"So, Dillion."
"Hmm? Whash is it masther?" Dillion said with a mouthful of food.
"Who is the woman you've been sneaking out to see?" Aldrich said while taking a sip of coffee he made.
"Bwahhh!!" Spitting out almost all of his food Dillon looked at Aldrich in surprise.
"What's with the expression? Do you think I'm stupid to not notice you've been leaving every time after morning training?" Aldrich said.
"What.. ack. are you talking about?!" Choking on his food Dillion managed to reply to Aldrich.
"Don't play dumb. I've been training you for 2 weeks already. Do you think I would not notice such a thing?"
"I- I don't know what you're talking about." Dillion feigned ignorance. Aldrich narrowed his eyes seeing Dillion and then proceeded to speak about Dillion's actions over the week.
"You've been dressing better as if impressing someone, you've also come back smelling like perfume not of the men kind. The perfume isn't meant for younger girls so i'm guessing she's older than you not by much but I'd say 9 years? Possibly a beautiful woman with big breasts and a slim waist, blonder hair and blue eyes, quite tall but still not your height, not married, possibly an adventurer who wields a long sword and is a part of a huge party." Aldrich said in rapid succession.
"H-how the hell did you know that?!?" Dillion exclaimed. Aldrich then began to look at Dillion with cold eyes.
"Perhaps I need to reevaluate your intellect." Aldrich said with a sigh. Aldrich had been training Dillion for 2 weeks already and yet Dillion hasn't been able to sense Aldrich following him. Aldrich had seen the woman who was named Kate. She was a Valkyrie and not just any Valkyrie she was the vice captain.
Aldrich wasn't spying on him like a jealous lover; he was just curious as to why Dillion had been leaving after morning training. Usually Dillion spent that time resting since it was after their morning training session. He was tired but he had been sneaking out to see this woman.
'She was beautiful but is beauty enough to get up from resting after a 4 hour training session?' Aldrich had thought. When his mother trained him he felt even if a goddess proclaimed her endless love for him he wouldn't even try to go see said goddess.
"Look, I'm not against you getting a girlfriend, just try to keep your relationship in moderation." Aldrich said, taking the final sip of the coffee in his mug.
"Miss Kate is not my girlfriend!"
"Nn? Is this a joke?"
"Why would I be joking!?"
"From what I saw you two were like a couple of lovebirds that annoy the people around them. Are you perhaps not like that?"
"No!" Dillion yelled. Though they were in an inn no one looked at them whenever Dillion yelled. Aldrich had used wind magic to blow out the sound by making a barrier. Even if Dillion yelled at the top of his lungs no one would hear him.
"There is no use denying it. When you're lost in thought you mutter her name."
"I-I"
"Like I said Dillon, I don't care whether you get a girlfriend but remember to take it slowly. A big decision could make you a husband." Aldrich said. In this world if a man is to have intercourse with a woman it's expected the man take responsibility and marry the woman.
The reason being the first time a man and woman sleep together almost always results in a child. Aldrich didn't know the reason but he estimated that mana enhanced parts of the human body. Such as a man's sperm. Children in this world weren't born with birth defects either. The only side effect was a child being born with too much mana for their underdeveloped body .
It would cause them to either die in the first few months in their life or live a life bed ridden. The chances of it happening though were extremely low.
"Master, trust me when I say we are not in a relationship. There's no way someone like I could ever be in a relationship with her. I'm too -
"If you keep that self-deprecating attitude forever Dillion you'll miss out on a lot of opportunities." Before Dillion could continue Aldrich interrupted him in a stern voice. Though not for the Same reasons Aldrich had missed out on important relationships and other events.
Anytime he saw something that would redirect his time he thought to himself that time could be used to work. His sister had told him it was fine and she could work as well but he didn't want her to. Romantic relationships were the same, he always ignored invitations on dates from women.
Only on the day he died, he accepted an invitation to a date. Aldrich didn't have any regrets, even with all of that he was glad his sister had been able to make it through high school without working.
