K K K

  The spoons and fork moved, hitting the ptes and slig the thick slices of steak, a tasty and juicy goodness exploding inside of one's mouth. An appetite-arousing and aromatia was adrift the air, filling the dining table with life.

  It was still early in the m, the sound of crowing roosters ringing throughout town whilst the sun rose from the horizon, apanied by the resonant bells and bustling streets. The town has bee busy once more.

  "Mmn～! Hmmn～! Mmn～! Mmn～!" ［Yuna］

  "Yuna, quit humming. Don't py with your food." ［Grey］

  "But I'm not. I was just humming! You're too strict, Grey!" ［Yuna］

  Yet another day has passed and after the loud otions of yesterday, the two are now having their breakfast, ag all sweet and sappy when the sun had just risen. It was as if nothing happened yesterday, everything resuming to normalcy.

  Well, if there was something new, it was that they are now enjoying a Veltofarian breakfast Norma, Nord, and Shelma worked so hard to make. It was delicious and full of strong fvors, yet was not too overp. It was an enjoyable feast.

  It wasn't just them who were having breakfast, of course. Along them were Norma and her family, the little rabbit now up and about, slig his fried eggs and feeding himself. A bright smile bloomed as he enjoyed his breakfast.

  "Amazing... I've never seen him enjoy breakfast so happily." ［Shelma］

  "Well, he's always hard to feed, after all. Unless it's something sweet, he barely touches his food... It's a miracle..." ［Nord］

  "Ketchup, was it... This is fantastic, Grey, Yuna." ［Norma］

  Of course, they couldn't just eat breakfast without showing off a little bit of their skills. The two of them also made their own dishes, and in addition to that, added their own sauces and ents for everyoo enjoy.

  The little rabbit was especially fond of the ketchup because of its sweetness. He was usually hard to feed during his meals, but after having a taste of the ketchup the two made, his appetite soared by leaps and bounds, his spoon and fork moving at haste.

  "Thank you very much, you two. I hought I'd see my soing so healthily. It's all because of you." ［Nord］

  "Hahaha. We don't deserve so much praise. It's just ketchup anyway... ht! In that case, should we teach you how to make it? It isn't too hard to do." ［Grey］

  "Would that be okay...? Wouldn't that be terrible for you? We really don't have much value to exge for it." ［Shelma］

  "Fufufu! It's fine～, it's fine～. It's not like it's a huge secret anyways. A lot of people ba our hometown already know of it. It's really not a big deal." ［Yuna］

  "Then, if you insist... We'd be in your care." ［Nord］

  The three couldn't be any more thankful for the two. Not only did they help them out yesterday despite being barely acquainted with one ahey are also willing to lend their recipes for the sake of Liam. They were too kind,

  Of course, it still doesn't remove the fact that their identities were extremely shog. After yesterday's events, they were all frozen and speechless after learning that the two of them were S-rank adventurers whom they've only heard about in stories.

  At first, they were all stiff and addressed the two as "Yhnesses", but after Grey and Yuna asked them to treat them casually as they did and a little bit of ving, they finally addressed them like before, everything going back to normality.

  Still, it was hard to believe that such youths were S-rankers who are on par with the General of the Kingdomー no, much, much greater than him. One could only wonder how their reas will be after realizing Grey and Yuna were actually transdents.

  "Still... There aren't any ers in the inn, huh..." ［Grey］

  "Un... It's really empty..." ［Yuna］

  "Well, that's only uandable after yesterday's events. While it was true that they were relieved after seeing you two hahe Lord yesterday, they are still in fear of being involved with us, the Lord's enemies." ［Norma］

  "We're not as powerful as you are, after all. If he 't get revenge on you, he might try to harm us instead. They're all scared of that possibility." ［Nord］

  It was a shame, but there was nothing they could do about it. Not only could they be falsely accused of siding with Grey and Yuna, they could also be caught up in their fights whe breaks out. It was something everyone wao avoid at all costs.

