Skadi, My Wife

Chen An pondered for a moment, then ultimately decided to sacrifice Exusiai.

After all, no matter who stayed behind, she would be the one planning to perish with him. What was there to worry about?

Just as Chen An was about to persuade Exusiai with a line like, "Exusiai, go in peace," while preparing to run for it the moment she tried to take him down with her, Ceylon's voice came from outside again:

"Chen An, I didn't come today to ask you to persuade my father. I came to play with you and thank you for helping Schwarz and me work things out last night."

"...Huh?"

Chen An froze.

Terra's Rich Ladies List

Chen An was a hospitable person. The only reason he had kept avoiding Ceylon was that every time she came looking for him, she wanted him to persuade her father. Chen An felt that was both troublesome and unnecessary, so he had continued avoiding her.

Now that Ceylon said she was no longer fixated on that matter, Chen An naturally had no reason to hide from her anymore.

He promptly opened the door and welcomed Ceylon inside with an incredibly enthusiastic attitude.

"Come in, come in, Ceylon. After just one night apart, you look even smarter and cuter."

Chen An's blunt praise made Ceylon somewhat embarrassed and a little speechless.

Being praised was certainly nice, but wasn't that change in attitude a little too blatant?

"Please don't say that. You'll make me embarrassed."

Giving Chen An a reserved smile, Ceylon handed him the gift she was carrying.

"I spoke with Miss Texas yesterday and discovered that she seemed to like black tea. This is black tea I brought back from Victoria. Please accept it as a greeting gift."

"Hm? Ceylon, you're too polite. You're just here to visit, why bring a gift?"

While hypocritically saying polite things, Chen An beamed as he accepted Ceylon's present and passed it to Texas beside him. Then he looked at Schwarz behind her, his eyes narrowing into slits as he grinned happily.

"Miss Schwarz, Ceylon brought black tea. What about yours?"

Schwarz: "..."

What was wrong with this man? Hadn't he just said gifts weren't necessary?

As if he had seen through Schwarz's thoughts, Chen An said matter-of-factly, "What I said just now was merely politeness. Who doesn't like it when visitors bring gifts?"

Then he added thoughtfully, "Did you forget to bring one? If so, I can let you buy on credit, Miss Schwarz. But credit comes with interest—borrow nine, repay thirteen."

Schwarz: "..."

The corner of her mouth twitched as she looked at Ceylon.

Miss, may I beat this man up?

Schwarz felt that Chen An was rather improper.

Yesterday, he had deceived her to escape. Today, he wanted gifts, and when he could not get one, he wanted her to buy on credit. Even worse, he wanted interest on the credit. This guy was completely indecent!

Understanding the meaning in Schwarz's eyes, Ceylon offered a polite yet awkward smile and returned a look that said, No, you may not.

Schwarz fell silent. She stared at Chen An for two seconds, her rosy lips moving as she was about to say something, only to see that Chen An had already turned around and invited Ceylon inside.

"Come in, Ceylon... Miss Schwarz, you too."

"He's teasing you."

Watching Schwarz stand there, unable to keep up with Chen An's train of thought and looking somewhat at a loss, Exusiai kindly reminded her, "He just doesn't like seeing people put on a cold expression like they want strangers to stay away, so he said those things to tease you. He doesn't actually want your gift."

Was... that really it?

Schwarz's long tail swayed as she unconsciously tilted her head slightly.

"Texas, go boil some water in the kitchen. I'll make tea later."

"Exusiai, get some fruit from the fridge."

The moment Ceylon entered the house, Chen An unceremoniously ordered Texas and Exusiai to prepare refreshments for their guest.

Texas had no objections, and neither did Exusiai. Though Exusiai often bickered with Chen An, she had always carried out his instructions without cutting corners.

Standing beside Chen An, Skadi waited for a while, but Chen An never assigned her anything. She began to panic. "Chen An, what should I do? Shouldn't I help Exusiai and Texas?"

Chen An thought for a moment before saying tactfully, "As for you, Skadi, just stay a little farther away from the kitchen."

Skadi: "..."

She puffed out her cheeks and walked dejectedly to one side, squatting in a corner to draw circles.

Orca drawing circles.jpg

Ceylon looked a little worried. "Miss Skadi?"

"She's always like that. She'll be fine in a bit."

