste money on things I could do myself. Of course, I was fine with ordering food and stuff like that from time to time.

There was a rather large and cheap store nearby, so we wouldn’t have to go far away even if we wanted to buy many things. On the way we bought some ice cream as well, though my libido regretted it soon after. She was cruel enough to look into my eyes when she slowly rolled her tongue around the ice cream and always made a satisfied face when she gulped it down. She intentionally licked the ice cream in a way that made my brain misinterpret what she was doing and made me remember… things.

“I see your punishment wasn’t enough last time,” I shook my head.

“Hmm~ What are you talking about? I’m just eating,” she mused. Just as she finished talking, a ‘sudden’ breeze which was caused by a ‘certain someone’ blew a small bit of her ice cream into her cleavage. Smiling at me, she asked if I wanted to eat it and then cleaned up with her finger.

Naturally, the wind was her doing. “Damn it, Lien! Stop provoking me,” I rolled my eyes.

“Hahaha, but it’s so much fun!” she laughed at me. Turning more serious, she asked, “By the way, have you decided what to do with Elena?”

“Hmm, this may sound like a dick move, but I decided to simply give her some compensation…” I muttered, feeling kind of bad about it.

Raising a brow, she asked, “How much?”

“Erm, one million? I’ll be honest with you, I simply can’t do anything about her. It was a huge mistake on my part to involve her in anything and I can’t even remove her memories after so much time passed. The effect of that spell was active only for a single day. Any more would have caused damage to her brain,” I explained myself.

“I don’t think I’d be able to think of something better either,” she sighed.

“At least, she doesn’t know about my commandment,” I remarked.

“Yeah, that’d make things much worse,” she nodded.

“When we’re done shopping, I should give her a visit. She should be in school,” I thought aloud.

“Let’s hurry up then. We also have some things to take care of in school. I want to graduate as soon as possible since it’d take too much of my time to attend school properly and I wouldn’t be able to practise what you taught me,” she said as she picked up her pace.

We finished shopping in about ten minutes and after dropping the stuff we bought in our house, we went to the arena since our class was having practical class. Upon entering the arena, most of our classmates stopped fighting and started observing us, which made me realise that we haven’t been to school ever since the trial ended. They must have been surprised by our results, especially because I made everyone think that I was an average student for three years.

Well, most of them probably didn’t even remember me, so my ‘appearance’ must have been even more surprising to them. I was sure there were malicious people who started spreading fake news about me and said that I became strong all thanks to Lien, but I didn’t really care about them. Only a few people’s opinion mattered to me, and the one whose was the most important was right beside me.

“Oh, what brings you two here?” Tim asked with a smile. Considering how he reacted, he must have gotten a large bonus since we skipped school for two days without saying anything. He was supposed to reprimand us.

“We’d like to talk about something, in private, if possible,” I replied. I was quite surprised to see Leo among our classmates. I thought he’d stop coming to school as well, but that didn’t seem to be the case. I couldn’t even remember whether he got a red star or not…

“What are you looking at? Stop lazing around and work hard!” Tim shouted at the others and then pointed towards one of the exits, “Let’s go.”

Once we reached the door, he stopped in front of us and turned around, “We’re far enough from them, so go ahead.”

I erected a sound-proof barrier so we were really safe, though he didn’t even notice.

“We’d like to graduate, but we don’t want to go to university. Is that possible?” I asked.

“Well, the red star supposedly granted you the rights for both, so there shouldn’t be a problem with it, but I’ll have to ask the principal,” he frowned.

“We could ask him as well, if you don’t have the time,” Lien remarked.

“No, no, it’s fine. But are you sure about this? You won’t be able to take part in the tournament if you graduate now,” he added, visibly unhappy with it.

“To be honest, I don’t really care about that tournament at this point and attending school would take too much of my time. I could spend it learning new spells and battling real monsters. They grant me much more experience than these limited battles where I have to restrain myself. And before you say anything, I know that it’s a good thing to learn how to fight even if I can’t go all out, but I can do that against monsters as well,” Lien started bombarding him with all kinds of reasons.

“You may say that, but it’d do wonders for our school if you two could participate. I’ve also heard that you’ve got a lot of challengers, Seth,” he replied.

“How do you know about it?” I frowned.

“How? Hahaha, everyone knows about it. The nobles are starting to become restless since you didn’t even reply to their challenges. The only reason you haven’t been attacked yet is that the White clan invited you. If they attacked you and it turned out that you joined the strongest clan in the two countries… I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what’d happen,” he said.

Tilting my head to the side, I realised this whole invitation was to force me into joining the White clan. From their point of view, my only way to escape a bad end would be to join them since then the other clans would cancel their challenges.

