Chapter 979: [979] : Arrival

"So you’re planning to ride a personal connection? I’m afraid that’s not going to work. And there’s something you don’t know."

Shin looked genuinely baffled. "Why not? I honestly can’t wrap my head around it. She’s your actual sister. We walk in there, and what, they won’t even feed us? I refuse to believe she’d just leave you hanging when you’re broke and have nothing to your name."

Lucy covered her mouth and let out a small laugh.

"My sister would never abandon me, but she is absolutely not going out of her way for you. She’s an incredibly principled person."

"Last time she was cheated out of a win, she didn’t even go looking for the person who did it."

"That one moment should tell you everything. She’s not the type to work angles or play politics. She and I are basically total opposites. She loves me, of course, but that’s just who she is."

Shin let out a quiet sigh. "So it’s like that. This is going to be a problem. Mage guilds assign missions based on registered magic rank."

"And right now, I have nothing to show them: no spells, no mana reading whatsoever."

"They’re probably not going to hand me a single mission."

Lucy stared at him, caught off guard. It hadn’t even occurred to her that this was what was weighing on him. She tilted her head, puzzled.

"But you’re so powerful, why would you even worry about something like that? Unless... that strength of yours is somehow fake?"

Shin gave her a knuckle noogie right on the top of the head and shot back, "Are you serious right now? How could my strength possibly be fake?"

"It’s just that your magic crystals can’t detect what I have. That’s the whole problem."

"In other words, I’m sitting on a near-limitless amount of power, and nobody can prove it."

"Which means there’s only one real option left: beat your sister in a fight. And then, hehe..."

Lucy went quiet, her expression shifting. She had caught on to how serious this situation actually was and exactly what it could mean.

"You’re... really going to go that far?"

"My sister is fiercely competitive. If you beat her, something... unexpected might happen."

"Like what?"

Lucy gave him a playful look and didn’t say another word.

She murmured quietly to herself, though—low enough that she thought he couldn’t hear.

"How could he possibly beat someone at her level? My sister knows four types of God-Slaying magic. She’s one of the most feared fighters on half a continent."

"She doesn’t show it day to day, but she did say once that if any man could actually defeat her, she’d marry him on the spot."

"But Shin really is powerful. What if he actually pulled it off? Then... what would I do? Maybe I should go to the Emperor myself first and say I want to get married before she can—" ℴℴ𝘮

Lucy’s face went deep red. She glanced over at Shin, and unfortunately, Shin glanced back at exactly the same moment.

Their eyes met.

Her mind went completely blank. She had absolutely no idea what to do with herself.

She snapped her gaze away and stared very hard at the ground, pretending to think about absolutely nothing.

Shin watched her acting strange and had no idea what was going on.

He shook his head slowly. "...We should probably get moving. For real this time."

Lucy nodded without another word.

With a destination now locked in, the two of them set off without stopping. Because they actually knew where they were going this time, they covered the distance in roughly half the time it had taken them to wander over here in the first place. Before long, they were standing at the entrance to Guild Four-Two-Zero.

Lucy walked straight inside without a single backward glance, leaving Shin standing alone by the door.

It hit him immediately. He’d been played. Lucy had never had any intention of using the back door at all.

Shin stepped through the entrance. Inside, the hall was lively. Loud conversations, the clatter of equipment, the general controlled chaos of an active guild at work.

And standing in the middle of it all, there she was.

A young woman who was clearly older than Lucy, more settled in her presence, but still carrying that unmistakable bloom of youth. Golden hair, sharp eyes, and a smile that broke wide open the moment she caught sight of Lucy.

"Lucy! Of all places, I honestly didn’t expect you to come all the way out here on your own."

"But there’s something you should know. The Emperor has already issued a search warrant for you. You snuck out again, didn’t you?"

Then her gaze shifted briefly to Shin, and she added more softly, "Is it him? Well, I want you to know, Father really does mean well. I understand why you ran, but he’s genuinely worried. He came all the way out here to tell me himself, and he looked absolutely heartbroken."

"Whatever you need, you can always come to me. I think Jack may have pushed things too far that day, and Father has already had second thoughts about the whole arrangement."

"It’s just that I’ve been caught up in something pressing, or I’d have gone looking for you myself."

"Though, this Jack fellow honestly doesn’t seem all that bad from the outside."

The other guild members nearby didn’t know the backstory. Only that this girl was their Vice Master’s younger sister, and apparently a Princess at that.

An old man with snow-white hair leaned forward with a warm grin. "Alice, so this little one is really your sister? The Princess herself, right?"

"Little Lucy! Do you remember me? We met when you were very young. I believe you must’ve been around five or six at the time."

Two women stood nearby as well, along with several men, all gravitating closer.

"Little Lucy, do you know who I am? I used to play with you for hours when you were small! What brings you all the way here? Did you come to see your sister?"

"I can’t believe how much you’ve grown. Time really does fly. I still remember back then, the Guild Master was always going on about how much he missed you."

"And the Vice Master... still as radiant as ever. So young, so gracious, so—"

As York kept going, she gradually noticed Alice’s eyes settling on her.

The next thing York knew, she was embedded in the wall.

Shin stared, jaw completely dropped. Everyone else in the hall somehow looked like they’d seen this exact scenario play out before and felt no particular need to react.

Before he could process any of it, two people had already grabbed his arms from both sides.

"Hey there, kid. Who are you exactly? You Lucy’s boyfriend? Not bad, not bad at all."

Shin had no idea how to explain any of this. He glanced over at Lucy for help.

Lucy, naturally, was paying him absolutely no attention.

"Sister, how did you know I’d snuck out?"

"You really have to ask? Father came here personally. He told me everything. He looked genuinely upset, and he asked me to let him know if anything came up."

"There’s a chance Jack made some unreasonable demands at the time. But Father has already reversed course on the whole arrangement."

"Still, what really matters isn’t what Jack did. The real question is why Father didn’t simply hold his ground from the beginning. And that only has one explanation."

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