LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 28: A Lady's Secret
"Hey old man Arthur, can I borrow D for a bit?" after a while of talking among themselves, a tall beauty that seems to overshadow even most of the men in here with her height approaches the counter while looking at the middle-aged owner, one of her smooth, milky white arms already circling around the upbeat young man's shoulders while she asks.
Hearing her words, the young man circled by this beauty's arms, Diluc, couldn't help but show an expression of extreme distress as he secretly signals to the owner of the place, a signal that the two of them developed somehow from all these years of working together in this place.
'Hey, old man, save me from this demoness' the young man said with pleading eyes, only for his request to be flatly refused and turned down by the person he expects to get him out of this situation the most, the cold reply causing his face to drain of colors as he saw his movements.
'Don't mess this up kid, you're lucky one hell of a beauty like that is attracted to you' the middle-aged man signaled before he walks to the back of the place, waving his hand towards the tall beauty before replying with a loud, and seemingly proud voice.
"He's all yours, Little Beatrice" he said before his figure disappears into the shadows, causing the young man to realize that there is no escaping this little monster of a beauty who currently has him wrapped around her arms.
"Hehe~~~ what the hell are you talking about previously D? mind jogging my mind to help this sister of yours remember things?" she asked teasingly as she uses her free arm to wrap around him as well, not letting him escape from this position as she pins her into his spot, surprising him so much as he can pretty much do nothing at all to escape from her clutches.
"Like I said big sister Bea, I definitely don't have a little D down there, and you seem to agree with this as well now since you call me like that, but I am a generous guy, do you want me to show it to you just for you to confirm?" in disbelief of the things he is currently saying, Diluc couldn't help but feel like his entire personality is starting to develop into other paths, these changes not really apparent now but he already likes as he feels like such bravery is already enough to thwart this beauty's clearly teasing advances.
"My~~~ you're way to brave aren't you? Forget about that for now D, do you really treat me as an elder sister like how you always call me?" she said whispering on his ears first before she finally let him go and take a seat beside him, her tone changing from the teasing, playful one to one that is way more serious than how she usually is, something that Diluc only saw for the first time out of all the time that they had been playing around with each other for years now.
"What do you think?" looking at her eye to eye, Diluc replied with a confident tone in his voice, the light in his eyes not wavering a single bit as he peers into hers, his gaze causing her heart to skip a beat for one reason or another, something that she somehow fails to notice as she's way too focused on the micro expressions that she can see in his eyes.
'Forget it, this boy is really hard to figure out' the tall beauty said with a helpless smile on her face as she thinks that of all the times that she travels this kingdom and of all the times she had encounters with all sorts of geniuses, this young man is the only one that she always seems to fail to see through, and that is despite the other geniuses she encountered being way more gifted than him.
"I will be leaving for some other place for now, I heard that you're going to the capital, is it true?" shoving those thoughts in the back of her mind, Beatrice said with a wondering look on her attractive face before looking at the young man once again, said young man not removing his gaze at her as he nods in acknowledgement.
"Is there something you want me to do?" knowing that this beauty only cares about his travels when there's something of interest to her or something that might help him, Diluc asked in curiosity, hoping that this time, the situation involves that latter of the two as he really needs chances to find good things now.
"Nothing really troubling of sort, just take this" the tall beauty replies as she throws a golden insignia towards him, said insignia carved with a giant eagle that seems to be way too realistic that it's almost popping out from its carving, as if it is being freed from the constraint of the material it is carved from.
"That thing might help you in troubling times" refusing to elaborate any more than this, the tall beauty said with a smile on her face as she continues to gulp down on her beer, taking a long while before she starts speaking to him again.
"Come to think of it, there's another thing that I want to talk about…" she said as she snapped her fingers, feeling quite fortunate that she doesn't forget what she is going to ask him about his fight.
"Go on then, Big Sis Bea, throw any question you want" Diluc answered as he keeps the insignia in his spatial pouch, quite surprised as the beauty asked a question that he never thought she will figure out, proving even more to him that this lady is so much more mysterious than she made herself to be.
"Since when are you able to use three elements?" she asked directly but with a voice way lower than how she usually speaks, perhaps out of concern that other people might hear of this and become the cause for this young man to be the target of everyone's unreasonable jealousy, or perhaps due to other completely different things.
"I don't really know, I just know that I can now" knowing that her can't really hide something should this beauty be really so powerful, Diluc decided to admit part of the truth while hiding more crucial details in order to make his words more believable, which appears to be really effective as even this suspecting beauty believes what he just said.
"Hide it for now then D, there are a lot of treasure than can allow someone to increase their affinity with certain elements, and that thing happening to you might cause a lot of envy from anyone who knows that you only have wind elemental mana affinity previously, they might even think that you are hiding such treasures in you" Beatrice said with her voice sounding more of a warning than anything else, showing her clear worry of the young man's well-being.
"I know, I know, that's why I even used wind elemental mana to conceal the wood and metal element, who would've guessed that you're so strong that you can see through that" Diluc replied to the tall beauty as they continue to drink, the two of them clearly enjoying their conversations despite the heavy topic they are currently talking about.
"Good, really sensible, you're going to shine brighter in the capital once you enter that academy…" she commented as she moves one of her dainty hands to rustle his hair, enjoying the sensation of his thick, smooth wavy hair on her hands before finally stopping after a while, the look on her face that of an elder sister who seems to be way too proud of her younger brother achieving something really important.
"Shine brighter huh, I don't even have a contracted beast yet…" Diluc said as he acted like he's mocking himself, causing the beauty beside her to giggle in entertainment as she starts comforting him.
"The academy is also a place that one can find a beast to contract, there are a lot of beasts you can find there, who knows, maybe, you can find yourself a really suitable one for you right? Not to mention your odds are significantly higher now that your affinity with elements increases drastically from a single one to three" the tall beauty comforted as she remembers that it is rare for even a dual elemental mage or martial artist to emerge in this kingdom, and those people are already terrifying geniuses capable of turning the tides in large battlefields.
"How do you even know so much about that, Big Sis Bea?" Diluc wondered as he hears all these sorts of information from this mysterious adventurer, said adventurer merely just smiling at him as she places her index finger on top of her pinkish red lips before flashing a smile and replying.
"It's this old lady's secret~~"