Steelz

Sorry this release took so long. This is my 2nd time doing this chapter as my earlier chapter in Microsoft word didn't seem to save, causing me to delay further. I'll try to make up for it with future releases.

We started to head off with Seris clinging onto my side. It had become a bit cumbersome to move since she was sticking to me so closely. Not to mention it brought in a lot of unneeded attention to us. I wanted to avoid having Seris so close to me since we both were starting to get sticky with the sweat, but I let it be since it had been so long since we met again.

I was curious though as to how Seris managed to find me in the first place. I didn’t get many chances to ask questions due to how intense the situation had become, but now that things had calmed down I could use this time to clear my doubts.

“Seris, how did you manage to find me in the first place?”

“I got to know about your whereabouts from the guild, after hearing that I rushed to where you were as quickly as possible,” replied Seris in a casual manner.

It was quite surprising hearing that answer. Wasn’t the guild supposed to respect the privacy of the adventurers? If the word got out then it would surely harm the reputation of the guild. I tried to inquire for further information about this.

“How come the guild gave you this information, also how did you know it was me to begin with?”

Seris starts to make a face as if she was pondering something, she answers abruptly after that.

“Well, the word about you got spread after you rescued the hero candidate. It was quite a shocking event since a low ranked adventurer managed to save the hero which was the hardest emergency quest in that guild. After that, the information brokers were hired to collect all data on you from public and private records such as your quest history, skills, physiological characteristics.

I looked into the data and it didn’t take long for me to come to the possibility that it was my dear brother. Though you don’t need to worry about it now, I made sure that all the information regarding you was to be kept confidential. But I didn’t manage to stop it in time so some data might have been leaked, but ah! Your sister is always there to protect you!”

I was shocked when I heard this. All it took was for me to save the hero candidate and my personal info became the equivalent of a public social media account. Not to mention it was the guild dealing with this information. If I had known about this I wouldn’t have ever tried to turn in the quest. Though not all things went badly as a result, I had managed to meet with Seris again who I had been missing so dearly. 

Just, there was a slight concern for the data leakage. I had an unnerving feeling this could result in something bad despite the precautions Seris might’ve taken. If things somehow managed to become worse I needed to escape this town soon. Considering my luck I knew when things could go bad, they always did.

It made me wonder how did Seris get her hands on this information in the first place, not to mention quite quickly too. Not only that but she managed to stomp out the flow of information also, I had never expected her to have so much power behind her.

I ended up probing for more information about it.

“Seris, how did you manage to get this information? I am not asking whether you got this from the guild but what connections did you make use of to get a hold of this information.”

Seris looks at me and makes a cutesy action as if she had started thinking again, she puts her hand on her chin and closes her eyes as it contemplating deeply. I could see her left eye had a slight opening, trying to take a peek at me. It just made it more obvious this was an act but it made it funnier at the same time.

“With the power of love!” Seris declares while raising her fist into the air, the oncoming bystanders stare at us in bewilderment. I immediately raised my hand and bonked her head with a slight tap. In response, she let out her small tongue while showing a mischievous yet unapologetic expression.

Seeing her trying to act all cute and naughty I couldn’t help but pinch those rosy cheeks.

“Alriight alriight, I am sowwy!” Seris begs for forgiveness while having trouble pronouncing those words, she soon bursts into laughter after saying that.

It was times like these that I had missed so much. Seeing Seris smile so cheerfully made me soothe my heart. Her laughter dies down as she stares back at me now.

“Well, a lot of things happened back when you left. But for now, I will tell you the shortened version of all this. Back when you went missing I had tried to look for help in any way possible. I ended up rejoining the church and it all worked out. I helped them a bit and in return, they helped me get this info on you.”

I looked at Seris in astonishment.

“You joined the church again? That’s great!” I spoke with renewed enthusiasm. Back then Seris had sacrificed her position of the pope candidate to spend more time with me. I had always had heavy regrets about that since I had managed to destroy her bright future. Seeing that her life was back on track made me quite content.

But Seris didn’t seem too happy about it, she instead gave me a forced smile. Seeing that I couldn’t help but worry. I put my palm on her head and spoke to her.

“Don’t make that face, I can tell when you’re unhappy about something. If you wish to quit sometime in the future then I will support your decision.”

Seris’ emotions seemed to have gotten a bit better after that. She nods and gives a soft yet genuine smile this time. 

“Thank you, brother.” Seris replies to me. I rub her head a bit before we continue on our way.

While we continued walking I had noticed a few shops displaying tasty assortments of sweets. We were already outside together after such a long time, might as well enjoy it.

“Hey Seris, wanna grab a bite from one of those stalls.

“Alright, you better feed me like you used to though!”

“Sure,” I gave in to her demands like I always did back then.

Both of us ended up revelling at the moment. Seris seemed to have a blast as she kept on tugging and leading me to various places to try out new stuff. I was just glad having to see her smile like this.

---

It had been a long walk but we had soon reached the main streets. It was an area where the richer class of people stayed. With my garb being a cloak and some black leather armour, I gave the feeling of a typical adventurer. Problem was you wouldn’t usually see that many adventurers roaming around here in such a posh place.

It couldn’t be helped that with my current attire I had managed to attract a lot of attention. Seris clung onto me a lot closer than before, afraid of losing me again. She was surely misinterpreting the situation this time, with my illusion skills currently active the chance of them seeing through my disguise was negligible.

“Seris you don’t need to stick so much to me, I am not going anywhere,” I told Seris in an attempt to give her some reassurance. 

“No!” She exclaims as she grasps onto me more tightly.

“C’mon Seris, everyone is staring.”

Seris stays silent, unwilling to budge. It seemed she was going to be obstinate in refusing me. I gave a sigh indicating my loss. I can never win against Seris in the end.

We continue down the road as numerous villas pass by. It was taking quite some time to reach there, I started thinking as to how long this would go on for.

As we kept on walking we had managed to reach the end of the road, a large mansion was in front of us. I suddenly had a bad feeling about this, is it possible that Seris lives…

“We have reached!” Seris exclaims with excitement.

This is her mansion, isn’t it…

“Seris… do you own this mansion?” I asked in a hesitating voice.

“Yes, let’s go in.” She replies with a charming smile.

I heave another sigh after finding out about this. It just came to show how much I had been interfering with Seris’ future prospects. If I hadn’t been here then Seris would be living a much better life right now. As her brother, I couldn’t be happier with Seris’ success in life.

Unaware of my thoughts, Seris rushes towards the mansion while dragging me by the arm. Well, while I am here, I might as well enjoy the moment.