Chapter 199 - The Storage Bag and the Ring

Cale sat back up, pulled out a storage bag, and handed it to her.

"What is this..."

He smiled and pulled her close, his hand on her waist, caressing her belly.

"Some safety tools, a few quasi-divine artifacts, some pills for healing, some for cultivation. A few explosives, and of course, tens of artifacts to run away from a bad situation."

Her eyes widened just hearing all this.

"Th-this is too much! I— I can’t take this, Young Master! You should use it yourself."

"Sigh. Just now you called me by my name. Can’t you do it again?"

Shyly, she looked at the ground.

"B-but... I can’t take this. You’ll always be in danger, even more than me. Seeing you have these items will be better for me... Cale..."

He shook his head.

"Nah, I don’t need them, they’re quite useless to me. I am not much of a strategy guy who uses these many tools while fighting. I’m more suited for offense than defense, just take them. There are spiritual stones too, it’ll be a great help."

"Hmm... i-if you insist this much..."

Stroking her hair, he watched as she untied his hair band, letting the hair flow freely down her lap.

"It’s grown so long."

"What, you don’t like them? Should I cut them?" he asked with a smile.

"Ah, no. It’s just surprising to see you with long hair. You look rather charming."

"Hmm, now that I think about it, I never kept long hair before, did I? Well, a xianxia protagonist should have long hair. How else would I aura farm?"

He looked at her.

"You’ve grown too. Looking like a proper lady now."

She pinched his nose.

"Hmph. Pervert, I know what you’re talking about."

"W-what, I’m the pervert? You’re the one who keeps sniffing me every time we meet."

"Y-You..."

Embarrassed, she didn’t speak for some time. Then she said quietly, "Young Master..."

"Hmm?"

"How many ’others’ did you give the same kinds of gifts to? Artifacts and spiritual stones?"

He hid his face, it was like another punch to the gut.

"Tell me, Young Master."

"Uh... well..."

"Cale, tell me. Or else I will—"

He stopped her from getting up.

"I gave it to all of them, okay? Don’t worry. I gave one bag to Rubia too, okay?"

"Huh? You gave it to Lady Rubia too? But isn’t Lady Rubia only fifteen? She doesn’t even leave the lord’s side."

He smiled.

"That is exactly why. She’s the one and only cute little sister I have who has a normal brain in the family. And she’s a Fourth Circle mage at only fifteen. Isn’t she a genius? As expected of my sister! Thank god she didn’t take any of my mother’s traits."

’Of course. She was one of the only siblings who survived the culling of the Bloodmoon Plains, so I need to act like a good big brother now... sigh. Well, her strength and aptitude could be useful in the future, so this is just an investment. If she annoys me later on, I won’t spare her either.’

Cale knew it was going to be tough for Rexa to agree with his ideologies, which he himself wasn’t sure of. But this was the path he had chosen, at least for this life. It was her decision. If she wanted to stay hidden from every fight, he would still help her. But she didn’t say that, and that was good.

’Oh, right. The affinity rings.’

He had gotten these rings before. They were crude, but Cale could pour his own force into them and change their entire structure.

He looked at her.

"Give me your hand."

"H-huh? What are you going to do with my h—"

He took out a ring he had made, attuned to shadow and earth attributes, and slipped it onto her finger.

"Here. This will help you."

And his plan worked.

Seeing him put a ring on her finger, her joy knew no bounds. Why? Because Cale hadn’t even put a ring on Fiora. Rexa was the first.

’Heh, women sure like such things...’

Well, as long as it kept her from killing him, it was a good investment too.

The day passed quickly as they talked, and soon it was already midnight.

Getting up, he grinned. "It’s midnight already. You sure talk a lot."

She smiled back. "It is a maid’s job to keep the master entertained. So of course I will keep you company."

"Sigh. I’m not even paying you. And before, you said Father allowed you to enter that academy. Why didn’t you tell me he wasn’t paying you a single dime?"

"I had enough money."

"Huh? From where?"

She leaned closer and whispered in his ear.

"I learned babysitting and started helping other newly married couples. So I have enough money."

"Huh... babysitting? Weren’t there other good things too? I bet your handmade cakes and all taste the best. Why didn’t you try that?"

"Uhm... it’s for the future."

Hearing that, Cale fell back onto the ground, looked up at the moon, and sighed.

’Oh, heavens above. What kind of test are you giving me this time?’

Later, getting up, they began walking back hand in hand.

"Although you want it, I have no plans for kids yet. They annoy the hell out of me. And seeing how things are going, I’m afraid I might turn into a second version of my own father. So now is not the right time. Let me reach Transcendence first, and then if you want, not just ten, we could have twenty, hehe."

But if he had twenty kids, he himself would run away from the house one day. If even one of them turned out to be like him, that kid would be planning to kill his father in the future for sure!

It was like creating his own death flags.

Who knew how many there would be in total? That scared the fuck out of him.

"H-hey... let’s not do twenty. How about sticking to... two? Yes! Two kids are good."

"NO! You can’t argue with me on this! You already agreed to it. If you break the promise..."

Her grip on his hand tightened.

"A-alright, alright, I understand, okay. Let’s leave that talk for the future."

’She’s not in a stable state of mind, only living at the two extremes of the graph. Oh gods, did I just step on a landmine... sigh.’