"For the love of Chaos, this place absolutely sucks," Vee groaned, slouching over like she was on the verge of death.

"Well, walk faster then," Camilla snapped, clearly annoyed.

"Hey, don’t you dare give me attitude after I literally just saved your life!"

"Tsk. You did not save my life."

"The hell I didn’t! You were completely out of mana and were about to be eaten alive by a green drake!"

"That only happened because there wasn’t even supposed to be a drake here in the first place!" Camilla countered defensively. "This place isn’t supposed to have any other monsters besides the knights. Then, the next second, the entire outer city wall vanishes, half the district is completely gone, and the other half is suddenly swarming with monsters! But the stupid zone suppression stayed active... because of course it did."

Camilla rubbed her temples, her frustration peaking. "I mean, how are we even supposed to find Malakai and Yuki in this absolute hellhole?"

"Calm down, airhead. We have a tracker pointing straight to their locations, so we will find them," Vee said. But then her expression dropped, her furry rabbit ears flopping over sideways. "...I hope."

"...That is not very uplifting, now is it?"

"Hey, I’m trying to remain positive here, okay?"

"How exactly is that positive, Vee?"

"Whatever," Vee muttered, rolling her eyes.

The two continued navigating the living metropolis, but the deeper they went, the quieter it became. The silence was even more heavy and oppressive than before.

"This place is a total ghost town," Camilla noted, cautiously scanning her surroundings. "There hasn’t been a single knight patrolling the area since we got here."

Creak!

The two of them froze instantly, their bodies stiffening.

"What was that?" Camilla whispered.

"I don’t know, Camilla..."

Fixing their eyes on the direction of the sound, they slowly crept forward, ready to fight whatever was lurking in the dark. Vee took the lead while Camilla followed closely behind, her crimson magic at the ready.

When they finally arrived at the location of the noise, they found nothing. Relieved, the two girls picked up their pace and made their way into the second inner district.

The living city was structurally designed into four massive rings, with each consecutive ring serving as a district that boasted richer resources and more powerful protectors. They had decided to set up camp in the second ring, legally known as the Black Rose District due to the massive abundance of dark flora winding around and climbing up the buildings.

The residential houses in this area were a major upgrade from the dilapidated structures of the outer ring. They came fully furnished with high-grade wood, silk, cotton, and other expensive materials. Furthermore, fresh fruits and vegetables grew abundantly in massive, dedicated forest and plain sectors nearby.

This luxury, however, was nothing compared to the five innermost districts. That central area was built exclusively for royalty, making the Black Rose District look like a complete joke by comparison. Unfortunately, those royal grounds were now heavily swarming with Obsidian Sentinels instead of the usual Paladins.

While this new area was technically safer for a Pureblood like Camilla, Vee was still fiercely classified as an outsider. She would be ruthlessly hunted down on sight by the automatons, meaning they were forced to travel exclusively at night—or whatever qualified as "nighttime" in this enclosed underground metropolis.

But even this tactical shift wasn’t entirely good news. Camilla and Yuki were the only ones in the party blessed with passive night vision. Going out when the sky-light was turned off was nearly impossible for Vee, who had to rely entirely on the dim, sparse light radiating from the street lanterns.

"Where exactly are you two heading at this hour?" a deep, grounded voice suddenly echoed from the shadows, startling both of them.

"Malakai?!" Camilla gasped.

"Yes, Princess," he answered smoothly, his usual lazy tone perfectly intact.

"...Where the hell have you been for the last four days?!" Camilla demanded, storming over to him and standing aggressively over his shifting shadow form.

"Hunting. Well, more like trying to navigate the layout of this place," he chuckled sheepishly, his form expanding and solidifying back into his towering demon appearance.

Camilla paused, instinctively taking a half-step back as Malakai’s massive frame loomed over her.

He looked down at her, his golden eyes narrowing with a deeply playful smile as his gaze flicked downward. "Did you really miss me that much? You’re wagging your tail like a cute little puppy whose master just returned home."

"Excuse me?! I am not a dog! If anyone here is a dog, it’s you!" Camilla stammered, her face instantly flushing a violent red. "I’m your master, after all! And no, I absolutely did not miss you!"

"Oh?" Malakai stepped significantly closer, cutting the distance between them. "That really hurts my feelings," he crooned in an overly dramatic, heartbroken voice. "Little old me was out there risking his life, fighting the big, bad city core just to harvest essence cores for you... and this is my payment? Master, why must you be so incredibly cruel?"

"Wha—You—I—! Stop talking like that, you absolute idiot!" Camilla sputtered, her brain scrambling. "And what exactly is ’small’ or ’little’ about you, you giant brick wall?!"

"Well, that part is quite true," Malakai purred, flashing his signature, devastating smile. He leaned in incredibly close, stopping until he was mere centimeters away from her face.

Slither...

His long, warm tongue suddenly traced a wet line from her collarbone, traveling up the sensitive skin of her neck.

