"Son of Viviane, we meet again," Vd said, sighing. "You two seem perfect for each other indeed."

  "Thank you, Master Vd," Man smiled. "Noill start with… the accusation. I want to hear what any of you know about my husband."

  Burn sat, his back to the door. His eyes sed the room, knowing full well that he had bee the focus of the assembly. He had never met any of them before in all his previous loops, not even wheried.

  Wekkoun hummed. Behind him, Grumbletoe looked curiously at Burn and Man, noting that they were the pair of humans they had spotted the day before.

  “Dwarfs are a very curious race. We aloke our noses where they don't belong in the name of 'teological curiosity.' That is also the reason ossibly the race most ied in outsiders. And most likely to end up in trouble with them,” Wekkoun said.

  He tinued, “We trade many things with outsiders and dissect their teology, bit by bit, although most of the time, we ot uand how it works. Naturally, it bees crucial for us to gather information from them, and we have sold quite a lot of things in the process…”

  Man asked, “Including information iurn as well?”

  Wekkoun nodded, firming this.

  “I am sure they received simir pieces of information, but it's surprising that the dwarfs got it not from Inkia, but from the outsiders…” Tashr said.

  “No, we acquired it from the outsiders, but they cimed to have obtai from the Inkians. We do not know where the snder and accusations inated, but they offered quite a great piece of information iurn for more information about His Majesty’s past with the mythical unity,” Wekkoun expined.

  "So they spread it by to buy more information about it… that’s clever," Man turo Burn, who just shrugged.

  "They also came to us, dangling shiny armor and fancy tech, while casually dropping the bombshell question, 'Is it true that Emperor Burn of Soulnaught feasts on merfolk and unieat for loy? Got any juicy details?' you believe the nerve?" Adroros, the taur Chief, reted with a cold annoyance.

  "And wheried to find any truth to the rumor, Inkia was talking about it as if it was a firmed truth. They were running with it like it was yesterday's news, spreading the rumor like wildfire without a care in the world," Wekkoun said.

  "First of all, unis are so rare and not easily entered. We are only able to take hold of Master Eos Kirmizi through the annou for the assembly by the World Tree, so we 't easily firm anything," Tashr said.

  "As for the beastkin, news like this is not that culturally important to us," Selen the Weretiger said. "Most of the non-humanoid creatures came to us to build a society in the Great Jungle, and including my husband, some of us still e other mythical creatures, of course, under a strict w."

  Selen turo Burn. "Well, we don't e se creatures, though. That's just… we're beasts, but not monsters anymore. Still, we don't judge as much."

  "Same with us Lys," Onulph said. "Sometimes, our youths lose trol and go on a rampage due to our nature. It doesn't happen anymore, but until 50 years ago, there were still acts in which people were ed, but we settled that wfully ahically as soon as possible."

  Onulph turo the vampires, "I'm sure… so are the vampires."

  Vd and his daughter nodded respectfully to Onulph.

  It was clear that the stereotypically dark mythical creatures and those who could only find sustehrough the life of other creatures were more accepting of it, uanding that there might be a reason behind the a, no matter how depraved it seemed.

  “Verily, I do cur,” Isaiah said. “Dragons hath ed se creatures through yon annals of history. In a world where 'twas eat or be eaten, we were the ones partaking iing. Born with the privilege of absolute power, nary did anyone protest. If they wished not to be ed, they should have stayed afar from our treasures…"

  Isaiah turo Nayanika. “Well, some also doth huient or noient creatures for sport, merely to savour or out of ennui."

  The woman fag the wall flinched.

  “Now that we’ve listeo everyone’s knowledge about the rumor, which is still… surprisingly vague, how about we ask whether it’s true or not,” Man turo the Merfolk Monarch, Aidyl Navarre and the ali, Eos Kirmizi.

  But before they could speak, Burn raised one hand.

  “I hunted and ate the previous merfolk king named Karlung Navarre and a uni named Morelust… something, I fot his name,” Burn said. “Don’t correct me on their names if I made a mistake. I have no respect for them.”

