Stephanie (Intermission)

The sound of the anguish cries of the goblins echoed through the forest. In front of me, was the massacre aftermath of our raid, countless dead bodies of goblins are lying on the floor. Standing under a tree, watching my other party members killing every goblin with their spirit magic or by their weapons.

Toward my right, I could see a blazing fire burning through the goblin; the work of the phoenix twins. They're annihilating every goblin that goes in their way. I could even hear Albert's maniacal laugh.

"Hahahahaha—!"

He's a psycho. I feel bad for his twin sister Rosalyn, who's an incredibly kind and shy person—A polar opposite of Albert's psychotic personality.

While rushing through the forest to infiltrate the goblin's base, I threw my right chakram shutting toward three goblins, cutting their heads cleanly, then pulling it with a thread string mana, returning it into my hand. Suddenly, five goblins ambush me from the ground, burying themselves within the leaves.

"Clyde."

(Yes, master.)

A magic circle appears right before me, then a ferret appears from it, attacking the two goblins with its rolling body of flames. While at it, I throw my two chakrams at the other two, cutting their heads off, and finally, kicking the last one on its chest, sending it flying into a nearby tree. When it tries to stand up, I pull my two chakrams, finishing the last goblin.

(Master, done.)

(Thank you, go back.)

(I understand.)

Clyde disappears right in front of me. I then follow my Instructor Sora, who's demolishing the forest with her great hammer.

"Stephanie, you seem to be out of place? Are you missing your dear boyfriend already? Fufufu~"

On my left, I saw Courtney giggling, she's a demi-human race of wolves with characteristics of a human-like body with darkish blue hair. Her legs and forearms are covered with fur, and her feet are wolf's paws. She also has a pair of fluffy lupine ears and a large tail. In short, she's a werewolf. Seeing her makes my blood boil because Claude likes furs, especially demi-human girls.

"No." I glared at her.

"If you say so~"

Courtney jumps away through the trees, regrouping with others. Looking around, I saw that there's nothing in here, so I also decides to regroup with others.

"Oho~ You're not grumpy anymore~?"

"Shut up."

"I really can't tell how you can still act like this despite showing your true colors on everyone in the guild—I still remember whenever your dear boyfriend cuddles you, you will act as a cute little child. To be frank, I love that version of yours. Dear Steph~ Hahaha..."

Afterward, Courtney continued teasing me until we reached the others. When I saw my other party companions, they all looked exhausted—All of us. We're almost out of juice when we haven't even raided the main quarters of the goblins yet. Then Sasha, our healer, raised her staff in the air, and on the tip, dazzling magic particles rains upon us, healing and revitalizing our body.

Instructor Sora headed her way to us with no hint of exhaustion nor sweat dripping down her face. Behind her, I saw Instructor Ella dragging Albert with a beat-up face—She probably did that to him.

Instructor Ella is a platinum adventurer, but because of some unknown circumstance; she chose to become our instructor. She's an Avian or a type of 'Bird People'. They are a type of demi-human species that has wings allowing them to fly, and their wings are longer than their arms.

She's the one who made me realize that I need to be true to myself about how I really feel and understand that this world is full of uncertainties where there's no such thing as absolute.

"How's everyone? There's no one missing?" Instructor Ella asked.

"Yes." All of us answered.

"Well then, take a rest first before raiding the goblins. Are we clear?"

All of us sat under the tree, I'm sitting along with Courtney with her head resting on my shoulders. While I'm staring in a faraway distance of the forest, feeling some oddities towards it. A man blocks my view with a scowling look on his face; it was Dion, one of Albert's 'lackeys' despite being older than him. He was blinded by Albert's wealth as to why he's following him. A simple interpretation of how I looked at it.

"What do you want?" I said.

"Albert is calling for you."

"...Okay? Why do I need to follow your orders?"

"I'm not the one who said it, it was Albert."

"Let me rephrase it. Why do I need to do that?"

