"Uh..."
Raon, disguised as Zilfen, blinked as he looked at the middle-aged woman who approached him in a friendly manner.
"Wh-who are you?"
He shrugged his shoulders to express that he had never seen this person before and tilted his head in confusion.
-This, this stupid fool! What are you doing right now!
Wrath opened his mouth wide in disbelief.
-She must be an acquaintance, you should have pretended to know her somehow!
He shouted, asking why he was pretending not to know the woman who had approached so friendlily.
-It's all over! The infiltration failed as soon as it began!
Wrath shook his head vigorously, saying everything was ruined.
"Do, do you know me?"
However, Raon continued to say he didn't know the middle-aged woman as if he hadn't heard Wrath's shouts at all.
"You don't know me? Look properly! Even if it was occasionally, we've known each other for years!"
The middle-aged woman looked hurt, as if asking how he could not know her, without revealing her own name.
"I, I really don't know."
Raon shook his head vigorously once again. He even stepped back slightly to show he had no idea who she was.
'A method to stimulate the imagination.'
Seeing that middle-aged woman not revealing anything about herself while talking about Zilfen's childhood made him even more certain she was fake.
-We're doomed...
Wrath raised his hand to cover his forehead as if everything was over.
-We are not helping with the war here, we are shortening this King's lifespan!
He beat his chest as if feeling frustrated inside.
'No, this is right.'
Raon didn't lower his gaze, filled with conviction.
'That's a method Derus Robert often uses.'
When someone is acting as another person, if that person's acquaintance shows up, most people clumsily pretend to know them and end up having their identity exposed. Derus had easily caught spies from other factions this way.
'But this time is different.'
The character Zilfen that he was acting as was an identity created by the Black Market. He was supposed to be an orphan without parents who grew up in a small mercenary group without any acquaintances, so pretending not to know anyone was absolutely correct.
"Hmm!"
Kuanyu looked at Raon and nodded as if satisfied.
"Zilfen! Look again! I am..."
"That's enough."
He raised his hand toward the middle-aged woman who was trying to approach Raon.
"Believer Varian. Thank you for your hard work."
Kuanyu bowed his head to the middle-aged woman with a smile on his lips.
"Not at all! If I can be of help to the Branch Manager, I can do anything!"
The middle-aged woman called Kuanyu Branch Manager and bowed politely.
'Branch Manager...'
Raon turned his eyes to Kuanyu and tensed his fingertips.
'Is it their way for the Branch Manager to personally guide newcomers?'
Since Kuanyu was an acquaintance of Zilfen, whom he was currently acting as, he had only thought of him as an ordinary missionary, but he didn't know he was the Branch Manager. It seemed he had met the right person.
"I'm sorry. But it was the Branch Manager's request, so I had no choice."
The middle-aged woman apologized politely and said she would treat him to delicious food next time they met.
"Well then."
She gave her final greeting as if she had finished all her business and walked toward the upscale residential area.
"Th-this is..."
Raon opened his mouth wide as if he still hadn't figured anything out.
"I apologize!"
Kuanyu looked directly at Raon and bowed at a right angle.
"As I mentioned earlier, since there might be those with ill intentions targeting heaven, I conducted an additional test."
He said he was sorry for conducting consecutive tests and scratched the back of his head. When the Branch Manager apologized in such a manner, there was naturally no way to complain.
"It's, it's fine."
Raon waved both hands with a bewildered expression.
"Since you said there are many evils targeting heaven, it can't be helped."
He said it was naturally understandable and laughed awkwardly.
"Thank you for saying that."
Kuanyu bowed his head once more, saying he was grateful for accepting his apology.
"Not at all. It's really fine."
Raon acted as if he felt burdened and hurriedly returned the greeting to Kuanyu.
"Then let's go in."
Kuanyu said that since the test was over, they should go inside, and pointed to the lush green grass that filled their view. The grass leading to the residential area held deep vitality and sparkled with a gentle light.
"Ah, yes."
Raon rolled his eyes quickly like a country person and approached Kuanyu's side.
-Huh...
Wrath let out an empty sigh as if dumbfounded.
-Wh-what just happened?
He tilted his head as if he still didn't understand.
'That guy said it himself.'
Raon lifted his head and chuckled.
'He said it was a test. It's a procedure where they send someone pretending to be an acquaintance to verify if the person is really who they claim to be. I thought Derus would definitely have something like this.'
Since it was something he had expected from the beginning, he didn't panic and handled it calmly, waving his hand.
-This crazy bastard really...
Wrath sighed, saying his liver nearly fell out.
-Come to think of it, you've been like this since I first saw you. What exactly are you!
He ground his teeth, asking about his identity at this point.
'It's still too early to be surprised.'
Raon followed Kuanyu's gesture and stepped on the grass, twisting his lips upward.
'Because this is just the beginning.'
-Beginning?
Wrath was tilting his head as if he didn't understand the meaning. A subtle energy rode the wind and penetrated his body, so stealthy that only someone who had surpassed transcendence—no, even having surpassed transcendence, he wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't been operating the Ring of Fire.
'As expected.'
Raon bit his lips tightly.
'There was a real one separate from this.'
He had expected that if it was Derus Robert, he would throw the clumsy reconnaissance using acquaintances as bait and prepare a real trap, and indeed that was the case.
'This is dangerous.'
It was a sinister aura on a completely different level from the divine power he had stepped on when coming down the stairs. It wasn't a barrier that detected body and mind, but human hearts—an absolute magic that detected minds harboring ill intentions.
"..."
