Chapter 95: Seven

Amara suddenly turned toward Aldric and Aelia. "I would like to speak with Chris alone. Could you give us a moment?"

Aldric nodded before leaving the room, while Aelia followed him, closing the door behind her.

Once they were alone, Amara turned her attention back to Chris.

"I know you have enemies in the White City."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "You did some deep investigation into me, didn’t you?"

Amara didn’t reply, simply waiting for his answer.

"More or less," he finally said.

"Are you planning to deal with them?"

Chris shrugged. "Probably. Eventually."

"Then why haven’t you used the authority I gave you to go to the White City and settle things?"

His expression immediately became annoyed.

"Is this another one of your tests?"

"No. I genuinely want to know."

Chris stared at her for a moment before sighing.

"I don’t need someone else’s help to deal with my own problems. I’ll take care of them myself when the time is right."

Amara smiled, as if she had expected that answer.

Chris’s expression became even more annoyed.

"Why are you asking me if you already know the answer?"

"I expected you to say that, but I wanted to hear it from you."

Chris shook his head. "Are we done?"

"Not yet. There’s one more thing I want to ask you."

"What is it?"

"I want you to take me into the royal dungeon with you."

Chris blinked, looking at her in surprise.

"Why?"

"I want to become stronger."

For the first time since meeting her, Chris carefully scanned the Queen.

And what he saw left him stunned.

[Mage - Mythic-Rank - Level 62.]

He stared at the information for a few seconds, almost wondering if he had read it incorrectly. Then he checked again.

A Mythic rank!

This was the first time he had encountered another Mythic-ranked individual.

I need her to be almost a head shorter than him

"I never expected you to be Mythic rank," he muttered.

Amara’s eyes widened.

For the first time since he had met her, she was genuinely surprised. She quickly stood up and approached him. Despite wearing high heels, she was still almost a head shorter than Chris. She grabbed his collar and looked up at him.

"How do you know that?"

Chris glanced down at her hand before meeting her eyes.

"My system allows me to see other people’s levels."

"That’s impossible!"

"I know. But I can still do it."

Amara carefully observed his expression, trying to determine whether he was telling the truth. However, he didn’t seem to be lying.

After a moment, she released his collar and returned to her throne.

"Interesting..."

She sat down and looked at him again.

"I want to enter the royal dungeon secretly. I want you to take me with you."

"Why?"

"You don’t need to know. Just help me, and I’ll reward you."

Chris considered it for a moment. It wasn’t particularly difficult for him, and he didn’t see any reason to refuse.

"Fine."

With that, he turned around and headed for the door.

After he left, Amara remained seated on her throne, looking at the door he had just closed.

A small smile gradually appeared on her face.

"You’re even more interesting than I thought."

...

After leaving the palace, Chris regrouped with Aelia and Aldric before returning to his residence.

The three of them sat in the living room, enjoying a few beers and relaxing after another busy day. Meanwhile, Aelia went to check on the twins.

Aldric suddenly seemed to remember something and slapped his forehead.

"Ah! I almost forgot! There’s a big auction taking place in the capital tomorrow. You should definitely attend!"

Chris looked at him before remembering something himself.

"Speaking of auctions, you still owe me quite a lot of money."

Aldric smiled wryly.

"Yes, I know. I’ll definitely pay you back soon. I’ve already sold a lot of the crystals to my own country, but there’s simply too much to sell to one nation. I’ll need to find other buyers."

Chris wasn’t particularly interested in the details.

"Just make sure you cover my expenses at the auction."

"Of course!"

Chris wasn’t especially interested in auctions, but he could use some better weapons. He might also find a few suitable gifts for the girls.

More importantly, it could be a good opportunity to get the twins out of the house and help them change their mood.

After a few more rounds of beer, Aldric finally stood up.

"I’ll get you an official invitation and have it delivered tomorrow morning."

"Sure."

Aldric waved goodbye before leaving.

Chris, who had been relaxing on the sofa, soon started feeling sleepy. He leaned back, closed his eyes, and eventually fell asleep.

...

He slowly opened his eyes in the middle of the night, feeling thirsty.

However, after looking around, he couldn’t help but smile wryly and shake his head.

On his right, Aelia was hugging his arm, her head resting on his shoulder as she slept soundly.

On his left were the twins. Astra was hugging his other arm, resting her head on his shoulder, while Stella was hugging him directly, her head resting against his chest.

It seemed that sometime after he had fallen asleep, they had moved him to the bed and climbed in beside him.

Ever since that night when the twins had begged him to sleep beside them, they had started sneaking into his bed almost every night.

Chris didn’t know exactly why, but sleeping beside him seemed to help them rest more peacefully after everything they had been through. He didn’t mind, so he simply allowed them to do as they pleased.

Seeing that getting up would be difficult, he took out a bottle of water from his storage ring. Then, using Dark Gwenor, he gently lifted it and brought it to his mouth.

After drinking his fill, he put the bottle away, closed his eyes, and fell asleep again.

...

"Big bad man! Big bad man! Wake up!"

Chris slowly opened his eyes, still feeling groggy, as the twins shook his body.

"What is it? Did something happen?"

He looked at them with concern.

Usually, the twins would never wake him up. In fact, they would often tell him to sleep longer since he worked every day and barely had any free time.

It was also one of the reasons Aelia had joined him during the investigation, although she would never admit it. She had simply said that she wanted to exercise and fight.

So, having the twins wake him up so suddenly felt rather unusual.

"Big bad man! It’s Saturday! It’s your day off! We want you to take us shopping!" Astra exclaimed, continuing to shake him.

Stella lowered her head toward his arm before suddenly biting his shoulder.

