Reward

Malachi spent several hours taking pictures with everyone and meeting his supposed fans.

The influx of customers was also great for Sei's business, and she made more money today than she'd made in the last few years.

She ended up running out of ingredients and ended up having to close shop early.

As a thank you to Malachi, she invited him back to her home for some tea and dinner.

But Mal naturally couldn't allow Sei to cook for him again after she'd been doing so all day.

Sei was surprised when upon arriving at home Malachi immediately asked to borrow her kitchen.

She of course tried to refuse since this was supposed to be a thank you for him after all, but the young man was firm in his determination to cook for her and Serana.

This brought about the current situation in which Malachi was sitting down to eat dinner with the mother daughter duo.

"Mal… you really made this?.." Serana was staring at the meal in front of her in disbelief.

"Yea does it look okay?" Malachi was visibly sweating.

It was the first time he'd been able to cook with actual ingredients in a long time, so he was more than a little nervous.

"I-it looks incredible!" Sei was completely taken aback.

She was only in the shower for about 30 minutes but in that time Malachi had already begun to prepare a full spread.

An elegant pasta dish with handmade noodles, a light but refreshing salad paired with fresh baked bread and red wine.

Serana was literally drooling, earning a kick from her mother under the table.

Malachi tried not to show his nervousness as the girls started to dig in for their first bites, but it was tough.

He felt like one of the contestants on a cooking show hosted by an angry Scottish man.

He held his breath as Sei and Serana raised their forks to their mouths and had their first taste of pasta.

The silence seemed to last an eternity for Malachi as he waited to hear the girls' thoughts.

Suddenly they looked up at him with twinkles in their eyes as they saw him in a completely new light.

"It's incredible!"

"It's shoo good!"

The blessed man finally released a sigh of relief when he heard his rave reviews.

Now that he was no longer on the verge of having a heart attack, the group ate in utter silence as the girls hungrily devoured the food in front of them.

When they were finished, Serana put on a sneaky expression before she left the room under the guise of doing homework.

Leaving Sei and Malachi alone to stare at each other.

The atmosphere was slightly awkward as the two silently sipped wine in each other's company, both of them with a million things they wanted to say, yet no idea where to begin.

"I can't believe you're really blessed by four highers." Sei was the first to break the silence as she put on a cheerful smile. "You're even an S rank blessed. I'm honestly surprised you didn't get promoted to SSS right away."

Malachi smiled bitterly when he heard the undeserved praise.

The ranking system for the blessed is fairly simple.

No matter how powerful a recruit might be, the highest rank they can achieve in their initial assessment is S rank.

Blessed are able to increase their rank through mastery of combat, number of dungeons cleared, and quality and amount of resources acquired.

This system was out in place to avoid the tragedy of S rank recruits getting too full of themselves and dying needlessly.

"I don't deserve something as great as that. I don't even know how to fight and my mastery over my powers is crude at best." Malachi shrugged.

"But you'll learn that stuff with the guild! I'm certain you'll reach SSS in no time."

Truthfully Malachi was still unused to such praise and found himself unable to respond.

He who prided himself on always having a clever remark, was completely at a loss for words in the face of compliments.

With the silence once again setting in, Sei hesitantly asked the question that'd been plaguing her mind since earlier.

"What you said before…did you mean it?"

Malachi instantly understood her meaning and stared at her unflinchingly through dark sunglasses. "I did."

"Ah.. S-Serana told me something along those lines but I didn't believe it."

'She did? That snitch!' Malachi made a vow right then and there to teach her a good lesson later.

That was supposed to stay a secret between friends!

"Well.. even if she told you everything I want you to hear it from me."

Malachi scooted his chair closer to Sei and the mature woman got a full whiff of his cologne.

'He smells so good.. but he's too close!'

"I like you Sei. I always have."

"B-but I'm so much older than you, and I don't think it would be a good look for you to see someone like me when you're just-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there." Malachi interrupted.

"I don't give a damn about public eye or anything like that. And you being older than me doesn't matter either."

In a rare moment of seriousness, Malachi took off his glasses and stared deep into Sei's eyes.

"I like you because you're you, and that means that I like everything that comes with you, whether you think I should or not.

I've kept quiet for a long time, but… I want to be with you. There is nothing that you could say to me to change that."

Sei had her concerns.

Blessed are known to attract multiple partners.

Whether it is their godlike power, beautiful appearances, or unique charisma, they elicit so much attention that the laws had long since normalized polyamory as long as it is not excessive.

Malachi hadn't even done anything yet, but already the entire world had its eyes on him.

Surely he would meet more women and eventually he would realize that there wasn't anything special about her at all.

It was only natural that she be left behind in the end.

But the longer she looked at him, the more she wanted to be with him anyway.

There was something about him that made her feel seen and valued, emotions that she hadn't experienced in a very long time.

It was then that she made a decision that she was sure would come back to harm her later.

Even if it will end with her being thrown aside or the subject of ridicule from the world, she wanted to feel this happiness for just a little bit longer.

Atleast until he no longer needed her.

"Then… please take care of me, Malachi."

Before he could react, she hugged him and buried her face in his neck.

She didn't want him to see the scarlet blush that was spreading across her face uncontrollably.

Malachi himself was in such disbelief he didn't even return her hug immediately.

He thought for sure he was going to be rejected!

Malachi wrapped his arms around Sei and inhaled her warm scent of honey. "Yea.. of course I will."

The two lingered like that for a while until the click of a cellphone alerted them to the fact that they were not alone.

"Alright mom! Glad to see you're getting out there. You want me to tag you in this, Malachi?"

The two trembled in embarrassment from being spied on and they quickly released each other and turned to face the intruder with furious blushes.

"G-get out!"

"Tag me and get out!"

- The next day.

POW!

"Ow, fuck!"

Malachi received a hard punch to the nose that sent him falling back onto his butt.

He looked up above him to see a lean muscular woman with short brown hair and olive skin giving him a disdainful look.

"I thought our new recruit would be more promising, but is this all you amount to?"