It should be noted that he didn't have any intention of going all the way with Delilah, as he already had a beautiful woman waiting for him back home. He wanted to cherish his Fated as he felt like she deserved it.
Though it didn't mean he was cutting off his chance of having a harem.
As long as his wife was okay with him having more than one wife, he might get married a second or third time.
As for now, he was just being playful with Delilah. At least, that's what he thought.
Delilah was split between believing or disbelieving him. At any other time, it would be hard to believe such ridiculous words. However, in this world, it was common for some weak or strong skills to have a condition to activate, and he had patted her head when he blessed her.
"Why does it feel like you are trying to fool me?"
As she spoke, she eyed him scrutinizingly, looking for any weird change in his expression, but she didn't find one.
He only looked slightly hurt.
It seemed like he had never told a lie, and she had wronged him again by suspecting him once again.
"Am I such a bad lord in your eyes? Why do you keep suspecting everything I do or say?" Roy stared at her innocently as he repeated a line from a cliche romance drama to her.
"I didn't mean it," Delilah seemed to really believe him.
While playing with a rock with her foot, she lowered her head and looked anywhere but at him as she felt too embarrassed to maintain eye contact with him.
Seeing how cutely she was behaving, Roy praised himself for his good acting.
He had to admit that he had gotten better at it since he came to this world. He could even fool an assassin now with his acting.
She genuinely felt remorseful!
It made him happy for only a moment.
Then he regretted doing it.
He thought he was being playful, but he quickly realized he was acting like a manipulative bastard when he saw the remorseful look on her face.
The only way to make things right was to admit his mistake.
"You don't need to feel so down. It's good to suspect. You actually did the right thing. I was just kidding with you. My blessing doesn't have such a bullshit activation requirement. A slight touch is all it needs."
Roy told the truth to her as he thought he had gone overboard. Any more, and he would be gaslighting her.
He didn't get a reward for being honest.
Whoosh!
He received a power-packed sucker punch.
Delilah attacked him the moment she digested what he said and realized he had been leading her on. She was infuriated.
Suddenly seeing a fist closing in on him, he instinctively moved out of the way. It was actually so slow in his eyes that he felt like he could dodge it in his sleep, literally. Truly the difference between them was like an insurmountable chasm.
One thing that should be mentioned is that he moved so fast that Delilah didn't even realize that he had gone out of the range of her fist.
However, before her attack could come to an end, he moved into his initial spot with a self-sacrificing smile on his face and happily took her fist.
It threw him off his feet and sent him flying!
'My bones are hard. It didn't break my nose.' Roy was thankful that he hadn't been disfigured.
It was mentioned in the contract that she couldn't actively harm her lord, or she would be punished, but Roy knew he was in the wrong this time as he had somewhat tried to gaslight her.
Thus, he didn't allow her to be punished.
"You're an asshole. Some jokes just aren't funny." Delilah huffed while staring him down.
She was angry at him and angrier at herself. She, after all, stupidly fell for his words and even felt remorseful for suspecting him.
Anyway, if he wanted to pat her head, he could always ask for her permission. There was no need to make up such a ridiculous lie to fool her.
Her reaction wouldn't have been so dramatic if he had exposed the truth to her at another time, but by then, it would already have been too late. He didn't want to be a sociopath who gaslighted others.
"I am sorry." Roy had made a mistake as he was just a human, and he owned up to it, genuinely lowering his head to her and apologizing.
Delilah reluctantly accepted his apology.
It's not like she had a second choice.
She had to maintain a good relationship with him as he was her lord. Annoying him might make her life difficult.
"What do you want to do about them?" she asked while pointing at the unconscious beasts.
Roy's eyes lit up. It was time for him to make amends. "They are my gift to you. Land the finishing blow on them, and maybe you will reach the peak of the weapon master stage."
"I will gladly accept it." Any bad feelings that Delilah had for him lessened as the gift he gave her was pretty good.
She took out her class weapon and pointed it at the beasts. Its special effect was activated, and dozens of blades manifested out of thin air around her.
Since she advanced to the advanced level of the second stage, she could use its special effect thrice before running out of aura. After it was used three times, it would enter a one-hour cooldown. Because of these reasons, she didn't hesitate and used it.
"Go!" She commanded heroically, and the blades gleamed menacingly as they flew towards the beasts who were put into a deep sleep by Roy. The tip of the blades pierced their heart and abdomen. The pain woke them up, but death embraced them immediately after. It could be said that their dead waa more peaceful than the three strongest of their pack.
ã€�Ding! Your subordinate "Delilah" has killed a few dozen Fire-Clawed Laughing Hyenas of the magical stage」
ã€�She had received a few thousand experience points」
ã€�Would you like to take half of it?」
ã€�Yesã€�/ã€�No」
"No."
Roy's reason was simple.
The thousands of exp weren't helpful to him, but the same couldn't be said for Delilah. Because of the blessing of the world, she was already close to reaching the peak level of the second stage. Her golden nascent energy nucleus wasn't fully formed, but it was halfway there. And they were enough to elevate her to a new level!
ã€�Ding! 2668 EXP has been consumed」
ã€� Delilah's nascent energy nucleus has been upgraded to a level-1 energy nucleus!」
The system informed Roy.
Delilah smiled. She had reached the peak of the second stage!
She was just one step away from the stage that every trainee dreams of reaching and many weapon masters die trying to reach!
She was only one level away from advancing to the aura master stage!
