Qiaolin later learned that Gabriela had already reached the peak of the King Rank.
With her talent, it was only a matter of time before she became a Saint Rank powerhouse.
Beyond the internal turmoil of her country, Qiaolin warned her to be wary of external enemies watching from the shadows—especially the Dragon Race, which possessed dozens of King Rank experts.
The legendary Black Dragon Emperor was an even more terrifying figure than the previous Demon King.
However, the emperor seemed to have little interest in world domination, so he was not a target of the Celestial Realm’s crusades.
Yet, rumors suggested that the Dragon Race had produced another Saint Rank dragon in recent years.
If this information was true, the Dragon Race was now the strongest race on the continent.
Currently, no other race possessed two Saint Rank individuals simultaneously.
“If you come along, I won’t have to worry as much,” Gabriela said.
“That won’t work. The magic I can use now is even worse than back then. It’s all non-lethal Healing Magic. I can only try my best,” Qiaolin replied, his voice tinged with a hint of regret.
Despite this, he did not refuse to help.
Since he had given his word, Qiaolin intended to see it through to the end.
He wasn’t assisting the Demon King to solidify her rule, but rather to maintain the balance of the world and bring an end to the fighting.
*Knock, knock—*
A knocking sound came from the door.
Qiaolin walked over and opened it to find Sains and Clara standing there.
“What are you two doing here?”
“We’ve come to repay you for saving our lives yesterday, of course,” Sains said with a smile.
The two of them stepped aside, revealing a small cart filled with supplies.
Gabriela poked her head out from behind him, looking at the various bags piled on the cart.
She noticed a bottle of potion falling out of one of the bags.
“Hmm…” Qiaolin immediately recognized it as the best-selling Recovery Potion on the market.
“Hey! Why did you put a Recovery Potion in there? Don’t you know Lord Qiaolin is the best Healing Mage in this region—no, in this entire country?”
Sains quickly scolded.
Seeing this, Clara hurriedly tucked the bag containing the potion away.
Looking at the sudden empty space on the cart and having nothing else to replace it with, she hesitated.
As an adventurer party that could only take on low-to-mid-level quests, they certainly couldn’t produce anything of great value.
Their most precious possessions were the equipment and weapons in their hands, but those were the tools of their trade.
After a moment of internal struggle, Clara seemed to make up her mind.
she took off the bracelet from her wrist and placed it into a bag.
“There’s no need for such extravagance. Those Recovery Potions are more than enough.”
Qiaolin grabbed her shoulder, gesturing for Clara to take the bracelet back.
“This is a reward, and also an apology for my previous rudeness, Lord Qiaolin…”
Clara bowed deeply to him.
Qiaolin could only shrug his shoulders helplessly.
“Where are the other two?”
Qiaolin glanced around, noticing only Sains and Clara had come.
“They felt too embarrassed. After all, they wanted to kick you out, and the captain agreed with them at the time,” Clara said awkwardly.
“Fair enough. Gabriela, take the gifts from these two.”
The blonde girl behind Qiaolin nodded.
She reached out her hand, and red-black mana erupted like the gaping maw of a giant beast.
It swallowed all the supplies along with the cart, before returning to the girl’s body.
“Did she… eat it?”
Clara blinked in astonishment.
She exchanged a look with Sains, both unable to hide their fear.
Judging by Qiaolin’s reaction, he seemed used to it.
“It’s noon. Would you like to stay for a meal?”
“No, no, that’s not necessary. We’ve actually already eaten.”
Clara stole a glance at Gabriela, her expression as if she were looking at something terrifying.
“That’s a pity.”
Sains and Clara quickly took their leave.
Gabriela grumbled about how fast they had run off.
“I think you probably scared them.”
“Eh? Me?”
Seeing the mischievous smirk on Qiaolin’s face, Gabriela thought her disguise had been seen through.
She touched her head, but found no demonic features exposed.
“Hahaha, everyone is usually scared the first time they see the nature of your mana.”
