"Lady Selene really understands us. She knows exactly what men want."
"Exactly. The current Hosenka Village is way more interesting than when it was in the hands of that idiot duke."
The two groups kept talking until they naturally merged into one.
Macao started recommending Irene's little magic shop to Wakaba and the others, while Wakaba enthusiastically promoted Selene's hot spring district to Macao's crowd.
In the end, the two groups hit it off perfectly. They decided to first stop by the shop and pick out a few magical items they liked, then head to the hot spring district for drinks and a proper soak.
Watching most of the guild suddenly flood out the door, leaving the hall instantly quiet and empty, Kabe silently drained the wine in his cup.
Irene's shop was one thing. Even if most of what she sold were mass-produced everyday goods she could replicate with a casual Enchantment, or random flawed products she had made on a whim, they could still at least help with missions and might actually prove useful at a critical moment.
But Selene's hot spring district was a total menace.
Those new attendants were all servants she had brought from the northern continent.
They had been carefully trained by her, experts made specifically to serve others, a proper den of luxury built to tempt men into ruin.
'No good. Wine and women are the fastest way to destroy a man's foundation! I have to go save Macao and the others!'
Slamming his cup down onto the table, the deeply concerned Kabe got to his feet and immediately prepared to chase after them.
But he had barely taken two steps when Erza, Mira, Levy, and Cana, the four great guardians, surrounded him from all sides and blocked every possible route.
"Where do you think you're going?" Erza asked calmly, both hands resting on her sword.
"You wouldn't be thinking of going to the hot spring district too, would you?" Mira cracked her knuckles, anger written plainly across her face.
"You are not going anywhere today." Levy pulled out a rope and showed a chilling little smile.
"Or the four of us sisters are going to make you regret it."
Last of all, Cana raised a pale white glow in her palm and aimed it squarely downward at Kabe's weak point.
Surrounded front, back, left, and right by these four women, even Ultraman would have had his warning light start flashing.
But driven by a man's yearning for temptation and his stubborn male pride, Kabe still refused to surrender without trying.
"You misunderstand. A place like that may be paradise for ordinary men to indulge their desires, but for me, it is a hell that erodes the will.
And precisely because of that, I must go there and challenge the limits of my spirit, tempering my unyielding and indomitable heart!!"
The moment he finished speaking, he lunged forward, hoping to break through before the girls could react.
But the four sisters had already anticipated that.
Mira stepped forward first, forming the first line of defense. Erza planted herself behind her, sword across the way like an unbreakable second wall.
At the same time, Levy threw out the rope, and the loop landed perfectly around Kabe's body.
Cana instantly grabbed the rope together with Levy, making sure Kabe could not escape.
After such a smooth and ruthless little combo, Kabe could only helplessly choose to surrender.
"All right, all right, I was joking. With four lovely wives and concubines like you around, why would I need to go looking for vulgar women outside?"
Erza and Mira took position to his left and right and marched him back.
Levy followed behind, snorting coldly and refusing to be won over.
"Save it. Do you really think saying a few nice things is enough for us to let you off?"
Cana added, "Come with us. There are some things we need to ask you."
Because most of the guild had already gone out with Macao's group to enjoy themselves, the four girls easily found an empty table far away from the remaining members and made the "suspect" Kabe sit down under guard.
After untying him, Mira looked around to confirm that no one was close enough to eavesdrop, then leaned in and quietly asked,
"Tell me, who exactly is that Selene woman?
She turned the hot spring district into that kind of place. Was she in that line of work before?"
Cana added, "It's one thing for you to keep bringing more sisters home for us. But if you're bringing in a woman like that, then the four of us are not agreeing."
The four girls had already met Selene at home before, and Kabe had already told them then that she had become one of their sisters.
They had long since prepared themselves for the fact that Kabe would keep adding more women to the household.
So even if Selene was an outsider, and even if they had been unhappy about it, they still accepted her and had already decided to get along with her properly in the future.
But who could have expected that soon after, Selene would buy Hosenka Village in one extravagant move and become the owner of that extremely suspicious hot spring district?
And after reopening it, she had personally turned Hosenka Village into what it was now.
That naturally made the four girls uneasy, and they could not help beginning to suspect what kind of profession Selene might have had in the past.
And after hearing what they were asking, Kabe was left speechless for quite a while, though at the same time he also found it hard not to laugh.
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