“What’s going on? What’s going on?!”

Just as Rean was basking in his own triumph, the door behind him was suddenly kicked open. Olga rushed inside and stared at Rean’s smug expression, completely baffled.

“When did you get back, Rean?”

Ah… Right. He’d forgotten that the barrier around this workshop only blocked magic, not sound.

But that wasn’t important. What mattered was that he’d successfully created a tool that could stop Cang Lin and Zhu Yue from slaughtering each other under the sword’s control!

“I got back this morning. You two were still asleep, so I didn’t disturb you. I came straight up here.”

Rean turned around leisurely, leaned over the back of his chair, and yawned.

“How did things go on your end? Did Zhu Yue tell you anything?”

He’d already learned most of what he needed from Cang Lin. Still, it was better to exchange information with Olga as a precaution. What if they’d missed something?

“No. I tried asking her, but she didn’t seem like she wanted to talk, so I didn’t press her. She was resting until just now.”

Olga sighed, and Rean’s lips twitched into a helpless smile.

Well, he’d more or less expected that. This girl only acted considerate at times like this. He had no reason to blame her.

“What about you? What did Cang Lin tell you…? What’s that?”

Perhaps she didn’t expect them to finish talking so quickly, because Olga sat down on the empty corner of the table. That was when she spotted the sword Rean had completed.

She reached out to touch it, then immediately pulled her hand back. Her brows knitted in disgust.

“What did you put all those spells on the sword for?”

The instant Olga touched it, she sensed the multiple spells attached to its surface. Her mental resistance was no weaker than Rean’s, so the effects of the “False Martial Saint” wouldn’t affect her either.

“Obviously, it’s to help those two.”

Rean turned around and picked up the sword without a care. Its black-crystal-like blade reflected the sunlight with a dazzling gleam.

“What did you think I was doing, hiding in here all morning? If I couldn’t produce results after this long, I’d be unworthy of the name ‘genius.’”

As expected, there was nothing in this world that his talent couldn’t solve!

A genius who could make every alchemist in the Demon Realm kneel and sing his praises—how could he possibly be stumped by a mere curse-removal problem?

A witch’s cursed sword? Who cared!

Destroying it by force might endanger their lives? He wasn’t worried in the slightest!

As long as he unleashed this talent that even he found frightening, every problem could be solved.

Since the magic couldn’t be forcibly removed, he’d use a gentler method. He would wear it down little by little.

As that happened, the spell’s effects would gradually weaken. Once it lost all power, he could destroy the sword itself in one decisive strike!

It was a method only he could accomplish.

Behemoth’s power of Gluttony was perfect for consuming magic power. The most direct approach was to forge an identical sword and imbue it with the same spell.

That way, Rean would also become a target for the sisters’ attacks under the sword’s influence. But with his mental strength, there was no way a mere third-tier mental spell could control him.

Thus, during every clash, the magic on “Azure Sky” and “Bloodmist” would weaken until it completely lost its effect.

And to forge a sword that could clash with the two sisters at high speed, he’d searched for ages before finally finding an ore with strength between dragon-patterned Lijing Crystal and Ligan Steel.

He really was a genius for coming up with such a brilliant plan.

“If you were able to make something like this, then Cang Lin must’ve told you.”

Olga saw Rean slipping into another fit of self-satisfaction. Knowing she couldn’t snap him out of it, she could only hold her forehead and sigh.

“You didn’t interrogate her, did you?”

“Do you really see me as the kind of scum who uses torture to force answers out of people?”

Rean turned back with a frown, clearly displeased.

“I talked with her last night, and she told me on her own. She even thanked me this morning… I think?”

Remembering Cang Lin’s sudden, intimate gesture before he left that morning, Rean couldn’t help feeling a little pleased.

Whether someone threw themselves at him madly or treated him with cold indifference, he wouldn’t react in the slightest as long as he wasn’t interested.

But that small gesture this morning… Thinking about it carefully, it was a little exciting.

“Hey… Don’t tell me you…”

Olga noticed Rean’s suddenly wandering gaze and uneasy expression. Her eyes narrowed at once.

Golden magic power erupted from her body like a solid substance. The resulting shockwaves sent the small objects around them trembling on the verge of collapse.

“Hey, hey, calm down! Calm down! I didn’t do anything!”

Realizing something was wrong, Rean immediately panicked and waved both hands, trying to clear his name.

It wasn’t that he feared Olga attacking him.

He was worried that her rampage would destroy the alchemy workshop he’d finally managed to organize. Many of the things inside had taken him a great deal of effort to obtain.

How could he let them be smashed over such a trivial matter?

“I only told her that I’d definitely solve their problem. Then she called me a hero, that’s all! You know I don’t really like being called a hero!”

