It wouldn’t take long for the trio to reach Aurora with their current speed. Actually, they could have reached faster if Damien just warped them there, but since their current conversation was important, they opted to just fly Zara’s back.
Rose gave Damien a proper explanation of not only her father’s personality but also her own past.
Damien listened intently, and after hearing the story of what happened to her mother, he doubted whether he could actually deal with multiple women or not. Since they had time right now, Damien decided to have this conversation with Rose as well as solidify their relationship.
After their second kiss, they had basically already gotten together, but they never said anything to confirm it. The first confirmation was the matter Rose said about her father.
And the conversation wasn’t really anything special. With how they had both already known each other’s feelings for a long time, it ended as soon as it began. Its only purpose was to serve as verbal confirmation.
While Damien was hesitating about how to bring up the other issue, Rose did it for him.
“Also, I don’t mind if you have multiple women in the future. I know my mother died in the schemes that come from a large harem, so I’ll make sure to limit yours so it doesn’t get out of hand.”
While Damien was staring at her with his eyes and mouth wide, Rose continued with a grin.
“I’ll always be the first wife anyway. Plus, I already know you like that girl you told me about from earth. But don’t expect me to just silently watch you get with her.”
Damien didn’t have any words, silently nodding to show his agreement before he began absentmindedly staring at nothing. It took a few hours for him to calm down, but he finally remembered that he had to check his status.
‘Status’
[Status]
[Damien Void]
Half-Human/Half-Beast
Male – Age 20
Level 100 – [Celestial]
Experience value: 0/150,000
Title(s): [•••••••, Bearer of the Void Physique, Evolver]
Affinities: Space, ???, ???
Physique: Void Physique
Magic Power: 18000
STR: 375
AGI: 380
DEF: 370
INT: 400
DEX: 380
Skills: [Warp Level 10], [Dimensional Magic Level 1], [High-Level Regeneration Level Max], [Void Sword Art Level 3], [Mana Sense Level Max], [Devour Level 5], [Vector Control Level 8], [Lightning Magic Level Max], [Inventory]
Trait(s): [Shock Absorption], [All-Seeing Eyes Level 4], [Dragon’s Breath], [Ananta Matrix]
Damien didn’t really understand what was going on in his status window. The stat boost he received could be explained by the baptism of starlight he received, but his affinities section was incomprehensible.
Trying to send his senses into that area of his body where he figured his affinities were located, he felt much more there than his spatial affinity.
For one, his lightning wasn’t actually gone. He could still feel it and he could still wield lightning attribute power. However, he felt that something had changed about it. No, it was like his lightning attribute had become a part of something greater.
Although it wasn’t an explanation for the question marks that replaced it, at least he had some sort of lead on what happened. It was the second set of question marks that left him baffled.
The energy he associated with this question mark seemed to not exist at all, but he could still feel it within him. It felt familiar, but he was sure he’d never come in touch with it before.
This wasn’t something he could understand in a short amount of time. He instinctively knew that he would have to take a long period of gathering insights to understand what the new affinity was.
While he was ruminating over the changes in his status, the trio had finally arrived at Aurora. Seeing the bustling capital city again reminded Damien of when he had first arrived in this world and become an adventurer.
The difference between those two times was immense though. The short year and a half he had spent on Apeiron was filled with action. Last time, he could only cover at most half of the massive city with his awareness, but now the entire city was clearly portrayed before him with ease.
He felt that if he wanted, he could destroy even half of this city if he tried hard enough, though he had no reason to do so.
Reaching the city entrance, Zara landed on the ground and shrunk. With Rose already disguised before they even left the secret realm, the trio simply walked into the city like any normal group of people.
The meeting with the emperor would be a pretty serious event, and neither of them knew what its outcome would be, so they decided to spend some time enjoying the city before they went to the palace.
They walked around peacefully and enjoyed the sights, having a miniature date as the sun began to set. When night fell, the trio went to Damien’s old house and stayed there. He had never sold it when he left since he felt it was useful to have, so it was still in its regular condition.
Damien went to his old room and took a quick shower before hopping into bed. ‘Tomorrow is going to be a long day. Not just that, but I get the feeling that there is going to be a lot of long days in the future.’
‘My return is to earth is imminent. I can already feel that if I wanted, I could warp there right now. Though, warp doesn’t seem like the right word.’
Damien felt that there was a subtle change in his warp skill. When he was teleporting to places within a normal distance limit, it’d stay the same, but if he wanted to go longer distances, he felt that his entrance would be much more extravagant.
This was another reason why he chose not to warp to the capital. He knew that his dimensional magic take some time to get used to. Even if he didn’t learn anything new, he at least had to understand the changes to his current move set.
Damien lay on the bed, relaxing as he thought through his future plans when he noticed his room door open. Realizing the situation, he got the urge to sigh, but he simply closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.
Rose didn’t know what she was doing or why she was doing it, but everything in her body screamed for her to enter Damien’s room tonight. It wasn’t even her eyes that did this, maybe it was just her emotions overwhelming her.
Rose was wearing nothing but a lacy nightdress, making this venture even more risqué than it previously would have been, but she hardened her will and powered through.
Silently entering the room, Rose climbed into bed with Damien, attempting to gauge his reaction, but she was saddened when there wasn’t any.
Just as she thought to silently escape the room, she felt a strong pull and fell back to the bed.
“Don’t be so hasty to leave. So why did our little princess decide to enter a single man’s room in the middle of the night, hmm?” Damien teased in a low voice.
Rose immediately blushed when her actions were called out. Even she herself was confused, so how could she explain it to him?
But Damien was pretty clear on the reason. After all, it was a pretty normal thing. He brought her close and let her lay down on his chest.
“Listen, I know you’re nervous that I have to go meet your dad tomorrow, but there’s no need for drastic actions. Didn’t we already solidify our relationship on the way here? Even if he doesn’t accept, I’ll do everything I can to make him change his mind.”
Rose slightly calmed down as she listened to Damien’s steady heartbeat and soothing words. Indeed, she was extremely nervous about letting Damien meet with her dad.
Besides the fact that her dad was already strict about her relationships, he didn’t even know Damien’s background. She figured that he would immediately condemn their relationship. So, she came here to give Damien something that couldn’t be taken back.
If their relationship had progressed to that level, the emperor would be more forced to accept them, but Damien didn’t want to take her in this way. He had never fancied himself a romantic, but he kept taking actions that indicated otherwise.
Maybe it was more due to the fact that he wanted to take their relationship slow, but that didn’t change the fact that these small actions of consideration made Rose fall deeper for him with every passing day.
It had only been a year since they had been consistently interacting, so it wasn’t clear whether the emotion was love quite yet, but it was infinitely close to reaching that point.
As she lay in the peaceful atmosphere with Damien lightly stroking her back, Rose ended up falling asleep. Her worries had been lifted enough to allow her to do so.
Damien stayed up for a bit longer, deep in thought about various matters, but he soon followed. The duo slept peacefully until the next morning when it was finally time for the fateful meeting.