AN: Here's the second chapter of the week guys~ Hope you enjoy it! Please look forward to the next one XD
"Le-Leon."
Leon continued dragging Lily even after they came out from the crowds. Lily saw a glimpse of his face and got worried. Although his face looked normal, she could feel the anger behind it. His eyes were cold, it was completely different from the eyes she knew and loved. It was as if he was a different person.
"Leon."
Leon stopped in his tracks after Lily's voice snapped him back to reality.
"I-I'm sorry for dragging you forcefully."
He managed to calm down, let go of her hands and lowered his head to her. Leon didn't know what came over him.
When he saw the hands of those filthy men about to touch her, he was overcome with rage. All he saw was red. He wasn't able to control his emotions anymore and did all that instinctively. It was the first time this ever happened in his whole life.
"I-It's fine Leon. More importantly, are you okay?"
"Yes... I'm fine now. Something went over me when those men almost did something to you. I'm sorry."
"Eh? Eh! It's fine! Or rather... Thank you very much for helping me."
Realising Leon's feeling, Lily thanked him with a smile on her flushed face. She had never seen Leon that upset before, which made her incredibly happy to know that Leon cared for her that deeply.
A few moments later, Mia and the rest finally met Leon and Lily.
"Geez, I thought we were going to meet after we escape the crowds but you continue to walk so quickly!"
"Oh, and what happened? They just froze suddenly. Though thanks to that we were able to escape."
"Let's just say some trash were about to cause problem and I merely dispose of it."
"Eh? When you say it with that face, it doesn't sound like a joke. You didn't kill them right?"
"No, unfortunately I managed to hold back."
"...Unfortunately? Well, I guess it's fine..."
Mia noticed Lily blushing all this time with a smile on her face.
"Let's go to the guild then."
They began walking towards the guild. Mia moved beside Lily and began walking beside her. She then whispered something to Lily.
"Tell me about it later okay?"
"Eh?! Uh-Uhm... Okay."
As Mia expected, it must had something to do with Leon and the situation before judging from her flushed face and fidgeting.
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"So, first things first. Leon, I will be promoting you to rank B for now. I would like to promote you directly to rank A but I would need to talk to the other guild masters first about this. I've sent a letter to them requesting emergency meeting due to the sudden appearance of calamity class Behemoth."
"I understand if all of us would be promoted to rank B. However, why am I the only one promoted to rank A?"
"Of course all of you will be promoted to rank B too."
"Eh? Us too?"
"Of course. I've heard the details from Vyra. All of you have fought and survived a battle with a calamity class. Additionally, you could defeat an opponent that a rank B party had trouble dealing with. All of you have the ability of a rank B, so you should be a rank B adventurer."
"...Guild master, don't you think she might be lying to you?"
"Oh, I've already asked her if she's lying. She swore on Leon's name so didn't doubt her further."
"Well, if she went that far then it should be fine."
"Of course! I would never do something that ruins Leon's name!"
Vyra said with a proud face as she puffed her modest chest forward.
"Thank you, Vyra. I'm really happy you feel that way."
"E-Eh! Ye-Yes, I'm happy too, Leon..."
The proud girl immediately shrink and her face flushed pink after Leon thanked her. Everyone there knew that her face was that of a maiden in love, but they also knew the person in question would be oblivious to it.
"Then, the reason for you alone to be promoted to rank A. I'm sure you know, right Leon?"
"...WE defeated the behemoth Mr. Gera, not me."
Everybody in the room looked at Leon as he put an emphasis on 'we'. They know the fact that Leon was the one who contributed the most to the fight. In fact, Lily, Mia and Rafael's contribution were almost negligible.
"Guild ranks are determined by the guild's evaluation of their strength. You understand what that means right?"
Leon and Gera stared at each other for a while, trying to stand their ground. In the end, Leon caved in first since there weren't enough demerits to make him fight the guild master more than this.
"...I understand. However, please make the rumors about the one who defeat the behemoth as our party and Silver Fang instead of just me."
This way, the achievement of killing the behemoth would protect them as well.
"I have no control over rumors. But I will spread the news just like you said."
"Thank you very much."
"Though the title [Dark Hero] is already rampant among the citizen of Lingenia."
"..."
Ignoring Leon who sighed at the fact that it may be too late for him to not stand out by himself, Gera continued to talk.
