Chapter 288: A Little Holiday

After the intense training with Kassie, my day was free. I had spent the past three weeks on a job of my own, and Milo, Cressida and the unrelated twins had also finished their jobs. All we had left for the day was to laze around.

Times like this had been rare over the past few months. Ever since the Black Snow Company brought down the Manhattan Trade Center, we’d been flooded with jobs from people who suddenly trusted us a whole lot more.

In fact, that was why Po, Gran Gran and Derry weren’t around. The three of them had gone on a delivery job, just as Levi, Tristan and Nisha had left on a job of their own. The company had been so busy that a day like this could be considered a holiday.

So I decided I was going to spend it doing something a bit different.

I had been hunting for an armor that would fit me. Not just any armor, something unique, something worthy of the materials I’d collected over the past several months. Resources weren’t the problem. In fact, resources were the one thing I had too much of.

I had materials from Bestial, Feral, Primal and Apex beasts, though the Primal tier dominated my collection. The issue was finding someone who could actually work with them.

Local blacksmiths? Every single one of them swore up and down they could forge a Spirit Gear for me. Confidence pouring out of their ears. Then I’d pull out the materials and watch the same scene play out like a bad comedy routine. Their expressions would shift from eager to confused to something resembling a man who’d just been handed a live snake and told to make it into a necklace.

’What even is this?’ one had asked, holding the Glacial Patriarch’s Ice crown like it might bite him.

Making a Spirit Gear wasn’t the problem. Using

my

materials to make one was.

And because of that, Cressida had promised to take me to the blacksmith who forged that wicked weapon of hers.

I was excited about it. At the same time, I wasn’t.

One, I wasn’t sure about traveling with Cressida. She had a noisy and poky nature, and I didn’t know how that would play out over a long trip. Actually, maybe I knew exactly how it would play out, and that was why I was reluctant. But at least my desire to use these materials was greater than my dislike for Cressida’s mouth.

After my training with Kassie, I went back inside and took a very cold shower, washing away sweat and humiliation from my body.

Six months had brought a lot of changes. My abs had formed visible contours, even though they still lacked real rigidity. My shoulders were fairly spread and my back was marked with intense ridgelines of muscle. Every movement of my body as I washed was enough to make a goddess drip between her legs.

After I was done, I changed into my simple outfit. It was the common style they had around here, but on the high end of the trend. After all, I had enough money to afford good clothes. I’d bought clothes for Kassie and Maggie too.

And it had been a while since I’d seen Kassie wearing her malevolent armor, while Maggie had refused to change out of her nun’s habit.

’Maybe I should consider getting her something like that... but tighter... juicier...’

An evil grin split my face as I conceived these malicious thoughts. They were the kind of things my head could roll on the floor for. Granted, they couldn’t exactly kill me.

Still! Being able to pull atrocious acts like this and get away scot-free was the crux of the life I was hoping to live with my villainesses.

’Imagine raising Maggie’s skirt and all she can do is shrink in shyness and embarrassment.’

Right now, that was not the kind of Maggie I could see. In fact, it was difficult to envision that kind of Maggie even in the future. But these were the things about dreams. They always looked so big and impossible at the beginning, but once you committed to them, you began to see just how possible they could be.

I raised my head as that reality settled in. A reminder to never let go of what truly mattered.

Fucking my villainesses.

’And fucking up the church...’

Each one seemed like a tumultuous and impossible dream, but I barked a laugh.

"I guess I’m a man of impossible standards!"

I wore a grey shirt with a high collar and dark blue trousers, then pulled on a pair of high boots with straps that locked just above the ankle. I rolled the sleeves of my shirt up past my forearms, slid Frost Fang into its bluish-white sheath and attached it to my belt, then threw a dark cloak over my back.

This was the criminal city, after all. There was no telling who I could encounter, so it was important to stay careful at all times.

After that, I stepped out and found Cressida waiting for me downstairs. She was munching on a pastry that Odelia had just made. She finished the last of it and quickly dusted her hands over her clothes, speaking even though she was still chewing.

"Muh you rvedy for you ashvensures?"

I stared at her for a few moments, wondering if I should just call it off right now and spend the rest of my time in the red district instead.

But I sighed.

’I’ve put this off long enough.’

I glanced back at Milo and Ophelia, who seemed engrossed in some card game.

Milo suddenly let out a cry of pain and protest.

"Ahn! That’s unfair, I had the king card just now?!"

Ophelia responded with an indifferent expression.

"You lost... that’s all."

For a moment I worried about leaving them, but then again, there was Kassie and there was Evangeline, and those two were strong enough to be taking on A-rank missions by themselves.

’They’ll be fine.’

I turned to Cressida and trudged forward.

"Well, let’s depart to this El Mercado Eterno."