“Hmm- how about you tell the principal this. Lien and I won’t have to attend school and we’ll be granted special rights to learn on our own. In turn, we won’t graduate before the four years are up and we’ll also take part in these stupid tournaments. And this year, I’ll take care of all of my challengers during the tournament of schools. How does that sound?” I asked.

Pondering about it for a moment, a huge grin formed on his face as he replied, “That’s wonderful!”

Aye, that bonus must have been a lot of money! I knew I just had to attack his weak point~

By doing this, we’d be free to go wherever we wanted and in turn, the school would also receive the benefits. It would also give me a way out of this mess and help me in getting rid of all of my problems!

“Let me talk to the principal, I’ll be back shortly,” he smiled at us and then turned around to leave.

“Nice!” Lien praised me.

“Praise me more.”

“Nah, I’m afraid your head would fly away if I did that,” she shook her head.

“Oh, come on, you know I was just joking,” I rolled my eyes.

“And so you do,” she laughed.

Tim returned about ten minutes later and told us that given our performance during the trial, we may leave the school to take part in ‘special training’, which was what we wanted. There was a small pitfall, though. If we didn’t place in the top five during the tournament, we’d have to repeat year and we wouldn’t be allowed to leave school for ‘special training’ either. Actually, Lien would be able to rank in the top four even if Leo and Mary took part in the tournament, even now, so that condition was easy to fulfill. It was a fair trade and I had a few months to prepare her, just in case there was a black horse hiding among the students.

“Could you tell Elena to come here for a moment?” I asked Tim when he was about to go back to the class.

“I’ll tell her,” he nodded before leaving.

“Haah- I remember the time when I was an average student. He wasn’t this nice to me. Isn’t it amazing how people change if you’re useful to them?” I sighed, shaking my head.

“Are you still surprised by something like that?” Lien raised a brow.

“Nah, I’m just always amazed by the change,” I replied.

“I’ve seen a guy turn into an entirely different person a few years ago, he was worse than a monster. This change is nothing compared to him and the few others I’ve experienced,” she frowned.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I put my hand around her waist and started caressing her back.

“Nah, it wasn’t traumatising and he didn’t get to do anything thanks to father, but I’ll never forget how much people can change if they start desiring something or someone.”

“Oh? Please, tell me,” I said.

Sighing loudly, she said, “Well, it was a bit different than the other cases. That guy… he went nuts. Actually, it had nothing to do with my looks either. He was mostly avoided by others since he was a bit of a weirdo, though I didn’t care about any of that. One day I met him in a bakery where I supposedly ‘smiled’ at him, or so he said. His life went downhill from there since he imagined that I took a liking to him which turned into something like ‘we are meant for each other’ later.”

“He started following me around and stalking me and even sent me emails and letters that said that I was his. You’re telling me all the time that I’m yours but you have no idea how much your ‘possession’ differs from what I’ve experienced. I’m actually liking this possessive side of yours. As I see it, it’s more of a form of your love and your will to fight for me and our relationship, to keep things as they’re and make our connection even deeper.”

“But that guy wanted to control my whole existence, my thoughts, everything. One day he made a move on me when one of the nobles who bothered me was trying to make me his woman. At first, he wanted to push me down and rape me, but when that failed, he blamed it on the noble and then attacked him as well.”

“Since I was almost at home when this happened and I ran into my father as well, he knocked him out and that’s the end of the story.”

“Now I kind of want to find and punish that person, but that doesn’t seem to be necessary anymore,” I muttered.

“It isn’t since he was executed,” she replied.

“Ah, I understand everything now,” I nodded. Since he attacked a noble and he was only a commoner, the laws were naturally taken much more seriously… It wasn’t like I felt sorry for him, though the difference between social standing was a bit annoying.

“He was my first and last stalker. I hope I never meet a person like him again,” she muttered.

“Erm, I’m sorry for you.”

“Nah, don’t be, I’ve received enough sympathy in my life and it never helped me in anything,” she said with a frown.

“You know I wouldn’t make empty good wishes and show empathy to others either. I’d rather try to help the person if their problem bothered me enough to ‘say’ something. My point is that I meant it,” I remarked.

“I know and I appreciate it, but I can wipe my ass with empathy.”

“Hahaha, that’s fair enough,” I laughed.

“Don’t force it, dear. I know I can be hard to deal with sometimes, so just stay who you are,” she winked at me.

I could only roll my eyes and shake my head helplessly. I always thought that women were more empathetic, so sometimes I couldn’t help but try to look a bit more empathetic in front of Lien. I should have known that it was unnecessary in her case, she was different than most in every aspect.

Our conversation was soon interrupted by Elena. “Ah, so it was you two! What did you want from me? Are you going to teach me that thing you mentioned?” she asked with anticipation.

