Orario, Seventh District.
Magic-stone-powered streetlamps flickered to life one after another along the main boulevard, their soft glow chasing back the deepening evening.
The three of them strolled at a leisurely pace, Leon and Kureha in front, Aura trailing a little behind.
The stalls lining both sides of the street offered an overwhelming spread: delicacies from every corner of the world, clothing and accessories steeped in the cultures of distant lands, exotic curios and rare goods piled high enough to dazzle the eye.
"Three veggie skewers and three meat skewers, please. Here's the coin."
Taking the freshly grilled Orario skewers from the stall, Leon blew on them gently and held one up to Kureha's lips.
"Here, open up... ahhh~~~"
Locked into the curve of Leon's arm, Kureha's eyes had gone dewy and unfocused some time ago. Whether she understood it or not, her lips parted at the sound of his voice.
"Mn..."
"How is it? Good, right?"
Leon didn't seem to care whether Kureha was actually listening. He just kept praising the food to himself.
And the hand resting at her waist, somewhere along the way, had quietly begun to move.
"L-L-Leon...!"
Kureha's whole body jolted, cheeks burning crimson. The shock racing up from her waist took the strength out of her knees. She could only press both hands against Leon's chest and hide her face there, breath coming in small ragged gasps.
"What's wrong?"
The corner of his mouth curled in a smile, and he deliberately let his warm breath brush against the sensitive shell of her ear.
"Mmh... mn..."
Faintly, Leon could swear he heard a sound escape Kureha's throat, somewhere between a sob and a moan.
Behind them, Aura took a vicious bite out of her veggie skewer, her cold gaze nearly drilling a hole through Leon's back.
Watching Leon's shameless behavior, she pulled out her little notebook and pressed hard with the pen, recording each one of the man's "crimes" stroke by stroke. She'd made up her mind: the moment they got back, she was reporting all of it to big sister Jeanne and big sister Rose.
Just you wait. The hammer of justice from those two is coming for you when we get home!
Feeling the prickling stare drilling into his back, Leon's mouth twitched ever so slightly.
This little tagalong, when did she become Jeanne and Rose's mobile surveillance ward!
But thinking it over, given Kureha's current state...
Ah well. Jeanne and Rose will understand. When a woman is at her most vulnerable, a man should step up and offer her a warm, welcoming harbor!
Shamelessly rationalizing, Leon tightened his arm around Kureha, and the woman in his embrace shivered twice in immediate response.
And so the three of them walked on through the lingering glow of dusk, each lost in their own thoughts.
Only when night had fully descended, with safety in mind, did they finally turn for home.
...
Leon's house.
"We're back, everyone!"
The moment he stepped through the door, Leon called out to Laurier, who was slumped on the living room sofa with a sour little face buried in a textbook, and to Jeanne and Rose, who were busy preparing dinner in the kitchen.
Seeing Leon, Kureha, and Aura come in, Rose let her gaze linger meaningfully on Kureha, on those flushed cheeks and those wet, unfocused eyes, before she smiled sweetly.
"You're back? Perfect timing. Go wash your hands, dinner's almost ready!"
"Got it."
Leon nodded. As he was about to change his shoes, his eyes fell on a few packages stacked in the corner of the entryway.
"These are... your new gear? It came in?"
His face lit up, then immediately clouded as something occurred to him.
"That Tsubaki, she didn't fleece you, did she? This isn't cheap fourth-tier adventurer gear we're talking about. Even the cheapest dagger in third-tier equipment starts at a million..."
Wiping her hands, Rose carried dish after dish to the table. She laughed at his grumbling.
"So that's how you see Tsubaki? Well, you'd be wrong this time."
She guided Leon into the seat at the head of the table and sat down beside him to explain.
"For our custom orders, Tsubaki really went all out."
She walked him through everything that had happened, recounting in full how Tsubaki had fought to secure resources for them.
"What? Goliath Hide?! Has she lost her mind?!"
When Leon heard that Tsubaki had actually used a precious Floor Boss drop item just for Jeanne and Rose's... mere third-tier equipment...
His reaction was even more shocked than the two women's had been when they'd first heard it!
Jeanne untied her apron. Dressed in simple denim shorts and a fitted V-neck tank, with fluffy bunny slippers on her feet, she settled naturally into the seat on Leon's other side.
She picked up a piece of soft, milky-fragrant bread and placed it on Leon's plate, then stood to ladle out soup as she spoke.
"To put it in your words, this counts as Tsubaki seeing potential in our future, so she's decided to place a heavy bet on us."
Leon's mouth twitched. He bit hard into the bread and let out a wry laugh.
"So this counts as an investment? Damn..."
"Figures. Every single one of these top-tier adventurers, not a fool among them."
Hearing him say it, everyone thought back on the members of Astraea Familia and Loki Familia they'd come to know recently, and they all nodded in solid agreement.
"Mm! This corn cream soup tonight is incredible!"
Leon took a small sip of Rose's carefully prepared soup, and his eyes lit up. He tore off a piece of bread without thinking and dunked it deep into the rich broth, taking a hearty bite.
Seeing Leon dig in, the others exchanged smiles and reached for their utensils in unison.
The atmosphere at the table was warm and easy, sweeping away the low pressure that had hung over things ever since a certain someone's "indiscretion" toward Jeanne a few days back.
Take Laurier, for example. After a hard day of training and burning through brain cells with her studies, she was already starving.
She hadn't noticed her friend whispering with Jeanne beside her, nor the dangerous aura quietly thickening in the air. She just kept her head down and shoveled food into her mouth.
In stark contrast was Kureha.
Her face was bright red, and she barely dared to lift her eyes. Unconsciously, she kept poking the bread on her plate with her fork, her thoughts a complete mess...
"Oh? So that's what happened..."
After hearing Aura's full report, Jeanne lifted her head. A smile that wasn't quite a smile settled on her lips as she turned to look at Leon, who, blissfully unaware of the impending crisis, was still enjoying his meal.
"Mn?!"
Out of the corner of his eye Leon registered the temperature drop coming off the Holy Maiden beside him. He swallowed and pulled together the most innocent smile he could manage.
"Ahem, Jeanne... what's, uh, going on?"
Seeing him still trying to play dumb, Jeanne actually laughed, more from sheer exasperation than anything else.
"So we're playing dumb, are we?!"
"Huh?"
Leon tried to bluff his way through it.
Beside him, Rose narrowed her long, slender eyes and offered Jeanne a sweet suggestion.
"If he wants to play dumb, then let him. As long as we lock the bedroom door tonight..."
Hearing Rose float such a "vicious" proposal to Jeanne, Leon's eyes shot wide open. He stared at her in disbelief, at that sweet, devilish smile of hers!
"Rose, you...!"
Rose's laughter was bright as silver bells, but it sent a chill straight down Leon's spine.
"No!"
...
...
[Read 70+ chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/NiaXD]