Queen's Residence, Corridor.
*Swish!*
Riezel's figure appeared here once again, returning to the place where he had originally departed.
"Huu..."
Only then did Riezel finally let out a long breath, as though slowly releasing the frustration that had been weighing on his heart.
"Master."
Lilith appeared almost immediately, suddenly materializing in front of Riezel. However, upon seeing him sigh, her entire mind became tense.
"Did something happen, Master?"
Lilith spoke in a low voice, a cold glint flashing through her eyes as though she were already preparing to slaughter whoever had caused him trouble.
It was obvious that this female demon had misunderstood the situation.
"I'm fine..." Riezel shook his head at Lilith. "I'm just a little disappointed, that's all. Don't worry about it."
"Disappointed?"
At those words, the cold glint in Lilith's eyes turned into confusion, as she did not understand what Riezel meant.
"Go back and get some rest." Riezel didn't explain and simply smiled at Lilith. "I said I'm fine. It's already over, anyway. There's no point in thinking about it anymore."
Hearing that, Lilith still wanted to ask something, but after noticing that Riezel was in a poor mood, she simply nodded lightly before vanishing from the corridor.
It was only because she was in front of him that this female demon would be so considerate.
After watching Lilith leave, Riezel patted his face, making himself look a little better before returning to his room.
At this time, Lizbeth and Euryale had surprisingly not gone to sleep yet.
Euryale was sitting on the bed while hugging the blanket, playing around with her shadow sword.
Lizbeth, meanwhile, was pacing back and forth with an anxious and worried expression.
When Riezel returned to the room, Euryale turned her gaze toward him, while Lizbeth also stopped pacing.
"Master! You're back?"
Seeing Riezel return safely, Lizbeth happily went up to him.
"What? You two have been waiting for me this whole time?" Riezel reached out and naturally rubbed the little princess's head. "You could've gone to sleep first."
Lizbeth shook her head without saying anything and silently nestled into Riezel's arms.
Riezel had not returned, and she did not know who he had gone to meet or what might have happened.
How could she possibly have fallen asleep with peace of mind?
"Hm?"
Euryale also got out of bed and came over to Riezel.
At first, she tilted her head and examined him for a while before suddenly reaching out and copying his earlier action, gently rubbing his head.
'What... is this girl doing?'
Riezel was puzzled.
"Master..."
Just as Riezel was still feeling puzzled, Lizbeth's timid voice came from within his arms.
"Are you... unhappy?"
Her short question left Riezel speechless after his initial surprise.
"...Why do you say that?"
Riezel continued rubbing the little princess's head, neither confirming nor denying it, merely asking softly.
"It feels like you aren't in a very good mood..." Lizbeth raised her head and carefully looked at Riezel's expression. "Normally, you would have already started teasing us by now..."
As she said that, Lizbeth's face reddened, and she looked rather embarrassed.
It had to be said that Riezel had indeed become much more shameless than before. Ever since he and Lizbeth and Euryale had tasted the 'forbidden fruit,' he seemed to have developed quite a taste for it, and almost every night, he would come up with different ways to tease and bully both of them.
Lizbeth, in particular, had a shy personality that always seemed to hit Riezel's weak spot, making him unable to resist teasing her whenever he saw her.
As a result, he had even developed all sorts of different 'games' to play with her.
If the current Riezel were to appear in the world of Danmachi and Loki happened to see him, that shameless goddess would immediately realize that he had fallen into depravity.
Immediately afterward, she would run around the entire room, shouting at the top of her lungs and announcing it to everyone, making him die of embarrassment on the spot.
After all, that shameless goddess had been trying to separate Riezel and Ais for more than just a day or two.
In any case, after all this time, Lizbeth had already seen through Riezel's wicked heart, so she also knew that her bad master particularly loved bullying her, and loved doing so far too much.
Under such circumstances, Riezel had actually returned without immediately trying to tease her, so she naturally noticed that something was wrong.
As for Euryale, although she looked as though she understood nothing, she was actually quite perceptive.
For that reason, she had clearly noticed Riezel's mood as well, which was why she had reached out to rub his head, trying to comfort him and soothe the frustration in his heart.
"Sorry for making you two worry..." Riezel said with a bitter smile. "Don't worry. I just ran into something unpleasant. It's nothing serious."
He lowered Euryale's hand and, taking the opportunity, pulled her into his arms as well, embracing the two women who had developed the closest relationship with him.
Neither Lizbeth nor Euryale said anything.
Both of them obediently leaned against Riezel's chest, allowing him to enjoy the warmth and softness of the two women in his arms.
If others saw this, the scene would have looked rather warm, yet also somewhat unbelievable.
After all, whether it was Lizbeth or Euryale, both of them carried the bloodline of Reinnail within their bodies. As such, they were members of the royal clan from the ancient magic civilization, possessing noble and exalted statuses to the point that their bloodlines were even more noble than those of Yanivette and Charlotte.
It would not have been an exaggeration to call Lizbeth and Euryale the most exalted people in this world.
