While Vicente was traveling after the murder of the Tamor Dynasty Paragons, Rory received a letter from his mother while he was in Martell Village.",

'Come to Metal City as soon as you can. I have something important to discuss with you.'

Rory read the contents of his mother's letter, frowning and narrowing his eyes, not understanding where this was coming from.

'What's happened?' He wondered as he looked through the glass of his office in the Martell Village government. 'It couldn't have anything to do with security... But just in case, I'll leave the village.'

He left his office, bumped into one member of the government, and told them he was leaving the village to go to Metal City for a few hours.

He left in his 5th stage armor, as the next train from the village would take a few hours to return to the area.

...

Later that day, Heidi and Julian were reunited at the current estate of Rory's mother.

In a beautiful, large apartment in the center of Metal City, the two redheads sat across from each other, drinking wine and chatting, looking at the other with great attention and interest.

"It looks like things have worked out very well for you, Heidi." Julian said with a smile on his face as he looked at this woman who looked exactly the same as she did 25 years ago when they had had an affair for a few months.

Heidi was still a prostitute at that time, having got out of that tough profession with the help of Julian, who was traveling through the Seidel Kingdom when he was a Sky Sovereign.

She was only a low level Acolyte back then, but now she was near to becoming a Mid-level Mage, a magnificent progress considering her low talent.

The progress of Vicente and his companions might give the impression that cultivation was easy and quick. But they were among the 0.01% of the most talented, lucky, and competent young magicians on the continent.

Even if one was born with talent, sometimes young people like them died before they became experts, or even missed the best time to advance, because of lack of luck, opportunity, or failure to take advantage of those opportunities.

Magical talent was like the learning ability of children before the age of five. There was a period when, if you could learn useful things and train certain skills, you could easily learn them and boom in the future.

If you weren't fast at the beginning of your journey, you could never accomplish certain things, no matter how hard you worked and how lucky you were later in life.

So it was an impressive feat for people like Heidi to reach the middle of the third stage at around 100 years old, even though her son was a Sky Sovereign at 24.

Julian wasn't just praising his old mistress' cultivation. Her position in Metal City couldn't be ignored, either. Currently, as a member of the government, Heidi had authority and much more power as a politician than as a magician.

She smiled at him and said. "I've just taken advantage of the opportunities I've had. You helped me improve my life 25 years ago, and more recently, Rory gave me the chance to leave the pimping business to become a politician."

Despite being given opportunities at different stages of her life, Heidi was competent in everything she did.

When she was younger and sold her body, she was one of the best in every city she passed through, so she learned a lot from nobles and rich men.

Later, when she had the chance to stop selling herself, she used her knowledge to use the services of "talented" women after she had achieved the minimum to give Rory a good quality of life.

When Rory gave her the chance to join Metal City as a politician, she used her knowledge from her two work experiences and proved to be effective in making policies for the good of the city.

Julian had seen how respected the red-haired woman was in the city, not because of Rory's position, but because of what she herself had done and said.

"It's amazing how far you've come. I know people who had better chances than you and are much worse off... I'm glad I could help you."

"Hmm." She nodded at him, smiling as she bit her lip.

She didn't love Julian how the man had loved her back then. They lived together for almost a year, seeing each other almost every day, until he was forced to return to the Kenyth Empire. But she was grateful to him, not only for the opportunity he had given her but also for giving her Rory.

And as a woman still in her 'youth', she had her interests... Julian was her type, which was why she hadn't used protection to avoid pregnancy back then.

He smiled at her, seeing her look at him the same way she did when he was in the kingdom. "Despite all the changes, some things will never change..."

"You came all this way. Why don't you stay with me while you wait for Vice?" She suggested, a little interested in being touched by a man again. "I haven't been with another man since Rory was born..."

"Oh?" He looked at her interestedly, easily brushing aside the fact he had a wife waiting for him in the Kenyth Empire.

That was no betrayal to him. He had more than one wife in the empire and a few children scattered throughout the southern region. The fact this woman was not part of his harem was of her own free will, as she was ashamed of her past as a prostitute.

When he saw the smile on her face, nothing could stop Julian from approaching his old lover.

He got up and stood next to her, taking in the burning scent of this woman he had never forgotten, even though he had spent years without being able to see her.

"Mmmm~"

The two kissed for a few minutes until things warmed up, and he took her in his arms.

Just as he was about to take her into the bedroom, a voice suddenly woke them from their hypnotic state.

"Mom?! Why did you write me that letter?" Rory's voice reached their ears a second before the young man entered the room and saw Julian with Heidi in his arms.