Dillion didn't have the same problem. He could do whatever he wanted without needing to worry for another.
"You can steer your life in any direction, Dillion. If you hesitate you might lose something important." Aldrich said in a somewhat stern and gentle tone.
"I-I… haaaa. Okay master. I'll be sure to take your words to heart." Dillion replied. He was quite embarrassed due to him being told this by a younger boy but he couldn't raise a rebuttal.
"Good. Also I don't think you should worry about Miss Kate being attracted to you. Considering the glances you've been getting from the women in the inn dining room you seem to be quite popular." Aldrich said.
"W-what?! There's no way that's true!" Dillion exclaimed.
"Just pay attention to your surroundings. Don't look too much but just keep a close eye you'll see how popular you are." Aldrich said. Ever since Dillion had been being trained by Aldrich, Dillion had been getting looks from the local women that he never got before.
Aldrich is always paying close attention to his surroundings, so he was quick to notice the way women and girls their age looked at Dillion. Before Dillion had a sad aura which made the girls his age think he was gloomy, but now that aura was almost completely gone.
'Honestly I'm jealous. Unlike me who has had little to no interaction with women, Dillion is a capture target in an otome game. He's practically a Casanova.' Aldrich thought to himself. He is able to talk to women but if someone were to ask him to flirt or say some heartthrob line it would be impossible for him.
Aldrich knew once Dillion found a girlfriend or a woman he liked he'd turn into that gentlemanly heartthrob like he was in the game. Though he wasn't like that to any random girl, just the person he focused his attention on.
"I understand, master. Seeing as I'm done eating, I'm going to go out for a few hours." Dillion said, getting up from his chair.
"Nn. Have a good time with Miss Kate."
"Urk." Dillion wanted to say something but seeing Aldrich nonchalantly waving his hand he could only grunt and walk off.
'He's definitely getting more and more like the person he is in the game. Perhaps Miss Kate is bringing that out in him?' Aldrich thought, as he watched Dillion leave. Dillion hadn't gotten over his hatred for Asmodeus but ever since he met Kate, his anger slowly dissipated.
Even if he's only known Kate for a week it was enough for him to
Completely forget about his hatred and sadness. Aldrich thought it was better that he got rid of the hatred that Aldrich got out of him. Aldrich didn't want Dillion to turn into some edgy teenager who kills anything he sees.
Dillion needed to overcome Asmodeus without killing him, not only was it a bad move to kill him but it might have a bad influence on Dillion's mind. Aldrich will kill Asmodeus himself it comes down to Dillion having to kill him but Aldrich doubted it would ever come to that.
"Well I'm sure everything will be fine. As long as I'm here that moron can't do anything that can kill Dillion." Aldrich said taking the final sip of his coffee. He got up and went to a nearby lake to start Dillion next traning when Dillion got back.
.
.
.
.
"What is the news, Larke. We've been waiting for hours."
"Yeah you stupid cat, tell us already."
"Can you two stop hounding me already? Haa... whatever was scaring the monsters is gone."
"Huh? Why would such a presence disappear?!"
"I don't know."
"Well, what do you know, you stupid cat?!"
"Calm yourself lazuli." In a room provided by the guild were three people. Larke, Lazuli, and akako. The three of them were discussing how to approach the possible demon in the forest.
"Larke, you're keeping something from us. Usually your expression isn't so grim."
"Haaa…. I guess you orc's are smarter than you look. 3 of my comrades have gone missing." Larke said.
"How is that possible? Didn't I give them trackers?"
"They aren't working anymore. Their location got shut off 2 hours ago." Larke said. A heavy atmosphere descended on the room. It was clear to the three of them what happened to the 3 party members. Larke himself had been adventuring for 16 years, he knew better than anyone that his comrades were most likely dead.
"So what are we doing sitting around then?! If we have proof something dangerous is there , let's evacuate the town!" Lazuli shouted. She was getting quite anxious but she shoved those feelings down.
"We can't."
"What?"
