The dragoness was on a time limit, but she was not hasty enough that she needed to make a decision in that same instant. So after bidding Money goodbye, the dragoness returned to Kali's side and nodded. "We are done here. Thank you for your patience."
Kali smiled gently and turned to look at Lady He. "Let's continue. Sorry for the wait."
Lady He smiled widely and waved her hand. "You have nothing to feel sorry for! It was an extremely interesting time. Also…" She looked at Yasenia and sincerely praised her. "You are one of the most beautiful beings I've seen. I am truly in awe of your charm."
Yasenia looked at her and smiled, making her eyes very lightly crinkle. "Thank you."
That light crease felt like it was tickling the onlookers' hearts, teasing them as they knew the absolutely gorgeous smile hiding behind that veil.
An spoke with a proud smile. "See? I told you hiding behind a veil was a good idea!"
Lady He got interested and asked. "Oh, she wasn't wearing one at first?"
An rolled her eyes. "Forget about wearing a veil; she had a dress with a MASSIVE cleavage! I could feel the drooling around me as the air humidity moistened!"
Kali teased. "Are you sure it wasn't yourself?"
An's proud face instantly changed to a deep shade of red as she stuttered. "T-THAT'S NOT A VERY NICE THING TO SU-SU-SAY, MISS KALI!"
Yasenia remembered and said. "Right, Lady He, could you do me a favor?"
Lady He nodded. "Of course. As long as it is something within reason."
Yasenia looked at Money and asked. "Could you send a letter with my address to Money whenever you can? I would like to keep in contact."
Lady He nodded. "No problem. The moment you choose a room, I'll send a letter to her."
Money's ears twitched, and her lips arched very faintly.
Valeria's eyes very discreetly moved toward the corner of the room for a second before they left, but she ignored it later, not saying anything.
When their group left the place, a man appeared in that corner of the room. The man was young-looking, with long hair that ended in a dropping ponytail. His clothes were elegant, with a touch of modest luxury. 'Hm? Did that tall green lady spot me? That should be impossible, no?'
The man rubbed his beardless chin. 'That dragon woman… her soul has been afflicted by a poison… my poison.'
"Master?"
The young-looking man looked over and smiled. "Hey, Little M, how are you doing?"
Money blinked twice. "You were here the whole time, Master?"
The man, Ayanduin, smirked. "Yes. The second they entered your shop, I felt quite a few extraordinary presences, so I was around, just in case. This is your first task outside that place, after all."
Money hummed. "Sorry."
Ayanduin smirked. "It's good that you apologize. You wanted to sell them everything to get me out? Tsk, tsk. You are too young to be scheming in that manner, Little M."
Money shook her head. "No, I wasn't apologizing because of that."
Ayanduin blinked. "Oh."
Money smiled. "For doubting that you cared about me."
Ayanduin raised his elegant eyebrow. "I wasn't expecting an apology for that, but I'll accept it. I wouldn't bother keeping you as an apprentice if I wasn't fond of you, Little M." Money nodded and smiled.
Ayanduin looked toward the door and smiled. "The things that dragon told you are quite nice as well, keep them in mind."
Money asked, curious. "Will you meet her as she wants? She should have enough money to buy what she wants, no?"
"Well…" Ayanduin rubbed his chin. "To be honest, I feel that getting involved with her will be quite a bit of trouble. Who knows if she will try to scam me and rob me!? Tsk, tsk. Youngsters these days are very daring and vengeful."
Money caught something from that and asked, feeling suspicious. "Did you do something to Senior Yasenia?"
The young-looking man coughed. "How could that be, Little M? Do I look like the type who would poison someone just for my own benefit because I really could not bother getting out of that heaven-damned Secret Realm the normal way as it would be ridiculously tedious!?"
"..."
Money deadpanned so hard, that even the Transcendent Level cultivator's eyebrow twitched. "What?"
"Master, you should apologize to Senior Yasenia. She did nothing wrong."
Ayanduin paused and smirked. "Oh? You are so sure of that statement. Do you know who that woman is in the world she comes from?"
Money blinked and shook her head. Ayanduin laughed. "It seems that she is the cause of a World War that killed billions. Now, she basically rules that planet, or, well, the Astral Sky Alliance she built rules it."
Money blurted. "Impossible. How could she be the reason for such a massive genocide? She looked so gentle and pretty!"
Ayanduin looked at Money and asked. "Did she?" He asked with a squinted gaze. "Did she look like that when she made you kneel, Little M?"
Money closed her mouth, looking down as she could not really answer that question. Ayanduin commented. "Although, I won't blame her much. However, if she wants to buy the antidote for that poison she has, she will have to work a bit harder. I don't have anything against her, but she is not an innocent and pitiful soul that I involuntarily harmed. She is a mass killer with rivers of blood following her steps. Her hidden killing intent is… powerful. Higher than mine, and that should tell you a lot."
Money muttered. "I can't believe it… Is she really that dangerous?"
Ayanduin waved his hand, taking out a crystal. Money blinked. "Oh? A [Soul Analyzing Crystal]?"
The Transcendent Realm senior commented. "This was pointed at her during the whole stay, so it should show enough for you to believe me."
