Apprisal

Parting with his father, Paul was prepared to return to the East Wing but found his path blocked by a petite girl with cerulean blue eyes and muted, golden-blonde hair.

Though his body briefly tensed due to the girl appearing just after he left his father's room, almost like she had been trying to jump scare him, Paul quickly regained his smile as he said, "It's good to see you, Barbara."

Seeing Paul spread his arms, a bit of the severity in Barbara's expression faded away as she obediently stepped into his embrace, saying, "I missed you..." in a sincere yet melancholic tone.

"I know...and I'm sorry for leaving you alone so often..."

"Mmm..."

Nestling her face into Paul's chest, an action made easier by the fact she was nearly twenty centimeters shorter, Barbara surprised Paul by quietly muttering, "It's okay...I realized how selfish I was back then. I'll probably get jealous in the future, but I'm a little better now..."

Hugging the petite girl a little tighter, Paul nestled the lower half of his face into Barbara's hair, kissing the top of her head before pulling away to say, "You've grown..."

"Speak for yourself..."

Raising her head, Barbara stared into Paul's face as she asked, "How are you so tall? Aren't girls supposed to hit their growth spurts before boys?"

Adopting a faintly wolfish smile, Paul teased, "Who knows...? I've always been a big boy..."

Though it took her a moment to understand the hidden meaning within Paul's words, Barbara's cheeks blushed a faint shade of red as she softly muttered, "Naughty..." However, the thing that stood out most about this was the faint smile on her face.

"I'm certainly getting there..."

Emphasizing his point, Paul lowered his hands to the small of her back, just above her butt. She had a stylish tailcoat and was covered in several layers of fabric, but the proximity of his hands to her butt was enough to cause Barbara's face to turn bright red.

Unfortunately, while he was half-tempted to take things a step further, Paul punctuated the encounter with a fleeting kiss before releasing his hold on the befuddled beauty and saying, "We should head back. If I'm not mistaken, you snuck out to meet with me sooner, right?"

Lowering her head and averting her eyes, Barbara muttered, "Ningguang isn't the boss of me..." in a pouty tone.

"Barbara..."

Extending his hand for the pouty Knight Princess to grab, Paul waited until she did before beginning to lead her down the hall as he said, "Ningguang is doing her best to ensure the success of our mission. While I understand your reasons, try not to butt heads with her too much...okay?"

Having already reached a secret agreement with Ningguang, Barbara just nodded her head in response to Paul's words. She had been permitted to become one of the first people to accompany Paul when he ventures out into the world. The penultimate decision was Paul's to make, but Barbara refused to believe Paul would set out on a long journey without her. If he did, she would just follow him of her own accord...

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After reaching his section of the Estate, Paul was surprised to find the only two people waiting for him were Diona and Razor.

"Ah. Master Paul. You're back. Welcome home."

Though he had gotten used to Razor being a tomboyish girl with wild, remarkably long grey hair and carmine eyes, Paul couldn't help smiling wryly as he asked, "How have you been, Razor? Keeping the plantations free of pests and rodents...?"

Nodding her head, Razor maintained a completely serious expression on her face as she answered, "Razor kill big monster. Master's Lupical gives Razor big reward. Lots of meat."

Raising his brows, Paul looked to Barbara and Diona for a more detailed explanation. The latter had a characteristically pouty expression on her face, but she still explained, "A boar with Wyvern blood came down the Red Dragon Mountains. Razor was the one to deal the killing blow, but a lot of us worked together to weaken it with our bows."

Understanding that Diona was fishing for a compliment, Paul made an impressed expression as he remarked, "Wow. Excellent job, Diona, Razor. I'm proud of you."

Since the 'bestowal of praise' was one of the conditions that not only allowed but 'mandated' him to provide head pats, Paul punctuated his words by caressing Diona's and Razor's heads. The latter lacked bestial features, but her animalistic nature caused most people to regard her in the same light as a member of the Beast Race.

Grabbing Paul's wrist to stop him from retracting his hand, Diona squinted her eyes in satisfaction as she explained, "We're still working on the feast to celebrate your homecoming. For now, you should head to the bath and get yourself cleaned up. You wreak of alcohol and sweat."

Chuckling dryly in response to Diona's opposing words and actions, Paul answered, "Will do." before waiting for her to release his hand of her own accord. She would never admit it, but Diona 'really' liked having her head, back, and pretty much every part of her body caressed. The only notable exceptions were her tail, butt, and a few other dangerous areas Paul had never dared to venture.

"You coming along?"

Exhaling a sigh, Barbara shook her head and said, "I'm supposed to be preparing for the feast as well. I just couldn't wait to see you, so I snuck out when no one was looking."

Nodding his head in approval, Paul extended his hand to caress Barbara's head as well, saying, "Good girl..." before planting a kiss atop her head. An awkward smile developed across her face, but she didn't attempt to slap his hand away. Instead, she directed him to caress her right cheek as she said, "I'll see you at the feast..."

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With no one accompanying him, Paul started to wonder if he would be taking a solo bath for the first time in five years. It was a little strange to consider, but, ever since he had summoned Xiangling, there had always been at least one girl accompanying him in the bath. Now, the thought of bathing alone just felt...wrong.

