"Hahahaha!!" (Fez)
"You shouldn't laugh!" (James)
"Eh? What's so funny? "
"What do you think?" (Fez)
"..."
"The hint is your face." (James)
"Hnnn?"
"Hahaha! That's just it. I thought you were emotionless, but who knew you could make a face like that! " (Fez)
"... What do you mean?"
"Did you seriously think you could hide it? We have been together for more than those few hours, it had been years. With that simple meat-headed mindset of yours, I'm sure we could at least do this much." (Fez)
"Eh? Could you please explain?"
"Attached. Both of you got attached to each other! And both of you are too scared to let go of each other. Maybe you guys thought, we were going to seperate our ways after Iyori reached the maxed level. But the both of you have got the same exact expression! "(Fez)
Grinning like a child, Fez beamed at us while we took a good look at each other. Blushing away, Iyori looked to the ground on her right before opening her mouth.
" Eh?! If that was the case, then... I'll stay! " (Iyori) Her eyes spinning in embarrassment like fish.
"Hahaha! I see. I see it now!". With warm fluid flowing down my cheeks, I smiled back to hide my own embarrassment and tried to laugh it off. Was it because both James and Fez was abnormal? Did I yearn to support a weaker person like Iyori? I sure had more complex feelings than I thought, it was a strange feeling similar to motherly instincts. Maybe I thought it would be very fun to protect a weaker person, something like taking care of a pet. Meanwhile, she probably felt secure in this party. I forgot she lost her previous party to monsters, maybe she was seeking refuge in strong individuals and I was just taking advantage of that desperate feeling of hers. I sure am a bad person.
Well now that all the sappy stuff we were worried about is done with, it was time to head back home. Using [control space], we were sent out of the dungeon instantly, into the centre of the entrance market. Since there was always a flow of adventurers, naturally there were shops set up on the left and right sides of the path to the dungeon entrance. It was called the entrance market. It even opened for the whole day, with people taking over the shop in 8 hour shifts or lesser. Anymore than that and the owner of the shop would break regulation and have their shop removed. It seems king Bavner did a great job ruling for a few centuries ensuring worker rights and maintaining technology. Since this was a fantasy world, there weren't any silly rules in wars fought, civilians could become victims and nobody except for the protectors of the kingdom would bat an eye.
It was in the evening and we generally had control over our own schedules despite being children. Well, James and Fez were training to be a general and a governor respectively, so they were given a somewhat reasonable amount of freedom. I had basically ran away from home, my mother hopefully living her life well back at the previous city while I have fun in the capital. Father's kidnapping hit so hard that she automatically went depressed and couldn't even see me properly at the time, I can only hope her mental state has recovered before I have a visit. It's going to be the 5th year next year, since running from home. Maybe I'll visit then.
Back to the topic, since we had free reign over our schedules mostly, we were planning to eat at a restaurant somewhere. We happened to be in the center of the entrance market, the shops near the center usually sold light snacks like fried chicken chunks, kebabs and other products that involve meat. Adventurers typically have a very physically active job of fighting monsters, even rear guards needed to be able to move well and dodge in emergencies. Meats having fats and proteins good for muscle growth, or just generally tasting good with salts and other seasonings, attracted a lot of adventurers as customers.
After working up a sweat in the dungeons, my stomach growled a little, causing this typical craving for meat. Even as a light snack, it would at least satisfy me until we got to our planned restaurant. Speaking of working up a sweat, due to the white colour of half my hair, the black part had a silky appearance while the white part had a shine to it. I was wearing a black shirt so it was okay, but my mini skirt just had to be white. As expected or unexpected since I didn't take it into account, it got a bit...translucent. Some of the fabric stuck to the skin of my thigh, it was kind of uncomfortable. I had metal plate armour that covered my waist almost down to the end of my miniskirt, so I didn't need to worry about my underwear being seen, nevertheless, it was still uncomfortable.
Some people had a skill that let's them see far away, so it wouldn't be a surprise if their vision could bend around angles with magic as well. That was concerning, with technological advancement, it led to a anti-magic product that could cancel the skill out. Well I wasn't worried about that, if anyone tried, my [omni detection-tier 5] would pick it up. [Abyss control] was versatile enough to be able to interfere with anything within range, dreams, memories, magic properties, magic spells, so it was easy to disable it after picking it up.
Walking into the restaurant, we picked our food and ordered. As we waited for our food, Fez decided to pursue that previous matter and tease us.
"So, how do you feel about what happened at the end of our adventuring expedition?" (Fez)
"Wawawa...what are you talking about!" (Iyori)
"The spectral dragon of course. How do you feel after defeating such a monstrous being without breaking a sweat?" (Fez)
"I did sweat though! It was cold sweat, from fear!" (Iyori)
"It was just a saying. What about you, Emily? Why are you keeping quiet?" (Fez)
Fez gave a mischievous smile as she stares at me.
"Quit getting ahead of yourself~"
"Kyaah~"
In a strange fashion, I regained back superiority by going behind Fez and feeling her skin with my fingers. The waitress walked in dumbfounded, enduring the atmosphere, she placed down the food and went back. Grabbing her sleeve, I put some coins in her hands as a tip, for some reason it caused her expression to expand in shock and terror before she briskly walked back to do her job.
From her point of view, a future governor was being harassed by a childish being that defeated the demon lord. Her shock stemmed from the tip I gave her, hush money? Enduring our embarrassment, I got back to my seat and Fez started on her food. We went back home determined not to speak about it.