Chapter 169: Child of Spirit Magic and Alchemy

Nero, Asteria, Sophia, and Emilia were sitting at one table; and Arnold, Rosemary, Rhea, and Pavel were sitting on the other table joined to them.

Pavel and Rhea were sitting next to each other, and Rosemary and Arnold were opposite them.

While, Nero and Asteria were sitting next to each other, and Sophia and Emilia were sitting opposite to them.

"I want to sit next to you," Emilia pleaded.

Nero wrapped his hand around Asteria and pulled her close to him to make Emilia jealous.

Emilia glared at Sophia with the corners of her eyes and uttered, "It's all your fault."

"You are the one who wanted to try arm-wrestling!"

"You should have denied my offer or admitted defeat on purpose." Emilia shrugged and glanced at Nero: "Now he is ignoring both of us."

Sophia furrowed her brows at Nero and said, "He is just sulking, nothing new. He will be back to normal in no time."

"Don't underestimate my sulking ability; it's better than yours," Nero remarked.

The food arrived, and they started eating, although Emilia, Sophia, and Asteria had already eaten not long ago. So they were eating slowly. Nero, on the other hand, however, was eating as though he hadn't eaten for weeks.

"Slow down, you hungry monster," Rhea commented. "Why are you eating like that? Where are your manners?"

Nero chugged down the class of rum and said, "What are you, my mum?"

"Sadly, I don't have children, but I definitely don't want one like you."

Most of the sorceresses sacrificed their wombs at a young age to gain more power. In alchemy, however, it was advised to be wombless as it would decrease the risk of producing an offspring even without any intimate relationship with an opposite gender— which might or might not be a good thing.

"Shut up, you hag!" Nero grabbed the food from Rhea's plate and continued, "I have been traveling through the sea for about a week now, and all I ate was fish and vegetable soup."

"Now, I can eat meat, pies, cakes, and whatnot. So let me eat in peace, or I will get angry."

"Like I care," Rhea muttered.

Pavel gave his food to Nero and said, "I have something to talk to you about."

Nero ordered a few more dishes and rum, then turned to Pavel: "What is it?"

"It's about your weapon."

Nero choked on the bread and used rum to gulp it down.

"What about it?" he asked.

"Do you remember you gave me one of your weapons and asked me to keep it safe, that you might want to use it one day?"

"Umu."

"Well, that weapon happens to be in a nearby labyrinth. Should we go fetch it?" Pavel asked hesitantly.

'What should I do?' Nero pondered.

Nero wanted to go back to his room and continue humping Asteria until she passed out— to make Emilia and Sophia more jealous.

However, his main goal to travel the world was to get his weapons and cores back.

His priorities were mixing up, and he was unsure of what he should do.

'Wait! I can simply take Asteria with me. But… to make Emilia and Sophi jealous, I would need to take them with me too.'

Nero wanted to go alone with Pavel since they could clear the labyrinth and come back as soon as they could. But he didn't know how much time it would take.

"How much time would it take?" Nero asked with a curious yet calm look on his face.

"Hmm~" Pavel rubbed his hand on his chin and uttered, "Since I had set up various protection mechanisms and monsters to keep intruders away; it may take us 800 to 1200 years."

Nero furrowed his brows and glanced back and forth at Emilia and Sophia, who were looking at him with a horrified look on their faces.

Asteria hugged Nero's arm and muttered, "You can't go away for that long."

"Or so I wanted to say, but since you are with me, it will take up to a week— maximum. We may also clear it within three days; who knows?" Pavel added.

Asteria hugged Nero even tighter and murmured, "7 days is still too much."

Nero kissed Asteria on the lips and patted her on the head before saying, "Don't worry. I will be back in one day."

"You said the same thing before when you were going to fight the fallen god. You said you would be back in a minute, and it took you three hours to come back," Asteria remarked in a low voice.

Her voice was getting muffled as she was burying her face on Nero's chest.

"Uh… well then; I promise you, I will be back within two days," Nero promised.

"What if you don't?"

"If I don't… then you can punish me however you want, or you can make me do anything you want."

Nero instantly regretted making that promise. Not because he was unsure whether he would be able to fulfill his promise, but because he was glared at by Emilia like never before.

After eating the food, Nero kissed Asteria on the lips and waved at Emilia and Sophia to bid them farewell for two days.

After running for an hour, Pavel and Nero reached the entrance of the hidden labyrinth located between the rift of the sea and the forest.

"Weren't you too harsh on Sophia and on that black-haired girl?" Pavel wondered.

"You may call Emilia by her name," Nero uttered.

"I will pass." Pavel placed his hand on the door of the labyrinth.

After a while, the sigil on his hand glowed and the door opened with a rumble.

When they entered the labyrinth, they were met by a pungent smell; and the door closed soon after.

"Why is that? Did Rhea threaten you or something?"

"No. I just don't like calling girls with their names; you know it already," Pavel answered. "And I call Sophia by her name because she is an angel."

Pavel was born from spirit magic and alchemy, without any other powers. He was born with no father or mother or any relations to others.

When he regained consciousness, he was already a teenager. However, his gender was neutral.

He was neither male nor female— although he chose to be a male and changed his gender after meeting Rhea.