Chapter 22: Reunion (III)

“What are you thinking?”
On the sofa in the room filled only with the two of them, the girl sat sideways, leaning slightly against the boy’s chest, and asked softly.
“Nothing… I’m not thinking of anything…” The boy sighed lightly. The long-absent tenderness made him feel much more relaxed, his tense nerves easing just a bit, as if a ship that had sailed for ages at sea finally found the guidance of a lighthouse and entered a harbor called home.
“Thos…”
“Mm!”
“Thos…”
“Hm?”
“Thos…”
“I agreed…”
Looking up secretly at the boy’s puzzled expression, the girl smiled playfully, sticking out her delicate pink tongue before burying herself against his chest and murmuring, “Yes, you agreed…”
Seeing her slightly disappointed expression, Thos gently stroked her hair and said softly, “I’m sorry…”
“Mm-hmm,” she shook her head, then looked up with a sincere smile and said gently, “For me, it’s enough that you’ve returned safely…”
“Dia…”
Noticing the boy’s eyes still filled with undeniable remorse, the girl kindly changed the subject and said softly, “Thos, have you met Mace?”
“Mace?” Thos didn’t understand what she meant and asked curiously, “What’s that?”
“It’s not some ‘what’!” Reaching out, Dia playfully scratched Thos’s cheek, her expression filled with an inexplicable enthusiasm as she said softly, “Mace is a very cute girl. Well, she’s Sister Abel’s daughter. She’s two years old this year—really cute!”
Thos’s expression shifted slightly as he murmured, “Is she Professor Hode and Sister Abel’s daughter?”
“Mm. That’s why her name is Mace—it means ‘longing.’ You must have met Sister Abel, right? Wasn’t she very sad?”
“Why do you say that? I just saw her look angry…”
“Was it because she saw Thos? Actually, no,” she shook her head and gently stroked the boy’s face, saying softly, “When she saw Thos, Sister Abel was actually very sad because seeing Thos reminded her of Professor Hode. You know, ever since Ulrit brought back the professor’s ring, Sister Abel has been suppressing her sorrow. It wasn’t until she returned to Vandel that she locked herself in her room and cried for a long time…”
Thos couldn’t help but feel amused and exasperated at the same time. Sighing, he said, “No wonder she seemed so angry whenever she saw me…”

“She’s not angry with you,” Dia shook her head and looked at Thos cunningly, speaking softly. “Actually, thinking back, Sister Abel hinted at it to me these past couple of days. It’s just that I was too stupid to understand… She told me that if that jerk comes back, I must not forgive him easily. Even if I forgive him in my heart, I must never say it out loud. I have to make him… hehe… make him say a bunch of flattering words…”

Recalling what Abel had said when he first met her in Vandel, Thos couldn’t help but smile bitterly. “Hey, that’s not shifting anger onto someone else!”

“It is shifting anger,” Dia said playfully, then sighed softly and whispered, “Actually, Sister Abel is the one who really wants to do this. It’s just a pity the professor hasn’t returned…”

“So…” Thos hesitated, looking at Dia, and asked slowly, “So have you forgiven me?”

“Ah…” Dia giggled, looking into the boy’s unique eyes, then shook her head slightly. Under the boy’s slightly disappointed gaze, she said gently, “There’s no such thing as forgiving or not. Before you left, you told me you were going on a trip. I watched you leave… It’s just that this trip took a little longer than expected…”

“Dia…”

Thos instinctively tightened his grip on the girl’s arm, as if sensing something. The girl’s expression became slightly panicked. She looked into his eyes, her cheeks turning slightly red, and subconsciously lowered her head. Then, mustering courage, she raised her head and slowly closed her eyes.

Watching her trembling eyelashes and slightly red lips, Thos couldn’t help but hold Dia tightly, lowered his head, and gently kissed her.

The taste of being apart for three years seemed to carry a hint of bitterness, like tears, perhaps with a touch of fresh sweetness—cold and cool…

“Clap, clap, clap!” At that moment, applause came from the door of the room.

“Ah!” With a gasp, Dia suddenly opened her eyes and looked toward the door. Seeing Allen leaning there, watching them with interest, her face turned red. She tried to get up from Thos’s arms but found he was holding her tightly. Helpless, she closed her eyes tightly, held her breath, and buried her flushed face in Thos’s neck, not daring to look up again.

