“Let’s see… I think it was around here,” Evelyn muttered to herself whilst ambling in the Nymphs’ town. She spent a few minutes searching for what she had seen earlier and her eyes finally landed on a certain shop built around and within one of the trees of the village.

She promptly floated up to it, making sure to not get too far from the ground, and landed outside the shop. She curiously stepped inside after checking the front banner again and looked around at the empty hall. She mused and leaned over a few displaying shelves.

“I knew it…” She mumbled and carefully used a finger to prod a leaf of one of the many plants that were being displayed there. There was a nametag below that read ‘Meragore’. She stepped back from it and inspected a few others.

‘These are all alchemy ingredients,’ she thought. ‘I never had the time to properly study the secrets of the Jill family… but it wouldn’t hurt to start now,’ she contemplated and glanced at the T.9 spatial ring she was wearing. She had gone back to her house after Flavia had helped her get it and filled it with every research material that belonged to both her parents and the Jill.

‘Anything to help Rakna…’

“Hm? Are you interested in buying something, young miss?” An elderly voice jolted her out of her thoughts. She turned around startled and gazed into the eyes of a tall old woman wearing a purple and white robe.

Her wrinkles were noticeable but she stood straight without any apparent difficulty and even her hair was still a vibrant green. It seemed that the aging process was a lot more merciful on Nymphs compared to humans.

“Ah! I’m so sorry, I touched the reagents here without your permission!” Evelyn hastily apologized.

“Don’t fret,” the old lady replied calmly and put down the vase she was carrying in her arms on a small table next to her. She closed the door leading to the back shop and went to her counter. “So? Is there anything I can help you with? I don’t see demonic species in here very often.”

Evelyn first blinked in surprise before taking on a bitter smile. “You… can tell?”

“I’m a Nymph. Of course, I can discern the impurities of your energies,” she said and leaned over her counter with a lazy demeanor. “You’re a Phantom with demonic lineage perhaps?”

“Mhm… I’m part succubus…”

The old lady seemed to have noticed the small discomfort on the cambion’s face and waved her hand comfortingly. “I am just pointing it out, young miss. Do not feel alienated. I have nothing against demon folk. Why don’t you tell me why you’re here instead? As you can see, I sell medicinal herbs and alchemical reagents. Are you looking for something in particular?”

Evelyn scratched her cheek embarrassed. “Actually… I’m not really sure. I just came here to have a look. I plan to study alchemy in the near future, so that’s why…”

The old nymph hummed. “Do you have any idea of which you’re going to be at least?”

“Which?” She replied in confusion.

“There are three different types of alchemists. Concocters, Transmuters, and Chimerers.”

“Chimerers?” The succubus tilted her head. “I can understand the first two but what is that one?”

“Essentially? Alchemists that mess around with lifeforms. They engineer chimeras to life and even modify their own bodies.”

“I see… Is it not possible to develop on all branches?”

The old lady scoffed. “You can try if you want. Each of them requires ample commitment. Let’s say you practice the sword and the bow at the same time, there are chances you would lose against a proficient user of either, wouldn’t you think so? In retrospect, you could also say that only the highest order of geniuses is exempt from that rule. Are you one of those perhaps?”

Evelyn smiled faintly. “No… I don’t think I’m that kind of genius,” she said and nudged her ring for it to materialize a book in her hand. She flipped a few pages and nodded. “I was only taught the very basics of alchemy by my family… I think I’m more of a Concocter, with a bit of transmutation mixed with it.”

The nymph blinked. “A mix, huh? Hm… Your family must be quite something. The only families of alchemists I know daring enough to teach a mix of specializations to their young generations are those with more than a millennium of ancestries like the Astaros’ or the Jill’s.”

Evelyn grimaced at the mention of the Jill’s and the old lady didn’t fail to notice it.

“Interesting…” She muttered and straightened herself. “You said you wanted to learn, right?”

“Eh?” The succubus was momentarily startled by the sudden shift of topic. “Um, yes… I did. I was planning on buying a few basic herbs and start working on the notes left by my parents.”

The old woman smiled. “Then how about working here for a few days? I don’t mind teaching you the fundamentals of concocting and transmutation if you want. I believe I’m quite an accomplished alchemist in my own right and I assure you won’t find many races out there better at alchemy than us nymphs.”

“Really?” Evelyn perked up.

“Yes,” the nymph let out a crooked grin. “For the right price.”

“…since when people have to pay their employer?”

“Let’s call it a package deal.”

“…I don’t think it works like that."

“Pff, semantics.”

Evelyn ultimately accepted and cried a few tears for her wallet.

* * *

Meanwhile, a couple exited the Pavilion of Black Steel and one of them promptly gushed at the sight of the technologically advanced landscape.

Marie skipped over the streets and looked around at the hovering vehicles and the people passing by. Her eyes lingered on the incredibly tall skyscrapers that filled Black Steel for quite a long time.

