The campfire enjoyed a prolonged moment of silence, only the sounds of crickets chirping around, the crackles of the fire and an occasional cry of a night's denizen far away from them. Rex's mana pulse was activated every now and then, ensuring no actual nightly predator was sneaking up on them, their fire serving as both a beacon and repellant at the same time. He was properly considering whether or not he had grown fond enough of Eve to accept her request. Sure, she was a nice girl, dreaming of the life as an adventurer- something she could now enjoy, all thanks to Danica, but was he himself interested enough, or willing to join this entire event, only to be bothered with the entire scheming and stupidity he would have to deal with as a result? Inconvenience for him for a limited duration of time or the loss of a temporary traveling companion? Honestly, he was fine with either of the options. Losing Eve would have its own issues as well. He would have to find an additional new member for his party, not to mention the other ones he still had to start searching for. On the other hand, were he to assist her, he might be annoyed to the point of him going down the full on murder hobo route, something he was not too keen on just yet. And as such, he was somewhat stuck for the moment.
Thankfully, he was not alone at this moment, his decisions now getting made with another person's input. And as such, with the moment of silence taking over their surroundings, like an all consuming and ever expanding and dread inducing shadow, making Eve more and more nervous, her hands clenched on her knees, Danica hugged Rex from behind, her chin landing on one of his shoulders as she spoke.
"That sounds like it could be fun. I think I would like to pound some bastard's face in as well. Can't keep only hunting for monsters you know?" a grin on her face as she finished.
"Nope." Rex then spoke up, discarding his previous thoughts entirely. Eve was Danica's choice, so he should just leave the decisions regarding the princess to her as well. That did not mean he was going to allow Danica to endanger herself though. And as such, with speed that surprised even Danica once again, he pulled the wolfkin woman in his lap, possessively hugging her.
"Unless there are party combat where I can ensure you are not harmed, there is no way I am going to allow you to participate. And you should know that by now."
"Well then" a mischievous smile crept on her face, as she drew out the words "I suppose you will have to do it in my stead then. No way am I going to allow anyone to lay their hands on my Eve." she spoke, her hands finding their own way back around Rex's neck once again, as the duo enjoyed each others presence.
"So be it." Rex agreed quite easily, stealing a few pecks from his beautiful blonde's lips before looking towards Eve. "I assume you would not have brought the subject up any time soon, trying to first deepen our friendship and whatnot?"
"Y-yes." Eve replied slightly worried, though upon lifting her gaze that had been lowered for quite a while and noticing the rather relaxed expression of Rex's and the large grin on Danica's face, she quickly steadied herself as she continued. "We still have a couple of months time before the question would have popped up and I assumed that would have been enough of a time to strengthen our bond. Do not think I requested to join because of that though. It is something I realised just when the guildmasters question about the tournament came up from the lips of that butler."
"I believe you." Rex replied, calming the girl down "Danicas explanation of your character confirmed your words as well. Honestly, I would be fine with either of the options, at least at this point in time. Then again, it's Danica who will make the most decisions regarding topics that are related to you Eve. Do with that knowledge what you will. It's late. We should get some rest before we continue on with our hunt tomorrow. We have barely acquired any of the royal beef drops so far and I would like to increase our kills per hour so to speak."
A quiet 'Thanks love' was whispered in his ear, followed by a playful bite on his neck, the message clear, as well as a more formal and courteous words of gratitude coming from Eve as she cleaned up her own seat and did as instructed, retiring for the night on the platform the group had chosen as their resting spot for the night. And with Eve already in her designated sleeping spot, Rex sent Snek up there as well, ordering his pet to keep an eye on Eve while he and Danica worked off some pent up energy and once done and freshened up, they too joined a slightly blushing Eve, though only Rex saw the still awake princesses' current state. And so, with Eve in her own sleeping bag just a meter or so away and Danica nuzzled in his side they drifted to sleep.
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When grinding and farming for uncommon drops, time flies by unnoticed and in just a blink of an eye, an entire month had gone by, with the trio working towards their goal every single solitary day. They Had not encountered another group of humans anywhere near their farming location, them having gone too deep for most other local parties to follow along, allowing Rex in particular to go more unrestrained. As before, they had continued with the already established pattern, becoming more and more in tune with one another and refining their teamwork, especially the mutual cooperation and understanding between Danica and Eve. By this point even Rex was enjoying Eve's company, the young princess had shed most of her noble mannerisms and polite talk, joking around and even going along with Danica when the wolfkin woman decided to play around with Rex. He had already given up towards the possibility that Danica would not try and pull Eve into their bed any day now as well, since almost everything else the two women already did together.
