C51-Aftermath

Name: Aizel Kadashi | Age: 19 | Level: 47

Title: Gold-rank Hunter (S-)

SE: 0 | HP: 547

Race: Crimson Were-Dragon

Bonded Souls:

● Lisa Kadashi

● Vanessa Kadashi

● Valerie Kadashi

Redvelia — Wild lands.

「 Morning, of his 38th day on Geas. 」

That last stunt with the overcharged (Discharge) managed to give him six levels. He exploded a lot of goblinoids in the end, but now he understood why Pops did it. It was just not worth the effort to get his lightning to avoid the larger crystals. It was hard enough having to avoid it jumping towards the crowd over the wall.

'Fucking idiots… They could at least have left their metal stuff behind. I clearly remember it being a point in at least two briefings. Turns out, if you tell the hunters, don't look, they take it as an invitation to stare…'

Valerie and Vanessa gained five, and Lisa just one during the whole mission. Mainly because she had been flying around healing the idiots who could not follow a simple plan.

They had lost four Hunters in total, not because of the plan. But because the first two left their formation and went to try their luck by themselves in the woods. By the time the team of the first one released the red signal scroll, he was already dead. The second one was a bronze in charge of the scrolls and did not even manage to release a signal before being eaten alive.

Jumping headfirst into a goblinoid-infested forest at night, while they were being lured in from more than thirty clicks away. And leaving the range at which Lisa could jump in and lift them up with (Swarming Grasp). Was beyond stupid.

The third one that died went to try to solo a hobgoblin to impress a girl, according to his party, and the hobgoblin slapped his head away with a large club, killing him on the spot. The hunters around him did not even bother to use a red signal, having nothing much left to heal without a head.

The fourth one was the only tragedy. A hobgoblin rushed a defensive formation that was composed mostly of bronze ranks. The creature broke through and defeated them extremely fast. Another party saw this and released a red signal, because the team being assaulted did not manage to get one out. By the time Lisa reached them, one of them was already dead. And the rest needed to be taken to the temple right away.

She did not take them to him because it happened at the south wall and the temple was closer. Moreover, by the look of things, they would not have managed to reach Aizel alive even while being carried by Lisa.

Compared to the normal missions the guild runs, this was considered an absolute success. A siege like that would kill at least half the Hunter population under normal conditions. Having said that. Aizel expected more. A lot more.

He even got bored and did nothing until the cleanup at the end. Even if he had been fighting with the rest, there is a really high chance that would have resulted in more casualties. Given how overconfidence was probably what fuck them up in the end. Seeing him in action could have given them a false sense of security.

But he understood that this was just for practice. The main dish was still waiting for him north of the shield.

However, Aizel was not feeling particularly happy with the performance of the Hunters. No one should have died. And the north had more hobgoblins and orcs. A lot of changes were needed. And he doubted most hunters were up to the task.

'They were easy to lure… We can easily get rid of the goblins by putting on traps. The hobgoblins are too strong, and the Orcs too smart for that to work on them. But if a single hobgo managed to fuck them up…'

"Welcome to Autumn, Love." Lisa woke up first and gave him a deep kiss with some tongue for good measure.

"Good morning, girls. Enjoyed last night?" Aizel asked as he stretched his arms and legs.

"The killing or the reward?" Valerie asked, referring to the ravaging each one of them received after the siege-raid.

"Thanks!" Aizel said, getting all warm inside because of what she called wild sex in the middle of who the fuck knows where on a mountain plateau overlooking Redvelia.

"The Hunters worked so well it's hard to believe," Vanessa said; he gave her a slow nod in agreement. There was no reason to spread the gloom around.

"Hey, question. Where is Neine going to fit in this little nest of ours? She's not as small as me, where I can just tuck in between all of you." Valerie asked, not even a hint of shame or doubt in her tone.

"What makes you think the blondie will want to join? Since apparently you already approve of her, and like her enough." He asked Valerie with a smug smile.

"Well. She came running after you from The Death Valley north of Grodvenira." Valerie began counting with her fingers. "She seems to hate men in general but is fine with you, like I was.

She said that she would not comfort you, but seeks your comfort, like when she went straight to you after returning from her mission, without knowing that you had the skills to help her.

And she did that crazy mission after you explained it to her, unlike many others who could, but did not accept it. And she's crazy hot, like Vanessa levels of hot."

"What about me?" Lisa asked with fake anger while furrowing her brows.

