“Aw, you don’t have to be shy, Void Master, let this noble lady give you a welcome kiss!” Lumi, who transformed into her true form, pressed down on Kyra while trying to remove his hands on her head.
“Ack! Lady Lumi!” Silas exclaimed both in shock and embarrassment.
He wanted to pull her back but seeing her true form made him remember the trauma he experienced in his childhood.
“No, thanks!” Kyran replied while pushing the woman’s face away from him.
“Hm?” Lumi’s beautiful face suddenly frowned when she smelled a faint metallic scent.
She stared at Kyran for a few seconds before looking at his body with a look of distress.
“You’re wounded!” She gasped, releasing her hold on Kyran’s hand and immediately groped his body.
“Oi! Where are you touching?” Kyran shouted as he released his hold on her head to grab her wrists.
Lumi sneered and looked at Kyran’s face.
“Naive!” She exclaimed and immediately leaned forward to attempt another kiss.
Because Kyran was distracted, his reaction was a second late.
But.
“Oomph!”
Lumi’s movements froze within a couple of inches away from Kyran’s face.
The air crackled as a huge clock hovered above the room.
Malek, Noir, Vaness, Sigma, Emery, and Silas all had black lines on their heads as their movements also stopped. From the corner of their eyes, they stole a glance at the other woman whose magic pressure rose at a scary level.
“Lumi… What do you think you’re doing?” Stella asked in an obviously restrained manner.
Lumi snickered at the undisguised jealousy coming from Stella.
“Oh, do you want to have a go first, Time Keeper?”
“Wha-!”
Stella blushed at Lumi’s words which made her magic fluctuate and instantly break.
Kyran’s brow twitched.
“I don’t mind! Seriously you and your namesake are truly loyal!”
Lumi’s casual remark made all of them pause.
What did she mean?
“But it’s not like you haven’t done so before~. There’s no harm in letting me go first, right?” Lumi added.
“No!”
Stella and Silas both rejected.
Kyran, on the other hand, could only sigh.
He looked at the woman in front of him and said, “Can you get off? I know you’re not serious, so don’t provoke her, and… Who the hell are you?”
He was not trying to downplay what just happened. This woman in front of him might have spouted things that implied Stella had special feelings for him, but there was no sincerity in her voice.
Besides, Kyran knew Stella did not see him that way.
After learning about the magic cores, he vaguely understood that the memories of previous Time Keepers might have influenced Stella’s actions and feelings. It might even be directed to his predecessor and not him.
Kyran knew he was not a man that a woman as beautiful and capable as Stella would fall for. His looks were average, and he had not even accomplished anything in his life. A certain double-faced girl made that clear to him when he was still at military school.
“Oh? So cool~ Void Master. You’re not showing a reaction when a beautiful woman such as my noble self is sitting wantonly on top of you.”
“Lumi!”
“Lady Lumi!”
Stella and Silas’s faces flushed in embarrassment at Lumi’s vulgarity.
Even Noir and Vaness could not help but clear their throats.
Sigma clenched his fist and glared enviously at Kyran.
“Agh. Lucky bastard,” he muttered, in which Emery gave him a disproving look.
“Pervert.”
On the other hand, Malek only had a deadpan expression. No one knew what he was thinking.
Kyran only raised his brows at Lumi.
Lumi smiled.
As Kyran said, she was not 100% serious. Her excitement to see the new Void Master was real, but as a Spirit, her playful side appeared when she saw him.
The Void Master’s presence always drew such a reaction from them.
Besides, after knowing that the new Time Keeper had the same name as the first Time Keeper, Lumi had wanted to play a little prank. She had heard of the first Time Keeper’s relationship with the previous Void Master, and she could not resist the temptation to tease them.
Too bad the new Void Master had a different temperament from his predecessor.
Lumi was not disappointed, though. Kyran’s indifference meant no one could manipulate him easily.
‘And that is good enough,’ Lumi thought as she closed her eyes. ‘This means the previous Void Master has succeeded.’
With a loud puff, Lumi turned into her cute form and patted Kyran’s head.
“Nice to meet you, new Void Master. I am Lumi, from the noble Ice Spirits.”
The sudden change in Lumi’s temperament left most of them dumbfounded.
Noir, Vaness, and Emery also felt awed by the fact that they could see a Spirit.
Sigma, however, felt a cold shiver run up his spine. He hoped the Ice Spirit did not hear his early remark. He did not want to end up getting cursed by a Spirit!
Malek, though, remained unperturbed. After all, he already knew about Silas and his Spirit.
