"Heh, have you seen the women he surrounds himself with, Lulu? You're too ugly for him." Remarked the rabbit-demihuman with a smirk while standing beside Lulu, who looked very similar to her.
"Tch, will you shut up, Momo? No one cares what you have to say." Said Lulu in annoyance as she turned and eyed Momo, who chuckled in amusement.
Glancing at Momo, Lulu's younger brother, he and her looked very similar; they both had white rabbit ears, blue hair, though Lulu's reached down to her butt. They both had rather muscular builds, of course, Lulu still had a very feminine look, and her muscles weren't apparent like Momo's, but it was easy to tell she wasn't physically weak; they had a paler skin tone, bright blue eyes, similar to Lazuli, though when it comes to height, they were on the short side with Momo only being a few inches taller than Lulu.
They were part of a group called The Beasts, alongside three other people, Cann, Falish, and Ogi; however, I didn't see them anywhere in the guild, so I figured they weren't present. They're a C-rank party, the same as us, they're also a relatively new group, having formed just four years ago, so they're also rather young, similar in age to Lazuli and I, at least the siblings are.
"So, are you guys going to argue with each other or what?" Asked Alexander with a raised eyebrow as he glanced at Momo and Lulu while folding his arms, causing them to grunt before backing away.
"I'm going to turn in our job; otherwise, I might end up hitting someone." Said Momo with a grunt of annoyance as he glanced at Alexander before staring at Lulu, who merely grunted, ignoring his antics.
Watching Momo walk off toward the reception desks, I glanced at Lulu, who cleared her throat before suddenly grabbing my hand, leading to who knows where.
"I-I'm borrowing Alex right now, Lazuli; I'll return him soon." Said Lulu with a faint smile as she waved at Lazuli, who silently watched them vanish down a hallway before shifting her focus to Yuki and Nanya.
Once we reached the end of the hallway, Lulu approached the women's bathroom and entered it while leading me inside, pushing me against the wall; she closed the door and looked at me, causing me to raise my head at this suspicious turn of events.
"You're not going to rape me right now, are you?" Asked Alexander with a raised eyebrow as he looked at Lulu with a faint smirk, causing her to shake her head while approaching him.
"No. Besides, I wouldn't want to receive Yuki's wrath." Replied Lulu with a wry smile, her words causing Alexander to raise an eyebrow before nodding.
"Neither would I. So, why did you lead me into the bathroom?" Asked Alexander curiously as he gazed at Lulu, who now stood only a few feet before him.
Lulu didn't immediately respond and instead lowered her head while fidgeting with her hands; part of me wanted to rub her fluffy ears as they were always soft, but now didn't really seem like the time.
"S-So you know how the month of C-Chloe is nearby?" Asked Lulu awkwardly as she briefly glanced at Alexander, who nodded before lowering her head once more.
"I-I was wondering, i-if you'd l-like to, maybe, um, h-hang out. Y-You know, j-just the two of us." Added Lulu softly, her voice barely audible while her cheeks flushed bright red with embarrassment.
Took some control to chuckle right now, but I couldn't help but smirk at her words since it seemed like she was practically asking me out on a date.
"Heh, it's about damn time, Lulu; you've sure been taking your sweet time." Remarked Alexander with a smirk as he glanced at Lulu, who raised her head, gazing at him with widened eyes.
"Eh, y-you knew?" Asked Lulu in surprise as she stared at Alexander, who casually nodded.
"Yes, I knew; I've known about your feelings for the past three years. Not many things can hide from my eyes, Lulu." Replied Alexander with a smirk as he folded his arms and gazed at Lulu, whose blush only deepened at his words.
"S-So a-about my question." Said Lulu awkwardly as her whole body twitched in nervousness, only for Alexander to nod.
"If the women I'm already in a relationship with don't mind, then yes." Stated Alexander with a nod, his words causing Lulu to clench her fist, nearly yelling in joy.
"Now, can I exit the bathroom? It's slightly uncomfortable for me." Asked Alexander as he approached the exit and opened it, only to freeze when he spotted three women staring at him.
I wasn't even allowed to explain myself before the women smirked as they glanced at Lulu standing behind me before running back towards the lounge where everyone was.
