Chapter 164: Even Pixie Doesn’t Know What’s Going On with My Slime Wife

Liam no longer knew how long he had been sitting in front of the computer.

He had finished the report a few minutes ago and, after going over it several times to make sure he hadn’t forgotten any important details, he had finally printed it.

The document was sitting on his desk.

Several pages filled with information about the SS-Rank dungeon.

A dungeon that had originally been classified as S-Rank.

A dungeon that had evolved.

A dungeon with a temporal alteration.

A dungeon inhabited by humanoid creatures from another world.

And several sub-bosses capable of fighting S-Rank hunters.

Liam rested his arms on the desk.

’I’ll just rest for a moment...’

He closed his eyes.

Only a few minutes passed before he fell asleep.

The silence of the office was interrupted by a yawn.

"Uaaah..."

Lydia stretched on the couch.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked around.

She was still in Liam’s office.

Her husband was sitting in front of her, his head resting on his arms.

Lydia smiled.

"Liam?"

Liam slowly opened his eyes.

He raised his head and blinked several times.

"You’re awake?"

"Yeah."

Lydia yawned again.

"How long did I sleep?"

"Not long."

Liam looked at the clock.

"I think about thirty minutes."

Lydia sat up and fixed her hair.

"I needed that."

"Want me to make you some coffee?"

Lydia smiled.

"That would be amazing."

"I need some too."

Liam stood up and walked over to the coffee machine in the corner of the office.

He turned it on.

The sound of the machine filled the room as Liam returned to his desk.

His eyes fell on the report again.

However, this time he wasn’t thinking about the dungeon.

He was thinking about Lydia.

Over the past few days, he had tried to ignore it.

It had been too easy to attribute the strange behavior of her abilities to the dungeon’s alteration.

But the truth was that they had no proof that the two were related.

Lydia had lost control of [Burst].

She had accidentally used [Mosquito’s Horde].

She had consumed the camera by accident.

Then she had stored an Explosive Worm instead of consuming it.

And on several occasions, her abilities seemed to activate in ways that she herself couldn’t control.

Liam frowned.

When the machine finished making the coffee, he looked at Lydia again.

"Lydia, darling."

"Yes?"

"I want to ask you something."

She raised an eyebrow.

"What’s wrong?"

Liam picked up one of the cups and leaned against the desk.

"About your abilities."

Lydia lowered her gaze slightly.

"Ah..."

"I wanted to ask what you think. Do you think we should talk to James and have him investigate what’s happening? Or do you have any idea what it could be?"

Lydia fell silent, staring at her hands.

"I really don’t know, darling."

She sighed.

"I don’t understand what’s happening either."

Liam remained silent.

"But..."

Lydia looked up.

"Have you asked Pix?"

Liam blinked and laughed.

"That’s true."

He lightly slapped his forehead.

"I don’t know why I didn’t think of that sooner."

Lydia smiled.

Liam raised a hand.

"Pix."

There was no response.

"Calling Pix."

Silence.

"Pix, I need you to clear up something important for me."

Finally, a message appeared before his eyes.

[Pix: Liam... What’s happening now?]

Liam smiled.

"I need to know if you have any information about Lydia’s abilities malfunctioning."

A few seconds passed.

[Pix: I have no idea.]

Liam blinked.

[Pix: But I want you to know that it’s not my fault.]

Liam started laughing.

[Pix: I have fully recovered from my mushroom wine addiction.]

[Pix: Besides, I have new glasses now, and I can’t lose them.]

[Pix: So whatever error occurred, it wasn’t my fault.]

Lydia covered her mouth to keep from laughing.

Liam shook his head.

"Pix, we never blamed you."

[Pix: You’d better not.]

"Don’t worry."

Liam smiled.

"I just wanted to know if you’d ever seen anything like this."

[Pix: I’ve never heard of anything like this.]

Pix’s tone seemed more serious this time.

[Pix: Let me analyze the situation.]

[Pix: If I find any information, I’ll contact you.]

Liam nodded.

"Thanks, Pix."

[Pix: You’re welcome.]

The message disappeared.

Lydia looked at Liam.

"Did she tell you anything important?"

"No."

Liam picked up his cup.

"She said she doesn’t know anything about it, but she’s going to investigate."

"I see."

"When she finds something, she’ll contact us."

Lydia nodded.

Liam walked over and handed her the cup of coffee.

"Here you go."

"Thanks, darling."

Lydia held the cup with both hands.

She looked at the foam covering the surface.

Her expression changed, as if something was bothering her.

Liam immediately became concerned.

"What’s wrong?"

