Finally, today was the first day of our subjugation quest!
We'd been practicing for the last two days and now!
Finally!
The time had come!
I got up early and made my bed.
I couldn't sleep properly last night because I was too excited.
"Ah.. My heart is thumping so fast.."
I couldn't help myself though.
After all, this was my first subjugation quest!
I stretched my sore body and changed my clothes.
I wore short sleeved shirt last night because I didn't plan on going anywhere but since we were going to walk across the prairie, I chose to wear long sleeved shirt today.
I looked at the ear cuffs on my bedside.
Yesterday, after we finished practicing we decided to check the market a little before we headed back to the inn.
———————————————————
-Yesterday-
"Hmm.. This might be useful.. I already saw it before but back then I wasn't so sure I would need them but since there's four of us, I think having this stuff might be good." Sig-san said as he examined a rather large ear cuff from the stall.
"Hm? What's that?"
"It's a magical communication device, Ren-kun.. With this device, you can communicate and even determine the location of your party member." Fer-san explained while Sig-san bought the device for us.
"Hoo, seems pretty handy."
What a useful device, it worked both as GPS and telecommunication device.
"Ren-chan, this device is also popular for married couple. They usually wear the cuff on their left ear and decorate it in jewels with the same color as their partner's eyes. But people commonly wear the cuff on their right ear if they're going to use it only for the sake of communicating with their party member~"
"Oh, like a wedding ring."
Now that I thought about it, the people in Pedrell also used earcuffs with jewels on them too.
I thought it was a fashion item but it turned out the jewels had special meaning to it.
If I wasn't wrong, Hugo-san also wore one.
"What's wedding ring?" Fer-san asked.
"Back in the world I came from, the married couple will wear a ring on their left hand ring fingers to indicate that they're already married."
"Ah, I see. Wearing a ring also sounds nice but for us.. It will be inconvenient since we use our sword on almost daily basis and especially me.. I'm left-handed so I can't wear a ring on my left fingers." Fer-san said dejectedly as he stroke the sword attached on his right hip.
Wearing a ring will hinder you when holding a sword after all.
"Ren, come here…Yup, I'm going put this on your right ear so hold still. One day, I will put a green gemstone on your cuff. "
Sig-san had finished paying and he gently put the cuff on my right ear.
"Nngh!"
As Sig-san fingers brushed against my ear, I let out a little yelp in surprise.
"Ah that's right, what about in polygamous marriage? Do they wear multiple ear cuffs or something?" I asked.
"Oh if you're in polygamous marriage, you will need to buy a bigger ear cuffs so you can put multiple stones on it. Fufu~ Ren-chan, do you think my eye color will look good on you?" Chris-san asked in lower tone than usual.
It wasn't fair to use that kind of voice in public!
"I-I see. Well, aside from whether it will suit me or not, I think the three of you has a really beautiful eyes."
Honestly, their eyes were simply too beautiful.
Chris-san had alluring purple amethyst eyes that would make you melt from the inside as you stare at it.
Fer-san had deep blue sapphire eyes as beautiful as the skies.
Sig-san had translucent emerald green eyes like a clear morning dew.
Their eyes were as beautiful as real jewel.
"Fufufu~ I think Ren-chan's black eyes is also very charming~"
"Thank you for the compliment.."
Oh no..
My face would immediately turned red when they praised me.
I couldn't help it! It was too embarrassing!
Sig-san handed the ear cuffs to Fer-san and Chris-san.
The rest of them also put the ear cuffs on their right ear.
Ah, how envious.
Even though they were only wearing a simple ear cuffs, they looked very fashionable.
Being a handsome guy sure had its perk.
——————————————————
I put on the ear cuffs on my right ear as I remembered yesterday's events.
The monster will started to appear today by the sunrise.
I guess the other would be awake by now judging from the noise I heard from the outside.
*knock knock*
I heard someone knocking my door, that must be them.
"Ren-kun, are you awake?"
"Yes! I will be ready in a second!" I replied.
Just when I thought that they might be awake by now, Fer-san came to pick me up.
I opened my door to see Fer-san smiling gently at me.
"Good morning, I will be in your care today. Should we head down to have breakfast now?" I greeted him.
"Good morning, Ren-kun. Yes, let's have a light breakfast downstairs. I think we have about 30 minutes before the monster start appearing. The other two already went ahead to start their preparations."
Usually, Fer-san would let his long blonde hair down but today he tied his hair in a ponytail style.
His silky hair swayed as we walked downstairs.
"Fufu~ Although our hair length is different, today we have a similar hairstyle." I said while giggling a little.
"Eh? Ah, yeah. Somehow, I feel delighted to see that we're matched. Ren-kun's hair is so beautiful too." Fer-san replied bashfully, his cheeks tinted in pink hue.
"There's nothing beautiful from my hair. I let it grow because I was too lazy to cut it. Maybe I should just shave it off like a buddhist monk."
