In the end, after eating and drinking their fill, Lucian and Castorice sat by the campfire together.
Castorice, knowing that Lucian was unaffected by her curse of death, no longer kept her distance from him like before.
Now, they sat facing each other, staring into the fire in silence.
"Where are you headed next, sir?"
After several minutes of silence, Castorice took the initiative to ask.
"Seriously, don't call me 'sir,' just call my name." Lucian replied while poking at the fire with a branch. "As for where... I'm just a wanderer, so I have no real destination."
In truth, he had only one goal for coming here—to stay by Castorice's side and complete the script. Naturally, if his intentions were too obvious, he worried she might get suspicious, so he simply played the role of a wanderer to get closer to her.
"I see... So we're the same kind of people... I'm wandering too..." Castorice, mimicking Lucian by picking up a branch and poking at the fire, said softly. "In that case... Lucian, would you like to travel with me?"
She had finally met someone she could touch, so she really did not want to let this chance slip away.
Who knew how long it would take to meet the next person who could touch her?
"Well, I never say no to an invitation from a beautiful lady."
Lucian reached out with his branch to tap the one in Castorice's hand as he voiced his agreement.
Castorice smiled and tapped Lucian's branch in return, showing she appreciated it—though inwardly, she breathed a sigh of relief.
It was only natural, since this was, after all, the first time Castorice had invited someone to travel together, and the one she invited was a man at that, so it had taken her a lot of courage to ask Lucian.
Luckily, Lucian agreed, and he even seemed quite happy about it.
"So... where are you headed?"
Still watching the fire, Lucian asked casually.
"I'm going to look for the Death Titan, Thanatos..." Castorice replied softly. "I want to ask why they cursed me."
Upon hearing this, Lucian was silent for a moment before speaking up.
"Let me tell you a story."
Lucian already knew the plot and what was going on.
Castorice had a younger sister in her previous life named Polyxia.
Both of them were successors to the previous Death Titan, but to pass the trial to obtain the power of the Death Titan, they had to take the life of a family member with their own hands.
In other words, one of them must have taken the other's life.
In the end, the older sister willingly offered up her heart so the younger could become a god, becoming the next Death Titan.
After Polyxia became the Death Titan known as Thanatos, for some unknown reason, she didn't lose her memory, so the first thing she did once Era Nova arrived was use alchemy to revive her sister and even gave half of the Death Titan's authority to her.
As expected, the unexpected happened.
With only half her authority, Polyxia died tragically upon entering the mortal realm, and Castorice was left with only the authority to grant death.
As a result, both sisters led miserable lives.
Lucian told Castorice this story to see how she would react, but...
"If that's the case... I would definitely forgive Thanatos..."
As she spoke, Castorice actually smiled, clearly because she was impressed by Lucian's so-called story.
"Thank you. I like your story, but thankfully, it's not real."
Who could stand to see their own sister die such a tragic death?
Castorice did not want to believe Lucian's story about her, thinking he had made it up only to comfort her.
However, upon hearing Castorice's words, Lucian's temper flared.
He couldn't help it.
After all that honesty, she called it fake?
"If you don't believe it, then see with your own eyes." Lucian stood up, his face serious. "Let's go to Styxia. Follow the River of Souls to its source, and you'll find Thanatos."
"How do you know that?" Castorice looked up, her eyes clear and sharp. "Are you... actually Thanatos?"
"Bruh, what kind of logic is that..." Lucian couldn't help but chuckle, then reached out and flicked her forehead. "Anyway, are you coming or not?"
Castorice held her flicked forehead with both hands, then nodded lightly.
"I'm coming."
Just like that, the two set off together on their first journey.
===
"By the way, what year is it in the Light Calendar now?"
As Lucian and Castorice walked side by side across grassy plains, Lucian asked while observing the surroundings.
"Year 3900." Castorice answered instantly.
"3900..." Lucian muttered softly, staring blankly at the sky. "It's already this late, huh..."
"What do you mean, 'late'?"
Seeing Lucian looking distraught for the first time, Castorice raised her eyebrows and asked gently.
"No, it's nothing..." Lucian sighed and shook his head. "It's just that... there are some things I won't be able to do in time..."
