...

-"You are quite talented, indeed. Barely half an hour passed and you managed to replicate most shapes I conjure under a minute." Praised Freya, Chill, with a warm smile and an encouraging voice that made her heart beat faster.

-'God, why does he look so handsome when he smiles at me like that.' thought Freya to herself. But unfortunately for her Chill noticed her small blush and teased her almost immediately.

-"Hehe, someone's weak to praises it seems." He chuckled at her.

-"Hmpf! I just thought you're handsome, that wasn't because you praised me." Rebuked Freya but when she heard him start laughing she realized what she just said and turned beet red.

-'Damn it, Freya! Where's the cold and indifferent girl! How can a man possibly affect me this fast.' asked herself as her tail moved on its own to hide her face.

-"Did I tell you how cute you look when you get embarrassed and do that with your tail?" pointed at her, Chill, with a straight face that one might think it was his first time saying that to her.

No, the man has been teasing her from time to time and saying that exact same sentence as she sometimes got flustered, all that while he conjured all sorts of different ice shapes in a matter of seconds. that made Freya like him even more as every time it took her a minute to get something similar, which further showcased how strong his mind and control over his Mana was.

And what made Freya truly like him even further was that he never even once mocked her with his clearly superior ice control. Quite the contrary, he simplified things when she found it hard and even gave her tips on where to start from and how to imagine the water better, as at some point he conjured water, shaped it, and made it turn to ice slowly so she could study the process carefully.

-'It was rather nice following big sis advice and being honest with Chill but as if saying all that was not embarrassing enough, especially after that cute reaction of his, he now teases and flirts more boldly.' thought to herself, Freya, as she got flustered by her own thoughts and lost control over the spell, making the ice melt and disappear. Freya's ice magic always just disappeared but never melted before doing so. The change was a good indication, she concluded, as she fundamentally changed her way of doing things.

Freya panicked at the sight of her failed spell, and she started doubting her earlier decision of basically accepting Chill's feeling when she agreed to date him. Her ears twitched and she started second-guessing herself because she did not want her magic to be affected negatively. Sure, she was aware of the fact that Chill just improved her magic by leaps and bounds, but she couldn't help it.

-'maybe I shouldn't have-' before she finished her own thoughts, and as if he sensed her sense her panic, Chill's manly and firm but gentle voice reassured her.

-"Don't worry Freya, things between us may seem rushed compared to... others. But I will never force you to do something that affects your magic badly, as I treasure my own dearly too." He said whilst looking at her in the eye, and the genuine care she felt in them made her relax.

-"Mhm." Was her reply, but it was enough for him as he smiled softly at her and added:

-"So just relax, and don't force yourself to focus. If you want my advice consider your Mana like a calm ocean and imagine it as such, visualize yourself sailing in that ocean at your own pace not the other way around, alright?" Told her Chill in a kind voice that turned somewhat serious towards the end.

-'Yeah he's right, I already like him enough that I want to spend more time together talking about magic. I don't care about other people's way of doing things. But he really is like me when it comes to magic, turns serious and all, I like it." Told Freya herself but was pulled out by Chill scratching his head.

-"That's how I imagine my Mana is, at least. Just like with the ice, don't brute force your way even with Mana, make it flow and shape it as you want." He said, conjuring small particles of water and fire around his arm for a few seconds, removing them, then continued, in a slightly more nervous voice, " So, Freya, um, don't worry about things. As I'll do my best to help you in whatever you need," he then averted his eyes from her and turned slightly red, "because I'm you boyfriend, okay?" Slightly looked at her when he finished, and Freya got stunned for a second.

-'That was so cuuute!' she exclaimed in her mind, 'He's aggressive most of the time but now he got this embarrassed because he said he's my boyfriend.pfft-' unable it to hold any longer, she started laughing at him and exclaimed.

-"I don't believe it! The guy that proposed to me yesterday with such a straight face is now getting this embarrassed. And because of what? Because you said you're my boyfriend now. Pfft-hahaha, I really don't get it, hahaha..." Continued laughing even more when Chill got even redder.

