Rather,


    Alvine was alone in the meeting room of his castle after asking Assia to go and tell Sabrina and the others to join him for a meeting.


    After a second, he instantly teleported into the shadow dimension.


    Arriving at his destination, he closed his eyes to feel the presence of all his shadow soldiers. After a minute of intensive concentration, he suddenly opened his eyes with sweaty beads on his forehead. "I found you." He murmured to himself with a mischievous smile.


    *Dalvine, are youing, or do you want me to move in person to join you? *


    After saying these words to Dalvine''s attention, thetter instantly appeared in front of him.


    "Kuku~, I didn''t know you missed me so much. I expected to be contacted in a few centuries." Unlikest time, he wears a medieval ck coat and a sword hanging on his waist.


    Seeing him, Alvine frowns.


    Unlike before, his appearance had nothing to do with Alvine''s; he had long ck hair, resembling an 18-year-old teenager, and measured about 180cm, unlike Alvine, who was currently 190cm tall. But even if his appearance was different from Alvine''s, it was the first time that Alvine could see someone so handsome as him!


    "Is this your real appearance?" Alvine asked, raising his eyebrows.


    "My appearance? Ah~, it doesn''t matter to me; I can take the appearance thates to mind as long as it’s adapted to the situation." He gave this answer by leaning on the wall next door.


    "Forget what I just said. I''d like to have a conversation with you. But we don''t have much time for that. Do you know a suitable ce to allow us more time at our disposal?"


    Following Alvine''s words, a magic shield instantly enveloped them. Instead of answering Alvine''s question, Dalvine preferred to act first. "Take as much time as you want; as long as we are in this shield, the concept of time will no longer affect us." He gave this exnation to Alvine afterpleting the task.


    "...Very well; instead of speaking with words, everything would be clear to you after viewing." After a short moment of surprise, Alvine regained his usual expression.


    "Hmm? What do you want...


    Dalvine stopped in his sentence when he saw Alvine''s eyes turned to the red gas, like his own, while he shared his memories with him.


    Unlike the others, he had no barrier between him and Dalvine. It was as if he shared his memories with one of his clones when he sent them on a mission.


    After a brief moment, Alvine finished the process. "You know everything now."


    Alvine had not only shared the information about the key but also about the information he had learned while watching the meeting that was taking ce between his clone and the leaders.


    Dalvine remained silent for a long time. If he had not reassured Alvine that time did not affect them, thistter would not give him so much time.


    "From your expression, I can guess you invoked me here for information. Am I wrong?" These were the first question Dalvine asked him after his long silence.


    Alvine- "..."


    He then scraped his throat when he saw Alvine''s silence. "Kuku~, it''s interesting. I’d give you what you want, but only on one condition."


    -Frown


    "Which one?" Alvine looked at him with suspicious eyes.


    "Ahh~, no need to be so suspicious; it''s not like it''s our first market. In short, I want you to let this man, Randolph, capture your clone."


    "..! And why would I do that? I have no intention of letting this bastard conduct experiments on my clone. I called you here to tell me more about this key, to find out if it''s a bait to lure me and attract me to earth. Secondly, I want to know if what Randolph just said is true or false." Alvine instantly gave a categorical refusal while giving his reasons.


    Dalvine shrugs nonchntly. "All I can tell you is that the key I saw in this girl''s memories by you is real. But I can''t say whether or not it''s a trap. After all, this girl''s memories date from before her reincarnation. And as for yourst question, I can''t say anything as long as I don''t go in person to conduct my own investigation."<novelnext></novelnext>


    Alvine: "What do you mean by that?"


    "What do I mean? It''s easy to understand. I don''t want your artificial soul but your clone. I''d temporarily rece him to conduct an investigation. And about memory reading, when your clone looked at this girl''s memories using his shadow skills, he also unlocked her memories before her reincarnation. Recently, I learned a lot of fun things about these primordial beings, one of which is their means of transaction. As they are not interested in wealth such as gold and silver, they transact with souls, artifacts, and so on!"


    "What?!" Alvine could not hide his surprise following this revtion from Dalvine.