  Just after he fialking, every sihroat lost their voices.

  "Karlung... kuh—HAHAHAHHAH!” Aidyl suddenly ughed, bubbles f in the floating blob of seawater, his voice muffled by the water. “It’s Kalnk, but hey, Karlung works just fine!"

  “And the uni I knew was named Mosst, but sure, let’s roll with Morelust instead,” Eos ughed, a pyful neigh esg through his nose.

  Man closed her eyes, massagiemples with her hand, trying to hide her frustrated smile. Here she was, doing her best to protect his reputation, but he...

  “Pfft, look at you, the Holiness. You always act all righteous and holy, but it's just your pretentious nature! You hypocrite!” Nayanika turned from the wall, pointing arrogantly at Man.

  “You stopped us from eating or harming fellow children of God, saying all se creatures are equal and all that, but you marry a ibal!” she excimed. “Ah… a… an inter-species ibal!” she corrected hastily.

  “The word you’re looking for…” Man slowly turned her face to the female dragon, “...is Sapiophage.”

  Man's usually serene visage torted into a mask of terror-indug wrath, her eyes abze with ic fury that froze even the bravest souls.

  The air around her crackled with otherworldly energy, causing the arees of the elven kingdom to shiver, tremble under her power. The majestic pace's t trees quivered in fear, their branches reag out as if seeking soce from the impending storm of Infich’s rage.

  Her beautiful features twisted into a horrifying, yet enting embodiment of anger, a sight that could make demons cower and angels weep.

  “Darling Bunny, remember how I told you I want to raise chis aheir eggs for breakfast every day?” she reminded Burn.

  The man widened his eyes, never imagining he would see Man make that kind of expression. “...Yes, Momo.”

  “How about we raise one female dragon and harvest her uilized eggs for breakfast every day instead?” Man smiled as she rested her on her demure white fist, veins bulging from tension.

  Each word that escaped her lips dripped with sarcasm sharper than any bde, cutting through the air with chilling precision. The heavens themselves seemed to darken in respoo her wrath, as if even they dared not withe full extent of her fury.

  “You dare drag me down to your level, child, so be it. Let’s go down together.”

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  After my frustration a couple of days ago about ratings, I now feel the o crify something. The act of exging ratings between authors is actually not as bad as it sounds, and it is NOT frowned upon! Why?

  Well, this is why. First, it be seen as two creators supp each other, especially indie creators with a small following or all, who have just ehe se. In a world where numbers meahing and the algorithm is the almighty god, you will appreciate all the help you get.

  Between friends and well-acquainted authors, this is on and fair. Because, well, usually, friends review and read each other's works and testify to the quality. Also, even if they don't actually read the other's work, their words of encement to tell readers to give it a try are still precious and supportive. It's like saying, "Hey! The person who made this is cool, so check this out!"

  Sed, even with the iion of boosting each other's ratings artificially, how do we know if the authors, who might not know each other well, actually read it or not? What if they actually read it, liked it, and rated it fairly?

  Of course, this is just my opinion. I uand that readers might sometimes feel deceived arayed by high ratings because of this practice. This is insider knowledge I’m sharing with you, and these ptforms are harsh, harsh. You offend one lone god (or several), and boom, your det rating's gone. I ot simply bme people who do these kinds of 'cheats' either.

  Why, then, do I not want to resort to it? Because I am stupid. I have author friends too, who would help me out. They know the quality of my work and have even helped me proofread sometimes. If I asked, they'd surely jump to help. Still, they are also busy with their own work and don't always have time for my shit.

  I still work part-time, and I am still a student. So, writing is still only my passion, not my full-time job. But imagihose for whom this is their only hope—maybe due to things like disability, where they 't find other jobs, or people with multiple jobs who also write.

  Man, it'll break their hearts. But you do you! After all, a creation is not only made by its creator but also by its unity. If you find something distasteful and feel pelled to rate it poorly, AT LEAST expin why in the review. I'm not stopping you, just be mindful of your one-click decision and make it a one-clid-some-kind-words decision.

  Aura +1 million.