Chapter 171: “Heh, Women.”

Naturally, no else else knew of what had taken place between Shien and Diere.

By the time the next day came, Diere was still as cool and independent as always. She didn't show any abnormality at all. Her attitude toward Shien was the same as always: Although she tends to be a bit less cold to him compared to others, she didn't show any particular warmth either.

Shien had also recovered from the stimulating experience of the previous night and was as calm as before.

After all, men are simple to please. After a night, he's already calmed down. Otherwise, wouldn't all the tissues in his room have gone to waste for nothing?

With that, no one had discovered that Shien and Diere had gone into the baths together the previous night.

That said, it's not like there wasn't any changes with Diere's behavior.

Ever since this day, Diere would only be home for her three meals. The rest of the time, she spent on the streets.

Diere didn't seem to have any particular goals for doing that either. She was just wandering about the Capital.

Shien, due to not being able to relax, had quietly followed after her several times. In the end, he discovered that Diere's objective seems to be those nobles who are trying to get at her.

That's right. From that day onward, for some reason, various nobles of the Capital would keep on trying to attack Diere.

And Diere seems to be welcoming those attacks. She'd wander about everyday outside to lure those people in before crushing them. It was tedious and boring, kind of like she'd doing some kind of training.

No…

"She basically is training isn't she?"

Shien basically saw through Diere's objective here.

Diere seems to have planned on using those people after her as pressure, using it to motivate and improve herself.

It's for that reason that Diere has been showing herself in public, letting those nobles come after her, and defeating them all. Her whole goal was to use that to train and polish herself.

This is unquestionably a dangerous method.

Although Diere is quite strong, this is the Capital, not Lamdrion. All the strongest people in the world could appear here. Given Diere's level of strength, showing off her power recklessly would undoubtedly end up attracting greater troubles.

Shien had witnessed it himself. As it progressed, the troubles that Diere got into became greater and greater. Her opponents got stronger and stronger. Near the end, there was even an elite of level 70+ that showed up, thus pushing Diere into a crisis.

Thankfully though, that level 70 person was a melee specialist who hasn't learned [Magic Sword] yet. Thus, Diere, who has learned [Magic Sword], did manage to take him down in the end by risking injuries.

However, that likely just meant that even stronger enemies will show up later on.

Thus, Shien couldn't just stay back and watch anymore.

"Since you did ask it of me before, let me as the Hero help you out a bit."

Shien decided to do some Hero-like things.

Seeing that Diere wanted to use pressure from others as incentive to help her break through her limits, Shien didn't want to get in her way. That said, he didn't want to see her fall before an overly strong enemy either.

Thus, for the next bit of time, Shien would sneakily follow behind Diere. Whenever there's someone planning on attacking Diere, he'd first use the [Magic Detection] skill to pick out those opponents that Diere wouldn't be able to handle and deal with them first.

How did he deal with them one might ask?

Simple. When said person was about to charge at Diere, Shien would sneakily throw a rock and blow them away. The result is that the person in question would be either knocked unconscious or injured.

With that, Diere won't be threatened by those who are far too strong for her while still being able to use outside pressures to help her break through. It's win-win.

Of course, it's only natural that Shien won't be able to hid his actions from Diere in the end.

However, Diere just stayed silent. She never mentioned it at all, so she basically accepted it as a favor from Shien.

And ever since then, Shien received quite some favor as well.

It's because Diere seemed to have lost all guard against him. Rather, it's more like she lost all semblance of shame. She'd enter the paths with him every day, making Shien's train nearly blow its stack.

Unfortunately though, Diere would only chat with Shien about getting stronger or combat methods. There was no romantic atmosphere whatsoever, so Shien was pretty disappointed in the end.

Plus, there's the fact that Diere had never taken her mask down from her face. Thus, Shien understood that while it looks like the girl lost all guard against him, but not putting up a guard is one thing, giving her heart to Shien is something else altogether.

Shien could be certain. If he were to pounce at her, then Diere would definitely cut at him, and she'd be doing so using [Magic Sword] at that.

This whole situation made Shien sigh and moan in the middle of the night more than once.

"It's not like I wanted to be a gentleman about it. It's that the other party is only willing to give fan service and not the actual thing."

If Diere was like some of the Heroines in novels and tried acting seductive from the start without any sign of rejection, then Shien could guarantee that he'd go ahead and take her straight away.

But if the other party's not willing, what's he supposed to do?

Thus, all Shien could do is feast his eyes while grinding his skills with his hands, thus producing a few more pieces of tissues in his own room.

"Men really do have it hard."

Shien was experiencing both happiness and pain in equal measure.

Besides that, Diere wasn't the only one who has changed. One other person had also undergone some changes.

That person is Melika.

During this period of time in the Capital, even though they never fought, had no quests, and didn't work at all, Melika's magic power would continuously grow, and the growth rate would rise higher and higher.

At the same time, Melika turned just like Diere, lowering more and more of her guard against Shien. Although it's not to the point where she'd run over to have baths with Shien, she could often be seen observing at Shien in secret. Sometimes, she'd even follow Shien about like a stalker.

"Could it be that what I ended up getting wasn't Diere, but Melika?"

Shien had something of an enlightenment when he noticed this.

But when Shien tried to talk to Melika, the elven girl would end up running away with a crimson face, leaving Shien with nothing but question marks.

At this point, Shien had to bring up an ancient saying.

"A woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea."

Of course, that particular phrase is already outdated.

In current times, people tended to use a different phrase.

"Heh, women."

Thus, while Diere and Melika's attitudes toward Shien have changed, it was instead Lumia who stayed the same. She'd still look at Shien timidly, and keep a certain distance from him. Her timidness was the same as always.

It's Lumia's consistent timid attitude that was like a breath of fresh air for Shien's heart.

"You're the best, Lumia."

"Eh? Eh?"

When Shien spoke those words to Lumia, full of emotion, Lumia didn't know how to react, and she was left with a face full of confusion.

That kind of daily life maintained itself for around four whole days.

In those four days, that was how Shien and the rest lived their lives.

Until one day, Shien got a letter.

"If you don't come see me soon, I really am going to be asking for payment."

Shien's mouth twitched at the naked contents of that letter.

"I really shouldn't have provoked that little witch."

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