"I got permission to get rid of Berion, but since it"s you who he tried to manipulate, I wanted to let you decide."

"Are they really willing to replace our commanding officer?" Kamila said in amazement.

"Yes." Lith said.

"If by "replace" you mean shoving him six feet under." He actually thought.

"First of all, thanks for your consideration." She replied with one of her dazzling smiles.

"I think it"s better if we keep him, though. Berion is better than most of his peers and whoever they replace him with, would surely do the same if not worse. The Crown holds you in high regard, whereas I"m just a low level bureaucrat.

"Let"s be honest, I"m an easy target to get to you. I wanted us to spend some time together because even if we haven"t known each other for long, the mission in Othre allowed me to catch a glimpse of your life in the field.

"I learned more about you during those weeks than I would after dozens of dates. I needed to see if my feelings were born only out of grat.i.tude or the shock of seeing you almost die and now, I have my answer.

"I like you, Lith Verhen, and that"s why I have to ask you to be equally honest with me. Do you think our relations.h.i.+p is worth its troubles? I have a messed up life and family. As long as I don"t have a position of my own, I"ll be a liability."

Kamila had a hard time speaking those words, yet he deserved to know the truth.

During the last few days, Lith had shared with her so much of his world. He had made her dream of soaring through the skies come true and shown her wonders like the circular rainbow visible when looking at the ground from above the clouds.

Just like Constable Ernas had said, those who were like them were killers but also humans. All those moments spent together had made her reflect about their future, if they ever got one together.

"It"s like there are two Liths. I"m not afraid of the one who fights like a demon and I really like the one in front of me right now. Yet we are very different and I want him to realize how little I have to offer him.

"I have no family or a.s.sets worth mentioning, but that doesn"t mean I"m willing to be dependent on others. My career comes before marriage and relations.h.i.+ps." She thought.

Lith was taken aback by her words. His life had made him single minded enough that when he wanted something or someone, he just strived for it. Being rejected was much less painful than being tormented by regrets or loneliness.

He was sick and tired of feeling empty inside. When he was still a kid on Mogar, he had often dreamed of being special. Now Lith only wanted to feel normal for once in his three lives.

"If we talk about messed up lives, I"m sorry but I take the cake. Any relations.h.i.+p means solving problems together that you wouldn"t have alone." His joke made both of them laugh.

"So, yes. I like you too and I never considered you a liability. I don"t know if our story will be worth all of its troubles, but I"m willing to find out." Lith took her hand into his own.

It was the first romantic moment they shared since their second date and Kamila found herself deeply enjoying it. She threaded her fingers through his and she kept them that way until they got back to their hotel.

Later, that evening, Lith went to pick her up for dinner and found Kamila still wearing her dressing gown.

"If you don"t get ready quickly, we"ll lose our reservation." He said with a smile. Even though he hated being late, Lith couldn"t get angry at her. It was clear how much effort she had put into their date.

Her black hair was perfectly straightened out and so silky that her room"s lights reflected on it creating wonderful shades of gold. Her light make up made her skin look flawless and emphasized her oval features.

A sweet scent emanated from Kamila"s body that made Lith wish the night was already over, so that he would understand if she was ready to pick their relations.h.i.+p up from where they left it or if she wanted a do over from scratch.

"Sorry it took so long, I want to make this evening special." She replied from the bathroom"s closed door.

Lith sighed and looked at his watch. Their reservation was as good as gone.

"Well, be honest. What do you think?" Kamila entered the room wearing nothing but a flower in her hair and a smile on her face.

Lith suddenly couldn"t care less about the restaurant"s reservation, nor that he had no food until morning came.

***

After his week of vacation with Kamila, Lith took another with Solus. He hadn"t forgotten about the promise he had made to her and the lost city of Kogaluga was the perfect cover for his off the record holiday.

Unlike Kaduria, the mystery of Kogaluga was of no interest to him. The lost city was plagued by a rift in the air from which darkness magic seeped endlessly. Any living being who died within the city would immediately turn into an undead.

Those reanimated by the rift would all start as lesser undead, like skeletons and ghouls, but they would get stronger over time. The sons of Kogaluga would evolve into greater undead if not destroyed and forced to rebuild themselves from scratch.

It was the result of a failed experiment to grant immortality and eternal life, but it resulted in utter failure. History had shown there was no ceiling to their metamorphosis.

Back before Kogaluga was turned into ruins, its ruler had turned into a Lich and led the horde of greater undead who had been ama.s.sed inside the city to storm the surrounding regions before the Kingdom was born.

Yet all of them were just puppets of the rift. It had a will of its own, making any new undead just a means to its own ends. Just like Kaduria, Kogaluga was surrounded by a barrier and the Ranger"s duty was to make sure its inhabitants remained at their weakest.

The rift was able to recreate their bodies out of thin air over time, so even reducing the undead to dust was just a matter of further stalling. Normally, it would take several days for a Ranger to scout the whole city and make sure that no clever undead remained hidden.

Thanks to Life Vision, it took Lith less than half a day to find and pulverize them all with darkness magic. He spent the rest of the week with Solus. Ever since she had achieved her green mana core, the first floor of her tower form had been completely rebuilt.

One of her new abilities was to Warp the whole tower to any mana geyser where she had ever been in the past. It allowed them to travel great distances without anyone inside or outside the Kingdom being able to follow their movements.

Luckily, the nearest mana geyser to the lost city was too far away to be useful to fuel the barrier surrounding it but perfect for Lith"s purposes.

He simply had to get back to Kogaluga when he had to perform his daily reports, while he spent the rest of the time indulging in Solus"s wishes.