Chapter 708: A rumor

"What I can do for you, however, is help you cross the rift to the central landmass. There are plenty of places to explore there, and many ruins, not to mention the beautiful weather. You will have a much easier time there."

Rina nodded without giving it much thought. She would give anything to leave this godforsaken desert region.

"I will take you up on that offer."

She didn’t even try arguing with him about how unfairly he was treating them. It was not like there was anything she could do.

’Now I’m stuck with these brutes.’

She didn’t like the idea of being the only girl in a group with four guys either, but once again, unfortunately, things were out of her control. ’Dammit,’ she cursed inwardly.

Despite that, she couldn’t bring herself to hate Elion; perhaps she had been conditioned to think too highly of him by the three first years’ constant words of praise.

Regardless, Nora had tended to her cohort’s injuries, so that was something to take home at least, though the healer was sweating profusely when she was done.

She immediately retired to her tent, and moments later, Cole, Mayumi, and Kali returned.

"Well, that was tedious," Kali complained as she floated into the camp from above, her dress wafting around because of the still wind.

"Well?" Rina asked.

"It’s just as you thought," Cole explained. "They were being held against their will. Though we can’t do much for the psychological damage they were subjected to, I told them they were free now, and they were very grateful."

Cole finished, momentarily recalling the four tearful women.

Rina nodded. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me." Cole shook his head.

Bit by bit, people began to retire to their tents. Maya and her cohort finished setting up their own before slipping away as well, most of them, at least.

Tomorrow was bound to be a long day, so that wasn’t surprising. The second-years did the same, and Rina as well.

"There’s no need for any of you to keep watch," Elion told them. "Kali and I don’t exactly need much sleep, so we should be fine between the two of us."

Rina smiled. "Thank you," she said before slipping away, though he wondered what she would do about her broken spear.

Oftentimes, people kept spares, if they had a storage ring, that is. Though the spare weapon would rarely ever be of the same grade and quality as the main weapon.

It was like Elion losing Kurogoroshi. Where exactly was he supposed to find a weapon of similar rarity? He would be hard-pressed to ever find a similar weapon anywhere else.

’I wonder if there could be a fragment of Kurogoroshi here,’ he thought.

The chances were very low, but he didn’t dismiss the possibility entirely. He would certainly be delighted to find one, but it was a fool’s dream as things stood.

Elion suddenly heard light snoring.

He looked down and realized that someone had gotten extremely comfortable within his arms. Isolde was fast asleep.

He smiled gently and brushed a strand of her light blonde hair from her face, looking down at her.

"She looks even cuter while she sleeps," he said, gently tugging the pointed end of her left ear between his thumb and index finger.

"It doesn’t look like she is going to wake up anytime soon," Mira said as she pulled the underside of her dress beneath her, sitting down on the open spot beside him on the platform.

"Mira," Elion said, giving her a smile. He pulled a hand away from Isolde as gently as he could and brushed Mira’s cheek, tracing her jawline, looking at the weariness in her expression. "You look tired."

She sighed, tilting her head into his palm. "I am tired."

"Why don’t you go sleep, like everyone else?"

It was only him, Tessa, Mira, Mayumi, and Kali now. The others had all closed themselves off in their tents.

"I missed you," Mira said, her smile turning into a naughty grin. "You can’t expect me to sleep when you are right before me, right?"

Elion smiled. "What did you have in mind?"

"Oh, I don’t know." She slipped her pale index finger over the low collar of her dress, tugging it down and showing him just a hint of her pale bosom. "It’s been too long, don’t you think?"

Elion chuckled. "It certainly has been."

She looked exhausted, and yet, as usual, she was never one to shy away from a night of excitement with him. When it came to that, at least, she was always brimming with energy.

Tessa clicked her tongue, walking over and stopping in front of the pair. She crossed her arms over her chest. "I’m starting to think you’ve forgotten about me. Seriously, I didn’t expect the saying about how men forget you after marrying to actually be true."

"Who said I forgot about you?" Elion chuckled, shamelessly reaching for her upper thigh and gripping it in one hand. He squeezed and pulled as she attempted to pull away.

"What are you doing!?" she protested.

"What?" Elion asked. "You can’t have forgotten how easily you were defeated last time, even after putting up all that bravado."

A furious crimson blush erupted across Tessa’s tinted cheeks. "Y-you got lucky, is all," she said, though even she was not convinced by her own words.

"Oh?" Elion raised a brow, pulling her closer and reaching around her toned thigh until he gripped a good portion of the underside of her springy ass.

Tessa bit her lip.

Elion wondered if he would be able to take them both to bed. Mira would easily agree. This wouldn’t be the first time she would be partaking in a threesome.

Tessa, however, he wasn’t so sure about. It would always be about boundaries and what each of them was comfortable with.

"Say, Tess," he began, a mischievous smile playing at his lips, "there was a certain rumor going around back at the academy. A bunch of people used to say you were into women. How true was that?"

"W-what!" The blush on her cheeks seemed to flare wildly. "W-where did you hear such a thing?" she protested. "Of course it’s not true! I-it’s just... all the guys were so annoying and perverted, so I usually avoided them, and well, I actually ended up being swindled into a harem by one of those perverts."

She meant him, of course.

"And now I am all yours!" she added quickly.

After a moment, she cleared her throat, considering her words hesitantly. "Though there is that one time Lyra and I kissed."

She quickly looked away. Elion’s jaw dropped, and so did Mira’s.

"It was just one time, okay!" Tessa shouted after realizing that Elion had been quiet for a bit too long. "And it was Lyra! She caught me by surprise and pounced at me without consent! It was brief, and nothing else happened, I swear!"

Lyra was a close friend of Isolde’s from the academy, but he would never have expected something like this to have happened with her and Tessa.

Perhaps someone had seen the brief exchange and spread the news, or maybe Lyra had done it herself.

People would sometimes go to such lengths when it came to unrequited love, after all.

However, from what Elion recalled, wasn’t Lyra rather protective of Isolde? Did she have similar intentions toward her as well?

Perhaps after failing to slip into Tessa’s bed, she had decided to try her luck with the shy Isolde instead. After all, it was easy to think that she was an easy target.