Chapter 266

Chapter 266: Chapter 266

"That was incredible. I’ve never seen a technique like that before."

Jeanne looked across the arena, now completely emptied of monsters, with obvious admiration.

"Hahaha, of course."

Kiriya planted his hands on his hips, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.

"But... how are we supposed to collect all these magic stones?" Jeanne looked at the glowing stones scattered everywhere and found herself faced with a much more practical problem.

"Just the two of us?"

She certainly did not mind physical work, but Kiriya had only just said that they were somewhat pressed for time.

Picking up every stone one by one would take far too long.

"You don’t need to worry about that. Did you forget I can make clones?"

Kiriya winked before creating twenty Shadow Clones in one go.

"All right, everyone. I’ll leave the magic stones to you. Do your best!"

He even clenched one fist and gave them an encouraging gesture.

"No problem."

"Piece of cake!"

"Watch me finish this in a minute."

The clones were initially full of enthusiasm.

Then one particularly observant clone noticed something important.

The original had made absolutely no move to help.

"Hey, original. Aren’t you going to work too?"

The instant those words were spoken, every clone who had been preparing to move turned around and stared at Kiriya.

"Me?"

Kiriya straightened his back and answered with complete seriousness.

"I obviously have something much more important to do."

"What?"

"Explain the Dungeon’s monsters, terrain, and precautions to Jeanne, of course."

As he spoke, Kiriya casually wrapped an arm around Jeanne’s slender waist.

"..."

A deathly silence descended over the arena.

Every Shadow Clone stared at the original with dead eyes utterly devoid of emotion.

"I have never seen anyone so shameless."

"I’ve seen people screw others over, but never someone this eager to screw over himself."

"So this is what they mean by ’when the original has business, the clones bear the burden’?"

"You’re such an asshole."

The clones grumbled and cursed under their breaths.

Using them as cannon fodder, decoys, shields, or disposable targets during battle was one thing.

In the middle of a fight, nobody had the spare attention to complain about such things.

But this?

They were being ordered to perform manual labor while the original stood off to the side flirting with a beautiful girl.

There were limits to what a clone should be expected to tolerate.

Even Jeanne began to blush at the sheer shamelessness of it. She gently tugged Kiriya’s sleeve.

"Kiriya, perhaps we should help them."

"It’s fine. Let them do it."

Kiriya remained completely unmoved. He glared toward his clones instead.

"What are you all standing around for? Hurry up. The Dungeon will start spawning monsters again before long."

The clones continued running their mouths for a while, but eventually they obediently got to work.

There was nothing else they could do.

He was the original, after all.

Within a few minutes, the entire arena had been cleared of magic stones, and the clones brought everything back to Kiriya.

He then asked Jeanne to weave magical energy into a sturdy bag, stuffed all the stones inside, and slung the enormous bundle over his back.

"I never imagined magecraft for constructing spiritual equipment could be used like this."

Jeanne looked at the oversized sack on Kiriya’s back with a peculiar expression.

"Hahaha. You just haven’t had many opportunities to experiment with your abilities. Most Servants get summoned, fight, and then return to the Throne of Heroes once everything is over. There isn’t exactly much time to sit around figuring out mundane applications for their Skills."

"That’s true."

Jeanne nodded.

Then a clear series of cracking sounds reached her ears.

Crack... crack...

She turned toward the noise and saw another group of monsters closing in.

Several enormous Barbarians, superior species of Lizardmen, advanced alongside a pack of Lugars, wolf-like monsters armed for combat.

"Want to give them a try?"

Kiriya glanced toward Jeanne.

"Certainly."

Jeanne summoned her battle standard and charged directly toward the approaching monsters.

The battle ended almost as quickly as it began, her flag moving through the group with practiced efficiency until every creature had fallen.

"How did they feel?" Kiriya asked curiously.

"They possess some degree of combat technique and considerable physical strength, but very little reason or judgment."

Jeanne had barely finished speaking when her eyes suddenly sharpened.

Her battle standard swept sideways.

Two creatures were blasted out of what had appeared to be empty air, their bodies already torn apart before they even struck the ground.

"Those are Skull Sheep," Kiriya explained. "They can become invisible, but that ability isn’t particularly useful against your detection Skills."

"Interesting."

And so the two continued upward through the Dungeon, fighting monsters and collecting magic stones as they went while Kiriya explained the various creatures, hazards, and precautions Jeanne needed to know.

Before long, they emerged from the Dungeon and arrived at Orario’s central plaza.

Their appearance immediately attracted countless eyes.

"Hey, look! It’s the Sylvan!"

"No shit. You think anyone needs you to point that out? Even three-year-olds know who he is by now."

"That’s not what I meant! Look at the beautiful girl beside him. Who the hell is she?"

"Gods... she’s gorgeous! I think I’m in love."

"She really is beautiful... but that’s weird. There’s no way I’d forget someone who looked like that, yet I can’t remember ever seeing her in Orario before."

"Maybe she’s a newly registered adventurer. Damn that pretty boy! Even when he casually brings home a rookie, she looks like that?"

"Why?! He already has Goddess Hestia, the Sword Princess, and Gale around him, and he still refuses to show restraint! Is he seriously planning to become some kind of harem king?"

"That damn popular bastard. He should just explode and die!"

Those were the opinions from the male adventurers.

The women had an entirely different reaction.

"It’s Kiriya-sama! Ahh, no matter how many times I see him, he’s still wonderful to look at."

"Exactly. Strong, handsome, and talented... he really is too impressive."

"Who is that woman beside him? Why does she get to walk around with Kiriya-sama?"

"So annoying. I want to party with Kiriya-sama too."

One female adventurer nearby gave a dismissive laugh.

"Heh. Have you looked at your own Level? A rookie would only drag him down. Someone like me at Level 4 might barely qualify to stand beside him."

"You do know he’s a huge flirt, right?"

"So what if a powerful man is a little flirtatious? Besides, if he weren’t, how would I ever have a chance?"

Jeanne listened to the conversations around them and could not help laughing as she saw the mixture of clenched teeth, devastated expressions, envy, jealousy, and outright admiration directed toward Kiriya.

"Kiriya, you really are popular here."

"Hehehe. I might not look it, but I’m actually something of a celebrity in Orario."

Kiriya sounded rather proud of himself before glancing toward the beautiful golden-haired girl beside him.

"But I’m guessing you’ll become famous pretty quickly too, Jeanne."

"Hehe..."

Jeanne merely laughed and offered no opinion on that prediction.

"So where are we going next?"

"To the Guild. We’ll exchange these magic stones for money, then you’re coming home with me."

As he spoke, Kiriya took Jeanne’s hand and started toward the Guild, leaving a trail of anguished cries and excited shrieks behind them.

Jeanne’s beauty and the obvious intimacy between the two naturally caused another round of commotion once they entered the Guild, but Kiriya moved quickly enough that they were already gone before the gossip could truly spread.

Not long afterward, they arrived home.

Kiriya opened the door.

"Hestia, I’m back!"

Rapid footsteps immediately came from inside.

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!

A petite figure rushed out of the house with her arms already spread wide, clearly intending to throw herself straight into Kiriya’s embrace.

It was Hestia.

"Kiriya! Welcome ba—eh?"

The moment she saw Jeanne standing beside him, Hestia slammed on the brakes.

The excitement and happiness on her face vanished.

Her expression became completely blank.

"Kiriya."

Hestia slowly looked from him to Jeanne.

"Would you care to explain who this girl beside you is?"

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