VOL 2 Chapter 68: I agree.

Upon hearing Erik's words, Sofía quickly got up from the ground, filled with excitement and renewed hope, inwardly congratulating herself for having taken the risk. Even though she still didn't know what she would have to pay for his help, anything was better than losing her siblings. In her mind, she had already resigned herself to fulfilling her promise and becoming a slave to the young master if he managed to save her brother.

"Then, where is the mine you're talking about?" As Sofía stood up hastily, Erik asked casually while looking at her with a slight smile, which greatly surprised her.

Originally, Sofía had thought that the young master would simply give her the money or send someone to help her brother, but the situation suggested he wanted to go to the mine himself. Still, since she had received the help she so desperately needed, she decided to comply and pray to the heavens that her brother could be rescued.

Wasting not a single moment, Sofía quickly explained to Erik where the mine was located. At that moment, he turned to his beautiful maid and gave an order in a calm, almost captivating tone, which sounded like heavenly music to Sofía's ears.

"Seraphina, take us there."

Upon receiving the order from her young master, Seraphina bowed respectfully at the same time a deep darkness surrounded the group, covering them completely. This terrified Sofía so much that she had to bite her lips hard to keep herself from running away.

While she felt her heart pounding throughout her body due to panic, Sofía suddenly experienced a feeling of weightlessness, followed by a strong dizziness that hit her with such force that she ended up plopping down on the ground, slightly disoriented. Erik couldn't help but laugh, commenting to himself in an amused and somewhat nostalgic tone.

"Hehe, being teleported for the first time is really awful."

"What are you talking about? The first time I teleported you, you barely even noticed." Eleonora, who was standing next to Erik, remarked with a small smile on her face, prompting Erik to shake his head and reply with a playful tone.

"Didn't notice? That's only because I tried my best to hide it. After all, I was getting to know my second master, hehe."

"Yes, my little baby back then even staggered around feeling dizzy." Sigrún added mischievously, then gave Erik a light kiss on the cheek.

Quickly, in the midst of the sweet conversation among the three, the veil of darkness covering them disappeared, revealing their surroundings, which were filled with wounded, dead, and screams everywhere. This sight snapped Sofía out of her daze. She looked around, surprised, but swiftly composed herself, pointed in a certain direction, and spoke decisively.

"Over there is one of my brother's companions. He knows which tunnel he's in."

Hearing Sofía, Erik stopped joking around with his masters and nodded in understanding. At the same time, an invisible platform made of Myst appeared under his feet, lifting the entire group into the air. This caused the young tour guide to wobble as she attempted to stand up.

"It's really amazing how stealthy you've become at creating your Myst constructs." Sigrún commented with a smile as they flew toward the tent, then took Erik's hand intimately.

"Well, it's what I'm best at, so I can't neglect working on it," Erik answered cheerfully, intertwining his fingers with Sigrún's. At that moment, Eleonora took his other hand and kissed his cheek, then spoke in a soft, flirtatious tone.

"Our Erik is very hardworking, fufu."

"I do what I can…"

While intertwining his fingers with those of his golden-eyed master, Erik responded with a small laugh that spread to the pair of beautiful women, who leaned intimately on their beloved disciple. Meanwhile, the perfect maid, as was appropriate, watched the scene with a calm, composed expression, though she unconsciously took one step closer to her young master.

For her part, Sofía stared, baffled by the group that seemed absorbed in their own world and completely ignored the pandemonium taking place beneath them. It was quite jarring, but she didn't have time to think much about it because they quickly arrived at the tent where Kevin was, just as he was entering it while carrying a wounded person.

"KEVIN!!"

Sofía shouted from above, catching Kevin's attention. He looked up with a shocked expression, which turned into pure stupefaction and disbelief when he saw Sofía alongside four people who looked like gods on earth, all flying in the sky. He exclaimed loudly.

"Sofía!!"

"Kevin, which tunnel is my brother in?!"

Filled with nervousness, Sofía asked urgently from the air, not wanting to waste a single second. But when Kevin was about to answer, he felt the weight of the wounded man he was carrying disappear from his arms, at the same time that he was lifted at high speed into the air against his will.

"AHHHHHH!!!!"

Gripped by panic, Kevin screamed with all his might, absolutely petrified by the absurd situation. But at that moment, he felt his body paralyze, preventing him from continuing to scream. Simultaneously, a melodious feminine voice, tinged with slight annoyance, rang in his ears.

"Don't scream, it's annoying…" Sigrún remarked with an irritated expression as she unloaded the young man onto the Myst platform that Erik extended to create a foothold.

"Mast—" Erik turned to look at Sigrún, but before he could say anything, she shot him a sharp look, so he quickly corrected himself and continued in a calm, composed tone.

"Sigrún, could you let him speak? He has to tell us where to go."

