"Pfft—!"
A boy and a girl walked side by side as they entered a very luxurious sitting room, with doors plastered on multiple areas of the walls.
The chandeliers that hung from the ceiling gave the room an air of prestige, and the freshly painted walls made it reminiscent of paradise.
The ground was squally clean, covered in both squeaky clean tiles and carpets that were fluffy to the feet.
Everything was pristine—an epitome of perfection.
However, neither the boy nor the girl paid any of these fine details any attention.
They were used to it, after all.
"Haha! For real?"
"Yes! You really need to check it out!"
"Well, since you asked so nicely."
"Haha! Of course!"
They both chuckled as they ventured further into the room, until they couldn't advance any further.
After all, they had separate rooms to enter.
"I guess this is where we part ways, huh?" The boy with black hair and an average height looked at the slightly taller girl beside him.
He had a plain, ordinary face that you could find just about anywhere.
His brown eyes appareard ordinary as well, and he looked unassuming enough to be seen as a harmless person.
Just an ordinary guy, really.
"Yup! It's getting pretty late, so I'm gonna turn in now."
The girl who responded was someone who could be said to be the exact opposite of the boy.
She was absolutely stunning from head to toe.
Her long brown hair was enchanting, and her amber eyes were captivating. Her slender physique, with perfect proportions, made her the kind of girl who would qualify as any guy's dream girl.
It was surprising enough that she was talking to the boy in front of her so casually, but she actually seemed so immersed in the conversation that you'd think they were best friends.
These two were Alicia and Rey, and after spending all day in the library, they were finally in their residence.
Not only did they go there almost immediately after Grandmaster Conrad's announcements, but they didn't leave until now.
It was already past 11 PM, and the two teenagers seemed to have enough energy to keep going.
If not for the tiny strand of self control left in them… they could have continued into the next day.
"Alright, Alicia. Guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yup! Goodnight, Rey."
Alicia went into her room, and Rey did the same—almost doing so at exactly the same time.
They both noticed this and giggled as they shut the door to their rooms.
The moment Rey entered his room, a clicking sound echoed, which signified it being locked.
The room brightened up thanks to the Luminous Stones that were automatically turned on using Magic anytime they detected his presence.
He could always turn them off manually, though.
"Haaaa…"
Rey looked at his room, realizing this was the first time in a few days since he actually spent time in it.
'I was gone for two days and none of them were even worried…'
Apparently, the reason they weren't too concerned was because Ralyks assured them that he would be safe, and that he could always detect his location.
Ignoring how creepy that sounded, Rey didn't even remember he said something like that.
'Must be a bullshit excuse I came up with to explain away my absence back then…'
He shrugged off the thought and collapsed on his bed, feeling its soft embrace while closing his eyes.
Taking deep breaths, he made a comfortable smile.
"Alicia…"
Unfortunately, the smile did not last for too long. The moment he uttered that name, a slight darkness clouded his face.
'We talked about a lot today: mostly books and all the drama I missed while I was away.'
Since Rey had to play the fool, she had to tell him all about the Royal Dungeon Incident—at least, what she heard from what everyone was saying.
It was thanks to her account that he was able to gain a lot more perspective on the situation of Adonis' team before he rescued them.
According to the gist, they were only there for a couple of hours, yet it seemed they had spent all day in the Dungeon.
'I knew it! Time moves faster in the 99th Floor!' He had beamed at himself at the time.
The most important thing to note was their struggle against the Dragon; especially Adonis' fight.
He had to admit… the Hero was strong.
However, now that Rey understood the entire gist, he now knew for sure—
—Adonis wasn't stronger than him.
'It seems I've finally surpassed Adonis. But, it's not like I feel satisfied or anything…'
All things considered, Rey was able to get the complete gist of the situation.
He was glad he came at the time that he did.
If that wasn't the case, everyone else could have died.
'I have a Skill that can heal practically anything and cure all ailments. But I can't cure death.'
Once a person died, that was the end of it.
Still, despite all of these heavy thoughts, none of them were the cause of Rey's disturbed expression.
No… this stemmed from something else.
"She didn't mention anything about the kidnapping."
Not even a single detail.
He and Alicia had talked about a multitude of topics, but anytime he tried to bring her to the issue of her kidnapping, she constantly deflected.
After trying it two to three times, she straight up told him she didn't want to talk about it.
Once Rey heard that, he completely backed off.
'I mean, I was there. I know everything that happened, and I know the story that led to it. But…'
Rey sighed as he blinked rapidly.
He couldn't keep his sight steady with so many worrying thoughts swirling in his mind.
'I'm no good in situations like this. I just hope she's fine.'
Rey couldn't force her to talk about it.
He only hoped that once she was ready, she would tell him and they could sort things out together.
He didn't know when and how it all happened, but at this point, Rey already considered Alicia an important part of his life.
He also hoped that was how she saw him too.
'I don't want to make her uneasy, so I'll back off. We can still have fun like usual.'
Once he resolved that in his thoughts, his mind moved on to other things.
'Now that we're only nine, I thought we would have some sort of meeting together. Adonis would have organized everything too…'
From what Rey could see, though, Adonis appeared very distracted.
It seemed like he was constantly thinking about a lot.
'I would like to ask him, but… nah!'
He and Adonis weren't particularly close, and he didn't want to cross the boundaries they had already established around each other.
'The whole situation must just have him rattled, that's all.'
Despite how powerful and idealistic Adonis was, he was still only a teenager.
It was natural to feel these things.
'Right now, I should perhaps be more concerned about keeping an eye on Billy to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid again.'
From the little Rey observed, Billy didn't seem like he would do anything, but he couldn't be too sure.
'I can't get complacent about him. Not again.'
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Thanks for reading!
Do you think Billy has changed his ways? Or is he planning something else?
