"An unfamiliar ceiling…"
Aslan lay on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling of his room.
Though he had only spent one night under Scathach's guidance, Aslan felt as if months had passed.
Yes, it felt like being beaten for months, nearly dying multiple times each day.
A teacher like Scathach was truly unbearable for ordinary people.
Thinking about how these days would continue, who knows for how long…
Aslan felt his future was incredibly bleak.
He wanted to run away.
But after a moment's hesitation, Aslan ultimately didn't flee.
He chose to get up and face this new day.
"Good morning, Leticia."
Dressed in a black-and-white gothic maid outfit, Leticia gave a slight nod to him.
"Good morning, Master. Breakfast will be ready soon."
"However, it seems Miss Karyou hasn't woken up yet, so please, Master, go call her."
As she spoke, Leticia gave him a sweet smile, though it carried a hint of distance.
Hearing this, Aslan's hand, which was about to pat Leticia, froze. He nodded awkwardly.
"Good grief, why is Karyou still sleeping at this hour?"
As he spoke, Aslan couldn't help but show a mischievous grin. He planned to prank Karyou.
To make sure Karyou wouldn't keep lazing around in bed.
As for Leticia, she calmly went to prepare breakfast. She didn't want to be the cause of any influence on the relationship between Karyou and Aslan.
And because of a certain perverted Baron, she disliked pedophiles who were drawn to her current appearance.
Though she knew full well that her appearance was incredibly cute.
Creatures like pedophiles should just stay in prison!
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On the other side, in Karyou's room, Aslan quietly opened the door.
He saw the girl inside, her head buried in the blanket, sleeping sprawled across the bed.
Seeing Karyou hiding under the covers, Aslan couldn't resist showing a wicked grin.
"Absolute Freeze!"
He slipped his hand, freshly chilled from ice, into Karyou's blanket and placed it on her neck.
"You could've killed me!"
Karyou jolted awake instantly. She stared at Aslan with a confused expression, completely unaware that the strap of her nightgown had slipped off her smooth shoulder.
Karyou was currently wearing only a thin nightgown.
"You're grown up, but you're still pulling boring pranks like this."
"Are all men this annoying?"
However, Aslan didn't respond right away. His eyes were fixed on the other strap of Karyou's nightgown, which was about to slip.
If Karyou moved just a little more, that strap would fall too.
Seeing him not responding immediately, Karyou followed his gaze and noticed the strap on her shoulder.
She froze for a moment, a bit confused.
(One side's already slipped, showing plenty. And you're staring at the other side that hasn't fallen yet?)
(Is this strap really that fascinating?)
Karyou gained a deeper understanding of just how annoying men could be.
"If you want to look, just look openly. Don't sneak around."
After all, she had already been touched and seen before. Their relationship had long been established.
Especially after the hot spring incident a few days ago, Karyou had thought it over.
Just treat it like being bitten by a dog.
So she relaxed about it. After all, this was something she'd face sooner or later.
"Are you serious?"
Hearing her words, Aslan was thrilled and asked in surprise.
"No!"
Karyou snapped irritably, pulling up her strap, getting out of bed, and heading to the vanity to get ready.
After brushing her hair and putting on hair accessories, as she prepared to change clothes, Karyou turned around.
"Why are you still here?"
"Didn't you tell me to look openly?"
Aslan said with a hint of sadness, a trace of regret on his face.
He shouldn't have asked, "Are you serious?"
If he hadn't, he might've actually seen Karyou change openly.
Then he was promptly thrown out with a pillow.
*BANG!*
Karyou slammed the door shut and started changing.
As for Aslan, he stood outside, hugging the pillow, waiting for her to come out so they could eat together.
Honestly, he felt the relationship between him and Karyou was developing strangely.
For some reason, it felt like a married couple, but also like siblings, and sometimes like enemies.
But it didn't feel like a normal couple or fiancés.
He and Karyou hadn't even held hands up to now.
The development of this relationship felt incredibly odd.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
After a lively breakfast with Karyou, Leticia, and Kurousagi, Aslan went to play games with Karyou.
The strangest fact was that Little Garden actually had internet? Can you believe that?
Even No Name was covered.
A place without electricity somehow had internet?
The Gift used to access the internet was extremely expensive, and the signal was unstable, though the speed was decent.