"Oh, and could I ask you to be on standby here for about 2 and a half weeks? I will be heading towards the royal capital in two days after sorting things out here. It would take a week to go to the royal capital and 2 days for the meeting usually. Is that okay?"
Leon looked around to his friends and they all nodded.
"I understand. Then we will be resting in the meantime."
"Thank you for your understanding. Another thing, since all of you will be promoted to rank B, I would like to ask you on a party name. Have you thought of one?"
"Yes, we were told that you might ask for that by Crea so we have thought about it. We will go by the name [Crimson Lightning]."
"Crimson Lightning. Great name you pick there. I assume you got that idea from one of Leon's ability?"
Everyone of them smiled awkwardly, having their thought process for naming their party found out.
"Okay! I'll do the paperworks for that later along with you guy's promotion. By the way Leon, did you retrieve the magic stone from the behemoth?"
"What is a magic stone?"
"Eh?"
The room became silent for a moment.
"Le-Leon. Don't tell me you don't know about magic stones?"
Leon shaked his head. There wasn't a system in Grandeur Fantasia where monsters drop magic stones."
"Ah... I guess I forgot to tell him. We usually take back the important parts of the monsters and the magic stones. But since Leon has <<Inventory>>, we forgot all about that."
Rafael and Lily shared the same mistake as Mia as they forgot to tell Leon about magic stones.
"Well, I guess it's fine. I'll explain it. Magic stones can be found in monsters. They provide monsters with magic which caused them to become stronger than regular animals. The stronger the monster, the higher the quality of magic stone is. When retrieved, these magic stones can be used to make magic items. As you might've already known, magic items can be used for various purposes. For example, there are magic items which can increase strength of the user, increase the size of a room, or a wand which can fire one elementary spell. They are incredibly expensive, but equally strong and useful. They also allow magic to go through them, making it stronger. Some could even allow the user to cast a simple spell. In addition, the user doesn't need to be a magician to use it. Everyone has magic power inside of them and they just need to let that flow into these items. They are incredibly useful and sought after."
"I see."
As expected there wasn't such system in Grandeur Fantasia. Although the monsters did not drop magic stones, there were magic items which could be obtained from dungeons or boss monsters. Leon became slightly irritated at himself for missing such a important thing while buying Lily's bow. The Silver Fang members must also had magic weapons. They were all enchanted and had a slight glow in them. But Leon missed the fact since he was preoccupied with the behemoth. He thoroughly reflected on himself for missing such an important system in this world.
"Would it be fine if the magic stone was accidentally cut?"
"It's fine. In fact, it would be helpful to cut down a magic stone that size."
"Understood. Then, I will retrieve it at once."
"Eh? Right now?"
"Yes, I will come back in a few hours. Is there something else you need to talk about?"
"Oh! Then one more thing. How do you want to handle the materials you get from the behemoth. We would need to keep it for research before letting it flow to the market. Of course I will give you the information we got from it. After we're done, we could sell it for a pretty hefty price. But, you are the one who subjugate it so it is your decision."
"I see. Then please do so. Please do share the information you get from the behemoth with me, particularly how it came to be. I will sell one fourth of the behemoth's corpse to the guild for that purpose and keep the rest for now. Also, I will sell one dark wolf and one dark eagle corpse for your research and keep the rest. We can decide on the price after we know the quality of the materials and the money would be divided equally to all members of Crimson Lightning."
"Eh?"
"I would also like for the Silver Fang members to get a share of the money for selling it. It would be helpful for them since their weapons were either destroyed or damaged."
"EEEEHH!"
All of them screamed in surprise at what Leon just said.
"Le-Leon. Are you serious? This is an incredibly valuable specimen. You could live in luxury for the rest of your life if you sell it for yourself."
"Yes, I expected as such. But I do not intend to do so. I will be keeping the rest of the behemoth for the time being, and depending on the circumstance, I may sell it in the future. I fear the guild will strain itself too much if you buy all the materials at once and it also served to prevent the market from becoming chaotic."
"Then what about equally dividing the money to us?! We didn't even do anything to help you!"
"No, I did not defeat it myself, Mia. Without all of you there, I wouldn't be able to defeat it. That is why it wasn't just me. It was all thanks to you."
"Wha..."
"...You won't back down on this would you?"
