As I observed Shea, Tohru, Yue and Tio's stats, it was monstrous even when I compared them with the hero's party, although I expected this. But what caught me off guard was Tohru's status, each of her stats is more than doubled what I had. Now that I think back about the fight, I had with Tohru, I made the right call to just avoid her attacks. I do not want to imagine, what would have happened if I didn't.
After everyone gained their status plate, they fiddled with it, especially Tohru who had never seen something like this, "This is my status?" Tohru questioningly muttered to herself.
"..."
Ilwa, after observing these statuses had sweat pouring down his back, and even his assistant Dott felt speechless seeing the numbers.
"Sigh, this is really surprising… when I wish to see the status, I didn't expect such outrageous numbers and that is not even the most astonishing part." Ilwa then leaned back on his sofa pondering.
Hajime asked, "What now? Will you inform the church about this?"
"..."
"Haha…" Ilwa laughed dryly, "I hope you are kidding. Whether as an individual or as a guild leader, that's not an option for me. And on top of that, I owe you people. It will be a foolish decision on my part if I turn an enemy out of someone whom I could befriend."
"That's good to hear," Hajime responded.
After that, Ilwa inquired us about the incident for an hour. He was shocked when he heard that one of the heroes summoned by the church had turned to the demon's side. If common people heard about this, the church would face major backlash.
"Alright then, as for your second reward," saying that he prepared two letters. The first one was a document that would let us access the guild's information both mundane and secretive, and the second one was a promotion letter for us.
"This letter will rank up you directly, with this you can move around more freely I reckon," saying that he handed us two letters.
"You know it's usually a lot of paperwork to rank up someone to Silver or higher, but you don't have to worry about that. I will handle that part and with your title of 'Goddess Sword and Shield' it will be a lot easier."
Rihito, "Well, thanks to my friend's fast thinking we had such an easy time." hearing that comment from me Hajime's eyes started to twitch.
Ilwa with a smile said, "I suppose it is. Now if you do not mind me asking, what are you planning to do now?"
"I am sure you already know this; we are after the 7 labyrinths and our next target is the maze in the Crimson Desert," I responded.
"Hmmm… that's good then. I have recommended you two for promotion to the gold rank. With my recommendation and Lady Catherine's letter, they shouldn't turn you down, and for your promotion, you have to go to the dungeon city 'Horaud.'"
"..."
Hearing that city name my jovial mood shifted to seriousness.
Ilwa sensing the shift in the mood, says, "By your expression, I am guessing you have been there."
"Yeah… I have when I was still a failure." Hajime said in a sombre mood.
Yue sensing Hajime's shifting mood held his hand.
I patted Hajime's shoulder and said, "No, you weren't."
Hajime looked at me with a slight smile and said, "Thanks."
Ilwa who observed all this, already got a rough outline of the unspoken story. "I see… I won't ask anything unnecessary. Then, this should conclude the meeting. You all should rest up; your promotion date will be in two days. For now, you should enjoy the city. As a token of our thanks, we will prepare rooms for you."
…
After that, we were escorted by Todd to the most luxurious-looking building in the city of 'Fuhren.' It was a 30-floor tall building. There, a whole floor was reserved just for us.
"..."
"Quite the luxurious treatment," I said while lying on the hotel's living room sofa, which was on the 25th floor.
While I was lazing around, Shea looked down from the window in awe, muttering to herself, "From here the people down there look so tiny."
As for Tohru after she saw the luxurious kitchen of this sweet, she got pumped up and said, "Master~ I will cook from you something special~" She said that and bolted away to the kitchen, which was about half an hour ago.
"..."
[I wonder if we break something here, do we have to pay for it or Ilwa will handle it.] thinking about it, I had the urge to try it out.
While I was immersed in my intrusive thoughts. Shea crawled beside me and lay down, staring at my white hair thinking something. Aware of her movements I watched her shifting expressions, from happiness to curiousness to slight hesitation and finally determination. The whole process was amusing to watch.
Shea came to a decision and grabbed a few strands of my hair observing them. As she was doing that her breasts kept grinding on my chest, which I don't have a single problem with.
After about a few minutes of snooping around in my hair, she finally stopped and noticed my gaze on her.
Shea noticed me staring at her, felt shy, her cheeks redan and she hid her face in my chest.
Amused I asked, "What were you doing with my hair?"
"Umm… I was checking if your hair had fully turned white from the root or if it was only the shaft," she said with reddened cheeks.
