"Humanoid..." Reivan echoed, his brows furrowed in thought.

"Nightmare Spawns usually depend on their natural strength, numbers, or strange abilities, but humanoids seem to be different." Rolf stroked his chin. "They also rely on tactics... and although crude, they also use techniques and weapons. But the most troublesome thing about them... is that they have fear."

'Hm...? How is that troublesome? Wouldn't it make them easier to deal with?'

But Reivan quickly realized why.

"It seems like you have an idea. Go ahead and tell me." Rolf smiled warmly as he looked at the young prince.

Not knowing he'd made a strange face while thinking, Reivan awkwardly scratched the tip of his nose. "Uh... is it because they run away?"

"Correct." The Sword Star nodded. "I've only encountered one humanoid, but it is still our only reference for future encounters. From what I've experienced, it prioritizes self-preservation. So every time I injured it enough, it would immediately run away, gather more forces while recovering, and then attack once again. Its attacks were no trouble for us at first, but after five times, six times... ten times... we'd started gathering losses. In a mere month, those losses grew over countless assaults."

"Indeed." Valter joined in, seemingly having finished his report. "We weren't allied with the Saintess faction at the time. Also, His Highness' miraculous ability to mass produce such potent medicine was naturally absent. So our only way to heal injuries was to slowly recover using our own essence... Eventually, under the Humanoid Nightmare's persistent attacks, we were forced to fight even in our injured and exhausted states."

'And that's why so many people died...'

Reivan's expression darkened. The possibility that there was another humanoid nightmare was high, after all. And it had already expressed its interest in them, seeing as it had sent something to scout them out.

'We've also provoked it now.'

They had targeted its puppet after all. And Reivan had even explained it all to the Sword Star in the open like that.

Shots have been fired now, and all that remained was to see how both sides responded.

'But what can I do here...?'

The most logical thing to do was to keep producing medicine. In fact, he should increase his production. After all, according to what he'd heard, the greatest loss of life did not come from the combat itself, but from the injuries that had gradually racked up over the course of numerous and frequent battles.

'Yeah. Let's do that.'

All he had to do was spill some blood after all. It was easy. More blood would be needed the more potent the medicine was, but it didn't matter to Reivan since he could restore his blood in real time by activating [Effect Reproduction].

'Well, the blood-letting part hurts a bit... but I can take it.'

Most pains felt like a mosquito bite when compared to a Transcendent rat's plague infesting your body for more than a decade.

To be honest, he wanted to do more. His blood boiled in desire for battle. However, in the past few hours, he'd been awakened to the dangers of hastiness, the results of thoughtlessness, and the anguish that a single death could cause to the people they left behind. He had even seen the most powerful entity in their nation and perhaps in the entire continent, while also bearing witness to the damage he could inflict on the landscape.

He realized that he truly wouldn't be able to contribute anything in direct combat.

For now.

"I'll do my best to help in any way I can." Reivan clenched his fist and pounded his chest, his eyes filled with determination. "And I'll train hard too. So I can help even more when I grow up."

The two oldest people in the kingdom shared a look before smiling as they looked at the little prince.

Rolf nodded in approval. "I'm sure you will."

"I look forward to fighting by your side in the future, Your Highness." Valter grinned as he saluted. "Hopefully, I'll have already reached Transcendence by then."

"I dunno about that..." Reivan mischievously grinned.

The three chuckled for a few moments before the Sword Star clapped his hands to get their attention.

"Our business here is done. So let's leave this wretched place, shall we?"

The prince and his knight nodded in agreement.

Jingle!

With a pleasant sound echoing outwards, the three disappeared, leaving nothing but the flattened remains of a forest behind.

Back in the core regions of the Sword Sanctum, despite the looming threat they had discovered, the Sword Star had still insisted on showing Reivan the white cherry blossom tree.

'It's prettier up close...'

Reivan looked up and admired the view. To begin with, white cherry blossoms were uncommon, so there was something for him to admire despite him being a native of Japan. Usually, the petals would be stained with a tinge of pink, but these were purely white.

'It smells different too.'

Reivan took a deep breath while savoring the new scent. He didn't know if the aroma was the same as white cherry blossom trees on earth, but to him, it smelled wonderful. In fact, if someone made perfume with this smell, he would use it all the time.

'Maybe it's special?'

Apparently, the tree was dedicated to the first king and was the first cherry blossom tree to ever be planted on the mountain.

'It's probably special, yeah? Like, maybe it'll transform into a girl once it's old enough or something.'

Lightly chuckling at his stupid thoughts, Reivan used [Supreme Insight] just for the hell of it.

[Mutated Cherry Blossom Tree]

A tree known for its beauty in a certain country in the [Alpha Realm].

Due to certain factors, this particular tree has mutated.

There are no effects from this mutation aside from the blossoms and its aroma being slightly different.

The mutation is unique. It will not affect future trees.

'Way to break my dreams, dude...'

