"Here. Your egg," Arima said and put down the egg in front of the sky dragon. The large beast picked the egg up with telekinesis and covered it with his body as if he was trying to protect it.
"Thank you," he bowed his head
"It's okay. If you want to repay me, please look at this," Arima projected a map in mid-air with magic. "You see that location here? There's a war going on. I want you to go and help a bit."
"Which side?"
"The Kingdom, of course. The Empire is not even a country anymore."
"Hum, well, if you ask. I will gladly do it. But why don't you do it yourself?"
"I'm lazy," Arima replied unhesitatingly.
"…" The dragon was speechless in front of his shamelessness.
After returning the egg to the dragon, Arima directly left to the Alliance. He visited Niria and offered her the unconscious Pope.
"Thank you very much," she exclaimed in a very excited voice.
"What will you do with him?" Arima questioned with a strange expression.
She tilted her head. "I'll torture him, of course," she stated as if it was obvious.
"Y-yeah, right…" Even Arima became awkward because of her sincerity. He glanced at Alex next to her who for once let go of his expressionless face and sighed helplessly. Arima forced a cough and looked away. "I'll borrow the smithy for a bit."
"No problem. Use it freely."
Arima started working on the orichalcum the moment he reached the smithy. He first refined it with Night's help. Coating something with orichalcum was actually pretty easy but it took time. He started off with Karma.
He just had to dip the blade into the melted orichalcum and hammer it until the metal 'magically' fused with the sapphire, which wasn't really a metal, but it worked the same. Technically, that sapphire was an alloy after all of the alterations it underwent during Karma's forging process back in the old world.
For the frame of the guns, it was even easier. Because to fuse orichalcum and mithril, only magic control was needed. The biggest problem resided in the barrels made of adamantite. After dipping it, he had to re-ream and re-rifle it after hammering it again. For the bullets, it was as simple as it would get. He just melted the already existing bullets and mixed the melted adamantite and orichalcum into a mold.
He finished in a day. When he left the smithy, he stumbled upon Niria who was waiting for him at the exit.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm here to tell you that the Alliance has already begun to integrate with the humans," she said with a smile.
"Already? That was faster than I thought."
"It's because a sky dragon suddenly appeared in the battle and wreaked havoc. We still don't know why though."
"Oh, seems like he got carried away," Arima mumbled and Niria's fox ears twitched.
"Carried away?"
"Nothing. That's all you wanted to tell me?"
"No, actually someone wants to meet you," she shook her head and pointed at a little girl standing beside her. She had pointed ears, red eyes, and small fangs.
'She's from the demon race,' Arima said inwardly. "Now that I think about it, she's here from the beginning. Who is it?"
"My mom," Niria answered with a bright smile.
"Sorry?"
"My mom," she repeated herself without changing her expression.
Arima scrutinized the little girl then Niria again. His head moved back and forth. Night did the same and they both repeated the same motion a few times.
"…I'm impressed," he finally opened his mouth and Night nodded.
"About what?"
"I always thought that loli mothers were just a legend," Arima blurted out.
"What's a loli?" The little gi… Niria's mom asked.
Arima observed her and squinted his eyes. "You don't need to know. What is your business with me?"
The loli demon scowled but soon remembered why she had come to meet him. "I'm here because my husband, Free City's King, along with the Elven King and the Human King all want to thank you for your good work."
"I understand. And?"
"And we want to give you something in return. To be frank, you're the person who was behind the scenes of basically everything. If we don't reward you, one way or another, we will feel like the whole continent is yours."
"I see, what do you want to give me?" Arima followed.
"We know that you don't need any money or materials after we saw the capital's treasuries bei-"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Arima interrupted her and feigned ignorance.
"Y-yes…" The loli wore an awkward smile. "In the end, we want you to make a demand and we will do our best to meet your expectations."
"Something I want? I don't think there's something..." Arima put his hand on his chin and contemplated for a moment. He suddenly thought of something after a few minutes of awkward silence.
"I heard that if at least two different rulers recommend someone to the guild, they can promote their rank. I want you to promote me to S rank."
"We can do that… it would mean that we'll have to owe a small favor from the Republic, but that's fair enough for a reward after your plundering," she muttered and Arima's lips twitched at the end of her sentence. "What about your title then?" She asked afterward.
"My title?" Arima was unaware of what it referred to.
"When a mercenary is promoted to S rank, he is given a personal title. I would like to know the title you want."
"Oh, I see. You can choose it yourself. I don't have any idea," Arima nonchalantly waved his hand and the loli slowly nodded her head.
"I understand, we'll find a title that suits you. It should be done by tomorrow. You can go check at the guild by then," she said and left almost immediately.
Arima bid goodbye to Niria and then visited Elia and Lifa one last time. The King had a meeting with the Human king so he wasn't there. He was most likely going to explode the second he learns that he had visited.
Right after, he went to see Jorga.
"How are you supposed to fulfill the favor you promised me if you leave the continent?" That was the first thing the serpent asked.
"It's okay if you call me. I'll come back immediately."
"You do realize that the continent you're going to is at least five thousand kilometers away, right?"
"It's okay, I can teleport back unless you call me when I'm in a fight or in a situation where I don't have enough mana." Arima naturally replied.
"Well, it's true but… you didn't have spatial marks last time I saw you. You're growing fast… So? Why are you here?"
"I'm going to the Republic for a day. Can you train Night a bit in the meanwhile?"
"Ah?" Night exclaimed. "Wait! I never heard about that!"
Arima ignored him. "I want to you to help him break through to the eighth level."
