Chapter 218: Meeting Clishya Again
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While leaving Yurei upgrading herself through the use of the large amounts of wood and mana that Frank left for her, Frank, and everyone else decided to go back to Acacia Town and check how things were doing themselves.
Although Frank had already been seeing how it went through the All-Seeing Shadow Eye he left there, he wanted everyone else to check the progress of the town's reconstruction.
Skeletons and Golems were working energetically to reconstruct the buildings, as many people had begun to help them as well, while others were cleaning the streets or getting back to their rebuilt homes and arranging everything.
It was a very busy sight, as the people of all around Acacia were working to bring the town back to its former glory.
"It seems that everything is going quite fine… It is hard to believe that just yesterday a monster showed up and everything was destroyed…" sighed Cathyl.
"We did what we could… but it was thanks to Frank that the beast was defeated…" said Hilvera.
"Even after we trained so much, that thing was… way ahead of our power level…" sighed Asterion.
"Indeed, we couldn't properly defend this place…" sighed Gwendolyn.
"No, I believe you handled it amazingly well until I arrived…" said Frank.
"Eh?" asked Gwendolyn.
"If it were not for all of you, it would have already killed many people and probably destroyed everything before I could even reach it… All of your combined efforts helped the people, and also saved lives. I only took it down after you resisted and kept it in check for me. I am not the only one who helped, nor I did everything… All of you cooperated. And I value your strength, do not think of yourselves as lower than me…" said Frank, feeling a bit down when those he loved saw themselves as little compared to him, he liked people to be prideful and uplifting, to see themselves as strong people, and to have self-esteem.
"Frank-kun… really?" asked Hilvera.
"H-He's right! Even if he defeated the monster, we kept it in check, didn't we?" asked Cathyl.
"Yeah… He's right!" said Annabelle.
"Although I really didn't do much… well, next time I am going all out myself!" said Asterion.
"Onii-sama, you are always nice, aren't you? But thanks for the compliments…" said Kamei as she hugged her brother.
"Aw, we can't really say anything before you because you always try to cheer us up, don't you?" asked Gwendolyn, hugging Frank's left side while Kamei hugged his right side.
"I am not this nice to anyone, you know? It is only because I know that all of you did your best and truly improved yourselves. I-I am not nice anymore… Well, maybe I am to you…" said Frank.
"Not nice? You helped all of these people though! Don't act as if you are some kind of evil person now!" said Kamei.
"Ah… Right… W-Well, I kind of did it out of instinct…" said Frank.
"See? You naturally do good things without anyone asking you to do, that is just being a good person… That is why we love you!" said Kamei, hugging tightly at Frank once more.
"Please, there is no need to flatter me… Let us talk about something else, alright?" asked Frank.
"Eeeh~? Frank-kun is blushing?" asked Cathyl teasingly.
"I… No…" said Frank while averting his gaze, despite having changed so much, he still the same Frank they all loved.
"Even after having changed a lot, you are still Aniki after all!" said Asterion.
"Well, I wouldn't have fallen in love with him if he wasn't like this," said Gwendolyn with a warm smile.
"Is that… so? It makes me happy to be treated like this but… you don't need to be so mellow… come on, let's relax," said Frank.
"Let us be mellow, we haven't seen you for months! We want to spoil you!" said Kamei.
"Spoil me? I am not a kid anymore…" sighed Frank.
"Anyways, let us just not tease him anymore… Let us go to the Dungeon! Orb-chan and the rest must be there," said Gwendolyn.
"Oh right! Let us go, nii-sama!" said Kamei.
"Oh, sure thing. I wonder how Aaronarra is…" said Frank, as he walked with everyone else around the rebuilding town, reaching the Dark Lair Dungeon, where a few Adventurer Parties were walking in and out of it, it seems that even after the Town was destroyed and repaired, the Adventurers were still working diligently to bring resources to the town, which they needed more than anything.
Frank and their group saw several groups bringing the corpses of monsters and quickly butchering them with the help of other people, using the meat to cook food for everyone, giving meat soup with potatoes and freshly baked bread to anyone in need.
"It seems that everyone is working hard, huh? Even those shady groups I remember… they have changed in this time…" said Frank.
"Would you believe if I told you that they also changed because of you?" asked Gwendolyn.
"Ah? No way…" said Frank.
