"Well, duh. Get stronger. What else?"

"Hmm, I see. Any other things or features of the domain I need to know?" I asked.

"Nothing except what you already know at your current level," he replied.

Talk about being useless.

But before I could say anything, he continued.

"…but," he puffed his tiny chest, "I do have knowledge inherited from the domain. Unfortunately, most of it is blocked because of your stupidly low strength."

"So hurry up and get stronger instead of dilly-dallying uselessly."

Of course he had to end it with an insult.

"In any case, get out now… dawn is here and you don't want to be late on the first day, do you?"

Ra flicked his tiny hand and my half-regenerated soul snapped fully back together in an instant.

I stared at myself.

What the hell?

He could do that?

My eyes twitched.

"Why didn't you do it earlier, you bastard?"

"That was your punishment," he said smugly. "What is it called, ah, right. Detention."

Of course the little shit had to enjoy it.

"Shoo now." He waved towards me, his body already fading. "I am going to sleep now."

Tsk, this bastard.

With those thoughts, I willed myself out of the domain.

My consciousness drowned instantly and before I could even register the shift, I was back in my physical body…

…which, for some unfathomable reason, was hanging halfway off the bed like a corpse that gave up mid-nap.

I pushed myself up and stumbled toward the mirror, half-expecting to see even more cracks spreading across my face.

Thankfully, there was nothing new.

My cloak fluttered above me before latching itself onto my back, still buzzing with excitement.

I thought about my regular appearance while using the Arcane Disguise effect of my cloak and immediately my entire form shifted.

The white hair, the green eyes and the cracks vanished.

My normal features snapped back into place instantly.

Good.

But before I could even enjoy that tiny victory or admire myself for one peaceful second,

CRASH!

The glass window of my room shattered, exploding inward as something small and metallic shot through the air and slammed onto the floor.

A compact square device with a beautiful red gem at its center which kept blinking again and again.

Before I could process it, more of them came flying through the ruined window, spreading across the floor.

My mind blanked for a heartbeat and then the realization hit me like a truck—explosives.

My body moved before my brain even caught up.

A card appeared in my hand instinctively.

I flicked it out the window in one smooth motion and then I triggered The Magician effect.

Green flames swallowed me whole as my body dissolved and in the next instant I was mid-air, just outside the shattered window.

And then—

BOOOOOOM!!!

The entire room detonated behind me, a roaring blast of fire and shockwave screamed past my ears as the force threw debris out into the morning sky.

The force hit me a second later.

I was thrown backward like the universe was finally sick of me as I crashed straight into a tree just outside my villa.

The trunk shattered as I slid down to the grass slowly.

Thankfully, the cloak had absorbed most of the impact, turning what should have been a hospital-grade injury into something closer to an irritated bruise.

I stared at what used to be my villa, now a smoking graveyard of wood and stone.

"…shit."

Only then did it hit me.

Bearlo.

That idiot was inside.

I bolted toward the wreckage, shoving aside burning planks and shattered beams with my bare hands like a madman, as my heart pounded in my ribs.

"Bearlo! Bearlo!" I called as I dug deeper, splinters slicing into my palms.

But I didn't care.

I went through the wreckage faster.

Not because I was worried, of course.

I had just… invested way too much effort into that oversized red mutt for him to die now. Training, feeding, emotional manipulation and all those things take time, damn it.

And more importantly, he knew too much. If Bearlo died and his soul got dragged into Vael'runn's underworld?

Yeah. No thanks. I already had one cosmic asshole on my list and definitely didn't need my loyal house-cat-bear becoming an accidental informant.

"Bearlo! If you're dead I'm killing you again."

Finally, after tossing aside one more slab of wood, I saw him.

Bearlo.

The bastard was lying on what used to be his bed, broken in half, crushed under a whole stack of fallen debris…

…and the fool was still asleep and even snoring now.

I just stood there, staring at him like he was the most infuriating bastard the universe had ever produced.

And then I kicked him sideways. "Get up, you bastard."

Bearlo's eyes cracked open, unfocused at first before settling on me.

He blinked once and then twice.

"Good morning… my liege?" he asked, tilting his head in confusion. "What's happening here?"

The idiot was buried under half a house, woken up by me literally kicking him out of his crushed bed…

…and that was his first question.

"My marriage is happening, you fucking bastard," I snapped, my voice flat with exhaustion.

My fingers were bruised and bleeding, my palms shredded from digging through splintered wood.

My front was half-burnt from the blast, every bone in my body aching like I had been tossed into a furnace and pulled back out.

And through all of that smoke, fire, debris and the very real possibility of his corpse, I had been trying around like an idiot to save my investment.

And what do I get?

Good morning.

Absolutely fantastic.

A perfect, beautiful, wonderful morning indeed.

"Marriage? With whom, my liege?" Bearlo asked, his voice genuinely curious.

This fucker.

He had to be doing it on purpose.

Right?

Still, I had met my quota of Bearlo-related stupidity for the day, so I forced myself to ignore him before my blood pressure killed me faster than anything ever could.

I took a deep breath and scanned the wreckage.

Someone had done this.

Someone had thrown those explosives straight into my room deliberately.

And then I saw him.

Standing awkwardly behind a tree.

A familiar human.

He flinched the moment my gaze landed on him.

Ah. Found you, you little shit.

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