72 Honesty : Maturity

When she finally returned to the Inn, Eliza found Emilia laying on the bed while Linnaeus idled near the room's open window, an increasingly familiar scene. This time, however, she could tell something was wrong but, even after looking around for several seconds, Eliza was unable to find anything amiss; ignoring the fact that Emilia was lazing about in her underwear.

Still, her intuition told her something was wrong so, after a momentary pause, she walked over to the bed and asked, "You...what did you do?"

As if she had only just noticed Eliza's presence, Emilia's ears perked up before she turned back to face the clearly annoyed woman, answering, "Nothing happened between Linnaeus and me, if that is what you're asking. I wanted to do something but he refused me. You can ask him yourself if you want."

Without having to put Emilia's suggestion into play, Linnaeus preempted any questions Eliza was going to ask, explaining, "Don't get mad at her, Eliza. My carelessness caused a scene...Emilia had the opportunity to take things further but listened when I told her to stop."

Hearing Linnaeus' words, Eliza adopted a frown but, instead of causing a scene, she ignored the lazily laying Emilia, turning to Linnaeus as she asked, "Tell me...what did you do to set her off?"

Knowing there was no sense in talking around the issue, Linnaeus honestly admitted, "I wanted to practice drawing. In an effort to keep Emilia from bothering me, I chose her as my subject matter. I wasn't satisfied with the result so I ended up tearing it to pieces and setting off a chain of events that led to the misunderstanding..."

As ridiculous as his explanation sounded, Eliza knew; if anyone could cause a misunderstanding over something as simple as a drawing, Linnaeus was the one to pull it off. This gave her a small headache as, without her teaching him and encouraging him to practice whenever he had free time, Linnaeus probably wouldn't have tried drawing Emilia.

Since Emilia had apparently stopped when told, something that was a little surprising to Eliza, she decided to just drop the matter. It was too awkward to discuss after Linnaeus accepted the blame for everything that had transpired.

Deciding this was an opportunity to strengthen her own bond with the normally taciturn youth, Eliza released a subdued sigh before asking, "Have you taken a bath yet?" To this, Linnaeus shook his head while Emilia, having waited for this exact development, rolled to a seated position with a cheeky smile on her face.

Before the over-eager Vanargandr could say anything about joining them, Eliza gave her a stern glare as she stated, "You didn't behave properly the last time. You won't stop trying to corrupt Lin so I'm not going to let you take a bath with us anymore...!"

Like a deflated balloon, Emilia appeared to have lost all motivation, her ears drooping sadly as she collapsed against the bed and complained, "Eliza is a tyrant..." in a voice she knew the latter would be able to hear.

Despite Emilia's apparent lamentations, Eliza really wanted to prevent the wolfish woman from taking a bath with Linnaeus. The last time they went in together, she clung to him the entire time, even going so far as to try and help his little Linnaeus and chrysanthemum. Eliza had to boot her out of the bathroom since Linnaeus seemed unable to say no until things had already escalated...

This time around, however, Linnaeus, having learned a lesson from the earlier incident, surprised both girls by stating, "I will bathe alone from now on. I didn't think much about it in the past but it is becoming increasingly apparent that my silence and acquiescence are becoming an issue. I do not want to create a divide in the Party by causing the two of you to fight over small matters. With how things are developing, I also fear how future Party members would interpret our situation...if I want to be a good Party Leader, I need to properly consider my actions..."

Though she knew it wasn't exactly Emilia's fault, Eliza had a very strong desire to pull on the girl's ears and tail after hearing what Linnaeus had to say. She had always expected him to put his foot down at some point but, before that happened, she wanted him to become comfortable around her. This put a big hiccup in her plans, even if it proved that Linnaeus was beginning to mature in a good direction.

Fearing he would take things even further, Eliza nodded her head in understanding, saying, "I can understand your concerns. Still, I can't sleep comfortably without you at my side so, please, don't move into a different room any time soon. We don't have any new Party members to worry about and, even if they do complain, that just shows they are jealous or harboring selfish intentions..."

Here, despite their differences, Emilia quickly supported Eliza's argument, adding, "Vanargandr are a communal species. I feel very lonely if I have to sleep alone. My instincts make it so that I feel happier when sleeping next to the person that may determine my fate. It builds a strong bond of kinship, one that allows me to fight to the fullest without worrying about being abandoned in the middle of a fight..."

Hearing the duo's arguments, Linnaeus couldn't help but stare back at them with a moderately deadpan expression on his face. He actually felt their sleeping together wasn't a bad thing so it was a little strange to hear them compromising; to the point that Emilia even used her racial traits as an excuse to justify them sharing the same bed.

So as not to worry them too much, he ultimately took a deep breath through his nose, adopting his somewhat awkward smile as he explained, "I had no intention of moving into a room of my own...I, too, feel more comfortable when we sleep together..."