Devour—this was Gabriela’s unique ability as the Demon King of Gluttony.
Not only could she devour any other type of mana to make it her own, but she also possessed a Devouring Space.
Any object “eaten” by her ability would be temporarily stored in that space.
Unfortunately, her Devouring Space could not hold living creatures and had a size limit.
If there were too many things inside, it would make her feel nauseous.
Qiaolin remembered when he first met Gabriela; she couldn’t control her power back then.
The overflowing red-black mana was incredibly greedy, devouring the mana of the earth and magic crystals wherever it touched.
Even if it just brushed against a person’s body, their own mana would be ripped out and consumed.
Many people wanted to kill the demon girl who possessed such ominous magic, but Qiaolin saw that she didn’t actually want to hurt anyone.
Eventually, under Tor’s guidance, he helped her train to control the ability.
“But you aren’t afraid, are you?”
“Because I am the Hero.”
Qiaolin lightly tapped her forehead.
“Come on, it’s time for lunch.”
Watching the man’s retreating back, a gentle curve appeared at the corner of Gabriela’s lips.
***
Only after she was certain they were far enough away did Clara turn back to look at Qiaolin’s residence.
“What is it?”
Sains asked with concern.
“Lord Qiaolin is truly a good person. I actually hoped he would mock me a bit, but he didn’t. It’s like he didn’t care at all about how I insulted him.”
“Everyone sees things differently. Lord Qiaolin gives me the feeling… haha, how should I put it? Actually, you were already dead back then. He brought you back to life right in front of my eyes.”
“What? That…”
Hearing the truth, Clara was so shocked she couldn’t say a single word.
“We encountered a reclusive, peerless Great Archmage. Clara, even if I stripped naked, I wouldn’t even register in his eyes.”
“Stripping naked is a bit of an exaggeration…”
Clara instinctively touched her pocket.
Suddenly, she felt something and pulled out a bracelet.
The girl let out a long sigh.
‘He’s right. Even if I were naked, he wouldn’t care.’
—
Qiaolin spent the entire afternoon busy packing his things, preparing to leave for the Demon King’s Castle with Gabriela tomorrow.
The girl extended her “Touch of Gluttony,” and the red-black mana swallowed all the luggage into the Devouring Space.
“Actually, we could leave now. You just need to sense the mana in the Demon King’s Castle,”
Qiaolin said.
Gabriela was extremely sensitive to mana.
She could detect familiar powers even from thousands of miles away.
Since she had devoured Qiaolin’s mana before, she could naturally sense his presence.
She could also use the Devouring Space as a medium, or a sort of relay station, to perform space teleportation.
Although living beings couldn’t stay in that space, passing through it shouldn’t be a problem.
“No, the distance is too great. I might be able to do it if I were Saint Rank, but I can’t manage it right now.”
“How close do we need to be?”
Qiaolin asked.
“Probably a few thousand miles north.”
Qiaolin was speechless.
“Do you want me to walk the same path I took to defeat the Demon King all over again? How long would that take? No, it’s too much trouble.”
“Don’t you know Space Magic? For that matter, you used to be very skilled with Time Magic as well.”
Gabriela looked at him with a complaining gaze.
This man always made her do the hard work.
“I forgot those spells long ago. This body seems to have a limited capacity for magic. Every time I learn new spells, the old ones I haven’t used in a while are forgotten.”
Qiaolin had realized long ago that his body was not his original physical form from his old world.
God had told him without reservation that this shell, which possessed every magical talent, was his vessel in this world.
“But I can relearn them…”
Qiaolin mused.
“The Royal Library in the Imperial Capital might have the teleportation magic we need. It just so happens that we aren’t far from the capital. We’ll head there first tomorrow.”
Qiaolin offered his solution, but Gabriela wore a guilty expression.
“Does this… count as breaking your oath?”
The girl asked cautiously.
“I only swore never to use lethal magic again. Don’t worry.”
Qiaolin smiled at Gabriela.
“If it’s for your sake, using a bit of non-healing magic is nothing.”