  Thankfully, despite the ck of ers, the Sugar Pie still fun normally. If they were to use the mohey've been saving up until now, they should be able to live fortably for a couple of months and not worry about anythi.

  There was barely anything they could do about it, but it was more than enough time frey and Yuna to uproot the roots of evil iofar and everything up. After all, they've already got themselves tangled up with it. They might as well see it to the end and make sure to cut all loose ends.

  "By the way... Missus Shelma... How is Liam doing?" ［Yuna］

  "Ah... Well... I'm still not sure, but it seems that he's fine for now?" ［Shelma］

  "Isn't there anything strange? Maybe some signs of trauma or terror?" ［Yuna］

  "As far as I've seen... There's been nothing so far... He was quite shaky and scared this m, but after you casted a spell, he's been calm ever since." ［Shelma］

  "I see... That's good to hear then." ［Yuna］

  Whisper, whisper, whisper... Yuna and Shelma whispered to one another, all the while keeping an eye otle rabbit. After all, kids are very delicate creatures, shaped by their first experiehey must be cared for the best they could.

  And speaking of g, Grey and Yuna had also casted some recovery spells for everyoo bask in. They were especially atteo Liam, seeing to it that he doesn't get any trauma from yesterday's unfortuurn of events.

  It was all thanks to holy magid healing spells. It ell called "Serenity", which, as the name implies, calms down the mind and ses it of any sorts of mental distress and disturbance, including fears and traumas.

  They still don't know whether or not Liam would be perfectly fine, so all they could do is monitor his everyday experiences and make sure everything is going normally as they should. It was all just a matter of time.

  Grey, it seems like Liam's getting fine. I'm sure we'll still o wait a little bit, but there's o worry so much for now. ［Yuna］

  I see... That's a relief then. ［Grey］

  Still... I 't believe those monsters dared to hit such a young child! We've met so many people before, but they're the worst! They aren't people anymore! They are scumbags which are even worse than trash! ［Yuna］

  Well, like father, like son, as they say... Just what did the previous Lord d to have gotten such a terrible son. He must have been in despair. ［Grey］

  Hpmh! Who cares?! If I ever get my hands on them again, I'll make sure to teach them a lesson they'll never fet! I'll make sure of it! ［Yuna］

  As for the ones who caused such trouble, they are now ba their mansion, and are recuperating from Grey and Yuna's beatierday. Shurtem and his knights were beaten up so much, they had still yet tain sciousness.

  Well, the Vist himself was not much different. After he was knocked out by a mere pebble, it wasn't long before his servants arrived and took him away, making sure they face the people behind their Lord's current situation.

  They all raised their swords, spears, and bows trey and Yuna, wanting to punish them for harming their Lord and insulting nobility. However, they didn't even have the ce to do anything, a rge figure putting them to their rightful pce

  "I dare you all to step forward and see what happens." ［Grey］

  All it took was a single line from Grey and Sirius' figure lurking behind him, and eae of them were scared sh*tless, uo move a muscle and trembling all the while. There isn't any more o say more.

  Uo do anything, the knights could only swallow their pride and head back to the mansion with their heads hung low. Ever siheher the Lord nor his knights headed out of the mansion, all cooped up inside.

  Sirius... Your turn's over. You rest now. ［Grey］

  Uood, Master. ［Sirius］

  Then, Arcturus, if you would please. ［Grey］

  As you wish, Master. ［Arcturus］

  Now, with no knights to be seen, Grey and Yuna took in upon themselves to oversee the town. They summoheir familiars o a time to watch over town and make sure no crime occurs while the knights are in seclusion.

  They weren't just trying to protect town, they were showing off their dominand making sure to etto the enemies' minds whie of them has the upper hand. In front of a dragon, they were all but insignifit ants.

  Of course, they wouldn't just leave it all to Sirius. They also asked the other familiars to help out and take turns watg over town. Not that there's any people so foolish, anyway. Who would it crimes in front ons? No one was crazy enough.

