Inside the Royal Capital’s Adventurers’ Guild—
After finishing her equipment maintenance, Selene returned to the guild headquarters.
Her teammates were already gathered at the entrance, fully prepared to depart.
A carriage was parked out front.
“Captain, why did it take you so long to get back?”
Shield-guard Rejelif frowned as she asked, clearly irritated from the wait.
Her deep blue hair, like the midnight sky, swayed gently in the evening breeze.
Normally, Eileen would take less than thirty minutes to restock supplies, but this time Selene had taken over two hours.
The sun was nearly down!
Although this S-rank subjugation mission was intended to be a night raid for best results, Rejelif wasn’t a fan of traveling in the dark.
The sooner they went and returned, the better.
That way she could still enjoy a hot bath before bed.
Selene forced a smile and waved it off.
“Rej, it’s my first time, after all! It took me a while to locate all the shops. Come on, everyone—grab your gear.”
Rejelif, along with Helga and Roswitha, stepped forward to reclaim their equipment and began suiting up.
In an instant, multicolored glimmers of divine gear shimmered outside the guild hall, practically blinding passersby who stopped in awe to watch—
“That’s the only S-rank party in the kingdom, right? Look at those flashy gear sets!”
“They’re heading out on another mission? Poor monsters… ‘Prismatic Bond’ has a 100% success rate—never failed once.”
Amid the admiration, Selene also caught some sharper, more cynical voices:
“Of course the rich girl’s party has that kind of gear. I could be S-rank too if I had that budget.”
“Tch, money really can buy anything these days.”
“But hey, didn’t they just kick out that ‘deadweight’ logistics girl? Without her dragging them down, ‘Prismatic Bond’ should run even smoother now. Think I’ve got a shot at joining them as the new support?”
Selene could ignore the earlier comments, but that last one made her blood boil.
Her crystal-bright eyes flared like kindling fire as she whipped around and shot the speaker a deadly glare.
The guy visibly flinched at her presence, quickly shut his mouth, and scampered off without another word.
Once fully geared up, the four of them climbed into the special carriage arranged for transport.
As the carriage set off, the cool evening wind stirred Selene’s crimson twin-tails.
She spoke calmly:
“This time, our mission has changed. We’re not hunting the Tri-Eyed Ogre anymore. Our new target is the S-rank magical beast known as the Armored Blackrock Dragon, currently nesting in Mount Bēibēi near the town of New Shimoguri.”
As she finished speaking, Selene’s red eyes swept across her teammates.
“This Blackrock Dragon isn’t particularly powerful. With our current strength, taking it down should be no problem. A night raid makes it even more of a sure thing. What we do need to watch out for—”
“There’s a den nearby where trolls and orcs coexist. These monsters rely on the Blackrock Dragon to survive. If they converge during the fight, we could be caught in a pincer attack. So our first move should be to eliminate the trolls and orcs.”
Rejelif nodded, slinging her shield onto her back.
“A smart call. Trolls and orcs are just C-ranked monsters. Alone, they pose no threat. But if their numbers pile up, they can become a real pain.”
In a corner of the carriage sat Roswitha, hugging her knees. Her golden hair flowed down like molten light in the sunset’s glow.
Beneath her white cleric robes, the lace of her white panties faintly peeked through.
She said nothing, but Helga, seated beside her, sensed the unease in her expression.
Biting her lip gently, Helga finally spoke.
“…This time, Eileen’s not with us. You don’t think anything will go wrong, do you?”
She had hit on exactly what Roswitha had been silently thinking.
The two of them turned their gazes to their captain, Selene.
Selene, brimming with confidence, clenched her fist and spoke resolutely:
“What could go wrong? We’ve got heals, tanks, DPS. We don’t need some background support slowing us down! With or without her, our strength doesn’t change.”
Selene’s own combat power was 530,000.
The rest of the team were each over 400,000.
Their total combat power nearly reached 2 million—well over the minimum 1 million required for an S-rank quest.
With such an overpowered team, what could go wrong?
What could possibly go wrong?!
Hmph, just watch, Eileen. Even without you, ‘Prismatic Bond’ won’t skip a beat. It was always us giving you a chance to shine, not the other way around!
“But… before each battle,” Helga muttered, “Eileen always kissed our foreheads. Said it was a lucky blessing…”
Selene scoffed, folding her arms.
“A ‘lucky blessing’? You believed that? She was just using it as an excuse to cop a feel!”
As she spoke, her eyes fluttered shut.
Her cheeks were tinged with pink under the setting sun.
Unbidden, her mind drifted back to their mission to slay the Crimson-Eyed Shadow Dragon.
That night, they had camped out in the pitch-dark mountains.
Eileen had clung to her, saying, ‘It’s so dark and scary, Selene! Let me sleep in your tent!’
Selene had reluctantly agreed—but Eileen hadn’t slept a wink.
In the darkness, her little hands had snuck under Selene’s arms from behind, roaming all over her body without pause…
“D-Don’t do this, Eileen!”
“It’s okay. Leave it to me.”
The more she resisted, the more excited that woman had become!
Even now, Selene still often recalled what happened that night—how those fingers had tried to…
She hurriedly shook her head, as if physically dispelling the pink-tinted memories swirling in her mind.
Hmph, with hands that skilled?
Selene refused to believe Eileen hadn’t done that kind of thing to others too.
Take Roswitha, for example—
That priestess was clearly a noble daughter of a famed house from the Holy Capital, yet she always wore that vulnerable, pitiful expression.
It wasn’t just Eileen who couldn’t resist it—even Selene sometimes felt the urge to tease her.
Just a single glance, and Selene could already imagine the kind of scene where Eileen had Roswitha pinned down and sobbing with embarrassment—just thinking about it raised her blood pressure.
But Selene’s own sexual orientation was perfectly normal, thank you very much!
She simply didn’t like these strange, questionable situations!
She only wanted to protect her teammates from falling prey to Eileen’s wicked claws.
However, Roswitha blushed faintly—who knows what she was remembering—and unexpectedly murmured a soft defense:
“…I don’t think Eileen is that kind of person.”
Selene crossed her arms, visibly annoyed.
“You still don’t get what kind of person Eileen is? After the whole quitting incident, it’s obvious she never saw us as real companions!”
“Helga went to persuade her to return, and she didn’t even give her the time of day. Sure, we spread a few rumors and probably weren’t in the right, but does that mean Eileen was completely innocent? Like she did nothing wrong?”
Roswitha lowered her eyes, falling into silence once more.
Her quiet nature meant she had no chance of winning a verbal sparring match with someone like Selene.
Sensing the growing tension, Helga quickly stepped in to mediate.
“Alright, alright! We’re not here to argue about Eileen. We’ve got monsters to slay, remember?”
“She’s our ex-teammate now. The mission is what matters.”
Rejelif chimed in, rising to her feet as the carriage came to a halt beneath the night sky.
She was already eager to wrap things up quickly and get back to town for a nice, hot bath.
Tftc!
why the names change?
Probably a different translator