It had been about two weeks since the events with the sudden confession.

Having finally expressed her feelings, Quinta had changed quite a bit.

Risa found herself noticing Quinta watching Rorio’s every move while he was training Risa, and she had a constant grin shining on her face.

Every now and then, Quinta even attempted to jump on Rorio and hug him after training was done only for him to dodge her and walk away as she collapsed onto the ground.

All Risa could think about when watching this was what Quinta had told her back during their little shopping trip

It was where Quinta ended up admitting she had feelings for Rorio due to something about his sword skills or attractive appearance or something.

Risa didn't really think about it too much. But for some reason, she was constantly reminded of that conversation whenever she looked at Rorio.

Even though he was like a mentor to her, her mind filled up with thoughts of what-if which made her face grow red. Making it hard to keep eye contact with Rorio.

Rorio took notice of Risa’s strange behavior but just assumed she was acting off due to what Quinta had doing earlier that day.

“As Quinta wrapped herself around Rorio, he embraced her with a heated passion. Their lips pressed against one another as they felt their love collide with one another. Like two smoldering flames that refused to be put out.”

Risa's face was beet red as she listened to Quinta read a story that she had written.

It was obvious that it wasn't going in a very nice direction, so Rorio grabbed the book and threw it off into the wind.

“No! My story!” Quinta shouted as she reached out to the book that was no longer in her grasp.

Rorio only glared at her.

“Save your smut for another pervert. Don't even think of poisoning Risa with that crap.”

Risa wasn't sure how to feel when Rorio treated her as if she were a child, but she decided to ignore it since he wasn't entirely off about how she felt queasy and embarrassed while reading Quinta’s book.

“Aw come on Rorio. She was just embracing her talent for writing!” Domino said with a cheerful smile.

He only gained a cold glare from Rorio in response.

The glare was so strong it made Domino take a nervous step back despite his grin remaining.

Rorio rolled his eyes and picked up the swords he had stuck in the ground. He had taken a break from training to find the others reading the trash Quinta had written.

Now that it had been resolved, he went back to training.

Quinta stared at Rorio while Risa got up and picked up her own sword.

She didn't have an inventory bag like Domino and Rorio, so she ended up carrying her blade Xeto around and kept it attached to her back using a sheath Rorio had given her.

She went on to swing the sword herself and tried out some different techniques Rorio had taught her.

Domino watched both of them with a smile as he stood next to Quinta.

The two ended up watching the others as they trained for another hour until they were done for the day.

As night was almost upon them, Rorio felt slightly tired, while Risa was completely exhausted so Domino agreed to do the night shift.

With everyone going to bed, Domino kept watch from his sleeping bag.

The night was silent as Domino looked around. However, after about an hour, he felt himself starting to feel tired and passed out right then and there.

Meanwhile, several hellhounds and other monsters that even normal Outburst creatures feared started to close in on them. That night wouldn't be a fun one.

But day came soon enough and Domino let out a yawn.

Opening up his eyes, Domino saw everyone else was still asleep.

He smiled thinking they wouldn’t know he’d fallen asleep and got up only to notice a pile of dead monsters laying next to his bed which reeked of death.

Domino covered his nose, but the smell had already entered his nostrils.

“Next time, don't sleep on the job.” said a voice behind him.

Domino turned his head to find Rorio sitting there cleaning his blades.

Domino gave him an awkward chuckle as he pulled out his inventory bag and stored the monster meat they could eat inside before dragging off and burning the animals they couldn’t eat.

After he made sure it was all cleaned up, he made it back just as the rest of the group started to get up and they got back on the path they had been traveling.

However, both Risa and Quinta kept far away from Domino since he smelled horrible for some reason.

As they walked, Domino pulled up a map and learned that there was a bathhouse resort not too far from the castle of the next Creator Knight. So the group agreed to go there right before the battle.

Continuing their trek, the group eventually found a lake and Domino got himself cleaned. Risa asked “Why didn't he have any magic that could clean himself?” to which he replied with “If there were a spell that convenient, then I would've learned it ages ago.”

With the group deciding to just take the river as a chance to bathe, the girls went off to bathe a little further upstream, while the boys bathed where they were currently standing.

Domino suggested peeping on them as a joke, which resulted in Rorio slamming him to the ground.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Something similar must’ve happened on the girl's end as Risa came back with an unconscious Quinta who she dragged by a single foot.

After about another hour of walking, the group stopped for lunch and Domino pulled out one of the giant pigs Rorio had killed the night before, set up a fire, and started to cook.

Rorio immediately stopped him as he remembered the last time Domino tried such a thing and took over the duty himself.

Risa trained with Quinta as the two tried to one-up the other, while Domino sat off to the side mumbling how he “didn't feel included in his own adventuring party” and things were pretty peaceful.

Rorio finished cooking the giant pig and the group sat down to eat.

Domino still felt tears dripping down his face as he ate the delicious food, but the others ignored him as both Quinta and Risa chowed down like wolves and Rorio sat off to the side relaxing on the ground.

As they ate, the others explained how good they thought Rorio’s cooking was as he tried to hide his delight.

However. his tail made it all too clear how he felt as it swung rapidly behind him. Causing him to look away embarrassed.

Finally, the group set out once more.

They traveled through many grassy lands, windy plains, and other types of locations as they made their way to the next Creator Knight's location.

