Raymond ignored the sarcastic taunts and continued to say, "I am here to extend an invitation on behalf of my House Lord to congratulate Shopkeeper Shi for his pending promotion to a four-star citizen, my House Lord is also very curious about your future plans."
Raymond extended a white enclosure to Leonardo, though he didn't bother to remove the cigar from his mouth even as he spoke.
Leonardo looked down at the white envelope but didn't receive it. Instead, it was the butler in black who just arrived with Elizabeth who reached out to take the envelope and tuck it away in his vest.
"I will make sure to deliver your invitation to my Lord given an opportune moment," the butler replied in an incipient tone.
Leonardo laughed again, praising this butler in his heart.
Then, he reached out with his strong arm to circle around Maiden 001's waist, snatching her away into his embrace while giving Raymond the side eye.
"My future plans are to enjoy the company of my dutiful maid. As for whatever follows…" Leonardo trailed off mid-sentence, seemingly lost in thoughts.
Maiden 001's body went stiff and rigid, but she quickly calmed down and without an ounce of resistance, leaned back into Leonardo's strong arms. If not for her cascading hair, one would notice the shade of red spreading from her ears to her neck.
Other than Elizabeth who could be considered a very conservative woman, blushing a deep red while looking away, no one else seemed overly bothered by the display of affection.
Raymond stared long and hard at his empty hand that used to hold the envelope. Then, he gave the butler a curious once over before chuckling.
"My House Lord will probably wait for your arrival to his banquet anyway. If you made it then good, and if you didn't… Well, too bad."
Raymond wasn't going to stand here and get humiliated for the sake of some giggles. Thus, he made his last remarks and climbed back into the carriage.
The butler in white glared at Leonardo's butler, his expression menacing. Then, he climbed right after Raymond and told the coachman to get going.
Leonardo seemed to not have paid attention to Raymond at all, his eyes closed while embracing Maiden 001 so tightly it almost felt like he wished to blend her body into his.
Leonardo was actually using her body to vent a bit of his desires as her figure and personality quite resembled Pandora's, they were both archers too.
Well, Pandora no longer acted like an archer but more of a mid-range and close-range assassin. Regardless, it had been very long since Leonardo tasted the pleasure of the flesh, and he couldn't find a better way to celebrate achieving divinity than this.
"It's about time you get a suitable name," Leonardo bent over and whispered to Maiden 001's ear, his breath warm and heavy as he continued in a voice audible only to them two, "How about Madeline?"
Maiden 001's body shivered lightly, but she immediately consented with a soft whimper of approval. In fact, her mind was blank at this moment, not knowing how to respond.
Elizabeth couldn't hold it anymore and ran back into the manor, one could see steam rolling out from her head and ears.
Merlin tapped her feet in impatience, apparently still waiting for a solution to the funding issue.
Looking at her expression, Leonardo chuckled bitterly and said, "I know, I know…" He then tossed over a storage ring. "Just go exchange those for some currency, there should be about 3,000 raw ether fragments in there, enough to net you about 300,000 credits."
Merlin caught the storage ring and in her fervent excitement, she didn't even report the issues that plagued the shop for the past few months ever since Leonardo left, immediately heading outside to Vast Sky Avenue to exchange for currency.
Leonardo then looked at the only one left, the close-quarters combat unit commander, Maiden 002.
After a bit of thought, he said, "You should be Maiden 002, right?"
Maiden 002 nodded and kneeled on one knee, her expression stern and awaiting commands.
She must have assumed that Leonardo would take her the same way he took her comrade.
Leonardo shook his head and said, "Since I had Madeline accompany me on my first trip, you can prepare yourself to follow me upon my following departure… Hm, how about I give you a name as well? How does Victoria sound like?"
The Maiden's eyes practically glowed with glee at reviving a name, as though it was something very precious to her. She quickly suppressed her excitement and nodded her head heavily.
A trace of disappointment appeared in Madeline's eyes as she tugged on the sleeves of Leonardo's long, white cloak.
Leonardo understood her feelings but he would rather leave behind someone with the potential to achieve rebirth to anchor the manor. If he took the strongest person with him and couldn't make it back in a short period of time, it would endanger Merlin and Elizabeth, not to mention he was still searching for a medicine to prolong Merlin's life.
If he found something and returned to find she was gone, he might erase the entire Greenheart City from the Lush Skirt Plains Province.
"You should take Zaylee— oh yeah, this is Zaylee, you can already tell that she's a vampire. She will fill you in on the details pertaining to our future plans."
Leonardo gestured with his chin toward Zaylee who was waiting patiently to the side. Then, he picked up Madeline, stepping out and fading from his spot with the erratic footwork of his movement technique in conjunction with nihilism.
"Master achieved divinity?!"
Victoria gasped, having been sure that Leonardo was but a high saint when he last left Greenheart City.
…
Madeline felt dizzy as the sky and earth spun in her vision. The next moment, she felt her body light as a feather, floating yet falling at the same time, the bewildering misconception coming to a finale as she landed on a massive fluffy bed.
Waves of red curtains swayed and covered the bed like a towering canopy. Just as she was confused, a tingling sensation as though thousands of tiny electric worms crawled all over her skin assaulted her body.
Black lightning crackled as her black maid clothes were shredded into oblivion, leaving her gasping in shock in the wake of this bizarre way of stripping down.
Before she even collected her breath, a warm body towered her delicate figure, pressing her down into the messy bed sheets as a pair of masculine lips silenced her charging whimpers.
She instinctively wrapped her arms tightly around a frame of sturdy shoulders, feeling her pink nipples budding, her handful of breasts deforming under the pressure of a broad chest.
Only now did her lagging thoughts catch up to the sensations wreaking havoc across her body, gasping in a daze as a string of translucent saliva bridged her luscious lips to Leonardo's.
She absentmindedly touched down on her mouth and trailed her eyes from Leonardo's lips to his passionate gaze.
She then swallowed nervously, realizing that an arduous night awaited her. Nonetheless, her heart throbbed with anticipation of what was to come.