“Hehehe~”

I’m rubbing my cheek on Stephanie’s face with a smile on my face, embracing her tightly. On top of that, I’m openly showing my love to her in the eyes of other members of the guild. Even her friends are staring at us—All of them are looking at us with disgust. Stephanie has the same face too, but rather than stopping me; she’s too embarrassed to show her face to others, plus deep inside, she’s happy about it too.

What’s the reason for me acting this way?

Obviously, after a month of doing quests, I haven’t seen Stephanie that much since a quest would take days or months, depending on how far or how difficult the quest would be. For the past months, I’ve done some incredibly simple quests like getting materials in the wild or caves, and hunting small monsters. There were some restrictions because I’m still inexperienced. Furthermore, our relationship went into a drastic change after that night. 

During all of those small quests that I picked, Clara will accompany me in every single one of them, not leaving her eyes on me. And sometimes, she’ll do the sneaky.

After my evaluation, the aftermath of the two was direr than I expected.

Vander had some serious burns on his body from the [Pandemonium Inferno] and a fractured skull when I knock him out cold at the back of his head. That couldn’t be bad, right? Nope. I almost knock him out into a coma, if it weren’t for the healers. It also took him months to recover.

Unto the next guy, Gord, he’s apparently an ex-paladin who got a kick out of a church. As for him, he’s on the light side since my spears almost hit his spinal cord, which could be dire for him, and also gave him some mental trauma from how I almost slice his head off. Those are my oopsies.

I have no intention of injuring nor putting fear on them because I thought gold adventurers are strong. I did well on holding back and I’m proud of that. Moreover, after the fight, I learned that there are various types of spirits like the enhancement-type and protection-type. Vander has the enhancement type. Gord would be the one who has the protection type, as for the reason there’s a magic protection layer around him.

And, I haven't talked nor have apologized for what I did because they said it would be adding the salt into the wound. 

Back to me where I’m embracing Stephanie like a child. I’m acting like this because why not. I just want to do it. Not everything that I do needs to have reasons behind it. If I can do it, then do it. For real though, I’m only doing this because I haven’t seen her for a while.

“Claude, stop it. People are looking at us. I can’t handle Clara’s gaze anymore...” Stephanie said softly.

“Nah, don’t mind her, you’ll get used to it.”

I got so used to it; I became dense. Clara was an Obsidian adventurer. To put it simply, she’s one of the strong people here; however, not all adventurers here know Clara’s rank as I’m the only one who knows it.

“Steph, is he still bothering you? He’s been looking in our way for quite some time.”

“No... Can you please stop hugging me...? We’re in public, please...”

“Why not? I need to recharge.”

The red hair guy was named Albert and his twin sister was named Rosalyn; the two twins are known for their polar opposite characters, and they’re from the Mora Family which is an Earl aristocracy family. Albert would be the hot-headed guy, while Rosalyn would be the timid one. Furthermore, I discovered that they also share the same fire spirit, a unique type.

“Can’t we just do it in private...” Stephanie muttered.

“Nope. I haven’t seen you for quite some time because your quest is taking too long.”

“...”

Stephanie did say that Albert stopped bothering her for quite some time now. He’s finally putting distance on Stephanie. Of course, that doesn’t mean he’s over her. It’s practically the opposite. He’s pouring all his anger on me. He would glance at me with disdain at my back. It was Clara who told me about that.

────────────

Picking over the quests that are posted on the gold-ranking bulletin board, only a few are interesting since I’m searching for something exciting; however, the only thing that I keep seeing are escort services, and they’re too boring.

While pondering over the quest board, someone taps my shoulder. I glance over who it was and saw scarlet eyes staring at my face with a soft smile on her face.

“Adelle? How can I help you?”

“Let’s create a party with the two of us. The quest that I got needs a plus one.”

The people who are near us gasped upon hearing Adelle asking me to join her. That took me by surprise because after the evaluation, I haven’t seen her since then. She’s kind of this lone wolf in the guild, whereas no one ever approaches her, but if someone does, she’ll just ignore them.

“What kind of quest is it?” I asked.

“It’s a quest from a small village that wanted some materials from deep inside the cave of the Herbaria mountains. But, I can’t go alone because it specifies it needs four people.”

“Where’s the other two?”

Adelle tilts her head sideways and points her finger to Clara behind me.

“And the other one?”

“Your girlfriend?”

“She can’t join because of some ridiculous policies. Anyway, what’s with the Herbaria mountains? Isn’t that around the far east? That’ll take like least two weeks of travel before we could even get there.”

“Yes. Do you want to join me?”

“I mean, yeah... I don’t have anything to do, plus it looks fun, but we still need the last per—”

“Young master Claude, it’s fine. With my rank, we can exempt ourselves.” Clara said from behind me.

