"So, why are you following me in the middle of the night?" Ryuk inquired to the girl whose cover was blown away revealing her true identity while she lay in a seated position.
Hearing Ryuk's words and seeing his cold gaze, Diana slowly stood before calmly placing the hoodie back, covering her face while averting her gaze, She replied " I am not following you, It's just you are in my way"
Standing there while listening to such an obvious Excuse, his blank gaze seemed to waver at her behavior, feeling overwhelmed,' And, She is a heroine'
Ryuk had already saved Maria and her mother at the age of five while on his visit to the Monastery, met with another heroine called Alia, his Step-sister came out to be one too, So, it was not the first time for him to understand, how to handle them.
"I see" Seeing Diana's unacceptance of reality, he placed his hoodie back and covered his face before turning to leave.
" Wait, where are you going?" Diana felt Confused seeing him turning in the opposite direction of where he was heading, instead he turned towards Royal Palace.
"Just leaving your way, go, wherever you want" Without hearing Diana's reply Ryuk sprinted in the Royal palace's direction.
'Y-you', Diana could only see his disappearing back while standing there, before turning her eyes towards North, not wanting to miss this opportunity after coming this far, she sprinted towards the harbor.
.
.
.
.
'Is this the place?' Diana asked as she arrived at the bustling harbor, filled with various ships and people moving back and forth, unloading boxes, while fishermen prepared their nets.
"Only One Gold Coin for North! Come, Come, Grab the deal!"
A sudden sound caught her attention, leading her towards a big, seemingly old and dusty wooden ship with a significant mana booster. Intrigued, she moved towards it before entering.
"Here." She threw a gold coin towards the sailor, who caught it with genuine happiness, making him slightly bow and add pleasantries, "Thanks for your patronage, dear customer."
Arriving on the ragged deck, she sat in a corner, patiently waiting for the ship to leave.
Observing the sparse presence of people on the ship – an old man, a middle-aged man, and a kid with only amber eyes visible while eating a meat kebab.
'?!'
Stopping abruptly at a person who seemed familiar, Diana composed herself and inquired, "When did you arrive here?"
Ryuk lifted his gaze, calmly looking at the girl while focused on eating meat kebab. He replied, "Aren't you the one who said I was in your way?"
Diana narrowed her gaze, wanting to say something but stopped, only adding, "So?"
"Um, it tastes good." Taking a bite, Ryuk slowly stood and reached the ship's corner, looking towards the vast sea.
His black hair fluttered in the gust, and his eyes seemed shinier due to the moonlight. Turning towards Diana, he explained, "So, I changed my way."
"...."
'Is he for real?' Diana, realizing that talking to him would only cause more confusion, turned her gaze towards the sea, forgetting about the recent events and focusing on her destination.
.
.
.
Unlike the calm sea where a ship just headed towards the Northern borders of Selvius Kingdom, the capital city seemed to be disturbed due to heavy air, with the Royal palace being its center.
Unnoticed by others, heat haze seemed to shroud the whole Selvius Kingdom's Royal palace, enough to make the moonlight waver before falling on the tiles.
All this strange phenomenon was centered at one room, which had now become the epicenter of the gathering of individuals far stronger than to flatten this whole small continent.
But, even with their strength that could easily rival such a huge place filled with millions of warriors, they now present kneeling in front of a sole figure, elegantly seating in a chair.
"Tell her to stay away from my son. He doesn't like to fight, and he is an introvert. Hmm, it should be fine. What do you say, Uncle Wang?" Alisia seated on the chair turned towards an old man standing beside her, while his gaze was fixed on the several figures kneeling in black outfits with another white-cloaked woman in front of them.
"This is very true, Princess." Wang nodded in affirmation, not wanting to tell the truth about how much of an introvert Ryuk was.
"I understand, Lady Alisia." A soft yet calm voice left as the knelt woman parted her lips. Her foggy orange eyes were fixed on the floor, while unlike other men who showed some evidence of fear, her emotions were non-existent.