Lydia looked up.

"I have a craving for chocolate."

Liam fell silent.

Then he burst out laughing.

"I thought something worse was happening to you!"

Lydia pouted slightly.

"But I want chocolate."

"Okay, okay."

Liam opened one of the drawers in his desk.

Then he pulled out a strawberry chocolate bar.

He held it up in front of her.

"Luckily, a good husband is always prepared to spoil his wife."

Lydia smiled.

"Thank you so much."

She took the chocolate bar.

"You’re my hero."

Liam smiled proudly.

"I know."

Lydia started laughing.

Then she opened the chocolate and took a small piece.

As she ate it, her expression became serious again.

"I don’t think it’s a bad idea to talk to James."

Liam nodded.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Lydia looked at her cup.

"It really bothers me not knowing what’s happening to me."

Liam remained silent.

"I don’t want to feel like a damsel in distress during a mission again."

Those words made Liam frown slightly.

He knew exactly what she meant.

During that dungeon, he had needed to protect her several times.

And although he had never considered her a burden, he understood how frustrating the situation had been for Lydia.

"Then we’ll go see James."

Lydia nodded.

Liam took a sip of his coffee.

"Once we’re done with this, you’ll come with me to deliver the report, and then we’ll go see him."

"Okay."

◇◆◇

A few minutes later, Liam and Lydia were walking through the hallways of the guild headquarters.

Liam carried the report under his arm.

Lydia walked beside him, holding his hand.

The building was much quieter than usual.

Probably because many of the hunters were still out on missions.

As they made their way toward James’s office, a voice made them stop.

"Boss!"

Liam turned his head.

A young man was approaching them.

His face was extremely pale.

He had enormous dark circles under his eyes, and his long black hair was completely disheveled.

Liam immediately recognized the young man. He was one of the hunters Liam had selected to join his squad based on the reports of unassigned hunters that had been given to him.

"Zayn."

Zayn stopped in front of them.

"Sorry I couldn’t go on the mission."

Liam raised an eyebrow.

"Again?"

Zayn scratched the back of his neck.

"I fell asleep."

Lydia looked at him with concern.

"Zayn, I already told you that you need to get enough rest."

"Yeah, yeah. I slept well."

Lydia pointed at his dark circles.

"Does that look like sleeping well to you?"

Zayn smiled awkwardly.

Liam laughed.

"I know you stayed up all night playing video games."

Zayn froze.

"Boss..."

"Don’t lie to me."

Zayn scratched the back of his neck again.

"You caught me."

Lydia shook her head.

"I knew it."

Zayn sighed.

"Okay, okay."

Then he looked at Liam again.

"How did it go?"

His expression became more curious.

"And how are the others?"

Liam studied the young man for a few seconds.

He had read Zayn’s file when he was putting his squad together.

No one had wanted to select Zayn.

He was quite irresponsible.

He had a history of absences, and several reports mentioned his habit of staying up late playing video games.

However, Liam had never thought he was a bad kid.

He simply needed to learn to be more responsible.

"Right now, we’re on our way to take care of something more important."

Zayn tilted his head.

"More important?"

"Yeah. If you want, I can tell you everything in my office afterward."

Liam pointed at his dark circles.

"Although, judging by your face, I’d recommend going home and getting some sleep."

Zayn grimaced.

"But I want to know what happened."

His eyes dropped to the papers Liam was carrying.

"Is that the mission report?"

"Yeah."

"You can give it to me."

Zayn extended his hand.

"I’ll carry it wherever you need to turn it in. I can read it in a matter of seconds."

Liam let out a small laugh.

"That would be helpful."

Zayn smiled.

"Then..."

"But we need to ask Instructor James something."

Liam shook his head.

"Seriously, go home and get some sleep."

Zayn sighed.

"Fine."

He turned around.

"But I’ll wait for you in your office. I want you to tell me everything when you’re done."

"If you’re still awake."

Zayn raised a hand.

"I will be."

Lydia started laughing.

"We’ll see about that."

Zayn smiled and walked away down the hallway.

Liam and Lydia resumed walking.

Lydia was still smiling as they walked.

"I think that kid really needs to sleep."

"Definitely."

Liam gently squeezed her hand.

"First, we’ll turn in the report."

Then he looked toward the end of the hallway.

"And after that, we’ll find out what’s going on with you."

Lydia nodded.

The two of them continued walking together toward James’s office.

Meanwhile, Zayn walked in the opposite direction, completely determined to wait in his boss’s office.

Although, judging by the size of his dark circles, he would probably fall asleep before Liam returned.