    "Don''t be so surprised; if you don''t believe me, you can also ask the little girl with silver-white hair. I was not interested in this insignificant detail, which limited my information. But you will be able to see the evidence after using the same skill of your clone on this girl; I''m sure you''ll learn more details. But if you push her too much, Kuku~, she''ll be one of the ingredients for your shadow soldiers." Dalvine gave this nonchnt answer after noticing Alvine''s mistrust, who did not seem to believe him.


    "Sigh, very good. But why do you want to meet this man so much? I thought your target was Garyth. Why this sudden change of ns?"


    "Kukuku~ you’ll know when the timees. Anyway, would you ept my proposal, yes or no? We no longer have much time ahead of us. If you ept my proposal, I’ll also investigate the key and integrity of this information about us." At that moment, Dalvine was like a demon trying to lure Alvine; this feeling was all the more persistent for anyone just seeing his vicious smile.


    But on the other hand, Alvine, who was used to seeing this sinister smile on his lips, didn''t care. "Very well, my conditions are, as usual, do not interfere with my loved ones, not to mention trying to hurt them. Apart from that, you have carte nche, as long as you don''t forget to fill your market share." He dered with unprecedented nonchnce.


    "Kuku~, then it''s deal or not?."


    "...Yeah, it''s a deal."


    Following this, Alvine ended his interview with Dalvine and returned to the meeting room as if nothing had happened, leaving the paperwork for Dalvine.


    The smile on thetter''s lips fades after Alvine''s departure. "Well, it''s going to be embarrassing from now on. And I, who thought I had a lot of time ahead of me? I was naive. Sigh, It''s obvious that the real enemies have begun to make their appearances. The lord must do fast if he does not want to die, not to mention his little guards; even I could not guarantee his protection against such bastards." He said to Himself, looking at the little mirror that showed Alvine''s clone with the leaders.


    "Kuku~, I have no choice but to speed up my ns." After these words, it instantly disappeared into the dimension, followed by the clone''s appearance at its original location.


    "What...why am I here?" The clone wondered with confused eyes.


    At the same time, Luna appeared behind him.


    —


    "What are you saying?!" Alvine asked Sabrina, who had just appeared with Lilliana, Sylvia, No, and Assiaphir.


    "Yes, we have no choice but to meet them...if we don''t want such nonsense to circte about you. Otherwise, we’ll have more enemies to manage at once." Sylvia continued Sabrina''s words.


    Hearing the words and seeing the seriousness in their eyes, Alvine sat on his meeting room’s throne in a thoughtful mood. ''Well, the situation is bing more and more uncontroble. First, the leaders, and now... the Punishers. Who spreads such rumors? Sigh, and the most frustrating thing is to learn that they believe in such absurdities as kids.'' Alvine hadplex emotions, knowing that, for the first time, the situation surpassed him.


    Sabrina has just announced that he had to go to the of the Punishers with her to meet the other Punishers who will be able to help them to deal with the cases of the other leaders who are involved in the war between Alvine and King Barve.


    But except that this news is not only good news but also as packaging to hide the real problem of the Punishers and Leaders’ greed towards him.


    ''I had never expected to face the same problems my clone had with the leaders. I understand that it''s something irresistible, but I can''t figure out why I suddenly became famous with them. Sigh, it''s bad, I''m not even a divine magus, so I don''t have the slightest chance of fighting against beings. Ah shit~, I’d never have thought that I would feel this new feeling once again.'' He said to Himself while clenching his fist.


    "All right, we’ll go to their meetings. It''s better to start with something anyway." He said with a bitter smile.


    "Master, even if we had known them as brothers in arms, you must pay attention to yourself. Greed can sometimes lead people tomit all kinds of atrocities." Sabrina made this reminder by seeing Alvine make his decision.


    "... I understand the nature of this world is mistrust. When two sides havemon interests, they be allies, but otherwise, they’ll be enemies." He replied with an ironic smile.


    ___


    "We all know this girl; she is the daughter of one of the enemies who caused us more problems. But even if others cannot know her, at a simple nce, I can see that she is not a divine mage but a primordial magus who has not yet stabilized her primordial realm. That''s not all; there is also the case of Sylvia, who had incurable injuries following her attempt to absorb the mysterious energy of our deceased leader. But strangely, she regained her powers as if nothing had happened; all these strange events only force us to believe in these false rumors, as you im." Ferda replied by looking at Assiaphir with a sadistic smile.


    ".!."