“I can’t seem to think of any good way to improve my strength right now…”
I smacked my lips absentmindedly as I muttered to myself. After a long stretch of thinking, the most feasible option I could come up with was to return to the world where Amelia and Lu originally resided. There, I could search for rare treasures or unique substances to help enhance my power. Moreover, helping Lu recover her strength and bringing her back would also be a wise move.
But as things stand now, I dare not bring Lu back just yet.
It's not just that Lu's current situation leaves her as weak as she is; I've been disconnected from that world for a full thousand years. Until she's at least strong enough to protect herself adequately, I won’t risk taking her back there.
Which means we’ll need to stay here for a while longer.
This might actually be for the best, though. Staying here means far fewer complications—at least for now. Once Lu recovers and decides she wants to return, we can make that call when the time comes.
“For now, I suppose life is going to be a bit more peaceful,” I murmured as I stood by the sink, scrubbing dishes, lost in thought.
Still, one nagging question lingered at the back of my mind—after taking over Amelia’s body, what happened to my original one?
My former body was, without a doubt, flesh and blood. It existed. Yet, now I had no idea where it had gone. Even digging through fragmented pieces of my memory yielded no answers. All I could do was sigh helplessly and give up pondering it.
Whatever the truth was, it likely had to do with some high-level magic I couldn’t even begin to grasp. If the remnants of my memories didn’t contain the relevant knowledge, thinking about it further wouldn’t do me any good.
But that wasn’t the only headache awaiting me—if I wanted stability while living here with Lu, there were far more pressing issues to solve. Not about housing or daily necessities, though; the real problem was school and the matter of my adoptive parents.
How to handle all this… Hmm. Having inherited Amelia’s body, continuing my university life was, frankly, pointless. Dropping out was the obvious choice. The problem was figuring out how to handle everything cleanly without drawing attention.
“Looks like I’ll have to rely on hypnotism or charming-type magic to fix this mess,” I concluded silently.
If I didn’t clean up my previous social ties properly, there was a very real risk someone would eventually notice Su Nan had vanished into thin air—and I'd have a situation where the police might treat it as a missing persons case. That would be a nightmare.
Sure, Lu and I could easily crush any challenges this world threw at us, but ultimately, two things remained unavoidable.
Money—and a place to live.
We couldn’t just resort to robbing people, could we? I mean, I may be the Phoenix, and she may be the Demon King, but principles matter, after all. Especially since Lu is in her childhood phase right now—acting as her caregiver means I need to set the right example. No way can I afford to lead her astray.
Just because someone holds the title of Demon King or Demon Emperor doesn’t inherently mean they’re evil. Those titles simply denote rulers of the Demonfolk. A kingdom or empire’s leader must remain dignified and virtuous—it’s non-negotiable. And I refuse to let any negligence or poor decision-making on my part set off a chain reaction of consequences that negatively impacts Lu.