Eve had also improved by leaps and bounds, no longer needing any assistance with tips regarding her archery. She had even gotten quite along the way in using her own mana constructed arrows instead of already premade ones. Not to mention that she had grown stronger as well, so much so that Rex had expressed his guess that she could be now classified as high B rank adventurer, though Eve had said that while she has gotten much stronger, not only physically but much more so in regards to her actual combat skills, she was also acutely aware that she was nearing her own limits as well, something Danica, who had grown stronger as well, could not relate to, earning a slight pout from the human woman at that time.
And in such a manner, the group had spent the entire month, spilling the blood of bulmors, acquiring more and more A ranked monster cores as well as other drop items, both from bulmors and the predator packs they would encounter every now and then. They had long since acquired the necessary amount of royal beef to finish the quest, but they had kept going to stash on quite a bit of reserves for their own consumption after they tried to cook one of the pieces of said meat and devouring it in mere moments. It was just that good. It reminded Rex a bit of the earth grade meat he would feast on before he reached the power levels necessary to hunt for even better ingredients. Still, for a world of this level, this was already incredible, and so, they farmed for it, a fire lit in the trios eyes as they were on the same train of thought.
As for why they would finally leave, when they still had over a month left before the start of the tournament? The time was right, not only because they had spent appropriate time, by the general standards of the world, in finishing up their chosen quests, but also because they also had just finished a rather unique encounter, finishing their grind session with a cherry on top. With a large grin on his face, Rex held for Empowerment crystals in his palm, the two girls intently staring at the items, the two story building sized monster bulls body having scattered in mana dust moments ago.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
This fight, while time consuming, was mostly done by Rex, a peculiar fire in his eyes and voice as he ordered the girls to stand back and watch the surroundings. And so, much like before with Light's Oak, he was the only reason the monster was even slain. The girls knew it as well, not only because both were well aware that without Rex they couldn't even hunt for the monster groups here, but also because they estimated that the enormous bullmor was close to peak A rank, possibly even half step S rank. That kind of a monster was not something anyone in this, or any other of the outer circle nation, could ever hope to take down. As a result, the Empowerment crystals too were rather special, radiating light and warmth like nothing Eve had seen before. She has had the honour to see a fair few similar stones in her life, but these, these were extraordinary. So much so that she had absolutely no idea how valuable they would be, were someone to actually sell them.
With a shit eating grin on his face, Rex grabbed two of the stones and almost casually threw one towards each of the girls. "Obviously, no one is going to mention this to anyone else. That's the hush hush bribe for you two." Once the girls had both swallowed their respective crystals and basked in their incredible effects, their attention once again on him, he continued "Also, its core is not going to go in circulation either. The same reason as before. And with that done, I do believe that it is only wise to end our little field trip. Your family no doubt will be expecting us with the good news."
"IF they have not yet panicked and assumed that we died in the process." Danica snickered, imagining a rather panicked royal family, possibly even grieving right now the loss of one of their daughters.
"No worries there. Each member of the royal family has a life jade within the vaults of the family, shattering upon the death of said member."
"Let's depart then." Danica spoke, stretching and enjoying the feeling she felt after the consumption of the crystal "I do miss a long and steaming hot bath after all this time spent here. Ordinary lake water can only do so much."
"Mhm. I agree." as expected, Eve was besides Danica in just a few moments, and, after a few meaningful looks between the duo, she bit her lip as she glanced towards Rex "Care to join us then?" slight blush adorning her face. Rex knew better though, since he saw the stiff face Danica was putting up as well, the duo trying their best to keep the act together.
'Damn minxes.' Rex sighed internally, well used to the little tricks the duo had started to play on him every now and then, though it had all been light hearted and tame up until now. 'Well, two can play this game.' his mind continued to spin and plot, considering the best reply in mere moments from the stated question.
"Sure thing. Lets have some fun then." came the reply, clearly knocking the wind out of the two women, Danica's face revealing surprise and bewilderment while Eve went beet red at the mere thought, sputtering and trying to quickly find excuses and whatnot for whu it was, after all, not a good idea. Rex walked over to the duo and performed a very light, symbolic chop on each of their heads, conveying a profound message with the action, while also doing so with words, just to be sure he was understood properly.