“You jerk!” Thos gritted his teeth. To be honest, due to the increasing influence of Sloth, he hadn’t experienced strong emotional fluctuations for a long time. But this time, looking at Allen’s smiling face, he wished he could swallow him whole.

“Hey, no need to look like a demon, right?” Facing Thors’s fierce expression, Allen instinctively raised his hands and said with a half-smile, “I knocked before coming in!”
“But we didn’t hear it. Isn’t that the same as not knocking?”
“Hey,” Allen shook his head, caught between laughter and exasperation, then casually knocked a few times on the door with his right hand and said cheerfully, “Did you hear it this time?”
“You!” Thors rolled his eyes and glared at Dia, who was buried deep in his chest, too afraid to look up. “Can’t you show some awareness?”
“Is it really necessary?” Shrugging, Allen walked into the room without hesitation and sat down on the sofa across from Thors.
Seeing his utterly oblivious expression, Thors snapped, “If we swapped places and it were you and Lisa in this room, I wonder if you’d still be so carefree!”
“Hey, that’s not right,” Allen said with a smile, raising his right hand. “Dude, don’t forget—Operelles is an open city. Things like what you just described are super common here. I’m not lying; you’ll see for yourself when you visit Operelles. It happens everywhere. As for me, I’m not afraid, and neither is Lisa. You can try it yourself if you don’t believe me.”
“…” Thors was truly speechless. He covered his forehead helplessly and said irritably, “Alright, alright. What do you want?”
“Abel sister sent me to call you. Her exact words were, ‘That brat’s been in there for over an hour. Is he planning to do something bad? Allen, go get him out!’ So I came over…”
“…” Seeing Allen’s smug expression, Thors felt the girl in his arms bury herself even deeper into his chest, too afraid to move.
“Okay, okay,” perhaps realizing Thors was about to lose his temper, Allen spread his hands in surrender and said seriously, “Actually, it’s like this. That cardinal from Salonia you brought along—his name is Bang… Bang…”
“Bang Hamsworth!”
“That’s right! Right now he’s discussing strategies against Argus with the elders of Vandel. That pope of Salonia is really useless—he’s completely intimidated by Abel sister and doesn’t dare say anything. So Abel sister sent me to call you. After all, you’ve been in Salonia for three years and were once a cardinal—you must know quite a bit about the Church…”

“Well…” Thors nodded in understanding. Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly felt the girl in his arms move slightly. She kept her head bowed low, pulled at Thors’ sleeve, and whispered in an almost inaudible voice, “If you have something to do, go ahead first…” Her face turned red as she bit her lip slightly, looking at Thors with a pleading gaze. Perhaps she really couldn’t bear to remain in such an intimate position in front of Allen.

“Hmm, okay then!”

Watching Dia hurriedly retreat into the inner room, Allen chuckled and whistled jokingly.

“You guy,” Thors said helplessly with a sigh, “It’s been three years, but you’re still the same—unchanged at all!”

“You’re wrong. I’ve changed a lot. For example, I got married,” Allen said with a teasing smile before fading it away and looking at Thors. “It’s good that nothing has changed. But you’ve changed a lot. I heard from that priest that the dark power inside you is the same kind as Argus’—the Ancient Will…”

“That guy is so talkative!”

“Hehe, I told you. That guy is completely useless. Whenever asked anything, he spills everything!” With that, Allen stood up and tilted his head at Thors.

Understanding, Thors followed him out of the room and toward the meeting room. As they walked, Allen lowered his voice and said, “That guy said the Ancient Will isn’t something fun at all. It’s a darkness even worse than demons. I’ve seen its power before, but the price is way too high, isn’t it? Thinking back, you actually grabbed my knight’s sword with your right hand that day. Hey, are you even human?”

“You’re not human!” Thors rolled his eyes in exasperation.

“Hey!” Allen said cheerfully, habitually putting his right arm around Thors’ shoulder, “Now I’m relieved. I guess it won’t be long before we meet that guy, Scott. We three should get together properly someday…”

“Oh, didn’t you say you and Scott are of different classes?”

“Sigh, it’s because of our statuses. During the time you were away, Scott and I agreed that no matter what happens in the future, we’ll still be friends—closest friends!”

