Chapter 47: A jungle

"Who wants to speak first?"

Leon did his best to sound casual, expecting that Louise had felt another different and cold feeling grasping her heart. It wouldn't be weird of her to feel many of those, for she'd lived for at least a thousand years before losing her memories. Thus, he wanted to treat it casually to ensure Louise wouldn't get any more worries.

She will vaguely remember a lot from now on, and it'll just pile up over already weighing burdens.

At some point, Louise might start hiding those feelings from Leon to not burden him with her problems.

That was exactly what Leon wished to avoid by acting casually and confidently, seemingly not surprised by Louise's sudden coldness going over her.

"It seems like Louise had seen an enemy of hers. It'd be pretty amusing if it was a dwarf." Leon decided to talk a little more to draw Louise's adorable voice.

Hearing him, Louise's ears went erect, and she gazed at him with widened and trembling eyes. "How did Master know? And… amusing?"

Louise's heart ached as her master found her troubles entertaining. She looked down and clenched her short pants, tightly crumpling them.

Under Celes' shining eyes, Leon quickly explained himself. "So it was really a dwarf. Well, I find it funny because you've just received a quest to take dwarves' precious flames. And a few days later, we met one of them. It's like the system wants us to interact with all those people. If we enslave him, we'll advance. If he captures us, he'll surely advance, too. It's all up to us to interact with them, though. That's what I find amusing. Your lack of smile naturally scratches my heart, Louise.

"It's a sight I'll have to get used to since you're like a locked legendary treasure vault with a little crack that leaks precious information. You're one of the legends that move the world."

Those words were so rich in emotions that Louise unconsciously trained her eyes on her master.

His concern over her heart stood out the most in his tone. But Leon's newly found ambition oozed out of his voice, too, telling Louise he wouldn't easily let her go. She was a girl with many connections to the world, yearned by many individuals whose status pushed forward the world.

Having taken decisive steps to not waste his talent and find a new meaning of happiness, Leon wouldn't easily break the chains of fate connecting them. She's the first to make him feel warmer after losing his parents and fiancée.

It felt pleasant, resulting in Louise's heart leaping out of the cold grasp.

"It was a dwarf, Master! He looked very young, so I don't think I had met him before. So there has to be a deep hatred toward the dwarven race, not just a few individuals, lodged within me." Louise brightened, cleared her mind, and told everyone her new thoughts.

Leon and Celes nodded.

The vampiress shared her view, too. "He's a party of Black Asura protecting him. I refuse to believe that out of all races willing to work with them, he's chosen those despicable bastards to guard him because of their strength alone."

"Birds of the same feather flock together." Leon smiled, not feeling pressured by that news.Celes lifted one of her eyebrows at the such display of causality. "Would you like to share what happened to you while we were gone, Master?"

Leon would gladly share everything with his partners. "First, we're done for today. Share some of the liquor you've bought, Celes. I'll order dinner."

A few minutes later, Leon took a seat, lifted a glass of liquor, and drank all of it. "Thank you, Celes. Now, then, I'll start with the least exciting news. While standing in the queue like a decent man, I was suddenly approached by a man with his party, wanting to take over my position. I had been attacked, in short."

pAn,Da-n0v e1,c For some reason, Louise's cheeks ballooned and reddened. She stifled laughter, for her master spoke in a flat and pretty condescending tone. Celes expressionlessly hovered her eyes on him.

"A slut also wanted to ride me, so I had to use foul language, shaming her and her teammates." Leon casually carried on, oblivious that cold and sharp glitter crossed Louise's eyes when he mentioned someone utterly unfamiliar wanting to have a night with him. "I've realized that we're in a jungle. I expected that you know? But openly being attacked on a broad day amidst other people really broadened my horizons. Yes, we're in a jungle. I hope you girls won't mind me using foul language along with some force to deal with others. I'm mainly concerned about my vocabulary. I used to spit a lot of hateful words."

A real gamer — some people from Earth would say.

Louise first nodded. "That's fine, Master. Many people and bitches can only be put down by using curses! I would never dislike you for that!"

Celes shook her head. "Is that even a question? I don't mind swearing, too."

Leon chortled, struck his glass with his partners, then drank another shot. "We're about to enter a real jungle. A part of The Spirit Realm has split and become a part of the Freya World. It's a low-level zone, and only level fifty and below can enter this land. I expect a lot of people hunting and making contracts there."

Those words were like a bomb for Louise and Celes.

Contracting beasts from The Spirit Realm required special skills. It wasn't just contracting, too. Everyone had to contact The Spirit Realm first to even begin negotiations. But in such a scenario where a part of it had split, people would be able to easily enter this place and personally force spirit monsters into submission.

To say nothing of picking up new pets, the spirit monsters and their lands were endowed with rare materials. People would kill, plunder, and seize that part until it exhausted itself.

"This is what made me curious. They say that the split spirit realm will cease to exist at some point. Wouldn't it be wiser for spirit monsters to welcome everyone and start contract negotiations?" Leon asked the vampiress.

Celes looked back to the past, whispering as though reading a page from a book. "It'll inevitably exhaust itself if the spirit monsters won't find a source of energy to sustain their split realm between two worlds." She blinked and spoke in her usual, slow voice. "They pray for someone exquisite to enter their realm."