—Today, Adin and Wendy had come a long way from Thunder Plateau to Seora, stepping on the pavements of Seora—
Seora looked to be as crowded as always. It was the capital of the West Kingdom, so the streets and sidewalks would always be full of carriages and people. Pedestrians could be found everywhere. The city was completely drowned in civilians.
"Hey hey! Look at there!"
"Eh? What's that?"
"Isn't he that same archer?"
"Archer? Oh, you mean the same one who had those two beauties beside her yesterday? But wait... I can't see those two..."
"Yeah right, but who's that girl alongside him? Is she a new girl?"
"Is she wearing wedding clothes? What does that mean..."
"Have they just married?"
"Damn, what's with that archer; I'd also want to be surrounded by such beautiful women!"
"She looks stunning... I also want a wife like that!"
Walking beside Adin, a contented smug smile appeared on Wendy's face. However, Adin's eyes had become even more empty than before.
He was tired of hearing all these words from people. Adin could guess there must already be a lot of horrible rumors behind him. Although he had tried to avoid having such rumors behind himself, he yet came to be the center of the attention in Seora.
And it seemed Freya and Ena weren't enough; he had come to accept another annoying girl whose behavior looked strange like those two: Wendy
Adin knew he's already in big trouble since Freya and Ena had failed to keep the attention away, but he still didn't want more trouble coming, thus trying to convince Wendy to change her identity and appearance. There was no denying it that Wendy must have been an important character in the human world.
White Flame, Guardian, Frozen Princess, all of these names showed how many rumors must have been behind Wendy because of her importance.
Yet Adin failed to convince her. She refused to change her wedding clothes, saying: "I don't want to get out of this dress ever! I'm your wife so I'll be wearing it forever!"
The same answer was given for her identity: "I'm Wendy! Your wife! I can't be anyone else!"
The best thing Adin could do was to convince Wendy to change her name, telling her that it's just for show and he'd call her Wendy when they're alone.
And she accepted it. They would call her "Winter" in public. Adin couldn't imagine how many problems he'd go against if someone knew her real name and identity.
Dragging Wendy with himself while taking her hand, Adin put all of his force on his feet and began running toward the guild. He didn't want to be in people's view for a long time.
Additionally, Freya, Ena, and Liora must've been waiting for Adin to come. Ena and Freya should have already finished their quest, and Liora should have taken enough sleep to recover her magical pressure. They had planned to meet each other at the guild.
"Hey! What're you rushing for?!" Wendy exclaimed, trying to not fall down on her high heels, as Adin kept running while drawing her along.
"We need to hurry up," Adin responded.
Blushing in excitement, Wendy put her left hand on her cheek. "Are we going on our honeymoon? It's sooner than I expected..."
"H-huh? No! There are some people waiting for us, and also here are too many eyes in the city staring at us, so it's better to get to the guild as fast as possible."
Her excited expression fading away, a disappointing impression became apparent through her downhearted eyes and dejected face, as her mouth twisted into a deep, disappointed frown.
"I see..." Wendy mumbled.
"All right, it seems we've arrived. Let's enter." Adin stopped moving, leaving her hand. "Uh, wait I was going to forget. Remember what's your name from now on, right?"
"Yes," Wendy replied, "I'm Winter."
"Good, now let's get in. Also, don't forget to call me Arian. Never ever say Adin by accident!"
They opened the guild's wooden door, going inside together.
Guildhall looked calm and quiet; not so many adventurers could be seen there. Giving attention, Adin noticed Ena and Freya sitting at a table in the corner.
Calling Wendy, he told her to follow him. Adin then stepped to where they were sitting.
"Hey everyone! I've come back!"
Freya replied to Adin's words instantly. "Welcome back! We've just ended our quest."
Ena, however, looked gloomy and frustrated as she kept staring at Wendy. "Y-yeah, welcome back... as Felicia said, we've just done the quest. But... who's that girl beside you?"
"You mean Winter? I met her while performing my quest. She's going to be in our group from now on, so please act friendly!"
"But..." Ena hesitated, a shadow of jealousy darkening her face, "why's she wearing a bridal gown..."
"Ohh... It's just that she likes to wear clothes of that type." Adin explained, then turning his eyes at Wendy, "Right, Winter?"
"Yeah! I like to be Aaa...rian's wife!" Wendy said while smiling, taking Adin's arm firmly.
Adin's face turned upset, his mouth widening in confusion. "E-eh... Heeeeeh?"
A strong feeling of anger overshadowed Ena's expressions. She then stood up from her seat and stepped to Wendy, bringing her darkened face closer to her smiling countenance. Since Wendy looked much shorter than her, she had to bend down to look at her straight in the face.
"What did you just say?" Ena said in a serious, frustrated voice.
"Didn't you hear it?" Wendy replied, still wearing her gentle smile, "I said I'm his wife!"
Adin could see Ena's overshadowed face. It wasn't hard to realize the situation and see where things are going.
—Damn, these two girls both have feelings for me. Ena must be angry now that I've brought a girl like Wendy. It's not like I wanted to accept her, she's just too troublesome. I had no way but to accept her and just get over her nonsense about marriage and honeymoon since she's the only clue I have about the flames. But Ena doesn't know that. Anyways, it's not like I really care. I don't really give a damn about any of these girls. Still, it'd be too boring if Ena and Wendy fight. It'd just slow us down in finding the flames. We should all work together. Yes, I should stop them right now!
However, when Adin decided to calm the mood down and avoid a forthcoming fight between Wendy and Ena, he noticed something: Ena's cheeks were flushing and some unclear moans could be heard from her side.
Ena was gasping heavily, moaning in pleasure. The shadows of anger and jealousy were no longer covering her face. Adin could remember that face. It was the face of Ena in her annoying perverted state.
"I-I... I can't hold it anymore... Master is too cruel..."
—W-what? Isn't she angry? Didn't she have feelings for me? But why does she look happy...
Her moans became louder and louder as she folded her arms over her chest.
Wendy stopped smiling, looking confused. "Hmm? What's wrong with her? Is she OK?"
Meanwhile, Adin came to realize the situation and think about what he should do.
—E-eh... it's bad... why'd she go like that again? I think we agreed that she shouldn't show her perverted emotions in public. If it continues like this, people are going to notice... I knew something's wrong with her as she stopped putting that gentle smile after seeing Liora, but what's going on now, it's been a day... I've not done anything perverted, why's she getting like this... If she can't control herself, then we're going to be in a lot of trouble.
"Master is too sadistic... to think you'd go this far..."
—W-wha?