-"You! Stop laughing at me!" shouted Chill flustered, "And here I thought you were an ice princess, cold and hate all men. Hey don't laugh more!” exclaimed Chill as he pouted, it was super cute seeing a handsome man pout at her. But she couldn't help it.

-"Hehe~" Freya smiled in mischief and her ears perked up, "so that's how I looked to you? I feel it's a bother to waste time with small talk, that's why I look cold. But what can I do? You really are forcing me to like you, how's that my fault*sob*sob*" she fake-cried at the end just for a second before she saw him turn beet red and taken aback by her behavior.

-"Who are you really? Did you learn that from Lucy?" Asked her, voice full of nervousness. But Freya managed to also see some lust in his eyes, but contrary to her belief, she did not mind it, which surprised her for a second then shrugged it off as she did not have this much fun in years, clearly Lucy was the one teasing her all the time and not the other way around.

-"Hehe~Are you surprised? Then you should not be, because that's who I am. It's just that I never thought I'd like a guy enough to show him this side of me." She said as she blinked her eyes at him a couple of times while holding her tail, she then saw lust flare up in his eyes. 'Maybe I pushed him too much? I did not think he's like big sis, likes to act tough to hide his own embarrassment.' 

However, Freya did see him act upon his burst of lust as he did something stunning and stupid, again. He splashed his face with cold water then after a few seconds dried his face off with some hot air. He then exhaled some air and looked at her, his lust gone.

-"Listen here, you will regret showing that side to me, as I will be more assertive in my actions. And so, as your final test, if you manage to replicate what I'm about to do I'll take back my first statement." Told her in a clear and firm voice as he held his staff in his hand,10 seconds later, Freya was dumbfounded.

She considered his test would be making some shape twice as large as the usual which was the size of his big hands. What he did instead, was make a statue as tall as her from ice, but it was not any statue, no. He made an ice Statue of her wearing some tight, sleeveless long dress, pointing with its wand and ice spikes floating above its freehand, with its hair and tail flying backward as If there was some wind blowing. 

Freya was truly stunned, not because he just did something incredible magic-wise, no, that was impressive alright. But she was stunned because the statue looked so darn mesmerizing! She wouldn't have guessed it was her if not for the wand, wolf ears and tail, same height, and matching face.

-"Heh! Think you can pass my test?" He asked grinning as he rested his arm and leaned on the statue's shoulder and looked at her with his charming black eyes of his.

-'Is that how he sees me? I look so... Beautiful'

-"Is that how you see me, Chill?" she asked. 

-"That's how I first imagined you when I saw you in the Inn, I can make it better, and-" he shut up abruptly as he saw Freya's hand rise in his face.

-'Is that how he really saw me? Gosh.. ' she looked at him and he looked back, confused why she silenced him, and when she confirmed he was not lying she spoke:

-"It looks stunning Chill!" told him, Freya, her honest opinion in a sweet voice as she inspected the statue, then looked back at him and asked, "Why do you like me so much? I know you will say I am a beauty, but all men who told me that had their eyes filled lust. And I couldn't see that in yours. Besides-" now it was her time to get silenced as he covered her mouth with his hand, came close to one of her ears and whispered,

-"Didn't you ask something similar yesterday too? So I'll tell you again, better this time: You are perfection in a world of imperfection, Freya. That's how I feel when I look at you, and that's what I became sure of after our earlier interactions."He told her and Freya felt her heart flare up with a fiery strong flame, now she was completely sure, sure that she also loves Chill.

He chuckled at her beet-red face, patted her head, and said to her face, what she considered sealing the deal of winning her heart and in such a short time.

-"Also, you thought I was flustered earlier at the word boyfriend, right? " He rubbed her head gently even more and continued, " I was flustered because I realized I was the boyfriend of such a mesmerizing beauty like you.*chuckle*" he chuckled at Freya's frozen body as she seemed stuck on processing what he just said, and moved towards the door while speaking in a louder voice.