Money took the crystal and looked at it. In the next instant, her vision expanded, and thousands of images flashed in front of her. The images were about the universe, war, or family. All of them depicted a very unclear part of who Yasenia was.
Once Money looked at it, the crystal burst into particles. Money's body was soaked with sweat as her legs gave away, and she fell to her knees. "H-How can she give such a gentle aura when she is so… cold-blooded?"
Ayanduin hummed. "Probably, because there wasn't just a murderous psychopath in those visions, right? I haven't seen it since those crystals are one time use, but you should've seen a part of what makes her able to be so warm, right?"
Money remembered all the beautiful and loving feelings from the family images and nodded. "She is… very loving toward her family."
The Transcendent Realm man smiled. "There you have it. She is not a mindless animal that kills everything around her. She is a psychopathic animal that slaughters everything that endangers her family, who she probably treasures more than herself." Ayanduin looked at Money and smiled. "Either way, she looks like she can resist the poison for a few more years. Let's keep her around and see if she becomes aggressive as her time starts to run out~."
Money frowned. "Master, do you have any intentions of helping her?"
"Oh?" Ayanduin looked up at his tall disciple and asked. "After seeing all of that, you still want to help her?"
Money nodded. "I do. She was very gentle with me, and it didn't feel like an act."
Ayanduin shook his head. "It wasn't. I was similarly surprised. I heard that she killed quite a few people before arriving here. An entire city fell into chaos or something because they tried to court her? Something like that. Either way, she is capable of creating strong bonds and capable of love and compassion. However, she is very extreme in her retaliation. She must've been raised very strictly and probably have been told to kill all her enemies so that no bad weeds could remain and harm her later."
Money frowned. "Is that good? Or is it bad?"
Ayanduin shrugged. "Who knows? That thinking has led her to conquer an entire World, even when she is only a few decades old. Either way, I'll go now, bye~."
Money's eyes widened, and she muttered. "A few de-decades? She is younger than me!?"
Meanwhile, Yasenia's group was walking toward the inner area. They were not hasty, so they took a few hours. People didn't bother them on the way, thanks to Lady He's and An's presence. So, while the dragoness could feel several nasty gazes landing on her, she was not worried.
Valeria spoke through Spiritual Sense to Kali, Yasenia, and the maids. 'I think Ayanduin was in that shop. I am not too sure, though.'
Yasenia asked. 'Why are you doubtful?'
Valeria explained. 'My sense toward life is incredibly strong. So, I could feel that there was one extra presence in that shop other than those we could see. Still, it was behind a veil created by some kind of skill or treasure. Therefore, I couldn't analyze it.'
Kali commented. 'A person strong enough to hide from you leaves very few people to be suspicious about. Guessing that it is Ayanduin is the only reasonable deduction.'
The dragoness sighed. 'If it really was him, then we are in trouble. There are two options now. The first one is that he is the very protective type, and now he is going to try to take revenge on us because I made his disciple kneel. Or he is the easy-going one, and he will make sure that encountering him is extremely difficult.
Kali asked. 'So… What do we do?'
Yasenia shrugged. 'Ayanduin knows we are here. He probably knows why I am here. So, if he wants to show, he eventually will. If he doesn't want to show… Well, we'll have to go forward with Tatyana's plan and sacrifice Distancia… Wait.'
Yasenia stopped walking and everyone else followed. The dragoness rubbed her forehead and asked Valeria. 'How many years did you say those herbs in my ring needed before you could use them to create the antidote?'
Valeria blinked and realized. 'Oh… Three years…'
Yasenia looked at the sky and sighed. '... What do we do? We could've stopped the journey the second Soluna used her powers to weaken the poison…' '
Kali laughed aloud. "This is so stupid! Hahaha."
Lady He blinked and asked. "What's wrong, Miss Kali?"
Kali looked at Lady He and laughed a bit more. "Nothing, nothing. We just realized something that we had completely forgotten about. This makes things super easy, hahaha."
An saw the relief and happiness in Kali's expression, and she asked. "Is it a good thing?"
Kali nodded and hugged Yasenia, burying her face in her softness. "It is a very good thing, haaa. I am so relieved. These last few months have been nerve-wracking."
The dragoness hugged Kali and smiled gently. "Sorry for worrying you, Honey."
Kali shook her head. "No. All is good. That's all that matters."
Valeria looked at the dragoness and asked. "So? What's the plan?"
Yasenia smiled. "We stay here. I want to meet Ayanduin regardless."
Valeria raised her eyebrow. "Are you sure? You don't want to see your children take the first step in their cultivation journey? They are going to turn 18 soon, and according to their growth rate, they should be mature enough to start their Spiritual Cultivation Path."
The dragoness nodded, her eyes showing struggle. "I am sure. They will eventually need to fly out of the nest. If they complete the first step into the cultivation path when I am not there, their sense of reliance on my presence during their cultivation journey will not be as strong…"
Valeria smiled. "That's an admirable decision that not many parents would be able to make, Yasenia."
An blinked a few times and blurted. "You have children!?"
Yasenia smiled widely, her eyes arching in a gorgeous manner. "Seven of them and one adopted pretty girl~!"