Episode 311. Preparation for Sortie

The day after enjoying a meal with Alice.

Friday.

“Hey. This is really not it.”

“Ugh…?”

I, who had been falling for Liliana’s seduction and was about to engage in passionate skinship from midday, suddenly snapped back to reality.

“What am I even doing right now.”

“I haven’t done anything even after coming all the way to France.”

I slowly retraced what I had done.

Exploring famous restaurants with Liliana.

Spending hot days and nights with Liliana.

And one date with Alice.

Buying gifts for the heroines.

I didn’t come all this way just to live this kind of life.

Somehow, I’m living a more trash-like life than when I was back home.

Even back then, I lived diligently despite being trash, but now I’m just lazy trash.

“I can’t live like this anymore!”

“Wait a minute, Liliana, we shouldn’t be doing this.”

“Then what should we do?”

“…You’re right.”

It’s not like I want to keep living this trashy life.

As expected, the problem is terrorism.

Since terrorism doesn’t happen whenever I want it to, time has been dragged out like this.

Actually, it’s not that I couldn’t find the Centaur, nor did I think they wouldn’t show up at all.

Does it make sense that a guy who supposedly appears two or three times a week hasn’t shown up even once?

“Sigh. For now, extending until the weekend is a must.”

“Wow! Until the weekend!”

Liliana, unaware of my thoughts, shrieked with delight.

I’m already worried about how packed my schedule will be when I return to Korea.

Since the schedule has been postponed by two days, I should let the girls know.

• Me: Looks like I have to stay here until the weekend. I’m helping with anti-terrorism efforts.

I sent individual messages to the girls in this manner.

I’d contacted them consistently until now, but they’d never replied this quickly.

• Lucy: Okay. But don’t forget to study in the club room throughout finals!

• Lumi: Hoyeon-ssi… Always take care of yourself. You must come back healthy. Lucy and I… will be waiting.

• Baek Ahyoung: I’ll be waiting. Honey… I love you. Sob…. When you come back, I’ll do anything you want. Honey… ㅠㅠ

• Moon Surin: Don’t overexert yourself for others, and tell me when you get back. I have something to talk about♥

• Nam Daeun: Dahee and I will keep the house safe. Don’t come back too late… Because I’ll miss you.

“…This is bad.”

When I get back, my vital energy will probably be drained again.

I wonder if I can get through finals okay.

Professor Im Sol didn’t reply once throughout the entire practical training period.

She’s probably still in secluded training.

It’s a shame since I contacted her once every day without fail.

“Haa. Right. For now, I need to focus on the task at hand.”

I tapped my smartwatch to check the real-time news.

• Greetings. This is Paris. Currently, Mind-devils who appeared in central Paris are holding hostages…

The smartwatch was showing terrorism alerts, and it was like this almost every day.

Come to think of it, with so many Hunters possessing abilities, there must be many criminals with powers too.

It’s only natural for society to be chaotic.

Of course, that kind of terrorism wasn’t something we needed to step in for.

The Iris Guild’s tracking team is the one that gathers when the Centaur appears. The French government would handle that kind of terrorism.

“I wonder if the horse-people will show up?”

“Right? A guy who used to show up several times a week isn’t appearing now that we’re here.”

“Maybe they’re scared of me, a Succubus? Hehe.”

I ruffled Liliana’s hair as she smiled.

I was truly grateful that she didn’t show how worried she must be.

“Don’t worry. If we can’t meet them, I’ll stay until we do.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

Of course, it would be best if they showed up within the weekend.

“Then I want to eat donuts.”

“Sure. Eat up.”

I don’t know why the conversation suddenly shifted to donuts, but if Liliana likes it, that’s fine by me.

Liliana started shoving the sugar-glazed donut into her mouth, and I took one too.

“Hoyeon-nim.”

“What the, when did you get here?”

Just then, Scarlet’s voice came out of nowhere.

“I came in normally through the door. Hoyeon-nim’s attention tends to waver when he’s looking after a woman.”

“…So why are you here?”

At this point, I wonder if Scarlet isn’t the biggest threat to my life.

How many weaknesses does she know?

“The tracking team will be deployed tomorrow.”

“Suddenly?”

“Nom nom.”

Scarlet watched as I and Liliana, who were eating donuts, blinked.

“Yes. The Guild Master told me to ask Hoyeon-nim’s intentions. Whether you were thinking of staying one more day.”

“Oh… I’m fine with that, but a deployment all of a sudden?”

I was planning to stay until the weekend anyway, so the schedule is fine, but didn’t we not get involved in ordinary terrorist attacks?

“I’m not sure either. It seems they want to provide Miss Alice with combat experience.”

“Ah.”

Still, what I said back then had an effect.

That’s a relief.

“Well, I’m okay with it. I was planning to stay until the weekend anyway.”

Come to think of it, I don’t have much proper combat experience myself.

It’s only happened incidentally while stopping terrorism, so I’m quite looking forward to trying proper team play this time.

Besides, I can’t just send Alice alone after acting all cool like that.

“Understood. I’ll relay it to the Guild Master.”

“Yeah. Please do.”

Scarlet gave a slight bow and then left through the front door.

Come to think of it, I wonder how Scarlet explained my relationship with the Guild Master.

That makes me curious too.

“Ugh… It’s not like I won’t see the horse-people at all, right?”

“It’ll be okay.”

I wrapped my arms around Liliana, who was trembling with a donut in her hand.

