Tactical Retreat!

It was unexpected to meet a devil in the mansion, 'A devil cannot appear by itself, something fundamentally wrong must have happened!'

Is the lord's family all devils, is Jack involved or he is just a victim? Is there someone stronger manipulating everything?

The uncertainties were just too great for him to act rashly, He wanted to make his victory guaranteed so the girls won't get hurt.

'I can't just drag them into a losing battle!' Cain thought standing inside the cave, Looking at Alice's hair.

'She didn't act like a devil, Healing also worked on her! Something is off and I gotta know if she is related to the catastrophe!'

Cain hurried back, thinking of a way to confirm his theories.

...

"It's master's smell-nya!" Selena sensed him before he could show up.

Thud! Thud! Cain hoped through the window, a grim look on his face.

Seeing his face Selena hesitated to speak, she felt as if had a lot on his mind. To her surprise, his grim look quickly turned back into a smile!

"You still awake?" He asked. He had noticed her ears drop so he immediately faked a happy face.

Keeping them from harm's way is one thing, Also keeping them from unnecessary worrying about a devil was also protecting their mental health!

Selena's attitude quickly changed, returning to her playful self. Wagging her tail from left to right, "Were alone now-nya!" clinging tightly to Cain.

They were obvious advances yet they may cause a problem, "No, no behind Sofia's back! If you want a solo night then speak with her first!" He needs to make sure to treat them equally, otherwise, the conflict will arise!

"Nya! Only this time-nya!" Selena kept pushing forward, making sure to use her chest to the fullest.

"What if I did with Sofia behind your back? How will you feel?" Cain asked, It wasn't the first time he dealt with this kind of situation!

Selena's face tensed up, thinking as hard as she could, finally settling on a sad expression with her ear dropping down.

"I won't like it-nya!" She said, her tail who was going crazy calmed down.

Cain wasn't going to let her stay depressed, there is an easy solution to this problem.

Giving her a bear hug and a kiss on the forehead, whispering in her ears. "Ask Sofia tomorrow, then we can play all night long!" Hearing that got her riled up, he cheered up and hurried to her room.

"Sleep faster, wake faster-nya!" She said running to her room.

Cain tried to sleep but wasn't able to, not until he figured out a way to investigate!

A lot of methods came to his mind like exploring the whole mansion for clues, using alchemy and enchanting to analyze Alice's hair, using divination magic directly on Alice, or simply asking people involved like her father!

Most of those ideas were a no go for either revealing too much or he was just unable with his current strength.

Finally, he settled on one thing, Alchemy, and Enchanting, with his current level and High Intelligence it was possible!

'Enchanting is simple with my [Enchanting], for alchemy I need to find a suitable lab!'

It wasn't going to be easy but he has to hurry. In his past life, Alice's death was announced just a few days before the catastrophe! Nobles usually announce their death when it's convenient, for example, if Alice's father died, they won't announce it until a hire has been decided!

Alice might have died way earlier but the announcement was delayed, there was no way for him to know so it's a fight against time! Tomorrow after having Alice take the exam, he will pass by Dolrig to get the jewelry and finally try to find an alchemist! There was also the problem of having to take daily quests to keep the income going!

After thinking a bit more he fell asleep.

"Wake..." someone was calling, "Wake up, the sun has risen!" Sofia was shaking him.

"Did I oversleep?" He asked, It was the first time in years that he found waking up hard.

He knew why, It was his 20 Intelligence! The increase in power was gained through the system and not by naturally getting smarter! His body was still not used to working at that capacity!

There were two major ways to increase your stats, the first was leveling up and the second was training for them! Let's take strength for example.

You can increase it by 2 points each four levels or train to increase it! People who practice weight lifting can get stronger with time! And there is a catch, the stronger you are, the harder it's to increase your stats by training!

For example, If Sofia trained hard for a month, she might be able to increase her strength stat by 1 as she only has 8! Selena on the other hand might spend a lifetime without being able to increase her strength stat as she is already 19!

To put it simply, It's harder to go from 19 to 20, than from 8 to 9!

Sofia was looking down at him worried, Selena, on the other hand, was carrying a pot of water for him to wash his face.

He felt extremely lucky to have them both by his side, further increasing his determination to never put them in danger!

Cain gave the both of them a morning kiss before going down for breakfast, As always the bread was superb, on a whole another level.

Upon seeing Cain's happy face as he chewed it down, Sofia made up her mind to ask Mabel to teach her the art! Selena on the other hand was busy clearing all the meat in front of her, most of it was rare but some were still raw!

Feeling like playing a bit, Cain tried to snag one of Selena's meat chunks! She immediately reacted by biting his fingers. She was extremely protective about her food, or so Cain thought!

The bite quickly tuned into sucking, Cain instantly pulled his fingers back, regretting what he did!

"We have agreed-nya!" Selena said slowly, with a smug face. "Today is my turn-nya!"

Hearing that, Cain looked at Sofia and she nodded, "We decided to rotate daily, I'm tomorrow!" The two girls seem to have talked about it even before he wakes up.

"You two are truly excited, discussing it first thing in the morning!" Cain gave them a wry smile, To that Sofia blushed while Selena kept munching on her meat!

"What if I wanted to take you both, at the same time?" He asked the obvious question, are they okay being with each while doing it?

"That...gotta be a special occasion...not always!" Sofia was so embarrassed thinking about it she found it hard to speak.

"You three seem to have fun, shall I provide you with anything else?" Evan interrupts them. Cain was about to tell him off before he remembered something.

"Evan, Could we swap rooms? I want my room to be a bit bigger!" Cain was intending to build a make-shift alchemy lab there.

"Sorry, you and Sofia already have our biggest rooms, if you wanted more space then you have to rent another room!" Evan replied with a sad face.

After Evan left, It didn't take them long to finish their food and head to the guild.

"So what work did you have for me?" Sofia asked, hoping he might ask her to hunt the Giant toads, she still wanted to take her revenge.

"You won't believe it!" He said with an excited face.

"What? What?"

"You have a rank-up exam!" Hearing that, Sofia's expression turned pale, Two days before she wasn't able to cast magic and now he wants her to beat a senior adventurer!?

"No WAAAAY!" She yelled