Darian and Niara focused on their own tasks. They went off to a corner, and then Darian pulled out that primordial weapon — it was the greatest treasure they could get in that place.

Using his power, Darian first completely removed all the corruption embedded in the blade.

That blade had been made from a claw of the Divine Dragon, but it had been shaped and polished in a way that made it resemble cold white metal. On top of that... it was terrifyingly sharp and nearly indestructible. No natural material in any universe could surpass it.

Unfortunately, after cleaning it all off, only three broken parts of the sword remained.

They were almost perfectly the same size. No blacksmith could work with that blade, and the weapon's own will said it was impossible to reforge.

"Well... looks like the perfect size for three daggers..." Darian muttered.

The sword didn't have a long or wide blade — its size was just a bit bigger than normal when compared to a dagger. It was enough to make three slightly oversized daggers.

The two of them focused — Darian using the rune he'd received, and Niara using her bloodline. They quickly reshaped the three pieces, sharpening them precisely into dagger form.

At the bottom, as he thought about what to use for a handle... three leaves from the World Tree fell and drifted toward them.

"My leaves are quite tough and soft," Athven's voice said softly, and Darian nodded.

He wrapped the three leaves around the hilts, creating a grip to hold the daggers.

With his eyes glowing, he tested them. The daggers he used before would get a bit of his dark power in the blades, and when the rune seal was activated, they'd become insanely powerful.

He moved the daggers and threw them forward, aiming at the ground, using only the power from his ring.

**CRACK!**

The ground shattered and twisted. Countless fissures spread in all directions, nonstop.

"Damn... they've got power like the rune-sealed daggers."

He took a deep breath. Those older daggers, the ones from the assassins, had a power limit because they were made of low-grade materials. These new ones were already starting out with that same level of power — without anything added.

In the future, once Haruto could create rune seals... he was scared to imagine what these three daggers could do.

Then he tested infusing his dark power. He poured in a little... then more... and more... and didn't stop.

Until he did — but not because he couldn't.

"This... I can pour in everything I've got endlessly, and it holds," Darian murmured, even more stunned.

Before, he only poured in a little bit of power into his daggers — not by choice, but because they couldn't take more than that and would explode after a single strike. But these new daggers... he felt like he could pour in everything he had, and they'd still hold.

Excited by the upgrade, Darian stored away his three supreme daggers. He was sure he could make it all the way to nine rings using them — and they'd still be just as useful as now.

It all took less than twelve hours. Then, Niara and Darian were left with nothing else to do while they waited.

At that moment, a strong smell hit Niara's nose. She turned abruptly. There was Lucius, with his Summoner, cooking in a huge cauldron.

The Mannaz needed to rest, eat, and sleep to get ready. So someone had to handle that part too.

She looked over at Darian, who nodded. So she ran closer and waited eagerly for the food.

...

Niara ate and ate like never before, along with all the other Mannaz.

When it was over, everyone went back to their prep, while the two of them had already finished.

Niara walked with Darian, and the two of them sat on a small distant hill, watching everyone in focused silence.

Darian wanted her to sleep and relax, but she didn't seem to want to — and her mood was glowing. Darian could feel it from her, without quite knowing why.

They sat there in silence, very close to each other, feeling just a bit more at ease.

Until...

"Darian, do you... do you still see me as a wild and clueless woman?" Niara asked softly, her eyes fixed on the far horizon, not looking at him.

Darian gulped. He felt like this was some kind of twisted female trap set just for him. "Can I not answer?"

"No," she shot back, her voice firmer now.

"If I tell the truth, will you get mad?"

He tried the tactic he'd learned from his own sister: if the answer was "yes", the truth was "no". If it was "no", the truth was "yes".

Niara turned her face toward him, a tiny smile playing on her lips. "I can't promise anything."

That was a sneaky, unexpected hit. He took a deep breath and muttered:

"Ah, well... I don't think..."

"Tell the truth!" Niara demanded, a dangerous glint in her eyes.

A chill ran down his spine. "I don't really know... I've never thought about it that way... I'm scared of giving you an imprecise answer and pissing you off."

"If you don't say it now, I'll be furious right now," Niara snapped, her eyes sharp and a clear trace of resentment showing.

Darian cleared his throat. "Ahem... honestly, it's not like it was bad. I... I liked the way you used to act. Even if sometimes it was a little... uh, let's say, 'unexpected'. But it was you being yourself. I never expected you to change."

He said it as gently and sincerely as he could.

She lowered her head, silence stretching out painfully. Darian felt completely helpless.

Niara took a deep breath. Truth was, Darian never really seemed to care about her doing whatever she wanted or teasing him. But... she had this gut feeling that if she kept being exactly like before, he would never look at her romantically. He'd just see her as a partner who played around with no limits.

Now that she stopped to think — a rare moment for Niara — when did this feeling start? When did she start feeling like this?

She couldn't say for sure. Maybe there was never a clear moment. Day after day, being together... that seed just started to grow. Altogether, they'd been close for about a year, but those were intense, full-of-life days. And those days alone were enough to make her not want to ever leave his side again.

She got lost in those thoughts about her feelings.

Meanwhile, Darian would've been sweating buckets if he were in his real body. He felt like a prisoner waiting for execution, with no date set. The axe could fall at any moment, and he had to be ready. No room to relax.

Niara finally turned to him... seeing the sheer panic in his eyes, she smiled faintly.

Darian didn't care if strangers hated him, but if someone close got even slightly upset with him, it was torture.

Niara could feel deep down that Darian needed to be sure she — and everyone he loved — was always doing their best, was always okay. It was almost an instinctual desperation, like a constant search for that. But... why was he like that?

"You... what's wrong?" Darian asked, startled. A reflective, quiet Niara was unnatural. The world felt like it was about to flip upside down.

"What? I went out of my way to learn from your little sister. And you don't even praise me, and still act like I didn't do anything..." Niara said, a small smile on her lips. Her smile was beautiful, but there was a touch of sadness in it.

That smile hit Darian straight in the heart.

"I'm sorry. You did an amazing job and tried really hard," Darian said sincerely. Not having a family, not having any female figure to look up to — that must've been incredibly tough for her. Now, seeing how much she'd changed since being welcomed into his family... it was incredible.

Darian realized Niara wanted to learn because of how he reacted. But the initiative had come from her. Lucy, his sister, just taught her social skills and how to behave — things Niara had never had a chance to learn before.

Niara looked into his eyes, already guessing a bit of what he was thinking. She scoffed. She changed because she wanted to grow. Darian only pushed her to seek the best version of herself.

Then... Darian murmured softly:

"Just... don't hold yourself back all the time. Knowing how to act in certain situations is great, sure. But when we're alone and safe, don't restrain anything... or I'm the one who loses out."

Her eyes widened.

She saw in his eyes that he really did miss that side of her — the wild, untamed Niara she'd tried to hide.

"You idiot," Niara muttered, a smile breaking out, tears welling up in her eyes. "Why'd you have to treat me so well? Now... I don't even know how I'm supposed to hold myself back..."

Darian froze. He knew he was absolutely screwed now. Why the hell did I say that?!

But... she just hugged him gently, without saying anything else. No hint of anger at all.

A few moments later, he heard a voice in his mind, like a faint echo: 'You're the one who told me to let loose sometimes…'

And when he heard that... the cold sweat came back.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.