After hearing Lumi’s introduction, Kyran could not help but look at her in surprise.
‘Spirit?’
After hearing from Nolan that his mother was a summoner type, Kyran looked for information about Spirits when he was at Stella’s study. He now understood why she acted in this way.
Spirits were willful creatures. They were born with specific elemental affinity, and their magic level was not measured the same way as humans. There was even an analysis that once a Spirit became an adult, their magic level would be on par with a human mage’s Magus level. Of course, that was if they were in their own plane. If they appeared on the human plane, their magic level was restricted and would depend on their contracted mage’s level.
Although this Ice Spirit did not appear to be strong, the fact that she could appear in her true form meant she was a powerful Ice Spirit. And to maintain her true form, it meant her contracted mage would also be a powerful one.
Kyran turned his attention to the man with long silver hair and blue eyes. Since the man was the only one he had not met, he guessed that the man was the Spirit’s contracted mage.
Lumi’s expression turned sour as if reading Kyran’s mind when he looked at Silas.
She immediately said, “I am a free spirit, and I don’t know that stupid-looking man. He is not related to me in any way!”
Silas’s brow twitched as the dark lines on his head turned darker, “L-Lady Lumi. Will it kill you for being nice to me?”
Lumi glared at him.
“You’re just Silas. Why should I lower myself and be nice to you?”
‘She said she didn’t know him, but she said his name,’ Kyran thought in amusement.
With a slight shake of his head, Kyran stood up.
This little interlude had already taken a lot of his time. He did not expect to see so many people in his ‘room’.
“Lumi, it seems you already know who I am, but I’m sorry. I still have a lot to do, so I can’t stay and chat,” Kyran told her.
Honestly, he was curious why this Ice Spirit looked excited upon seeing him. From the way she spoke earlier, it seemed she was familiar with his predecessor as well.
Kyran was very interested in that. Unfortunately, he could not stay and chat.
Lumi flew and sat on Kyran’s shoulder.
“Ack-!” Silas reacted but immediately closed his mouth after seeing that Kyran did not mind Lumi’s action.
“That’s alright~. I heard from the Time Keeper that you are currently on an errand. Let’s talk when you’re done~.”
Upon hearing Lumi’s words, Stella immediately re-composed herself and faced Kyran.
“I’ve brought them along because Lumi wanted to meet you. I hope you don’t mind,” she said.
Kyran looked at Stella and shook his head.
“I don’t mind, but as I said, I can’t stay. I’m already behind schedule,” Kyran replied.
“Did something happen?” Stella asked in concern. She then recalled Lumi’s words about him being injured. “That’s right, Lumi said you’re injured-.”
“It’s nothing serious. I’ve already taken a potion,” Kyran replied nonchalantly.
However, Stella paled at his reply because she knew Kyran’s natural healing abilities. If it was nothing serious, why would he take a potion?
Lumi saw Stella’s reaction and chuckled. It seemed she had found a new game to pass the time.
Kyran turned his attention to the council members.
He initially wanted to ask why they were all here but thought it might prompt an unnecessary discussion, so he decided to get straight to the point.
Kyran tapped his pouch and took out three huge containers. These containers appeared in the space to their left.
“I drained their blood and removed the internal organs to preserve them better,” Kyran explained as he walked over to the containers.
“The internal organs are in here,” he said and tapped on the container with a green lid. “And the rest are in the blue one.”
He then looked at the container with the red lid.
“I don’t have to say where the blood is, right?”
“Cheeky,” Sigma snorted.
Kyran looked at him but only gave a faint smile.
Noir and Vaness also walked over to the containers and examined the content.
“This…” Vaness was surprised. The body of the three Theihorns had been preserved well.
When Kyran proposed to hunt the Theihorns by himself, all of them were prepared to receive a not so intact body of Theihorns. Seeing the Theihorns now, Vaness was really impressed.
Noir also nodded in appreciation.
“Well done. All of the important parts are intact,” Noir praised.
Sigma looked at Kyran.
“You seemed to have taken your time in hunting them,” he chided.
Kyran shook his head and looked at the containers.
“Not really. I came across a few last night and dealt with them at once. But before the last one died, it called for reinforcements.”
“Reinforcements? Then your injuries?” Stella asked again in concern.
The rest also looked at him, waiting for his explanation.
Even Lumi, who remained on his shoulder, touched his cheeks with her cute chubby hands.
Kyran’s brow creased. He did not want to go into details of what happened. But seeing how all of them were waiting for him to continue, he relented.
He briefly explained his encounter with the Theihorns but did not mention the mutated Basilisk nor his meeting with Cyneah.
