Chapter 187
Orario.
The plaza in front of Babel.
On any normal day this place would be packed, adventurers from every Familia streaming in and out in a lively, noisy crowd.
Today was different.
Everyone stood rooted to the spot like statues hit with petrification magic, staring toward Babel’s entrance without so much as blinking.
Not that anyone could blame them.
The scene in front of them carried so much information that their brains had simply stalled, leaving them incapable of doing anything else.
So what was the cause?
The answer was Kiriya.
During his fight with Allen on the thirtieth floor, he had given his newly acquired Mangekyō Sharingan a thorough field test.
Allen, completely unprepared for how those eyes worked, got played from start to finish and suffered a crushing defeat.
Kiriya then treated him to a solid beating on top of it, and the man ended up knocked out cold.
Kiriya was a good-natured, sunny sort of guy.
He obviously wasn’t going to leave a living person lying around in the Dungeon’s deep floors.
That would be no different from murder.
So he chose to drag Allen out with him.
The original plan was to leave him on the eighteenth floor, the safe floor, but Bors, the man in charge up there, refused with everything he had.
He all but got on his knees and begged until Kiriya finally gave up on the idea.
The scruffy, one-eyed brute looked rough around the edges, but underneath he was surprisingly careful.
He knew perfectly well that Allen was famous for his vicious temper.
If he let that cat person stay, then the moment Allen woke up and realized someone had seen him in such a humiliating state, the best case was his whole town getting torn apart.
Silencing the witnesses wasn’t off the table either, and Bors himself might end up beaten within an inch of his life!
In short, the man was a ticking time bomb of the highest order.
The smart move was to keep a respectful distance and never, ever get close to him!
Left with no choice, Kiriya handled it himself.
And so the people of Orario were treated to quite a sight: Allen Fromel, first-rate Level 6 adventurer, the fastest in the city, the Chariot of the Goddess, vice-captain of the Freya Familia, trussed up like a mummy and dragged along the ground like a sack of garbage by the young man ahead of him.
The shock of that image was no less than the legendary sight of a star crashing into the earth.
"Orario... something big is about to happen."
A long while passed before a male adventurer finally came back to his senses, muttering to himself.
That one sentence was like a drop of cold water falling into a pot of hot oil.
The whole plaza boiled over in an instant.
"What happened between those two? Did they actually fight?"
"Probably. Allen Fromel is famous for his temper."
"But Sylvan... isn’t he only Level 3? How did he beat a Level 6 like Allen?"
"You haven’t heard? Not long ago he used some enhancement skill, or was it magic? and took down Phryne Jamil while she was in a Level 6 state."
"You’re kidding me! Some guy who cheated his way to Level 6 with magic, standing on the same level like Allen?"
"The facts are right in front of you. Allen lost."
"I say he pulled some dirty trick and set up the Vana Freya."
"Ha! Either way, we’ve got a good show coming. The Freya Familia is a pack of hotheads. Sylvan just bought himself a world of trouble."
"You said it, hehehe..."
Voices like these rose one after another across the plaza.
Kiriya had claimed all the limelight in Orario lately, and he had as many detractors as he had fans.
In terms of strength, none of these adventurers had the courage to go toe to toe with him.
When it came to enjoying his troubles from the sidelines, though, their courage was plentiful, and then some.
Kiriya dragged Allen the whole way to the Guild’s main hall, handed the unconscious man over to the dumbstruck staff, exchanged his magic stones for valis, and got ready to leave.
"Kiriya....san." Eina opened her mouth, hesitating over her words.
"What is it, Miss Eina?" Kiriya turned back to the stunningly pretty half-elf.
"This is..." She pointed at Allen, then at him.
"Oh, that. We ran into each other on the way and my hands got itchy, so we had a little spar. I didn’t quite hold back enough." Kiriya scratched his head, a little sheepish. "He should be fine, right?"
"Uh..." For a moment Eina had no idea what to say.
A little spar?
One that knocked one of Orario’s very best adventurers out cold?
Who on earth would believe that!
But no one on the scene dared to voice a single doubt.
Right now Kiriya’s fists were the biggest, which naturally made his words the most reasonable.
The moment he left, the hall burst into activity.
Guild officials scrambled to fetch a healer for Allen while reporting the situation upstairs, busy beyond belief.
"Wow, this is bad." Misha leaned over, eyes shining with excitement. "What Sylvan just did is basically a declaration of war on the Freya Familia. Ahhhhh, the strongest rookie in history against the strongest Familia in Orario today! Just thinking about it gets my blood pumping!"
"You really do live for chaos, don’t you." Eina gave her friend a helpless look.
"Hey, this isn’t on me." Misha rushed to defend herself. "Sylvan has to have something up his sleeve. Why else would he go looking for this kind of fire to play with?"
"I hope so." Eina sighed. The adventurer under her care truly never gave her a day of peace.
...
Hurried footsteps pounded up the path, the front door of Hearthstone Manor flew open, and Hestia’s small figure charged into the entrance hall.
"Kiriya, are you home?"
She had been working her shift at the Hostess of Fertility when she heard that Kiriya had clashed with Allen Fromel of the Freya Familia.
She dropped everything and rushed home to make sure he was all right.
A bedroom door creaked open.
Out stepped Kiriya in a crisp tailcoat and white gloves, hair combed neatly back, bowing with flawless grace.
"Welcome home, milady."
Hestia stared, at a complete loss for words.
What kind of act was this supposed to be?
The tailcoat out of nowhere, the slicked-back hair, and that low, magnetic voice... wasn’t this exactly like one of those black-clad butlers the noble houses kept?
She had to admit, though, it looked really good.
Before she knew it, Hestia had sunk into pure appreciation of the view, unable to pull herself out.
Kiriya’s expression stiffened a little.
He had expected some other kind of reaction, and instead... this was it?
’Her resistance is way too low!’
Suddenly Hestia felt her body go weightless.
When she came back to her senses, Kiriya was holding her in a princess carry.
Staring up at those handsome face, her throat betrayed her with a small gulp.
"Wh... what are you doing?" Even her voice carried a slight tremble.
Kiriya leaned in beside her ear and blew a soft breath.
"A return gift for the other day. Well, milady? Are you satisfied?"
The memory of that charged little episode came rushing back, and Hestia’s face flushed red like a ripe apple, unbearably cute.
Then it hit her that this time she was the one in charge, and her courage came roaring back.
"So what you’re saying is, I’m the mistress of the house now, and you’re my butler?"
"Exactly." Kiriya smiled.
"Then rub my feet. I’ve been on them all day and they’re so sore." Hestia put on her best spoiled young lady act, though she was far too cute for it to carry any real menace.
"As you wish." Kiriya set her gently down on the sofa and slipped off her shoes and socks.
"Mm... that tickles..." Hestia’s little feet curled up.
Convinced this was Kiriya playing a prank on her, she felt a surge of vengeful spirit rise in her chest.
"Hmph, what kind of butler refuses to behave! I’ll have to punish you severely!" She planted a foot on Kiriya’s shoulder and pushed him down flat, then stepped on his chest, doing her very best to look fierce and only managing to look adorable.
Kiriya lay there in silence.
’So that was the reward... then where’s my punishment?’
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