In the kitchen.
After several days in the Dungeon where Leon could barely eat or sleep, with his nerves stretched taut the whole time, his appetite had completely vanished.
Now that he was home and the sacred domain of the kitchen was back in his hands, he prepared an especially lavish breakfast to make up for it.
Of course, he had other small motives too.
For instance... it was both a reward for himself, and a token of appreciation for Jeanne and Rose's "hard work" the night before.
Eight o'clock rolled around.
Having finished their morning training and rinsed off, the others filtered over to the dining table one by one, only to be stunned by the unusual spread before them.
"What's the special occasion today? Why such a big breakfast?"
Leon plopped a basket of soft bread onto the table and shot Jeanne and Rose a mischievous look, arching his brow:
"It's mostly to reward you two. You both put in so much effort, especially Jeanne. It'd be wrong of me not to show my gratitude, wouldn't it?"
He put particularly heavy emphasis on "put in so much effort."
Kureha, Laurier, and Aura couldn't pick up on the subtext, but how could Jeanne and Rose miss it?
Rose took it in stride, merely giving him a smiling side-eye before calmly picking up her utensils and taking small, elegant bites.
Jeanne, however, was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Her face flushed crimson in an instant, and she shot Leon a venomous glare.
If looks could kill, Leon would have been murdered countless times over by now.
After all...
Last night's little activity had been a bit too intense for Jeanne.
If Leon hadn't brought it up, she would have been fine. By instinct, she'd already shoved those mortifying memories into the back of her mind.
But with him bringing it up now...
Every humiliating, shameful scene from last night came flooding back like a rising tide.
In the end, the smug face from those memories overlapped perfectly with the Leon sitting in front of her, and she clenched her fists in frustrated silence.
She wanted to do something to Leon, but noticed the probing, amused looks from the others. Flushing, she erupted in fury... for a brief moment.
"Hmph, pervert!"
As for Jeanne's assessment...
Under everyone's half-amused gazes, Leon shrugged innocently, spread his hands, and answered with complete shamelessness:
"What's wrong with liking tits? Everyone likes tits. Don't pretend otherwise."
He said it at the breakfast table. With the juniors present. Without lowering his voice.
Clatter...
A spoon hit the floor on Kureha's side of the table. Laurier choked on her bread. Aura turned the color of a tomato and hid her face behind her teacup.
Rose, the only one not visibly affected, just sighed and kept eating.
Jeanne went rigid. Her lips quivered, her face went red to the tips of her ears, and she finally forced out, stammering:
"Y-y-y-you, you, you..."
"PERVERT! TRASH!"
The three of them turned red in unison, eyes going wide, staring in disbelief at Leon's smiling, handsome face.
"I, I never would have thought..."
Laurier absently prodded the bread on her plate with her fork, murmuring:
"Mr. Leon looks so refined and easygoing on the outside, every bit the perfect gentleman, but behind the scenes... he's this depraved?"
"Refined and easygoing?! Perfect gentleman?! Him?!"
"Laurier, what on earth are you even talking about?!"
Jeanne's voice shot up, like she'd heard something utterly unbelievable.
Her face was a tangled mess of fifty percent humiliation, forty percent shame, and ten percent exasperation sparked by the absurd praise. She couldn't believe her ears!
Laurier actually thought that highly of that pervert?!
Hm?
Wait.
Jeanne suddenly paused...
If you set aside his shameless mouth...
Then...
Actually...
He wasn't bad?
The thought had barely surfaced when it was cut off by a deliberately hushed "whisper" from beside her.
"Aura..."
Laurier leaned over to her companion's ear, her voice somehow loud enough for the entire room to hear clearly:
"Have you noticed... Big sister Jeanne's voice sounds really hoarse today?"
"Mhm mhm mhm!"
Aura nodded like a pecking chick, her expression innocent:
"I noticed too! I bet it's because she was shouting too hard commanding the battle in the Dungeon these past few days, and yelled her voice raw!"
Rose, hearing the two kids' exchange, couldn't hold it in and burst out with a pfft of laughter.
"ROSE!!!"
Jeanne felt the blood rush straight to her head, her cheeks scalding. She was mortified beyond words, ready to dig a hole and bury herself on the spot, never to face anyone again!
So humiliating!
So embarrassing!
And the culprit behind all of this... was that guy!
"D-damn that Leon!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!"
A furious, mortified shriek shattered the quiet of the little courtyard.
Jeanne...
Had finally...
Broken!
...
Naturally, Leon had no idea about the chaos he'd caused in the living room.
At this moment, he was lugging several bulging backpacks out into the yard. He took a deep breath of the morning air, ready to take stock of the past few days' haul.
"Alright... let's have a look."
He pulled out the notebook he kept on him, flipped to the entries from the past few days, and knitted his brow as he checked the figures carefully.
After a while, he closed the notebook, having mentally sorted everything into clear categories.
"This haul basically breaks down into three parts."
"Part one: the deluxe goody bag from looting the Evilus corpses."
"Part two: the extras I lifted from the stalls of those dead outlaws during the chaos in Rivira."
"Part three: naturally, the fruits of Jeanne, Rose, and my own hard-fought monster hunting. Oh, plus the spoils we salvaged after dealing with the monster surge on Floor 19."
Categorization done, Leon began the count.
"First, the Evilus goody bag: three Magic Sword daggers, brand new, worth 3 million at market; twelve controlled Fire Stones, worth 1.2 million total."
"Eleven Fire-Spirit Cloaks, damaged but still usable after repairs. Half price, so 2.75 million."
"Evilus goody bag grand total: 6.95 million. Call it 7 million."
"Next, the Rivira goods: one dozen Elixirs at 500,000 apiece, twelve units for 6 million; four dozen High Potions at 50,000 each, 48 units for 2.4 million; two dozen magic potions at 10,000 each, 24 units for 240,000."
"On top of that, a bunch of whetstones and weapon maintenance oil, plus Floor 18 specialties like crystal candy, worth about 600,000 total."
"Rivira grand total: around 9.24 million. Call it 9 million."
"Finally, the Dungeon exploration income: the recovery-type materials gathered on Floors 19 and 20 in the Great Tree Labyrinth, like white tree leaves, plus monster Drop Items, worth roughly 6 million in total."
"Plus the Magic Stone baseline, 3.8 million."
"Dungeon exploration grand total: 9.8 million. Call it 10 million."
Having logged all his categories and estimates, Leon produced an old yellow abacus from who-knows-where, set it down on the stone table, and his fingers began clicking away with practiced ease.
Click-clack-click-clack... The sound of colliding beads was a little rusty at first, but as the long-lost feel came back, Leon's fingertips flew faster and faster, the crisp sounds merging into a continuous stream.
At last, a single number settled on the abacus: 26 million.
Leon raised an eyebrow. He'd estimated twenty, twenty-two at the outside. Twenty-six was a pleasant overshoot.
He tapped the abacus once with his finger and let out a low whistle.
"Holy shit."
In the living room.
Having finished their chores, everyone had gathered for their daily study session.
An abrupt profanity came from outside the window, startling them all.
Someone's book dropped to the floor with a smack. Without a word to each other, they rose and rushed to the window, their faces a mix of shock and confusion.
"Leon?"
"..."
......
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