Anana slowly raised her head.
Before her stood a strikingly handsome young man.
His features were refined, with perfectly sculpted facial contours, hair as dark as the night, and eyes that seemed to hold amber within them.
Ah, so handsome.
That was the only thought in Anana's mind.
After all, in the snowy wilderness, most men tended to have rugged appearances. Compared to Xia Lun, they might as well have been uncivilized barbarians.
"What's wrong, little one?" Xia Lun waved his hand playfully in front of Anana, snapping her back to reality.
"I-I'm fine... Sir, is there something you need?" Anana stammered, her cheeks flushed as if she'd just been pulled from a hot bath.
"Let me ask instead." Aina suddenly grew wary, pulling Xia Lun behind her.
"Does your village have a merchant caravan heading to Kro Village?"
Ah, so beautiful.
Staring at Aina, Anana found herself lost in another daze. Compared to her, she felt like she wasn’t even an ugly duckling.
Anana's face turned an even deeper shade of red from embarrassment.
Aina gave the young girl a suspicious glance.
As Xia Lun’s wife, she was well aware of his overwhelming charm—officially a hero, unofficially a walking incubus. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have made that mistake with him while he was asleep...
Noticing Anana’s expression, she had stepped in to prevent the sinful hero from stealing yet another young girl’s heart.
But... why was the girl blushing even more now that she was the one talking?
Could she be... into women?
Aina’s expression gradually turned peculiar.
"I can sense your thoughts drifting somewhere strange again." Xia Lun lightly tapped Aina’s head with a mock chop.
"I believe I’ve told you before, Xia Lun, in front of others..." Aina puffed her cheeks slightly.
"Right now, our identities are students of Olifando." Xia Lun cut her off before things got complicated, then added via telepathy, "But I’ll gladly accept punishment for this transgression later, Your Majesty the Demon King."
Aina’s heart skipped a beat.
This guy... he really isn’t a proper hero at all!
"Kro Village? You mean Kro City, right?" Anana replied to Aina. "Our village does have a merchant caravan going to Kro City... If I remember correctly, they’re leaving for it today."
That’s why her parents were in such a hurry to process those furs.
"What a coincidence," Aina continued. "We’d like to go to Kro Village and hope to travel with your caravan."
Anana pointed in a direction. "The caravan leader lives in that house."
Aina nodded and casually tossed Anana a gold coin as payment for the information.
On one side of the coin were engraved wheat stalks and flowers, while the other bore the portrait of a bearded man.
The man was Elro XIII, the current king of the Yalan Empire and the first Prime Minister of the United Nations of Yaliris.
This was the currency issued by the United Nations of Yaliris, the most widely used and trusted among humans. Even many other races had begun adopting it for trade.
Below it were silver and copper coins, with an exchange rate of 100:1.
A single gold coin was enough to cover a month’s expenses for an average family in the Yalan Empire.
Anana’s eyes widened. "Um... this..."
A gold coin... even for her, this was a considerable amount of pocket money.
Yes, pocket money.
Because Anana’s family... wasn’t exactly poor.
Wealthy merchants and nobles of the Yalan Empire were willing to pay high prices for the furs transported from Lake Village. Though hunting in the snow plains was extremely dangerous, the rewards undoubtedly matched the risks.
And Anana’s father was the most experienced hunter in Lake Village—in terms of skill, he could probably rival a knight.
Anana instinctively wanted to return the gold coin, but the two had already walked away.
"They left so quickly," Anana murmured in amazement before happily tucking the coin into her pocket.
She could ask the caravan uncle to bring her a few new dolls.
...
If Xia Lun and Aina wanted to travel somewhere in the world, there was likely no faster method than flying there themselves.
Yet they chose to set off slowly with a caravan, just like novice adventurers.
There had to be a sense of ceremony.
The more powerful a person was, the more they pursued meaning in life—power, wealth, strength. After all, they could have almost anything. If they simply indulged without restraint, they would eventually grow empty and weary.
Ceremony played a crucial role, acting as a seasoning for emotions.
But to those who couldn’t understand, this so-called "ceremony" would simply seem like the eccentricities of the strong.
The caravan leader, Ge Rui, was a portly, bearded man with a perpetually cheerful grin.
Aina handed him a gold coin, and the matter was settled swiftly.
"This is too much... Just taking you to Kro City shouldn’t cost this much..." Despite his words, Ge Rui’s hand obediently pocketed the coin. After all, no one turned down money.
As a result, Ge Rui specially cleared out a... dog sled for Xia Lun and Aina.
In the snow plains, the sleds weren’t pulled by horses but by domesticated snow-wolf dogs.
Snow-wolf dogs were hybrids of snow wolves and regular dogs, far gentler in temperament than their savage wolf ancestors but just as large. The biggest in the caravan was nearly three meters long, with remarkable stamina and endurance.
The sled’s runners were also widened, not the typical narrow type. Since the caravan was heading toward the Yalan Empire, where the ice plains would eventually melt, traditional sleds wouldn’t be usable.
Ge Rui rang a bell, and the caravan began moving forward.
"Are you two from Kro City?" Ge Rui struck up a friendly conversation with Xia Lun, handing him a leather water pouch. "Warming liquor, untouched. It’s all yours."
Money really did buy better service.
Xia Lun took a sip—the liquor carried a milky fragrance, quite pleasant—then passed it to Aina.
"We’re students from Olifando, here on business and now heading back," Xia Lun offered casually.
"Ah, so you’re mages." Ge Rui’s expression shifted to one of sudden understanding. He had already guessed Xia Lun wasn’t ordinary.
After all, what kind of normal person could trek all the way to their village alone?
"Still, Kro City is a place with a long history," Ge Rui mused.
"Yes, it’s been a very long time." Xia Lun gently wrapped an arm around Aina’s shoulders, his gaze tinged with nostalgia.
Kro Village... was where he had first met Aina, over a thousand years ago.
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
ey change clothes. Li Chuan contributed all his possessions, only to find that things were not as they seemed. Almost a year after joining, he hadn’t managed to get a single Daoist consort. Thinking he had been deceived, he was approached by a stunning senior fellow disciple who asked if he would like to form a spiritual bond. For those who don’t practice cultivation, they might not know what “forming a spiritual bond” is. Let me put it this way: A long-term relationship is called a “Daoist consort,” while a short-term relationship is known as “forming a spiritual bond.” From then on, Li Chuan discovered the true way to interact with the Yin-Yang Sect’s Daoist consorts. As long as he had enough spirit stones, he could form a spiritual bond with anyone, Whether it’s Senior Sisters, aunts, Daoist consorts of aunts, female elders, Daoist consorts of elders, or even the Daoist consort of the sect leader, anyone can form a spiritual bond as long as there are enough spirit stones.” I've already joined the Yin-Yang Sect, and you're telling me to focus on cultivation? Do you even know what the Yin-Yang Sect is all about?
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"