If they had lived during the era of the ancient magic civilization, or within the Hidden Land that had inherited the ancient magic civilization, the two of them would undoubtedly have been the most extraordinary among the extraordinary.
They would have been princesses whom no one could surpass, with men swarming around them like flies.
How could they possibly have ended up being monopolized by a single man like this, with the two of them together?
Thinking about that, the inexplicable frustration in Riezel's heart actually dissipated considerably.
"Well, let's go to bed."
Riezel finally smiled again as he spoke to the two women in his arms.
"Mm..."
Lizbeth obediently nodded.
"Mm..."
Euryale seriously imitated Lizbeth.
Riezel immediately pinched Euryale's little nose before taking both their hands and lying down with them beneath the blankets.
Just like that, the three of them snuggled together, but they did not behave as recklessly as they had before. Instead, they simply enjoyed each other's warmth within the peaceful atmosphere.
"Master..." Lizbeth spoke quietly. "Did you know Ms. Yanivette's identity a long time ago?"
"What?" Riezel asked, puzzled. "Are you really that concerned about her identity?"
"A little..."
Lizbeth pursed her lips.
"I don't know why, but I always have this feeling that she is someone who has been by my side for a very, very long time..."
"How to say it, she feels very close to me... Although I don't really understand it, she should be a member of the Theresis family, right? They come from the same origin as the Theresis Clan mentioned on the stone tablet in that ancient ruin, right?"
Unlike Riezel, Lizbeth had never seen the murals in the territory of the Theresis Tribe, so she only knew bits and pieces of what had happened.
However, at this point, even the little princess had sensed that Yanivette had a very deep connection with her—or more precisely, that their bloodlines were intertwined in countless ways.
But...
"Those are all things from the past, so you don't really have to worry about them."
Riezel spoke as he held Lizbeth in his arms.
"Looking at her, she should become the queen of this country. As for us, we're just passing through."
"Once we get into the royal library tomorrow, find the documents and records related to the Kazdel Mountains, and gather the information we need, we'll leave here and head for the Hidden Land."
"So, you don't have to worry too much about her."
"Go to sleep."
"We'll be getting down to business in another day."
Hearing Riezel's words, Lizbeth thought about it for a while before finally relaxing her expression and nodding.
On the other side, Euryale had already closed her eyes and fallen asleep.
Not long afterward, steady breathing could be heard from both sides of Riezel.
Holding these two women, who were exceptional in every regard, in his arms, Riezel thought for a moment before suddenly turning his attention to the Dimensional Magic Cube in his mind to check his remaining dimensional energy.
[Dimensional Energy: 307]
He remembered that the last time he had activated dimensional travel to a designated world and returned to the world of Danmachi, he had possessed 366 units of dimensional energy.
Dimensional travel to a designated world required ten times the dimensional energy, so after traveling to the designated world of Danmachi, he had been left with only 66 units of dimensional energy.
Afterward, he had spent 200 days in the world of Danmachi, accumulating another 200 units of dimensional energy.
After returning to the Akasha Continent, another month or so had passed, so his dimensional energy had once again exceeded 300 units, reaching a total of 307 units.
Looking at his remaining dimensional energy, Riezel closed his eyes before immediately issuing a command.
'Activate the dimensional channel.'
Immediately, the transparent cube within Riezel's mind began to rotate.
[Instruction received—initiating the activation of the dimensional channel.]
[User is detected carrying unique items from this world—if you wish to bring them, it can be accomplished by consuming dimensional energy.]
[A list of unique items has been compiled—please proceed with your selection.]
[1: Divine Arcana]
[2: Cursekiller]
After receiving the thought-based notification, Riezel glanced at the two items on the list before directly assimilating them both.
[Item selection completed—starting execution...]
[Items assimilated successfully.]
[Sufficient dimensional energy—initiating the construction of the dimensional channel.]
[Successfully constructed.]
Opening dimensional travel consumed 30 units of dimensional energy, while assimilating the two items consumed another 45 units of dimensional energy.
As a result, a total of 75 units of dimensional energy was spent, causing Riezel's dimensional energy to plummet from 307 to 232 before finally stopping.
At the same time, the transparent cube in Riezel's mind broke apart into countless transparent squares. As they rotated and interlocked with one another, they gradually transformed into a stairway of light that extended toward the void.
[Opening the dimensional channel—completed.]
[Collecting information from the dimensional channel—completed.]
[Searching for information that closely matches the world on the other side of the channel from the user's memory—begin organizing.]
[Successfully organized.]
[Connected World: Jujutsu Kaisen]
[Time Scale: 1:300]
[Attention! Dimensional travel is the descent of consciousness in which the user's consciousness is materialized in another dimension. While the death of the consciousness after materialization will not affect the user, the dimensional travel will conclude at the time of death.]
[User is advised to act with caution.]
As the messages in his mind came to an end, Riezel, his eyes still closed, once again embarked on a journey to another world.
===
[A bonus chapter for reaching 400 Power Stones]
[Support and get early access to upcoming chapters at: patreon.com/VALRRR]