-"I think James is finished, come in big sis."

-'I don't like to curse but... Fuck!' cursed Freya inwardly as she digested Chill mischevious whisper telling her she was perfect in this imperfect world.

...

Lucy finished what she had to do just as James finished his work evaluating all the monsters worth that Chill has left in his care, so Tanya, the young girl whose shift is before hers, gave her the money to deliver to Chill.

And Oh boy was she surprised by what she saw. Tanya gave her a pouch filled to the brim with gold! She knew she said he could rent or buy a small house maybe, but with this much money, he could probably buy a small mansion!

That's right, apparently, the Shadow Swarm material was and still is in high demand, because after their nest was cleared it was reported that their exoskeleton could be processed into extremely sturdy yet light armor, which was ironic considering their only weakness was their low defense.

Apparently, someone has combined the monster's material with all sorts of alchemical ingredients and discovered a way to refine and create a sturdy material as strong as steel but as light as leather. And you can imagine what happened after that, adventures and nobles alike rushed to buy the new armor for themselves and increased demand on the material exponentially, as the nest had been destroyed, true, but it still did not have enough material to cover adventures of whole kingdoms.

The demand was even higher around here as they were pretty far away from the source so naturally, the prices were a lot higher and the market is unstable as the supply, the only nest found to date was destroyed. So the prices always kept increasing.

Lucy did not know if her friend was lucky he survived a monster attack or because he just became rich. Tanya, seeing her shocked face, told her that she was as stunned as well.

The monsters sold as follow:

• The 5 scouts for 5 silvers each.
• The 40 soldiers for 1 gold each.
• And the single Predator for a whole 7 gold coins and 5 silvers.

-'Should I force him to marry me alongside Freya? I mean he made 50 fucking gold coins in a single day! His stay at the inn was 20 coppers a week, he could stay there for... A lot! Heck, he can buy the inn and the buildings around it!' Fantasized to herself Lucy while making her way towards the library, holding the money pouch as if it was some dangerous and ancient artifact about to go haywire.

What should have been at most 5 gold coins, which was already a lot, turned out to be 10 times the usual! Lucy just wished she could just go to the forest, get assaulted by a Shadow Swarm, and become rich. But she quickly laughed it off because she was a Brawler, and Brawlers were not good at fighting multiple enemies, besides, if Chill could manage to break the Ice on Freya's heart, figuratively of course, and make her sister happy, she'd pick that instead of any gold.

Lucy's wish came true sooner than she could imagine, as when she was just about to open the door to the library she heard her sister... Laugh? 'how long has it been since Freya laughed like that?' thought to herself, Lucy, as she stopped and instead places her ear against the door, listening in on their conversation.

-'I'm not intruding on their privacy, I just need to count the gold again' convinced herself while they continued talking.

-"You! Stop laughing at me! And here I thought you were an ice princess, cold and hate all men. Hey! don't laugh more!”

-"Hehe~ So that's how I looked to you? I feel it's a bother to waste time with small talk, that's why I look cold. But what can I do? You really are forcing me to like you, how's that my fault*sob*sob*"

-'Wow... My little Freya is teasing a man? A man?!' dumbfounded, thought Lucy.

-"Who are you really? Did you learn that from Lucy?"

-'Tsk, you cheeky bastard. I'll make you buy me something nice with this money later' told herself, Lucy, feeling the weight of this many golden coins in her hand.

-"Hehe~Are you surprised? Then you should not be, because that's who I am. It's just that I never thought I'd like a guy enough to show him this side of me."

-'By the Gods! Is this really Freya? What did they talk about earlier that she's so... Feral? She never talked like that to anyone else... I really want to know what they spoke about before I got here.' Thought Lucy, but then confused by the sudden silence, a few seconds later she heard Chill's voice, loud and clear.

-"I think James is finished, come in big sis."

-'Shit! That bastard knew I was listening, else he wouldn't have called me Big Sis as Freya does.'