"W-what?! I think it would be a waste, Ren-kun. Please cease such thought from yourself, just let your hair grow as it is good enough." Fer-san said with a smile on his face but, even though he was smiling, I could feel the aura around him grew darker.
How can he smiled but still looked serious at the same time?
"E-eh? O-okay." Looking at his tense expression, I immediately nodded my head.
Two days ago, Fer-san showed me his magical swordsmanship skill.
He was able to cut through the rock but,what impressed me the most was anything that his sword touched will be frozen over in seconds.
At first, I thought that was the reason why Fer-san gained the nickname Ice Prince.
But right now, looking at his icy cold expression maybe that was not the only reason why people called him Ice Prince..
"Ah, there they are! Oi! Ren, Fer, over here!"
When we arrived at the first floor, Sig-san immediately called out to us.
Sig-san and Chris-san already reserved a table for us.
Seemed like they woke up earlier than me.
"That little boy, is he the leader of that party?"
"If I'm not wrong, they're from Luce, right?"
Ah, some adventurers were talking about us.
"Isn't he only F-rank??"
"For an F-rank to become the leader of a bunch of A-rank people, there's only one reason behind it, right?"
"True, he must be seducing them with his body."
*SCHLOP*
"Hiii! A f-fork?!"
Suddenly, there was a fork stabbed deep into the table, only inches away from the adventurer's fingers.
"You've been talking shit about Ren-chan this whole time, surely you have a death wish, right? If you still value your life, please learn to keep your mouth shut."
Apparently Chris-san was the one that threw that fork, but to think he could threw the fork with such impact and precision that it landed only few inches away from those adventurers, Chris-san's was truly incredible.
"C-Chris-san! It's alright, I don't mind it after all, it is the truth that I'm only F-ranked so it's given that someone will start a rumor about us. But it's alright! I will show them my capability during the subjugation quest!"
The guild staff from before wasn't the only one.
It was given for people to speculate a lot of.. Negative things about our party composition.
I had the lowest rank after all.
"Ren-chan… I'm sorry, because I appointed you as our leader..They started to spread baseless rumours about you.. I've added fuel to the fire because of my selfishness.." Chris-san said as he stood and walked toward me, clinging onto me with tears on his eyes.
He was using his dejected puppy look on me again!
The combination of his teary and upturned eyes was too deadly!
"U-ugh! It's fine already, I'm fine so let's have our breakfast now!" I said, flustered.
The sight of an adult man 9 years older than me, clinging to me with tears on his eyes shouldn't look this cute!
Chris-san really knew how to get around with his looks.
I sat down on the chair with a big sigh.
"Those scum doesn't know about Ren's support magic. When we finished with this quest, Ren's rank will surely rise up and those kind of scum will stop their nonsense bickering."
"That's right, the reason why Ren-kun is still an F-rank is because of Malik-san's overprotectiveness. If only they see Ren-kun's true ability, let alone B-rank, having A-rank is possible for Ren-kun."
Sig-san and Fer-kun also cheered me on.
They really had a lot of expectations from me.
Well, at least my goal for now was to finish this subjugation quest alive and to avoid being a burden as much as possible!
——————————————–
"What?! Why?! The hell?! Why is that brat partying with them?! Whatsmore, he is their leader?! No matter how you look at it, I'm waaaaaay better than him!!"
I clenched my teeth as I looked at their table.
They were having their breakfast nonchalantly.
The nerve!!
Even though they rejected my invitation!!
"Zhanna, calm down. You already have Carl with you, right?"
Salva tried to calm me down.
"Well even though Carl is also A-rank and the rest of you also have lady killer face but! Look at them! All the female adventurer are looking at their table enviously! Isn't given that they should've joined my party instead?!"
Amongst the bulky and dirty adventurer, those guys were at top rank visual wise.
Not to mention, they were all A-rank!
They should've been mine!!
Well, even though my current party were already filled with good looking men too but..
"Zhanna, for now let's have our breakfast first. If you really want them to join our party, you can invite them again later. I think they're only partying for the subjugation quest and will go their own ways afterwards. We can go and invite them when the time comes then."
Carl tried to calm me down by suggesting me to invite them again later.
"Oh..Is that so? Well.. That might be right.. But! I can't help it! I feel irritated each time I see them!!"
Roger on the other hand, he was chomping down at the meal before him greedily.
For fuck sake, if only Roger didn't yell at Chris before, I would had Chris wrapped around my fingers!
He should've tried to think through before doing anything!!
Just look at that other worlder!
He tried to coerce them into marrying him by wearing those ear cuffs!
Well even though they were already married, I could easily tear them apart by using some magic on them.
——————————————————-
Casablanca's Member
Name : Carl
Age : 32 years old
An A-rank adventurer with masochist tendency.
Name : Roger
Age : 22 years old
A B-rank adventurer, he's the muscle idiot type.
Name : Salva
Age : 27 years old
A B-rank adventurer, he's the voice of reason of Casablanca.