  Well, it wasn't just watg over town, they also asked two of the familiars, namely opus aaurus, to lurk around the Lord's mansion for surveilaking the form of harmless butterflies as their disguise.

  "Big Sister! Big Brother! I heard you have dragons!" ［Liam］

  "Hmm～? We do～. Would Liam want to see them?" ［Yuna］

  "Yeah! I want to see the coons! They go whoosh and fwoosh, right?! I want to see them fly! Fly to the sky!" ［Liam］

  "Fufufu! Let's go for a ride ter, then. But～! Only if Liam bees a good boy and finishes his breakfast. If there's even a speck left, we won't be going, got it?" ［Yuna］

  "Y-Yeah! I'm good! I'll finish my breakfast!" ［Liam］

  Excited as be, the little rabbit quickly but carefully fed himself, his spoon and fork moving around ever so excitedly along with the bright smile on his face. Everyone else watched over him with eyes warm as be.

  After breakfast, Grey and Yuna then chatted a little with everyone and checked up on Liam to see if the spells were w as intended. It was only after they firmed it did that they felt relief flood in their hearts, heaving a lengthy sigh.

  Soon enough, the two finished up what they're about to do and then headed upstairs tn themselves. They po explore a little bit, but after yesterday's events, only trouble would be ing their way. They decided to have a home date instead.

  "Fuwaah～! So tired～! I just want to be melt in the bed～!" ［Yuna］

  "Please don't. I don't want my fiao be a huge and fluffy piece of furniture. Our wedding would be difficult then." ［Grey］

  "Mou... Stop teasing me... You always do that..." ［Yuna］

  "Hahaha. I wonder what you're talking about～?" ［Grey］

  Of course, with the two of them aloogether, it was also time for flirting and for their love to bloom even further. There was a rosy and fy atmosphere in the air, the two of them zing around fortably as they pleased.

  Yued stars sparkling in her eyes, crawled atop the bed bed and headed towards the bookshelves by the bedside. There she took out one of the books she has yet to finish reading, opening it soon after, eyes soon lingering trey.

  "Psst. Psst. Grey, e here. Over here." ［Yuna］

  "Hahaha. Why are you whispering? There's only two of us here you know?" ［Grey］

  Ag all i and adorable, Yuna then beed Grey into ing over the bed and had him lie dow. With a strange spark of determination in her eyes, she then spawled one of his arms, fixing its position like some sort of pillow.

  When she was satisfied, the young dy then ehe arms of her fiancé, then lying down on his arms and soon opening the book to read it with him. It was subtle but there was a soft giggle of satisfa afloat in the air. She was adorable.

  Whilst his adorable fiancée was making herself fortable in his arms, Grey only heaved a brief sigh befiving up on thinking too much about it. There are still important matters to attend to, and problems o be fixed.

  opus, Kentaurus. How is it going over there? ［Grey］

  It's been normal so far, Master. We're still following the Vist. ［opus］

  I don't think he'll be doing anything terrible for the time being. It seems like he's still traumatized of what the Master and Mistress did yesterday. ［Kentaurus］

  Hah! That pig deserved it! ［opus］

  That important matter has to do with the Vist who seemed to now have bee paranoid because of Grey and Yuna's presenow ag all finicky and fidgety as he bites his fingernails, obviously quite nervous.

  He just had someone ask about Grey and Yuna's identities from the Guild, and after learning that they were really S-rankers, and ones sidered as heroes by many tries at that, he was riddled with shock, his heart squeezing tightly and painfully.

  Veltofar is not a very famous town, after all, so he had been doing anything as he pleased, ag as if he was a King. But now that someone ranking far above him is present, he could only shiver at the thought, mind going awry.

  Then, tinue monit him a to me periodicー ［Grey］

  Ah, wait, Master! The Vist's ag very suspiciht now! ［opus］

  We are going to tail him, Master! ［Kentaurus］

  And like any vilin, the Vist also has his ows. He was still in his office, but he seemed paranoid, turning his head left and right to see if there were any people around and soon heading towards the bookshelves.

