Chapter 177: Planning Ahead!

Alura squinted at him after answering.

“Alura.”

Jax nodded once, committing the name to memory even though he showed no outward sign of doing so.

The cat girl leaned back against the cracked stone bench, still holding the gold coin between two fingers like it might vanish if she blinked.

“You’re not going to ask where I live? Or who I work for?” she said suspiciously.

“No.”

“…Or threaten me so I don’t steal from you again?”

Jax shrugged faintly.

“If you try again, you’ll probably fail again, and get in a-lot more trouble,”

Her ears flattened as she heard that, “Hey!”

But Jax was already turning away.

Alura watched him walk toward the alley entrance, tall, relaxed, completely unconcerned about the encounter.

Something about that irritated her.

“Wait!” she called again.

He paused without turning around.

“What?”

She hesitated, tail flicking behind her.

“…You’re weird.”

“I’ve been told.”

“You’re not from around this district.”

“No.”

“…You rich or something?”

Jax looked over his shoulder, a faint smile touching the corner of his mouth.

“Something like that.”

Then he stepped back into the alley and disappeared into the street traffic.

Alura stared at the empty space for several seconds.

Then she looked down at the gold coin again.

“…Weirdest robbery ever.”

While she was thinking that, Jax was already moving through the streets of Aeternum Noctis, his illusion was still perfectly intact.

The morning crowds had grown thicker now since much more time had passed since Jax’s initial interaction with Alura.

Trade wagons rolled through the main avenues. A group of centaur couriers galloped past carrying sealed message tubes. Several goblin engineers argued loudly over the calibration of a mana tram rail.

Jax allowed himself one more slow walk through the residential district before finally shifting direction toward the inner tiers of the city towards a particular estate which sat within one of the quieter upper residential rings.

Not ostentatious like the noble estates of various other wealthy Demons, but very elegant.

A wide courtyard lined with crimson-leafed trees surrounded a two-story obsidian structure reinforced with subtle defensive runes. It had originally been built as a secure intelligence residence.

Now it served a different purpose.

Jax stepped through the front gate without knocking.

The barrier recognized his mana immediately.

Inside, the courtyard was peaceful. A small fountain murmured softly in the center, its water glowing faintly with purification magic.

He had barely taken two steps toward the front door when it burst open.

A blur of silver hair launched toward him.

“Jax!”

Alexi collided with him full force, wrapping both arms around his neck before planting a quick, excited kiss against his lips.

He caught her easily.

“You’re energetic today.”

She grinned brightly up at him.

“You were gone!”

“Three days.”

“That’s a long time.”

Alexi finally hopped down from him but kept one arm looped casually through his.

Her appearance hadn’t changed much since the last time he saw her, long silver hair, sharp violet eyes, and the confident posture of who believed what she was doing was correct.

Except now that confidence carried a different energy.

One that appeared whenever she looked at him.

“Natasha!” she called toward the house. “He’s back!”

A voice drifted from somewhere deeper inside.

“I sensed him.”

A few seconds later Natasha appeared in the hallway.

Unlike Alexi’s explosive entrance, she walked calmly into the courtyard, dark hair flowing down her back and her sharp amber eyes assessing Jax with quiet interest.

“You were in the Witch Dimension.” She said after sensing the aura around him.

Jax nodded once.

“Yes.”

Alexi’s ears perked up, “They have their own dimension?”

“You still have alot to learn about the Demon Kingdom,” Jax said and Alexi chuckled.

They moved into a wide dining room overlooking the inner courtyard.

Alexi had already begun pulling food from the kitchen—fresh bread, roasted meat, fruit, and a pot of strong demon tea.

Jax sat at the head of the table while Alexi practically dropped into the chair beside him.

Natasha sat across from them, composed as always.

“Alright,” Alexi said, sliding a plate toward Jax, “Did you come just to eat?”

“Of course not, I wanted to talk about our old friends and what you think they’ll do in the future,” Jax responded.

Alexi leaned back in her chair after sliding the plate toward Jax, hooking one leg casually over the other as she watched him take the first bite of food. Her expression shifted slightly when he mentioned the Heroes.

Natasha folded her hands together on the table, already anticipating the direction of the conversation.

Jax swallowed, then looked at Alexi.

“How close are they to the Holy Church now?”

Alexi scratched lightly behind one ear as she thought about it.

“Still working with them,” she said after a moment. “But… it’s not as clean as it used to be when all of us first arrived here,”

Jax raised an eyebrow.

“Explain.”

She leaned forward a little, resting her elbows on the table.

“When we first got summoned to this world, the Church basically positioned itself as our only ally,” she said. “Food, training, equipment, information… everything ran through them.”

Natasha nodded slightly.

“That dependency created trust.”

“Exactly,” Alexi said, snapping her fingers once. “But that trust is starting to crack.”

Jax’s gaze sharpened.

“Why?”

Alexi tapped the table lightly with one finger.

“Because us heroes are starting to ask questions.”

“What kind of questions?”

“The biggest one?” Alexi smirked faintly. “How the hell we get back to Earth.”

Jax leaned back slightly in his chair.

“And?”

“They haven’t gotten a straight answer,” Alexi said.

Natasha spoke calmly.

“The Church keeps telling them that defeating the Demon King is the first step.”

Alexi rolled her eyes.

“Which sounds good on paper… but after months of fighting demons, watching kingdoms collapse, and realizing how strong you actually are…”

She gestured vaguely toward him.

“…We were all starting to doubt it.”

Jax’s voice remained calm.

“They believe they cannot defeat me.”

Alexi gave a crooked smile.

“Oh, they absolutely believe that.”

Natasha didn’t sugarcoat it.

“They’ve fought your generals.”

“They’ve seen the scale of your power.”

“They know the difference between the stories the Church tells… and reality.”

Alexi leaned back in her chair again.

“And that’s the other problem.”

“What problem?”

She pointed directly at him.

“You.”

Jax tilted his head slightly.

“Meaning?”

“The heroes are strong,” Alexi said. “Way stronger than when we first got summoned.”

Natasha nodded.

“But they’ve also realized something.”

Jax waited.

Alexi’s grin widened.

“Even with everything they’ve gained…”

She leaned forward again, voice dropping slightly.

“…they’re still not sure they’re strong enough to handle you.”

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