“I would very much like that! I just assumed you would have grown tired of me by now… so…”
“How could that possibly be?” Cassius gently cupped Grace's left cheek, his smile warm. “Your presence is always welcome. Even after today, you can feel free to contact me anytime.”
Scarlet colored Grace’s cheeks; his smile was far too dangerous. And the way he was considerately holding her cheek… Gah…! She was on the verge of fainting from sweetness overload. Yet Cassius was also feeling something similar upon seeing her flawless face warm up and twist beautifully.
He had to let her cheek go if he didn't want to get too caught up in the moment.
She dismayed a bit at him letting go of her so soon, but quickly found more enjoyment as they continued strolling through the city.
Cassius had long since grown accustomed to controlling his body under the stress of so much weight, as he seemed to have a natural talent for it, so the date passed in a relaxed manner. At least, it did for them…
CRACK—
Aya’s face became covered by more and more black streaks as she crushed yet another metal pole, making it the twentieth one today. She fumed and darkly mumbled to herself, scaring away anyone in the area. Meanwhile, inside her mess of a head:
‘First, they act all lovey-dovey with each other, and now they even hold hands and go couple shopping with each other!? They have already been into over ten different stores—do they know no shame!? Have they no consideration for others!?? Gawshh!! Gah!!’
Aya lightly banged her head on the metal pole, feeling so unbelievably vexed. She didn't even really know what she was so angry about, but she was angry about it! She was so, so annoyed!
Cassius had been feeling something since the date first began, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, or even if it was really all that malevolent. However, seeing as no real deathly intent was mixed into this feeling, he left it alone, same as before.
He had a good idea of what—or rather who—was producing these feelings, but it didn't feel appropriate to confirm his suspicions just yet; therefore, he kept them to himself.
As the jubilant day neared its end, with the sun’s rays receding into the background, Grace and Cassius stopped in front of the gates to a large mansion. A winding path ahead of the gates led up to that mansion, which was situated atop the lip of a neatly trimmed hill. Though, despite the beautiful scenery of this isolated area in the outer parts of Hoshito, Grace’s face seemed to lose a lot of its color upon seeing this home of hers.
Puzzled, Cassius asked, “This is the correct location, right? I can check again if it isn't—”
“No, it’s the right place. It’s just… it’s complicated…” Grace’s voice trailed off as she left Cassius’s side, with the gates automatically opening up as soon as they sensed her presence.
However, before ascending the winding path, she suddenly turned around and rushed up to him before pecking him on the cheek.
Embarrassed, she mumbled, “T-Thank you again for today…! B-Bye…!!” She then ran up the hill, her face redder than that of a tomato.
Cassius stood there, sword in hand, staring off with a blank look on his face. Although he knew of the tropes for events like this, he still hadn't expected it to happen to someone like him…
While lost in his thoughts, he failed to notice the black miasma exuding from the curvaceous figure of a blonde girl draped in all black. She tightly clenched onto a tree, with her fingers pressing down so hard that the tree cracked.
Abusing random inanimate objects seemed to have become her new hobby.
‘Gahh!! That damn cutesy whore! Doesn't she know that I have known him longer!? To do something so shameless with me right over here; just Gahhh…!!!’
Aya pulled at her hair while silently hollering like a lunatic. Yet, it was in her lunacy that she let that dummy get away…
“Noaarr!! I can’t let him get away that easily…! He needs to be held accountable for this adultery!!” She jerked and bolted through the small forest that surrounded the fancy manor. To the wild animals in the vicinity, she appeared like a crazy yellow blur, with her aura spooking the hell out of them.
By the time Aya caught up to his sauntering figure in the cityscape outside, something unexpected occurred. Three men covered in tattoos and wearing lascivious grins leapt out from a shadowy alleyway. They obstructed her path, and right before she could reach him no less.
Her face twisted in annoyance, but that only seemed to further excite the men.
“Listen, beautiful, you are going to come with us, okay~?”
“We have some very high-end clients that would be interested in someone with your… qualities. And you could even potentially make some good money if you do a good job.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
‘Human trafficking?? And right in our neighborhood no less???’
Aya’s expression morphed into one of disgust. She tried to look past the men and find her stepbrother, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“Cassius…”
“Cassius?” The leading man smirked. “Is that your boyfriend or something?? If so, then you should just forget about him and let yourself succumb to the bliss of a better life!” He reached out his grubby hand, planning to catch a feel of that bountiful body that had been a feast for his eyes. ‘We should get a taste of her before selling her off to the highest bidder!’
Yet, before his hand could make it to her large breasts, a vein popped on Aya’s temple as she planted a fist straight into his stomach, causing him to violently cough up blood. He flew backward like a cannonball before crashing into a grouping of trashcans, seemingly returning to his origins.
The other two unsavory men slowly turned their horrified expressions away from their unconscious brother, only to see a face that was nothing like how she was at the hospital.
With a voice colder than the depths of the abyss, she intoned, “If you don't want to spend the rest of your pathetic lives in a wheelchair, leave.”
“!!!” “!!!”
“Y-Yes!”
Not a single one of the unsavory men still wished to mess with this insane lady and her crazy eyes. They raced over to their brother, lifted him up, and then bolted for the hills. However, after reaching a sufficient distance away, three lines of blood appeared on their necks.