Covering my face, I couldn’t help but shake my head and sigh loudly, “I’m sorry about this, but there was a change of plans. I won’t need your help since I won’t start that business I mentioned and you’ll have to keep the things I told you a secret.”

“W-What are you talking about? I’ve cut all my ties with the Asuma clan!” she said with a trembling voice.

She seemed to be about to explode, so I quickly said, “I’m sorry about that, and that’s why I’d like to compensate you.”

“And how do you plan to do that? I’ve been thinking about contacting you since you didn’t tell me anything and two weeks passed since then. I’d be expecting my payment from the Asuma clan by now if you hadn’t talked to me. What am I going to do now?” she snarled at me, starting to look angrier and angrier.

She was about to open her mouth to complain more when I quickly cut in and asked, “Would one million dollar suffice as compensation?”

Closing her lips, she brushed her hair behind her ear and opened her mouth once again, only to close it again. She seemed to be dumbstruck. “This… this much money would be enough to feed my whole family for who knows how many years,” she muttered, her voice slightly trembling.

“I know this may be an ass move and that you may want to refuse it, but that’s my only way to make it up to you,” I said. I knew that my words were nothing but bullshit. She was just a regular citizen, living her life by working every day and expecting payment in return. This much money was more than enough to compensate her. The money we had would be enough to live an average life for hundreds of years, and neither of us was asking for more. We had more than enough supernatural things going on in the background, so an average life seemed like a nice dream for us.

“I accept!” she shouted in her excitement, her brain finally processing the information.

“Do you have a bank account?” I asked, raising my brows.

“Yes, of course,” she nodded, clenching her fists.

“Give me the necessary details and I’ll send you the money today.”

“Yes!” she cried out, almost jumping up. I wasn’t unhappy with this solution because I was afraid that she would refuse it or something like that. I was unhappy with it because by doing this, I did the same as rich nobles. I bought a way out of the mess I’ve made and it didn’t make me feel good. The only reason I still followed this path was that it’d help fixing Elena’s life and give her a way out of her poor life.

But there was one thing I’ve seen happen too many times to ignore. If she suddenly earned so much money, she’d probably lose her mind and destroy herself along with her family. Being a responsible person, I decided to make it a recurring transfer and she’d get one thousand and five hundred dollars every month, for fifty-five years. It would be similar to an above average salary, but she’d have to work if she wanted to have a life of leisure. Life insurances and pensions weren't a thing these days.

“Elena, there is one more thing. I’m telling this to you so that you won’t be disappointed, but you’ll get the money as a sort of salary. One thousand and five hundred dollars every month,” I added.

“Huh? But it’d take more than fifty years like that,” she cried out.

“Answer me, wouldn’t it be enough for you to live a good life if you got it every month?” I asked.

“Well, it’d be,” she nodded.

“I’m glad to see that we agree,” I smiled at her.

“Oh, well, I’m fine with that. I’ll just have to laze around and work at a bakery or something like that. If I save a bit, it’ll be enough to live the rest of my life without any trouble!” she started smiling more and more as she slowly realised the possibilities. She wasn’t stupid, but too few people had enough self-control to restrain themselves if they suddenly earned a lot of money. They’d buy ‘this’ and ‘that’ since ‘it wasn’t much’, until the horse suddenly ran away.

Having a lot was more dangerous than having a little of something. I was a living example of that. Maybe Lien thought that having this powerful mana was amazing and that inheriting all that knowledge was very lucky, but I could only disagree with that. Thanks to my powers, it was becoming harder and harder to control my own mana, even though I spent all my life trying to make my control better.

Inherited knowledge? Bullshit. I haven’t told her yet, but extracting all that knowledge was insanely hard and took me years, especially with physical and chemical magic. WORD magic wasn’t as simple as it sounded either. One had to know both physics and chemistry to use it and have perfect imagination and an incredible amount of mana which was incredibly powerful as well. There were no easy things in life, much less when it came to learning.

The inherited knowledge was like a library in my mind. It was there, but I had to read all the books and I had to learn them as well. The main reason I was confident in my power was a simple reason. Most people lacked ambition and driving force to learn and many of them simply hated it.

For one, I was sure that there were incarnations with even larger ‘libraries’ in their minds, but I was also sure that not everyone’s ‘library’ was as large as mine. Secondly, I was sure that most of them didn’t like learning and they probably never dived as deep into all that knowledge as they were supposed to. The same was present in every school. The knowledge and the chance to earn experience was in front of the students, yet many of them lazed around and almost failed.

Even if we were god incarnations, we were still humans. The reason I believed in Lien was also very simple. She was the same type of person as me, one who was hungry for knowledge. I understood it early on that in this world, power was worth more than anything else and I knew that if I wanted to be successful, I needed power. I liked being a bit idiotic since it made many things easier. And most importantly, it made people misunderstand me.

