Paper.

Despite the existence of amazing magical items like the communication crystal and holostone, paper was still widely used in Aizen.

Even civil officials like administrators and ministers still used it.

"Ugh..." Reivan groaned as he slid a document to his right, where it was immediately signed by an inked quill that he was controlling with his [Formless Will].

After having a quick lunch with Jiji, Reivan was confined inside his office for the next few hours. There weren't as many requests for him to validate and approve today, but that didn't matter since Reivan had been blowing off this particular responsibility for about a week.

As such, a veritable mountain of paperwork had built up over time.

Had.

'I'm finally done! Woo hoo!'

Reivan stood up from his cushioned seat and looked at the fruit of his labor. The left side of his desk was mostly barren, while the right side had a mountain of papers that were taller than him. A few hours earlier, that pile of documents had been on the left side.

Naturally, that wasn't to say that their locations were the only thing that changed.

"Hehehe..." Reivan chuckled, having put his fast reading speed to very good use. He then looked toward a middle-aged man who was buried in his own pile of documents. "Minister Polino. I'll be heading off now."

"Ah..." High Minister Polino looked up from the document he had been scrutinizing and stood up to bow to the prince. "Yes, Your Highness. I'll handle everything from here on out."

"Thank you. And don't forget to get off work today too. You have a family after all."

The man chuckled but said nothing. With another tip of his head to show his respect, Polino sat down and continued his work. Seeing the pile of unsigned documents on his desk, the man likely knew that he wouldn't go home tonight either.

'Poor guy. I'll have to ask for more people...'

Reivan thought so as he made his way out of his office. It wasn't that there was always a lack of manpower. It's just that all of the other ministers assigned to help him had to go on a sudden leave of absence for various reasons.

'Well, I'll think about that later.'

After deciding to just give Polino a fat bonus once everything things settle down, Reivan began to think about his appointment with Jiji. He'd agreed to take her to the night market once his work was done, so he'd have to prepare some things for that.

First, he had to prepare disguises for both of them, since his and Jiji's hair colors stood out like sore thumbs. Second, he had to inform Valter of their little trip. Third, Reivan had to ask for approval to use a warp gate, since asking Valter to teleport them to a place so far away was asking for too much and past instances had proven that Jiji didn't like flying.

Last, but not the least, he had to prepare the money they would be using.

'Things are getting really tight this month...'

Ever since he'd treated Hector and Helen on an all-you-can-eat-for-a-week food trip to celebrate their eleventh birthdays, an infuriated Rodin had started limiting Reivan's allowance.

Although Reivan still had an absolutely absurd amount as an allowance, about ninety-nine percent of that was to be automatically allocated to personnel on his payroll. If he didn't have someone under his employ to pay, the budget would go unused and he wouldn't be able to touch it.

As for the money he could actually use, it was only about ten thousand lumens a month. Which was still quite large, but with Reivan's spending habits...

In any case, Reivan didn't have a whole lot of money tucked away.

"Damn..." Reivan cursed as he took a peek inside Zouros's stomach, where only a few measly hundred-lumen bills remained. "...I-it should be fine as long as we don't take Helen along... I think?"

Unfortunately for his finances, Jiji was a big eater too. Not as much as Helen, but her appetite was nothing to scoff at either.

'Fuck it...'

If push came to shove, Reivan would just throw his shame aside and borrow some money from Valter.

"Yani!"

Reivan snapped out of his depressing thoughts and looked to the source of the familiar yell. At the far end of the hall, he could see Jiji running up to him with a bright smile on her face.

'Eh. Whatever. Let's just borrow some money. Who cares about shame?'

With a matching smile on his face, Reivan opened his arms and waited for the white ball of fluff to ram into his body.

Worgon Outpost's night market.

As the sun sets in the sky, the streets of the bustling city come alive with the sound of chatter and the aroma of sizzling food. The orange lanterns that hang overhead illuminate the night market, casting a warm glow over the excited crowds. The air was filled with the sounds of vendors calling out their wares, musicians playing lively tunes, and the laughter of families and friends enjoying the nightly festivities.

The stalls line the narrow streets, each one packed with goods of all kinds. There are food stalls selling everything from grilled meats to steaming bowls of soup, vendors hawking brightly colored fabrics and ornate jewelry, and merchants selling all manner of magical trinkets and potions from foreign lands. Aizen's laws were laxer here — and so were the taxes — so all sorts of people from all over the continent came here to strike it rich and get a glimpse of what the kingdom was like.

As visitors wander through the market, they are greeted by the sights and sounds of a fantastical world. Despite it being a time of rest, this corner of the world comes to life when the rest of the city prepares to sleep. People of all kinds and races come here to have a good time, and if one looks closely enough, there were even people with brown cat ears on top of their heads, adding to the sense of wonder and magic.

The night market — set in the kingdom's westernmost outpost — is a place of excitement and adventure, a place where anything can happen, and anything can be found.

'Well, that's how it's advertised anyways.'

Reivan sardonically stewed in his thoughts while sipping on a cup of soup — whose recipe apparently originated from the continent of Pentagoria to the south of Sentorale.

Although it appeared to be a city, and everyone called it as such, Worgon was an outpost. A place meant to keep watch on something. And for the westernmost outpost of Worgon, that naturally meant that it was to keep watch on The Magitechnocratic Republic of Arkhan.

