“Hmm, I’ll have to think carefully about this. Getting the Patron Wish Ticket from the lady herself is no small feat.”
“Right. You only get one chance in life for something like this, so you should think long and hard about it before you decide.”
“Oh dear, this might just be the biggest dilemma of my life.”
“Hehe, well then, I’ll really be off now.”
“See you later, milady.”
“Yeah.”
Cyrill waved at me.
I turned away after taking one last look at him.
Even as I climbed into the carriage, Cyrill was still waving enthusiastically. I mouthed, “Go on now.”
At last, the carriage began to move.
When would I see him again?
As I thought about our next meeting, an unsettling idea struck me: what if I couldn’t meet him again?
After all, the Duke of Dimensions could show up at any moment and kill me.
Sigh.
I still had to attend Meteor’s engagement ceremony and grant Cyrillote’s wish. And above all else, there was no way I’d let myself fall to a demon—not when my dad was counting on me.
The momentary despair weighing on me lifted as determination surged through me.
Thinking of the people I cared about gave me strength.
That’s right. Sure, a top-ranking archdemon from the Demon Realm is coming to kill me, but at least it’s not the Demon King himself. I’m not going down easily.
Yeah, that’s the spirit.
With renewed resolve, I blinked once, absentmindedly.
When I opened my eyes again, I thought I’d gone blind.
Suddenly, the lights in the carriage seemed to have gone out.
But my vision soon adjusted, and instead of the carriage, a strange scene unfolded before me.
“What is this place...?”
It was a dim, vast room.
Dark shelves lined the walls, packed tightly with books and tools of mysterious origin.
Old flasks of varying sizes, thick tomes, and enigmatic minerals filled the room.
In tanks, bizarre creatures wriggled and squirmed.
Sandwiched between the intricate machinery, countless hourglasses of various sizes ticked away, their sand flowing relentlessly.
What kind of place was this?
Had I somehow ended up in the Demon Realm?
I noticed a small window among the towering shelves. Through it, a crimson crescent moon cast its eerie glow.
As I suspected, I must have been swept up by some advanced Magi.
“Is anyone there...?”
Cautiously, I surveyed my surroundings.
It looked like a laboratory, but I couldn’t guess which demon it might belong to.
The system window still hadn’t appeared.
Foll𝑜w current novels on fɾēewebnσveℓ.com.
I waited for the notification sound, all the while examining the shelves.
Everything here was ancient and coated in thick layers of dust.
Had this place been abandoned?
After thoroughly inspecting the shelves, I moved down a narrow passageway.
Beyond it stood a large wooden table, weathered with age. It looked like it had been in use for hundreds of years.
On it sat countless vials.
It seemed to be a workbench used for experiments.
Is the owner of this place some kind of deranged scientist?
This dungeon felt fresh and intriguing in its own way.
I found myself growing curious about who its master might be.
A messy stack of papers filled with dense writing caught my eye. Carefully, I picked up the top sheet.
After brushing off the dust, I saw that it was covered in complex numbers and equations. I couldn’t make any sense of it.
Sigh. Once again, I apologize for being a liberal arts major...
Feeling a pang of defeat at the hands of an unseen demon, I rifled through more sheets.
In addition to formulas, there were plenty of what looked like magical circle designs.
This demon seemed impossibly distant from me.
Could the Duke of Dimensions have brought me here?
Maybe they brewed some sort of potion to impersonate Meteor’s appearance.
But why wasn’t the system window showing up?
Saints, could you kindly inform me where I am?
Being in a dungeon without a system prompt felt unnervingly off. Were the saints asleep or something?
Ding!
<[“Lily-Loving Druid Gabriella” says this is not an officially sanctioned Magi, so the exact location cannot be disclosed.]>
“What?”
I nearly bit my tongue.
Not officially sanctioned?
Did this mean I had arrived in the Demon Realm through an entirely different route than usual?
<[“Lily-Loving Druid Gabriella” nods. She says you didn’t come here through high-tier Magi but some other mechanism.]>
What does that even mean...?
A different mechanism? As if it weren’t bad enough to be dragged into Magi regularly, now there’s yet another way to be pulled into the Demon Realm?
This was news to me.
What could have caused this “other mechanism” to bring me here?
I was baffled. Saints, just tell me everything you know!
<[“Lily-Loving Druid Gabriella” remains silent.]>
<[“Dragon Slayer Sylvester” chooses not to speak.]>
<[“From Maid to Saintess—Astina” regrets that she cannot tell you anything.]>
Not allowed?
Why not?
Are you seriously not going to tell me?
<[“Dragon Slayer Sylvester” hides behind “Lily-Loving Druid Gabriella.”]>
<[“From Maid to Saintess—Astina” expresses her regret over being unable to speak.]>
They really weren’t going to tell me.
I decided not to press them further. If the saints couldn’t speak, they probably had a good reason for it.
“Well, I’ll figure it out soon enough.”
Muttering under my breath, I shifted my gaze to the vials.
By now, I felt like I could memorize every piece of furniture in this place. Why hadn’t the owner of this lab shown up yet?
I had no intention of staying here long.
Still, I needed to explore. Carefully, I inspected each vial one by one.
What were all these potions for?
What was the owner of this lab trying to create?
I wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with potions and herbs. After all, my dad had consumed a mysterious potion that turned him into the Demon King.
During the tutorial phase, I had poured over countless ancient texts and books on herbology, trying to learn what that potion was made of.
I had managed to identify some of the herbs used in it, but I could never determine its exact effects.
But what use was knowing more about that potion now?
Dad had already become one with the Demon King.
Unless there was an antidote that could separate him from the Demon King...
My gaze fell on a particular set of vials.
Among the various bottles, one stood out for its exquisite craftsmanship.
It was shaped like a slender flask, its color a deep, earthy hue. Intricate patterns were engraved in relief on its surface.
It looked eerily familiar.
“Impossible...”
Why was that here?
My heart sank.
I could be wrong. Maybe my memory was playing tricks on me.
But how could I be mistaken about something I had spent years glaring at in resentment?
The potion that turned my dad into the Demon King...
Quickly, I opened my inventory.
It had been a long time since I’d looked at that potion.
Even though it had been years, it was as familiar to me as if I’d seen it yesterday.
I placed the potion on the table.
The patterns matched perfectly. The craftsmanship and color were identical too.
Even after scrutinizing it several times, it was undeniably the same.
It’s identical.
So the potion had been made here? In the Demon Realm?
My heart pounded in my chest.
Could the liquid inside be the same? If so, the person who owned this lab must have been the one who created the potion my father drank.
With trembling hands, I examined the contents of the vials on the table.
To my astonishment, they contained the same clear liquid.
The same as what Dad drank.
But what about its ingredients?
I quickly opened the system menu. There had to be a skill for analyzing potion ingredients.
Frantically, I searched for a skill that could help.
<Subclass Unlocked: “Everything I Touch Turns to Art—Patissier Extraordinaire” (Level 157)>
<Skill: Recipe Deconstruction—The foundation of any Patissier Extraordinaire! Discover the recipe for any dessert and make it your own!>