"I compared them because of their skin tone and breast size; you are stupid levels of hot, not crazy. No wonder you used a veil." Valerie stated, not even having to think of a response.

Aizel did not make any comments on that; he was not about to compare them. It was like comparing masterpieces, your favorite foods or songs. They were different and perfect in his eyes, in their own unique ways.

"So…" Valerie said while pocking his chest with her index finger. Playing with her feet in the air as she lay on his chest, waiting for what he had to say about Neine.

The other two turned towards him, but he was not going to answer that just yet and needed to give it some thought. So he took a small pause to put his feelings and ideas in order before giving them an answer. If he just spoke up, he would do the same routine of asking over and over again if they were okay with it, and probably end up just courting the girl.

Unlike Nadia, who ran to the hills and left him with a lot of time to think. Neine was part of their party.

Aizel took a deep breath and exhaled before responding. "I will not chase her too much; yes, I like her. Yes, I would love to have her with us, and I want to mount her like a maniac. That being said… She's like a butterfly. If I try to catch her or pursue her too much, she will fly away…well, run, in her case. So please don't tease her in the beginning. Let her see if she wants us.

Because, this not my family, it is ours, and even if everything that Valerie said is true—and I'm not saying it is—that only involves me. She would have to fall in love with not one, but four people. That is not easy. She does not seem like the kind of girl that engages in casual sex."

"What makes you think that what Val said is not true?" Vanessa asked.

Aizel took a moment to remember all the points Valerie had made, and offer his counterargument. "She was tired of her party, and she was being assaulted by a monster when I rescued her; that could have fucked something in her brain. The siege-raid was her way out, while making some silver.

She did not look for me when she came back. I looked for her before thinking. And her brain was high on… chemicals, happy juices that are released when running for long times, so even if our actions seemed romantic, she was probably not thinking straight.

Neine was perfect for the mission. Her were-race was perfect for the mission. She will get a cut of the entire battle without fighting once; I explained that to her: one great effort for one large gain. She said that running was her specialty, so the danger level was lower than some of the others that use their speed for fighting."

"True…" Lisa said with a pout as she realized that he was probably right.

"What about Nadia?" Vanessa asked while biting her lip.

"She's not like Neine." Valerie shook her head. "I bet you she can sleep on the floor for the rest of her life and be fine with it. She's already in love with Aizel." Valerie said before he could respond.

"That's not what I meant, but… Fair." Vanessa chuckled. "The fucking plan worked!" She added while smiling and rolling to her side and punching the air.

"Yes, it worked," Aizel said plainly.

"You don't sound happy," Lisa said.

"You don't look happy," Valerie added.

"It might seem amazing from your point of view, but I expected fewer deaths. And the fucking nobles have me on edge… They will look at what we did, and think they can improve upon it. They can't. Thousands of winters of Earth warfare tell me as much."

"True." Lisa nodded while furrowing her brows, asking him to elaborate with her expression alone.

"If they fuck with the large raid, it will fail. A lot more will die. I don't want their blood on my hands because of someone else's negligence. So I can either fuck off and let them fuck themselves, or I can help them… I can see it as clearly as I saw my fight with Pops the moment Lisa and I did the (Bind).

The lordling will come and be pissed off because his little sister will try to fuck me; he will try to pull me into his ranks. She into her bed. They will offer me silver, armies, lands, marriage.

If I accept, they will pull me into their wars. If I decline, they will hunt me and die trying. The king will be pissed, the story repeats, then the emperor will be pissed…

When we come back to Redvelia to claim our reward, the Dwarf would have already given his position to the Mithril man; he will promote me to platinum on the spot. The gate dude I scared comes to apologize because now I'm seen as a Hunter lord."

"…"

"What?" He said as they were all staring at him.

"Can you see the future?" Lisa asked.

"If I could, we would not be in this position. I never would have opened my mouth about a raid, because it would lead to this. I would just have kept hunting and getting paid, draining each of the towns north before moving on to whatever the fuck the other shields are."

"…"

"But if I had done that, I would have never met Valerie." He paused and gave Valerie a deep kiss; she smiled and returned the gesture. "So it's okay: break camp, we will claim our reward, and then go south to Pops. Before the lordlings arrive, the goblins will pose no threat this winter, so my vow is complete.

Fuck the big raid. If they alter the plan, I have plausible deniability. It was made before the dungeon was confirmed, and I did not know how it worked, or even of its probable existence. Had I known, I would have altered the plan." Aizel looked at Lisa with his last statement to look for confirmation.