Chen An casually explained, then pulled out chairs for Ceylon and Schwarz to sit at the table.

"Come to think of it, since you no longer want me to persuade your father, Ceylon, why did you come today?"

He made a joke. "Surely you didn't come just to bring a gift?"

Ceylon looked somewhat embarrassed and stammered, "Well... there isn't really a particular reason. It's just... um, I think you're amazing, Chen An, and I wanted to be friends with you."

Her face reddened with shyness, and she quickly added in a fluster, "And to thank you, of course! I also wanted to thank you for helping Schwarz and me make up."

"No need to thank me. I didn't really do anything. Miss Schwarz made up with you purely because your relationship was already good to begin with; she was simply overthinking things a little. As for becoming friends..."

Chen An looked surprised. "Aren't we already friends? Why do we need to become friends?"

"...Eh?" Ceylon's cute eyes widened.

"We've already introduced ourselves to each other. If that doesn't make us friends, what does?"

Ceylon blinked, disbelief written across her face. "That makes us friends?"

"What else would it take?"

Chen An was somewhat speechless. "Making friends is supposed to be simple. Once you know each other and get along, you can be friends even if you don't know each other's names. We not only exchanged names, we even address each other like friends. What else could we possibly be? Don't tell me you think making friends is like getting married—first you meet, then date, then spend the dating period working things out, breaking up and getting back together seven or eight times, and finally hold a wedding before it's done?"

"..." Ceylon turned her face slightly away, seemingly too embarrassed to speak.

Chen An continued complaining, "Even marriage is not always that troublesome, okay? Ever heard of love at first sight? Ever seen people skip dating altogether and go from friends straight to spouses? Those things are common too."

Were those things really that common?

Ceylon was a little puzzled, but she did not dwell on it. Looking at Chen An, she could feel that he sincerely considered her a friend. Her heart filled with happiness, and she could not help revealing a joyful smile.

After washing the fruit and placing it on the table, Exusiai listened to Ceylon and Chen An's conversation for a while before returning to the kitchen.

She pulled a bottle of iced cola from the fridge, opened it, and took a drink. Leaning against the refrigerator, she casually chatted with Texas.

"Texas, what do you think that young lady Ceylon came here for?"

"To see Chen An. Isn't that obvious?"

"Of course I know she came to see Chen An. I'm asking what she came to see him for."

Exusiai muttered, "For the past few days, she came to ask Chen An for help. But today, she doesn't need his help and still came looking for him. I suspect that young lady has taken a liking to Chen An."

Texas looked over at her. "Why do you care? Jealous?"

"I'm not jealous. What do I have to be jealous about? If anyone should be jealous, it's you. I don't even like him."

After Exusiai's three-part denial made Texas laugh, Exusiai could not help muttering to herself.

"I think my previous guess was probably right. Chen An must have some kind of young-lady attraction aura. He's especially appealing to creatures like young ladies."

A young-lady attraction aura? What kind of thing was that?

Texas paused, unable to understand what Exusiai meant.

Exusiai explained seriously, "It's a buff, like those buffs in games that increase the experience you gain."

Having roughly understood what Exusiai was trying to say, Texas was left speechless. "Reality isn't a game. What are you even thinking?"

Exusiai retorted, "Of course I know that. It's just an analogy. Chen An had not been in Lungmen long before he met that ultra-rich young lady Swire. He's only been in Siesta for a little over half a month, and now he knows the mayor's daughter here too. Think about us, then compare us with Chen An. Do you really think that's normal?"

It was completely abnormal, okay?

They had been in Lungmen for several years and had never met any young ladies. If they had to name one, there was Sora, but Sora was not some young lady—she was a teenage idol.

They were fragrant and adorable girls themselves!

But what about Chen An?

Swire should not have had any connection to him whatsoever. Under ordinary circumstances, there should have been no way for them to meet. Yet even so, Swire had become Chen An's friend, and a very close friend at that.

Swire alone could perhaps be considered an exception, but how was Ceylon supposed to be explained now?

"There are reasons for all of it."

Unlike Exusiai, Texas did not possess such wild imagination. She said calmly, "Swire met Chen An because she saw hope in him for changing the Lower District. The mayor's daughter met him because Chen An told her about the evidence she had been searching for. Their acquaintance with him was not some simple matter of attraction."

"Even if you say that..."