But if you thought about it, signal fluctuations made sense when someone was fighting in Little Garden.
As for who managed the internet? Who else but Thousand Eyes.
How else did Thousand Eyes gather so much information?
But due to concerns about information leaks and the high cost, its popularity in Little Garden was so-so.
Its utility wasn't as great as in the information era. It was tightly regulated. The network's reliability in Little Garden was worse than roadside gossip.
If you wanted accurate information and intelligence services, buy them offline from Thousand Eyes.
So, it was mostly used for gaming. And the internet cost was exorbitant—100 Thousand Eyes Gold per month.
As for Kurousagi and Leticia, they weren't idling like Aslan and Karyou.
All of No Name's affairs fell to them.
"Big Brother Aslan, someone named Lauis is here to see you."
While Aslan and Karyou were engrossed in gaming, Lily's voice suddenly came from the door.
"Lauis? Who's that? Do I know him?"
Aslan was stunned, unable to process for a moment. He turned to Karyou.
Karyou saw his confused look and explained.
"You weren't here a few days ago, so you might not know. Lauis replaced Aishelia as the leader of Perseus. Probably around the time you were out."
"It was a big deal back then. Even Shiroyasha stepped in to mediate."
"But Aishelia ended up falling to Demon Lord status. She took most of Perseus's Gifts, along with all the Legacy Gifts, and ran off."
Karyou had heard it was quite a spectacle. Many people watched.
Who would've thought Athena's proud knight and the leader who brought Perseus to its peak, Aishelia, would end up like that?
But such a huge scandal was suppressed by Thousand Eyes and the Greek Pantheon.
"But I don't know why Perseus is looking for you."
Karyou eyed him suspiciously, quickly considering possibilities.
"I heard before Aishelia fell, she was working with you. Could it be…"
Seeing the gossip-hungry look on Karyou's face, Aslan couldn't help but flick her forehead.
"Don't think weird things. It has nothing to do with me. I only met Aishelia once."
"Let's go see."
Aslan put down his controller and waved his hand.
Karyou, however, wasn't interested. After all, this was Aslan's community business, and she couldn't be bothered to get involved.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Wearing a casual shirt, brass Hermes boots on his feet, and his originally neat golden hair now half-dyed black.
Especially that slight sneer and arrogance on his face.
This was Perseus's new successor? Why did Aslan feel like Perseus was doomed sooner or later?
No wonder in the original story, Perseus ended up like that, even getting erased from the roster by Izayoi.
Lauis left a terrible first impression on Aslan.
But because of his cooperation with Aishelia, despite his poor feelings toward Lauis, Aslan was still willing to give him a chance to interact.
However, Lauis, sitting on the white sofa, clearly had no intention of peaceful interaction.
The moment he opened his mouth, Aslan knew he came with bad intentions.
"Hey, No Name, I'm giving you a chance to ally with Perseus."
"As long as you return the Demon Star you obtained through despicable means."
Lauis spoke recklessly and arrogantly. In his eyes, Aslan's community was no longer the Arcadia of old.
It was just a No Name that had lost its name, without even a flag, and its main forces gone. How could it be called a community?
It was just a mess stitched back together with Shiroyasha's help.
Only Leticia and that moon rabbit still had some value.
Of course, Perseus's current state wasn't much better.
But compared to the No Name community, it was still far superior. At least Perseus could still produce Gifts for sale.
Now, because of Aishelia, Perseus had lost all its Legacy Gifts except the Demon Star Algol, which was used as compensation.
Perseus currently had no strength to sustain a Four-Digit-level community. So, to stabilize their position, Lauis had to take back the Demon Star Algol.
How could a Legacy Gift be given away so easily? That was Aishelia's mistake!
Lauis thought angrily.
Allying with a community that lost its name was already giving Aslan and the others enough honor.
What more could they be dissatisfied with?
"This isn't the attitude for negotiation."
People would laugh when they were speechless. Aslan was like that now. He burst out laughing because of Lauis.
He had no idea what kind of mindset Lauis had to say something like that.
Did he not recognize Aslan, the one who created the legend of saving the world the fastest?
Or was he simply not qualified to know?
Looking at Lauis, Aslan couldn't help but show a hint of pity in his eyes.