"I see." after that, no one spoke, and both of us fell into comfortable silence both just content with each other's presence.
"..."
"..."
Shea breaking the silence spoke again, "Hey Rihito."
"Hmmm…"
"After you and Hajime have gained all the Age of God magic will you leave me?" Shea said those words with unease.
"..."
Taken aback by those words, I grabbed her hand and climbed on top of her, asking, "And why do you think that," I asked looking at her eyes.
Shea feels shy facing Rihito's intense gaze, looks to the side and mutters, "It's because… you don't cuddle with me LIKE HAJIME AND YUE DOES ALL THE TIME!!!" She started slowly and ended with a yell.
"..."
[Sigh, so she was jealous seeing Hajime and Yue flirting all the time and wanted to do similar things with me.]
Shea noticing my sudden silence looked at me. There she saw Rihito's face closing in on her. Shea seeing this her heart sped up in anticipation, and then slowly Rihito's lips met hers.
Shea opened her mouth to let in Rihito's tongue and then both of their tongues collided with each other trying to dominate each other.
"Slurp~ slurp~"
"Chuu~"
"Mmmm~"
Enjoying the kissing for a minute straight we stopped to take breaths.
"Huff, Huff, Huff, Hufffff… so, do you still think I will abandon you," I asked after the passionate kiss.
"Huff, Huff, Huff, Hufffff…umm yes~…"
"But maybe after more kisses, I will believe you," Shea said with a coquettish tone.
Rihito hearing her tone, smiled, "Is that so, it looks like I have to work extra hard to remedy it."
But then a sudden coughing sound was heard from the entrance.
"Cough…"
"..."
Shea and I both looked at the entrance where Tio was standing there with an awkward expression.
"..."
Tio noticing our gaze, said, "Master Hajime asked for you to come and meet with Will's parents, who have come to visit us," saying that she left in a hurry.
"..."
Rihito experiencing the strange event thought, [Did I just get cock blocked?]
Shea seeing my strange expression giggled and said in a sultry tone, "After you come back, we can continue~," Then, she got up and went towards the kitchen where Tohru was still cooking who knows what.
…
I then headed to the Hajime's room which was a room further away. Walking up to the door I knocked.
Knock, knock
From inside I heard Hajime's voice, "Come in."
From inside a maid opened the door and she bowed and cleared the way. There I saw Hajime, Yue and three others sitting on the sofa thanking Hajime.
Will noticing me called out, "Rihito, let me introduce you to my parents." Will then with hand gestures introduced them. "This man is my father: Grail Cudeta, and the lady beside her is my mother: Saria Cudeta. Mother, father, this here is Rihito and Hajime, they were the people who with their companions saved me from the dangerous situation I was in."
After our introductions were over, we then chatted for a while. Grail and Saria, Will's mother and father thanked us many times and said if in future any problem occurs with their kingdom, they will be happy to give them a hand. We then talked with them for about an hour, just as the sun was about to set the Cudeta family left with the maid.
"..."
"So, what do you think," I ask Hajime.
"With this, we have someone to support us from the kingdom's side, when we will be enemies with the church." to which I agreed with him.
"Guess I will head to my room," saying that I left those two alone.
As I walked to my room, I looked outside through the glass window and saw the sun setting, casting an orange glow over the city. The scene looked like a work of art. I enjoyed the view as I reached the front of my room and entered.
The moment I opened the door, I heard Tohru welcoming me, "Welcome back master Rihito~ I have prepared an extra special dish for you." saying that she showed her dish. It was a stack of meat. But for some reason, it looks different from the monster meat I have eaten until now. It somehow gave an aura of superiority.
And from the look, Shea was giving the meat, I am not the only one who was feeling it.
"..."
"Tohru, what kind of meat is that?" I asked intrigued.
Tohru ignoring the atmosphere said with a bright smile, "It's my tail meat."
"..."
"..."
"..."
For a moment I thought my ears gave away. So, I asked her again, "What did you say… I think I didn't hear you correctly."
"It's my tail's meat that I cooked for you," Tohru said with shining eyes, anticipating me to eat her tail.
"..."
Ignoring the cooking part, I asked in concern, "Tohru you cut your tail."
Tohru, sensing my concern, said, "Ah, master, no need to worry. I have regeneration. I can regrow my tail pretty quickly." Saying this, she manifested her horns and newly regrown tail.
"See," Tohru said while cradling her tail in her arms.
…
"Chapter end"
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