  Of course, it was the bookshelves. And like any other secret entrances, as soon as he took out a certain book, a few strings were pulled and oion of the shelves moved and revealed a secret passageway to a small, hidden room.

  opus auarus didn't waste any time any further and immediately flew all towards the hidderance before it closed. Darkness soon filled the room as it closed, light shining bright as he flicked the switches.

  Even when he is in the inn, Grey could still see what was happening in the mansion in full detail, unfortunately, that oends to sight and nothing more... Well, not that there isn't a way to go around it.

  ??Synize?? ［Grey］

  Using summoning magic which ties him to another creature, Grey used a spell in which would share his familiars' senses with him and giving him a full experience about what was happening. It was the perfect spell.

  And just their senses were shared with him, what greeted Grey was an almost empty room with but only ohing present in the middle. It was a unication orb many nobles use in order to unicate with other pces.

  'A unication orb...?' ［Grey］

  However, what was strange was that the Vist had su item. After all, it was one which would cause the same amount of fortune just for one of them. No matter how luxurious he was, there was no way the Vist could have bought it.

  There was only one answer... He didn't. It wasn't bought, but rather, provided to him. Provided by someone of much higher standing and much more power. There was only one person who came to mind.

  BZZZT BZZZT BZZZT WHOOM WHOOM

  A nervous look on his face, the Vist soon activated the unication orb and he poured in a bit of mana and mana crystals. Before long, the orb shone brightly and light swallowed up the room in an instant.

  The intense light quickly died down and whehing was over, a blurry figure appeared on the rey couldn't see his face properly because of how terrible the quality of the orb was, but the same couldn't be the same for the voice...

  「Vist Hameln... You responded quite early.」 ［???］

  "A-Ah, of course. How could I make Yrace wait? It should be who should be waiting, after all." ［Shuren］

  「Hah! It seems like you still have some on sense left in you. This is why I like you. Though you may be stupid, you at least know your pce.」 ［???］

  "O-Of course! I-I am Yrace's loyal subordinate, after all." ［Shuren］

  ... Thanks to the "Synize" spell, Grey could hear them quite clearly and could also make out their body nguage from how they were moving. It was more than enough to spy on the enemy and gather evidence against him.

  And just as Grey suspected, it really erson behind the Vist. They were held the title of "Duke", the only ones who be addressed as "Yrace". And judging by the Vist, it was her than Duke Schemer.

  Grey already khat there is a feud going on with the Current King and the Duke of Schemer, and that it could devolve to yet another civil war sooner or ter. It was a dangerous situation, not only for the batants, but the civilians as well.

  He had already heard from Norma about how terrible the Civil War was, and if such a thio happen once again on such a scale, one only imagine how many lives would be lost. There would be hundreds of thousands. maybe millions.

  「Enough of your useless rambling. What about the thing I tasked you with? Have you pleted it already.」 ［Duke］

  "A-Ah... About that... I might need a little more time, Yrace. I am already more than 70ー No, 80% on the way there. If you just give me more timeー" ［Shuren］

  「So... What you're saying is... You failed my task?」 ［Duke］

  He was oher end of the orb, but Shuren could feel the pressure and intimidation behind his words. His whole body shook for a while, obviously overwhelmed by the extreme pressure and dominatioed by the Duke.

  "Th-That's not it, Yrace! It's just that an ued situation happened iofar! It was something I couldn't do something about!" ［Shuren］

  「Are you sure you're not just weaseling out your way around this? You do know what I hate the most, don't you? You don't want to be the oo disappear now, do you? Maybe in a month...? No, would 3 weeks be enough?」 ［Duke］

  "P-Please, Yrace, I'm begging you! It was something I really couldn't trol! There's no way I would do something to hinder you!" ［Shuren］

  「Vist Hameln, which date and pce would you like to disaー」 ［Duke］

  "S-rankers! There are S-rankers here, Yrace!" ［Shuren］

  Driven by fear and panic, the Vist immediately blurted out the problem and cut off the Duke as a result. Silence sned over the room and the Duke ut into deep thought. The Vist was sweating buckets.