Fortunately, at least one person had nothing to contribute to the feast preparations. Thus, when he entered the bathhouse to find Ei waiting patiently for his arrival, Paul wasn't even remotely surprised. What did surprise him was the presence of Eula, Lynette, Xinyan, and a ponytailed girl with pale, strawberry blonde hair and golden eyes.

"Ei, Xinyan, Yoimiya...it's good to see you all. Not that I'm not equally pleased to see the two of you..."

Directing his last couple of words towards Eula and Lynette, just for good measure, Paul managed to avoid inadvertently offending both. Eula was a 'very serious' girl who, if he were being perfectly honest, reminded Paul a little of Drax the Destroyer due to how she interpreted everything literally. As for Lynette...Paul honestly hadn't figured her out just yet. She was a lot like Diona, just...cattier...

"Welcome ba-"

Before Ei could return Paul's greeting, Xinyan interrupted, asserting, "It's about time you showed up, Paul! We haven't even entered the bath, and I'm already starting to get a little pruney. Let me guess; Barbara tracked you down, didn't she...?"

Instead of answering Xinyan's question, Paul began to unbutton his tunic, noting, "Your hair has grown a lot since we last met, Xinyan...it suits you."

Losing much of her bravado, Xinyan became markedly more bashful as she combed through the fringe of her bangs and muttered, "Well...you're the one who said I looked better with my hair down..."

"Mmm...if I remember correctly, I said you looked charming with your hair down and badass with your hair up. Either way, you look great..."

Feeling her face heat, more so due to Paul stripping than his actual words, Xinyan quickly turned around, hands cupping her fiery red cheeks as she remarked, "Geez, Paul...you really learned how to talk these past couple a' months..."

Directing her gaze to Eula and Lynette, Xinyan asked, "I wonder if you two had anything to do with it...?"

Before Eula could respond with one of her trademark absurds, Ei injected herself back into the conversation by calmly asking, "Master, may I have the privilege of washing your body?"

Nodding his head in affirmation, Paul replied, "Sounds good." as he tossed his tunic into a nearby bin and started to remove his black undertunic. He noticed an oppressive silence promptly descend upon the changing room but pretended not to as he stripped off his undertunic, exposing his bare and increasingly muscular form. He still had a lot of room for growth, but he was filling out remarkably well...

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After entering the bath, Paul had Xinyan and Yoimiya apprise him of what they had been doing the past ten months while Ei awkwardly washed his body and periodically got soap in his eyes.

Though both girls had continued their training, their reliance on Visions and general lack of hostility towards others meant Xinyan and Yoimiya were improving much slower than the more battle-oriented members of the group. Xinyan had even given up the claymore entirely, inspired by Barbara to specialize in something radically different than her past self.

Fortunately, much like Barbara, Xinyan had also obtained quite a number of Constellations. In fact, alongside Yaoyao, Yanfei, and Fischl, she was one of the few who had awakened her third Constellation.

With a fair amount of guidance from Yanfei, Xinyan had learned how to use a Catalyst. More importantly, she had already mastered most of the Beginner and Intermediate Fire Magic Spells. She was still struggling to master Chantless Casting, but her increasing familiarity with a Catalyst was helping.

A stark contrast to Xinyan, Yoimiya had decided to immerse herself even deeper into her specialty, firework production. Fireworks were frequently used during festivals in the Asura Kingdom, but their quality was poor due to a prohibition that prevented the research and study of propellants such as Black Powder. The Royal Family didn't want people experimenting with explosives, so unless you belonged to an extremely hazardous unit within the Royal Military, you would never be allowed access to black powder or the production method for fireworks.

Fortunately for Yoimiya, one of the people Paul had summoned was none other than Albedo. She had also memorized all of her family's production methods, including the formula for high explosives. It took the better part of two years, but she had recently developed a commercial-grade version of dynamite that was currently being used in a few mines Ningguang had failed to disclose to the Royal Family.

Though she still practiced with her bow, much of what made Yoimiya an exceptional archer was related to her Vision. Paul had been exceptionally lucky in regards to his summoning of Archons, even managing to secure a Constellation for Zhongli, but he was still missing four of the Seven. Until he managed to summon Murata, the Pyro(Fire) Archon, Yoimiya was just an ordinary, albeit very, very talented archer...

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"When do you plan to tell him? If you won't, I'll have to..."

"Hmm..."

Turning to look behind her, Zhongli, now appearing as a young girl closer to fourteen rather than ten, locked eyes with the bronze-skinned, dark-haired girl standing behind her. Their respective golden eyes glistened for a few moments, almost as if they were about to attack one another, but it only lasted for a fleeting moment as Zhongli answered, "Soon. I just didn't want to place an even greater burden on our Master before he was ready. Once he crosses the line into adulthood, I will broach the subject at the earliest possible convenience..."

Nodding her head in approval, the bronze-skinned girl stated, "Very well, Morax. I will continue to entrust this matter to you. However, should you fail to inform him before he summons Murata...well, just don't expect me to pick up the pieces..."

Squinting her eyes, Zhongli could feel her right index finger twitching with the desire to manifest her spear. Instead, she remained silent for several seconds before answering, "I'll keep that in mind...Lady Kusanali..."

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