“Really?”

“Really!”

Rean confirmed it with an expression caught between laughter and tears.

He had no idea what kind of madness had seized Olga this time.

Yesterday, she’d just said they should give each other more space. Today, she was interrogating him like a wife checking for evidence of an affair.

Could she really have fallen for him?

No… Probably not.

Aside from the times when she revealed nothing and went off alone, Olga usually treated him with a very clear attitude:

*The farther you die from me, the better.*

She was probably just worried that their “mission” would be affected.

“If you didn’t do anything, then that’s good. Looks like you managed to preserve your chastity as a man.”

Only then did Olga relax.

But her remark made a vein bulge at Rean’s temple.

What did she mean, “chastity as a man”?

Did she think he was some centuries-old virgin?

Besides, even if he were a virgin, he certainly wouldn’t be saving it for her!

“Thank goodness I firmly opposed marriage back then. We haven’t even gotten anywhere yet, and you’re already thinking about catching me cheating.”

Rean set down the sword and sat back in his chair. He sneered at Olga, who had just relaxed.

“Have you already started acting like my wife?”

“W-Who’s acting like your wife?! My goal in being with you has always been only one thing!”

Olga’s face flushed bright red. She clenched her little fist and slammed it into Rean’s back.

Rean barely felt any pain.

“Have you never heard an old saying from the East? ‘A hit is affection, and a scolding is love.’ The more you hit and argue with me, the more it proves that you—”

“Then, darling, accept all of my love!”

Olga instantly turned red with shame and fury.

Her cheeks puffed up, and she clenched both fists. Her punches came down on Rean like a torrential downpour.

He had already taken a defensive stance.

“Hey, hey, that’s enough! I was only joking!”

Rean pretended to beg for mercy while secretly laughing to himself.

*These hits still don’t hurt.*

It seemed their time together had helped both of them find a certain balance in how they interacted.

If this had happened during their first few days together, Rean’s sarcasm wouldn’t have been nearly so restrained.

Olga’s full-power strikes wouldn’t have been purely physical, either. She would’ve coated her fists in holy magic power.

One sudden punch would’ve left Rean gasping for breath.

So, perhaps this life of bickering and arguing every day wasn’t so bad.

At least it was hundreds of times better than those days when he’d lived like a walking corpse.

Maybe his soul-searching in Tyler’s family garden hadn’t been wrong.

Meeting Olga—and being forced to act alongside her—had restored the fluctuations of emotion within him.

She was like a little fish suddenly tossed into a stagnant pond. Through her freewheeling actions, she had stirred a hint of life back into his dead waters.

He should enjoy this brief moment of leisure.

“—!”

While fooling around with Olga, Rean suddenly sensed an inorganic presence rapidly approaching him.

And it was moving fast!

“Stop messing around for a second!”

Rean grabbed both of Olga’s wrists and pinned her against the workshop wall. While she was still stunned, he turned around, snatched up the black sword from the table, and threw it into his storage space.

He completed the entire sequence in less than two seconds.

At that exact moment, a red figure rushed through the workshop door.

Rean bent down with the motion. As his opponent swung her sword downward, he slipped inside her reach.

He spun around, shoved her sword-wielding right hand upward, and seized it. His left hand locked down the fist she had swung at him.

The two of them struggled for three seconds.

Then Rean felt the strength fighting against him gradually weaken. He loosened his grip and helped his opponent sit in the chair that had just been cleared.

Fortunately, the magic fluctuations inside his storage space couldn’t leak outside.

“Zhu Yue! Why did she suddenly attack you…? And wasn’t she supposed to be asleep?”

Olga finally realized who had arrived and was immediately startled.

“You left the door open. She would’ve only been woken up by your noise otherwise.”

Rean shrugged with a wry smile.

“But with the door open, the barrier that blocks magic couldn’t function properly. She was drawn over by the sword I just made.”

He also had to blame himself for not telling Olga everything about the sword’s function from the beginning.

He’d also forgotten to remind her to close the door behind her.

“Fine, fine. It’s all my fault.”

Olga grumbled as she walked closer again. She looked at Zhu Yue, who was sprawled over the table, and asked with some concern,

“She’s not seriously hurt, is she?”

“She only used up too much stamina yesterday, then rushed over the moment she woke up today. She tired herself out again, that’s all.”

Rean smiled and reached out to poke Zhu Yue’s cheek.

“Wake up. Don’t go back to sleep right after waking up.”

Perhaps she sensed the touch against her face. Zhu Yue’s tightly shut eyelids trembled.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw Rean smiling down at her.

“…You shameless pervert—!!!!”

A sudden scream rang through the room.