  「S-rankers, you say... Speak. Tell me everything you know.」 ［Duke］

  The Vist didn't waste the ce the Duke gave him and immediately started expining about why his slress and even putting the bme on them for the results of ziness, vely leaving out the part that they just arrived yesterday.

  The Duke listeo the Vist's words in utter silend simply thought of a couple of things. Such eerie silenly made the Vist's nervousness rise even more, his hands shaking as he awaited for the mysterious man's answer.

  「I see... S-rankers, huh... That really is quite unfortunate. No wonder your progress has been stagnant as of te.」 ［Duke］

  "Y-Yes... That's it, that's the reason. Yrace really is uanding." ［Shuren］

  「Stop the useless rambling. Si has e to this, I will give you another ce. Bring those S-rao our side by all means possible. Remember... I don't tolerate mistakes twice. I hate looking like a fool, Vist.」 ［Duke］

  "O-Of course! By your will, Yrace!" ［Shuren］

  It was impossible to recruit them, the Vist already knew of that. However, there was no way he could utter such words to the Duke when he knew his life would be on the line. He only stayed quiet, trying to look calm.

  「Still... 80%... That much is still plenty. We could have some use of those animals and forest dwellers. They would be perfect.」 ［Duke］

  "O-Of course, You Grace! I made sure to get the best ones for you!" ［Shuren］

  「Hmm... That sounds reassuring. Well, not that it matters anyway. I don't care about the quality. What's important is quantity. And you've been doing very well, Vist. I will be sure to reward you ohis is all over.」 ［Duke］

  "It is my greatest pleasure, Yrace." ［Shuren］

  「... However, don't overdo it, Vist. There are already rumors about the ret disappearances of orphans, prostitutes, and criminals. Do it in moderation.」 ［Duke］

  "Of course, Yrace. However... Those therianthropes, elves, and other races are just parasites of this try that shouldn't eve... Shouldn't they be grateful to finally serve a purpose?... As sacrifices, that is." ［Shuren］

  Sacrifice... A single word shook Grey's mind as soon as it rang inside his ears. He had already seen and read about it in various fis about such a thing, but it was his first time hearing it so obsely iy.

  What's worse, it wasn't just the evil and corrupted, but even i children and civilians as well. Be it thousands or tens of thousands, maybe even more. No matter where you look at it, no sane person would do such a thing.

  "Kukuku! It's so fun to hear them beg and scream for mercy every time. Especially the young oheir tears and bellows are a sight to behold. The way their expressions tort in the face of pain and agony... Kukuku! It's the best!" ［Shuren］

  The Vist's disgusting and repulsive ugh echoed throughout the air, a heinous and hideous smile sprouting on his already ugly face. It was a face just begging to be punched, anger boiling like magma in the depths of Grey's heart.

  「You're having too much fun. Wipe that disgusting smile off your face.」 ［Duke］

  "Ah, pardon me, Yrace." ［Shuren］

  There was o listen any further. As soon as Grey heard such foul words e out of the trash's mouth, he had steeled his heart and an adamant resolve appeared in his heart, his fist ched tightly in anger.

  "Yuna, prepare yourself. There's somewhere we o go." ［Grey］

  "Hm? Why all of the suddー" ［Yuna］

  Yuna couldn't even finish her words. As soon as she saw the expression painted on Grey's face, she immediately dropped her book a silent. It was dark and cold, seemingly calm but only waiting to erupt like a disastrous volo,

  The young dy had been with Grey for over 4 years already and she only saw su expression on his face a couple of times. It was an expression of extreme rage and hatred, only tied by a thin and fragile string of reason. Even she couldn't help but be scared and overwhelmed by such a sight.

  "... Uood..." ［Yuna］

  CHAPTER 416 END