"True," Lisa said with a nod. Aizel began to sit up, but then he realized something he had not taken into account.

"Fuck." Aizel said and lay back down.

"What?" Lisa Asked.

"If Kira is with child, I will not be able to abandon her. I don't care if it's human, or even if it's mine or Seth's."

"And you will never wish for her not to be." Valerie took the words out of his mouth, and the amethyst of her irises turned onyx once again, just as they were before they got 'married.' Making her look a little creepy, even if that is how her eyes used to look.

"Did you just…" Aizel said, scared of what she would say.

"I heard your mind," Valerie said.

"Can I return this one?"

—Slap!!—

— — —

The team landed in front of the guild. He really hoped that was just him tripping balls after the raid, but his hearts were beating fast. He could not see the future; he did not need to. The large raid went to shit after the knight arrived with his guards.

Aizel entered the guild. The first thing he saw was Kira. They had only been carnal lovers, fuck buddies, but she already knew his hearts; her face said as much as soon as they locked eyes.

The guild was filled with people, but he did not see anyone, did not pay attention to anything, and just walked towards the front desk.

"Here is your reward, Hunter Aizel," Kira said, trying to pull a Valerie and read his mind with her eyes.

It was a single royal, a bit more than would be given to all the parties. It was the same number that he had said to the knight, more than two winters' worth of wages for a snail, but his reward was higher than most, because of his role. Compared to what they earned on their last hunt before splitting their earnings with the dogs, it was nothing.

"The new Hunter Master is waiting for you in his office," Kira said. Aizel looked to his sides; the girls bounced their eyes between him and Kira. It was probably about something else, and there was a quick way to find out.

"Can I just… come back to pick up the tags?" Aizel asked, dreading her answer.

"How did you…" Kira said with a slight turn of her head and a raised eyebrow. 'Fuck.' He thought; she did not need to say anything else.

"Can I?" Aizel asked. Breathing in slowly to try and calm himself down. 'It's a simple thing to figure out: Platinum ranks are the ones in charge of the guilds, and I've proven myself, nothing more.' He thought.

"Yes, I will tell him that you were indisposed," Kira said with a nod. She was probably doing him a big favor; the fact that he was now technically platinum-rank helped him out.

"Can I pay to have the tags rushed?" Aizel asked while nervously tapping the stone desk.

"Aizel, is something wrong?" Kira said as she reached out and grabbed his hand, calming him down a little with that small gesture.

Aizel took a deep breath and relaxed some more. "Probably nothing." He told her. "I just need to do something; don't worry about it."

Kira nodded and let go of his hand. "Give me that royal back, and I will give you all your tags by the end of the day with whatever is left." She extended her open hand.

Aizel returned the royal and began walking outside of the guild, with the girls following after him. People wanted to talk to him; he did not see their faces. Everything was a blur; his mind was too busy thinking about all the things that could go wrong if the nobles interfered with his plans.

"Aizel, your hearts are—" Vanessa tried to speak, but they were interrupted when a guard cut their paths and knelt in front of Aizel. He could feel the pulse of electricity rush through the girls' spines even before the guard opened his mouth.

"Hunter Lord Aizel." The guard said as he knelt before him. "I am sorry for my—"

"I forgive you, guard, fuck off." Aizel cut him off and kept walking.

"Aizel, your hearts. Let's get out of town, girls. He's entering Dragon Rage." Vanessa took him by the arm while materializing her wings to make her point.

He did not answer and materialized his wings while lifting off. Once they were clear of people, they began flying in a random direction. He created a draft for them and landed on the first clearing that oversaw Redvelia from the East not long after.

Aizel began to take deep breaths to calm himself down. He tried to clear his mind of random thoughts; what just happened was not even that hard a conclusion to land on.

"Aizel, we—" Lisa tried to say something but was interrupted, along with his attempt to calm down.

"There's an Airship coming," Vanessa said and pointed towards Redvelia.

A massive ship that looked like a galleon had an orgy with a giant fish and a dragon. Growing giant wings on the side and some fins on the top and bottom, with the weird pigeon sigil alongside its masts and giant sails. It was swimming in the air and slowly descending on Redvelia's east side; the walls were perfectly built for it to unload its cargo and people on them.

