Chapter 89: Time To Grind!
As soon as Chaosgraphy entered the room, Crimson Halo’s eyes lit up.
The whole atmosphere shifted with her. She moved with quick, easy confidence, her hips swaying just enough to draw the eye without seeming deliberate, and the charged stillness that had filled the room a moment ago loosened beneath her presence.
She was a familiar presence, someone Crimson Halo knew well and someone she could speak to without feeling the floor tilt beneath her. The urge to pull her close immediately and whisper everything she had pieced together about Martin and the celebrities orbiting him rushed through her.
You’ll see it immediately. This setup is far too rich not to enjoy.
Just then, Chaosgraphy looked over at Martin. "You smoked Thorn’Shield. I heard somebody recorded the duel, so I’ll watch it tonight. But you know, Martin, putting me on the line? And you get an epic sword while I get nothing? That’s not how we should do things, hmm?"
She said it with a slow, amused curl to her lips, then tilted her head as if she were already toying with him. There was something almost villainous in how easily she did it, playful and dangerous at once.
Crimson Halo nearly stared.
The words themselves should have sounded displeased. They should have sounded possessive, or at least mildly offended. Instead, that smile gave everything away.
Martin saw it too.
There was nothing of NukEncore’s softness in that tone.
"I know, I know," Martin replied with a smile.
Chaosgraphy nudged him with her elbow, then let her fingers brush lightly along his sleeve before pulling back. "If I take a liking to someone else’s sword, I’ll challenge them and drag you along with me. No backing out, mhm?"
"Yeah, of course. Same deal as with Clause," Martin chuckled.
"Oh, so someone’s thinking far ahead now, yeah?" Chaos sneered.
Beside them, NukEncore kept eating. One bite, then another, then another, her cheeks puffing out like a hamster’s.
Even so, she did not drift away from Martin’s side. She stayed right there, close enough that her shoulder nearly brushed his arm whenever she reached for something.
Kill Clause had stayed composed. Chaosgraphy had stepped into the moment as if it had been waiting for her. NukEncore, meanwhile, grabbed another piece before she had even finished chewing the last one, as though eating faster might keep her heart from showing on her face.
Chaosgraphy reached over without hesitation, plucked a cake straight from NukEncore’s pile, and took a bite of it herself.
She did it with shameless ease, her eyes still on Martin as she chewed, as though stealing what she wanted was the most natural thing in the world.
A faint, satisfied look touched her mouth afterward, the kind that made her seem less like a guest in the room and more like a smiling little villain who had decided she liked the stage.
There were still too many left.
"You know your brain might start thinking you can eat this much in the real world, right?" Chaos asked.
"Then I’ll go to the gym twice as often," NukEncore said.
"And how many times do you go to the gym a week?" Chaos asked.
"Once a week," NukEncore replied.
Chaos deadpanned. "So twice a week? Girl, please. Anyway! Martin, share the good news." It better be better than you linking the Hidden Level One Dungeon to the Guild."
She leaned forward over the counter and looked at him with bright, starry eyes, her smile curved and dangerous enough to make the gesture feel less innocent than it should have.
The teacup slipped from Crimson Halo’s fingers and shattered against the table. For one terrible instant, she had not even felt it leaving her hand.
The crack of porcelain snapped every gaze toward her. She remained upright, spine perfectly straight, but her fingers had gone tight and cold, and the pulse in her throat fluttered fast enough to betray her if anyone looked too closely.
Her usual noble poise did not merely falter. It vanished so completely that even she felt exposed without it.
For a moment, all she could do was stare.
How could I not think of it? I had... all the signs. But I refused to admit it. Yes... even when she mentioned Martin for the first time, I thought little of it. Alex... you’re drawn to him too. Oh my, my, my... this is a predicament I never imagined!
She had already proven to herself that Martin was not from their world. More importantly, nothing about him resembled the kind of man who would toy with Alexandra’s heart.
And yet there he sat, a perfectly ordinary man, somehow pulling celebrity after celebrity closer without even noticing what he was doing.
He looked at them too plainly, too differently. That had to be it. That had to be the thing that kept drawing them in.
What do I do? If I do nothing, then things with one of them will surely become too intimate. And if they all keep this secret, then there’s a chance he’ll become intimate with all of them. All of them! Isn’t that insane?!
Her heart hammered in her chest. Heat flooded her cheeks until they burned crimson, and each breath came louder than the last.
Martin asked, "Is she fine?"
"Let her be. She has moments like this when she loses herself. Might be autism," Chaos said. "What’s the big deal?"
Crimson Halo lifted her chin with visible effort, reclaiming a fraction of her composure. "My. Martin does gather significance quickly, doesn’t he?"
Martin chuckled. "There’ll be territory expansion soon. We won’t have much of a role at these levels, so I want to get to at least twenty. We can definitely do it."
The room settled around his words with surprising ease.
Steam still rose from the tea. Plates shifted across the counter. Someone’s spoon clicked softly against porcelain, and crumbs had begun to gather near NukEncore’s elbow.
Chaosgraphy leaned in as if she had expected him to take charge. Kill Clause watched him with that calm, steady attention of hers. Even NukEncore slowed her chewing for a moment, listening through full cheeks.
None of them questioned why he was the one setting direction. He spoke plainly, almost casually, yet the future of the group was already beginning to arrange itself around his voice.
"Easily," Chaos nodded. "But if we’re going to level to twenty, are you sure you want to focus on categories?"
"Yes," Martin said with a nod. "Robert told me there isn’t that much difference in stats between orange-grade weapons for level 5 and level 15. The big difference starts at level 20. There’s also the equipment set bonus. We know the dungeon well enough now to gear ourselves accordingly. We just have to keep farming weapon drops. And only we can loot the weapons and other stuff in this dungeon too."
"That makes sense," Kill Clause nodded.
NukEncore nodded as well. "Mhm."
Chaos smiled. "The grind, huh? And we have a healer now, so we can make full use of her too."
That little sneer sent another jolt through Crimson Halo.
You’re enjoying this way too much, Alex!
Martin chuckled. "Yeah, she’s shaping up to be a good healer. It runs in the blood."
When he asked the next question, he turned slightly toward NukEncore first. The motion was so natural that he clearly had not meant anything by it, but more than one pair of eyes still caught it.
"So, are we locking it in?"
NukEncore pulled her plate a little closer. "I’m listening too. I’m just eating."
Then, still chewing, she added, "Not yet. Let me eat more."
"Ah, hell no." Chaos grabbed NukEncore by the armpits, hauled her up, and dragged her away from the counter. She was laughing under her breath as she did it, as though manhandling a girl away from stolen desserts was exactly the sort of petty tyranny she enjoyed.
NukEncore tried to keep hold of her plate, which only made Chaos snort. "Girl, you are not taking the whole counter with you."
NukEncore still had food in her mouth and looked genuinely offended by the theft of both her balance and her meal. Martin let out a laugh before he could stop it. Kill Clause’s mouth shifted just enough to suggest she was close to smiling.
Ao Tenshin finished the last of her meal with perfect seriousness, her tiny mouth working through the final bite before she swallowed with visible satisfaction. Then she puffed up just a little, lifted her head, and tapped the table once with tiny determination. Her bright eyes locked onto Martin, full of impatient purpose, as if she could not understand why everyone was still sitting around when there was clearly work to do.
The timing was so exact that Martin laughed. "Even she thinks we’ve talked enough. Fine. Time to grind."
Across the room, Crimson Halo watched the scene and felt the strangest certainty settle over her.
This was no longer a simple gathering around a promising man. Martin was becoming a center of gravity.
Samu felt a flash of pure gratitude.
Take this glutton away!