The moment Rael muttered those words, the air around every single one of them changed. For one, Rael already knew from the moment he set foot in this place that something was up with Altros’s mind, but seeing it up close was even more special.

After all, this guy had some kind of worm eating away at his heart, and there was also a giant centipede wriggling around in his brain. The guy behind him had the same thing going for him, which probably meant these guys messed around and found out.

Regardless of what they did or what had been done to them, Rael decided to quickly fix the problem by snapping his fingers and watching as both of them returned to normal.

Except it didn’t go as smoothly as Rael had imagined. Both insects suddenly burst out through the mouths of the two men, covering the whole ground in bile and blood. Not to mention, the insects were even larger up close than what Rael had imagined.

And, well...

"AAAAAAAAAAH!"

The pain they must have been in was definitely top notch. Rael’s sort of masochistic side was curious whether or not it was as bad as going through an evolution.

Heh.

Well, he didn’t want to experience either, so Rael just stepped back and made sure to avoid all the blood that they were puking out. They weren’t going to bleed out, were they?

Instead of answering Rael’s inward question, Gaia went ahead and began healing them from the side. He could’ve done it too, but he kind of felt like they could tough it out.

After several minutes had passed, they finally snapped out of it. Sure, they gagged a little, but that wasn’t so bad. Then they stood up, brushed some of the blood off their clothes, and narrowed their eyes at Rael.

The Grade 6 didn’t talk, but Altros did. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Thanks for that... I have no idea what happened."

"You got controlled by someone, I guess. Did you eat anything funny from someone you shouldn’t have?" Rael asked straight up.

Altros thought it over for a moment, then quickly recalled one incident. "Damn... We found a cheap brothel, and I don’t remember anything after entering. I bet that’s when it happened."

"My dear friend, cheaping out on brothels is like saying you want... You know what? Nevermind. I feel like you’re a cheap idiot either way, so whatever I say won’t change it," Rael said.

"Yeah, yeah. I’ll be careful next time. Thanks, I owe you one," Altros said, bowing slightly. Then he abruptly glanced up. "Ah, right! How’s Melissa? My mind’s been so foggy lately, I doubt I messaged her even once, and I told her I’d keep in touch."

Hearing that, a shiver ran down Rael’s spine. He had pretty much set aside the fact that most people treated him like some kind of relationship advisor. He wasn’t quite into it, so he decided to pin the blame on Gaia instead, who just stared at him in confusion.

"Huh? How would I know?"

"Please, any help would be appreciated. I don’t want to accidentally die if I show up in front of her," Altros pleaded.

"Yeah, she already thinks you’re dead because you haven’t texted back." Rael snickered, making Altros fall into deeper despair.

In the end, though, Rael slapped the cowardice out of Altros and then forced him to send Melissa a message. Despite what any of them thought, she replied rather quickly, but for some reason, Altros didn’t say what she had replied with.

However, from the faint tear of acceptance in the corner of his eye, Rael had a vague idea of what awaited this guy the moment he got back home.

"Yep... I’m screwed. I’m officially dead. My sister just told me she sold my apartment because it was taking up so much space. Aghhh... I had so many goodies stashed in there," Altros said, clutching his head in horror.

Rael had an idea of what he meant by goodies, but even then, he decided to give him a quick reality check on just what kind of place he had found himself in.

The moment he did, Altros face-palmed, but... He did seem a little happy.

"Ahaha... I’m not a pervert, but hey... So long as I act like I’m still brainwashed, they’d think I’m the ruler of this place, right?" Altros looked around for approval, but all he got was disdain.

"Ah. Or not..."

"That’s enough being horny. Go do something productive, like getting stronger and then protecting your world. As for the guy in the back... I forgot your name, so I’ll just call you Tubby. You should’ve been the angel on his shoulder, giving him good advice. What is this?"

Tubby looked down in shame, realizing that he had just failed a being as great as Rael. He had no words to defend himself.

On the other hand, Rael finally realized he was acting like some kind of father scolding his children, so he just stopped and took a step back.

Afterwards, he glanced at the rest of the cult below him. There were plenty of shady things going on here, but Rael wasn’t really in the mood to fix any of them, so instead, he flicked his wrist, teleporting the four of them several thousand meters away to some innocent-looking village.

Then he turned to Altros, who had just realized he had been teleported, and said:

"From here on, I won’t bother to save your ass if you get in trouble, so remember... You only have one life, so don’t waste it like an idiot. Going to a brothel for sex? Just get a wife!"

"Ah. Yes... I should probably start going to the imperial palace every now and again, since that’s where most of the lonely women go," Altros thought strategically. "Thank you, Rael. I won’t forget your favor today, and I’ll be sure to repay it several thousandfold."

Yep.

He was now acting like a full-blown cultivator.

Even then, Rael waved goodbye to the two of them and then took Gaia to some place in this world that resembled a shrine in the middle of the forest. He had seen it earlier and thought it was interesting to visit before leaving.

Yet as he thought that was all there would be to it, Gaia suddenly spoke, saying words that he hadn’t expected her to say in the slightest.