"This is serious..."

My eyes were fixated on the two in front of me.

What I had heard was surprising—so much so that it took a significant amount of brainpower to process it.

As my eyes frolicked about, their gazes were on me, expecting an answer.

"I never expected this... not this soon..."

Was it my fault? Did I cause this too? No... I couldn't blame myself for something like this. It was somewhat inevitable, considering the circumstances.

I just didn't think it would be like this.

"So, you're saying..." I raised my eyes and stared at Neron and Serah—the two people seated in front of me.

"... You want to get married?"

"Yeah!" Of course, the first person to voice her opinion was Serah Crimson.

Hearing her affirm those words just made me shiver once more.

"But... why?"

Not that I was against their happiness or anything, but the timing couldn't have been any worse.

It was not only crazy, but very irrational. I looked at Neron for support, however—

"I also agree with Serah."

—He gave the same answer.

"Hehehe!" The crimson lady grinned in victory.

The Neron I knew wouldn't make such a decision without a valid reason.

I needed to find out the truth, so I decided to use Telepathic Magic to speak to him.

~Did she force you to do this? Are you being held hostage?~

He slightly shook his head and sighed.historical

~No. It's what I want. Life is short, you know?~

What the heck was this man talking about? He literally had all the time in the world, yet he chose to seal the deal now?

I mean sure, I was the one that pushed him on this path, but weren't things going way too fast?

'It has to be the work of Serah! She's too excited about this.'

"Hey! Are you guys communicating through Telepathic Magic? That's rude!"

Inasmuch as I would have loved to defend myself, she was right.

The only thing Neron and I could do was apologize.

"It's not like we're having it anytime soon, you know? It's in, like three months. If we hurry with this whole Cult issue, we should be able to be ready by then." The crimson mage added with an emphatic sigh.

Did this woman really know what she was saying?

An organization that took years of their time gathering Arcanas in secret, having members powerful enough to topple the world, yet she was giving a deadline of three months?

I knew it! Serah Crimson was batshit crazy.

"How is research going on your end? It's been two days since you eavesdropped on their conversation and they figured it out... any progress?" Neron smartly changed gears, most likely noticing my expression.

"No dice. Finding out about these guys is just impossible. The density of power there was crazy, so I could even barely hear them—talkless of seeing how they looked like."

The tracker worked, though, so I knew the location of the enemy's headquarters.

Still, storming it was another matter entirely. For all I knew, it could be a trap. Since they would now be expecting a strike, it was risky to go all-out against them—especially since Arcanas were the priority.

"I sent some Automatons to survey the area, but they were all shot down before they could report anything. The last thing they saw was just an endless sea, though."

The enemy was located at the epicenter of the world. Exactly in the middle—surrounded by the four continents.

Still, why hadn't we noticed such a place before? Even I didn't know what to expect from the place at this point.

"They probably have a very powerful cloaking field. As for your Automatons, maybe an automatic defense mechanism... or someone is guarding the place vigilantly." Neron calmly said.

All the Automatons I dispatched were the best at stealth. They had [Unknowable] active, but it seemed that wasn't enough to escape the enemy's surveillance.

"Why did they choose that location, though? There has to be a significance. It could have to do with the fact that they're gathering Arcanas..."

It probably wasn't world domination —considering they would probably succeed at that with the amount of Arcanas already in their possession.

Then what?

"I've been researching Arcanas long before now, so I know a few things. Still... there's a lot I haven't figured out."

At this point, it was back to the drawing board. In a race against time, such as our current predicament, mistakes weren't allowed. If I was to win this time around, I had to be smarter.

"They have their ways of locating Arcanas, but there are conditions for every Arcana one collects. That's also one of the reasons they slowly collect them."

It was somewhat like a game, where the supposed maker of the Arcana set a few traps and a roundabout layout to ensure that it wasn't easy to obtain the Arcana piece.

My friends and I almost died thanks to a couple of the more troublesome games we had to play.

Ultimately, we succeeded in obtaining all our prizes... well, almost all of them.

'I wonder if I'll be able to do it now... that one we couldn't get.'

It had bugged me a lot in the past, and I had postponed it even in my current life. Considering the difficulty, it was understandable.

However, I needed to get it sooner or later.

'I might as well start from there.'

"You mind if I join you on your research for the Arcana's location?" Neron offered.

Not that I didn't appreciate the help, but wasn't he too busy being buried in Serah's boobs to care about the fate of the world?

"Don't look at me like that, Jared. You... you don't know how they feel. You wouldn't get it." His response caused my heart to bleed, but I tolerated it.

'Joke's on him. In my past life, I had my share of fun!' Of course, I was still a virgin in this one, but I could still relive my past glory.

"Well, if you want to help, it's always appreciated." I smiled, looking at Neron's excited face.

"Alright! I'm pumped up!"