Chapter 379: Ancient Truce

Ryan leaned forward in his chair and looked Sophia in the eyes. "So you managed to get out of the dungeon without any issues, but which forest are you referring to?"

Sophia held his gaze from the other side of the table and uncrossed her legs beneath her skirt, resting an elbow on it.

"Wild Highlands, you remember that place, don’t you?"

Upon hearing that name, Ryan narrowed his eyes without moving from his seat, reviewing the map of the human regions in his memory.

’It’s a small city, the closest one to the ancient forest of the exiled elves.’

"Yes, that’s where the mission you entrusted to my group came from. I remember well that the report mentioned hunting a monster. But we ended up facing a dragon. It was certainly very strange for a dragon to be in human territory."

Sophia listened to his complaint without looking away, forming a small, lopsided smile upon seeing that he still remembered that assignment.

"In any case, you should blame Ophelia for that. That dragon, although an ordinary one, was the one she arrived on when she tried to seal the dungeon. It must have gotten lost inside the dungeon, and I suppose it managed to get out at some point. I certainly had no idea that dragon would appear when I sent you on the mission," she said, raising her hands to face level to wash her hands of any responsibility.

Ryan stared at Sophia’s open palms in silence and let out a breath through his nose, watching her wash her hands of the incident.

Sophia calmly lowered her arms to the table, smoothed her dress, and turned serious again. "In any case, I didn’t imagine you’d find an S-rank dungeon in that area either."

Ryan rested his chin on his hand, looking down at the table as he reflected on both locations in his mind.

’Could it even be the exact same dungeon? Could it be that it just changed its location to break free from the seal? Not that it matters,’ Ryan thought, dismissing the doubt knowing that the place was already behind him.

Sophia remained silent in her seat while he thought, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear as she waited for his next question.

Ryan lowered his hand to the table and looked at Sophia, noticing a hole in her story. "I see, but there’s something that still isn’t clear to me. If Rohan didn’t allow you to complete the dungeon, how did you become an S-rank?"

Sophia looked at her own hands for a moment and flexed her fingers, remembering the day they crossed that portal. Then, she raised her eyes to Ryan and rested her forearms on the table.

"To tell the truth, when we left the dungeon, both the prince and I were already S-rank. I have no idea how it happened. But anyway, with the materials we obtained, we managed to create the first relics to hide our true ranks," Sophia explained in a measured voice.

’I’m still not sure if everything she says is true. With her, you never know. Although she doesn’t seem to be lying.’

Ryan listened to that confession without interrupting her, understanding where the relics she had used to bribe Delia and Alina came from. However, knowing that they had both come out alongside their enemies made him question another detail about that day.

He rested both palms on the table, evaluating the situation both sides had been left in upon returning to the surface.

"Then, what agreement did you reach with Ophelia and the Demon King so they would retreat to their nations? Did they just let two S-ranks walk away just like that?"

While he waited for Sophia’s answer, Ryan averted his gaze to the side of the room, recalling the conversations he’d had with Ophelia before fighting Rigal.

’I suppose Ophelia didn’t tell me about what she saw inside the sealed dungeon because she thought that if she told me she faced a god, I would hesitate to follow her plans to assassinate Rigal. And maybe at that time, I really would have rejected her proposal,’ Ryan thought, recognizing that back then he wouldn’t have agreed to get involved in that without having his current strength.

Across the table, Sophia took a breath, crossed her arms under her chest, and looked toward the closed door before locking her eyes on him again.

"In reality, it was more complicated than it seems, but to keep the story short, I’ll just tell you that Rohan has a very personal issue with the Church. Because of that, he agreed to extend the truce with the prince—who would become the King of Lunar Veil—in exchange for remaining neutral and not joining the Church. He would not attack the nation," Sophia recounted in a serious tone.

Ryan sat still in his chair, finally understanding why this border lived in peace despite having such a weak barrier. Sophia uncrossed an arm and waved her hand in the air to clarify the limits of that deal.

"He has kept his word since then. Naturally, that doesn’t apply if a demon acting on their own crosses the border, or if a human does," she added, lowering her hand back to her lap.

A brief silence settled between them inside the room. Ryan observed Sophia’s calm features, analyzing her intentions in confessing a secret she hadn’t told anyone else.

’If Sophia is telling me this, she must believe that at some point that agreement with Demon King Rohan will no longer be valid. She must be hoping that in the future, I’ll form an alliance with the Lunar Veil nation. But this is beneficial to me, not just to William. I could have the opportunity to use Sophia and this entire nation,’ Ryan thought, maintaining a serene expression so as not to reveal his own plans.

Putting the topic of the border aside, Ryan leaned his back against the wooden chair and tapped his knuckles on the table. "I see. And what about the dungeons? Did you try digging into other dungeons to look for those portals?"

Hearing that question, Sophia let out a short sigh and let her shoulders drop a bit, running her hand over her skirt as she remembered the attempts of the past few years.

"Yes, we did. We tried the same thing with other dungeons but didn’t find anything like it. In the end, we came to the conclusion that they were just paths that god opened to move between worlds," Sophia replied, slowly shaking her head.

Ryan lowered his chin, processing that the incident in Erhes Valley had been a unique case. "Yes, it could be that," he murmured, looking at the floor.

Sophia watched him in silence from her chair. Ryan closed his right hand into a fist on his thigh as he reviewed what he had discovered today.

’Dungeons themselves are already isolated spaces from this world; we enter them through rifts. I don’t know what that god Silva intends to achieve with all this, using the Church, creating portals and dungeons... I suppose there is only one person I can force to tell me—one of those shitty deities I’ve spoken to before,’ Ryan thought coldly.