"Suit yourself..." Dion shrugs his shoulder, continuing what he said, "You're totally wasting a guy like Albert."

"Thank you, it's totally a waste accepting a guy like him," I said to him with a smile.

Dion replies to me with a haughty smile, then turning his back against me and going back to his owner. I can't believe that guy would lower himself for power and wealth, he's despicable. He's always licking Albert's shoes. Poor guy. But I do see that they're using each other, which is kind of sad.

"Heh, he's still bothering you, huh? When was the last time he did that? But to my surprise, he asked Dion. Despite being a stubborn person, he's a wimp inside. Hahaha..." Courtney laughed.

"He's been doing that for a few weeks now. Not going near me, but he orders them to call me over."

"He's getting desperate, huh? Not going for the direct approach, but manipulating everyone around him. He's a sly one."

"What do you mean?"

"He's obviously making it look like that you're directly approaching instead of the other way around. If I were him, I would use that as a foundation for destroying your relationship with your boyfriend to create some rumors. Shall we say, he's executing a plan by using our party companions? I mean, it's quite odd that he wouldn't approach you like before. However, there's a chance your dear boyfriend threatened him."

"Claude wouldn't do that... I guess he would... If he did, then I'm grateful for it."

"Hahaha, you're so amusing, Steph, I can't believe you would condone that kind of behavior."

"Albert has always been a pain in the ass, so don't blame me."

"Indeed, I agree. Well, my only advice for you was—Just keep ignoring him."

"Even if you don't say that, I will gladly do that in my own accord."

"Hahahaha..."

Later on, Instructor Ella heads her way to us with a gentle smile. "Steph, how's your relationship with him? I heard from others that you finally gathered your courage and confesses to him, so care to tell the story?"

"Yeah! Yeah! I haven't even heard that part yet!" Courtney joyfully added.

"No." I gave them a flat rejection.

"Oh, come on~ Steph~ I won't tease you~"

"You're lying, Courtney, I can see it in your eyes."

"Awww~"

Instructor Ella sits beside me. "What about me?"

"... Fine..." In the end, I completely gave up because Instructor Ella was the sole reason why I even confess, to begin with. So then I tell them the story of how I confess my feelings to Claude, which is kind of relieving and fun to do because it feels like I'm sharing a precious memory.

However, their expressions look odd when I told them the last part of the story.

"Stephanie..." Instructor Ella said with a dumbfounded expression.

"Steph..." Courtney is also the same.

"Why?"

"How can you be with a person who has a plan to create a harem?"

"Yeah, Steph... I can't see myself agreeing to such a thing..."

"Why? What's the problem with it? Isn't it for the best if I could be with him?"

I don't see any problem with it. I know that polygamous relationship is rare for commoners, but the polygamous relationship is totally acceptable in higher society. Mother was a mistress from a wealthy-noble family and told me that as long as she's with him—She's happy. Despite my own biological father visits us rarely, my mother would be overjoyed whenever she sees him.

"Steph, do you really want to share with others? How do you feel about that?"

"Yeah, Steph. I'm quite worried about you... I mean, I do find your boyfriend hot because he's strong, but I can't bring myself to agree to that kind of arrangement. We werewolves have selfish feelings of pride in everything, especially in our mates. We are overprotective towards our mates because we loathe seeing our mates with other females. It's making me as a female look weak, that my beloved one would choose some random bitch instead of me. We dominate other competition." Courtney said in a serious expression.

"She's correct, Steph. Do you not loathe seeing your boyfriend with another woman? Flirting with them?" Instructor Ella added with worrying eyes.

Listening to them, it does make sense. I hate seeing Claude being flirty with Princess Lily and especially that maid Clara. Reminiscing those frustrating memories of Clara, flirting with him makes my blood boil. Because of their words, I know now what to do.

"Yes, I do. Thank you, I know what to do now." I said proudly.

"Good girl." Instructor Ella pats my head.

"That's my Steph~"

I will dominate every woman and reach the pinnacle of the ranking by guaranteeing myself as the first wife!