The airship was distorting the air with something similar to (Anchor); it looked like the weight of the ship was placed on whatever was giving off that signal, while the wings and sails made it move. He doubted anyone, but the girls and he could even see that effect. Unfortunately, it also provided him with something that looked like a nice target to reach,

Aizel got up. He pointed his finger and aimed at the ship. Then he started overcharging (Spectral Missile). It was not enough. He pushed and charged more and more. Hyper-charging the missile, he (Infuse) the world mana, and the red missile turned purple. He compressed it, then some more, and more.

It started screaming.

'Shut up bitch!… Less than a drop of antimatter is all I need to send them to another realm. Fucking leeches!' His mind began to recall the dreadful images of the mantle crackers, the annihilation RKV's. Recalling all the fucking explanations on how the worst invention of humanity worked.

He used (Barrier) and (Doppelgänger) to shut it up, then used added (Push), (Pull) and (Telekinesis) to keep squeezing it.

All Aizel had in his mind was the image of the large raid going to shit. Of the Duke-whatever tanking charge of it like some corrupt politician. He did not have to put up with that shit on Geas. No. Here he had power. Here, he was a fucking dragon.

Alex would never have done this. Alex would never be mad at something so simple. But Aizel would not let his plans be ruined by a simple human.

'Humans…' The same idiots who died because they were not capable of following a simple plan! Who were turned to shit by a single hobgoblin! Why did he put up with their shit!?

'Snails, it's too much of a praise for this excuse for existence… These are ants!'

System: Ultimate control detected.

► Complex Active Skill (Spectral Missile) evolved.

► Paragon Active Skill (Shōmetsu) acquired.

'Fitting name… Turn to nothing!'

❮ ❖ ❯

'What?'

❮❮ ❖ ❯❯

'The fuck is that?' There was something small… Something? Loading in his awareness. It felt like his status screen.

❮❮ ❖ R A G E ❖ ❯❯

"AIZEL!!" Lisa screamed…

'No! Fucking Body…'

R A G E

He stopped. The manna faded, and he was finally at ease. Her voice broke his trance and brought him back to reality.

He started to breathe heavily. His hearts were pounding and drowning out every other sound, but they slowly began to settle down. The pressure he felt eased by the second, as if a weight had been suddenly lifted from his chest.

"He's calming down," Vanessa said. It was true. This time the adrenaline was not looping around inside his body.

〔 System:_

〔 Aizel Kadashi: Yo. Nerd. 〕

〔 D33zN3rd: Not. A. Bug! Fuck off!! 〕

〕

Valerie was hugging him tightly; Lisa was to the side with Vanessa as they kept looking at the landing ship.

"Thanks…" He caressed Valerie's head as his breath stabilized. "Lisa. Your voice broke through me, and I managed to stop the adrenaline before it drove me insane again. Sorry girls. ~Fuck." Aizel sat on the floor, being careful not to hurt Valerie. The other two came running and joined the hug. 'Thankfully, she can't control her trait yet. In case it is not only words she can pull from my mind. She must never see those images.'

Aizel doubted he created antimatter. If that was the case, it would not have just vanished after he stopped the skill. Something would have exploded, probably all of them. And given what he did, the most plausible explanation was that the skill was a more powerful mana missile.

"And that is called a panic attack." He said. "This body produces too much adrenaline. I almost lost it there. I think I convinced myself of my own thoughts, and it started to feed the anxiety and on, and on."

"Aizel. You gained another Paragon skill…" Lisa said as she glanced at his system.

"Yeah, and I do not like the name of it," Aizel said.

"Extinction?" Valerie said. He would have to come to terms with the fact that he could not lie to any of them. Ever again.

'As if I could before… Valerie?… If you can hear me say: yes. Val? VAL!' Aizel thought.

She did not reply.

"So you can't read minds?" Aizel said, relieved and chuckling, that little non-interaction calming him down even more.

"Not really, is… difficult to explain," Valerie said while turning her head to the side and placing a finger under her chin.

Aizel found her expression cute and reached out to pat her head as he spoke. "It's all right, my little raven. But no. A more accurate word would be annihilation. Or big explosion… I think."

"What about the others?" Valerie asked, referring to the rest of their new party.

"I was being dumb. I can't see the future. My body reacted all crazy because of some conclusions that were not that hard to come to. We will go back to town and talk with them." Aizel said once he calmed down.

"What about the new Guild Master?" Vanessa asked.

"We will keep a distance from him and the young nobles. Let's try to not draw too much attention."

"If we keep flying around, it will be hard to do," Lisa said.

"Indeed… We will see if Blaze and Silvia will take the escorting missions; then we need to look for Neine and tell her that we will be moving south."

