Damien promptly called Elena, who was still admiring the katanas in the front, and Rose to the back of the shop. When they entered, both of them wore similar expressions to Damien when he entered for the first time.

Their noses scrunched up from the intense smell of smoke and metal, and they felt slightly uncomfortable due to the extreme heat.

It wasn’t the heat itself that was uncomfortable, since their bodies were long past being affected by drastic temperature changes, rather it was the atmosphere brought by the heat that irked them.

Looking at the two girls that entered the shop, Vormec’s eyes showed an understanding light. Nudging Damien slightly, he teased, “you’ve been busy these last few years, haven’t ya?”

Inwardly, Vormec was genuinely surprised. The blue-haired beauty was one thing, but the other one had pink hair and ruby eyes, a trait that was possessed by only a single family within the entire human domain.

‘Two years ago when we met, the boy was just another traveler in scrappy clothes. How did he end up seducin’ a princess in that short time?’

Still, he was a professional so he didn’t voice out his thoughts, just subtly teasing Damien about it instead.

Looking at Elena, Vormec then asked the important question. “So? What can I do for ya, young lady?”

Elena’s eyes brightened as she nodded. “Yes, sir. I’d like a blade similar to this one, but I want it to be lighter and slightly longer.”

She pulled out the sword she took from the front room for Vormec to see. He only took a glance before nodding. “Alright, I can do that for ya, but I’mma need ya to show me somethin’ first.”

Turning to Damien, he continued. “Boy, you remember what I had ya do last time, no? Take us to that field again.”

Damien wryly shook his head at the fact that Vormec was using him as a taxi driver, but still complied. The group was covered by Damien’s spatial mana and taken to a familiar grassy plain.

Looking around, Damien was still able to see the scars and destruction he had made in this area when he was first practicing his sword art. Back then, he barely understood bladeless, and his dance of the void was in its rudimentary phases.

He smiled thinking about how far he’d come

“Alright, young lady. Take the sword ya took from the shop and show me some of ya moves.”

Elena nodded with complete seriousness. Seeing the weapons in the shop that transcended her understanding had made her view Vormec as some sort of respectable elder. She made sure to be extra polite with him.

And Vormec seemed to enjoy this feeling. Well, until he got a smack to the back of the head.

“Calm down, old man. If you keep that creepy grin on your face, people will think you’re a perv.”

“Oi, you brat! Who you callin’ a perv?! If you want a taste of my fists, I’ll give it to ya!”

“Oh? And how are you planning to do that? Can you even reach my face if you get on your tiptoes?”

“Brat! Don’t go too far!” Vormec was at best half of Damien’s height, as it seemed he possessed some dwarves bloodline, and his height had always been a sore spot for him.

Seeing the two argue as if they were quarreling siblings, Rose ended up having a good laugh, before Elena cut them off.

“Ehem!” She let out a clearly fake cough. Damien and Vormec quieted down shortly after as they watched her prepare. Not wanting to disappoint or underwhelm, Elena let out her strongest move.

Judgement

Judgment was a more versatile skill than Elena had previously shown. A blinding yellow light covered her sword blade, letting off a suffocating pressure before Elena swung it with her full power.

Swoosh! Bang!

The light covering the sword became a massive beam that subsequently split into five parts that zoomed through the air. Even the wind was cut by their blinding speed.

And then, each of the five impacted a separate area of the massive plains, creating a large explosion of dazzling light.

A dust cloud was kicked up by the force of the explosions, and small craters were formed in the ground. Elena was only a 2nd class, but the full power of her skill would be enough to contend against many early and mid-stage 3rd class beings.

Vormec approvingly nodded his head as he watched on. ‘None of the people next to this kid will ever be normal.’

“Alright,” he said, “let me get a look at that sword.”

Elena promptly handed it over and Vormec inspected it in full. Every once in a while he would not his head or mutter some sort of blacksmith jargon that Damien couldn’t understand.

“Good, I can do this for ya, but it’ll take more time than the other sword. The materials I’mma need for this will take a bit of work to get.”

“Don’t worry about that, old man. I didn’t tell you this yet, but I’m pretty rich now.”

“Yeah yeah, I don’t think you could court a princess of the biggest empire in the human domain if you were still the bum you were when we first met.”

This time, Damien was the one who received the critical hit. The two resumed their earlier squabble as Damien teleported the group back to the workshop.

After a few hours, the trio left Vormec to his work. The new sword cost Damien a few white gold coins, especially considering that its rank would be higher and the materials were rare, but Damien still got the feeling that Vormec had cheated him.

But he just shrugged it off. It wasn’t like he needed the money on Apeiron. If he ever ran out, he’d just take a few SS rank quests to make some more.

Since it would take around a month for the sword to be complete, Damien and Rose took Elena on a small tour of the Adelaire empire. Since Claire was safe within Aurora, they spent 2 weeks flying around and looking at the various sceneries of the empire.

From its expansive mountain ranges to the beautiful forests it contained, they saw it all. They also took a brief trip to the academy and spoke with Malcolm for a bit before visiting the seas.

Overall, they had a nice relaxing vacation before heading back to Aurora to meet with Claire.

Claire had been living a comfortable life for the past 2 weeks, and she had been fitting in quite well among the denizens of the city.

Claire had always been a very sociable person, and most of the jobs she worked dealt with customer service. Even when she was working corporate jobs, she always handled interpersonal relations.

She would take weekly trips down to the shopping district and interacted with the locals, forming some connections and making friends.

Even some of the nobles on the hill had come to greet her after seeing that she was living in the house belonging to Damien, who was widely known as the winner of the previous Nexus Event.

There were originally some hiccups due to her lack of strength, but once it was learned that she was Damien’s mother, she didn’t encounter many problems. Some even decided to curry favor with her.

Though she didn’t care much for their attempts, she was glad to learn more about Damien’s feats within this world. She was told dazzling stories about his domineering performance and how he had won a legendary medicine called Elixir.

It was then that she finally understood the amount of effort he had put into healing her. She almost teared up on the spot but made sure to hold herself back. With the way everyone adored her son, she couldn’t show her weakness. The only thing she showed was the pure unadulterated pride that she felt.

And so, Claire had been living nicely for two weeks before she heard a sudden knock on her door. Opening it, she was greeted by a man in full plated armor with a stern expression on his face.

“Miss, you have been invited to the palace as a guest. Please follow me.”

Claire was frozen in place for a bit, processing the man’s words, but when they clicked, her surprise ended up vanishing entirely.

‘That’s right! Little Rose is a princess in this world.’

With the emperor being her future in-law, Claire felt it was her obligation to meet him. It wouldn’t be a talk between an emperor and his subject, but rather one between fellow parents.

Claire went back into the house and got dressed for the occasion, wearing a beautiful black dress that exuded formality, but not to the point that it was rigid. She then followed the guard to the palace.

Entering the massive entrance hall, Claire couldn’t help but be fascinated. Even the castles on earth held no comparison to this one. It was another dimension.

As she marveled at the sight, she followed the guard to the massive set of double doors that stood at the end of the hall.

‘I wonder what kind of demeanor a real-life emperor would have?’