Chapter 315: In Places You Never Thought Of [2]
Leon gave the shopkeeper a piece of his mind.
She then led Leon toward the upper stairs, and stopped right in front of a sliding door.
Knock knock.
"M-Master Leon has arrived."
She knocked on the door with a quiet blush on her face, and then cupped her cheeks and left the place hurriedly.
Leon did not know why she was blushing though.
Was it because Hibuki had told all of them to call Leon ’Master’ whenever they spoke about him?
Seriously, he thought Hibuki was bullying her own employees at this point.
"Sigh... not like it matters to me."
’I will just do my thing and go.’
He did not like wasting time, especially not today.
Leon could see that it had already started raining outside.
He looked out the glass window where a trail of water slid down the surface.
’I wonder if Irene would come today.’
He did not know why, but he felt it would be nice seeing her.
’Haah... what happened to me?’
He was subconsciously smiling to himself.
If Rumi were here right now, she would have teased the heck out of him by now.
’Good thing she did not come.’
That being said, he returned his focus ahead, and without waiting for a reply, he held the door and slid it open.
And as soon as he did, he found Hibuki with her blonde hair down touching the floor, bowing all the way down.
"Master, at last. You are finally inside me. I always knew you would come."
"...."
Leon’s eye twitched at the sentence, as he literally stopped dead in his tracks at the door.
Leon slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again.
"Hibuki."
"Yes, Master?"
"Say that again, but please think about it this time."
Hibuki tilted her head slightly, genuinely confused, and repeated herself.
"I said you are finally inside me."
"...."
"Inside my shop, Master." She added with a grin.
She had finished her sentence a full three seconds too late.
Leon pinched the bridge of his nose.
"...sigh..."
Of all the operatives for his source of intel he could have recruited into the entire underworld, of all the trained professionals in the whole kingdom, he had somehow ended up with this one.
Well, she was kind of professional in her own way, and kind of unprofessional in every other way.
"Please do not do that from now on."
He always had to say something similar every time he met her.
Hibuki giggled and stood up, and this time she elegantly guided him inside her cabin.
"Apologies. Please come this way."
She slid the door closed behind them.
Leon looked around the surroundings, the floor was covered in tatami mats, with a wooden door, but unlike before where she used to sit on the floor, this new room had a dedicated guest area with a cushioned sofa and a glass centre table.
It looked more like an office and less like her room, which always used to have a bed every time he visited her.
Leon had to say, every time he visited here, he got hit by a wave of nostalgia from his old life.
It was a good thing the devs had made a Japanese inspired culture for some of the traditions here.
Seeing Leon smile and look around, Hibuki added.
"Is the place to your liking? I put in some extra money into making my new shop."
"...It is great, but are you actually planning to sell perfumes here?"
She nodded.
"Umu, my brother got fully recovered, and he liked perfumes, so to celebrate I opened him a shop."
"Great to hear that."
He walked over and sat on the leading sofa, and then gestured Hibuki to settle down as well.
Hibuki, while sitting, poured him some tea as she added.
"Indeed, he was pleased to see you today as well."
Leon blinked.
"Wait, what?"
Hibuki passed him the cup with a smile.
"That person who just came to guide you here was my brother."
"...."
Leon thought he had heard her incorrectly.
Hibuki repeated herself.
"That was indeed my brother."
"Excuse me?!"
"Hahaha, yeah, he had gone a little weak after his treatment—"
"Wait, hold on. The person who came, that shopkeeper from the down floor, who was wearing girly clothes and had girly hair and girly facial features, that—"
Hibuki nodded.
"That was my brother. His name is Hiki."
"...."
’Holy shit!!’
That was not something he had expected to see today...
Wait...
No no, did Leon just declare clearly right in front of him, and call Hibuki, his own blood sister, ’to tell her that her master is here’?
"...."
Leon looked at Hibuki.
She was smiling, waiting for him to say something.