“What touching words…”

“Hey, no need to mock me like that. I’m telling the truth…”

In jest, they saw Vandel’s reception room, where people were sitting in small groups. Most of them were the elders Sos had met before when he came with Professor Hode. In addition, there were Abel, the vampire Ulric, and the newly ordained priest Bon Hamsworth.
“Hi!” Ulric nodded slightly in a peculiar gesture. He seemed very happy to see Sos and began singing hymns in a off-key tone, but before he could say a word, Abel silenced him with a sharp command.
Waving at Sos, Abel said, “Come here, Sos. These are Vandel’s elders—those you’ve met before!”
“Mm!” Nodding, Sos showed a rare obedient demeanor and bowed to the elders as a mage would.
“Hehe,” said Bernie Giffes, the eldest elder leaning on a cane, smiling and nodding. “It’s Soren! You’ve grown so much since we last saw each other!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Abel snapped, “Didn’t I say it’s Sos? Are you going deaf?”
“Uh,” Bernie Giffes mumbled, head lowered like a child at fault, amid the snickers of the other elders. “I’m getting old; my memory’s fading… Names are just too hard to remember. If it were from written records…” Suddenly energized, his face turning red, he excitedly looked at Sos and said, “Speaking of magical texts, do you know what the most mysterious magic is? It’s spatial magic. To talk about spatial magic, we must start with dimensions. This dimension is divided into ‘places’ and ‘surfaces’…”
Watching the elder ramble on about the theory of spatial magic, Sos couldn’t help but recall the first time he met this elder, when he had to listen to him talk for ages.
With a wry smile, Sos said helplessly, “You’ve already talked about this before, Elder Giffes!”
“Oh, I have?” Giffes was stunned. He lowered his head and stroked his gray beard, saying with a pained expression, “It’s not simple, young one. Well then, I’ll tell you my latest research findings. I believe there’s a certain relationship between spaces, even across different timelines. Don’t you understand timelines? Timelines are four-dimensional worlds, spaces with time lines. Speaking of this, we must discuss the meaning of space—space is a dimension, and a dimension is divided into ‘places’ and ‘surfaces’…”

Under the wry looks from Thors and Allen, Eber shook his head, pulled Elder Jives to a seat, and said irritably, “Enough! I’ll let you explain the meaning of space to them later. Stay put for now!”
“Very well…” Elder Jives couldn’t help but show a hint of anticipation.
“What a shame!” One of the elders shook his head with mockery, then turned to Thors and said, “Kid, are the pawn puppets I gave you still useful? I heard your soldier puppets successfully advanced to king puppets? Haha, I wasn’t lying to you—soldiers represent infinite possibilities!” This was none other than Professor Kilbard, the famous alchemist who had given Thors, Allen, and the others the pawn puppets back then.
“Mm!” Looking at the old man’s proud expression and recalling the past, Thors also couldn’t help but smile slightly, saying with respect, “They are indeed remarkable works!”
“Hahaha!” Professor Kilbard stroked his beard contentedly, his face full of pride, and said, “Actually, it’s nothing special. Puppets are just inanimate objects. What’s remarkable is you, kid! It’s your power that brought change to the soldier puppets! But then again, being able to create such exquisite puppets, I might be the most accomplished alchemist in history, ahaha…”
As soon as he finished speaking, one of the elders snorted and said sourly, “It’s just a few trinkets made according to ancient ruins’ blueprints. What’s there to be proud of? If it’s an achievement, it belongs to the ancient mechanical civilization of Meikand—not you!”
“Huh? What did you say?!” Professor Kilbard’s eyes widened instantly as he blew on his beard and glared at the elder who spoke.
“What? Am I wrong?”
Seeing the two Vandel elders acting like children over such a trivial matter, Thors and Allen exchanged a glance and couldn’t help but feel a sense of sighfulness.
Indeed, no matter how powerful these elders once were, they were no longer strong enough to fight against Agus. Not only were they old, but they had also grown accustomed to a peaceful and ordinary life of research, their minds filled with advanced magic studies. They probably even forgot the most basic spells…

“Enough!” Watching the chaotic scene, Abel’s patience reached its limit. He slammed the table and said in a stern voice, “Shut up! I called you here to make a decision, not to argue. What kind of behavior is this?” With a threatening look, he glanced at Father Bond, who was stunned. The latter immediately picked up a teacup on the table and pretended to drink tea, acting as if he hadn’t seen what had just happened.