"Yeah, nii-sama! There were a lot of Adventurers in this town that were street thugs, but after the destruction of the goblin dungeon and after the news of your sacrifice to save these people… even Rabrudion, the nastiest idiot there was, people began to change… See? People can also change!" said Kamei.
"That's… a bit unrealistic. I never thought that because of the actions of some random person such as myself, people would change… Are you sure that there is not another reason?" wondered Frank.
"Nope, your story went around town for a while, but people couldn't recognize you when you came back from the coma due to your physical changes, and well, you were always wearing hoodies," said Gwendolyn.
"Yeah, after knowing how you helped everyone survive and almost gave your life to protect the town from the terrifying monsters that appeared in the Dungeon… you were already a Hero even before killing that Abyssal Horror," said Cathyl.
"Though I remember that the girls yelled at those guys a few couples of times when they talked bad about you…" said Asterion.
"E-Eh? Well, I had to! But they were re-educated," said Annabelle with a prideful smile.
"That's right~ We beat them good, fufu," said Kamei with a gentle smile.
"Indeed, they were re-educated until they understood," said Hilvera.
"That's right, I made sure that no one would speak bad about you, Frank," said Gwendolyn.
"Is that so…? I am beginning to think that perhaps there was another motive that provoked their change…" said Frank.
"Hm~ Did you said something, nii-sama?" asked Kamei.
"…No, never mind," said Frank, he accepted what they said instead of questioning the girls, after all, they were doing this for him, so reprimanding them for that would be selfish.
As the party walked towards the Dungeon, a young girl called to them from the back.
"Ah! Everyoneeeeee!" she said, running towards them.
"It's Clishya-chan!" said Kamei.
Clishya, the frog-kin girl who had been training with everyone and that knew of Frank's real identity, the attendant of the Adventurer Guild came rushing towards Frank and everyone else.
She was wearing an apron over her usual adventurer clothes, as she was helping the people cook food to feed everyone in need.
"You are back! I see that you have been working hard, don't push yourself too much," said Frank, as he rewarded Clishya by petting her silky hair, which made her happy.
"I came here because I saw you when I was taking a break! Hahh… Phew… I ran a lot… oof…" sighed Clishya.
"Do you want to come with us? We are going to visit Orb and Aaronarra," said Kamei.
"Ah, really? Sure thing!" said Clishya adorably, as she saved the apron in her backpack and walked near her friends.
On the way down, Frank told Clishya about his relationship with Gwendolyn…
Although Gwendolyn herself had tried to stop him, as she knew that the young girl also had feelings for him… and this might… break her heart a bit…
"And that's how I got with Gwendolyn… it was rather fast, but the wait was way longer, so I believe it is fine…" said Frank with a gentle smile as he hugged Gwendolyn's hips as his wife blushed a bit.
"I-It was rushed, I have to admit it… but what's done is done…" said Gwendolyn.
"E-Eh? R-Really…? I-I… Well… It is… fine… I am… happy for you two…" said Clishya, forcing a smile, however, Frank and Gwendolyn could notice that her eyes lost a bit of her usual light…
"Yeah! Hm? What is wrong? Are you okay, Clishya?" asked Frank.
"I… I am! Yeah, I am… fine, Frank-kun. I… I am happy for you. I hope… you can be happy… Be happy… You deserve to be happy," said Clishya with a gentle smile, although a little tear came out of her left eye, which she quickly cleaned off.
Gwendolyn felt incredibly guilty as she saw the young and innocent girl…
"(Hahh… This was… what I feared the most… This feeling of guilt is… horrible…)" she sighed internally.
"(Is there something going on? Perhaps she is only tired… I will make sure to invite her for dinner, and make her eat a lot)" thought Frank, as he petted Clishya's shoulders gently.
"Are you tired? I can give you a message with my Abilities," as he activated Gift of Life over Clishya's shoulders and slowly began to relax her muscles.
"E-Eeeeh?! T-This…! Uwaahhh… S-So… relaxing…" moaned Clishya as she slowly walked while Frank gave her a little message on her tensed-up shoulders, making her anxiety slowly dissipate.
Everyone else present kind of knew that Clishya was into Frank… but they left them be, it now depended on Gwendolyn if she were okay with Frank having another partner… or well, with him even realizing that Clishya had feelings for him and if he could reciprocate them or not…
"Ah! Master, you are back!" said a floating white sphere.
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