"Augh! Are you a dog!? Why are you biting me?"

"Humph! Then why are you still in bed? Quickly get up!"

Chris shook his head in exasperation before slowly getting out of bed.

He knew that, for some reason, the twins never wanted to leave the house without him. They always waited until he had some free time so he could take them outside.

He had even tried getting them some guards so they would feel more comfortable going out without him, but they always refused.

Perhaps because of everything that had happened in the past, they didn’t trust guards or anyone else enough to leave the house without him under any circumstances.

Chris knew he would eventually have to deal with this issue, but for now, he decided to let them be. They had experienced enough terrible things recently, and they still needed time to recover.

He smiled at them.

"Okay, okay. I’ll take you outside."

"Yeeey!"

The twins jumped up and high-fived each other before grabbing one of his hands each and dragging him out of the room.

...

By the time they reached the living room, Aelia had already prepared breakfast for everyone.

They all sat down and started eating, but before they could finish, a knock suddenly came from the front door.

Chris stood up and went to see who it was.

When he opened the door, he found a soldier he hadn’t seen before. The man was wearing a military uniform and holding what appeared to be an envelope.

"S-s-sir Ashen Rain! Please excuse me! This is for you!"

The soldier almost jumped backward when he saw Chris before quickly bowing and offering the envelope with both hands.

Chris facepalmed.

It seemed that Amara and Aldric were taking that nickname rather seriously.

Shaking his head, he accepted the envelope.

"Thank you. You can leave."

"Y-YES!"

The soldier immediately straightened his back, saluted, and ran away as if he had just been granted amnesty.

"Big bad man, everyone seems afraid of you these days," Astra teased from behind him.

"Yes!" Stella nodded repeatedly. "No wonder you’re a big bad man!"

Chris sighed before looking at the envelope.

He had long gotten used to the twins calling him that, and it didn’t seem like they had any intention of stopping anytime soon.

He opened the envelope and took out the letter inside.

"What is it? More work?" Aelia asked.

Chris smiled and shook his head.

"No. It’s an invitation to tonight’s auction."

He had almost forgotten that Aldric had mentioned it the previous evening.

"WHAT!?"

"LET US SEE!"

Astra and Stella immediately jumped away from the table and snatched the invitation from his hand.

They brought their heads together and quickly read through it.

"YEEEEES! An auction!" Astra shouted excitedly.

"Finally, something fun!" Stella looked just as excited.

They both turned toward Chris.

"Big bad man! You have to take us!"

Chris pinched the bridge of his nose as he contemplated his life choices.

"I already intended to take you. Just calm down, please."

"YEEEESSS!"

The twins started jumping around like little children.

Aelia chuckled at Chris’s expression.

He looked at her. He knew she cared about him quite a lot, but sometimes he wondered whether she was enjoying his suffering a little too much.

"Let’s go! We need new clothes for the auction!" Astra grabbed his hand.

"I need new shoes!" Stella added excitedly.

Chris sighed. "Fine, fine. Let’s go."

The twins immediately dragged him toward the door, while Aelia followed behind them, watching the scene with amusement.

...

A limousine was waiting outside their residence.

It was the personal transportation the palace had provided for him because of his work.

At first, Chris had used Azreon to travel everywhere, but the dragon was simply too frightening for ordinary people. Eventually, he had to stop using him.

The palace then provided him with a flying mount that wasn’t nearly as intimidating. Unfortunately, Azreon seemed to get angry whenever Chris used another mount, so that arrangement didn’t last long either.

In the end, the palace had given him an armored limousine.

It was spacious, comfortable, and sturdy enough to withstand attacks from powerful warriors.

An older man with gray hair stepped out of the vehicle as soon as he spotted Chris. He straightened his back and saluted.

"Sir!"

"At ease."

Chris waved his hand.

He still felt awkward whenever someone saluted him. After all, he wasn’t really a member of the army. He had told the man numerous times that there was no need to salute him every time they met, but the man never listened.

Then, Chris raised an eyebrow as he remembered something.

"By the way, Seven, why are you here? Isn’t today your day off?"

The man’s name was Seven.

And no, it wasn’t a code name or anything like that. His actual name was Seven.

Chris had been completely stunned when he first found out, thinking it had to be some kind of a joke.

"Sir! I received orders from the palace to be available for you today."

"Huh? Why?"

"I don’t know, sir. They simply told me that you might need my services today."

Chris shook his head.

’That woman... Is she really a prophet or something? How can she predict everything?’

He did, in fact, need transportation today.

The group approached the vehicle and climbed inside.

As soon as the twins entered, their eyes widened in amazement.

They quickly started examining the interior, pressing almost every button they could find.

"What does this do?" Astra asked while looking at one of the buttons. She didn’t even wait for anyone to answer before pressing it.

A television screen suddenly rolled out from the opposite side of the limousine.

"Coooool!"

"What does this do?" Stella asked, looking at another button.

Just like her sister, she pressed it before anyone could reply.

*Click!*

A small compartment opened in the wall of the vehicle, revealing several rows of soda cans and all kinds of snacks.

"Jackpot!"

Chris watched them in astonishment.

He had never known there was a television or even a compartment filled with drinks and snacks inside the vehicle.

He had never been interested enough to press any of those buttons himself.

"Where to, sir?"

Seven’s voice suddenly pulled him out of his thoughts.

"The girls want to go shopping, so take us somewhere good."

Chris had no idea where they should go, but Seven should know the capital much better than he did.

"Certainly, sir!"

The old man replied confidently before starting the engine.

The limousine slowly pulled away from the residence, taking them toward the shopping district.