"We can't evacuate the town. The lord didn't give us permission." Instead of larke answering lazuli Akako did it this time.
"Why isn't he letting us evacuate the town?! All of these people could die!"
"Ah shut up you stupid woman!" Larke who had been getting increasingly agitated and yelled at lazuli. Larke had been getting more and more annoyed by Lazuli's voice and he left there room to get fresh air.
"What the hell is up with him?! So annoying!" Lazuli said, slumping down on a sofa. She was clearly haggard and was simply voicing out her frustration to try and ignore her anxious feeling. Akako, seeing this, gave an awkward smile and spoke.
"You know why he is like that. Weren't you guys lovers for 3 years? You should know why he's angry." Akako said while getting some tea. Lazuli, hearing Akako's words, twitched and began to glare at akako.
"Can you please not bring that up? That was two years ago." Lazuli said. Akako merely laughed gently as she saw lazuli.
In the past, just as Akako said, Lazuli and Larke were lovers. So much so they combined their respective parties. But for some reason the two had decided to break off their relationship. No one knew why but after that two were always hostile to each other.
Still just like Akako said she knew why Larke was angry. Larke valued his comrades as his family, they were his brothers and sisters. He loved them all and would risk his own life for any of them. So even though he yelled angrily at Lazuli he was angry at himself for not being able to protect his 3 comrades.
Larke even though he was an assassin followed a code of honor. He never killed innocent people, if someone asked him to kill a child he would kill the person who requested it. Larke had been raised to be an assassin due to his parents dying from a monster attack. The former party leader adopted him and raised him to be an assassin.
"Something's happening!"
"What!?" Lazuli said loudly, hearing Akako shout. She rushed over to the window Akako was looking at and saw as dark clouds overcast the town. It wasn't a normal occurrence either as the sky was pretty clear. Their room was on a third floor inside the guild where they could see the townspeople rush into shelter.
"We should evacuate them now, we don't know what we're up against!." Lazuli said.
"I told you we can't. The lord forbade it, he won't allow us to evacuate the town." Akako said grimly.
"That damn bastard." Lazuli said, gritting her teeth. She knew why he didn't allow them to evacuate. It was so if a demon attacked he could use the town as bait for him to leave before the demon could kill him and his family.
The lord of this town was very greedy and cowardly. Lazuli knew this. It was why he even offered 150 gold coins for such a quest. He hoped the three of them would kill whatever was in the forest.
"We have no time to fret, Lazuli. For now let's go, we need to group up with our parties and prepare to fight."
"Y-yeah." Lazuli said nervously. Unlike Akako who had a resolute gaze Lazuli looked scared which was unlike her. She was a silver rank adventurer who faced a great deal of strong monsters but she felt this was different.
She couldn't explain it but she felt they were going into an unwinnable battle. She could do nothing but push these feelings down and follow akako.
.
.
.
.
"Haaaa….. I can't believe my master left me to fight this thing in ice cold water." In the forest nearby the town was Dillion sitting at the edge of a lake. What was next to him was a giant monster called a dweller. Dillion didn't know how Aldrich had gotten such a monster here but he didn't want to ask.
Aldrich had frozen the water and made Dillion fight in the water. His reasoning being that he would be in situations where the environment would be unkind to him and he would need to keep focus on the enemy. To Dillion's surprise it actually worked. He got used to the ice cold water and was able to defeat the dweller which was a blue rank monster.
Right now Dillion was carving it to get meat for Aldrich to make. Aldrich had said he would need to learn how to do this so Aldrich left to prepare the tools to cook the meat. As Dillion was carving out the meat he heard a branch break and he turned around.
"What do we have here?" Just as expected it was Asmodeus and. Not just him but Hecate and other men dressed in all black clothing. Asmodeus seemed to be quite happy as he was grinning at Dillon. Dillion stood looking at him as dark clouds covered the sky.
.
..
Sorry to those who have added my writing, I've been busy with exams and even when I get free time I don't feel like writing. It seems to be setting down so chapters might come out more quickly but I still have a bunch of assignments to do.