"But, I would like to see him once myself." Without any hesitation, the knelt woman lifted her gaze, looking directly at Alisia.
Seeing such behavior, which didn't bother Alisia much, the issue was that the proposal to meet her son seemed to be crossing the line. "You are trying your luck again with this puppet of yours, Malika."
'How is this possible?' Diana's eyes widened seeing him moving at such speed on snow.
Though she could have done the same if only her bloodline was awakened, but right now.
'?!'
Suddenly her eyes noticed the footsteps of Ryuk where the snow seemed denser, causing her to realize he was using some artifact.
Not delaying any further, she sprinted by aligning her feet on the same footsteps.
"T-this is an illusion, right?" Looking at both of the cloaked figures disappearing back, all three people's eyes were widened while mouths were agape.
"Hehe, I-i can do it too," Onboard Soldier tried to act calm, but both the sailor and old man's gaze retorted, " Fine, I can't. Now, stop slacking and move the ship towards the Tunnel."
"Y-yes, sir!" The sailor swiftly moved the ship towards a place hidden from others and only known to the Silvester Family.
.
.
"Hey, where are you going?" Diana catching up to him inquired, feeling confused due to a certain energy that was very familiar to her, her instincts were getting the sensation of Demonic energy being present nearby.
"Can't you keep quiet for a moment?" Ryuk silenced her in a firm tone, causing her face to turn crimson due to the embarrassment of being scolded by a twelve-year-old kid.
'Calm down, Diana, you will get the chance.' While moving, her eyes were looking at the surrounding, observing any suspicious movement, not paying attention to front.
"Here it is—." Stopping in front of a huge ice wall, Ryuk turned to inform her, which startled Diana.
Thud
Her body directly collided with him due to momentum, and the end result was both of them falling on the ground, with their front aligning with eachother.
"S-sorry," Diana, feeling her mistake, apologized while Ryuk, being crushed beneath her, tried to open his eyes but the sight visited him was two milky white peaks.
He felt a need to throw her away but stopped due to Suddenly hearing something.
Diana too, tried to lift herself but got stopped by him.
"Don't move!" Being disturbed by her movement's sound, he directly hugged her, while his face was burrowed in her peaks that were gaping through the cloak.
'W-what the hell.' Lying in that position, she could clearly feel warm breath falling on her chest.
Of course, not that Ryuk had any ulterior motives, and she was also not that petty to feel suspicious of a child, causing her to loosen her body.
Her expanding and relaxing chest, being this close to his face, made everything very vivid for him.
thump thump
But the only thing falling into Ryuk's ears was the sound of Diana's heartbeat, and a very weak sound too.
splash
A sound like something being thrown into the water source, which seemed impossible due to the ice outside that could have frozen the lake or whatever flowing water it was.
'?!'
Suddenly, Ryuk's senses caught a light smell of iron, which directly pointed towards blood.
To get clarity, he tried to perk his nose to inhale the scent to pinpoint the exact direction it was coming from. "Snff... Snff."
'?!'
"This is enough!" Swiftly, Diana stood while clenching her cloak's opening, shutting it close, feeling utterly embarrassed due to Ryuk's actions.
"This is not the time to joke. I smelled blood coming from that direction. Follow me," Ryuk firmly said before sprinting towards the same direction, while Diana, gritting her teeth, followed.
'Am I stupid or something?' Ryuk was not dense enough, and being an adult in his previous life, his understanding was clearly making him realize that just now, he could have gotten a tag of a perverted kid, just due to his negligence.
"Hey, Diana." Arriving at an opening with a very small hole, enough for an adult to crawl in, he called her out.
"What?" Diana was already out of the previous incident, focusing on her goal instead of thinking of him smelling her.
Ryuk turned towards her with a smile and inquired.
"By the way, You know right, How good you smell? "