"Alexander and Lulu were getting it on in the women's bathroom!" Yelled the women with grins, their words causing the lounge to turn silent, only for it to erupt loudly into cheers.
"Haa, this is why I took us somewhere private." Muttered Lulu in annoyance as she peeked from behind the door and stared down the hallway, only to sigh in defeat.
"Maybe the bathroom wasn't the best spot." Said Alexander with a wry smile while Lulu nodded in agreement.
Since there was no getting around this, and knowing how adventurers love to blow things out of proportion, Lulu and I exited the bathroom and arrived back at the lounge, prompting several to cheer our way while a few even asked for us to swap places with them. Sighing in annoyance as I knew this would stick with us for at least a few months, I sat at the table with Lazuli and waved at Lulu, who quickly left with Momo; not that I blamed her, I also wanted to leave now.
"Were you?" Asked Lazuli curiously as she looked at Alexander, who groaned before shaking his head.
"No, I didn't; we were just talking. Speaking of that… Hurry the hell up, Yuki!" Replied Alexander with a shake of his as he glanced at Lazuli before looking at Yuki, who was trading blows with Nanya, the two not moving an inch.
"Tsk, fine, I'm coming! This isn't over, Nanya!" Stated Yuki with a grunt as she lowered her arms and glared at Nanya, who responded in kind.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, you lump of fat." Said Nanya as she dismissively waved her hand at Yuki before sitting down.
When Yuki arrived, she sat down in annoyance and folded her arms, though, after a while, she eventually looked at me in confusion.
"Why is everyone cheering and looking at you? Did you do something?" Asked Yuki curiously as she looked at Alexander, who rubbed his face while sighing.
"Because Lulu asked me out on a date." Replied Alexander lightly, his words causing Yuki to raise an eyebrow before nodding.
"Oh really? Cool. So, are we going to the dungeon or not?" Said Yuki as she quickly shifted the topic of conversation, seemingly unconcerned about Lulu and Alexander's relationship.
Sighing at how unbothered Yuki was, I nodded and stood up while approaching the guild exit, prompting Yuki and Lazuli to follow me; after we finally left the guild, I couldn't help but sigh in relief as the constant cheers faded into the background.
'Haa, much better.' Thought Alexander with a faint smile as he looked at the sky and headed to the dungeon at the center of the city.
___
___
Slicing the wolf that had just lunged at me from behind in half, I lifted Trina above my head, blocking an eagle as it dived-bomb at me with incredible speeds, breaking the sound barrier, but it turned into a much of flesh when it smashed into Trina.
Flicking it off, I kicked away a rabbit and slashed down towards it with Zartha, launching a destructive wave of flames, engulfing it and the several other monstrous rodents hidden in the bushes within my flames as they were set ablaze and quickly killed. However, even so, the monsters kept coming non-stop, which was slightly annoying, but we've gotten so used to this that it was expected.
"Catch!" Yelled Yuki loudly with a grunt as she fended off one monstrous bear while tossing the other one towards Alexander.
Slamming my two greatswords onto the ground, I propelled myself into the air and slashed the monstrous bear in half; using [Air Kick], I lunged towards Lazuli's enemies, as she was getting assaulted from nearly all directions.
"Watch out!" Said Alexander as he raised Zartha in the air while a fireball encased within a rotating sphere of wind rapidly grew.
At my words, Lazuli morphed her arms into a dome that covered her entire body, prompting me to launch the fireball toward her; the moment the fireball touched her dome, it erupted into an explosion that set everything, monsters and trees alike, ablaze. Within only a few seconds, tens of monsters were killed, while the larger ones, like wolves, bears, and gorillas, survived, though they were also greatly injured and were easy to clean up.
Stabbing Trina through the heart of the final bear, I burned the blood off my two swords and approached Yuki and Lazuli while keeping my eyes open for any possible attacks.
"You guys good?" Asked Alexander curiously as he looked at Yuki and Lazuli, who both nodded, causing him to smile while he stabbed his two swords into the ground.
"So, how deep are we going today?" Added Alexander with a faint smirk as he nudged Yuki while winking at her, causing her to tilt her head in confusion.