"Huff Huff"

Lith was gasping for air as Mayzin set him free.

She looked around and found herself in a dungeon. In front of her, two ladies had their eyes red and were staring back at her.

'I seem to have seen her before'

There was a certain moment where Mayzin had woken up. She didn't remember when, but she recalled looking at this woman's eyes and having a strange power stare back at her.

'If only I was awake'

Even though she might've woken up in the middle of her power nap, her memory about it was hazy. Being a Dragon, her personality was tuned to sleeping whenever it was possible and hunting for treasures.

It may sound like a stereotype, but sadly, Mayzin checked all the boxes and was a typical Dragon true to her nature. There was no helping it.

'Now, where is it'

Mayzin's attention shifted from the ladies in front and she looked around. There was a reason she woke up. It certainly had some reason to do with the disturbance caused by Nika, but there was another major one.

While Mayzin walked away, Nika turned to Lith.

Her eyes were moist and bending down to reach his eye level, she held his hands together and said with her lips pursed, "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Those were her heartfelt words of gratitude. Saying anything more would just degrade the value of her thank yous, so she kept it short.

Lith gave her a small smile. "No worries."

"If there's anything I can do, please let me know. Me and my family are forever indebted to you."

Beside Nika, her aunt appeared. She took a knee and said with her palm on her chest, "We are forever indebted to your grace, Sire. Neither me nor my family will forgive the kindness you've bestowed upon us."

"Don't worry about it. This was a fair exchange, so there's no debt between us."

Lith had his own motives to help these people. He wasn't doing it for benefits, but because his aunt guided him to. What he would get out of it he didn't know.

For now, he had a dragon clavicle healing potion recipe. He would need a dragon clavicle for it though. Those were hard to find as the strength of the potion was equivalent to the bone strength of the dragon.

If he wanted to make a King Rank potion, he would need a King Rank dragon's clavicle.

Nika, upon hearing Lith's comment, swiftly shook her head and said, "No, no, no. How can a mere recipe compare to what you've done for us? Even if we made you potions or artifacts for a thousand years, it wouldn't be enough to repay what you've done for us!"

There was no tone of flattery, but genuine appreciation. This was the first time Lith was hearing this and a sudden stir occurred in his heart, making him somewhat raise his eyebrows.

'Damn this feeling'

It was much better than killing somebody!

Who would've thought doing good deeds felt better than doing evil ones!

This feeling was even better than getting appreciated for cooking up some good food. There had been a lot of praises in the past from customers who liked his food, but that kind of appreciation and this kind of appreciation had a huge difference.

Lith wasn't able to describe how, but the current feeling was better than any he has ever felt.

The innocent eyes of Nika that were twinkling in front of him, and the gratitude-covered eyes of her aunt they could not be faked.

'Is this what aunt wanted me to show?'

Thinking so, Lith turned to look at her, and found her searching for something.

Shaking his head, he turned to look back at Nika and her aunt.

"Well, since everything's good now, I suppose I'll leave. But before going, I wanted to ask, how exactly did you get trapped here?"

What Nika said only showed her side of the story. What happened to her aunt that caused her to turn into a tree was a mystery. Now, Lith had a chance to hear things from her side and piece the puzzle.

Nika's aunt furrowed her brows and her expression darkened. "We were ambushed," she said flatly, making Nika gasp in shock.

"There was a group of four figures in blue hooded cloaks that ambushed me and my husband. They created a situation where it appeared as if the dungeon was collapsing, but in reality, everything was perfectly fine."

Nika's aunt then bit her lower lip.

Lith could see she did it strongly as blood began oozing out of it.

"There was not much talk. They were simply after me because I was a 'potential seed for the Mother'. I don't know what that means and I was clueless at that time as well. My husband felt it was a bad omen and tried to cover for me so I could run, but the cloaked figures"

The lady's eyes turned moist and a lump seemed to have been formed in her throat as she recalled the painful memories.

"they were far too powerful."

She said after collecting her words.

She seemed to be moments away from bursting into tears, but somehow kept herself from doing so.

"My husband was brutally killed in front of my sight and I had some sort of restrictive spell placed on me. The next thing that I can remember was being shackled in this room and then turning into a tree. For the initial few days, I was conscious and normal, but later, everything seemed to have turned black."

Lith nodded in understanding. "So, how much time do you think has passed?"

This was an important question that was always asked to people who went through such things where they fell into a comatose-kind-of state.

The woman smiled wryly and said, "It feels like it's been a week since this incident happened, but that's surely not the case, right?"

Her niece Nika seemed to have matured. There was no way only a week had passed.

Nika held her aunt's hand and said with a sorrowful nod, "Not one week, but roughly a bit over fifty years have passed since you were turned into that state."

"Oh, Mother" Nika's aunt covered her mouth and gasped in horror.

Nika's lips quivered and she continued in a low voice, "You have no idea how much has changed"

Lith left the duo at this point. Their conversation was of no use to him as he had gotten the most out of the lady already.

Four cloaked figures that called her as a potential seed for the Mother. It probably had something to do with one of the two Goddesses. And one of the two was demonic in nature.

Having been around Gunther's faction, Lith did not feel a single trace of demonic energy in them. However, when in Semohr, he could feel a faint trace of it lingering in the air.

This meant that there was something wrong with Mother Seia's worshippers.

'Not to mention I'm pretty sure that woman was Seia.'

The woman with crimson eyes that Lith saw in the spell, it was probably her.

Piecing together everything, it did not take a genius to know that things were wrong with the people worshiping Mother Seia, and with Seia herself.

'So the cloaked figures probably extreme worshippers of Seia? Or are they perhaps someone related to the Seia faction in the administration?'

Things were pointing at the faction that was at odds with Gunther's father's side. Maybe it was them?

While thinking so, Lith walked towards his aunt who was searching for something.

SQUEAK!

Something squishy got crushed beneath Lith's foot. Turning to look down, he accidentally stepped onto a rat.

Shaking his head and thinking it was a common thing in a dungeon, Lith ignored it and walked towards Mayzin.

The rat wasn't dead, but startled. It squeaked away as quickly as it could from the place.

"Aunt, what are you searching for?"

Lith asked Mayzin as he stood beside her.

"Treasure." Mayzin replied flatly.

"Why are you searching for it?" Lith asked with a smile.

"To find it?" Mayzin didn't look at him and continued to look in every corner.

"Why would you want to find it when you already have it?"

Mayzin knitted her brows. She turned to look at Lith and asked, "How do I already have it?"

If she had the treasure already, she wouldn't be searching for it. What was Lith saying?

Lith rubbed his non-existent stubble and said, "Aren't you already looking at it? Ain't I your biggest treasure?"

""

Mayzin's eyes twitched. "Say it again and I'll bury you right here and now."

Lith chuckled and tried to pinch Mayzin's cheek, but she slapped his hand away and got back to searching for the treasure.

Had it been before, Lith would've been punched in the abdomen until his guts spilled out.

After his date, now was a different case. She seemed to have become quite tolerant.

"So how does the treasure look like?" Lith asked while searching alongside her.

"No idea. I just have a feeling that it's there somewhere."

"You're working on intuition?"

"Yes."

"Wow. What are the odds of finding a treasure that way?"

"80%"

"That high?"

"No."

"What?"

"90%"

""

The conversation was going to a level that hurt Lith's brain. He kept his silence and just rummaged the surroundings to see where this treasure that his aunt was looking forward to lay at.