"Don't threaten me with good time. I am not one of those naive and sputtering isekai mc's who turn into blabbering fools at the sight of mere underwear or anything of the sort."
"Isekai mc's?" Danica questioned, not at all familiar with the term, the looks of confusion shared with Eve. How could they know? Writing was such a niche thing only enjoyed by the richest of families and what not. And what need would a world as filled with wonder and magic as this for dreams and hopes of precisely what they already had? It was better to just go out and make your own dreams into reality, or die trying, as countless people did.
"Let's head out." Rex added, and with those words, the party quickly returned to their temporary camp near the ginormous baobab, cleaned up the place, leaving it nice and tidy and headed out, both the baobab and a pale pillar of light in the distance their guiding 'stars', though to be honest they only needed to note the pillar of light as it was where the portal out was located. Spending a couple of hours on their return, avoiding most of the monster packs along the way, while still having to dispatch another two rose thorn lions groups, they reached the exit.
Due to the time they returned, more than a single adventurer party was met along the way, though none showed much interest in them, the rather meticulous way they avoided monster packs giving no reason for said parties to pay attention to them besides the basic caution regarding an unknown group, even if few in numbers, nearing them in any capacity. As Rex's group passed these parties by, maintaining respectable distance of course, Eve expressed her own assumption regarding the lack of attention.
"I believe they must think us remnants of a party that pushed too deep and as a result lost more than half of their numbers. That would also explain why our return is so cautioned, avoiding every monster grou pas much as possible." she whispered in low voice, only heard by Rex and Danica.
"Works in our advantage." Rex mused in return, not changing their pace one bit. "Think the hostile nobles would still consider your relationship with my group surface level. or your father trying to hoist you upon us to gain inroads with the party?"
"Hmm." Eve hummed for a moment, considering how to properly respond, though she had a few possible conclusions. "I would like to hear what the people of my family have gathered during this month we spent in the dungeon. While it is likely that whatever plan they might have had for me is abandoned, they might very well assume you to be nothing more than exceptional beast tamer. No offence, but you are dressing in a manner that does not scream combat class."
"None taken, but you at least are well aware why I dress as I do, not that what others think of me matters." With another hum from Eve in agreement, the group continued as they have, a short while later leaving the dungeon.
"Hmm, nothing beats the actual sun." Sighed Danica once they were outside as they basked in the afternoon warmth provided by the heavenly object. Rex had mentally nudged his two falcons who have had a relaxing vacation for a month, notifying them of his return and to prepare for another flight soon after.
"I know that bath is calling for us, but first things first. Guild and only then bath. We are presentable enough for that." Rex interrupted the two women basking in the sun and with that, they did as planned.
First, they went by the guild, turning in frankly obscene numbers of A ranked cores, earning a big payday. Then, the group went by the guildmasters office to inform him of Rex's plans to take part in the tournament as Eve's recommendation, or entry, however one wanted to look at it. The emphasis was on 'Eve's', not royal families or whatever, giving the former backed independence, protecting her from many machinations taking place in the upcoming ruler summit.
And once done there, they all got their well deserved and earned bath, as well as a proper meal and rest, leaving the city next day, returning to the capital to hand in their quests. Thankfully, or to be precise, as planned, the group arrived in the capital city after dusk, leaving none the wiser of their return. Eve needed to go through the intelligence her family had gathered while Rex handed in the quests.
Using Eve's private residence as their landing spot, they silently arrived and after finding a few, trusted people, the trio once again stood in the presence of the king, Eve's father. Though Eve herself was already busy going through a large stack of documents pertaining to her subject of interest, while Rex placed the required items, the meat not including, on the table before him. Once the kings trusted steward confirmed the authenticity of the items, Rex's party was appropriately compensated for their time and effort put in.
With only the meat issue remaining and after a quick exchange of the goods, the slabs of meat getting placed on a specially prepared cover to the side and quickly stored in the stewards spatial ring, Rex's party got paid handsomely for the last quest as well, concluding their business. Thankfully, by the time all the prior and formal procedures were done, Eve was also done on her part, summarizing everything that their families spies had learned that was of importance to her party, for she did consider herself a part of it by now.