"No I won't. You may think I'm scheming something, Rafael, but I promise you this is my true intention."
"No, I didn't think that you would trick us in the first place. I trust you that much. I guess I'll just have to live with it huh."
"Le-Leon... Is it really fine? I don't think I deserve it."
"Of course Lily. If you don't deserve it, then I don't to. We defeated it together didn't we? All of you helped me with the dark wolves and even got in danger when I was blown away by the fireball. This is a well deserved reward."
Lily was still doubtful if she deserved it. However, Leon went so far to convince them to receive it. She didn't knew Leon was this stubborn and felt troubled yet happy at the same time for discovering a new side of him she didn't know. Also, it was this kindness which Lily fell in love with. He wasn't selfish or greedy and always thought about others first before himself.
"Hah... I guess there's no convincing him otherwise."
"Yeah... Leon is kind of stubborn after all."
"Th-Then.. Thank you Leon."
Mia, Rafael and Lily was finally convinced to take the money from the behemoth's material.
"Leooon! Let's buy sweets and food after this!"
Charlotte said so with sparkly eyes and a drool about to fall from her mouth. She was incredibly excited to eat various sweets from the money she received.
Vyra also declined it at first, saying that her possession is Leon's. It took a bit of convincing, but after saying "Girls would like to buy clothes and accessories to appear more beautiful right? You should use the money for that. It would be a waste of your beauty if you only wear that outfit after all." Her face went red and finally yielded.
Although it was true that Leon felt he wouldn't be able to defeat it by himself, his true intention for share this reward was something else. If he was by himself, he wouldn't even tried to challenge something like that. If he defeated it, it would expose his power and attract unnecessary attention.
His true intention was to thanked them. Before coming to this world, he was unable to trust anyone. However, after he met them, he began to be able to trust others, little by little. He still couldn't trust anyone else. But, he realised that he could trust Mia, Rafael, Charlotte, Vyra, and Lily. They've taught him what it feels like to have friends. Although he knew money wasn't exactly the right way to repay them, it was his token of appreciation for the people he could truly call his friends.
"Then I will be retrieving the behemoth and its magic stone. Mr. Gera, do you have an area to place it. It was quite large."
"Hmm. Then can you please place it just outside of the city, near the entrance of the forest. I don't think we can fit that large even in a room equipped with space enlargement."
"I understand. Then I will proceed on doing so."
"Oh Leon..."
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry about those party who run away. I suppose it's understandable that they would run away after seeing such a monster. In fact, the fact that your party and Silver Fang stayed was incredibly commendable. However, for them to abandon their comrades, even a temporary one, is incredibly shameful. I cannot give them a heavy punishment, but I hope you will be fine for them to be punished lightly."
"Yes, it is fine by me Mr. Gera. I also understand the feeling of running away from that monster. The fact that I stayed and fight was all because they were here with me."
Leon gestured towards his party members.
"I see. Thank you for your consideration."
Vyra, Lily and the others looked at Leon with a smile on their face. They were truly happy that Leon thought of them that much.
"Leon, should we help?"
"No, you guys should rest. I will return soon. Let's meet back at the inn."
"Okay. Be careful."
"Leon, I will accompany you."
"It's fine, Vyra. You should rest. It will just be a short errand."
"But... I understand."
Vyra realised that it would be rude to Leon if he rejected his kindness any further and backed down.
"Well then, I'm off. See you in a few hours."
Leon opened the window of the guild master's room and began leaping from building to building. In just a few seconds, his figure can't be seen anymore.
"Damn, he's so fast."
"What is he, a monkey?!"
"Leon... Amazing."
"That kid is just full of surprise huh."
"As expected of Leon, I still have much to learn."
"Vyra is already strong. My brother is just amazing."
Charlotte puffed her chest and place her hands on her waist as she boast about Leon.
"Well, we better return to our inn. You guys wanna grab some food?"
Lily and the others nodded at Mia's proposal and exited the guild building.
Right as they exited, they were welcomed by countless people coming to greet them and thank them. They pretty much became celebrities to the people of the city.
"I-I think we should head to the inn immediately and grab a bite there. Oh and we'd better extend our stay in the inn."
All of them agreed and began walking through the sea of people slowly. It took them an hour to reach the inn which only supposed to be 15 minutes away from the guild. All of them plopped down on their beds.