“Wha—?”
*Thud, Thud, Thud!*
They collapsed to the hard pavement of an abandoned alleyway, their eyes rolling to the back of their heads, with those same heads rolling away right after.
A cold pair of glowing blue eyes faded from an adjacent rooftop of the alleyway, with this event marking the first human lives Cassius had ever taken. Though, rather than feel repulsed by his own actions, he didn't feel much of anything. He could sense that their hands had been stained with an enormous amount of blood, with their nefarious actions likely extending beyond just their kill count.
Taking care of them was more a matter of karma than anything.
*Ding!*
[You have killed a Lvl 1 Human!]
[You have killed a Lvl 1 Human!]
[You have killed a Lvl 1 Human!]
“…So killing humans also gives experience points,” Cassius commented casually as he glanced at his exp bar go up by an almost unnoticeable amount. “This will definitely make things more convenient in the future…”
A cold, ruthless gleam momentarily passed through his piercing gaze as he repeatedly used Shadow Step to return to where Aya was brewing up a storm of frustrations.
‘She is far too kind-hearted to fully pull out the roots, even if it’s with deplorable scum like them. But if we were to let them be, they would surely not hesitate to go after more girls, possibly acting more viciously than now. Disposing of them was necessary…’
‘And their deaths should be swept under the rug, considering the extensive criminal records that they certainly have.’
‘On the contrary, I could wind up receiving some unwelcomed trouble because of this, as the corruption in this country runs deep… But that just means I need to become stronger.’
As if to give him a bout of encouragement, the Idle Evolution System threw up another system notification.
*Ding!*
[Shadow Step (D-) has leveled up from (Lvl 1) → (Lvl 2)]
Cassius’s brows raised a bit at this pop-up. His other, lower-level Skills had already reached Lvl 2, with some even at Lvl 3, which made him worry for Shadow Step’s progress. However, it seemed that a skill’s level-up advancement speed was largely dependent on the rank of the skill, with lower-rank skills being far easier to level up.
FWIP! FWIP!
Cassius felt a sudden increase in his speed while using the Shadow Step skill. Its level-up had increased his speed while using it by around 15%, which was quite substantial when his base speed was hundreds of miles per hour.
His figure looked like nothing more than an evanescent blur as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop.
Before long, he had arrived atop a modest family house’s rooftop. His shadowy eyes fell on the black-cloaked girl who was still grumbling over not being able to confront him, and all because of those stinky bastards!
“Damn! I should have hit those scumbags more!!”
Hearing her quietly shout like this put a small smile on Cassius’s icy face. ‘It seems like something has allowed her to quickly get over the trauma induced from that night.’
He remained completely unaware that he was the cause of this change in his stepsister. She was just so irritated about him and Grace’s interactions that her fears blew away into the wind.
‘If she encounters something like what happened with the Dark Ape again, and assuming she is stronger, then she should be able to handle herself just fine.’
Cassius’s fond thoughts of the fuming girl storming through the door of their house were swiftly interrupted by a couple of pop-ups.
‘Ding~!*
[720/720 minutes walking around with the ‘Full Newbie 1 Set’] - [✓]
[720/720 minutes carrying ‘Newbie 1 Training Sword’] - [✓]
[You obtained 2 Stat Points in Charisma, 1 Point in Strength, and 1 Point in Endurance!]
OOOM!
Cassius suddenly felt a magical power wash over his body. It cleared his pores, made his appearance sharper, improved his overall aesthetic, and tightened his muscles. Moreover, it heightened the effectiveness of his lung capacity, making it possible for him to fight on for longer periods of time.
“Although the struggle was real, at least the rewards are satisfying,” Cassius said as he clenched and unclenched his fists.
He lifted the Newbie 1 Training Sword higher in the air, feeling that it was significantly lighter than before. “With this level of strength, I should just barely be able to complete the Daily Quests without needing to waste a Status Recovery reward. However, if I want to keep on getting the Idle 1 Benefits, I will need to push myself further after a couple of days of stat gains.”
With that, Cassius planned to sneak through the front door and head up to his room to rest. It wasn't too extraordinarily late, so no problems should arise. Yet, just as he was about to open the house door, an unexpected system notification rang out. It was one that he had completely forgotten he was owed.
*Ding!*
[Your rewards for completing Main Quest 1 have just registered, which includes your bonuses from wiping out the monsters that escaped the E-Rank Sudden Gate.]
[Reward 1: 3 Stat Points in all Main Attributes] - [Y/N]
[Bonus Reward: Special Grade Item ‘Cloak of Invisibility’] - [Y/N]
Cassius had mild surprise color his features, yet he quickly adjusted and accepted the rewards, then watched as his strength increased by another wide margin. After making sure he didn't accidentally step forward and crash through a wall, he pulled up the details of the Cloak of Invisibility.
[Cloak of Invisibility (SG)] - [Effectiveness depends on the power level of the user.]
—[Become invisible as soon as it's put on. Invisibility lasts for 30 minutes and can only be used once per 24 hours.]
—[Invisibility is only effective against those 2 or fewer Major Ranks greater than the user. (Pertains strictly to the Perception Stat) (Example: if the User has D-Perception, the User will appear invisible to anyone at or below the B- Perception Rank.)]