He was honestly somewhat upset about being denied a cherry blossom tree girl, but he shrugged it off. At least he'd been correct about the tree being special — even if the only special thing about it was the color and scent.

"Care to share what you discovered?" Rolf asked from his place right next to the tree. He sat down in a cross-legged position, his butt firmly planted on a small patch of grass. "You used your ability on it, no? I'm curious about what you uncovered. Why do you look somewhat disappointed about something though?"

"Oh... the color and smell are different." Reivan also sat down after being prompted by the old warrior to do so. "But anyone could tell that from the start, so I was slightly dissatisfied."

The Sword Star chuckled. "Oftentimes, things are truly more simple than they appear. I also thought there was something more to it, but after watching it for thousands of years, I've become convinced that I was mistaken. But..."

Gently placing his palm on the tree's trunk, Rolf closed his eyes with a warm smile on his face.

"It does not need to be special. This is a memento that my friend left behind, and that alone makes it special to me."

'You really lucked out when you befriended this guy, senpai.'

In his mind, even if the first king was his ancestor, it felt better to refer to him as his otherworlder senior — or in other words, his senpai. Sending a silent prayer of permission to his forebear, Reivan mimicked the Sword Star's actions.

'Don't worry, senpai. I'll take it from here.'

In this second life, he'd fallen in love with this country. Mostly because his new family lived here and they loved the nation so much, but also because of the other people living in it. Even though the people he met were few, they were enough for him to want to protect this nation with all his heart.

'Even if there are probably assholes out there too, I'll protect this place. When I eventually meet those people though, please give me patience. Don't give me strength, because I might use it to smack those fuckers into meat paste.'

Realistically speaking, there should be people who disagreed with how the royal family ruled. No matter how fairly and competently his father did things, it was possible that there were entitled morons who would nitpick.

At the very least, that was how it was on earth.

A person could live like a saint and dedicate the majority of their resources to the betterment of others, and yet, there would still be someone out there who could find some fault in them.

'Please give me patience if they diss my dad. Seriously.'

It was just that the people he'd met up to this point were the people most likely to have positive viewpoints with regard to the royal family. The knights aside, the maids, butlers, and all types of servants and administrators... none of them would be working in the royal palace if they hated the government.

Unless they were spies or something.

'Huh. Wait a minute...'

He suddenly remembered the maid that his mother had killed right in front of him when he was a baby. That woman obviously lacked respect for the royal family, and yet, she worked in the palace as a maid.

'I wonder what was up with that...?'

In any case, she was dead. So Reivan couldn't ask her what her problem was. But because of her, Reivan now had the idea to take a closer look at all of the people in the palace.

'I should probably check them all though. See if anyone has negative favor...'

Happy that he'd found another way to be useful, Reivan's smile grew wider as his eyes opened. It truly felt wonderful to be alive and useful to your loved ones.

"You're taking quite a while." Rolf chuckled. "But I suppose it would make my old friend happy to have one of his descendants talk to him so much. He always did love kids..."

'That kinda sounded sus.'

Reivan inwardly struck himself on the head for having a stupid thought. He then faced the old warrior and said, "I was just asking him to watch over me."

"Oh, I'm sure he will." The Sword Star nodded slowly. "I'm sure he will..."

Looking at the strongest person in the kingdom reminisce about the past, Reivan began to feel more comfortable around him.

'He's just like any one of us.'

Regardless of the power that he commanded, Rolf — a Transcendent that could flatten the landscape in a single second — was just a human being. He missed the people he could no longer meet. Spending time with his loved ones made him happy. And his heart ached when someone he cared about died.

It was something incredibly simple, but it was a fact that made him feel closer to the old warrior. After all, Reivan was someone who desperately wanted to see his loved ones, but could no longer do so.

'We're the same.'

Reivan took out a piece of candy from Zoro's stomach. He then offered it to the old man. "Would you like some?"

He didn't fully understand why, but Reivan really wanted to give something to the ancient warrior. No matter how small and insignificant it was.

The Sword Star raised his brows in surprise for a moment before chuckling. "I would love some. Thank you."

Reivan placed the sweet in the man's outstretched hand, and then took another one out before popping it into his own mouth. Afterward, he procured another one and tossed it at his guardian knight.

"You have some too, Sir Valter. If you want."

The guardian knight easily caught the candy and smiled. "Thank you, Your Highness."

For a few moments, the three silently enjoyed the sweets in their own ways. Reivan watched as Valter crunched the candy into dust with his teeth while Rolf seemingly rolled it around in his mouth patiently, letting it slowly melt. As for Reivan, he was a combination of the two older men; he preferred to let the candy get a bit smaller before crushing it.

That naturally meant that Reivan and Valter finished their sweets way before the old warrior did. But the two didn't mind.

At the very least, Reivan didn't. He just returned to admiring the pretty view above.

'This tree has been around for a while, huh? And Sir Rolf has been around even longer...'

