Evah smiled at Roselle, speaking unhurriedly. "What I want is simple: work for me for three years. After that, we're square. Pretty good deal, right?"
Roselle frowned instinctively, then relaxed, grinning broadly. "Sure, no problem. I wouldn't work for just anyone, but for a hometown boy… no shame in that! Trading three years for a life? I'm coming out ahead. Looks like you're big on hometown loyalty, Lucifer!"
The frown came from years of being the boss—working for someone else didn't sit right at first. But Roselle wasn't ungrateful.
Three years for cleansing outer god corruption? He was clearly getting the better end of the stick.
Evah chuckled, not commenting on Roselle's words. He pulled out the Conqueror characteristic. "Your first job is turn this Conqueror characteristic into a Beyonder item."
Roselle raised a brow at the characteristic. "Impressive, Little Lu. You snagged this? You picked the right guy for the job. I'd bet there aren't five people in the world besides me who could craft this into a Beyonder item."
Even as a Knowledge Emperor, Roselle retained his Artisan skills—those didn't vanish unless the corresponding characteristics were expelled.
"Tell me what you want," Roselle said, exuding professional confidence.
"Keep the negative effects mild, and make it attack-focused. That's all I need," Evah said crisply.
"Got it. I'll figure out the details. Next time you summon me, it'll be ready," Roselle said, giving an OK gesture.
Evah smiled, catching the probing undertone in Roselle's words. He nodded. "Thanks."
This confirmed to Roselle that Evah would summon him again.
Roselle let out a subtle sigh of relief.
Evah grinned. "I'm a generous boss, so I don't mind paying part of your salary upfront before you start work."
He looked at Roselle. "So, let's connect with this era's you and kick off phase one of the corruption cleanse."
...
On a small island in the Fog Sea, Roselle's final mausoleum stood silent as always.
In his not-dead, not-alive state, Roselle existed in a strange limbo within the tomb. Ninety-nine percent of the time, his corrupted personality dominated, with only rare moments of clarity.
That didn't mean he'd fully succumbed. The corrupted personality hadn't caused chaos or revived successfully, thanks to Roselle's relentless resistance.
But today, the tomb's silence shattered.
"Aaahhh!"
A scream—whose, it wasn't clear—echoed through the mausoleum, startling birds into flight.
Meanwhile, beyond Earth.
Watching the Mother Goddess take yet another critical hit, the Mother Tree suddenly felt grateful it hadn't corrupted too many high-sequence beings on Earth. Otherwise, it might be enduring these regular beatings too.
What was that mysterious creature?
The Mother Tree pondered this unanswered question once more.
...
"Hiss, that scream was a bit much. No gentler way to do this?" Roselle said, wincing and muttering.
Though millions of miles from his current-era self, their shared identity let the Shadow of Time Roselle link up and feel his counterpart's pain vividly after the connection was made.
"Nope, corruption cleansing's always like this. Definitely not because I've got a grudge and skipped the softer approach," Evah said, not even blinking.
He didn't mind letting Roselle know he'd been gentler with Mr. Door and the Chained God Tolzna, less brutal in their cleanses.
Of course, Evah could swear on his heart it wasn't just because he disliked Roselle. It was purely because Roselle was the only Sequence 0 among them, and he wanted to test a Sequence 0's limits.
"Hey, you just admitted it!" Roselle said, choking on Evah's bluntness. He stared, half-speechless, for a few seconds. "So what exactly about me rubs you the wrong way?"
"Oh, plenty. After all…" Evah didn't hold back, grinning at Roselle. "You're kind of a jerk."
Roselle choked again, a flicker of guilt crossing his face.
He knew full well how many rotten things he'd done.
"If you don't like me, why bother saving me?" Roselle asked after a long pause.
"Maybe because, jerk or not, you've got some redeeming qualities. And, well, you're my hometown boy…" Evah paused, lowering his gaze. "I'll always give my kind a hand."
Roselle fell silent. After a few seconds, he grumbled, "Good thing you met me. I may be a jerk, but I'm not the type to bite the hand that feeds me. With your soft heart, you'd get backstabbed by some idiot otherwise."
"Don't worry about that. I'm kinder to my kind, sure, but if they turn on me, I'm not dumb enough to let them stab me in the back. The moment they choose betrayal, they're not my kind anymore," Evah said, glancing at Roselle with a grin.
"That's fair. At least you're not a naive idealist," Roselle muttered, then asked curiously, "Besides me, have you met other transmigrators?"
"Yeah, my student's a transmigrator. A great kid, way better than you," Evah said, his expression softening.
"Why you gotta compare like that?" Roselle grumbled, then asked, "Does he know the truth about transmigration?"
"He does. It hit him hard, but his mother comforted him for a few days, and he came to terms with it," Evah said, smiling.
Roselle seemed to relax, then realized something and looked up at Evah. "Which era's mother are you talking about?"
(End of Chapter)