Chapter 356: 356 - I'm an A-Rank?

"So, are we going to Carlos' place or yours without even taking this girl to get her stuff?" he asked, making both Noah and Allie realize they had completely forgotten about that.

"About that..." Noah looked to the side, straight at Al, who was seated in the passenger seat. Their eyes met for a second, as they exchanged words without speaking at all.

"Ahem." Until a snake's head appeared between them, and turned towards Noah. 'Don't you dare," she said, as something in her guts told her it was time to cut it short.

'Dare what?' Noah asked back, tilting his head as he turned the car on.

'Go with her and leave us behind at Carlos' place while you take her to meet the Unicorn and Terrence,' she said while huffing, a proverbial lightbulb shining atop Noah's head.

"Ah!" he exclaimed, twirling her around his arm and pulling it towards the steering wheel, taking the snake with it.

"HEY!" she protested out loud, but took a second too long to react.

"I'll take you guys to Carlos' place and go to hers to get the stuff she will need for the first few days. We can arrange to move the larger stuff at another time. Is is okay with you?" he spoke while looking at Carlos, only turning back to Al at the last question.

"Sure. I mean, I don't have that much stuff..." Allie put a hand in front of her lips, shying away, while nodding.

"Ehhh?! But we promissed to have a girl's night together!" Maggie protested, making Noah turn back towards her.

"Really? Does it have to be tonight? We can have her come over or go to our house tomorrow or another—"

"Tonight!" Maggie interrupted him, pouting. Despite being a cheeky way of guaranteeing it, Maggie was worried about Al, and that could be seen in her face. Noah took note of her fleeting glances at the woman, and simply sighed.

"Alright, alright. I know I'm spoiling you too much, but just this once," he muttered, feeling Lilith angrily squeeze his arm. 'And you, cut the crap. It's Al, the friend from work who helped me since I was a kid, why are you getting all rilled up out of a sudden?' he adressed Lilith, who promptly unwinded herself from his arm and loosened her grip.

'... Really?' she asked him after an awkward pause.

'Yeah. She's not that much older, but she took care of me for years. She's like an older sister,' he answered the snake, his brows furrowed. "Welp, let's get going," he exclaimed to the whole car as he started driving slowly, dodging the debris on the way as they made the now much longer, beacuse of the closed roads, way towards Carlos' house.

As the boredom slowly took over the kids, as they waited on the massive traffic, Maggie and Bel started poking Carlos for ways to distract themselves.

"Okay, okay! There are screens! Damn..." he resigned, rasising both his hands up. "Noah, can you press the button on the console where it says 'Entertainment'? That should bring down the screen for the back seats."

Noah turned around while squinting, almost asking why he hadn't said anything yet.

"What? This is a test car, not everything works well already," Carlos said while shrugging.

As soon as Noah clicked the button, a small electric motor noise could be heard, as a screen started coming up from under the car.

"Wow~! Where does it even come from?! Hoe does it fit under the car?!" Bel started barraging him with questions, which he was quick to answer.

"It's a foldable rolled screen. We found details for this technology from way back in Planet E. So we started developing it again and lo and behold, we got it!" He stated full of pride. At this point, the kids were no longer paying attention to him, and only staring at the screen and its buttons.

"Is it touch?" Bel asked Maggie, who was sitting in the middle.

"Should be, lemme see," she answered, poking the screen with her finger, and opening the app for videos. "Wow! It feels so soft!" she exclaimed, as she felt the velvety texture of the plain looking screen with no edging or whatever.

"Don't you like it? This screen also doubles as an added layer of protection for the passengers on the back, so we figured being soft to the touch would be better than a plasticky surface," Carlos preached to nobody in particular, as the kids browsed through the videos available on the platform.

"Hey, isn't that Noah?" Bel asked, when he saw a video miniature.

"Y—yeah..." Carlos nodded, seeing the miniature, which Maggie quickly clicked on.

"Damn... Noah got a beating," she said, as she saw him fly through the air towards the camera.

