CHAPTER 41: INVITATION AND SOME GUESTS

The sun began to light up the room, and Luxian’s feathers seemed to absorb the yellow light coming through the window.

Khan opened his eyes, showing his usual blank expression.

Looks like... some forgotten memories came through nightmares... Maybe the effect of the medicine is wearing off?... Hmm... I feel like that wouldn’t make sense...

With a light sigh, setting the question aside, he recalled the meaning of those memories.

...To ensure they wouldn’t be deceived, I made them hate others... all rational beings are rotten.

His eyes turned a vibrant red.

Should these filthy pests still be allowed to live?

For a while, he was taken by strange thoughts, but soon calm returned to him.

Seems like I’m just a hypocrite...

Leaving the thoughts aside, he paid attention to what was in front of him. Something was blocking his view.

Several white feathers were preventing him from seeing the rest of the room, while his head still rested on a shoulder.

Luxian? ...She embraced me with her wings?

He gently moved the wing covering his face with his hand, feeling a soft sensation.

...To think she would mimic that embarrassing scene I once animated...

Having a few flashbacks from its origin, a bit of shame overcame him, and he straightened up on the couch.

Without support, Luxian’s head fell against Khan’s arm. The wing from her head, which was between her head and his arm, left a soft feeling.

These wings are really soft...

Trying to prove his point to himself, he began to stroke the wing resting on his lap.

In a short time, Luxian let out strange sounds, causing Khan to look at her.

Her face was completely red, and she covered her eyes with her trembling wings.

"H-Hm~, I don’t think this is the right place for that..."

"Ah—"

Khan stopped stroking the wing in front of him. His eyes turned bright yellow.

Don’t tell me I added the sensitive wings cliché...

Noticing that Khan had stopped, she just lifted one wing, revealing one eye.

"I-If you want to keep going, I can take it for a bit longer."

Khan’s orbs returned to blue. Upon touching Luxian’s wings again, she let out another strange sound of pleasure.

Pushing the wing aside, he stood up, ending Luxian’s excitement.

"I’ll leave it for next time..."

I just want to get out of this situation...

Luxian looked slightly disappointed, but it didn’t last long as she stood up too.

As if she were someone else, she spoke while her golden eyes became visible again.

"Then I guess my time is up."

The wings on her head lowered more than usual, showing her sadness.

Khan understood what she meant because of the presence he felt.

From Khan’s shadow, a head rose.

"Precisely, nya~"

Her cat ears twitched, her vision adjusted to the light in the room, leaving only a black slit in her brown eyes.

Khan looked behind and saw Alice, with a smiling face, as if she had waited all night for this moment.

"You got here fast..."

Was she nearby?

She emerged completely from Khan’s shadow, and with her cat tail swaying, she spoke.

"Yes! I couldn’t disappoint you, nya~"

Luxian just sighed and spoke in a quieter voice.

"Then... I’m off. Good morning."

"Yes. Good morning."

"Good morning, nya~"

Luxian vanished, making no sound.

With the room silent, or rather, with the light snoring of a small fairy sleeping belly-up.

Khan walked around the table and stopped in front of Fuyu.

Looking at the little fairy, he saw some similarities with the face from his nightmare.

She looks so peaceful now...

Without wasting time, he poked Fuyu’s face.

"Wake up."

She frowned without opening her eyes and lightly slapped Khan’s hand, but couldn’t push it away.

"H-Hm~..."

She let out a soft, blocked sigh but didn’t wake up, only scratched her belly, grumbling.

Alice approached and raised her hand, preparing a slap. She looked at Khan.

"Can I wake her my way, nya~?"

Khan glanced at her sideways.

"No. That won’t be necessary... let’s go."

I was just going to say goodbye... but if she’s sleeping this deeply, I don’t want to ruin it.

Alice lowered her hand and took a step back.

Khan turned and walked past Alice, who followed him. Leaving the quiet room, he activated the skill: Rift.

Both, standing close, were quickly sucked into the black hole.

...

In Khan’s work office, a white hole appeared and quickly expanded.

