Chapter 88: Reading time interrupted

Pov Kira:

As soon as I arrive at the Inn and am about to go in, I see Diana approaching, it seems that she also finished sooner than expected.

"Have you ended up in the Trade Guild yet?" (I)

"It's alright, I only have to go back there in two days to finish some things." (Diana)

"You were quick too, have you finished what you had to do?" (Diana)

"Yes, I was planning on coming back later today." (I)

"We'd better continue our conversation in your room." (I)

"Alright, let's go inside." (Diana)

Diana and I enter the inn and go straight to the bedroom, so I sit in a wooden chair and she collapses onto the bed.

"Apparently you are still tired." (I)

"Nothing more than a day or two of rest won't do." (Diana)

"How was the Commerce Guild?" (I)

"I found out that Mari's friend she told me to look for who would help me buy the mansion is actually the deputy master of the Commerce Guild." (Diana)

"His name is Wilson Williams, I already paid him for the house in advance, I don't think the Guild vice master would try to rob me, the house price was three crystal pieces." (Diana)

"It was cheaper than I expected." (I)

"He will provide the paperwork for the sale and will make a budget on the renovations that the master asked for with the best construction company in the city." (Diana)

"I have to go back there in two days to finish this stuff." (Diana)

"I'm coming home soon, the master must still be worried about you." (I)

"Here, I bought this wolf ornament bracelet for you, this is a status hiding item, I don't need it as my mask already has this effect even if I'm not wearing it, as long as you're around me it keeps the effect." (I)

I hand her the bracelet and explain how it works, she can use her Mana to charge her or use magic cores.

"You're lucky, I wanted to go home too." (Diana)

"What you are doing here is important, you are looking for our next house, so I must come back here so don't worry." (I)

"I'll leave those six thousand gold pieces with you." (I)

"Thanks." (Diana)

"See you later." (Diana)

"Bye, take care until I get back." (I)

I leave the inn and go back to my normal appearance in one of the darkest alleys I found while putting on my mask, then head to the clandestine exit to return to the master.

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Zenos Pov:

I was meeting Érica and Ibuki in my room, it's starting to get dark now, Érica is trying to reassure me that if anything had happened to Diana I would know because she is my family member.

"I appreciate you trying to calm me down Érica, but the fact that I'm worried won't change until I hear from Diana." (I)

While we were talking I heard a knocking noise coming from outside.

"Érica, I want you and Ibuki to go see who's knocking on the gate." (I)

"If you're an adventurer try to capture if possible, if you can't capture then you can kill if it's an attacking monster you can kill, but if it's a smart monster try to capture." (I)

"I'll go right now, let's go Ibuki." (Érica)

"Let's go." (Ibuki)

They leave the room, it took them ten minutes to get back and Kira was with them, luckily it wasn't an attack.

"It was just Kira knocking for us to open the gate." (Érica)

"Sorry for the delay master." (Kira)

"Glad to see you okay Kira." (I)

"Got any news from Diana?" (me)

"You don't need to worry, she's fine, the special mission was a success and she's in town." (Kira)

Sigh

"I am happy with that." (I)

"Did she give you any information about what happened that day?" (I)

"Yes, I'll tell you everything she told me and the rumors in town." (Kira)

Kira told me everything Diana told me, she told me the number of adventurers who participated in this special mission and their ratings, she told me about how the numbers of Undead was much higher than expected, she told me about how some adventurers died and dozens were seriously injured, she told me about the dungeon they found underground and talked about the rumors about Diana that are spreading through the town of Valen.

"So she did exactly what I asked her not to do, she put herself in danger to help others instead of running away to protect herself." (I)

"I already knew she wouldn't be standing around seeing others in danger, the master has to understand that she is incapable of not helping someone who is in danger right in front of her." (Érica)

"As far as I knew she wasn't in much danger, things were tough but she was one of the strongest adventurers there." (Kira)

"The only time she was really in danger was when she tried to help that adventurer who stabbed her to get away." (Kira)

"You would probably do the same in her place, perhaps if you put yourself in even more danger to help others." (Érica)

"..." (I)

I wanted to deny what Érica said, but when I thought about how the battle was going when I shared Diana's senses, I had to admit that she would do the same thing.