Her soft body burrowed into my chest.

“Ugh… Master.”

I swallowed hard as I looked at Liliana clinging to me.

…Should I just do it once and think later?

It seems right to clear out this temptation before thinking about what to do next.

Just then, a familiar voice called out.

“Baby daddy. You’re getting too hot.”

“Huh?”

“Hiiik…!”

On the sofa where there was clearly no one, a red-haired beauty was sitting.

“Rebecca-ssi!”

“Mhmm. It’s been a while. I’m a bit late, right? It was hard to get away because of work at headquarters.”

Rebecca seemed less energetic than usual.

Did something quite difficult happen?

★ Heroine Status Window

[Rebecca]

• [ Affection: 73 ]

• [ Lust: 55 ]

• [ Appetite: 30 ]

• [ Fatigue: 70 ]

Current State: Still not feeling well. I wonder if I can properly assist the baby daddy.

‘Not feeling well?’

I focused a little more and examined Rebecca’s body.

Now that I looked, there were faint red marks on her neck.

“Rebecca-ssi. Did you get hurt perhaps?”

I let go of Liliana and approached Rebecca.

Rebecca noticed my gaze and shyly covered her neck.

“It’s nothing much. Getting hurt happens every day.”

“Still, you should be careful. You don’t have to provide support if it’s too hard. I’m quite strong myself, you know.”

“Hehe, what is it. Baby daddy, you’re quite cool today. But I can’t rest. I brought some very important information.”

Rebecca manipulated her smartwatch with one hand, searching for information.

As I laughed incredulously at Liliana, who had rolled herself into a ball under the covers on the bed, Rebecca started speaking again.

“First off, the Centaur you’re looking for, baby daddy, will appear in a terrorist attack soon.”

“Really? Around when?”

Is the indefinite wait finally coming to an end?

“Well. It could be today. It could be tomorrow. What’s certain is that they’ll appear soon. A Pandemic executive has joined the support.”

“Oh… Is that so?”

No, this isn’t something to be happy about.

“Then we need to prepare. Do you happen to know which executive is involved?”

“Yeah. A guy named Caddish, he’s quite a troublesome one.”

“Hmm… I don’t really know that name either.”

It’s not like I know all the executives.

If it’s an executive not mentioned in the original work, I have no way of knowing.

“Hmm. Well, you don’t need to worry about it. I can handle it.”

“Still, don’t overexert yourself.”

“Of course. The mother needs to be healthy to conceive.”

“…Yeah. That’s how it is.”

It’s really right in front of us now.

Actually, thanks to Baek Ahyoung, the burden regarding pregnancy has lessened, but still, the thought of it being my own child makes my chest feel uneasy.

It’s not like I’m weird, right?

Everyone probably thinks this way.

“Ugh! Anyway, I’ve told you everything. Baby daddy. I should get going soon.”

“What? Stay and have a meal together.”

I feel like I never get to have a proper conversation with Rebecca.

This person is just too busy, incredibly busy.

“Well… I barely managed to get in by breaking through the barrier. The Guild Master here seems quite strong. If it gets dark soon, I might get caught.”

“Ah…”

Come to think of it, there’s no way the Iris Guild’s main building wouldn’t have defenses.

Moreover, with Isaac’s characteristic of becoming stronger at night, it would become even more dangerous as time passes.

“Then, let’s have a meal together in Korea after I finish my work. Since the mind control is broken, and once we catch the Centaur, it’ll be fine even if you leave Pandemic, right?”

“Shall we? I’d always welcome that.”

Muah muah-

Rebecca beamed, moved her lips in a kissing gesture, and then vanished.

“There’s no one as good as her.”

Lately, I’ve been receiving so much help from Rebecca.

It feels really bad when she tries so hard when I haven’t done much for her.

Is giving her a child the only way?

Once this is over, I should give her a room in my house.

It would be fine to bring that orphanage child too.

‘Or maybe not? Having a guy move in seems a bit iffy. Scrap that.’

No matter how young, a guy is still a guy.

I approached the bed and nudged Liliana, who was still curled up under the covers, with my foot.

“Hey. Liliana. Rebecca-ssi is gone. Come out now.”

“Hnggg….”

Liliana still seemed intimidated by Rebecca.

I thought she was okay after eating the food Rebecca brought last time, but is she scared without food?

“Rebecca-ssi is a good person. Don’t be scared.”

“Yeah. I know, but I’m scared without Daeun….”

“Still, it’s rude. We’re here to help find the Centaur.”

“Okayyy….”

I pinched the cheeks of the dejected Liliana before getting up.

Since a terrorist attack is imminent, I should at least meditate.

Tiring-

Just then, an alarm rang on my smartwatch.

• Alice: Did you hear about the deployment tomorrow? Could you possibly come to my room today?

“Is it a pre-deployment massage?”

Well, replenishing mana before combat wouldn’t be bad.

I stopped the meditation I was preparing and spoke to Liliana.

“Liliana. I’m going out for a bit, so hang tight. Scarlet will be here soon.”

“Mhmm. Okay. I’ll play with Scarlet.”

After tormenting her all night because of yesterday’s steak-wrapping incident, thankfully Liliana didn’t put up a fuss.

• Me: I’m on my way right now.

‘I’m a little nervous today.’

It’s my first massage since Alice’s attitude changed, so I’m nervous for no reason.

I replied to Alice and headed out of the accommodation.