Of course, just southeast of the outpost was the absolutely massive military base called Fort Magellan — which had been built to guard against invasions from the west and south — but Worgon Outpost was a place where foreigners wouldn't be killed on sight just for approaching.

For the past few years, Worgon Outpost was a "city" that acted as a bridge between Aizen and Arkhan, who had begun to improve their diplomatic relationship.

'But it can't all be good news.'

Since laws were laxer, naturally, people who were up to no good would show up eventually. Of course, lax didn't mean nonexistent, so the chances of being caught if they did things out in the open were a hundred percent.

That's why the night market existed.

It acted as a bright and shiny jewel in the depths of the sea, luring all of the monsters hiding in the darkness.

The enforcement of the law was intentionally slackened so that evil-doers would flock there. In essence, the night market area became a place where Aizen could keep a close watch on miscreants and potentially stop them if they were up to something too big and dangerous.

But none of that mattered since Reivan was just here to play with his sister. They even had the very powerful Valter hiding in the shadows.

"I did it!" Jiji cheered, having won some kind of prize from a game stall. Her black hair, tied in a loose bun behind her head, bounced around in her excitement. "Look, Van! I won!"

"That's awesome!" Reivan matched her energy, even if he hadn't been paying attention at all. "What did you win though...?"

"I don't know!"

'Then why the hell are you so happy...?'

Reivan wanted to retort, but he supposed that winning in and of itself was something to celebrate.

"Here you go!" The stall owner handed over some kind of wooden toy with a big smile on his face. "It's a wooden carving of the god that I worship!"

'Hey! Don't proselytize to children!'

Reivan didn't waste any time in pulling his sister away from the stall, purposefully leading her close to one that served balls of grilled chicken meat slathered with some kind of sauce.

"Wow!" Jiji exclaimed and started pulling on Reivan's sleeve. "Look at that! Let's get some of that!"

"Sure." Reivan stealthily took the statue out of his sister's hand while paying for the food. And while Jiji was too engrossed in eating, Reivan looked down and examined the wooden carving.

It was made in the image of some kind of humanoid bird. The head was that of an eagle, while the rest of the figure's body was that of a large and muscular man.

The problem was that it also had a very large penis. And it was erect.

Reivan crushed the statue to dust and silently decided to have that stall burned to the ground due to an accident. Luckily, Jiji wasn't old enough to even feel disgusted by the statue.

'I shouldn't have taken her here...'

"Yani~" Jiji suddenly hugged his arm and whispered with a smile on her face. "Thanks for bringing me here. You're the best! I love you!"

"..."

'Well, I guess if she's happy, it's fine...'

Still, he resolved to be even more watchful next time. Jiji had only gotten involved with that strange stall because he was too busy zoning out.

"I love you too, but remember," Reivan warned with a serious expression. "We're here for one hour. And that's it. That's final."

"Just one hour...?" Jiji pouted and looked up at him.

"..." Reivan bit his lip and sighed. "Fine. Two hours. But there are no more extensions!"

Jiji sniffed, her eyes wet with tears. "Please? I want to spend more time with you..."

'Damnit.'

"...Three hours, then."

"Jus—"

"Stop it." Reivan pinched his sister's nose. "You know how busy I am. That's really the best I can do."

"Fine~" Jiji pulled herself out of her brother's grasp and playfully stuck her tongue out to the side. She then grabbed him by the hand and ran ahead of him, pulling him along. "Then let's go!"

"Don't run. You'll bump into someone."

"Okay, okay..." A grinning Jiji returned to Reivan's side and walked slowly.

As their joined hands swung back and forth while they walked, the two kids continued their exploration of Worgon's night market — all while a dark shadow watched them protectively from below.

In front of one of Aizen's secret hidden gates, the second prince, a purple-haired knight, and a very upset cat-eared girl with white hair were arguing.

"Can't we go together?"

At Jiji's question, Reivan shook his head.

The girl pouted, her brows furrowed. "But why?"

"I still have some business elsewhere." Reivan smiled wryly.

"But it's so late!"

'Well, she's got me there...'

It was about eight o'clock now. By modern Earth standards, it wasn't that late. However, it definitely wasn't a time when a twelve-year-old boy like Reivan would still be out and about. And for the eleven-year-old Jiji, eight o'clock was very close to her bedtime.

Reivan heaved a sigh as he gently prodded his sister. "Just do as I say this time. I'll be home in a bit. Please?"

Jiji groaned, her brows creased. "Fine! You're always like this. I hate you!"

[Lie Detection] has activated!

With that, she stomped off, disappearing beyond the bright blue portal of glowing blue energy.

The prince scratched the back of his head with a wry smile on his face before turning to face his guardian knight. "Kids, am I right?"

Valter chuckled. "You're also a child, Your Highness."

"I suppose I am." Reivan shrugged with a smirk before nodding to the knight designated as this warp gate's operator. "To Grimharbor Penitentiary, please."

"Understood." The knight saluted in a traditional Aizenian manner, before pulling some levers and turning a few knobs.

The swirling portal flashed once and churned violently for a moment before calming down again.

"Hooo..." Reivan took a deep breath and exhaled. Knowing what tasks he had to accomplish soon, his smile had all but disappeared.

'It's something only I can do, so I have to do it.'

After receiving the operator's signal, both the prince and his shadow stepped through the teleportation gate.

Towards the kingdom's largest and most notorious prison.