“Oh my, you’ve reached Apprentice mastery in Darkness already?”
The woman smiled in delight.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” she said.
She snapped her fingers.
Suddenly, Neo felt as if a hand holding his head disappeared.
His thoughts were his own again.
The woman descended down the staircase and stood in front of him.
“I’m Paimon le Noir, former Grand Duke, pleased to make your acquaintance.”
She curtsied.
Neo felt compelled to answer.
“Neo Hargraves.”
“Just Hargraves?”
She gasped only to realize her gesture was rude.
“Pardon my surprise. It is my first time meeting a kin of his who has yet to go through ennoblement.
“This must be why Barbatos came to find me.”
Neo didn’t understand the current situation.
His mind told him to run away.
But his senses were calm.
They told him there was no danger.
Either the woman had no intention of harming him.
Or.
She was too strong for him to even think of escaping.
‘What is this trial?’
The woman snapped out of her thoughts and faced him.
“Oh my, look at me. I haven’t even asked you for a tea.
“Please follow me.”
She walked towards the garden.
When Neo didn’t follow her, she showed him a small flag post.
“I will give this to you if you listen to my words.”
“…”
Neo followed her.
The two stepped out of the mansion and entered the garden.
It took them a few minutes to reach the tea house.
“Please sit.”
She pulled a chair for him and began preparing a tea.
“What are you?” He asked as sat. “You feel… same as Barbatos.”
“We do?
“We’ve might’ve inherited the Monarch’s blood, but it doesn’t belong to us, so we never noticed we ‘felt’ same.”
Paimon poured him the tea.
“Inherited the blood… You are a Grim Reaper too?”
“Was.”
She sat in front of him and drank from her cup.
“How old are you?” she asked.
“First year in Demigod Academy.”
“You are quite young. What about family? Do you have siblings?”
“Brother, yes, an older one.”
“That’s a surprise. There are two descendants of the Monarch in a single era. It’s a good news.”
“I wouldn’t say that. My brother couldn’t awaken his God Blood.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. He must’ve been devastated.”
“It’s the opposite. We didn’t know we had the blood of Monarch until I awakened. I haven’t told him about it either.”
“Why?”
“Didn’t have the time to tell him.”
The two talked over the tea like old friends.
Paimon asked questions and Neo answered.
It looked like she just wanted to talk to him.
It was peaceful.
…and it made Neo suspicious.
“There is no need to be cautious. I only wanted a conversation partner,” she said as if she read his mind.
“Aren’t you the former Grand Duke? There is should be no shortage of people who want to talk to you.”
Paimon placed her empty tea cup on the table.
She looked him in the eye.
“You could say I lost the interest in anything and everything.
“The reason I wanted to talk to you was to see if a descendent of Monarch could rouse my interest.”
Neo frowned.
Suddenly, Paimon slashed with her arm.
A scythe came out of her sleeves and the blade stopped just before Neo’s eyes.
Neo wasn’t afraid.
Even though he should’ve been.
He stared at the tip of the scythe calmly.
“I’m the same as you.
“My emotions have been numbed.
“I gained immense power as I walked on the path of Darkness.
“But I can’t feel anything anymore,” she said.
Paimon retracted her arm after the scythe disappeared.
She took out the flag post.
“This is your third trial. Teach me about Emotions.”
“…?”
Neo looked at her, unable to understand the nuisance behind her words.
“How far you can walk on the path of Darkness is measured by your emotions.
“The more emotions you can sacrifice, the higher your progress.
“But sacrifice everything, and you’ll reach your limit, never to progress on the path again.
“I’ve lost them all.
“So,
“Teach me about what I can’t remember.”
“…”
It was a difficult trial.
The second trial was nothing compared to it.
Last time, he knew what he had to do.
But now?
He had no idea.
“Barbatos has made this trial for you.
“Teaching me will have you teach yourself about the emotions too.
“If you succeed, you won’t fall to the numbness of Darkness in the future.”
Neo massaged his head.
Fuck.
Paimon chuckled when she saw his expression.
“You should return to the world of living. It should be time for your academy to begin.
“Worry not, we have plenty of time.”
Time…
Neo expression worsened.
The time limit would begin when he returned to the other side.
“Okay.”
Neo stood up and used Immortal to leave.
He wanted to refresh his mind and try to come up with a solution.
The world shifted.
Neo woke up in his room.
The sunlight peeking through the window made him squint.
He waited for the Quest timer to appear.
But…
“Huh?
“Where is it?”
It never came.
Just then, he heard a voice.
“It’s been a while since I came to the world of living.”
A small skeleton doll, the size of Neo’s palm, wearing a cute dress, jumped down from his head.
It landed on the table and looked at him with his burning black eyes.
“Paimon…?”
“Indeed, it is I, Paimon, in bones.”
She chuckled.
Neo sank back into the sofa.
A sigh of relief escaped his lips.
‘This is why the timer didn’t appear.’
‘I haven’t left the Quest area as Paimon came with me.’
‘The Quest is going on even though I’ve returned to this side.’
It was one less thing to worry about.
However, he still had to think of a way to teach Paimon about emotions.
“You should freshen up, no? The classes should be starting soon.”
Neo nodded.
He had a lot of things to do in the world of living.
Finding the fifth team member, completing the team registration, learning about Magic Spells, and complete missions.
The worst?
He had a Barbatos’ training too.
“Why are you smiling?” Paimon questioned.
“Nothing, I’m just happy.”
Everything he did was for his future.
How could he not be happy?