Chapter 227: The Twins’ Introduction
"Let me introduce them. They’re twins. The boy is Qiong Rui, and the girl is Qiong Yue. Aren’t they adorable?"
He then showed them Rui whom he was holding and Yue whom Albe had been carrying.
Katarina and Sarin stared at the child in shock with their mouths slightly open.
"Y-You... twins... That must have been so hard, wasn’t it?"
"Not really. The morning sickness was quite tough, but aside from that, it was much easier than when I had Lian."
There had still been pain, of course, but the duration, from labor to delivery, had been shorter and easier compared to when Lian was born.
"If you don’t mind, would you like to hold them?"
No matter how much they adored him, the twins were beastkin.
Qiong Xing made it clear that it was fine if they didn’t want to, but Katarina and Sarin happily reached out their hands.
"They’re so cute... Aren’t they much smaller than Lian was?"
"They are. And look at their little ears twitching. It’s so adorable."
Unlike Lian who had been born more developed, the beastkin twins were born before fully growing, making them quite small.
Their size which what would be considered premature for a human surprised Katarina and Sarin, but they were completely charmed by their cuteness.
"I didn’t bring Lian today, but she’s grown a lot. She can pull herself up now, and she’s even started talking a little, so I’ll bring her next time."
Katarina smiled warmly, saying she looked forward to it and Qiong Xing found himself smiling too.
He was glad that he had come here.
"Come to think of it, Grandpa, why were you standing at the entrance?"
It had looked as if he was saying, if you want to pass, defeat me first.
"Ah, this idiot here has been waiting there every day for you all to come."
Every day?
Was she saying that he had been standing there every single day and waiting for him even though he had no idea when he would come?
"Stupid, right? Well, it was his own decision, so you don’t need to worry about it."
"You’re one to talk, Katarina. Every time I came back, you kept asking if they’d come yet."
They really were a couple cut from the same cloth.
"S-Shut up! I only asked because you kept wandering around!"
She was just as shy as ever.
"So you were worried about me. Thank you. I’ll make sure to keep in touch properly from now on."
It wouldn’t be good to keep making them worry every time he had a child.
When he promised to contact them for sure, Katarina and Sarin seemed a little relieved.
After that, they ended up staying for a few hours and just as they were about to leave.
"Seriously? How did that guy worm his way into the Guild Master’s favor?"
"Isn’t it weird how much they like him? What kind of dirty trick did he use?"
"Money? Was it money? Even the Guild Master couldn’t resist that, huh?"
"Then isn’t that against the rules? Or did he get that covered up too? Ugh, so annoying!"
It seemed to be a group of four, two men and two women who are talking.
From the way they were clearly staring at them, it felt like they were picking a fight.
Seeing Joa’s veins bulging, Qiong Xing smiled at him as if to say it was fine.
It was true that Qiong Xing was on good terms with Katarina and Sarin, but he had never received any special treatment as an adventurer because of it.
In that case, there was no need to be bothered, he could simply carry himself with confidence.
More than that, how had they even recognized him as an adventurer?
Even when he first came, people had said he didn’t look like one at all.
Perhaps rumors had been spreading within the guild, he thought with some reflection.
As he tried to pass by the noisy group, one of the men suddenly grabbed his arm.
"What is it?"
"How’d you get in good with them? You gotta tell us too, right?"
"Yeah, yeah! It’s not fair if you’re the only one getting special treatment!"
Qiong Xing tilted his head slightly in confusion.
"Hm?"
"Then what exactly is this ’good treatment’ you claim I’m getting?"
"Huh?"
"What is this ’special benefit’ you just said I alone receive?"
The woman stared at him with her mouth hanging open as if wondering what he was talking about.
Qiong Xing speaking slowly and with a slightly mocking tone making it easy even for someone like her to understand pressed the question further.
"W-Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? Extra rewards and—"
"That has never happened. Just like everyone else, I take on requests and receive the agreed payment. If you check the records, you’ll see that."
"W-Then, getting priority for better requests—"
"What ’better requests’ would someone still at F-rank like me even receive?"
If he were truly being favored, Qiong Xing would have ranked up already.
The reason he was still F-rank was simply because he only took on low-level requests like gathering medicinal herbs.
And honestly, he didn’t mind that at all.
"You’re probably getting paid off behind the scenes anyway."
"Then where is your proof? Surely you’re not going to say something so childish as ’maybe’ without any evidence, are you?"
"......"
"So now you’re silent. But everyone here heard what you just said. You openly claimed that the guild master here is a corrupt and deceitful person. Are you sure that’s okay?"
For their own sake—both their future and their common sense.
No matter how rough adventurers might be, they were still adults.
They should know there was a time and place for what they said.
"!!!"
They had been loud enough earlier.
Now, the surrounding adventurers were glaring at them with cold eyes and naturally, even the guild staff were looking at them with clear disapproval.
With the vice-guild master Sarin standing right there, it was hard to call them anything but fools.