Back to Jade City

"I'm terribly sorry, but could you please bear with this inconvenience? Showing now that we identify everyone regardless of their status would do wonders in quelling the unrest of people entering our city…"

One of the guards by the eastern gate of the Jade City bowed deeply towards Zane and Melinda as their turn came to pass through the checkpoint.

"No problem."

"It's your job."

The two of them looked to the side, watching some maid take their luggage and effortlessly scale the wall and enter the city unnoticed by anyone besides them, ending in their casual responses as they had nothing left to hide.

Well, almost nothing.

Both of them took out and passed their guild cards to the guardsman, who, in turn, passed them a level-measuring orb.

On their way to the city, the gold-haired girl killed a few dozen monsters she considered low-level in order to obscure her kill log even a little bit, but she couldn't help being conscious of the potential inspection…

"Oh. I must have missed the sound of a level-up or two."

While Melinda's orb showed the number 49 as expected, Zane let out a voice of surprise at his own reading.

"Perseverance almighty! 129?! Sir, no… Lord Zane! You truly are the champion blessed by our goddess!"

"Yes, there's no doubt that a goddess is watching over me."

"~!"

The guardsman let out a gasp at the sight of the level reading, to which Zane chuckled while glancing down and winking at Melinda, making her all giddy.

The exchange ended up being a distraction because the awestruck guard did not even bring up the kill log and instead returned the cards to both travelers.

"About your luggage…"

"Both of us had the necessities provided by others, and our stuff is back in the Academy's dorm. We only have what's on us right now. Feel free to check that."

The guardsman hesitated, looking around the pair's legs, expecting to see suitcases or bags, but the white-haired young man cleared up the misunderstanding.

…even though the actual luggage, including some Kobold-made accessories and monster parts, had been snuck in already…

"Then, since you allow me…"

The guard nodded and patted down the monstrous man, checking on the few pouches at his waist to confirm their contents.

"..."

As Melinda waited her turn, she reached out to the one pouch she had on her with the intention of taking it off and showing off to speed things out…

"...!?"

And flinched upon getting a feel of some round object that definitely should not have been there…!

"Is something wrong?"

The keen guard noticed the unusual movement and asked, surprisingly taking out a piece of paper and scribbling down the question.

"It's nothing; for a second, I thought that I had left my purse back home and scared myself."

"Ah, understandable."

The gold-haired girl shook her head, smiling apologetically, acting convincingly enough for the guard not to inspect her immediately.

But her turn would come.

And then what?

"..."

"...?"

Melinda bit her lips and inched behind Zane, tugging on his clothes and making him look over with surprise before leaning down.

"...Zane… I messed up… I was sure that I left Silva Core with Adi, but I still have it with me…!"

"Don't worry, I'll handle it."

The girl climbed on her tippy toes and whispered into the young man's ear, which made him smile and nod his head reassuringly after a brief moment of consideration.

"Everything's in order, Lord Zane. As for the young Lady…"

As the guardsman finished the tap-down, he tried to move on to the gold-haired girl but was stopped by Zane.

"I'm sorry, but would it be possible to ask for a female guard? I'm sure you understand, with her position involved and all of that…."

"Oh…! Thank you, Lord Zane, I almost made a terrible mishap!"

The white-haired man leaned in conspicuously and pointed out to the guard, who flinched and let out a gasp.

"...ah… our unit doesn't… umm… Lord Zane, would it be too much to ask you as the champion of the goddess to…? I'm sure that no one would dare to insinuate something inappropriate happening if you would do it!"

The guardsman let out a couple of troubled gasps before coming up with a solution he had no idea of being guided right into.

"..."

"No complaints~"

Zane turned back to Melinda and tilted his head questioningly, which made her hum as she spread her arms in a pose that appeared to be more of ready-to-get-hugged than compliance with a body search.

"While we're at it, I did receive reports from the church, but how does the situation in the city look from your perspective?"

As Zane's long and thin fingers began sliding across Melinda's body with familiarity, he tilted his head to the side and asked.

"Well, it feels like the city is slowly returning to normal after all that madness with demon followers. As you surely know, most of the inquisitors left the city in pursuit of the fleeing cultists after the show that one of the Seven Authorities performed. Besides that, everything went back to how it used to be. We've even witnessed monsters above level 50 returning, although I can't say that's a good thing."

"Indeed."

The guardsman answered with a sigh while Zane got down on one knee to do his job properly…

"...~"

…and although Melinda's expression remained serious, the meekness of her usually sharp eyes would easily betray her real feelings - that is, if anyone besides Zane could see it at the moment.

The secret of the purse was kept fairly easily from that point on - Zane barely opened it, sliding his fingers in and rummaging them a bit until the coins surrounding the round object jingled… and that was it.

"Thank you for your cooperation!"

"Keep up the good work."

After all the formalities were done, the guardsman bowed to the pair again as he let them through, earning himself some words of encouragement loud enough for the other people wanting to enter the Jade City.

"...tsk… just our luck, being the two most eye-catching people in the whole City…"

Melinda clicked her tongue as she looked around while the cold sharpness returned to her gaze.

"Kinky~ If you can't endure it any longer, I'm sure we can find an abandoned building or a secluded enough alley."

"...!"

Zane picked up on her murmur and chuckled playfully, which, interestingly enough, made the girl stop mid-step.

"I… I didn't…. I mean… I thought about, you know, us holding hands… b-but… if you want… for you, I'm always ready, so we can…"

"!!!"

Completely taking Zane by surprise, Melinda blushed so hard her whole face and neck turned bright red as she lowered her head and stuttered.

"You're feeling faint?! Young Lady Fenrioette that won't do! I'll take you to see the medic!"

"...o-okay…"

The particular behavior gathered more than a few unwanted gazes, causing Zane to hurriedly come up with an excuse as he protectively supported the gold-haired girl and began guiding her through the crowd.