Chapter 232: Meeting Her Again at Elder Silvia’s Residence
The strange tension between Ren and the darkness elemental lasted only a few seconds before the veiled girl resumed walking as if nothing had happened. Still, Bahamut noticed it, Ren noticed it, and judging from the subtle narrowing of the veiled girl’s eyes beneath her veil, she noticed that they noticed.
Bahamut decided not to think too deeply about it for now. That sounded like future Bahamut’s problem, or maybe Ren? The current Bahamut was tired.
"Let’s finish this already," he muttered as they headed toward the Evaluation Hall entrance.
The moment they stepped inside, the atmosphere changed again. The interior was massive, almost absurdly so. Floating crystal lights illuminated the enormous chamber while rows of counters stretched across the hall. Instructors moved about carrying scrolls, artifacts, and storage containers. Formation circles glowed beneath the polished black floor, quietly processing submitted items. The place looked more like the administrative center of an empire than a sect building. Several instructors turned toward Bahamut’s group immediately. They were hard to ignore, so it wasn’t so surprising. Not when a gigantic wyrm had announced their arrival to the entire sect less than twenty minutes ago. News traveled fast in a place like the Shadow Fang sect, unless you made a move to prevent it.
And just like, whispers spread instantly.
"That’s Team Bahamut..."
"They came back already?"
"Was that really a Tier 3 beast?"
"Why is the bunny glaring at everyone?"
"Because he’s evil," Ren answered immediately, causing the nearby disciples to jump in shock.
"He heard that?!"
"I hear everything."
Sel sighed deeply.
"I’m developing a headache."
"You always have a headache," Exildra pointed out.
"Because I know you, people."
They eventually reached one of the central counters where an elderly woman sat behind several floating screens of light. Her sharp eyes moved over them calmly before pausing at Bahamut, then Lily, then Bahamut again. The old woman smiled knowingly, causing Bahamut to immediately feel danger.
"Mission scroll," she requested calmly.
Sel stepped forward first. Unlike Bahamut, who looked ready to collapse onto the floor and sleep for three years, Sel still maintained some dignity... Some. He removed a black scroll from his storage ring and placed it gently on the counter.
Then...
THUNK.
THUNK.
THUNK.
Blue glowing orbs began appearing one after another atop the counter. The elderly woman’s eyebrow rose slightly. The instructors nearby slowly became quiet. Sel just continued dropping the orbs, and the pile kept growing. Ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty, by the end, the entire counter glowed blue from the concentration of energy within the orbs. Dead silence spread around the surrounding area. Even the old woman paused briefly.
"Thirty?" she repeated slowly.
Sel nodded casually.
"Bonus objective collection."
Several nearby disciples, Aerith’s group, almost choked.
"THIRTY?!"
"How the hell?!"
"Did they rob another team?!"
"No," Ren answered proudly from Bahamut’s shoulder. "We robbed the desert." By now, almost everyone in the sect who had heard of Bahamut knew he had a powerful talking bunny, so it wasn’t shocking to hear the bunny speaking.
"That is not how objectives work," Gabi muttered. The elderly woman recovered quickly, though her eyes now carried visible interest.
"And your mission completion confirmation?"
Bahamut lazily took out Hakim’s sealed document and dropped it onto the counter. The moment the seal became visible, several instructors nearby immediately turned toward them sharply. The seal of Senkeht was on the scroll, but that wasn’t all. What shocked them was the personal seal of Hakim himself.
The old woman’s expression finally changed fully.
"Interesting."
Her fingers moved across the floating formations rapidly as the blue orbs vanished into storage formations one after another.
"Mission submission accepted. Final scores will be announced after all teams return."
Bahamut nodded tiredly.
"Cool. Can we sleep now?"
The old woman stared at him for a long second.
"You fought a strong beast, didn’t you?"
Bahamut tilted his head slightly.
"Technically, yes."
"Technically?" Sel repeated.
"We nearly died like six times."
"Only six?"
"Bahamut."
"What?"
The old woman watched their interaction silently before waving them away.
"You may leave."
The group wasted absolutely no time. The moment they exited the hall, Bahamut stretched lazily, only for Lily to immediately wrap herself around his arm again. Her tails swayed happily behind her while her cheek pressed against his shoulder.
"You smell nice," she mumbled.
Bahamut blinked.
"I smell like blood, sand, and burnt beast."
"Mhm."
"You are weird."
"She truly loves you," Ren deadpanned.
"Thank you, detective bunny."
"You’re welcome."
Lily ignored them entirely and clung even tighter. At this point, the others weren’t even reacting anymore. It had become normal. Exildra walked beside Bahamut calmly while Alana held his other arm possessively, making movement unnecessarily difficult. Gabi stared at the situation awkwardly while Sel looked spiritually exhausted.
"You know," Sel said eventually. "One day, the sect is going to realize the terrifying blind monster is actually being controlled by three girls."
"I am no one’s pet," Bahamut argued immediately.
All three girls looked at him silently, causing Bahamut to pause.
"This feels like a trap."
"It is," Exildra answered sweetly.
Ren nearly fell off Bahamut’s shoulder laughing. As they continued toward Elder Silvia’s residence beneath the dim evening skies of the sect, the atmosphere around them gradually relaxed.
...
Who would have thought that they would meet the most unusual person they ever expected to meet at Elder Silvia’s residence?
The walk to the residence was... eventful for the rest, but exhausting for Bahamut. Ren had been thrown away some time ago. At the moment, Lily straddled his back while Exildra and Alana took possession of his arms, squeezing them in between their chests. Alana’s chest was especially... tempting. She was a cow-kin, and female cow-kins were known for their massive chests that never fell, no matter how many times they gave birth. He was even lucky that she was still considered a child in cow-kin biology; otherwise, he would have had his arm wet with milk.
But that was just a small part of his problems. Getting locked between three beautiful girls would make any man go crazy, unless that person was an eunuch or a tree. Bahamut was neither. For once, he was thankful that his willpower stat was high, but even that wasn’t enough to control the bulge in his pants that was threatening to tear through. He would be shocked later to find that his willpower had increased by a huge amount. This training was harder than any of his training. He could swear that he would walk through the Mind Disk’s domain casually if he were to challenge it again. It was nothing compared to what he was currently facing.
And now, they stood face to face with the veiled girl and her elemental, while Elder Silvia sat by the side watching them with a cold yet amused gaze. But unlike what they were thinking, she was rather imagining...
’The Black Fang Prodigy and the Blind Caveman. Interesting...’
