Both Lone with Greed wrapped around his arm and Envy carrying Sloth left The Glade as soon as they had arrived at their destination.

Soph had teleported to the entrance of The Adventurer's Guild. Thankfully, in this part of the world, it was already well into the evening. Were Lone to hanker a guess at the exact time, it'd be about one to two in the morning. 'Later than I wanted, but I guess it's fine.'

Envy used his free hand to tap Lone on the shoulder. "Hmm?"

The tall man pointed at Greed. Sloth, seeing this, chose to elaborate a bit, "I don't... want... to... talk... to... Sarah... right... now. Please... give... Greed... to... Envy. We're... going... home."

Lone didn't question her. He carefully unwrapped the still unconscious albino snake from his bicep then passed her to Envy. "It was fun questing with you guys. If any of you are in town and are looking for a powerful weapon, armour, mana orbs or whatever else, just let me know. I'll hook you guys up."

Sloth very slowly nodded her head. "I... had... fun... too. Bye."

After saying that, Sloth tugged on Envy's sleeve, resulting in him wandering down the road.

Lone glanced at Soph who adorably looked up at him. "Well, I guess we should go ask if Sarah's about. If she's busy or asleep, we'll head home," he said as he patted her head. "It's been a long day for you, huh? Lots of teleporting."

Soph blushed. "N-No... I'm happy to help you. I need to really practice my new Remembrance Teleportation anyway so it can rank up. It's way too expensive right now..."

Lone nodded. "That's true. I'm always here to help you if you need a training partner. I imagine it'll level up way faster in combat as opposed to excessive use."

Soph held her chin and tilted her head. "Since I'm immortal now, I can probably overuse it and level up my Mental Pain Resistance too since I don't need to worry about breaking my mana organs."

Lone looked surprised. "That's a great idea," he said as he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't overdo it though if it hurts too much. Mental pains are fucking horrible. I'd rather get stabbed in the heart any day over using more MP than I actually have."

Soph's blush deepened and she felt her heart grow warm. "Potty mouth..."

Lone just chuckled at that. "Make sure to keep practising your new Soul Protection too."

"Mmm," she replied with a happy bob of her head.

Before the two entered the guild, while they were still on the empty cobbled street, Lone looked down at his shadow. "Breena, come out for a minute, would you?"

Popping just her head out of the shadows, the foxkin asked, "Do you need something, Master?"

Lone grinned and reached down faster than she could react. He pulled the girl out of the shadows and said, "I want you to walk with us in here. It'll do you some good to show yourself to the adventurers. You're too reserved."

Breena had a worried look on underneath her facemask. Her eyes questioned if this was really necessary. Lone rubbed her crimson and deep-purple hair a bit roughly, forcing her to close her eyes and eek out a small moan.

"Being able to socialise, or at least, somehow hide yourself in broad daylight despite your three lovely tails, either of those things would make you a more powerful secret bodyguard, now wouldn't they? Only the best of spies are able to instantly act like they belong in any situation. Hiding in the shadows 24/7 is only a single skill. There's so much more to subterfuge than just hiding and skulking about, now isn't there?" Lone asked her in a manner befitting of a teacher.

Breena looked down at the shadows for a moment before she said, "Yeah... Um, the second one..."

Lone couldn't help but smile a bit sadly at that. "If you can get to a point where you can hide your soul from me, or maybe even make yourself invisible persistently, then I'll be super impressed. Until then, you're banned from entering your shadows in non-combat situations."

Those words gave Breena some motivation, but she still didn't seem very happy at this decision of Lone's to keep her out of her comfort zone. She stood a little bit back from him and Soph as they entered The Adventurer's Guild, tails swishing in anxiety behind her.

There was a handful of adventurer groups and even fewer solo adventurers either milling about or handing in their quests with tired looks on their faces.

Lone actually recognised one of these groups; the one led by the young noble girl - Cecilia Inglewood. Much like when they had last met, the teen was wearing mage's robes and she was still with her five similarly-aged knights.

As he, Soph, and Breena, walked up to one of the other free counters, Lone tapped the side of his glasses, activating the far stronger magnification effect that he'd recently upgraded after extensively studying the steamforged ocular implant that he'd received from Count Lorton.

Lone then glanced at the quest sheet Cecilia was handing over to the guild staff member and he nodded.

"goblin extermination, huh? Twenty goblins? It's good that she's humble and isn't going beyond her ability as a D-ranker. And she isn't going after enemies more suited to her C-ranked knights, so clearly, she's trying to learn," he muttered as he nodded again. "The girl's trying to seriously grow and get stronger. I should really go pay her a visit and escort her even if only to win her dad's favour. Well, I've gotta finish Sarah's quests and get Master Rangah and Master Dilroy's soul skills first... Maybe after we've enrolled into The Academy."

Of course, after receiving Cecilia's heartfelt request to party up, Lone had tasked Breena with investigating her just in case she was trying to get close to him in order to kidnap and enslave any of his companions or his daughter, Kyuubi.

As it turned out, she was a regular classmate of Emma and Alisa in The Academy. She specialised in air magic like Alisa did, not lightning magic, but the two magics were intrinsically linked, so many of the classes commonly taken to support both air magic or lightning magic overlapped.

Her father was a count just like Count Lorton, but apparently, they had a much smaller territory and focused on the kingdom's economy, not it's military might unlike the overweight and overworked Lord of Rithbane.

As Lone and his group reached the guild's counter, he put his thoughts aside and returned his glasses' magnification back to normal.