"Were you really trying to blow up that airship?" Valerie asked.

"Yes, I was."

"Could you do that from here? We are like two clicks away." Vanessa asked while looking towards Redvelia.

"Debatable, It would probably not reached it, and explode on its way there… scaring the shit out of the snails… hehe."

— — —

The team landed far from the north gate and walked like normal people; the guards were not paying much attention and just let them pass with a glance at their tags.

'Thank you, mister guards, my hears appreciate your laziness.'

They walked to a nearby tavern where Blaze and Silvia had celebrated their last hunt, and their meeting point when not on a hunt.

Blaze was already drinking with Silvia, even if it was not even noon yet. However, they weren't the only ones; the tavern had the same number of people it would at dusk or night, and there were even more coming in.

"Sir, or is it Lord now? It feels weird to respond: 'Lord!' Heh." Blaze said, and even let out a small, almost drunken laugh.

"Hi, Blaze. Honestly, I have no idea. What is more important is how you know so fast? The sun barely moved…" Aizel asked with a frown.

"Hard not to. Three beautiful Angels and a Dragon fly into town and enter the guild. The new Hunter Master summons him because the old Hunter Master said in front of everyone after the battle that he should be promoted, 'cause he technically led an entire town and killed half the horde in the end…

Then said dragon goes to the front desk without saying hi to anyone, tells the new Hunter Master to fuck off, pays a Royal not to even be bothered with him—which is more than most earned in the first place, by the way—gets out of the guild, and flies away with the three beauties that helped everyone last night following him.

Not even the Airship with the nobles drew that much attention, because they will stay inside until there are lodgings 'fit' for them ready, and people are used to seeing nobles, even if they are afraid of them." Blaze eloquently explained, even if he was clearly beginning to get drunk.

"Oh."

"Pfff, Hahaha…" Silvia starts laughing like the drunken slut she was.

"And if we weren't with you, those two little nobles would probably be a pile of ashes right now. I like power, but we are not going to give it away to flying leeches that arrived late to the party." Lisa said as she hugged his arm tighter.

'I guess (Shōmetsu) is that scary; it's on the same Tier as (Shatter) so…'

"…"

"Care for a drink?" Blaze said while raising his mug towards him.

"This early?" Aizel raised an eyebrow at him.

"There are large caravans that want to escape the young nobles before they claim last night's bounty; they will leave at first light with all the goblinoid harvest they can on their rings and wagons. We already have a mission. So, we're drinking all we can before hitting the road. We were waiting for you to see how we would proceed after those missions." Blaze said with a shrug.

Valerie and Vanessa went to the clerk to order something, so he just took a seat. Lisa sat at his side without letting go of his arm.

"We will also move south. I just need to take care of something and buy some supplies. We will probably just follow the caravan close by to familiarize ourselves with the land for the first few days, then we will go ahead and meet with Lisa's father and wait for you. We can plan where to hunt after that; don't worry about it and focus on your mission." Aizel said.

"Sounds like a plan." Blaze nodded and kept drinking.

"Did you manage to find the alchemy things?" Lisa asked Silvia.

"No, not even in the wagons from the alchemist; they all say to look in Dranelida. That when it comes to artifacts and that kind of good, it's better to go south, that they have better stuff."

"Is that the city we are going towards? I honestly have just been calling it 'the city,' and no one corrected me." Aizel asked.

"I'm not even going to answer that," Silvia said. Probably tired of his ignorance.

"Yes, love. That's the name of the city."

"It makes sense: the crafted goods and money flow north, the raw resources and food south." He commented, and Blaze nodded with a knowing smile, his eyes slowly drooping as the alcohol began to take effect.

"You understood what he was even talking about, Blaze?" Silvia asked.

"It's a market thing," Blaze said with a shrug.

Bang! Vanessa sat down while placing a huge wooden cup filled with something that smelled like alcohol and sugar.

Bang! Followed by Valerie doing the exact same thing.

"They gave us a discount!" Valerie said before chugging her drink.

"At this point, I will be more surprised when someone does not give miss Vanessa a discount." Blaze chuckled before joining the chugging duo.

— — —

「 Noon, of his 38th day on Geas. 」

Lisa and Aizel left the drunken duo of Vanessa and Valerie at the cucketeers' home. Since they had eaten and just drank to accompany the food, they were fine. And it would not even be able to make him drunk in the first place.

'Panic attacks, lust attacks, and not getting drunk easily. The Nerd missed some cons in the Were-Dragon thing, huh. It should come with at least a fucking: Beware of adrenaline, foot note.'