"Don't ignore me!"
"Sure, I can do that," Jorga accepted and Night grunted.
"All right. [Altera Rationem Terram] (Next Dimension Territory)," Arima chanted and a colossal amount of mana poured out of his body. He then disappeared from the forest along with Jorga and Night.
***
Arima was smiling and Jorga and Night were scowling at him.
"What happened?" Jorga asked with a puzzled voice. He was sure that he felt something like teleportation but he realized that he was still inside his forest.
"Keeping things short, I brought you in a parallel dimension by creating a rift in space. It's one of my trump cards. In here, I can use my strongest magic without worrying about killing millions, and I also can detain people here. But I can only sustain it for around a day until all of my mana is spent," Arima explained.
Night and Jorga listened with blank eyes. They were on the same side at the moment. Staring at Arima as if he was a monster. Although Jorga lived for thousands of years, he never invested his time into dimensions. But he knew that it wasn't something a person should be able to do so easily.
Arima clapped his hands. "Have fun," he laughed and exited the dimension. Jorga and Night were left alone. They looked at each other and Night helplessly transformed into a dragon.
"Let's go, we have twenty-four hours," Jorga said and smirked.
***
Arima reappeared in the forest and directly made his way toward the Republic. Before arriving, he made sure to hide the mana that was surging out of his body.
In the city's streets, no matter where he looked at, he could see merchants selling products.
"That's a marketing country for sure," he remarked and his eyes fell on a certain booth. He approached it as if he was in a trance.
"Hey, can I buy all of that?" Arima beckoned the owner and pointed at a case full of white chocolate.
"Yes, five golds for everything."
Arima easily gave the coins away and left with all of the chocolate. He began to eat it while sightseeing. He had a day to wait to get his S rank designation so he decided to go to the library one more time. This time, to look for information about the continent where he was about to go.
He kept reading until noon and he went to sleep at an Inn straight after. He was too tired because he hadn't slept before taking care of the Pope and his mana was continuously leaving his body to maintain the connection with the other dimension.
***
Meanwhile, in a big room, three people were sitting around a table. One of them was a fox man, another was an elf, and the last one was human.
"What kind of title should we give to a guy like that?"
They were in the middle of a heated discussion.
***
The next day, Arima woke up realizing his connection with the other dimension was severed. He promptly teleported to the Great Forest.
When he arrived there, he saw Night lying on the ground. He had successfully broken through the eighth level. His body had become bigger. His scales and claws looked stronger and his wings' nets seemed toucher as well. The red lines on his body also became brighter.
"You worked hard."
"Yeah…" Night replied while gazing at the sky with a deadpan face.
Arima turned toward Jorga. "Thanks for your help."
The serpent laughed. "I don't mind it. It was a refreshing experience to train someone, so you don't have to thank me."
"I see. Let's go, Night," Arima called and Night groaned before returning to his wolf appearance which was also bigger than before.
"Until next time, Jorga," Arima waved his hand and returned to the Republic. He went to the guild along with Night and walked to one of the receptions.
"Hello, I'm here to update my rank and register my soul beast," Arima told the receptionist. He was taking the occasion to register Night and give him an official identity while receiving his rank.
"Welcome, your card please," the receptionist requested. When she took the card and saw the information on it, she froze and then searched hurriedly for a paper on her desk. She looked at it with a serious face. "Wait a moment, please."
A few minutes later, she came back with a silver card in her hands and handed it to Arima.
"Congratulations on your promotion, sir. You're now an S rank," she smiled and bowed politely.
"Thank you," Arima grabbed his card and put it away. "What about my soul beast's registration?"
The receptionist took out a form. "Can you bring your soul beast here?"
"Sure."
Night usually stayed outside because he was too big to use the door. In the end, Arima teleported him inside. The receptionist wrote the information about Night on the form and issued another card.
"By the way, I'm supposed to have a title, right? What is it?"
The receptionist smiled uneasily. "It's written in your card, didn't you see?"
"Oh, my bad. I didn't pay attention," Arima took out his card and read it carefully. "…Huh?"
***
At the same time, in a white room accommodated with only a fireplace, a table, and two sofas were seated the old god, Azes, and the unknown goddess, Zesta.
"Have you looked at what that human has been doing recently?" She asked while drinking some unspecified beverage.
"No, I had work to do," Azes replied nonchalantly.
Zesta slammed her cup on the table. "He destroyed a country already! He has no record in the human world and no soul imprint. If it continues like that, he will be noticed by the other Gods. No, I'm sure one of them already did."
Azes laughed. "What a promising human."
Zesta sighed. "Do you know the title they gave him?"
"Hm? What is it?" The old man was curious.
"They called him…"
***
"Kind Demon?" Arima read his title with a raised eyebrow. "What the hell is this? No wonder that receptionist was so awkward about it."
He had already left the guild and was now moving through the streets with Night.
"Isn't that good? It describes you well. Whether it is the 'kind' part or the 'demon' part," the black wolf commented.
Arima glared at him and stored his card. "It's here," he looked at the front and changed the subject. They had arrived at the harbor of the city. He looked around and saw many docked ships.
"It's time to go," he cracked his neck. "It's been a long time since I had this much expectation about something."
"Which is?"
Arima's smirked. "I want to meet stronger people. Have fun, you see."
Night exhaled loudly then grinned as well. "Then let's go. What are we waiting for?"
Arima chuckled and the two resonated together. They flew off toward the sea and the sonic boom startled everyone in the city. They only managed to spot a shadow gradually moving away from the coast.