Chapter 154: Projection Ring

Black Rose stepped out of the shower with steam rising from her body. She was on her way to her closet when she noticed her room was darker than she remembered.

The lights were still on and bright, but for some reason, the balcony curtains she'd remembered leaving open were now closed, obscuring the view of the balcony from inside the room.

This made her confused, but she didn't think much of it as she couldn't sense any danger or even detect the presence of a foreign entity. So she moved towards the balcony out of sheer curiosity and raised the curtains, only to freeze on seeing a figure standing outside with his back turned.

Her katana instinctively materialized in her hand, and the sound made the figure turn his head to look at her.

"K-Kaelen?" She blurted in surprise.

Kaelen didn't reply as his eyes lowered down her body before they snapped back up again.

"What aren't you—"

"Why are you—"

They both tried to speak at once and paused to let the other speak first.

"W-What are you doing here?" She asked, still looking surprised. "I've actually been trying to contact you for a while now, but your line has been switched off. Did you see my voicemails?"

"Uhh… no," Kaelen said and scratched his chin.

The truth was that he didn't even know where his phone was to begin with. It wasn't in his pockets, neither was it in his inventory. "I actually think I lost my phone. Any problem?"

"Yeah. I… a lot has happened lately that I'm sure you're aware of. You can come inside," she said and gestured him in, but Kaelen didn't budge.

He was silent for a moment. "Aren't you going to put on something first?"

His question made her mind go numb, and she looked down only to realize she was in a towel that barely went down her thighs. Her face immediately flushed, and she slammed the glass door and curtains shut before he could even blink.

After a minute, he heard her voice from inside.

"You can come inside now."

He exhaled slowly and pushed the door open to step into the spacious room. But the moment he spotted her, he was momentarily stunned.

Contrary to what he expected, Black Rose didn't go for suitable clothing but simply threw a long robe around her body that covered her arms and went down to her knees. Her hair was still damp, with wet strands clinging to her face. She didn't seem to mind, so Kaelen decided not to be the weird one.

Black Rose sat on her bed, which was the only seating area in the room aside from the chair on her nightstand. "You can sit here," she said as she tapped beside her.

He was silent for a moment. "I'm good here," he said as he remained standing at the corner.

Black paused to stare at him. "It's only weird if you make it weird."

"What?"

"I know you saw something, but I didn't mean that. That's why you closed the curtains and remained on the balcony. I'm trying to overlook it, but you're making it painfully obvious. So please come and take a seat and forget you ever saw anything," she said calmly, but her slightly flushed face betrayed her feelings.

Kaelen was about to deny it until she laid everything out before him, so he decided to take the advice and moved to the bed to take a seat as well.

"So who should start?" She asked. "You came for a reason, right?"

"Yeah. I wanted to make a request to you." Kaelen's expression turned serious, and he turned to look her straight in the eye. "You said your goal for becoming the Empress was to save humanity; that's the only reason I'm here. If you really want to do that, then you have to listen carefully and do as I say. I'll be gone for a while, not sure how long, but while I'm gone, I'd like to ask that you halt every mission you might have concerning the ruins of Akkad, and I request that you look into every other stronghold that might have plans regarding the ruins as well.

"You don't have to worry about Stronghold 3. Felix will also be gone for a while. Even if they try to hide it, I'll advise you to use this opportunity to reclaim authority across the seven Strongholds and establish dominance. Any Stronghold that goes against your orders shouldn't be ignored. Arrest who needs to be arrested and eliminate who needs to be eliminated. Feel free to use my name for that if you're interested in working with me."

Black Rose was silent for a moment as she absorbed everything Kaelen had said. "I understand, and would gladly work with you. But can you tell me what's really going on? Where are you going? What happened the last time, and why was the Global Descent suddenly cancelled? I have a reason to believe you're at the center of it, but don't you think I deserve to know in order to protect the strongholds?" She asked in concern.

"It'll take the whole day to make you understand what's really happening behind the scenes. Even I don't know much, and I'm only discovering things one step at a time. Right now, I can't tell you anything because there's somewhere I have to be at the moment. The more time I spend here, the more resources I lose," he replied calmly.

"I understand, and I don't expect you to tell me everything right now. I also know what you're doing is dangerous. You're carrying the burden of the world on your shoulders alone, without needing the recognition of anyone to do what you believe is right," she said softly, before peeling a ring off one of her fingers.

Then she grabbed his hand and put the ring in his palm as she looked at him. "This is a Divine Tier Projection ring. I have the other pair and want you to have this one. We can communicate wherever you are across worlds, both in-game and in real life. If you ever need to pass down a message… or need someone to talk to, feel free to contact me. I'll always make myself available for you."

Kaelen was spooked. He appreciated the ring and gesture, but this was still someone who had been hunting him down from the very day his name made the headlines across Evolution Online. He didn't know if she was just being nice or extra, so he decided not to read much meaning into it and become the weird one again.

He nodded at her. "This'll be useful. Do you have another pair? There's someone else I might like to communicate with like this," he said thoughtfully, but his question made Black Rose freeze on the spot.

"S-Someone else?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure if she'll accept the ring, though. She might think I'm rushing the marriage proposal again." Kaelen mumbled to himself.

"…Huh?"