During the ti Agus stayed inside Gara’s dinsional ho, he only contact Gara once to let Sebas co and go.
"Is Sebas actually male or female? The na sounds masculine, but he’s called a ’bat maid,’" Gara muttered to himself, puzzled.
More than two weeks passed before Agus finally returned.
His journey had taken far longer than expected. Not because the distance, but because he’d spent most of his ti observing everything along the way.
Coming back, this was the first ti he t the mansion’s residents.
"Honored Sir Agus, allow to introduce myself. I’m Gara’s mother or rather, I’ve been the one raising him since he was little," Wina said politely, then gestured beside her. "This is Della, the maid who helps us take care of the house."
"Just call Sir Agus without the formalities, Mrs. Wina," he replied kindly.
Still, no matter how friendly his tone, his aura —one that belonged to soone centuries older despite his youthful face— was impossible to hide.
After exchanging pleasantries, Wina and Della excused themselves. They planned to wait until Gara returned from class.
anwhile, Agus could clearly sense that there were more presences in this mansion than the two won.
But whatever the reason was for not introducing them, he decided not to pry. Not yet.
The elder vampire waited patiently, sipping the warm Niskara tea served to him, a perfect drink after days in the cold air.
"To feel air this cold outside Mount Palapa... I must truly be within the mist, in a different part of the continent," he murmured in awe.
By his third sip, the longue door opened, revealing Gara, Madha, and Fian. The three always seed to co as a set.
"Why don’t you rest in your room first, Sir?" Gara asked.
"My body isn’t that tired," Agus replied casually.
Wina had offered him a room earlier, a special one prepared just for him, but there was no way he could rest with so many things he wanted to discuss.
Besides, the couch here was comfortable, the view of the side yard was refreshing, and the warm tea had already washed away the last trace of fatigue.
This mansion, he thought, could almost rival his own— built and renovated countless tis over hundreds of years.
The only difference was the furniture. Sparse, simple, even plain.
He didn’t know, of course, that most of the furniture in this lounge had only been moved in a few days ago.
Across from him, the three young n had already taken their seats.
Without wasting ti, Agus reached into the cloth bag beside him and pulled out a large folded sheet of parchnt.
When he unfolded it, the paper spread across the entire table, almost as long as Sebas.
"This is an old map," he said, "from thousands of years ago, before the mist covered most of the continent."
Gara stared at it, amazed and a little shocked.
But Agus wasn’t done yet. He pulled out another map, slightly smaller in size. "And this," he continued, "is a copy of the old one."
Gara compared the two. The newer one had several unfamiliar lines drawn across it. Lines that didn’t exist on the old map. He held his question, not wanting to interrupt.
"These lines..." Agus pointed at them, as if reading Gara’s mind. "They represent the outer road."
"The outer road?" Gara echoed, still confused.
"The road I walked through— it really exists inside the mist. It’s on the map. This is that road. And this," Agus said, his slender finger pointing to a small mark he’d drawn on the new map, "is where this manor stands."
Not only Gara, but Madha and Fian were also stunned by his statent.
"Even though we already guessed this place was inside the mist, seeing it marked on an actual map... it makes it feel real," Gara murmured.
"And look," Agus continued, his eyes gleaming with excitent, "this road doesn’t go in a random direction. It leads straight toward one of the nearest border villages from here. Jagun Village, Swargaloka Province. Only about a hundred thousand ters away."
’Before, the road length was a hundred fifty thousand ters. After leveling up, it beca two hundred fifty thousand. That’s an increase of a hundred thousand ters. Just one more level up and it’ll reach the village,’ Gara calculated silently, almost stunned by his own thought.
But he couldn’t tell Agus that. Not yet. He didn’t even know how to trigger another level-up, better not to give the old man false hope.
"Sir Agus," Gara said carefully, "I just want to make it clear. My identity is a sensitive matter. This dinsional space is a protective space for and my family."
That reminder made Agus pause.
He had been too focused on the fact that this area existed inside the mist yet was sohow untouched by it, without realizing that this entire place belonged to the young man before him.
Gara owned it.
Agus looked at him for a long mont, his gaze unreadable. Gara tensed, wondering if the man —whose power far surpassed his— was about to force sothing.
"I’ll officially appoint you as the lord of this territory," Agus finally declared, his tone solemn. "Since it’s quite far from Swargaloka Province, this area can stand as its own province.
Swargaloka doesn’t have one leader. But this province won’t have to follow their rules. And if you don’t want a lord system, you’re free to establish any form of governance you wish. The choice is entirely yours."
It was an enormous and liberating offer. Gara could appoint soone else as the spokesperson while keeping his and his children’s identities hidden.
He could even build a territory that accepted every race, Devils or otherwise, without discrimination.
The idea sounded almost too good to be true. But Gara knew, nothing ca without a price.
"I’m not sure when my Talent will improve —or if it even can— but before that happens, I need to ask. Everything you just said, Sir Agus... it’s not free, is it? I’ll have to give sothing back to the kingdom."
Agus suddenly stood up. "From what Madha explained earlier, I believe you three are unaware of a certain fact."
The young n exchanged confused glances. Agus didn’t elaborate.
"I’ll show you directly," he said.
...
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