"Look! He's sottping mid-air!" Bel cheered, as he watched the blue light stop him in the air.

"What are you guys watching?" Noah asked, listening in to the strange conversation.

"We found a video of you fighting! Sorta..." Carlos said, while the kids still paid utmost attention to what was happening on screen.

"Excuse me?!" Noah widened his eyes, finding the video that mirrored the screen on the back to the front console of the car. "... Oh... There was someone in there..." he looked at the screen seeing himself slow down.

'Hehe, seems you got famous for taking a beating,' Lilith teased him, making Noah chuckle inwardly.

'You know, maybe there's a certain snake who needs a beating,' he responded, taking a detour.

"Noah, look! It's got millions of views!" Maggie happily told him, making Noah look down and stare at Lilith.

'Don't look at me like that, at least I saved you from being filmed crashing against the rubble like a bag of potatoes,' she said. Noah could almost see a smirk forming on the snake's face, even if just by impression.

"... No? Is that you?" As he heard her voice, Noah turned to Al, who was staring and pointing at the screen in awe with her eyes wide.

"Yeah?" Noah furrowed his brows, before focusing again on the street ahead.

"I mean, Noah, are you the Masked Blessed?!" she insisted. "That Masked Blessed?" she repeated herself, making Noah notice her shock.

"Yeah, it always has been me," he said, not taking his eyes off the road.

"Why are you hiding that it's you, then?! You could have all the fame and money you'd ever want if everyone knew you were the mysterious A-Rank Blessed!" she asked, emphasizing the A-Rank part.

"A rank?! Who came to that conclusion?!" Lilith butted in, looking back top see the three in the back seat had paused the video and were listening to the conversation attently.

"It's the rank they evaluated him based on how many monsters he controls and how powerful they are. The Masked Blessed is almost a legend already," she answered Lilith, while Noah heard it all with a wry smile. "He could be famous!" she said, going silent as she saw Noah's expression.

"I wouldn't want that," he began, making her grow uneasy. "If they know it's me, they would throw me onto every dangerous fortress they found, and I would be forced to do it because of the public opinion," he said, making her double think her initial thoughts.

"So, you hide it's you because you don't want to be thrown in danger without an option?" Al asked, thinking off her own past.

"Not only that... See, I have people I love, and I have to take care of. I can't just risk dying and leaving it all behind." Noah bit his lip, as he looked at the back towards Maggie.

"I see... sorry for bringig it up without knowing anything," Allie apologized, looking up to the street as she fiddled her fingers.

"Don't feel bad for it. You had no idea why I was doing it. But now that you know, I trust that you won't share it," Noah said as he took a turn out of the highway.

"Of course. After all, who do you think I would even share it to? I only have you and the old man... well, you now," she said, before looking up. "Wow..." she gasped, as she saw the grandious mansion they were approaching. Behind, the sun was setting in a beautiful shade of orange and magenta, lighting up the white house in a beautiful contrast. "Who's the millionaire who lives here? Did you get invited?" she asked, curious.

"Oh, actually... I live here," Carlos' voice called her out from behind, making her speechless, as the metal gates opened to let them through.

Noah stopped in front of the main house, letting Carlos open the doors. "I'll be back in a minute, the truck hasn't arrived yet even," he said, looking around and seeing no sight of the refrigerated truck.

Carlos, who was already out of the car, hit the window. making Noah roll it down. "Sure, I'll take care of the kids. Do you mind leaving Lilith behind to help me?" he asked, Noah feeling Lilith's annoyance.

"Sure, I'll leave this car behind too, so that you can send it for them to fix," Noah said, nodding for Al to leave the car.

"Oh, right. It was so clean on the inside I completely forgot the outside was trashed. You gonna go on that car, or do you want me to borrow you a real one?" Carlos asked, as soon as Noah stepped foot out of the car.

"Nah... I don't feel like using that one to be honest. If you have a good two-seater with a nice real engine, I'm looking forward to it," he said, while Carlos raised his hand, calling someone.