’No, I cannot judge someone based on how they look...’
"Cough... Anyways, Hibuki."
He picked up the cup.
"Yes, Master?"
"I have a new job for you."
He took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and passed it across the table.
Hibuki gracefully picked it up and read its contents.
Leon noticed just how she grinned as she read, as if she had been waiting for Leon to give her this kind of job.
After reading through it, she raised her eyes at him.
"If I may. Can I ask why you have suspicions on him?"
"You may not."
Leon rejected the question flatly.
"Just do what I say, and tell me everything once you find out."
"O-of course. My apologies."
She slightly bowed her head.
In that piece of paper, Leon had written down a few names to keep a tail on.
He wanted to know exactly what each of them had been doing over the last couple of months.
The name list also included the Prince.
Leon had seen him fooling around once when he was in Karnak City.
Something about it had left a small doubt in Leon’s mind, and he simply wanted it clarified.
He was also doing this so that he would have a bigger hand to play when he eventually went up against the King.
Information was always the strongest weapon in any war. And Leon intended to gather as much of it as he could before tonight even began.
"Consider it done, Master."
Hibuki said, then added with a small tilt of her head.
"Oh. Would you like to have a look at our perfume collection while you are here? I am rather proud of it that this is the only shop in the kingdom that has every single perfume this world has ever created."
Leon raised his eyes at her.
"Every perfume?"
She nodded confidently.
"Yes. Most of them we got our hands on only through smuggling them in. But that is a little secret between us, right?"
She winked, placing a single finger against her lips.
Her statement had genuinely piqued Leon’s interest.
"Sure. Let me take a look then. I will buy something if I like anything."
Hibuki waved her hand at him casually.
"No need for that, Master. It is all on me, so please consider it a small gift from my end."
She clapped both her hands together and called for the same shopkeeper from earlier.
Her own damn brother.
She—He entered holding the tray.
As he entered the room carrying the tray of fragrances, Leon narrowed his eyes instantly.
Because now that he was looking properly he could see it.
The sharpness in the jawline, the way the shoulders sat just slightly wider than a woman’s would and the faint traces that he had completely missed the first time.
’...It’s really hard to notice.’
His chopped hair, and the grey eyes wavered and settled on Leon before he smiled and presented the perfumes.
Leon just kept on hearing him, but in between he was curious too about what had happened to him after he had been consuming the Drop of Limitless all this time for his recovery.
With that thought in mind, he opened his status window.
A translucent window flickered into existence before Leon’s eyes.
「Name: Hiki
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Mana Core: Yellow
Core Level: ★★★☆☆
Intelligence: B
Stamina: C
Strength: C
Speed: D+
Defence: D-
Charm: S+
Mana Capacity: A+ 」
’What the—?’
Leon’s eyes stopped at the very last line of the status window.
Charm, ranked S+.
Leon just kept looking at it.
’It could not be...’
It could not be that due to the Drop of Limitless, his Charm had shot up this insanely high.
He peeked a glance at Hiki’s feminine face once more.
’Nah... not my fault. I have no hand in this one.’
After Leon was done picking out a few perfumes, Hibuki and her brother guided him toward the door.
Just before he opened it, Hiki spoke up softly from behind.
"P-please visit again, Master."
Leon’s eye twitched at that.
"...Sure."
And then he slid the door open.
"Ooff!"
He bumped into someone with the door from the other side.
"Ah, I am sorr—"
Just as he looked up to see who it was, his mouth stopped mid-sentence.
Standing on the other side, wearing a clean white shirt, one hand holding several shopping bags, and a pair of tinted sunglasses resting over her platinum hair.
His golden eyes met her golden eyes.
And both of them said at the exact same time.
"Woah."
The rain kept falling softly behind her, blurring the busy district into a soft grey haze.
But for a moment, Leon did not hear the rain at all because his entire sense and focus had turned to the pretty girl standing right in front of him.
...his girlfriend.