“Emm…”
Tyler rubbed his forehead, somewhat reluctant to return to the inn.
As the saying goes, even the wise cannot foresee everything.
Initially, Tyler had invited Emilia to stay at the inn with him to avoid a possible encounter with Avril and Elle when Emilia returned home.
Now, however, Avril and Elle had already left for Madison Town with rabbit granny, and it was Tyler himself who had seen them off, so there was no longer any need to restrict Emilia’s movements.
Yet, having voiced his invitation, was he to find an excuse in the dead of night to send Emilia away?
(Silly Nissen: You’re not above such behaviour, after all. If you’re going to be scum, be thorough about it.)
Tyler did initially contemplate something along those lines, such as renting another room… However, now that the idiot loli had spoken, he couldn’t let her look down on him.
Moreover, the situation in Sunny Town was unstable, and there might indeed be remnants of the Mayor’s power.
Therefore, Tyler strode towards the inn where he was staying, albeit with a slightly, ahem, unsteady gait.
·
On his way back, Tyler pondered over the contents of the “Stellar Oracle” to distract himself from speculating about “what might happen tonight”.
Speaking of the image of the “snake”, Tyler immediately thought of the Shadow Serpent Society and the “Earthly Ghost”.
If he followed this line of thought, the “black butterfly” would be the servant of the Earthly Ghost (Shadow Serpent Society), approaching Tyler by some means and bringing danger with it.
In contrast, to resolve this crisis, he must heed the “cry” of the “deer”. However, how should he interpret the phrase “the holy white deer is the messenger of God”?
As for the concept of “God”, the people Tyler had met so far all worshipped the “Benevolent God”. However, whether this Benevolent God and the Benevolent God who bestowed upon Tyler the Divine Eye of Transcendence are the same concept is still unclear.
(In any case, the Earthly Ghost is likely still monitoring me…)
Since the Earthly Ghost had not given up, it implies that the “Singular Demon God” behind the Earthly Ghost still harbors murderous intentions towards Tyler.
In other words, they had discovered the fact that “Banning” was still alive.
Tyler took out the Universal Stone he had obtained in the Purple Trial, intending to exchange it for energy points of the “Precognitive Death Scene”.
After some hesitation, Tyler put the Universal Stone away, deciding that now was not the time.
The reason was simple. The “Singular Demon God” first tried to kill Tyler on “May 5th”, then the second attempt was on “June 26th”, which was yesterday.
The interval between the two attempts was 52 days, which could likely be the cooldown time for the Singular Demon God’s teleportation ability.
Even if the Singular Demon God had been delayed by other matters and did not come to kill Tyler at the first opportunity, the cooldown time should not be less than 30 days.
So, Tyler concluded that even in the most conservative estimate, he only needed to worry about the appearance of the Singular Demon God again after 20 days.
.
The lodgings where Tyler resided were directly opposite The Quest Guild.
Upon his arrival at the inn, he noticed that the lights of The Quest Guild were still on, indicating that Emilia was still at work.
After some thought, Tyler decided to procure some food which he brought back to his quarters. He then stationed himself in the shadows outside The Quest Guild, vigilantly scanning for any suspicious individuals while awaiting Emilia’s completion of her shift.
In his current state, Tyler’s combat prowess was at its weakest.
His equipment consisted merely of a leather armor, an iron round shield, a Meditation Ring, and a gauntlet sword he had just purchased.
This realization brought to light his substantial reliance on gear, reminding him not to succumb to the illusion of his own strength.
During the ensuing three days of awaiting his new equipment, he planned to lead a tranquil life, focusing on honing his skills and concocting potions.
After a while, individuals began to emerge from The Quest Guild. Tyler recognized them as the employees, all of whom wore faces of exhaustion.
Eventually, once the majority had departed and The Quest Guild had turned off the lights, Emilia finally exited, heaving a sigh as she locked the door.
Glancing around and seeing no one else, Tyler approached her.
“Emilia, why are you working so late today?” he queried.
Recognizing Banning’s voice, Emilia’s body jolted, her gloom instantly replaced by a lightness in her step as she moved towards Tyler.
“I encountered a troublesome issue that took the entire day to resolve. But never mind that, Banning, did you come specifically to meet me?”
She asked, all the while subtly scanning her surroundings for others.
Once she was certain they were alone, she suddenly quickened her pace, darting into Tyler’s arms in a small run.
This unexpected gesture left Tyler at a loss for a response.
“Thank you, Banning. I feel as though I’ve been rejuvenated.”
Emilia swayed her head from side to side against Tyler’s chest, her tail wagging behind her – a clear indicator of her elated mood.
“There’s no need for such formalities. Speaking of which, I bought you something to eat. You haven’t had dinner, have you?”
On hearing the prospect of food, Emilia immediately perked up, her eyes gleaming.
She had not only skipped dinner, but had also only managed to grab a small piece of bread for lunch!
“Where’s the food? Where shall we dine?”
In that moment, Tyler saw Emilia as a little fox he was raising, her wide, twinkling eyes begging for food were almost too adorable to bear.
“In the inn’s room, let’s dine there,” Tyler suggested, pointing towards the room with the golden fox emblem on the inn’s exterior wall.
At the mention of the ‘inn’, Emilia suddenly recalled the promise Banning had made earlier in the day…
They were to spend the night together!
Her face flushed crimson.
What was initially a simple matter of eating had suddenly become something unspeakable when compounded with the fact that they would be spending the night together.
Seeing Emilia’s coy demeanor, Tyler suggested they could head to Cat Girl’s Restaurant, which should still be open.
However, Emilia declined, whispering, “Your… your room… will do…” as if eating in the inn’s room was something unmentionable.
Tyler chuckled, patting Emilia’s head and her soft fox ears, before leading her into the inn.
·
Ten minutes later, inside the room, with her shyness forgotten, Emilia was devouring the aromatic roast chicken and sipping the rich carrot and potato stew.
Meanwhile, Tyler sat nearby, concocting potions and making up for the day’s shortfall. (Pharmacist experience: 100+100↑/600)
Once Emilia was nearly done with her meal and Tyler had completed the potions, he broached the subject of The Quest Guild.
“Was there a financial issue at The Quest Guild, Emilia?” He asked.
“No, not at all. The issue lies with the control area of the Gateway of Trials in the western suburbs.”
Emilia sighed as she explained to Tyler that the employee in charge of the control area was attacked by an unknown group yesterday and only returned
to Sunny Town today. 𝒪𝗏𝒍xt.𝐜𝒐𝓶
According to the employee, the attackers were a group of mercenaries numbering in the tens.
“But that’s not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that a ‘fifth-level difficulty, Purple Gateway of Trials’ has vanished!” Emilia exclaimed, standing up in her excitement.
“Do you understand what this means, Banning? The disappearance of a Purple Gateway of Trials signifies that the first person to pass through it has appeared in the Wester Kingdom!”