"Nmm..." she let out a soft, involuntary moan at the sudden, warm sensation.

"There’s something you should know, Master," Malakai whispered seductively right against her ear, his deep voice sending a shiver down her spine. "Nothing about me is small. I am quite large... in all the right places."

Camilla leaned back slightly, her purple eyes becoming completely hazy as she stared up at him. Big? He’s big?! In... in all the right places?!

Her strict composure completely faltered. Her gaze involuntarily dropped, independent of her willpower, scanning down his broad, muscular chest and his large, toned arms. Her vision traveled lower, tracing the sharp lines of his lower abdomen. Abs, and...

"Oh, my," Malakai chuckled, smoothly reaching out to catch her chin with his fingers, tilting her face right back up to force her to look into his glowing golden eyes. "Now, what exactly were you looking for down there?"

"I-I wasn’t!" Camilla stammered, her eyes darting wildly away from his gaze.

"Don’t worry, my little master," he teased softly, his thumb brushing her jawline. "You’ll get to see all of it eventually."

"HEY!!" Vee interrupted loudly, her arms crossed and her face twisted in pure annoyance. "Are you two lovebirds done catching up yet? I want to find Yuki and go to bed, not stand out here in the dark watching you two flirt forever!"

"We’re done," Malakai said smoothly. Without breaking his stride, he easily slid his hand into Camilla’s, gripping it firmly and leading her down the street.

Camilla didn’t even attempt to protest like she normally would. Her brain had completely overheated, trapped in a loop thinking about the various "large parts" of his anatomy that had absolutely nothing to do with his arms.

"This is the place," Yuki announced, pushing open a massive, dark wooden door and gesturing for Nyquella to follow him inside.

"Wow..." Nyquella breathed in genuine awe, her eyes widening as she surveyed the interior of the massive estate. "This is where you live? It’s so huge and perfectly furnished... Did the house actually come like this?"

"No, I added a ton of modifications for basic comfort and survival," Yuki said, smiling proudly. "Do you want a tour?"

"Sure!" Nyquella said excitedly.

"Alright, let’s do this. First up, the most important room in the entire world: the kitchen," Yuki said smugly, planting his hands firmly on his hips.

As the tour progressed, Nyquella’s mind was completely blown. Yuki didn’t just have basic amenities—he had everything. She had briefly stayed inside one of these inner-district houses before, and while they were structurally nice, they usually just contained a standard table, a few chairs in the dining hall, and a bed and dresser in each of the four bedrooms.

But Yuki’s home was packed to the brim. His kitchen boasted two fully functional stoves, a massive oven, a specialized cooling box to preserve food, sprawling cabinets, and tables completely set with high-tier cutlery, plates, and cups.

"What the hell am I even looking at?" Nyquella asked, utterly baffled as she tapped the sleek metal appliance. "Is this a cooling box? How do you even have a working cold-box down here? Why is it so tall and shiny?"

"...I have absolutely no idea what a ’cold-box’ is," Yuki said, rubbing the back of his neck. "But this bad boy right here is my refrigerator. It’s powered by a custom essence converter. It can run on essence cores, mana crystals, or magic stones. You can even feed it directly with your own raw mana or essence if you want. A full charge lasts about four weeks."

Yuki nodded his head sagely, his expression turning serious. "But word of advice: whatever you do, do not touch the battery while it’s converting. It will literally drain you dry in seconds."

"Oh," Nyquella gasped, quickly taking a step back from the appliance. "Is there anything else dangerous in this house that I should know about?"

"The shower gets hot... like, dangerously hot."

"...You have a working shower?"

"Yeah."

"Like... an actual, functional shower? With pressurized running water?"

"Yeah. It was honestly a lot easier to set up than I thought it would be when I was installing the plumbing," Yuki chuckled lightly. "All I had to do was smash open a few stone walls, lay down the pipes, and do some basic electrical wiring. The shower unit itself was a direct system item, so I just bought it, and bam—there it is."

Nyquella stared at him, her jaw dropping. "...Are you an Artificer?!"

"...Okay, almost everything you say makes absolutely no sense to me."

"Do you forge magical artifacts?!" she pressed excitedly, her vibrant orange eyes glowing as bright as the sun.

"No...?"

"How about magical items?"

"No."

"Tools?"

"Also no."

"Weapons?!"

"No."

"...Then what on earth do you actually make?"

"Clothes and food," Yuki said, shrugging casually. "That’s pretty much about it."

Nyquella looked around the hyper-modernized kitchen in sheer disbelief. "But this layout... this is the kind of setup you’d only see from a High Researcher or a Master Smith!"

"Really? It just looks like a regular, comfortable home to me."

"No, no," Nyquella said, shaking her head vigorously. "Nothing about this place is regular, Yuki. It’s absolutely magnificent."

"Ha! Well, thanks," Yuki beamed, his chin rising high with pride as he turned toward the grand hallway. "If you think this room is impressive, your mind is about to completely explode from shock when you see the rest of the estate. Moving on with the tour!"

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