"You…! How dare you hit me?! I am the fou—!"
The boy pointed at Damien and yelled without a care for the current situation, holding his reddened face, however, before he could finish, he was promptly shut up by the girl by his side.
"Sir, please don't mind him! Here is a spatial ring with some resources as a sign of our faith. If you can solve our problem, I promise I will give you several times these rewards," She said quickly.
Damien accepted the spatial ring with ease, putting up an invisible shield that blocked the pursuers from coming closer.
"Make sure to keep your word," he said lightly.
He flared his mana imperceptibly, subtly taking control of the surrounding space. At the level of his opponents, they couldn't even sense his interference.
For a second, he had a thought.
'Should I play it weak and struggle a bit to reap more rewards?'
But he didn't give this thought any consideration.
If he was weaker and in need of resources, this method would definitely be best for him.
However, in Damien's current state, connections were more important than power. To make the greatest impact on this so-called demonic little princess, he needed to show an appropriate amount of strength.
'If I can meet her father through this method, it'll expedite my plans a great deal.'
Unfortunately, the Genesis Bead was in a complicated position right now. If he simply took it through the usual method, he'd become the enemy of the entire Beast Domain and the number of pests that would come to bother him was far more than he bothered to care about.
He needed to find a way to get not just the Golden Dragon Clan's backing, but their full and absolute support.
Becoming their son-in-law absolutely wasn't possible, so the only option was to prove his worth.
'Let's get this over with.'
It had only been a minute since his first contact with the little princess and her boy toy, but one minute was a great deal of time for experts in battle.
The entire time, those pursuers had been attacking Damien's invisible barrier, but since their attacks were being swallowed and banished to nonexistence and because Damien had isolated sound within the barrier so his conversation wouldn't get interrupted, it almost looked like they were simply standing around in wait.
"Duck for a second."
"Hm? Ah—!"
Damien grabbed the little princess and boy's heads and pushed them down to their knees without waiting for their answers.
'Spacetime Severence.'
Ding!
A pulse spread from Damien's body, imperceptible and profound. There was no heaven-shaking phenomenon or beautiful destruction of universal law, merely a single ding as if a bell rang.
Damien released the two kids soon after.
"Who do you think you are?!" The boy exclaimed once more.
In his life, he'd never been treated so roughly. If it wasn't for the little princess clearly disallowing him from taking action, he absolutely would've fought this man!
How old could he be? From his looks and aura, he wasn't even above 40 years of age!
'Hmph. Keep pretending. We'll see what happens after you're tortured by this group.' He thought maliciously.
But before he could even properly enjoy the gory scene in his head, he noticed something strange.
'They…aren't moving?'
The pursuers were all stationary as if they'd been frozen in time.
Haa…
A sigh resounded.
Shick!
A strange sound followed it.
All at once, the bodies of the pursuers split into two without a single exception.
"There. Now, for my reward…" Damien turned to the two with a smile on his face.
"I hope you can properly compensate me for my efforts."
***
"Who are you?"
"What's your name?"
"Where are you from?"
"You're so strong! What level are you?"
"Hello? Why don't you answer me?"
"Hey? Mister? Mister?"
An endless stream of questions.
This was what Damien was met with after the ordeal ended.
He started to realize why this little girl was known as a devil emperor among the commonfolk. She was truly a little fox demon with endless curiosity and energy, annoying any and everyone she came in contact with to death!
'The mischievous glint in her eyes is bugging me. She reminds me of…She Who Shall Not Be Named…'
The devil princess' demeanor was extremely similar to a certain maid, but Damien knew that if he thought about her in the slightest, she'd somehow find out.
Therefore, he could only sigh and keep his thoughts to himself, quietly enduring the princess' existence as he led her back to Beast Emperor Star.
As he'd found out in the past few hours, the little princess's name was Astoria Golden, and the man next to her wasn't her boy toy, but rather her brother, the 4th prince of the Golden Dragon Clan, Titus Golden.
Damien originally thought this Titus character would try to cause trouble, but it seemed that the previous demonstration was enough to shut his mouth.
'Still, he has a flame in his eyes. If I didn't need the Golden Dragon Clan's cooperation right now…'
Nevertheless, killing him would have to wait until there was a proper opportunity.
The group of three moved swiftly with Astoria's navigation and Damien's teleportation. Within a few days, they'd arrived in the vicinity of Beast Emperor Star.
'Wow…' Damien exclaimed inwardly.
He'd seen countless mystical worlds, but every adventure seemed to bring him a new surprise.
In terms of size, Beast Emperor Star and Calypto were roughly the same, however, Beast Emperor Star was far more special than the original Calypto.
Golden clouds swam across its surface, painting the world in an auspicious air. This auspicious air didn't just stop at the world's atmosphere, but extended into the periphery for several thousand kilometers, manifesting as a beautiful cosmic phenomenon that even Damien was forced to be impressed by.
'The Golden Dragon Clan is interesting. It's said that Angels are the closest beings to fate in the universe, but this world far outstrips any angel I've met to this day.'
The concept of fate and the flow of the universe weren't quite the same, but they were concepts in the same vein. Since Damien was comprehending universal flow, he could also somewhat peer into the density of fate around him.
This ability wasn't very useful if he didn't want to use it as a treasure finder, but it still allowed Damien to gain a deeper understanding of the universe.
As he entertained his thoughts, Astoria and Titus led him through the auspicious clouds.
"These clouds are rumored to have been formed by our progenitor ancestor, the Golden Dragon Godbeast. Because of these clouds, Beast Emperor Star and the entire Beast Domain it represents have been able to remain standing through countless trying times," Astoria explained as they landed on the ground.
"It is said that anyone who passes through the clouds gains positive luck for several weeks afterward, but that's just a rumor," She continued as she began waking in a certain direction.
"While he isn't quite at the level of the Ancestor yet, my father is also a proper Godbeast. What do you think, don't you want to meet him?" She finished with a sly smile. She looked up at Damien's face in anticipation of the type of expression he'd make.
Unfortunately…
Tak!
She was only met with a flick to the forehead.
"In the first place, I came here to talk to your father. Come on and lead me to him already," Damien said indifferently.
Astoria's expression crumpled, but her determination flared.
It looked like she'd have to try far harder to get her new target to act now she wanted him to, but that was fine.
After all, she lived for the chase!