Even Leo thought that I was some stupid horny guy, but how could I be after spending so many years learning? I’ve been tracking his soul ever since the end of the trial and he visited Mary three times since then. Given that Mary’s commandment probably had to do with love or popularity and that we’ve mysteriously earned two tickets right after I awakened this Sylvanus guy, I was sure they wanted me out of the picture tomorrow.

It was only natural that I looked for Sylvanus’ soul when Cayn told me about him. My word magic had no shockwave, it was obviously me who generated that wind, and its sole target was Sylvanus. Based on my observations, Leo didn’t think much of me and he also seemed to be the kind of person who controlled everything from the dark. I only wasn’t sure if I should do as he planned or if I should get rid of Sylvanus myself. The fact that Leo never noticed that I was tracking his soul just meant that mine has become quite a bit stronger than his, and the same went for Sylvanus.

Khem, my ancestor was the god of reproduction, also called the maker of gods and men for a reason. He definitely wasn’t a simple lustful person, he just had his morals, like me.

“Seth?” Lien waved her hand in front of my eyes.

“Ah, sorry, I spaced out a little,” I apologised. If I was still my old self, I’d have kept this all to myself, but I trusted Lien and I wanted to share everything with her. The walls would never break down if it was only her who told me everything.

“Hmm, whatever. Let’s go home. We’ve got to cook something, a pizza won’t do for all day!” she dragged me out of the school. While on the way out of the arena, I couldn’t help but wonder about something. She has been eating more and more since she turned into my apostle, yet she wasn’t getting any fatter.

This was because manalus also had to be made from something. The law of nature implied that almost everything was a burning process. Our cells consumed the nutrients, ‘burnt it’, and produced energy and heat. The devices humankind invented also ‘burnt’ something and turned it into something else, be it electricity, sunlight, or anything else. Nature, wildlife, humankind, tools, everything was burning. Manalus was also created within our bodies by burning the food we ate.

The only question was, what was the first spark that started this infinite loop of burning and for how long would it burn before everything turned dark? Based on science alone, love would ‘burn’ only for four years and the reason there were so many exceptions was very simple. Who said that burning process couldn’t be reinvigorated and restarted? I’ve seen too many wonders to think that there were ‘impossible’ things. There were gods of wisdom, but I always wondered, were they the ones who ‘created’ that wisdom or were they just people who ‘stored’ all that knowledge?

If they just stored it, the knowledge would slowly deteriorate and expire like food. From generation to generation, it would become less and less. But if there were people who created wisdom, that knowledge would be enhanced with each cycle. Maybe love and bonds would also become stronger with each cycle.

I didn’t want to be the latter, the kind that just stored the knowledge my ancestor gathered, and that was what made a huge difference between me and the other incarnations. Maybe there were people like me who didn’t just accept and learn that knowledge, they also used it to learn more, though I had yet to meet one. I believed that the fact that the other incarnations cared only about my commandment proved my thought line. It wasn’t my commandment which made a difference and the initial knowledge I started out with. It was my mindset.

And what I loved a lot in Lien was that she had the exact same mindset, just in an earlier phase. With my help, I was sure that she’d overcome all these lazy incarnations, who were satisfied with what they inherited. Hell, they were probably happy just learning what they inherited, but I wasn’t.

I told about these thoughts to Lien while cooking, which seemed to shock her so much that her hands actually stopped working as she listened to me. In the end, it was mostly me who did the cooking, but I was fine with that. The fact that she seemed to realise something was a good enough reason for me to do it alone, and she was nearby anyway. That was all that mattered to me.

“Guh, do you know what this implies?” she clenched her fists as she looked into my eyes and started jumping in place.

“I don’t know what could excite you so much about this,” I laughed.

“If I catch up to you in knowledge, we’ll be able to work together on this ‘reinvigorating of burning process’. That’s what I meant!” she replied.

Ah, right, her main dream was to work together with me and create spells. Researching something like that would surely make her happy.

Smiling at her, I nodded, “Mhm, work hard. I’ll guide you to the best of my abilities and make you better than any of the gods with inheritance.”

Stepping closer, she grabbed my shirt and asked, “Even better than you?”

“Heeh~ honey, you should have been born a hundred years before me,” I smirked.

“Oooh? Should I take that as a challenge?” she let go of my shirt and started flattening the wrinkles with her hand. Gently pushing her hand away, I pressed my lips against her. She was the sweetest person in the world to me.

Slowly separating, her eyes seemed to be burning in flames as she said, “Let’s eat and then go to your parents’ house. My father probably can’t wait to see me and we should appoint a time for our marriage as well.”

“Mhm,” I nodded to everything she said.

I hoped I could make her the strongest woman in the world.

She had the talent for it.