Maybe it's because I grew up in an orphanage always trying to help other kids or I always hired those who were in difficult situations for the companies I had when I was older, but I've just noticed that I can't sit around seeing others in problems.

Sigh

"You don't need it but still help, it just shows you have character." (Érica)

"You don't help others as naively as Diana did when she tried to help someone who was on the run, but you would definitely help those who didn't." (Kira)

"No sense in helping someone who gave up before the end." (I)

"We ended up getting off-topic, how is Diana now?" (I)

"She's tired, she got overwhelmed during the battle, but nothing a few days' rest doesn't do." (Kira)

"That's nice." (I)

"I must tell you that Diana has become famous in the city." (Kira)

"Why?" (I)

"Diana helped many adventurers during the special mission and saved dozens who were seriously injured, for her actions she is being called the Guardian Wolf." (Kira)

"I'm glad others see her value." (I)

"Do you have anything else to say?" (I)

"Yes I am, she asked to tell you that she will do what she asked before she left." (I)

"What did I order?" (I)

"She asked me to let me know that she is buying a mansion, in two days she will receive the documents and order the renovations you asked for." (Kira)

"With what happened to her I had already forgotten about that." (I)

"I'm glad everything is going well, I don't want to draw too much attention, Diana's sudden fame should pass in a few weeks so there won't be any problems." (I)

"..." (Kira)

"Why this face Kira?" (Érica)

"Still have anything else to say Kira?" (I)

"There's actually something you need to know about this mansion Diana is buying." (Kira)

Kira told me everything she knew about the mansion which consisted of the vague stories from twenty years ago and the rumors circulating among the city's underworld organizations.

"..." (Érica/I)

"The good thing is that the mansion came out at a price far below what it's really worth." (Kira)

"The miasma problem is not a problem for our group either." (Kira)

"You did well buying this mansion, the problem is the mystery of what happened twenty years ago there, it feels like I'm walking into a horror movie." (I)

"Another problem is that the Duke and the King can pay attention to our group." (I)

"Why does the master think that?" (Érica)

"I don't know if the King will mind, but the Duke must surely want to know who is buying his dead friend's house he's been trying to sell for years." (I)

"I had already thought about it, but he shouldn't investigate us, master, as long as we don't do anything suspicious he won't do anything." (Kira)

"At the most, he should ask the Adventurers Guild master's opinion of Diana and her new Group." (Kira)

"I hope you're right." (I)

"I want you to go back to town tomorrow, I have two things I want you to do." (I)

"I want you to go to the Assassin Guild and get information about the people who lived in the mansion for twenty years and everything you have about the incident." (I)

"I also want you to look for information about nobles who have been acting strangely or more prejudiced in recent weeks." (I)

"I get it, I'm leaving tomorrow morning." (Kira)

"You can go back with Diana." (I)

After the conversation Érica went to the first round of surveillance and Kira was going to take the second round, I asked to let Ibuki rest today.

After everyone left my room I went back to studying alchemy, I was going to stop for today, but now that I know Diana is fine my mind is lighter, there's not much I can do either besides reading these books.

I study the alchemy book, always stopping to research the ingredients it talks about, I learned that it's not just the blind mixing of ingredients, they have to put in the right amounts, they also need to put energy into the potions, the vast majority are made with magic, the Alchemist uses a magical reagent made from dust from monster cores and once the potion is ready the Alchemist has to fill it with mana.

I spent most of the night finishing reading the alchemy book before I stopped and went to sleep, tomorrow I'm going to take a day off and go without reading anything.

It's not just any use studying, I need to take time to reflect on everything I've studied and internalize everything I've learned, I also need to rest my mind a little for the next round of studies, so I stopped my reading time for a day.