I WAS The Rank–1 Hero-Chapter 151: Twilight Triangle

"It's my first time." Maria said, gently stroking the head.

"Cute, right?" asked Ruby, squishing her cheeks.

"Mhmm, heehee~" Lily giggled at both of their touches.

Patting her head, Maria looked towards me and asked, "Where did you find an elf in this era?"

To her question, I first twitched at the scene before me. Lily acted overly friendly with Maria. However, when she interacted with me, she suddenly began to cry.

Honestly, I just noticed it today. Lily seemed to act friendly only with females, and I felt hurt just thinking about it.

Letting out a defeated sigh, I answered Maria.

"She was being sold to an auction house, and when I saw her, I couldn't help myself from rescue her."

In response to my comment, Maria first glanced at me and then expressed her obvious admiration. "Oh my, so you defeated all the bad guys and then rescued her?"

"Eh?" I couldn't help but react to her words, coughing and then correcting myself. I simply stated the phrase with a coldness in my voice. "No, I didn't do anything like that."

And for some reason, Maria's eyes shone after that, and with a twinkle in her eyes, she spouted. "Ah, don't tell me you rescued her after you butchered all the bad guys."

"..."

What the fuck is wrong with this chick?!

I never butchered anyone mindlessly. What am I, a monster?

'I highly doubt that.' Mocked Sera.

Shut it, ghost.

'What a liar!'

Ignoring Sera, I calmed my mind and cleared Maria's false image regarding me.

"I don't kill people mindlessly. As for rescuing her, well… I simply bought her."

"..." Maria narrowed her eyes, widening her lips; she clearly seemed to me disappointed.

"What a waste of talent…" She sighed.

This girl!

I kind of already started disliking her.

But Sera has some other opinions regarding it. 'I kind of like this girl; she can somehow see through your act.'

Eh? What is that supposed to mean?

"..."

Now she went quiet.

Oi?!

Was she seriously ignoring me?

Clicking my tongue and cursing Sera, I turned my attention to three ladies in front of me.

Ruby was holding Lily while crouching down on the floor, while Maria played with Lily's tiny hands, with stars in her eyes. She seemed rather curious about Lily.

"By the way," Maria looked up at me while holding Lily's tiny hands, "...for how much did you bid on her?"

"Ugh...!" I know she was going to ask this question. To be honest, I have no issue disclosing this information to her. It's not like a pirate will freak out after hearing the amount. They can loot billions in a week if they want to.

"Around 5 billion." I roughly shared.

"..."

But to my surprise, her expression froze. She looked back at Lily, then at me, then again at Lily, before she strangely stood up from the floor.

Dusting her skirt, she rapidly ran right in front of me.

I flinched at her expression. The stars in her eyes grew brighter, and her typically calm demeanor disintegrated as she clasped both of my hands together and made a loud declaration.

"Please marry me."

"..."

It took my mind several seconds to process her words. But before I say anything, I feel the temperature of this room rising.

Sweat began to drip from my forehead and Maria's, too. Our sweats didn't even reach the floor, as they evaporated into pure fumes.

There's no need to guess why this phenomenon was occurring. The source lay right in front of me.

She was filled with pure rage, her body radiating a radiance of Fire Essence. She was giving me a creepy, bone-piercing smile.

"J-Jasmine—!" I flinched back, shaking my hands from Maria's grip. I stumbled on my chair, falling backwards.

"Oh dear… Did I perhaps assume your relationship incorrectly?" Maria spoke while looking back and forth at Ruby and me.

Ruby giggled with anger in her tone before she spoke.

"Did you, perhaps, forget to mention our relation? DARLING."

Those eyes…

Those scary-looking eyes. It was the first time I had ever seen this side of her. And honestly, I didn't like it a bit.

"Y-Yeah," I hesitated, "I was just about to mention it to her."

"You better do it soon. DARLING."

The way she spells out "DARLING" gives me chills. And even Lily seemed scared.

Poor girl…

Without testing Ruby's patience, I once again introduced Ruby to Maria.

"Captain Maria, this is Jasmine. My companion, and well, my… girlfriend."

"Is that so?" Maria seemed sad, for God knows why. "Then, I humbly apologise."

She then bowed to Ruby, and as soon as she did, Ruby's mood came back to its normal, adorable phase.

"It's fine. Totally." She said while patting Lily's head.

I don't want to scold Ruby on why she did that, and neither do I have the guts to do it. And it's not like this disclosure of information will harm any of us.

Lightening the conversation, I changed the subject.

"By the way, now that we're here, tell me everything you know about that underwater gate, and why you were after it?"

Peeking at my side, Maria began while walking in front of a giant map of the ocean on the wall.

"This all occurred in this region." She pointed to an 'X' mark on the map, and beneath it was written 'Twilight Triangle.'

Twilight triangle?

It was the same place that this ship, The Silent Dawn, was headed to—the same place where the members of 'Black Bullets' were last seen before they all mysteriously died and where that humongous gate was found underneath.

The atmosphere dimmed down as the evening sun set. Only the pitch darkness and the thunderous cries of waves slamming into each other are visible from the window.

Maria continued, matching her tone with the darkness outside.

"The gate we are going to open was called The Door of Endless; the gate required two entities to make it open…"

"First, Divine blood, and second, someone from the highest authority…"

I listened as Maria exposed a few pieces of information.

"...to get through the gate, we must face ourselves across time. Only then may fate be rewritten."

Rewritten?

What am I hearing? But I halted my question after Maria finished.

"In each trial, we have to relive our life from different versions of 'us' from different timelines…"

Different versions?

Maria stopped; she didn't say anything further.

Breaking the silence, I asked her.

"What will be the price we get after the trial?"

To my question, Maria simply smiled and proudly declared.

"A key to let yourself free from this curse… a relic of fate… A vessel to rewrite any fate..."

She paused, then finished her sentence.

"The Relic of Null Fate."