Chapter 299

Chapter 299: Chapter 299

Night fell.

The Hostess of Fertility was brightly lit, filled with the clink of glasses and the lively chatter of customers.

Hestia had ordered enough food to cover the entire table, and the three of them dug in with reckless enthusiasm.

The petite goddess was already fighting with everything she had, but when it came to sheer eating power, she still fell far behind Kiriya and Jeanne.

With her divine power sealed, Hestia’s physical abilities were no different from those of an ordinary person.

Kiriya and Jeanne, on the other hand, possessed bodies on the level of first-class adventurers.

Their appetites were correspondingly monstrous.

"You really can eat a lot, nya."

Anya brought over a huge platter of roast suckling pig and stared in amazement at the fresh tower of empty plates piling up beside them.

Then something suddenly occurred to her.

She sidled over to Ryuu.

"Hey, Ryuu. Is this really okay?"

"What?"

Ryuu, who was working nearby, blinked in confusion.

"The money!"

Anya looked at her as though she were hopeless.

"Mama Mia’s food is expensive, you know. Can they really afford to keep eating like this?"

Mia: "..."

These daughters were hopeless.

Every single one of them seemed terrified that she might actually make too much money.

"Why are you worrying about that?"

Ryuu gave Anya a speechless look.

"Of course I’m worried! This is basically your future husband’s household, isn’t it? What if you marry into the family and only then find out they’re completely broke? Wouldn’t you be getting ripped—Ow! Ow! Ow!"

Before Anya could finish, Ryuu grabbed her by the cheeks and pulled.

"Go do your job and stop worrying about nonsense."

Ryuu chased away the snickering catgirl, only for a blush to creep across her own face afterward.

"As if they could possibly be poor..."

She muttered under her breath.

Leaving everything else aside, Kiriya, Jeanne, and Ryuu herself all possessed combat power on the level of first-class adventurers.

During the nearly half a month they had spent in the Deep Floors, most of their time had been devoted to high-intensity combat.

They had collected an enormous number of magic stones and drop items from large monsters.

And thanks to the summoning scrolls and Shadow Clones, they had never needed to choose what to leave behind.

They simply took everything.

After half a month, the accumulated magic stones and materials were conservatively worth more than a hundred million valis.

How could one meal possibly bankrupt them?

"What’s this about being poor?"

A playful voice suddenly sounded beside her, startling Ryuu.

"Are you worried you won’t be able to save enough for your dowry?"

"Y-You—! What are you talking about?! What dowry?!"

The tips of Ryuu’s ears turned bright red as her words immediately became tangled.

"Huh? Why are you reacting so strongly?"

Syr narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Could it be... you snuck ahead of me while you were in the Dungeon?"

She puffed her cheeks.

"Ryuu, that’s cheating."

"I didn’t!"

Ryuu was both embarrassed and helpless.

"We were fighting and training every day in the Dungeon. When would I even have had time to think about things like that?"

"Ryuu, you really are an idiot."

Syr sighed and shook her head.

What a wasted opportunity!

Ryuu immediately bristled.

How was she an idiot?

Only by becoming stronger could she keep pace with that man. What was wrong with that?

Syr shook her head again.

That hopeless elf really only knew how to think about things like training.

"Kiriya-kun isn’t going into the Dungeon tomorrow, right?"

"He probably isn’t. Why?" Ryuu asked.

"What else could it be?"

Syr looked at her resentfully.

"A date, obviously. You got to spend half a month with Kiriya-kun, while I couldn’t even see him."

"Cough..."

Ryuu immediately surrendered to that expression.

"Then just go. That guy will definitely be happy."

"Really?"

Syr’s face brightened instantly.

"Then it’s settled. You’re not allowed to change your mind later."

With that, she walked away with light, cheerful steps to find Kiriya.

Ryuu watched her friend leave and unconsciously placed a hand over her chest.

Her emotions were complicated.

"A date..."

A faint bitterness surfaced in her heart, one she did not even seem to notice herself.

With her thoughts in disarray, Ryuu could only bury herself in work.

She busied herself around the kitchen and eventually carried the kitchen waste outside to dispose of it.

"Ryuu-san really is diligent. Whoever marries you is going to be a lucky man."

A familiar voice suddenly came from behind her.

Ryuu’s entire body jolted.

"Y-You... Why are you here?"

She immediately grew nervous.

"Are you free the day after tomorrow?"

Kiriya walked toward her one step at a time.

With every step he took closer, Ryuu felt her heartbeat grow stronger.

"I... think so."

She turned her face aside, her voice trembling slightly with an anticipation even she failed to notice.