"Of course, dear."

Sigrún answered in a cheerful, singsong voice, then laid her head on Erik's shoulder like a loving, obedient wife. This made the star-haired boy chuckle softly. He turned to look at the young man in front of him, who had terror written all over his face and didn't dare move or speak, even though the restraints had disappeared.

"Kevin is your name, right?" Erik asked in a calm tone, staring directly into the frightened eyes of the young man, who only managed a frantic nod, paralyzed by fear.

After all, what he was witnessing went beyond anything a miner like him had ever experienced. While he knew that mages and flying existed, those were elevated beings that someone in his humble position could never encounter. Not to mention that the beauty of the three women beside the young man with starry hair was too perfect—so much so that it was almost terrifying.

Moreover, even though he could barely feel the mana in his body and could hardly use it, just by the way those four people looked at him, he could tell they were of high status. They looked at him as if he were inferior, irrelevant, and only worth speaking to because he was useful to them at that precise moment. It was a gaze he was so accustomed to receiving that he could even tell they didn't do it on purpose; their status was so high that, for them, this was their natural way of treating others.

"Well, Kevin, I want you to guide me to the tunnel where the tour guide's brother is." Then Erik turned to look at Sofía and asked with a smile.

"Or Sofía, is your name, right?"

"Yes, young master, my name is Sofía."

Sofía quickly bowed respectfully and replied in a formal tone, which earned her a discreet glance from the beautiful black-haired maid. At that moment, Erik turned back to Kevin and spoke again.

"Well then, I'm counting on you to guide us, Kevin. And don't worry, you'll get a nice tip for helping."

"That's not necessary, young master. The tunnel entrance is in that direction." Kevin pointed northwest, though his hand trembled slightly. Even so, he mustered up the courage to add.

"You just have to go straight about 500 meters, and you'll find the entrance."

"All right, then. Thank you, Kevin."

Speaking in a friendly, courteous tone, Erik tossed Kevin a small, simple-looking pouch, very similar to the one he had given Sofía earlier in the afternoon. Then he turned to Eleonora and asked with a smile.

"Eleonora, could you take Kevin back?"

"Of course, dear."

Visibly pleased, Eleonora replied in a cheerful tone and, imitating Sigrún, leaned her head on his shoulder, while the young man—pale with fear—descended back to the ground.

The reason Erik explicitly asked Eleonora to do the favor, when he could have brought the young man back down with a Myst platform himself, obviously had nothing to do with the fact that a certain golden-eyed master was crushing his hand with her monstrous strength. No, it definitely wasn't that. It was solely because he wanted to focus on saving the young guide's brother without being distracted by other matters.

After letting Kevin back down, Erik controlled the Myst platform to fly in the direction indicated for about 1 kilometer, then landed gently on the ground. This puzzled Sofía a bit, since they had passed the tunnel entrance a while ago, but she chose to remain silent and wait to see what would happen, given that her words wouldn't have mattered much anyway.

"Well, Miss Sofía, before doing anything else, I want to clarify the terms of our contract. How does that sound?"

As they landed, Erik turned to look at Sofía and asked with a smile, which made the beautiful young woman panic slightly. However, unwilling to give up when she was so close to saving her brother, she quickly nodded and spoke with firm resolve.

"Yes, young master, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure my brother is safe. It doesn't matter what you ask of me, I'll do it."

"Good, you're determined. So let's get down to it." Erik replied, satisfied, and promptly took out a gray-colored notebook. He opened it and produced an elegant fountain pen in his hand, then added in a calm tone.

"I was thinking that if I save your brother, you'll work loyally for me for at least, I don't know… a century? How does that sound?"

"I agree, young master."

Without a second's hesitation, Sofía accepted in a firm voice, looking directly into the young man's green eyes. He smiled, pleased, then quickly jotted something down in his notebook.

After making the note, Erik held out his right hand for a handshake, which caused a brief surge of panic and embarrassment in Sofía. She started wiping her hand desperately on her pants, a faint blush staining her cheeks.

When Sofía took Erik's hand, the first thing she noticed was the difference in size, followed by his body heat, which for some reason filled her with a sense of security. It was as if everything would be all right now and there was nothing to worry about because those big, warm hands would take care of everything.

"Well, Sofía, welcome aboard. You're part of my people now. We'll talk later about your work. For now, we'd better worry about saving your brother."

After firmly shaking her hand, Erik spoke with a calm smile, which excited Sofía so much that her face turned bright red, and she exclaimed loudly while clenching her small fists.

"Thank you, thank you so much!!"

"Hehe, don't worry about it." Erik waved his hands, indicating it wasn't a big deal. Then he glanced at the ground as though he could see right through the earth, softly murmuring to himself in a somewhat helpless tone.

"Although it really is quite deep…"

***

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