Chapter 258: I Hate You, But I Also... Love You

After that, all of them settled on the sofas inside the guest room.

Though, only Luke and the guild managers were here, not Aurielle and the others.

"Sir Luke, I would like to invite you to collaborate with us." Chalybs Cinder, the manager of the Blacksmith Guild, said with a big smile.

Luke just nodded and looked toward the others.

Seeing his behavior, none of them took it to heart. After all, with the earlier involvement of the Saintess and Templar Knights,

Luke had the capital to be arrogant.

He also noticed this expression on their faces, but didn’t clarify that the Luke standing before them was not the same Luke.

It was Luke who had B rank strength.

And he was also meeting with them because of their earlier goodwill. Or else he wouldn’t even meet with them.

Of course, the Alchemist Guild didn’t come into that.

Seeing that the other three also wanted to make him promote their guilds, he presented his side of the deal as well.

"Sir Chalybs." He looked straight into his eyes.

"I want armor and weapons of E rank and D rank." With that, he told him the number.

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗

║ GRAND TOTAL ║

╠══════════════════════╦═══════════╦════════════╦═══════════╣

║ Order ║ Quantity ║ Price/Set ║ Total ║

╠══════════════════════╬═══════════╬════════════╬═══════════╣

║ E-Rank (Bronze) ║ 10,000 ║ 8 Gold ║ 80,000 ║

║ D-Rank (Silver) ║ 1,000 ║ 400 Gold ║ 400,000 ║

╠══════════════════════╬═══════════╬════════════╬═══════════╣

║ GRAND TOTAL ║ 11,000 ║ — ║ 480,000 ║

╚══════════════════════╩═══════════╩════════════╩═══════════╝

The price he calculated roughly would be this.

And why he asked for E rank and D rank gear?

Because he didn’t have that, and for below, he still had thousands of sets.

Chalybs also calculated the price, which was roughly 500k gold coins. That was a huge amount, which could even freak out a Count’s forces.

So he lost in thought and started doing some calculations.

Seeing this, Luke shifted his attention from him to Hermes Bane, the manager of the Alchemist Guild.

"Sir Hermes." He greeted him again, at which he returned the greeting with smile.

"Here is my deal toward The Wolf’s Bane guild." With that he told him the list.

╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗

║ POTION QUANTITY ║

╠══════════════════╦══════╦══════════════════════════════╣

║ Potion ║ Rank ║ Quantity ║

╠══════════════════╬══════╬══════════════════════════════╣

║ Health ║ E ║ 1,000,000 ║

║ Aether ║ E ║ 1,000,000 ║

║ Health ║ D ║ 250,000 ║

║ Aether ║ D ║ 250,000 ║

╠══════════════════╬══════╬══════════════════════════════╣

║ TOTAL ║ — ║ 1,000,000 Gold ║

╚══════════════════╩══════╩══════════════════════════════╝

But the number was double, 1m gold coins grand total.

Luke did this knowingly. First, he needed E rank and above potions.

After all, his healing spring and mana well weren’t suitable for Bronze Knights and above.

Second, he was giving a chance to him.

Considering his earlier absence when the other managers showed up to protect his territory, but he didn’t.

So if he really wanted to work with him, then he had to at least bleed this much money.

Hermes also understood this after checking the price.

Which was even hard for him, and he had to ask for help from the main guild.

Fortunately, he could patch up the relationship between them with money, which was good for him.

Because if the main guild found out that Hero Luke didn’t want to work with them due to his fault, then his punishment would not be light at all.

"I accept, Sir Luke." Both Chalybs and Hermes said at the same time.

"Good." Luke smiled, before turning his gaze toward the demi-human, a royal tiger woman, Raya Tempest.

From her face, Luke could clearly see that she didn’t care about all this stuff and was doing this because her family had given the order.

"Lady Raya." He said with a genuine smile.

Because his clone did mention that from start to end, she helped his territory during his absence.

Even though she had done it because Aurora and she had become friends, still, he was grateful for her.

"Lady Raya, my demand is very simple."

"Anyone registering as an adventurer from Blackstone or my territory will get 10% more benefit from your Adventurer guild for one year."

He also added that if the adventurer changed their alignment after this, then this benefit would be removed and they wouldn’t be able to get it back.

Hearing Luke’s words, Raya raised her eyebrow in surprise.

Because she didn’t expect Luke to ask something from her as well. Even though this money would be paid by her family and the guild,

still, she was surprised.

Though she became even more so when he presented the deal.

Which would clearly attract new adventurers to his territory, making the economy and other sectors grow.

While also placing a safekeeping method, so they wouldn’t be able to exploit the benefits.

Thinking this, she smiled before announcing her answer, "I agree."

Upon this, Luke also smiled.

After the deal was done, all four left, along with Jasper.

Who was grinning all the time, since he got on Luke’s good side earlier and now he was getting the benefit of it.

"Sigh, I want to rest." Seeing their departing figures, Luke sighed.

Because yesterday daytime, he spent all his time making love with Theia.

And right after that, they left for the territory. So from yesterday he hadn’t slept.

Even though he was now Silver Knight level, a real titan, he still held his old habit of sleep.

As he was thinking all of those, he heard a familiar voice, which immediately removed all of his sleepiness.

"Luke."

Aurielle called out slowly to him, before walking inside the guest room.

After getting close to Luke, she held his face with her soft hand and looked straight into his blue eyes.

"Where were you all this time?" She asked worriedly.

Even though earlier at the market she didn’t show any of these signs,

only she knew how much worried she had been all this time.

How many nights she had cried when she found, after waking from her sleep, that he was not beside her.

"Did you not think of me even once?" She asked again, this time tears came out from her eyes.

"I did." He wiped away those tears gently, only to had his hand slapped away.

"Liar!" She shouted, clearly angry at him.

"If you did! then why didn’t you come back!" She yelled with a face full of tears and forcefully grabbed both of his collars.

"For 20 days, you were gone!"

"But for me, it was 600 days, inside that Time Chamber!" She brought her face close to his, their noses even pressed against each other.

Still Luke remained quiet. He let Aurielle bring out her frustration, her fear, everything at him.

Since he knew he was at fault somewhere.

Even though he never calculated that he would sleep for 20 days, still he had done his breakthrough without telling her.

Which he knew was the right decision. After all, too many uncertainties were linked with his Origin skill, and even more when he got the Origin Titan fragment.

"Sorry." He only said this, before bringing both of his hand slowly around her waist and wrapping around it.

"I don’t need your SORRY!" Aurielle shouted and tried to break free from his hug, but couldn’t able to succeed.

Since she didn’t use her strength at all.

"I hate you..." She whispered those words, while burying her face in his chest.

"I am sorry." But Luke only repeated this, while keep caressing her back gently and lovingly.

"I hate you..." She again whispered those words, but this time she also wrapped her hands around Luke tightly. Clearly didn’t want to lose him again.

"But I also love you." She whispered those words very slowly, that if they were not this close, then even he wouldn’t be able to hear them.

Hearing this, a smile appeared upon his lips. "I also love you." He kissed her head, before bringing her body into an even tighter hug.

Like she was doing with him now.

Where none of them wanted to separate from each other anymore.