Before long, they found themselves in even more grassy lands, windy plains, and other types of locations. Struggling to get through them every time.

Walking for a bit longer, the group made their way through more grassy lands, windy plains, and other types of locations.

Finally stopping to take a break, the group sat down for a few minutes before deciding to walk once more.

However, right before they departed, Rorio stopped himself and looked.

“You guys can go on ahead. There’s something I need to check first.”

The others didn’t understand what he meant but nodded and continued walking without him.

As they continued, they ended up traveling through some grassy lands, windy plains, and other types of locations before finally stopping once more to catch their breath.

“You guys are back already?”

The group was surprised when they heard a voice and turned to find Rorio lying there in the same spot they left him.

“Wha...how?”

Even Domino wasn't sure what was going on.

He decided to run ahead of the others as he went through grassy lands, windy plains, and other types of locations before arriving at the spot he found the rest of the group relaxing.

“What’s going on!? Is this a loop?”

Rorio got up from lying down and turned to Domino.

“I figured you would've learned that before going around it four to five times, but yeah. It appears we've been trapped in a magic loop.”

A magic loop. A spell that traps an individual in a certain location by making it so that they're not allowed to leave a path as it only has them end up back at the starting point.

It's often quite used for pranks among teens and used to hold prisoners as well.

Thankfully, the spell was fairly difficult to learn if you aren’t well versed in magic so kids didn’t have the magic skill to cast such things.

That was a relief since if kids could learn such a spell things would be utter chaos.

Domino groaned in frustration as Risa and Quinta looked at the two of them confused. Neither had experienced this before, so they didn't fully grasp how it worked.

Domino turned his head to look around.

“So, got any idea where the castor might be hiding?”

“More than likely outside the spell. I could probably handle him easily if I was out, but since the last time I wielded a teleportation scroll was ten years ago, I don't exactly have one on me right now.”

The two looked around for a few more minutes before Domino spotted something.

“I see the tie!”

The tie is the location where the whole loop is kept together.

It's difficult to destroy, but if you manage to do it, you have a one-way ticket out of the loop.

Rorio pulled out Rolphin and ran over to the direction Domino was pointing.

Giving no time for the caster to react, Rorio slammed his sword straight into the spot and it began to crack like glass.

Then, with an astounding CRASH! the loop tumbled down.

The caster who created the loop stepped back in surprise as Domino dashed forward and tackled him to the ground.

He tried to escape Domino's grasp, but couldn't as his arms were completely pinned.

As Domino kept him locked to the ground, Rorio and Risa looked at the caster and they both let out a sigh of frustration.

“Unhand me brute! SpellsWorth the lord of the slave trade will not submit to this horrible treatment! Unhand me right now!”

SpellsWorth struggled in Domino's arms as he attempted to escape. But he couldn't find any way out of this situation.

“Sooo....can I just kill this guy already?” Rorio asked in a bored tone.

Risa nodded in agreement.

SpellsWorth squealed in fear as he realized that he needed to get out of there fast.

“Smoke Explosion!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.

A smoky gas filled the air as Quinta, Risa, and Domino were all blinded by the smoke. It also caused Domino to lose his grip on SpellsWorth who dashed off into the woods. But when he looked back...

“Don't think you're getting away this time!” Rorio shouted as he charged after him.

SpellsWorth squealed in terror as he continued to run as fast as he could.

As the two ran even deeper into the woods, the trees grew more and more dense.

If it wasn't for Rorio's sharp instincts, he would've been hit and caught on the branches almost immediately.

The two finally came out into a clearing and they found themselves at the top of a hill that led down to a huge drop.

SpellsWorth stepped up to the edge.

He didn't know any flight or gliding spells which only made this all the more terrifying.

Rorio came out of the clearing with Rolphin in hand. SpellsWorth had nowhere to run.

Seeing as he had no choice, SpellsWorth stared at Rorio for a moment.

“Trust me when I tell you this! I will reclaim my prize!” he shouted and then jumped off the cliff.

Rorio was ready to dive after him, only to look over the side and his eyes widened.

SpellsWorth fell into what seemed to be a pitch-black rectangle and vanished from sight with the rectangle vanishing soon after.

Rorio was stunned at what he’d just seen.

“Was that...teleportation magic?”

Teleportation magic was extremely rare. It was only usable by someone who used purely dark magic that needed to be honed to absolute perfection over the course of fifty years.

By that point, most people would've already given up. So finding someone with such an ability was close to impossible. It was why teleportation scrolls were in such high demand for the last decade.

But moving past that for now, Rorio was certain it wasn't SpellsWorth who cast the spell, but whoever did, was extremely well-versed in dark magic.

Rorio made his way back to the others and lied that SpellsWorth managed to hit him with another smoke bomb explosion before running off and he lost sight of him.

He didn't want to concern the others with the idea that an enemy had teleportation. And he figured it'd be best to handle whoever said person was himself if it came to having to face a teleportation user.

With that, the group ended up stopping earlier then expected and groaning in frustration at their failure for not being able to handle the smoke bomb. Meanwhile, Rorio thought of the day's events while they finally managed to settle for the night.

The next day, they traveled through grassy lands, windy plains, and other types of locations before finally starting to see several new locations they hadn't seen before.

With that minor problem behind them, they started to draw closer to the castle of the next Creator Knight.