'That dirty bastard! I thought I warned him against places like that?' Zatiana thought to herself.
'I'll catch him red-handed, let's see what he says then?' Zatiana suddenly thought to herself with a smirk, seemingly not realizing that she didn't have that kind of relationship with Minos, and hence shouldn't even be concerned.
Meanwhile Minos entered the massage parlor, booking a room. Before that, he entered the shower room, cleaning two months of sweat and dust off.
Coming out of the shower room in a nice white shower-robe, Minos headed to his room, shutting the door behind him as he entered.
Avoiding all the eyes, Zatiana slowly snuck up to the door, putting her ear up against it, listening in.
"Welcome young master, what would you like today?" A voice said.
"Just a full body massage please." Minos answered.
"Right away!" The voice answered.
'A full body massage? Wouldn't that include that place as well!? That bastard, how could he?' Zatiana thought to herself in shame as she kept listening.
"Oh yeah, right there, focus on that spot." Minos said.
"Young master, you're so tense! your meat is bulging." The voice said.
"Meat? Oh you mean that, I'm always bulging there, guess I've got a lot of tension in that spot." Minos answered.
'What the hell!? Bulging meat, tension there, are they really talking about that place? So that's what he really came for?' Zatiana contemplated in anger.
"Yeah, stroke it back and forth, yeah just like that." Minos said, letting out a sigh of contentment.
"Oh my young master, it's so thick!" The voice replied.
"That's it you dirty bastard! Stop your degeneracy right now!" Zatiana screamed out, kicking the door down.
However what she saw was completely different from her reality. Rather than massaging the 'meat' Zatiana was thinking about, the masseuse was just messaging Minos's bicep.
"Zatiana, what are you doing here? And what are you talking about?" Minos asked curiously, signaling the masseuse to stop.
"Oh, uhh, well I thought you were doing something else. Nevermind that, what are you doing here anyways?" Zatiana said, changing the topic.
"What does it look like? I just came in for a massage since my body has been feeling pretty sore after all my training." Minos answered, still confused.
"I see, well you continue your massage." Zatiana said awkwardly, wanting to just run away from this entire situation.
"Well since you're already here, why not wait outside for me to finish. I'll treat you to lunch afterwards." Minos said, relieving the tension in Zatiana's heart.
"Oh yeah! Sure, I'll be waiting." Zatiana said, running out of the room.
As she exited the massage parlor, she couldn't help but smack herself on the back of her head. It was only in retrospect that she realized everything she had just done wasn't exactly normal.
She had no idea why she was following Minos in the first place, but for some reason, when she saw him going to a place like that, she felt her heart aching.
Fortunately she had misunderstood Minos, which made her feel much more relaxed. While she had no idea why this was so, she liked this feeling of comfort, secretly thankful that she had found out the truth.
Meanwhile Minos finished his massage in peace, putting Zatiana's disturbance to the back of his mind,
The massage soon ended, Minos tipping the masseuse quite generously. Saying goodbye, he threw his white robe back on, exiting the parlor.
"Where would you like to eat?" Minos asked Zatiana, who had been waiting for him outside the building.
"It doesn't matter." Zatiana replied, absentmindedly.
"Well to be honest I don't know this area that well, so how about we walk around for a bit until we find something?" Minos suggested.
"Sure." Zatiana said, her mood improving.
"Do you mind if I invite a few more people?" Minos suddenly asked.
"No, go ahead." Zatiana said, wondering who Minos was going to invite.
Under Minos's lead, the two soon arrived at the alley where Rubella was usually playing with her friends.
"Boss, you're finally back! I've missed you." The massive Beetus said, appearing from out of nowhere.
With eyes beading with tears, he hugged Minos tightly, nearly crushing him. Fortunately, he had been taking baths recently, so at least he wasn't filthy.
"Alright calm down, you're going to suffocate me." Minos said, pushing the excited Beetus back as he dusted off his robe.
"Zatiana, this is Beetus, one of my associates." Minos introduced.
"Nice to meet you Beetus." Zatiana said, reaching out for a shake.
"You must be one of my boss's friends, it's good to meet you!" Beetus said, shaking Zatiana's hand so hard she began bouncing up and down.
Seeing Zatiana's nauseous face from all the shaking, Minos slapped Beetus's large hands away.
"Watch your strength, not everyone can handle it." Minos said, as he patted Zatiana's back, helping her get over the nausea.
"It-it's alright, I'm fine." Zatiana said.
"Master, you're back! You were gone so long this time, I thought you died or something." Rubella said as she came out from the alley, her little army of friends following behind her.
"Yeah mister, you were gone so long Rubella started crying. Good thing you're finally back!" One naive little boy with a runny nose said.
"What are you talking about, I never cried!" Rubella shouted out in her defense, slapping the back of the boy's head so hard, his snot shot out and plastered Beetus's face.
Zatiana couldn't help but laugh out loudly seeing Beetus's awkward face covered in snot, causing his face to twist.
Pulling out some tissues from his robe, Minos handed them over to Beetus, who quickly wiped his face to relieve his situation.
"It's alright Rubella, you aren't the first one to cry over me." Minos said with a slight laugh.
"Who's crying over you? Don't listen to this kid, he's just trying to get revenge on me!" Rubella said in an attempt to convince everyone.
Unfortunately for her, no one said anything, which just made her sink deeper into her hole. Realizing she couldn't convince anyone, her face went red in shame, running into the alley to escape the humiliation.
"Just give her a moment, she'll get over it soon." Minos said with a laugh, refocusing his attention on Beetus.
"So, has anything happened while I was gone?"
"Actually boss, we have got some interesting news, but I have no idea if it's true or not." Beetus answered.
"Oh? Let me hear." Minos said, interested.
"Word is, a treasure is going to appear in the Ancient Desert Kingdom! What the treasure is though, I haven't heard." Beetus said.
"Ancient Desert Kingdom? You mean the one that was supposedly destroyed in a massive sand storm countless centuries ago?" Minos asked.
"That's the one!"
"It's unlikely a treasure would appear there, after all that place has been explored by adventurers pretty much since it was destroyed. It's likely long been stripped of anything valuable" Minos said, as he pondered the possibility of such a lead.
"But since you've got some news, I want you to keep looking into it. Try to find some more substantial evidence if possible." Minos said.
"Yes boss!" Beetus answered confidently.
Minos was still busy with the Weapon Refining Union, so he didn't have time to waste on just a rumor. Until he received more definitive proof, he didn't plan on going anywhere.
"Anyways, I came here to treat you all to lunch." Minos said, returning back to what he came here for.
"For real?" The little kids asked in excitement
"Real as the sky is blue." Minos replied with a smile.
"Go call out Rubella for me. Won't be a meal without her." Minos said, causing the children to quickly scramble to call Rubella out.
"You're going to invite all of them?" Zatiana suddenly said.
"Why, is there a problem?" Minos asked.
"No problem, I just wasted expecting you to invite so many people." Zatiana said, feeling slightly annoyed at the thought of having to share Minos's company with so many other people.
"To be honest, this is my first time taking these kids anywhere, so I'd be nice to treat them. Besides, wouldn't it be rude to just take Rubella and Beetus while ignoring them?" Minos said.