“Really? Well then, let’s go,” I replied.

“I see, then I’ll submit the form then.”

After Adelle said that, she went ahead toward the receptionist. I glance back at Clara and ask her. “What do you think about the quest? Scratch that. What do you think about the Sword princess inviting us?”

“Adelle Fabien, a woman whom they said came from the North, which is opposite from here. Upon joining the Guild, she crash through the ranks and was on her way to becoming a Platinum adventurer.”

“Is that so...” ‘You didn’t even answer my question...’

Stephanie already left the guild with her schoolmates and instructor. I haven’t met the second instructor of Stephanie, but I’m certain that Sora was a great instructor for them—And she has those huge...

When we went to Adelle, she looks at me and calls me over because she’s having a hard time processing the form. Clara hands her Obsidian adventurer plate to which the receptionist finally agrees to let us form a party with just the three of us.

Then I heard some murmuring around me.

“Did the two...”

“I think so...”

Then so on...

Adelle glance over me and asks for my hand. I put my hand over her palm, confusingly.

“What is this for?”

Without saying anything, Adelle pulls my hand over to her head, pressing her lips to the back of my hand gracefully. Her lips were so extremely soft. After kissing it, she pulls her head, chanting. “Predecessors of the Fabien shall bestow us with their blessing. Claude Weiss, are you willing to accept me as your partner?”

Confuse by what’s happening, I nod and said. “I accept? What’s happening?”

“May the Grace protect us from now on.”

Shortly after, a tattoo of a black dragon crest appears on the back of my hand.

“Excuse me? What’s this?”

“It’s a symbol of alliance.”

“And, what for?”

“I mean, we’re going to form a party with the three of us, right? It’s for protection, that’s my family’s traditional mark. Actually, it’s my first time using that since it only works with the opposite gender. Godmother told me that if I ever found someone deems worthy of the mark from the opposite gender, I shall bestow that man that mark. You’ve defeated me and I see that you’re a man with virtues.”

‘Virtues... The fuck... What kind of drug is she taking for her to say those words to me?’

“I’m flattered by your words, but this is a kind of irrelevant to me. I can protect myself, and I have Clara beside me. So can you remove it?”

Adelle shakes her head. “I can’t.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know, how.”

“Haaah... All right then. Let’s just leave it like this.”

“Okay. Tomorrow, we will head out of the kingdom. Does that sound good to you?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Taking a look around me, I saw other people darting their gaze at us, seemingly trying to figure out what’s happening between us. Afterward, Adelle left the guild ignoring everybody’s eyes, and I did the same too, heading home to prepare my clothes for tomorrow. It’ll be a long road trip waiting ahead of us since we’re heading toward the Herbaria Mountain in the East part of Krishna.

While heading home, Clara was exuding an ominous mood, which I remove by kissing her in the cheeks.

“There, are you fine now?”

Clara nods at me.

I smile at her at how childish she could be, and I find it adorable.

While going heading back, we came across a man wearing a military uniform that is similar to what Aldrich wore last time.

"Young master Claude." He bowed to me with respect.

Catching the sight of him made my mood sour. "What do you want, Sir Henry? If you are here to pursue me again—My answer would still be the same. I will not come back. No matter how many times they send you here, my answer will be the same."

"Can you reconsider it? The Head already announced about lifting and voiding the contract, for the purpose of you coming back to the family. Can you please least meet the head?"

"Nope. I respectfully decline their invitation on letting me back to the family. If I may, I'll go head back home."

"Haah... Yes, young master. But that doesn't mean I will stop, young master. I've been tasked to pursue you with everything I can until you come back to the family."

"Because you're unable to come back to them until I accept right? I guess their motto of 'failure is not an option.' is still part of their moral code, huh? I pity you, Sir Henry; however, my answer will be the same. Well then, see you in a month or so." I wave my hand to him while passing him.

 Sir Henry was working under Belmont Family since way before Claude was born, a loyal soldier and diligent soldier. He's a kind-hearted person who has a chivalric heart. He was sent to me because apparently, the Head of the Belmont Family which is Claude's grandfather decided that I can finally go back to them. And, I'm not buying anything of that.

It was right after my guild evaluation. The next day, Sir Henry suddenly appeared right in front of my door calling me 'Young master'. Since that day, he won't stop bothering me. I like how the Belmont Family would swallow their pride and honor, just to pursue me into coming back to their circus family—If that's true, but I doubt it.

What a bunch of clowns. 

"Young master Claude, can I?"

"How many times do I need to tell you? I'm fine. And, strictly no killing. He's a good guy. Even if they beg and apologize, it won't change my mind nor it will waver. They can kiss my ass. They're wasting their time on me."

"I understand."