Lowering her head, she traced circles against the ground with the tip of her shoe.

"What do you want?"

"I want to take you somewhere."

Kiriya gently took her hand.

"A place nobody else can reach except through me."

His voice softened.

"Want to come?"

"...Mm."

Ryuu nodded.

Then her vision suddenly darkened for a moment as something touched her forehead.

When she looked up again, Kiriya was licking his lips with a grin.

"Then it’s settled. See you the day after tomorrow."

With that, he turned and walked away.

BZZZZZZ—!

Ryuu felt as though countless enormous bells had begun ringing inside her head.

She completely lost track of everything happening around her.

...

The next morning, Kiriya woke to find Hestia wrapped tightly around him like an octopus.

He could not help grinning.

After spending so long apart, Hestia’s pent-up longing had burst through the dam all at once.

After Jeanne had gone to sleep the previous night, Hestia had quietly slipped into Kiriya’s room.

What followed could only be described as an earth-shaking battle that lasted deep into the night before the two finally settled down to sleep.

The previous night’s exertion left Kiriya feeling refreshed and energetic. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Looking at the goddess’s adorable sleeping face, he leaned down and kissed her once more before getting out of bed to wash up.

When he opened the door, he found Jeanne preparing breakfast and casually greeted her.

"Yo. Morning."

"G-Good morning."

Jeanne’s busy hands suddenly stiffened.

A faint blush spread across her fair neck, and she answered without looking back.

"Breakfast is ready. Come eat."

Kiriya sat down, ate some bread and fried eggs, then gave her a thumbs-up.

"This is really good. Looks like I’m going to be spoiled from now on. Hehehe..."

The moment Jeanne heard that suggestive little laugh, she lowered her head even further and refused to look at him.

"You should eat more. You need to... recover your strength."

At first, Kiriya found the comment strange.

Then he understood.

He wisely said nothing.

She was easily embarrassed.

Some things had to be taken slowly.

After breakfast, Kiriya tidied himself up and headed out.

He had a date today.

Judging by the foreseeable future, he was probably only going to become busier and busier.

But there was no helping it.

If he wanted everyone to be happy, he would simply have to work a little harder himself.

Kiriya quickened his pace after leaving home and soon reached their meeting place—

Amor Square.

He had only waited a short while when an excited voice called out.

"Kiriya-kun! You’re here!"

Kiriya looked up.

A gray-haired girl in a white dress came jogging toward him, her hair tied into a high ponytail and a faint blush coloring her cheeks.

"Sorry. Did I make you wait long?"

"Not at all..."

Kiriya openly looked her over.

The well-tailored white dress traced Syr’s slender, graceful figure, while her white heels made her appear even taller and more elegant.

With just the right amount of light makeup, she looked like a white lotus blooming beneath the summer sun—fresh, graceful, and effortlessly beautiful.

"Unadorned, yet more beautiful for it... like a lotus rising from clear water."

He sighed appreciatively.

"Y-You mean... me?"

Syr immediately grew shy, while her heart practically floated with happiness.

She had never expected Kiriya, who seemed to spend all his time thinking about becoming stronger, to say something so poetic.

"Of course."

Kiriya swept his gaze around the plaza.

"Who else here deserves that compliment?"

"Th-Thank you."

Syr’s smile became impossibly bright.

"I’m really... really happy."

Never before had the air seemed so sweet.

The whole world suddenly felt filled with the taste of romance.

"Come on! We have a whole city to explore today."

Syr happily took Kiriya’s hand and led him toward one of the bustling streets.

Before long, they stopped at a street-food stall.

"Here, Kiriya-kun. Aaah~~"

Syr picked up a sauce-coated meatball with her fingers and brought it to Kiriya’s lips.

Kiriya obediently opened his mouth.

He ate the meatball ... along with the tips of Syr’s pale fingers.

"Mm. Delicious."

Kiriya nodded as he chewed.

"Y-You...!"

Syr’s face instantly turned scarlet.

"That’s cheating!"

Her legs almost went weak.

She stared at Kiriya with moist, bashful eyes, as though countless words were waiting behind them.

’So this is... what a date feels like?’

Kiriya paid no attention to her mental overload.

He simply picked up another meatball and held it toward her.

"Aaah~~"

Syr’s mind completely crashed.

Following his lead on pure instinct, she opened her mouth, her face already as red as a ripe apple.

And so, right in the middle of the crowded street beneath countless watching eyes, the young man and woman shamelessly fed each other as though nobody else existed, inflicting devastating emotional damage on every single person unfortunate enough to be single nearby.

Time quietly slipped away...