Allan chuckled softly at her behavior. It could almost make him forget that she was a former Boss as well as a viciously powerful lamia. “Well, where do you want to go first?”

Marie shot him a blank look after poking a car parked on the side of the road. “How would I know?”

“…right. My bad. But it’s not like I’m very knowledgeable about Black Steel either. Though I heard about an amusement park and a large artificial beach that are quite popular,” the blond mused as he opened his map and swiped it. “Well, why don’t we just get a meal for now?”

“That doesn’t sound bad,” the lamia said with a smile. “I wonder how ‘advanced food’ tastes like.”

Thus, a dozen minutes later, the two found themselves in a sort of oriental restaurant where Marie giddily ordered a steak… several steaks actually, whilst humming a happy tune.

Allan sweatdropped. ‘Well, snakes are carnivores, aren’t they?’ He thought. “Now that I think about it; this can’t be the first time you’re eating, right? Did you even have food in your Dungeon?”

At that, the lamia pursed her lips and looked away uneasily. “Um… no. But… occasionally, some meals would come to me… you know?”

“Wait,” Allan spent a few seconds processing that. He came to a conclusion that he really hoped was wrong and when Marie saw his continuously worsening expression, she apparently caught on and frantically waved her hands.

“No! I didn’t eat the Hosts, okay?! Don’t misunderstand! It’s just that sometimes, well, they would themselves bring food along… or they would have pets,” she admitted with a bit of shame.

Allan sighed in relief. “Thank god. Well, it’s not like I would have blamed you but… it would have been kinda awkward if you had eaten humans.”

Marie let out a chuckle. “To be honest, I didn’t even need to eat in the first place. Every time the Dungeon would reset, my existence was as well. In other words, the System would make it so that my satiety was always at its peak. That’s why I only tasted some of my… preys out of rarity. I barely did it once or twice. I realized that I’m not that good of cook anyway, so I stopped.”

“Hahaha… you don’t say,” Allan laughed wryly. “You probably didn’t have many utensils for it.”

As they chatted, their orders arrived and three waiters had to come in order to put down the eight plates of meat in front of the lamia. They looked oddly at her expression that lit up like a bulb and retreated to the kitchens.

Marie didn’t hesitate further and dug into her meal. The second she put the fork in her mouth, the fat of the meat melted in her mouth and a bomb of flavors exploded.

“Wha-wha-what is this!? How is it so good?!” She shouted with a flushed face. Her outburst startled the customers in the restaurant and they stared at her dumbfounded as she wolfed down her food.

“Is this some kind of spell?!” She uttered with her mouth full and Allan burst out laughing.

‘This woman… she switches from mature to a ten-year-old mentality in an instant,’ he commented inwardly and watched her. ‘Not gonna lie… that’s cute as heck.’ As he was thinking that, he blinked as he saw and heard a droplet of water fall on the table.

Marie had slowed down her eating and tears were freely cascading down her cheeks. The blond instantly became worried. “Hey, are you alright? Was there something in there you didn’t like?”

The lamia chuckled despite her tears and wiped them away. She shook her head. “No… of course not, you idiot. It just hit me… I never properly thought about it until now but… I’m free, aren’t I?” She asked with a shaking and almost frail voice.

Allan’s eyes widened a bit before softening. “Yes… that you are.”

* * *

Once the two were done eating, they immediately went on to continue their visit. The second place they went to was an arcade shop that featured hundreds of games that even Allan and his gaming passion found unique and entertaining.

“Damn, I definitely need to bring Rak here,” he said as they exited the shop.

“Him? Here? Why?” Marie retorted with a genuinely confused expression.

“Haha… well, you wouldn’t be able to tell with the kind of temper that he has but that guy enjoys video games even more than I do. He’d have a field trip in here. Though… his face would probably stay the same no matter how much he wins,” he said with a bitter smile.

“And the worst is that he’s freakishly good! I basically never won against him. Can you imagine the feeling when someone with that face tells you ‘I won’ without either happiness or satisfaction over and over again? It’s scarring,” he uttered and shivered unconsciously.

Marie giggled at his narration and they resumed their stroll through Black Steel. A short moment later, while they were passing by a small plaza, they noticed a large crowd and even heard several gaps coming from the people around.

“What are they doing?” Allan scowled at the oddly serious atmosphere and quickly spotted the cause of the crowd. It was a large holographic screen set up in the middle of the plaza. He obviously directed his sight in that direction and froze on the spot.

“What’s wrong?” Marie also stopped walking. “Is there a show going on?” She asked and looked at the screen in wonder. The images that were displayed were seemingly from a news channel and the second she figured that out; the sound of the broadcast reached her ears.

“| As you can see, the Nine-Tailed Wolf that gained the recognition of the population a few days ago, Obsidian, has finally resurfaced! He is now meeting with the mayor along with a new Host named Rakna Xiorra whom he has identified as his sole disciple! |”

“…eh?”