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Chapter 53: The World of Emissaries

The sun was high in the sky, illuminating the sinister sight of several Minotaur bodies scattered across a meadow.

Next to a huge rock, Shining Sword, Dora, Zuri, Hope, and Mercy were facing a Centaur armed with a spear.

"Mercy, blind!"

"Got it, Stardust!"

She brought her hands together and formed a triangle with her fingers, black stars appeared around her and converged towards her hands and then she fired a black ray directly at the centaur's head.

The creature shrieked and backed away, back against the rock that jutted out slightly.

"Zuri, head, defense!"

"Hm~hm."

She threw a black vial near the centaur and with her strange magic wand, fired a black arrow which exploded on contact with the vial and mixed into a purplish substance that poured onto the head and chest of the monster.

"Dps, Leg, Chest! Lilith, get ready!"

"Alright!" Everyone except the former party leader and his best friend screamed.

Hope, Liliana, Morgiana, Leon, and Erick rushed toward the beast and stabbed it several times, the centaur roared and slammed its spear violently on the ground but Dora snapped his finger and the spear disappeared.

The centaur lost its balance and exposed its neck to Lilith, who was standing on the rock, covered in a red aura.

"NOW!"

"Hiyaaahh!!!"

She jumped, holding her hammer as high as possible, and dealt an exceptional blow to the Centaur's neck.

Blood flowed through the nose and eyes of the beast, whose skull was half buried in itself, and the beast collapsed heavily.

"Aah... It's gone. The energy is gone! It's dead!" Morgiana jumped for joy, and several cries of joy rose up.

"Hehehe, I got it in one shot, aren't I just the best?" Lilith puffed out her chest, Dora stared at the body, a little disgusted.

"Meh, you didn't even blow its head off, I want a refund."

"I can try it with you if you want?"

"What can you do with a broken arm? Come here."

She approached him, looking a little embarrassed and sulky, and sat down in front of him. Dora put his hands on her forehead and healed her body in green and yellow light.

"We need to work on your body strength then, it's a good thing we picked this rift. Sana, give me a hand."

The young girl, a little distracted, flinched.

"Oh, huh, me?"

"Yeah, heal the others too. There's still time so let's hurry."

"Fine... But you're much better than me at this, I wonder if I can heal a broken bone."

Dora thought for a moment and turned to Mercy.

"What kind of monsters drop healing soul stones?"

"Uuuh... Not on my card, aren't healers just good with a lot of magic power?"

"Angels." Zuri said mockingly.

Sana sighed lightly and walked toward Dora and stood next to him.

"Okay, the healing duo is ready, everyone, line up."

She leaned towards Dora and whispered.

"I will be in your care."

She gave him a warm smile, Dora narrowed his eyes a little, looking uncomfortable, and began to heal Marie.

The other members of Shining Sword looked darkly at the blonde healer when a sudden voice startled her.

"Sana!" Leon, in the back, gave the young girl a deadly look.

"A-Ah, L-Leon! Are you... Are you hurt? Sorry, you looked so good that I... I'm going to heal you first."

She rushed towards him, lowering her head.

"... Disgusting idiot." Mary whispered.

"Hey, why idiot?"

"Huh? Not you Idiora... Ignore it."

"That's exactly why I can't, I've trademarked that insult, all your idiot words are for me!"

She looked at him stunned and burst out laughing.

"I... I can't with you..."

A little later, they collected the magic stones from all the dead monsters and Dora, with his magic, levitated them around him while analyzing them.

".... Okay, as expected."

"... Does that mean?" Lilith leaned towards him.

"Yeah, the boss soul stone contains a powerful warrior skill, you can have it."

Lilith literally exploded with joy and jumped on him.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You are the best!"

"C-calm down, I'm not finished, there are also 7 elemental stones with physical defense, from the Minotaurs, you take 4, Marie will take 3... Liliana, Morgiana, and Hope will each take 8 attack stones and... Maybe one attack for Mercy."

The girl took a thoughtful pose.

"You sure? I've got most of the magic stone just last rift."

"It's not a fair share, we're focusing on everyone's abilities and weaknesses, you have a very weak body and the attack is actually another layer to the defense, in a certain way."

"... Ya really, really sure, that you don't want to consider?"

"Nah, I never come back to my decisions, I'm the source of victory so we're going to stick to my strategy, K?"

"... K, K."

She looked slightly away, her strange reaction was not insignificant. After their first raid, they had been raiding many times in D rank rifts, first 3 times a week, then 5, then every day except Sunday, and to the point of doing more than twice a day.