He actually wanted to know how far along the story of Tribios in this script was.
Unfortunately, by the year 3900, the Flame-Chase Journey had long since begun, so the Chrysos Heirs had already suffered through centuries of hardship, and most of them had perished.
'I wonder if the Godly Bandage can restore the split Tribios...'
If he ever got the chance to meet Tribbie and the others in this script, he would definitely give it a try. Of course, this script's protagonist was still Castorice, so his focus had to stay on her—he couldn't get distracted.
As they walked, Lucian suddenly stopped and gazed at Castorice.
"Cas, you have a map? Let me see."
Upon hearing Lucian suddenly call her by the intimate nickname 'Cas,' Castorice's cheeks flushed slightly.
Castorice silently took a deep breath to calm herself, then quickly pulled out a world map of Amphoreus from her bag, with the positions of all the city-states marked on it.
"Styxia has long since been destroyed, and the River of Souls now surrounds it, making it an isolated island." Castorice pointed to a location on the map as she explained. "Now, no one can cross the river to enter."
It was also because of that, for all these years, she had never gone back to Styxia, her actual homeland. In fact, she only knew from her foster mother, Amunet, that Styxia was actually her homeland.
"Even if you can't die, entering the River of Souls means being entangled by the dead and dragged into the abyss."
Castorice continued, looking worriedly at Lucian, trying to dissuade him from taking the risk.
"Just give me your hand and close your eyes. I'll give you a surprise."
Lucian, paying no mind to Castorice's talk of danger, spread his hands and spoke confidently without a hint of fear.
Castorice, however, had her cheeks redden again upon hearing about holding hands, clearly feeling shy. Funnily enough, she always wanted to touch a living person, but she also wanted to act reserved when she had the chance.
In the end, Lucian, noticing Castorice's shyness, grabbed her hand, put an arm around her slender waist, and gave her a gentle smile.
"In one second, we'll land on top of the city wall at the marked coordinates."
*Whoosh!*
As soon as Lucian's words fell, Castorice hadn't even recovered from the shock of being grabbed around the waist when the scene before her suddenly blurred and dimmed.
In the next second, Castorice found herself in an unknown place, Lucian still embracing her as they stood on top of something like a city wall.
Where they stood was a dark and gloomy place, with not a single ray of sunlight—only the purple glow from the River of Souls lit up the surroundings. Both of them could also hear the low whispers of the dead, murmuring something unintelligible.
Below them, souls indeed drifted through the waters of the river beneath the wall. Some had been dead for so long that they could no longer reincarnate, their consciousness completely erased, becoming mere wandering souls.
"Um... Can you put me down?"
A timid voice came from Lucian's arms.
Lucian looked down and met Castorice's beautiful, bashful eyes.
Seeing Lucian calmly looking straight into her eyes from such a close distance, Castorice quickly turned her gaze away, a blush spreading across her cheeks. As the heat on her face neared its limit, she gently pressed against his waist, hinting that she wanted to be released.
"See? I didn't lie to you."
Lucian, chuckling inwardly, spoke calmly while releasing Castorice from his embrace, acting as if nothing had happened.
"Mm, this is the place..." Castorice, regaining her composure, looked around and nodded lightly. "But how did you do it? Just now... your speed—only the Demigod of Trickery could manage that... but the Demigod of Trickery is..."
"You just need to know that I'm strong, stronger than anyone." Lucian flashed a confident smile. "In other words, you can rely on me all you want."
Such confident words were as if there was nothing in this world he couldn't handle, which made Castorice, affected by them, suddenly want to rely on someone for the first time.
In the end, the two walked against the current of the River of Souls, walking for a long, long time—so long that Lucian lost track of time until they finally reached their destination.
At the river's source, they found a dragon—it was a massive, pale purple-white dragon with wings on its back, looking like a Western dragon.
Needless to say, the dragon was none other than the corpse of the Death Titan Thanatos—also known as Netherwing, or Pollux.
More importantly, since the corpse was lodged in the current, it had become a barrier across the River of Souls, halting the water's flow.
"Well then, watch me work a miracle."
Lucian spoke calmly and took out a white bandage from nowhere.