Phew. Being a disciple is exhausting. It turns out master-disciple relationships didn’t just benefit the disciples. If I knew I could use Treasure Finder’s friend to talk to the people that I didn’t feel like talking to…, well, I still wouldn’t accept him as a disciple. I have Ilya for that. Mm, but the ruler doesn’t mind letting me talk to the people she doesn’t want to talk to, and I really can’t blame her. I don’t want to talk to these geezers either! As a member of the younger generation, I should be mingling with people closer to my own age—at least in appearance. What if I rush things along?

“So, I noticed it looked like you guys were getting ready to go in to the ancient ruins right before I got here. Is it opening soon?”

“Yes,” one of the old people sitting next to me said. Although he looks like a human now, he’s actually a spider. Some of the ruler’s old buddies wanted to treat me to food because of how well the ruler’s treated them. As such, I was kidnapped. Right, I was forced to come here against my will due to social obligations, not to the offer of free food. “This ancient ruin happens to be Atlantis.”

The old spider in human form stared at me with expectant eyes. Unfortunately, I had no idea what he was expecting to see from me. Was I supposed to react to what he said? “Okay….”

“You’ve never heard of Atlantis?” the old spider asked and raised an eyebrow. When he did that, I could see three more pupils peek out from underneath the upper eyelid of his left eye. It was a little creepy. “I understand. You must not be from the mainland. Well, Atlantis used to be the clan grounds of a closed-off family of demons. Patriarch Atlantis was a bit eccentric, even for a demon, and focused the majority of his life into the study and creation of formation weaponry. The classical beam cannons mounted on every flying ship today are a product of that man’s research. At the peak of that family’s golden age, their influence and reach were so far that hundreds of thousands of different legends were formed about them: how their technology was advanced beyond the times; how their territory was defended by an indestructible barrier; how they were capable of sending robotic eyes into the void beyond the sky to spy on anyone in the mainland. Many of these legends are still in circulation today. Unfortunately, as all things must, the Atlantis Clan was washed away by the rivers of time, but their clan grounds have never been located until not too long ago.”

There’s something I’ve noticed recently. People talk a lot. Ever since the impurities were removed from my brain, I’ve been able to focus on listening to someone until they’re done speaking, and boy, does time pass extremely slow when I do. I think I liked it better when I could listen to myself think and ask Ilya for a simplified sentence of important things when whoever I was supposed to be listening to was done speaking. Hmm. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to someone speak so long before. What exactly am I supposed to say? “That’s a, uh, pretty nice story.”

“Aren’t you curious as to how we know this ruin is Atlantis? How humans, demons, and beasts are all gathered peacefully to enter it together?”

“Err, not really.” I mean, sure, it’s a bit weird, but it doesn’t matter to me! There’s probably rules and stuff set up, but I don’t have to learn them because the ruler is with me. Rules don’t apply to her and, by extension, me, her disciple.

The old man stared at me before blinking. He nodded. “As expected of the White-furred Tyrant’s disciple. With your master’s connections, top-secret gossip like this can be read while sitting on the toilet.” The other old people around him glanced at him and sent other non-verbal signals towards him, causing him to clear his throat. “Yes, you must be looking forward to entering Atlantis. I wouldn’t want to hold you back.” He swept out his hand, and a box appeared in the air in front of me. “Take this is a meeting gift from an elder to a junior.”

A meeting gift? What’s inside? Is it rude to open it right away? Mm, no one’s ever taught me what to do in situations like these. It’s no wonder why they make me uncomfortable! Well, there’s always the option of a return gift. Normally, I’d offer someone meat after meeting them, but there’s all kinds of beasts here. The old lady sitting next to this spider is an aurochs who’s almost a transcendent beast. Gifting this spider barbecued aurochsen probably wouldn’t be the best choice. Alright. “Here. Some acorn ale in return!”

“Oh…, thank you, Junior Fluffytail,” the old man said and took the ale. He didn’t even look at it as he put it away. He raised his arm, and his hand contorted as his thumb elongated while three more fingers grew out of the fleshy part of his palm. His eight fingers moved like spider legs, and a formation of light appeared around me and the ruler. “I apologize for keeping you for so long. I’ll help send you in now.”

Mm? The ruler’s not reacting, so this probably isn’t a trap or anything. It’s nice having the ruler here. I feel completely safe around her except for when I have to walk on eggshells to not make her mad. I don’t understand why she’s still so sensitive when it comes to my ancestor. That rejection happened thousands upon thousands of years ago—I think. Shouldn’t she have gotten over it by now? Then again, he was my ancestor. If after so many different generations have passed and someone as amazing as me appeared from his bloodline, he must’ve been a pretty impressive person.