Unrivaled Demon's Odyssey

Nero and the rest entered the inn and caught everyone's attention.

Arnold and Rosemary were walking ahead of Nero and the girls; however, everyone's gazes were fixed on the three beautiful girls.

"Why is everyone staring at us?" Asteria whispered with a puzzled look on her face, as though she had no idea about her beauty.

"I think it's because they sensed Nero's powers," Emilia answered.

However, she was wrong. Everyone in the inn was just travelers and citizens of the town.

Sophia raised her brows and sighed inwardly: 'I can't blame them for not noticing it since they have never been away from home before.'

She was in her angel form, although without her wings and Halo, she looked like a normal mortal.

Nero walked to the receptionist and uttered, "How much for a room," the woman on the counter replied.

"10 gold coins for a night."

'They always increase the prices during wars and pandemics to get as much benefit as they can,' Nero scoffed.

"He is with me," Arnold asserted.

The woman looked at Arnold and sighed: "You always pick up strangers and then introduce them as friends."

"He is not my friend; he is my master," Arnold remarked.

"Whatever~ I don't care who is who. I will charge five gold coins for a room. Take it or leave it."

'I wouldn't have given more than two gold coins, but since I am a bank with unlimited money, I don't care how much things cost.'

Nero took out a crystal from his pocket and slammed it on the table: "Keep the change."

The woman grabbed the crystal and placed it in her pocket. Then, she glanced back and forth at Nero and Arnold: "Your master is generous."

"Can you tell me my room number already?" Nero uttered in an annoyed tone.

Emilia squinted her eyes at Nero and thought, 'He has been looking annoyed ever since he saw the other town.'

"Room number 132; that's the best room of this inn," the woman replied.

Nero motioned the girls to follow him to the room and turned to the stairs.

"Ara Ara. Look who is here," a female voice sounded from the other side of the counter.

'This voice…' Nero sighed and looked at a woman with an annoying smile on his face.

"Rhea. So you were the one who Arnold was referring to."

Rhea had pale skin and bushy pink hair.

"I didn't know you were still alive. I thought you died a long time ago in some pit with the rest of your face," she said with a smile similar to Nero's.

"Fortunately, no. What about you, though? It has been eons, so why are you still alive?"

"Unlike you, I know exactly how to use my powers," she replied.

"You mean how you use alchemy to hide your ugly face under a young face?" Nero remarked.

Rhea's face twitched as she uttered, "What about you? Still crying and trying to control your powers? You are also an old man, by the way." 

"No, no, no." Nero waved his hand and continued, "I was sealed, so I didn't age, but you definitely did. I can even see wrinkles on your face. Are you sure you know how to use your powers?"

Rhea immediately conjured a mirror and checked her face, but there were no wrinkles on it.

"Damn you, Zeus! You are as annoying as ever!" Rhea hissed.

"And you are… umm… you were nothing, and you still are nothing. You are useless as ever, Rhea."

Nero and Rhea glared at each other with murderous intent and a vicious smile on their face.

"They are fighting like kids," Emilia remarked.

Sophia rolled her eyes at Emilia and uttered inwardly, 'Look who is speaking.'

"Umm…" Asteria turned to Sophia with an anxious look on her face and asked, "Shouldn't we stop them?"

"Don't worry. It's their normal routine— they do this every time they meet," Sophia reassured.

"Who is she, though? It looks like she has a crush on my Nero," Emilia asserted with a frowned face.

"Quite the contrary; they hate each other's guts. However, Zeus is just acting while Rhea is serious about it."

"And Zeus doesn't belong to you; he is mine too," she added.

"So, who is she?" Asteria asked.

"She is… Rosemary's sister."

'Zeus killed her mother in front of her and her sister.' Asteria remembered what Sophia had said back in town.

'So she is the sister.'

"But they are normal humans, so why are they alive?" Emilia asked with a confused look on her face.

Sophia raised her brows and chuckled, "I am surprised you could figure that out."

"Answer already."

Sophia took a deep breath and exhaled: "Rosemary and Rhea are indeed humans, but they use alchemy; they are sorceresses."

"Like a witch?!" Asteria exclaimed.

"No." Rosemary turned to Asteria and replied, "Witches and sorceresses are different. Witches have magic in their blood, and they use it as a catalyst; their powers are absolute. While sorceresses use alchemy as magic."

"We do an equivalent exchange in alchemy," she added.

Then, she glanced at Rhea and Nero and asserted, "My mother was an evil sorceress. She sacrificed an entire town and used that power as fuel to gain immortality. But… Zeus killed her."

Asteria clenched her fist and uttered, "Then why do you two hate him? He did the—"

"We realize that. We both… realize it. But…"

When Nero killed their mother, they were fifteen years old and knew nothing but alchemy. To them, what their mother did was right, as that's what alchemists do.

So, Nero asked them to hate him, and in return, he wanted them to live normally without bearing their mother's sins.

"But…" Rosemary smiled distantly and murmured, "We are doing what he asked us to do. We, sorceresses, use alchemy in everything, and we need an equivalent exchange. Our lives are dependent on an equivalent exchange, so if we stop hating him, we won't be able to live normally."

"It's an eternal equivalent exchange."