"Ah, members of The Wanderers? Are you here about the War-ranked quest?" the kind-looking lady behind the desk asked with a polite smile. "Grand Guildmaster Sarah mentioned to all of the night staff that you might return before dawn, and if you have, indeed, come to hand in the quest, then we were told to inform you that she is having dinner tonight with an old friend, and she doesn't expect to return until after sunrise, so she would prefer if you spoke to her at that time."

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Lone raised an eyebrow. "Okay. She's quite willful, huh? Well, thanks for your help, I didn't even have to ask anything."

The receptionist maintained her smile as she replied, "Please, there's no need to thank me. I'm just doing my job."

"Right, thanks regardless." With that said, Lone left the counter with Breena and Soph in tow.

After a very brief discussion, they returned to their hotel - Madam Cortelle's Palace of Rest. Thankfully, no trouble was started upon their arrival this time. The staff member responsible for checking in guests didn't even question Breena's existence despite her not being listed with Lone's group.

The foxkin had a private agreement with Madam Cortelle, and so long as Lone wasn't causing any trouble, the mysterious woman had told her employees to not mind whatever he did. After all, it'd be rude of her to impede him for minor things like an additional guest after all of the money he had 'gifted' to her establishment.

----------------------------------------

"Well, Master, Soph, I, uh, I'll return to the shadows now..." Breena tried to escape, but Lone grabbed her far quicker than she could possibly sink into the darkness.

"Oh, no you don't. You're sleeping with us tonight. You need to stop sleeping in your shadows, okay? As I said earlier, you're banned from entering shadows. You could also use a bath," Lone said as he firmly held the girl's shoulders.

"B-But, Master... I don't sweat, so I'm not smelly... I-I... You know I'm scared of the outside world..." Tears threatened to leak out of the young fourteen-year-old's eyes.

Lone smiled warmly and hugged her while Soph grabbed all three of her tails. "I know, and I've given you almost two years to slowly change. It's not healthy for you. I can accept you wanting to treat Soph, Sophie, and I, as your masters, but please, you're like a sister to me. What would happen to you if you got trapped outside of your shadows? What about when you're at The Academy? Will you take your classes from within the classrooms' dark corners and not normally?"

Breena curled up in Lone's arms. "I-I'm scared... I... I don't want to be looked at with those eyes again... I'd rather not be looked at at all than be viewed as something to just warm a bed..."

Lone and Soph both wore sad expressions in response to that. Whispering into her fluffy red and purple ear, Lone said, "You don't need to worry. You have my permission to beat up anyone that looks at you like that. Like I said, you're pretty much my little sister, so what kind of a big brother would I be if I couldn't take responsibility for you? Go fuckin' nuts, just don't kill anyone. If that helps you adapt, then we support you."

Soph nodded her head enthusiastically as she held two of Breena's three tails very closely to her chest. "I was like you too, but, uh, for different reasons... It, uh, it's not that hard to ignore people when you know they can't do anything to you!"

Breena felt a rare smile worm its way onto her face under her mask. She felt... loved. "I... I'll try."

Lone grinned at that and kissed the top of her head. "Good, now go take a bath, both of you. I'm gonna fuck about with my glasses and do some tinkering. I'll take a bath after that then we can all sleep together, 'kay? Like a family. The bed's certainly big enough."

Soph happily grabbed Breena's hand and pulled her along to the suite's bathroom, leaving Lone by himself.

He sat down on a sofa and wore a content look on his face. "I should have done that ages ago... I doubt she'll change in an instant, but Breena's a genius, so I bet it won't be too long before she conquers her fears. I'm glad I told her all of that before we became official students of The Academy, at least..."

Lone leaned his head back then took his glasses off. "How much mana have I got left?" he asked himself as he pulled up his status.

Status Name: Lone Immortus Sex: Male Age: 27 Level: 2,617 [+4] Species: Foxkin Rank: SSS Race: Ascending Foxkin HP: 86,060/86,060 [+320] SP: 184,002/254,130 [+210] MP: 203,031/662,300 DP: 64,320/64,320 WF: 1,500/1,500   Basic Stats Strength: 11,378 [+43] Vigour: 8,606 [+32] Dexterity: 10,247 [+14] Agility: 11,100 [+26] Vitality: 25,413 [+21] Luck: 983 [+5] Secret Stats Charm: 584 Charisma: 268 [+18] Magic Power: 66,230 Divine Power: 6,432 Rage: 60 Control: 940

"Ah, right. I got stats from those two human officials I killed... I completely forgot about them since they were, what, D-rankers?" Lone muttered as he stared at his glasses and used the power he'd gotten from Clicker to inspect them.

Dwarven Mechanical Glasses (Modified) Description

Created by the infamous [changed from unknown] foxkin, Lone Immortus, using a unique magical skill.

These glasses are a flawless imitation of genuine dwarven steamforged glasses.

They have been modified greatly.

Rank Rare [Up from uncommon] Stats Durability: 10/10 Perception: 20 [+15] Abilities Allows the user to use a second lens to magnify their vision by up to 16 [up from 4] times magnification. Allows the host to telepathically use any communication orbs links to the communication orbs on the glasses' legs 10 times a day for free. Any uses after 10 will require 1,000 MP each.

"Now, how should I alter you? I've had to remake you, like, what, four times now since you keep getting destroyed, huh?" Again, he spoke to himself rhetorically as he pondered over the matter.

"Hmm... I've got some mana orbs left... Fuck it, let's shoot for the stars," Lone muttered as he reached into his Dimensional Storage and pulled out what was left of his mana orb stockpile - a total of fifteen orbs. "So, I've got three-point-two-million mana to play with... Let's see if I get a haemorrhage and a killer migraine for trying to replace the bronze and copper frame with a divine starlite one, why don't I?"