After muttering a few dissatisfied words, Exusiai suddenly thought of something. She sharply turned toward Skadi, who stood outside the kitchen, wanting to enter but not daring to, watching them with longing eyes.

"Skadi, you've known Chen An for a long time, and it seems you two traveled everywhere before. Tell me, does he know lots of young ladies?"

When Skadi heard Exusiai's question, she unconsciously lifted one foot, wanting to take the opportunity to enter the kitchen.

But after looking at the note on the wall that read, "Kitchen: Lady Skadi, spare me, I'm still young," then glancing back at Chen An in the distance, she puffed out her cheeks and ultimately held herself back.

"What kind of young ladies?"

Skadi asked, "Daughters of wealthy families, or daughters of prominent families?"

Exusiai paused. "Why are there two kinds? Don't tell me he really knows other young ladies too?"

"Yes. Talulah, Lyudmila, Lisa, Suzuran, Enya, Pramanix, Encia, Cliffheart, Jessica..."

Watching Skadi cutely count on her fingers one by one, listing the people Chen An had met during their travels all over Terra who could be considered young ladies, Exusiai was dumbfounded.

No, wait, one or two would have been one thing, but you listed so many at once. Are you sure those are all names of young ladies from important families, rather than merely people you happened to know?

Hadn't you said that your identities while traveling around Terra were Bounty Hunters and ordinary civilians?

With identities like that, how had you met so many young ladies?

And also, Talulah? What was that about? Wasn't that the name of Chernobog's mayor and the leader of Dawn?

The Talulah you mentioned... could not possibly be the same Talulah I know, right?

Apparently sharing the same thought, Exusiai and Texas looked at each other.

Do You Remember Eunectes That Summer?

"...Those are all the ones I remember. But if tribal chiefs count as well, then Chen An also knows Zumama and Tomimi."

After briefly finishing her account of the young ladies she and Chen An had met while traveling across Terra, Skadi added two more names that sounded rather cute.

Seeing Exusiai and Texas both looking rather dazed afterward, Skadi assumed they were confused because they did not know the people she had mentioned. After thinking for a moment, she began introducing them.

"Tomimi and Zumama are both tribal chiefs from the Akhura region of Sargon. That's Gavial's hometown. We met them when Gavial took us there to handle something once. They were Gavial's childhood friends."

"Gavial doesn't count as a young lady. She's a freelance mercenary. She was injured a little during a mission once, and Chen An found her and took her in. After that, she traveled with us for a while before Chen An introduced her to Talulah."

"Tomimi and Gavial are Archosaurs, while Zumama is Forte. All of them are quite strong."

"Tomimi is a little slow, and her tail is huge. She likes Gavial very much. Zumama is very smart and especially likes machinery. After meeting Chen An and discovering that he seemed very knowledgeable about machines, she even wanted Chen An to become her teacher. But Chen An refused. He said teaching disciples was troublesome, and he had taken disciples before, but every one of them had turned out to be a traitorous disciple, so he did not want to take any more."

"...Ah, right. Both Zumama and Gavial have Oripathy, and Zumama's was especially serious. But Chen An treated them until they were mostly better. Gavial is still an operator with Dawn now. When we separated from Tomimi and Zumama, they wanted to come with us too, but Chen An sent them back. They said they would come find us someday, but now that the Reunion Movement is gone and we're no longer in Chernobog, they probably can't find us."

"Lisa is a Vulpo with nine tails. I heard she was born in Higashi, though we met her in Siracusa. She's very young and also has Oripathy. We stayed in Siracusa for a while. You both know that Chen An is very kind. When we were in Lungmen, he often treated people from the Lower District, but he did not only do that in Lungmen. He did it everywhere, including Siracusa."

"Lisa was one of the patients he treated in Siracusa. She's very well-behaved and cute... Oh, right, Lisa can use Originium Arts, but she was still young and could not control them properly. When Chen An treated her, she burned her own skirt several times. She cried because she was embarrassed."

She did not introduce every single person in detail. At this point, Skadi stopped and summarized.

"Quite a few of the people I mentioned met Chen An that way. Not just them—Shining and Nearl met him while he was treating people with Oripathy too. They're medical casters and were very interested in Chen An's methods for treating Oripathy. Later, they traveled with us for a while, and now they're also with Dawn in Chernobog."