“Haha…hoo~ Sorry, sorry… My name is Eridel. What’s your name?”

Eridel was obviously not asking about the name that he had given her, but instead her real name. The name she had been using before her reincarnation. However, he had no doubt that she was unaware that he had named her Gaia, and there was a chance that-

“My name is Gaia” came the draconic voice of the Creation Dragon.

‘And there it is…’ Eridel thought. He was absolutely certain that she was thinking it was okay to use the new name provided for her as an alias, thinking that it was fine because it really was her real name now.

It wasn’t a bad thought process to be honest, in the wide universe there were many ways to easily prove if someone was lying or not. This was one of the biggest reasons as to why Immortals became more proficient in manipulating the truth the older they got. Gaia was probably thinking that since her new name was both real and harmless, it was the best scapegoat to cover her true identity even if she had already thrown away the pretence of being a regular mortal Dragon.

Unfortunately for her, she was speaking to the one that had given her that scapegoat.

If she was at her peak, she might have come up with something less fallible. Her powerful soul would have quickly enlightened her to the fact that her new name might actually have been granted by a strange individual like him, instead of the strange System… But she wasn’t and Eridel was thoroughly enjoying the control that he was slowly gaining over the situation.

Giving a secretive smile, he said. “I see... A fine name you have there, dear Immortal.”

“So you know.” Gaia said softly, not even giving a token resistance.

“Yes I indeed know and it wasn’t hard to find out. But forget that, Miss Gaia. You know something that I don’t, and I’m willing to trade with you for that information.” Eridel said.

For a moment, he had thought of mentioning her crazy feat of converting Destruction Essence into Creation Essence to make himself seem all knowing, but decided to veto the idea immediately. Saying such a thing would actually devalue his mystery and narrow the range of options she had to guess his identity. On top of that, she would surely assume that it was his Primordial Essence that had enabled her to complete the Destruction to Creation conversion feat.

True enough. But she didn’t need to know that.

The less she knew about him, the more wary and cautious she would be. He needed that for this conversation.

Of course, there were other ways of causing intimidation, such as pretending to be an evil fiend who would kill her if she didn’t comply, or threatening to use his voice to enthral her now very mortal soul. But there were too many variables in that. Although unlikely, she might commit suicide in defiance. She had already reincarnated once and she could probably do it again.

On top of that… he needed to keep their relationship amiable even after the deal. Especially after the deal.

“What do you want to know.” Gaia said without a single ripple in her emotions.

But Eridel didn’t reply straight away. He just continued to stare at her with his dangerously fascinating golden eyes as the World around them fell silent. Colour slowly seeped out of reality and all motion came to a complete halt. Apart from Eridel and Gaia, everything else had turned black and white.

Time had stopped.

“...What are you doing?” Gaia said, still without a ripple in her emotions. But she knew, and he knew; It was utterly false. She was absolutely terrified.

The Time Laws!

“Just a bit of privacy for what I want to be said, nothing much.” Eridel said, nodding his head in a boyish manner as if the whole situation was really just a small matter. But then his face took upon a serious expression.

”I… want to know the location of all the Worlds in this Galaxy.”

Silence descended upon them as they continued to look at each other, each looking for the slightest clues that would allude to the others true emotions.

“Why?” Gaia finally said. Short and concise.

Things had become extremely tense and every word uttered was beginning to hold extra weight. Nothing could be said carelessly.

“You don’t need to know that.” Eridel said with a slight smile, aiming to disarm her anger. He knew very well that he had just indirectly stated that he was a foreingn invader. There was no reason for someone as allegedly strong as he was, to not know the location of other Worlds in the Galaxy. It could only mean that he was an invader.

There was another long silence again.

Eridel guessed that Gaia was using the entire capacity of her mind to guess his intentions. After all, at the top of this conversation, Eridel had addressed himself as the Guardian of this World. It could be a lie, but it was more than enough information to make her question if he had any hostile intent.

Eridel decided to press forward, grasping the chance before she jumped to conclusions. His patience in letting her gather her thoughts was a lie. He was very aware of how slow her mind worked and what time to cut in before she could reach anything substantial. It was all just a pretence to make her feel that he cared about what she thought.

“I know what it sounds like, but I don’t have bad intentions.” A lie. “However, I’ve come prepared with the fact that nothing I say could ever change your mind.” Another lie. She hadn’t even come to a decision yet, what mind was there to change? All he was doing was increasing the pace of the conversation whilst pretending to think that she could keep up.

She wouldn’t dare to ask him to slow down if she didn’t want to admit that her mind was actually weak. After all, It could possibly lead to him using his voice to manipulate her again, and if she didn’t want that, she must keep quiet.

Unfortunately all in vain and much to her detriment.

“This is why I want you to consider an offer of mine.” Eridel said with a very, very slight compassionate light in his eyes. Too much would let her know that he was most definitely pretending. All this while he had been smiling apathetically or secretly. Nothing about him looked compassionate. However, with this tiny amount, it looked like he was trying to hold himself back, but temporarily failing. That spoke much, much more volume.

Either way, she couldn’t confirm or deny its validity.

All in his favour.