Every day they'd reserved rifts for the following day, they took debts, got paid, took more debts, and started the process again, but never did they lose one raid.

Dora was the carry like Kraim wished for, so in the beginning he was doing most of the job and chose the stones that they would keep and those that they would sell, the stones serving mainly to strengthen the members of the team.

He was the leader, the one that no one contested, a guide and a model, but there was only one problem.

As he decided what stone to use, and who would use it, he never gave one to Leon and Erick. Everyone knew that they hated each other to the guts, but no one expected that he would go that far.

His logic was rather simple, they both opposed him joining the team, so they wouldn't benefit from anything coming from his efforts, including elemental stones or money.

Everyone had made huge progress, but those two remained the same.

"Okay, it's almost night, so we're going to reduce the level a little for the next rift, which is the one with the lowest energy level in our reservations? The closest if possible."

Mercy took out her phone and checked an app.

"There's one with 12% Category D energy, 3 kilometers towards Burnee Town, but it was rated less than a day ago so t'could be just an E rank, there's one at 78% but that's like 8 kilometers in the forest... But if we spend the night afterward, it's possible."

"Hmmm... Let's do the possible rank E. If it ends up being an E rank, it will lose its value and the guild might pay us to let beginners join, I don't want to share the stones anymore than this."

"K, I'm calling the guild."

Lilith walked toward them, hands on hips.

"Okay, raid freaks, it's enough now, we can't go to another raid right now, I'm exhausted!"

"She's right, Mr. Dora, I want to do my best but... I feel a little squishy."

Dora took a quick look at the team and crossed his arms.

"Hm, how about I give you another energy potion?"

"It's not a question of energy, Idiora, we've already done 3 raids today, we need a raid... I mean rest!" Marie placed her hand on her head.

Seeing how unanimous they all were, Dora agreed to end the expedition and the group stopped in a nearby village for the night.

They booked a few rooms in an inn with an onsen and spa, and after a hearty dinner, they decided to enjoy the public baths.

Hope was in the bath, next to other people, Leon and Erick, both silent were a little far away, while Dora was washing his hair.

"Man... I'm beaten... Raiding is fun but I'm going to collapse if we keep doing 3 runs a day."

"Do you want more stamina stones next time?"

"Huh? No! I mean, it's not about power... How can you do this so many times and still ask for more?"

Dora poured hot water over his body and joined them, suddenly everyone looked at him with a stunned expression and Leon and Erick groaned.

"F-forget it, you're not normal."

"Of course, I'm built differently, that's why I have excellent results. You can get a little closer if you make some effort, you won't reach me, but you will be better than you from yesterday... You can watch, but you can't..."

"Can you stop saying that when you're naked? It's creepy! Get in the water!"

He laughed, entered the water, and sat in front of them, stretching his arms. In this position, everyone could clearly see the changes in his body.

His arms, his torso, he was no longer as thin as just 3 months ago, and his body was in perfect shape. Not as much as a bodybuilder, but perfect for his size, that was the right word, he was just perfect.

They were relieved to see nothing else, anymore, but the damage was already done. 2 men came out of the bath and returned to the inn, devastated.

"Life is so unfair..." Hope muttered as he sank into the water.

"... I mean, yes, you are an emissary, some people have no power."

The men's bath was separated from the women's by a wooden barrier. On their side, the girls enjoyed the bath, chatting casually, Lilith poking Zuri.

"Come on, just once."

"No, if you feel so strong, go lift a stone instead."

"Please, I just want to compare the result with last time, I'll give you my dessert!"

Morgiana, washing Marie's hair, smiled at them.

"Haha, stop bothering her, it's true that we have made great progress but we must not use our power outside of the rifts."

"Ah? But I haven't been able to test it even once! I want to see what this new skill can do."

It was a final warning for Zuri to stay away from Lilith, Mercy, next to Liliana and Sana, glanced at them.

"Well, you could have, if we had gone to the last rift of the day."

"I don't mean that you rift fanatic."

"You need to take the resting time seriously, Mercy." added Morgiana.

"I know, I'm joking... T's feels very good... Rifting during the day, getting stronger, and partying with your team at night, the emissary life is so fun."

"Right? I could do this every day!" Liliana laughed.

"Yeah... T's more exciting than life at the academy."

Mercy was looking at the starry sky when a commotion occurred.

Many women were whispering and all looked in the same direction, the group noticed this strange attitude and followed their gazes, and then they noticed it too.

A beauty, leaving a delicate scent behind her walked gracefully and sat in the bath, next to Mercy.

"Freya?"