Kuanyu's gaze subtly turned to scan his entire body. Judging by his reaction, he obviously knew that a third test existed.
'Stay calm.'
Raon maintained his awkward acting, pretending to feel nothing and scratching his cheek. He showed the appearance of a country bumpkin who had come to the city for the first time and swallowed his saliva repeatedly.
'I need to keep the Ring of Fire spinning.'
The Ring of Fire had stronger abilities to elevate the soul and mind rather than physical enhancement. He resonated nine Rings of Fire to hide his true intentions from the divine power that was penetrating his soul.
'It seems my focus has improved because this is real combat?'
Should I try it here too? Raon licked his lips and ignited new flames between the nine rings. He began the challenge of creating the tenth ring in the middle of enemy territory.
-This crazy bastard!
Wrath opened his mouth wide in complete disbelief.
-Do you really have no concept of fear?
He said even he, a demon king, wouldn't do such a thing and breathed heavily. Raon ignored the terrified Wrath and focused on creating the tenth ring. But as they passed through the grass field, the divine power disappeared as if nothing had happened, and accordingly, his concentration also subsided.
'Tch. Why is it so short?'
Raon clicked his tongue inwardly in disappointment.
-Hah! It's not that you've got guts—it's like you don't even have them!
Wrath shook his head vigorously, saying he was an impossible human to handle.
"You're following well. As expected, Sir Zilfen is someone worthy of ascending to heaven with us."
Kuanyu said words that seemed to have multiple meanings and smiled broadly. It seemed to mean that he had finally passed the real test.
'That's fortunate.'
Indeed, it was right for him to infiltrate. If agents from the Shadow Agents or Black Market had entered, their identities would have been exposed by the barrier installed in this grass field and they would have lost.
"Is, is this heaven?"
Raon slightly narrowed his eyes as he looked at the luxurious houses like those of nobles, beautiful forests, and people overflowing with laughter.
"No."
Kuanyu shook his head firmly.
"This is the Land of Clouds where one must refine body and mind before ascending to true heaven."
He smiled, saying this was land built above the clouds.
"Above the clouds..."
Raon frowned slightly as he looked at the ground.
'Come to think of it, it should be night outside?'
He had come here under the cover of night's darkness, but as soon as he came down the stairs it changed to broad daylight, so whether it was above clouds or not, it certainly wasn't a normal place.
"B-but..."
Raon looked around and tilted his chin slightly.
"It's somewhat different from what I had imagined."
People were eating expensive-looking food while wearing luxurious clothing and jewelry in huge houses like noble mansions. Men and women openly kissed while embracing each other, and some lay motionless as if they would sleep all day long. It seemed more like a place for fulfilling one's desires rather than heaven.
"You mean it seems like being exposed to desires rather than shedding them?"
Kuanyu nodded as if he understood what Raon's words meant.
"Many people misunderstand. Heaven is not a place where you must abandon desires. Rather, the more honest you are, the better."
He raised his finger to point at the people who seemed to be overflowing with desires.
"Only when you can fully unfold the desires hidden within human skin do you gain the qualification to go to heaven."
Kuanyu smiled, telling him to unfold all his emotions without reserve—greed, gluttony, sloth, envy, and lust.
"Greed and gluttony, sloth, envy and lust."
Raon repeated Kuanyu's words as he scanned the people who were openly displaying their emotions.
'That's no different from the emotions of demon kings.'
He swallowed dry saliva as he felt a sinister sensation running down his spine.
'Could these bastards be...?'
***
"Uhahahaha!"
Raon, acting as Zilfen, seemed to have perfectly assimilated into the Land of Clouds within a few days, adorning his body with jewelry, greedily devouring food, and living a life faithful to human desires.
-Huh...
Wrath let out an empty laugh as he watched Raon, who had gone beyond acting as Zilfen to seemingly becoming the human Zilfen himself.
-He's completely lost his mind.
Just a few days ago, Raon didn't even know about the existence of Zilfen. It had been less than a week since he received contact from the Black Market and went to meet him, but now the name Zilfen seemed to suit him better than Raon Zieghart.
-How can this be possible?
Raon had only read a book containing Zilfen's personal details and met directly with Zilfen, a Black Market agent, to ask a few questions. After thinking for several hours, he shed the skin of the bold and crazy Raon Zieghart and instantly transformed into the timid aura Expert swordsman Zilfen.
Even Zilfen himself had been so surprised by Raon's realistic acting that he was flustered and couldn't continue speaking.
It was understandable that he had excellent endurance and strong mental fortitude, but it was incomprehensible how someone who barely understood human emotions could act so well.
-How did such a person come to exist?
Wrath slightly wrinkled his nose as he watched Raon completely unleashing his desires.
-He's a monster that wouldn't be understood even through research...
Raon had the strongest self-control among all humans and demons he had seen. The three basic human desires—appetite, sexual desire, and the desire for sleep—nothing worked on this monster, yet now he was releasing all of it and fully unleashing his desires.
-No, wait!
Wrath straightened his wrinkled nose and opened his eyes wide.
-A-are you using the authorities of demon kings right now?
Raon wasn't simply revealing desires, but was operating greed, gluttony, and sloth. He didn't know what crazy thing he was doing in this land full of divine power.
'That's right.'
Raon nodded calmly as if it was nothing special.
-A-are you really insane? Divine power and demon king emotions are complete opposites!
Wrath screamed, telling him to stop immediately.
'Normally that would be true. But...'
Raon slowly waved his hand. He twisted his lips upward as he watched humans freely displaying various desires like pigs eating feed.
'This is the fastest way to get to heaven.'