"Why are you here?"
The Essence God asked in shock as she never expected that Yale would find them so quickly.
She felt that maybe Yale could get a clue after Aiwai advanced, so she planned to change their location since the mountain range was big and without knowing the exact position, she didn't believe that Yale could discover them.
However, it had been just a few moments after Aiwai advanced, and the Essence God couldn't believe that Yale managed to find them and managed to surpass the protecting barrier in such a short time.
The barrier was just for hiding, and it was easier to cross it than cross a protecting barrier, but it was still a barrier created by an Essence God, so it should have required some effort.
Yale had also thought that there were a lot of chances that they changed positions quickly, and without knowing the exact position, he wasn't confident in finding them either.
Thus, he activated the Celestial Knowledge and together with his full mastery of the Time Essence, he froze the time of the whole mountain range after teleporting near the area.
It had been just a few moments for the three girls, but the truth was that the flow of time for them was modified by Yale, and the barrier was useless in frozen time.
If Yale weren't a Timeless Sovereign or didn't have the Celestial Knowledge, it would be impossible to freeze an Essence God completely with his current power. At most, even if the body couldn't move, it wouldn't stop the Essence God's mind, and that was only because Yale had authority in the world, and it wouldn't resist too much to Yale's intentions.
Yale couldn't use the authority perfectly in his weakened state, but that was a passive effect.
Moreover, Yale had never been so tired in his whole life despite not showing in on the outside. The Time Freeze hadn't lasted for too long, just enough to cross the barrier and find them, but for Yale, it was still a feat.
The Essence God also knew about the difficult to freeze her completely in the time, so she didn't think that the Time had been stopped, but that Yale had some special way to teleport beside Wyba and Aiwai disregarding distance and barriers as long he knew their position.
In fact, if she had been in guard, probably Yale would have failed to freeze her in time even if it was for a short while, and it would have been impossible for Yale to near them more before the Time Freeze ended forcefully, so it wasn't something that he could use in a real battle.
Moreover, if Yale had shown any evil intention, he was sure that the other party would have noticed it and the Time Freeze wouldn't have worked well.
It had been just an instant since the three girls saw Yale, but Aiwai and Wyba were already hugging him. They had missed Yale a lot in those ten years.
While returning the hug to his sisters, Yale replied to the woman who was looking at him with a shocked face.
"I missed my sisters a lot, so I came to see them."
Seeing the scene in front of her eyes and hearing Yale's words, the woman could only sigh as she didn't know how to reject Yale's presence. Moreover, Yale had heard her reasons for not letting Wyba and Aiwai meeting him before, so she felt ashamed even if she didn't show it on her face.
"At the start, I was worried that you would try to force me to marry as compensation for saving my sisters. I have met a lot of women who would try everything to marry me, but hearing your words, I am at ease. Thank you for saving my sisters, Lina."
Yale had been popular in both lives, and in his past life, the number of women who tried everything to marry him wasn't low at all.
Lina didn't know if Yale was just mocking by saying almost the same that she had said before or if he was serious, but she never expected that Yale knew her name.
"Although you weren't conscious, you also saved me before, so you don't owe me anything. More importantly, why do you know my name?"
She had never told her name to Yale, and although Wyba and Aiwai knew it, they rarely called her by the name, and that hadn't happened even once after Aiwai's breakthrough, so Lina discarded the possibility of Yale hearing it.
"You were the one who told that name to me. Well, strictly speaking, the one who told it to me was your shadow in the Timeless Border."
Lina was one of the shadows that he met at the end of his trial in the Timeless Border, and they had spoken there, so Yale knew about her. However, Lina didn't have the memories of that shadow, so for her, that was her first time speaking with Yale.
"What is the Timeless Border?"
Wyba interrupted the conversation after hearing something that she didn't understand, and although Aiwai didn't ask, she was also curious about it.
"I can't explain it to you unless you get there someday. Since you are linked to me, my shadow would welcome you in any case, and will explain everything to you."
Yale felt that Aiwai and Wyba shouldn't learn about it at that moment.
"Did my shadow say something strange?"
Lina was still showing an impassive face, but she had only gone once to the Timeless Border, and that was a long time ago, and she had changed a lot, so she feared that her younger self had spoken some nonsense.
"Nothing special, but I can say that your personality had changed a lot. After all, your shadow's personality..."
Before Yale could continue, Lina stopped him.
"Stop! Don't speak about my past self. I beg you!"
Yale didn't feel that Lina's previous personality was something to be ashamed, but since she asked for it, he stopped.
"Alright. Do you still plan to flee? We already confirmed that neither of us has intentions to use the situation to marry the other, so there is no reason for fleeing. My sisters would be sad if you leave now."
Yale knew that Wyba and Aiwai had grown quite close to Lina in those ten years, and he also understood that she was more suitable to help them in training than him.
"I won't flee, but you must leave this place. You wanted to see them, and you already saw them."
Lina felt that as long as Yale left, she would be able to avoid being discovered again.
"I don't want to do that. I am sure that you wouldn't let me meet them again for a lot of years if I leave right now."
Lina frowned after her intentions were seen through. Besides her family members, which included her brother-in-law, she didn't like to be close to men. Although she believed that Yale wasn't interested in her, she still felt more at ease without him.
"I am older and stronger than you. You should hear my words. I will treat your sisters well."
Lina knew that Yale had his memories sealed, so she felt that the difference in age between them was huge enough to use that authority. Moreover, even counting Yale's past life, she was still far older than him, especially since he had been dead for more than thirty thousand years.
"I don't feel that you are older than me at all. Moreover, I am sure that I won't lose against you in a battle even if I can't win."
Yale was unable to know how much time he passed in the Timeless Border, but he also obtained the memories of his young self that had been there for an eternity. Yale had also recovered almost all his memories including those of the Life and Death Trials, so he didn't feel that his life had been shorter than Lina's.
Moreover, Yale was confident in his battle prowess. Although he didn't dare to say that he could win against an Essence God, with the regeneration obtained from being a Timeless Sovereign, he was sure that he wouldn't lose either.
"Are you Yale or master?"
Aiwai instantly spoke when hearing that as she started to doubt which of Yale's consciousness was in control at that moment.
"I am Yale, but I recovered my memories."
Aiwai sighed in relief as she feared that Yale would have disappeared. Aiwai valued her master, but she valued Yale far more.
"Even with your memories, I don't feel that you are my peer."
Lina felt that she had lost her cool too much since Yale appeared, so she was trying to regain the superior position.
"Then, let's make a bet. We will have battle relying only upon battle ability using just ice-made weapons. The winner can make the loser fulfill one order. What do you think?"
Lina frowned because if she rejected the offer that would be seen as she feared to face Yale, so she wouldn't be able to say that she was stronger.
"Alright but say what you will ask first. I will ask for you to leave and don't return until your sisters became Law Gods."
Yale smiled when hearing that before replying.
"If I win, I just want you to help me to find my friends dispersed in this continent."