He reported that to the nerd, but the lazy semi-god said that it's the same shit he already reported, and the one responsible for that part had not told him if it was something he needed to be awarded Soul Energy for yet.

They headed to the Joint store. Kira smiled at them as they passed her on their way there.

The guild was emptying surprisingly fast. In the little time that had passed since he had his little panic attack, it was already back to normal.

"Yo, pervert."

"Hunter Aizel. Miss Lisa, what can I do for you?"

"We wanted to see if you had emergency crackers and other camping things," Lisa said.

The priest went to look in the back but did not take too much time and just came back right away.

"Here, we have two kinds. The first one is a simple signal cracker; you grab the stick and, well… crack it, then the receptor ring will light up. This is going for twenty platinum, or two royals."

That was around five winters of wages, almost three times what the best hunters of the siege raid had made.

"And the other one? Morph." Lisa asked, because Aizel was gawking and stunned in place after hearing that price.

"Three royals, but the cracker comes with a (Mend) linked to the ring, so when you use the skill on it, the ring also resets. I need to inform you that it is a Linked, device, not a (Mend) spell, you still need to pay for someone to reset the cracker."

"That's fine, it's not an issue for us. We will take one linked emergency cracker." Lisa said. Since Aizel had not moved.

"It will give you peace of mind, my love. You can reach Kira in… twenty minutes? From the city, at your meteorite speed." Lisa said after doing the math on his speed and the time frames he used.

'~Our wallet.'

"All right, here is the emergency ring and the cracker. Anything else?"

"We need a bigger folding tent that can fit the frame for a king-size bed with room to spare, and said frame with a strong strike-less ward. We will tell you what else after you give us the total." Lisa said.

The priest started to browse his little book where he kept the inventory, did some numbers, and then replied. "After the cracker, the warded bed frame, and the large folding tent, that I might add, you are in luck because they just arrived; it's a total of five royal coins."

"…"

"How much do we have left after that, love?" Lisa asked.

"One royal." Aizel pouted.

"I will also need the largest ring of holding you can give us for one royal. Not timeless."

"Again, you are in luck. The caravans took every last ring of medium and small variety in both normal and timeless, but I still have a few large ones of the normal kind."

"That will be all, Morph," Lisa said, and Aizel gave her all of their savings.

"We can still sell the Oni, Love," Lisa said, seeing how he looked as if someone had kicked him in the balls.

The priest looked shocked at that statement, which made Aizel's mood jump a little.

"I had forgotten about those. Thanks, Lisa! I love you." He got closer to her, reached for her hips, and pulled her in. She smiled at him, and they shared a passionate kiss, ignoring the priest who was gawking at them.

Aizel had forgotten about Lisa's little power fetish. And he needed a distraction since they had spent the equivalent of five orc shaman camps worth of dead bodies.

He reached down and squeezed her ass before lifting her. She locked her ankles behind his back. Grinding herself on him while kissing him with an open mouth.

That display stunned the priest in place. Making Lisa smile. "What are you staring at? I believe you have to prepare our things."

The priest scrambled for his things and even knocked a fancy quill to the floor. Aizel grimaced but used (Discharge) and (Doppelgänger) to reach out and prevent it from hitting the floor. Lisa saw this and pouted at him.

"Hey, that is just being mean." He said.

Unfortunately, that distraction was enough to make the priest return to his senses. He got to work and prepared their things in no time, and no matter how hard Lisa tried to make him look at their display of public affection, the priest did not bite.

"Here… I suppose you are also leaving town. Miss Lisa." The priest said, looking saddened at the prospect of their departure.

"Yes. But unlike the rest of town, we can come back with ease. So I doubt you will even notice. Besides, we even have a reason to not abandon the town forever," Lisa said.

"Well, I wish you good travels." The priest said. The man had not once looked towards Aizel. It was not even out of disrespect. Aizel's hypothesis was that the priest wanted to burn Lisa's image in his memory. And he could not blame him.

Aizel walked out of the Joint store connecting the Temple and Guild, with Lisa tightly wrapped around his arm. 'And now we're broke… again,' he thought. That was a given when Lisa was in charge of their treasury; his presence did not seem to affect her spending habits. At all. It was something he was willing to endure if only to see her healing smile and bask in her scent. The fact that his was now always mixed with hers brought a peace to his mind that could not be bought with simple silver.

"~Aizel!" A familiar raspy voice called from afar.