The two emerged, took a step forward, and the hole began to shrink until it vanished.

The office looked the same as always. Three stacks of papers are on the table. Beside it stood Krone, waiting for him.

Looks like this has become routine...

With a sigh, he walked toward his desk, climbing the only step there. As he approached Krone, she gave her usual confident bow.

"Good morning, Master Khan and Lady Alice."

"Thanks..."

"Good morning, nya~"

She straightened again, and Khan sat in his chair while Alice stood in front of his desk.

Khan began his usual movements, stretching his arm, grabbing a small block of paper, and placing it nearby for convenience.

Seeing this as a good time, Alice asked,

"I have important information about Azure, nya~"

Khan took a paper from the pile and started reading.

"Go ahead."

Alice straightened up even more, as if out of habit, and began speaking with a serious expression.

"The Azure Kingdom is almost completely ruined. The nobles are about to start a rebellion against the prince. Among the people, strange rumors are spreading, nya~"

The next words made Khan pay more attention to the matter.

"Seeing this situation, I asked them to place incriminating evidence in easy-to-find places inside the nobles’ houses. This plan seems to have worked well, nya~"

Khan stopped reading and looked at Alice.

"Hm? What do you mean?"

What did she do? Did I hear that right?

Alice looked confused, tilting her head while her cat ears drooped.

"What nya? Did I do something wrong, nya?"

Looking at Alice’s confusion and innocent questions, Khan just sighed.

...More problems.

"Nothing. Forget it... my mistake. Continue."

"Yes, nya!~"

Returning to her normal tone, her ears perked up again, and her black tail swayed slowly.

"Seems like they’ll send us an invitation to some ball in the castle. Also, the half-dragon has considerable strength, having noticed some spies, nya~"

Khan seemed more interested in the second part than the first.

"Tell me more about the half-dragon."

"Yes, nya. In the operation to gather this information, I sent subordinates with assassin classes at level 70, and even so, it seems like they were found out, nya~"

Khan’s orbs vanished, leaving only darkness in their place.

I completely forgot about that system... since I had no restrictions on my abilities, I didn’t think it would be in effect...

Khan sighed, and his eyes returned.

"Can this really be confirmed?"

Alice held her own hands, rubbing the top of one as she answered uncertainly.

"No... nya~ But visual contact was confirmed, nya~"

"Hm... is there a chance it was just a coincidence?"

"Yes, but the chances are higher that she really saw them, nya~"

"Alright..."

Khan started thinking again, resting the side of his face on his fist.

From this situation, at least we have an idea of the potential enemy’s strength... but what bothers me is that our level system is class-based... not individual-based...

Seeing that Khan was thoughtful about the situation, Alice tried to reassure him.

"In my opinion, she must be between level 70 and 80, nya~"

Khan, upon hearing that, looked at Alice.

"Hm... I’d say between 75 and 90. But that would just be the class that detected..."

Khan remembered something more important.

We’re in another world... so can I even use this metric to measure the strength of beings here?

He sighed. Another problem to worry about.

Maybe I’ll leave this one to Azathoth...

Putting that issue aside and moving away from the current topic.

"Changing the subject, I’d like to know more about the invitation... of course, only if there’s something relevant..."

"Yes, nya. Seems like there’ll be various events inside the castle, like..."

...

While Alice listed some information, Iris was jumping from branch to branch in the forest.

With spiral eyes, she stared at a group of adventurers running on the ground below.

One of them tripped. A larger man went back, pulled her up, and shouted at her.

"Come on, run!"

They started running again, a bit behind the rest.

These heretics... they stained Khan’s image. That’s unforgivable... I’ll make an example out of them, so it never happens again!

As she jumped off the branch, the force she used shattered it, propelling her forward.

Her eyes spun faster, and with greater speed in her leaps, she overtook the group and landed in front of them.

Falling in front of the group, they were forced to stop.

A blue-haired, short-haired boy spoke in desperation to his group.

"I told you this wouldn’t end well!"

A square-jawed man shouted back, looking angry.

"Shut up! And raise your sword!"