Volume 7 Chapter 388 - The Breakdown part 2
Seeing that her crying became worse, Kisuke finally figured out what to do. Setting aside the handkerchief, Kisuke approached Riveria and put her head on his chest and started patting her back, "There… Cry it out. It'll be alright. Everything's going to be alright."
Kisuke figured that Riveria's current state was that of a child who just got wronged by her parents and those parents just apologized and started coaxing her. He didn't know why this would happen or if this always happened to Riveria, but he at least knew what to do, and that was to continue comforting and pampering her, taking a role similar to her parents.
Riveria unconsciously leaned forward and let her forehead rest on his chest as she felt her back and head being patted while hearing whispers that everything will be alright. In her very confused state, Riveria didn't really know what was happening, but she could feel something very relieving at these actions and just let it happen.
Kisuke noticed that her drooped down ears perked up slightly and became interested in it. He wanted to touch it but knew that might be incredibly rude so he suppressed his temptation. Although, he thought that he could use her ears to at least gauge her mood.
While Kisuke didn't really know, and Riveria's mind wasn't working correctly, Hestia, Line, and even Loki could only stare at them dumbfounded as the High Elf sought comfort in the Human's arms which were supposedly impossible unless those two are lovers, because physical contact with others for Elves was a very big deal, especially for High-Elf Royalty like Riveria.
Although Line didn't know what was happening, Hestia and Loki could understand her state right now and they were both thinking the same thing, 'Elf-kun(Riveria) is going to regret this later.'
Riveria slowly stopped sobbing as relief washed over her, but she still stayed in Kisuke's arms without moving.
Kisuke also kept stroking her head and back for a few minutes before moving to the next step of his ultimate coaxing technique. He first separated from her and took a look at her messy appearance and her slightly red and glazed eyes. Taking out another clean handkerchief, Kisuke wiped her face carefully and gently before taking out a comb to fix her messy jade-colored hair.
Riveria stayed still while Kisuke was fixing her appearance but somewhere deep inside her, questions about the current situation were starting to emerge. However, she had a feeling that she would regret everything later if she dwelled on those questions so she chose not to, as long as possible.
After Kisuke was done, he helped Riveria to stand up, led her to the couch and let her sit there before displaying his space magic and whipping out a bunch of snacks that he used to placate others whenever he went too far with his pranks. Kisuke then pulled out the final item, a glass Strawberry Colada Smoothie with a bamboo straw because he remembered that, on that fateful night, she kept peeking at this drink after she had finished her Frosted Lemonade.
Riveria's eyes lit up as she slowly accepted the glass and took a sip from it, ignoring everything else. Kisuke sighed in relief after this and without thinking, patted her head again for one last time, "Riveria-san, please calm down and enjoy everything here. I'll go talk with Loki-sama and the rest."
Leaving Riveria alone after she nodded meekly, Kisuke went back to the dining table and saw everyone's dumbfounded expression. With a large smile over his face, Kisuke said, "Everyone~. Let's go straight to the business~." as if nothing happened.
A few seconds later, the first one to react was Loki by laughing out loud, "Ahahaha~! Great! Let's get straight to business." She only took a peek at the quietly behaving Riveria in the distance before turning her attention back to Kisuke, 'I wonder what will happen next~? How funny~.' She wasn't angry at Kisuke's treatment of Riveria, as she saw how careful and real his coaxing to the crying and distressed Elf was. If he didn't do the aftercare and continued his bullying, Loki would have to cancel any agreement between them, as that would tell her that he didn't have the ability to take care of her children.
Hestia and Line could only follow their cue as they sat down on the remaining chairs of the dining table and quietly watched Riveria.
"Now then, Line-san." Kisuke suddenly called out.
"Y-yes!?" Line turned her neck towards Kisuke in a hurry.
"How long did it take you to go from Level 1 to Level 2?"
She didn't know where the conversation was going, but she answered honestly, "Around two years. Although that's faster than an average Adventurer, it's nothing among the members of the Loki Familia."
Kisuke nodded at her, "I see. Then tell me what you feel about it."
After that question, Line became silent as she tried to relive the moment she leveled up and the following consequences years later, "I regret it."
"Tell me more about it."
Looking downwards, Line continued, "I regret it because I became impatient. I shouldn't have accepted the level up back then and gathered more excelia. Even though I can gather excelia faster when I leveled up, I shouldn't have exchanged it for what I can get for the future."
"Then let me ask you this. If you can go back to being a Level 1, destroying all of your hard work after all these years, will you accept it?" Kisuke asked.
Line eyes widened at his question and recalled there was indeed a way to return to a Level 1, but the price for a Level 2 like her would be a permanent disability, "That wouldn't do me any good, would it?"
Line then looked towards Loki trying to guess what she was thinking about Kisuke's question, "Listen to him first. Whatever your decision is, I'll accept it. It's the reason I brought you here today." Loki smiled at her.
After those words, Line got an idea of what this was about. She then turned back to Kisuke and said, "Are you…"
"Yes. I'm offering you a chance to go back to Level 1."
"But…"
"I know. I'm offering it because I have a way for you to recover from the damage that you may incur with the level reset."
"Recover…"
"Yes. Recover."
Line recalled the records of those who did heavy crimes and had to be punished through a level reset, which was said to be very painful. She thought that Kisuke knew a method to do it without any demerit, but it seemed that if she wanted to go through it, she would have to suffer for a bit. After a few minutes of silence, she looked towards Kisuke with a determined expression, "I'd like to do it. But what should I do? I don't think you'll do it without any sort of compensation. Please tell me what I need for that level reset."
Kisuke then grinned after hearing her words, "I want your life."
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Alexander: And here comes the world's highest cliff, where every pure guy's imagination, like mine, for example, is running wild again. It seems, that I need my fork again. But, good job with Riveria.
28th00: I'm personally just waiting for Phis-chama to become a Mahou shoujo and ear waggles.
Goyya: This is actually a good idea. Though it should be limited to one line.
Editors: Alexander
28th00
Ashe Candy
The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)ebnov(𝒆)l