CHAPTER 397: OFF TO THE NEXT DESTINATION?

A day had passed after the Alpha was defeated. And in that span of time, a small festival was held as a celebration for the four who had saved the town when it was in danger.

As everyone partied and enjoyed the small festival, which drew closer to evening, Lillian stood inside a dark alleyway with her back leaning against a wall.

With her phone out and staring down at her screen, Lillian had a large pout and a depressed look in her eyes as she found that Marionette hadn’t been returning her calls.

Since yesterday, after she had sent the Assassin the photos, she hadn’t gotten a single message back. Instead, she only had the notification that the woman had indeed seen what she sent her.

Lillian immediately crouched and groaned into her hands, "Man... Should I have taken more pictures? Or were my poses bad? But Millis and Viesta said they looked good!"

As Lillian struggled to wrap her head around the reason why Marionette hadn’t called or sent a single message back to her, she found a human-shaped shadow standing over her.

Looking up, she found an eye-patched man staring down at her with a look of surprise. It was Zeke.

"What are you doing here all alone? Shouldn’t you be enjoying the celebration?"

Lillian gave an exasperated sigh, "I’m not one for parties... Especially one where I keep getting crowded around..."

"Not a person for social interaction, I presume?" Zeke walked into the alleyway and sat beside the Rabbit with an interested expression, "I see that you are troubled. Does it happened to be about your reward?"

"Huh...? Oh, that..."

Once the Blackridge family had heard that their entire group didn’t pay to participate, he took away a quarter of the reward money and gave it to the last person to pay, being Brexten’s group.

"Your mayor is so stingy..." Lillian chuckled lightly as she sat properly on the ground, straightened her legs, "But the money wasn’t bad. I think our group got back around 150,000 Semis for our trouble."

Zeke nodded slightly, "The total fees gathered plus a little bit on top. That was the reward, correct? I agree, though, the mayor is indeed stingy, especially for someone who had saved his town from a long-term shortage of minerals."

He then paused and faced Lillian, "So if it wasn’t the money, what was it that had gotten you upset? I believe that the state of the Alpha was enough to have something made."

"Heh, wouldn’t you know? Didn’t you have something made with a part of the mole?"

"W-well..." Zeke scratched the side of his cheek sheepishly, causing his intimidating appearance due to his scars to falter. "Surely you didn’t mind, right?"

"Nah. You helped, so that warrants something. Viesta and Millis already had their stuff made by now I think."

"And yet... You didn’t."

As Lillian heard his statement, she couldn’t help but smile slightly. Why should she have anything made when she could just buy what she needed in the moment?

"There’s no point in dipping into resources that could be used for you three. I already have what I need."

"... Then... What is it?"

Lillian smiled wryly. She hesitated for a moment before whispering in an embarrassed manner, "Just... My partner hasn’t responded back to me yet..."

"Ah... Love issues?" Zeke widened his eyes before, "Pfft...!" Letting out a hearty laugh, which eventually turned boisterous under Lillian’s pouting gaze.

"Hahaha... you truly are a prized person, Lillian! I haven’t met anyone like you before until now..." Wiping a tear in his eyes, he added, "To think someone with your skills would be going through issues of these types..."

"I-is it so hard to believe?!" Lillian stammered with shock. Did she give off the impression that she trifled with the concept of romance?

"You do a bit, Lillian, in my opinion. But that could be merely because I hadn’t known you for so long." After he had calmed down, he looked up towards the orange-tinted sky and muttered, "But anyway... I’m sure that you’re partner is just in a situation where he can’t pick up the phone, that’s all..."

Lillian’s ears twitched as Zeke used the term ’He’ to refer to her partner. She gave a crooked smile, but didn’t bother to correct it.

"So, why are you here then?" Lillian asked with a playful blink, "Could there be something about this particular alleyway that feel attached to?"

Zeke stared into Lillian’s eyes before letting out another laugh, "Spot on! Was that a guess or had I somehow told you at some point?"

Letting out a deep breath, he muttered, "I return to this alleyway every now and then whenever I’ve achieved something I hadn’t done before. Which in this case, was helping take down a powerful beast..."

Sighing, he added, "And to think these are the kind of monsters those on the frontlines are taking down on a daily basis... It truly does make one think how much stronger the human body could be if one pushed themselves past their limits."

Zeke looked back at Lillian and found her still in a sour mood. He smirked and held out a hand to her, "If you’re still upset, I think I got an idea that might help cheer you up."

Lillian tilted her head at him, obviously confused but curious. But then, she smirked as well, "Are you going to let me punch your mayor while you make me invisible?"

Zeke raised his eyebrow at the white-haired girl, "As captain of security, I obviously can’t help you blatantly assault the mayor." He shook his head before pulling out an object from his pocket.

It seemed to be a black ink marker.

Lillian watched as the eye-patched man slowly grinned, "But~... I can help you use this permanent black ink marker on his face, though. I think he’s currently sleeping as we speak."

As the two quickly joined hands and journeyed to the mayor’s very home, the night soon neared and the day eventually closed—allowing for the sun to rise shortly after.

"I hope you all have a safe trip. You’re always welcome to come back to this town whenever you like!" Zeke waved as he watched the train start up and move.

Lillian, who was sitting near the window, waved at him as well, along with Viesta and, surprisingly, Millis, who had joined the two on the ride.

Apparently, with the prize money, she wasn’t too motivated to find a job inside the town and had now decided to go on a little trip before having to head back to the Academy.

"Yeah, that’s fine..." Lillian’s right eye twitched. "But was there a need for me to buy you a ticket as well?"

"Of course! Now that I know ya guys were taking the private and the oh-so luxurious rooms, I needed to see it for mah self!" Millis hooked her arm around Lillian’s shoulder and swung her body left and right.

Lillian pried herself away and said with a twitchy face and folded arms, "But YA have money, don’t YA?" she asked, briefly adopting Millis’s accent in a mocking manner.

The Heroine pouted and raised her fist in a cute but threatening manner, "Don’t use mah words against meh, YA hear!?"

And as the two ladies wrestled on the couch, they were sitting, Viesta was sitting opposite them, jotting down notes on her phone at the way Millis spoke, intending to incorporate it into her own to sound more like a cowgirl.

She then muttered as she took a glance outside the window, "Well then... Seems like we’re finally off to Restara’s Docks..."