Naturally, Reivan was quite curious about the Sword Star. He knew little about the man who had been protecting Aizen since it was formed. In fact, Reivan wanted to use [Supreme Insight] on the old warrior, but the earlier incident with Freed, and all the other times he'd suddenly found something weird had somewhat traumatized him. That was why he was hesitant to use it.

'Would it be fine as long as I ask for permission...?'

It seemed like his thoughts were seen through. Rolf chuckled at him. "Did you perhaps want to use your ability on me as well?"

"Ah..." Reivan scratched his cheek awkwardly but ultimately admitted it. "Well, yes. Yes, I did."

"You don't have to be ashamed about your curiosity. Your ability was bestowed upon you for a reason. It is a part of you, and you should never be ashamed of it."

'That... That's true.'

If Zell's hypothesis were to be trusted, that would mean that his [Supreme Insight] had been with him since he was born as Ken Kagami. It was the only ability that had been with him from the start. Unlike the others, it wasn't obtained through strange means like a bestowal from the Planar Laws, stumbling upon it while drifting in the endless Corridors, or some strange energy within him awakening abilities based on his experiences.

In strange a way, [Supreme Insight] really was part of who he was. It had played a large role in what kind of person Reivan became.

"So don't be afraid to use it." Rolf smiled warmly at him. "Just be careful about what you do with what you discover. As well as how you act upon discovering it."

"Yes, sir." Reivan nodded, feeling like a small weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"Now, go ahead and use it on me. I'm actually quite curious about what you'll find out."

"Okay. Uhm, here I go..."

Reivan gulped in anticipation of the first time he would use his ability on a Transcendent. Although he'd used it on Zell a while back, he'd barely gotten anything out of it because he didn't have enough authority.

'Hopefully, it doesn't turn out that way this time... Wait a minute, did I just jinx myself?'

Shaking his head of his foolish thoughts, Reivan used [Supreme Insight] on the Sword Star.

You lack sufficient authority to fully view this unit's information!

'Fuck you!'

His face twisted into a grimace but it quickly went back to normal when another notification showed up.

A limited version is available! ~^+— Unit's Statistics —+^~ Name: Rolf Suprana

Species: Human

Realm: Transcendent

Age: 4230

Sex: Male

Special Abilities You do not wield sufficient Authority to view this information! Might: Cannot Be Measured Extra Skills Elemental Affinities: None You do not wield sufficient Authority to view this information! Favor: (Expectation / Fondness) 100 / 100 Threat Level: N / A (This unit's favor is too high)

'So I can't look at the Special Abilities and Extra Skills, huh... Well, that's honestly not that bad. Very annoying, but not that bad.'

"So? Do I have any strange abilities as well?" Rolf asked, seemingly excited.

"Uhm..." Reivan felt pained by the old man's expectant gaze. Still, he had to fess up. He briefly explained that he couldn't see some things because he lacked the authority for them before saying what he could see.

"Hmm... that's somewhat disappointing, but there's nothing we can do about it." The Sword Star shrugged. However, he was unable to hide his dejection from the little prince's discerning eye.

'Now I kinda feel bad. Even though I'm not actually at fault. Fuck.'

Wanting to turn away from the awkward topic, Reivan asked the knight standing off to the side. "Sir Valter, what's next? Sir Donovan can't come to train me today, right? What am I supposed to do now?"

Valter thought for a bit before saying, "You're free to do what you want for today, Your Highness. Perhaps you can use your free time to read through some of the first king's notes? It would also be a great idea to relax in preparation for tomorrow's training."

'So I'm free for the day...'

He wasn't in much of a mood to lay around right now. In fact, he was practically bursting with motivation. Even though he'd received a telepathic message from his father telling him to leave the Outland's matters alone, Reivan didn't want to waste time doing nothing.

That's when he was struck by an idea.

"Sir Rolf." Reivan grinned as he looked toward Aizen's strongest man. "You could say that I've contributed greatly by helping you find out about a possible humanoid Nightmare Spawn, right?"

The Sword Star raised an eyebrow in amused curiosity before nodding. "Indeed. In fact, you are the greatest contributor to this. Because nobody else could've done what you did."

"Then wouldn't you say, that I deserve a bit of a reward?"

"A reward, you say?"

"Yes." Reivan's grin grew wider. "A reward."

"Hmmm..." Rolf hummed in thought.

"As one of Aizen's Princes, it is a given that I work for the betterment of our great nation," The young prince pompously said, trying his best to infuse his voice with as much gravitas as he could. "However, it would not hurt to be rewarded from time to time, right? Only sometimes, of course."

"Well, what did you have in mind?" The Sword Star chuckled at the boy's theatrical antics.

"Oh... it's simple, really. I would not dare to ask too much of you, Sir Rolf." Reivan rubbed his palms together. "It's just that Sir Donovan is busy at the moment, so he's unable to train me. So I was thinking..."

"Hm, I know where this is going..." Rolf muttered while shaking his head in exasperation.

Reivan cleared his throat before brazenly saying. "For this afternoon, you could train me instead, Sir Rolf."