In response to Linnaeus' words, both Eliza and Emilia beamed; their satisfaction at his words made very apparent. Then, as she was prone to do as of late, Eliza walked over and, after a small nod from Linnaeus, wrapped him in her embrace; squeezing him tightly while stroking the back of his head and muttering, "I'm glad...really..."

---

Following the awkward series of events, Emilia and Eliza shared a bath together before Linnaeus took his own turn. They were strangely insistent that he got after them but, as it didn't matter at all to him, Linnaeus had no problems agreeing to the arrangement.

Once everyone had taken their chance to bathe, they all idled around for a little over an hour before leaving to have dinner and discuss things as a Party. During the wait, Eliza taught him some drawing exercises, helping to instill the basics into him so that he would improve at a faster rate.

Eventually, Linnaeus knew he was going to have to draw both girls but, for now, he just did his best to draw basic geometric shapes so he could block out objects better.

During dinner, everyone talked about their exploration of Central City and their fortune finding suitable equipment. Emilia had been the most direct in her approach to enhancing her current setup, having a made-to-order spear that cost nearly all of her excess Soul Kindling. She spent the remainder on her wardrobe, purchasing a total of five outfits and an undisclosed amount of underwear.

Eliza's shopping was a little more complex, even though she also spent a fair amount on both clothing and shoes.

Though she didn't rely on weapons all that much, Eliza purchased a small magical rod that could increase the effective range of Magic by 10%. This was only an additional five meters but, at times, even a small increase in range made the difference between life and death.

Since she had proactively searched for discounted items, Eliza hadn't spent much to actually obtain her magical rod. Instead, most of her Soul Kinding was spent on obtaining a set of thin bracelets, one increasing SP Regen by 6% and the other and providing a bonus of +2 Int just by having it equipped. She had managed to get a slight discount by purchasing them together and, though she would never admit it; finding a shop owner that was easily distracted by the size of her bust...

Of everyone present, Krone's shopping was both the most straightforward yet complex. Rather than purchase equipment, he visited various blacksmithing shops, directly purchasing refined ore in the form of small ingots. Since different materials provided different boosts to his attributes, he wanted to expand his collection of raw materials until he could mix and match different types to achieve the desired effect.

To this end, Krone had purchased a total of thirteen ingots, the most notable of which had cost him 40,000 Soul Kindling; despite only being the size of a thumb. Still, Krone didn't regret the purchase in the slightest as the material was a valuable mineral known as Adamantite, one of the hardest substances available within standard markets.

Though it was known to fracture when impacted by magical attacks, Adamantite was extremely resilient when it came to physical blows. Using it, Krone could increase his Constitution by a total of 15% and, though it wasn't reflected in his Status, it was a given that his defense had increased by a phenomenal amount; albeit at a considerable cost to mobility.

This was where other materials came into play as, by mixing the properties of Adamantite with other materials, chiefly Athricite, he could sacrifice a small amount of physical defense to increase his resistance to magical attacks and significantly reduce his weight. These two metals were often formed into a compound to reduce the weight of Adamantite armor so, following the example of Blacksmiths and Armorers, Krone took advantage of his Blessing to form compounds freely.

It was things like this that made Linnaeus somewhat envious of Krone's Blessing as it had a truly ridiculous amount of versatility. He could even benefit from absorbing the racial traits of his own allies, something that had yet to come into play but would undoubtedly become relevant as their rapport continued to increase.

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Fortunately, the more he learned about his own Blessing, the more practical it seemed for just about every circumstance. The only restriction seemed to be his imagination, focus, and, as could be expected, his SP reserves.

As he grew stronger, Linnaeus slowly overcame these restrictions so, in the distant future, he liked to imagine being able to just tank a direct blow from a powerful enemy without even flinching. He would probably never just stand there and let someone hit him but, just thinking about the image in his mind filled him with motivation to improve.

It was with thoughts like this in mind that, after the usual dinner concluded, Linnaeus spent a few hours just practicing with his Blessing. His current goal was to reduce the amount of time it took for him to produce complex geometric shapes, something his [Drawing] practice actually helped with quite a bit.

If he could reach the point where he could form blades to accurately intercept the path of his enemy's attacks, he could avoid taking direct blows and bleeding SP. He was already capable of using simple barriers to interfere with their movements so it was really just a small improvement; one which would provide a qualitative improvement to his skills.

Once he mastered this, Linnaeus' next challenge was to polish his accuracy so that he could use his Blessing effectively from a distance. Then, believing it to be the penultimate form of his ability to conjur barriers, Linnaeus wanted to master being able to restrain or trap his opponents.

Since it was possible to create a barrier to interrupt an opponent's movement, forming something like a ring around their neck would give him a distinct edge over just about any foe. If he could reach the point where he could bind them mid-movement, they would be injured by the sudden cessation of momentum; all while becoming immobilized due to the barrier itself. Then, before they could recuperate, he could seal their movements completely by locking down their joints and leveraging their own power against them...just thinking about it made Linnaeus feel a little excited...