RISE OF EROS

Candice knows that Teresa is an intelligent woman. While it\'s true that she doesn\'t mix much in politics or business, it\'s not because she can\'t, it\'s just because she doesn\'t want to.

She knows that Teresa is more than just the wife of Marquis Valoide. Very few know it, but Teresa is the support of the Marquis and not in the spiritual or loving sense, but literally.

Although Marquis Valoide acts behind the scenes, there is no important nobleman in the empire who does not know of his contributions to the empire, but even among these great personages, very few know that Teresa has been the mastermind of many of the contributions attributed to her husband.

This is not to say that Donald takes advantage of his wife\'s accomplishments because he has contributed much to the empire on his merit, he is a capable man, and of that, there is no doubt, but without his wife, half of those operations would not have been possible.

Candice is one of the few people who knows about this. Not that she knows that Teresa is her husband\'s right hand and that she would have led many operations against terrorists and bandits who wanted to hurt the empire, but she has known her for a long time and knows that she is more than she appears.

It is for this reason that she lost the confidence she had in her, because in the office of the marquis when her husband attacked her rubbing, she did not intervene, nor said anything, which showed that she had taken a position and that was as a noblewoman of the empire.

Although Candice understood that this was a rational decision on Teresa\'s part, she still felt that a distance had been created. Previously, Candice would not have minded because she is an inhabitant of the empire and there was never an event where her interests were contrary to the empire, but now there was.

While she did not intend to antagonize the empire, she now prioritized her love for Andrew over her loyalty to the empire. Since her husband was an element of suspicion of the empire, it would not be strange that at some point Andrew would have to antagonize the empire and there she would choose her husband.

For this reason, Candice had to establish a distance from her friend. Accepting Teresa\'s invitation out of politeness, Candice again left Castor and Vala alone to join her.

They both went to the kiosk in the garden where they always talked when she came to visit. Quickly, a butler served them tea and some snacks before leaving and then the conversation began.

"Candice, I\'m sorry about what happened. I hope you understand that my husband didn\'t mean to be rude, but his position compels him," Teresa began apologetically.

While her words and expressions were sincere, Candice was not swayed by sentimentality and responded, "Don\'t worry Marquise, I fully understand the Marquis\' position."

The way Candice addressed Teresa, was like a knife to Teresa\'s heart because when they were alone Candice never called her by her title, which verified her earlier thought that a distance between them had appeared.

Letting out a sigh of sadness, Teresa spoke again, "You really won\'t treat me like a friend anymore?" Teresa\'s question also saddened Candice, as she could tell that her friend was hurting, but she hardened her heart and replied, "You will always be my friend, but I\'m sorry to say that our positions changed, so, for now, we\'ll have to keep it professional."

Teresa understood what Candice was saying, but it didn\'t stop hurting. The conversation continued for several minutes. They didn\'t talk about anything important, just made conversation about irrelevant topics.

Candice knew that Teresa just wanted to show that they were not enemies, but still, Candice was not at ease. Teresa, seeing Candice\'s discomfort, let out a sigh and ended the meeting.

She knew she wouldn\'t get anywhere at that moment, so she decided to wait a while and try to repair the relationship later. By the time Candice returned to the exit of the mansion, the carriage was already there and without delay, she embarked and returned to the Heavenly Palace.

Meanwhile, Andrew and the others traveled through a sparse forest. While they had not obtained a carriage, their speed of travel was not slow because, with Andrew\'s strengthening, he could keep up with them as long as they did not move with all their might.

Since they traveled on non-commercial routes they only advanced during the day and at night they camped because although these routes were not currently as dangerous as usual, at night everything changed.

Apart from this, Andrew did not neglect his training. Oliver trained him every night before going to sleep. In addition, Fluffy had taught him a way to use his divinity, so he trained while moving.

What Fluffy had taught him was a divine control technique. It wasn\'t great enough to be called a technique, but it was still very useful. It consisted of mastering his divinity.

In a nutshell, the idea was that Andrew would run his divinity through different parts of his body to strengthen himself. The premise was that if Andrew managed to concentrate his divinity in his legs, he could move faster, if he concentrated it in his arms he could hit with greater power, and so on with the different parts of his body.

This technique of divine control is something inherent to the gods. The beings called gods could do this unconsciously, that\'s why they are more powerful than any mortal, but since Andrew is a god candidate, he had to practice it.

Although once he ascended as a god he could do this effortlessly, for the moment it was not possible, but training in this way would make him stronger and give him a hidden card against his enemies, so he would not be defenseless.

The ideal would be to meditate to achieve this goal, but Fluffy told him that if he achieved an advance with this technique while he was moving, the gains would be greater, so while they moved, Andrew tried to control his divinity.

For this reason, they had to stop regularly, as he tired faster, but none of his companions complained. While it was true that this made them move slower than they had planned, they all wanted Andrew to get stronger.

It was better for Andrew to have a form of defense or ability to flee if there was danger, Oliver especially was very enthusiastic about this ability. One day while they were camping and gathered in front of a campfire, Oliver began to speak, "Tomorrow we will reach the vicinity of the elven forest, we must be careful in this area, so let\'s rework the plan."

Everyone became serious and listened to Oliver carefully because they knew that the elves were not a subject they could take lightly. The plan was not complex as it was only to go over the route they would take, so as not to enter the elves\' territory and what not to do in that place.

The elves valued the forest very much, so any damage could cause problems, so Oliver was very emphatic on this matter. After they finished discussing this, they went to sleep.

Marie and Oliver took turns standing guard. Aki and Andrew offered but were vehemently refused. Oliver even scolded them saying, "What kind of guardians would we be if you had to protect us?".

Resigned Aki and Andrew went to sleep. In the middle of the night, while Marie was standing guard, Oliver suddenly got up in his tent and grabbing his sword quickly went out to meet Marie.

Marie was surprised to see Oliver come out with a serious expression, but Oliver\'s words made her serious immediately. "Wake up young master and Miss Aki. We have company."

She didn\'t hesitate for a second and quickly went to wake up Andrew and Aki who were sleeping in the same tent. "Young master, wake up. We have company."

Although Andrew and Aki are good sleepers. Since they were traveling they had not fallen into a deep sleep. Firstly, sleeping outdoors without a comfortable bed was difficult and secondly, they knew they were not safe so they were always on the lookout for any attack.

For this reason, Aki and Andrew quickly got up and left the tent with their weapons. Aki had the two daggers Andrew had given her and Andrew had a katana in his hand and at his waist hung the dagger he had obtained some time ago, the forgotten weapon.

They quickly rejoined Oliver who was on guard watching the surroundings. Andrew immediately asked, "How many?" to which Oliver replied, "About 10 people."

Everyone became serious and Oliver continued the explanation, "There is no one powerful, they must be common bandits, however, we must be alert, these men generally use poison and other annoying tactics."

They all assisted in understanding Oliver\'s words and approached covering each other\'s backs. In the forest, several figures lurked. They wanted to wait until later to attack, but seeing that Andrew and the others were alert, they realized they had been discovered, so they stopped hiding.