Seeing the elders murmuring like children, Abel couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. He softened his tone slightly, waved at Thors and Allen, and said, “Find a seat… Thors, you seem to know the most about Argus’s power. Go ahead and tell us what level his power is at right now.”

“What level…?” Thors, sitting by the table, hesitated and said, “It’s hard to say. Argus is already a full-fledged apostle. His power comes from the ancient will, Mammon…”

“What about under normal circumstances?”

After thinking for a moment, Thors said uncertainly, “It should be beyond that of an ordinary archmage!”

“Beyond an ordinary archmage?” Abel was clearly surprised. Frowning, he asked, “So if he fully unleashes his power, it’s even more than that?”

“Yes!” Thors nodded.

“Beyond an ordinary archmage…” Professor Kilbard said emotionally, “It’s hard to imagine that humans can reach such a level. Logically, for humans, an archmage should be the ultimate limit…”

Indeed, as humans, their capacity is too limited. Even an old archmage who has dedicated decades to magic, no matter how talented, remains just an archmage. Some might think there are also holy archmages above them, but holy archmages are not a symbol of strength but of honor. They are usually granted only to great figures who have made outstanding contributions to humanity or the empire. Their true power level is still that of an archmage.

“Has a human who has entered the realm of gods finally appeared?” Elder Welman, who had met Thors and the others before, also spoke emotionally. “Is Argus really that powerful? If his power is already enough for him to enter three-dimensional space, then he’s like a god. How could a human possibly do that?”

“That’s not the case,” Sos explained, shaking his head. “The power of an Apostle comes from the ancient will that made a pact with him. Fundamentally, a complete Apostle is no longer human, but they’re not demons either… The power of an Apostle itself might be weak, so they can’t be considered to have reached the realm of gods!”
“Hmm, that makes sense,” Elder Welman said with relief. “If Argus could reach the realm of gods on his own, then we wouldn’t be able to deal with him.” Then, as if struck by an idea, he said excitedly, “What do you think of calling humans who have reached the realm of gods ‘demigods’?”
Unfortunately, Abel quickly dampened the elder’s enthusiasm with just one sentence.
“We’re talking about Argus now—stop bringing up unrelated matters!”
“Oh, okay…” Elder Welman murmured dejectedly. “It’s a nice idea, though… demigods…”
Glancing at Elder Welman, Abel looked at Sos with anticipation and asked in a peculiar tone, “Sos, to be honest, as another Apostle, can you defeat Argus?”
Seeing the hint of apology in Abel’s eyes, Sos took a deep breath and, as if making a vow, said firmly, “The power of Apostles is roughly the same, but this time, I definitely won’t lose again!”
“Is that so?” Seeing the confidence in Sos’s eyes, Abel inexplicably felt relieved and murmured, “That’s good…” Then she glanced at the others and said solemnly, “Then, as we planned before, let’s organize an army to counterattack Sassen and fight Argus in a decisive battle!”
“A decisive battle?” Sos was taken aback.
“Do you think Argus will fight you one-on-one this time? This is a battle that concerns the entire country, even the entire human world!” Abel sighed slightly and turned to Allen. “Allen, Argus’s demonic army can’t be dealt with just by Vandel and Operelles together. We need a stronger army to help…”
“A stronger army, huh…” Allen said thoughtfully, glancing at Sos. “Then there’s only Altak and Galic. The fortress of Lorn has to guard against the orcs in the west, so they probably won’t be of much help. But Altak previously said he would remain neutral…”
“The Church’s crusaders are also excellent armies…” Father Bon interjected.

“It’s none of your business! — Our empire can handle its own affairs; we don’t need the Church to interfere!” Glancing at Father Bond, Aibel turned to Allen and said, “That’s it then, Allen. Set off for Altak tomorrow and tell them to hold a coalition meeting in Vandel in half a month. I hope they’ll attend! — You must persuade them!”
“Go to Altak?” A faint smile appeared on Allen’s lips as he glanced at Thos and said cheerfully, “Let this guy come with me. His words are far more persuasive than mine!”
Aibel looked at Allen in confusion before nodding and saying, “Alright, Thos, go with Allen!”
“Go… to Altak?” Thos’s face showed signs of discomfort.
To be honest, he didn’t want to go there at all, because there was someone he didn’t want to see… Well, rather, for some reason, someone he was afraid to see…