System's POV

Chapter 803  Did Zion Already Score A Home Run?

When Maxim regained his consciousness, he found himself surrounded by monsters on all sides—Monkeys, Apes, Bugs, and a Bird Man, all looking at him with pity on their faces.

“First Time?” the Rank 7 Umbrafang, Harahon, whom Thirteen had met in the Temple of Courage, asked in a teasing tone.

Faced with such a powerful creature, Maxim felt like a lump was stuck in his throat, preventing him from letting out a sound.

His subordinates didn’t fare any better either, surrounded on all sides by powerful Monsters who could easily crush them to a pulp.

“I don’t know why that brat Zion sent you here, but I advise all of you to give up,” the Bird Man, Zed, who was a Demi-human Roc, said with a sneer. “This is the end of the line for all of you.”

“M-My Father is the Vice-Leader of the Black Skulls,” Maxim, who finally found his voice, declared. However, his words lacked his earlier arrogance and tenacity.

The monsters fell silent for a few seconds before all of them roared in laughter.

“Then I guess some other people will be joining you soon,” Harahon chuckled. “I pity your father. Because of you, he will soon become one of Zion’s pawns.”

It was then that Gwenn, the white Overlord Beetle, crawled in front of Maxim, lowering her giant head to look at him.

“Tell me everything you know about the Black Skull,” Gwenn ordered as she cast her mind-controlling powers on Maxim and his subordinates. “Make sure you don’t miss anything, got it?”

“Yes, Master,” Maxim replied without hesitation and spilled all the information he knew about the organization, which would soon fall because of his unlucky encounter with Zion.

****

“Hey, Erica. I have a question I’ve been wanting to ask you for a long time,” Mildred said.

“And that is?” Erica, who was already missing Zion, peeled an orange so that she could eat some snacks.

“How far have the two of you gone?” Mildred asked. “Did Zion already score a home run?”

Shana, who was right beside Mildred, started coughing, having choked on the water she was drinking a few seconds ago.

On the contrary, Erica was unfazed, even finding Mildred’s question quite amusing.

“Why are you suddenly interested in my love life?” Erica asked back in a teasing tone, before glancing at Shana, who was still in the middle of a coughing fit. “I’m very curious,” Mildred answered. “I mean, Zion can be standoffish at times. Even if he smiles, eight out of those ten smiles are fake. He’s also a very intelligent and logical person. I just can’t see him taking the initiative and engaging in any romantic activities.”

After all the time she trained with Zion, Mildred had gotten a better grasp of his character.

Even when she felt like she had figured out his personality, she was still unable to tell if the boy was even capable of romantic love.

However, Erica still chose to make him her fiance, which surprised Mildred very much. The Archer of the Hero Party knew that Erica was in love with Roland, so she was truly surprised when her friend declared that she wanted Zion to become her fiance as her reward for clearing the Desert Island challenge.

Shana, who had mostly recovered, was also waiting for Erica’s answer while healing herself.

“Zion has still not struck a home run,” Erica replied casually, making Shana sigh in relief internally.

However, her next words made Mildred cover her lips with her hands.

“But he has already reached Third Base,” Erica then glanced at Shana, who had once seen her and Zion lying together when she visited their tent with her sister, Rianna.

The two sisters had seen the teenage boy’s head buried into Erica’s chest, whose nightgown had been undone on the upper part of her body.

Shana thought that Erica was only referring to the scene that she saw with her sister.

However, if only she knew that Zion had done more intimate things under the influence of alcohol, she might have short-circuited and fainted due to her innocence on the topic.

“The two of you sure are moving fast,” Mildred, who was quite happy to receive this juicy piece of news, said with a smile.

“Fast?” Erica pondered a bit before shaking her head. “I won’t call it fast. If Zion was an ordinary teenage boy, he would have already eaten me whole. However, his libido under normal circumstances is pathetically low. I even wonder if it even exists in the first place.”

“What do you mean by normal circumstances?” Shana inquired.

“It means that during normal times, Zion would not even think of doing intimate things aside from kissing and hugging. Mind you, it took a lot of hard work for him to even reach that stage. He’s not Mr. Iceberg for no reason, you know?”

“You mean… he’s big down there?” Mildred asked, making Erica, and Shana look at her as if they were seeing their friend for the first time.

Mildred, who was suddenly stared at all of a sudden, became confused.

“What?” Mildred asked. “Aren’t icebergs bigger under the water? Isn’t that what you’re implying when you called him Mr. Iceberg?”

Diana, who could hear their girl talk from the coachman seat, couldn’t help but blush.

Deep inside, she felt lucky that she was assigned to drive the horses instead of being inside to participate in such a discussion, which she had no experience whatsoever.

“Well?” Mildred, who found her explanation quite justified, looked at Erica with a serious gaze. “Is it… big?”

Shana, whose face was now beet red, averted her gaze. However, she made sure to perk her ears up just in case she missed Erica’s answer.

Surprisingly, it was Erica’s turn to blush as she remembered a few things that happened after she and Sherry discovered that Zion was weak to alcohol.

“I will leave the answer to your imagination,” Erica replied with a blush creeping on her face. “But I will tell you this. Zion doesn’t have much common sense, so if you ask him to show it to you, there is a high chance that he will show it to you after asking you why you wanted to see it.”

“N-No way!” Mildred, who found Erica’s statement very believable, started to blush as well. “He’s that innocent?”

“Yes.” Erica nodded. “He’s like a big baby who barely has knowledge about the opposite gender.”

Shana, who suddenly remembered that particular scene after Erica called Zion a big baby, could feel her cheeks burning out of embarrassment.

“I will give one more piece of advice,” Erica said in a serious tone. “Don’t sleep beside Zion unless you are wearing full chest armor.”

“W-Why?” Mildred, whose interest was once again piqued, asked. “Does he have bad sleeping habits?”

“Yes, he has terrible sleeping habits.” Erica nodded.

“For some reason, I want to know what this bad sleeping habit is,” Mildred rubbed her chin with a mischievous smile on her face.

“”You can’t!””

Erica and Shana admonished their friend at the same time, which also caught both of them by surprise.

“J-Just don’t do it,” Shana, who finally realized what Erica was talking about, stuttered. “If you don’t listen to us, you might get infected… with the Zion Virus.”

The Saintess said the last part in a volume that only mosquitoes could hear, and understand.

“What was that?” Mildred asked. “I didn’t get the last part. Infected by what?”

Erica, who suddenly remembered something, looked at the Saintess with a faint smile on her face.

She could still remember Shana using her purifying powers on her while saying that she might be infected by the Zion Virus.

‘So that’s it…’ Erica, who could now understand why her friend was acting differently, smirked. ‘Zion, you just can’t help but pick lost puppies on the side of the road, huh?’

The Sorceress then placed a piece of the orange that she had peeled inside her mouth.

Its sweet and sour taste burst inside her mouth, but she didn’t mind it one bit.

She was busy looking at the Saintess, who seemed to have been infected by the same virus that she was trying to purify long ago.

As someone who had experienced unrequited love in the Hero’s Party, she was more sensitive when it came to understanding the feelings of others around her.

While she believed that Shana was still in the blossoming part of her feelings, it didn’t change the fact that a seed had now been firmly rooted inside her heart, which would soon grow the moment Zion watered her with even a tiny bit of concern and affection.