Before going to the festival, Enrico had returned to his room and Yumeha was waiting at the door. Her expression wasn't a pleasant one. After Kai's comment, she couldn't believe that boy dared to say something like that in front of her master. To her, Kai was asking to die.
"Tsk… he's going to regret that."
She noticed four people approaching, all of them girls. Taking a guarding stance like a protector, she pointed at the four—she was ready to stop those threats.
Inside Enrico's room, he had closed his eyes for a while now. A week had passed since he entered the false dungeon. He had already defeated everyone there, even found Jago and finally knew what he looked like—making great use of the opportunity to study how he acted and moved. During this whole time, he had fought in a completely different way than usual in that dungeon.
"Here, this is for you."
Enrico threw Rirus's core to the fake Jago, who looked confused. He was exactly like the original and had the same goals and intelligence. It had been quite hard to defeat that guy in the dungeon.
"You know I'm going to evolve to Faizes Level Two, right?"
That's exactly what Enrico wanted. Even after defeating everyone, on his way back, he gave their cores to them so they could evolve. So far, he had only faced them at Faizes Level One, but now he was finally at their level. What he wanted now was something worse—to improve even further.
"Just absorb it already and stop wasting my time."
Fake Jago smiled in confusion and began to absorb the core. Enrico had already given him all the cores from the other evolved zombies, and now he was handing over the last one. This would be the maximum level this dungeon could offer, so he hoped the next arc with a dungeon would come soon.
He absorbed it after a few minutes, still looking the same as always. But Enrico knew from previous fights that Jago would hide his transformation upon evolving into Faizes Rank. He wouldn't have a new form, but would definitely have a change.
"But tell me—why didn't you choose the others who would've been easier to defeat?"
He had a point. If Enrico wanted to get used to fighting, he should've started with the weaker ones. Enrico gave a fake smile, a vein slightly popping from his neck.
"Nothing much… your face just makes me want to puke."
Surprised, Jago raised an eyebrow as Enrico prepared for the fight. It didn't last long. Enrico managed to damage Jago, especially using his fire bow and his Flaming Shot, which was definitely his best attack. But as he had said—he only managed to injure him. If it were the others, he might've come closer to defeating them. But since he faced someone smarter and stronger first…
[Don't you think you're letting your anger out a little too much?]
'I'd rather eliminate him quickly and focus in peace.'
Coming out of the bathroom after a bath, wearing only a towel, Enrico picked up a wooden spear and started practicing its handling—recalling how Takeshi explained it to him and trying to mix in techniques from Liam and Yumeha too. Even though hers was a staff, he could still borrow some of her movements.
'Just to be sure again—you and the constellations aren't watching me bathe, right?'
Enrico's face was neutral. He didn't care much if others saw him, but it was different with that annoying system.
[I already told you—no. And who would even want to see you naked?]
He had a reply on the tip of his tongue but almost spoke it out before the door was pushed open and several girls fell to the floor. It looked like there was some kind of commotion outside. Yumeha and Serenya had fallen and were beneath Rina and Seraphina.
"Why do you all want to bother Master?"
"I'm not the one bothering him, you are! You weren't letting me pass… and could you please stop calling him 'Master'?"
"Never."
On top of them, Rina got up and fixed her clothes. Seraphina also stood and fixed her hair, which had gotten messy.
"And could you stop calling my Ketsumei a subordinate?"
"Never."
Seraphina looked at their nicknames and timidly wondered if she should come up with one for Enrico too, with a few thoughts going even further—maybe calling him her hero, because he really did look like one coming to save her.
'He saved me twice. He and my parents are the best.'
Valença, the only one who hadn't fallen, looked at them unimpressed—none of these girls had any chance of winning Enrico over. Valença was truly confident and calm.
"You girls should get up or—"
Before she could finish, she froze, cheeks blushing. The others looked forward and saw Enrico, still wearing just a towel, water dripping from his hair. To them, his body was very defined. Blushing, they all quickly stood up to avoid seeming embarrassed and were ready to apologize.
"Wanna come in? I just need to change clothes and we can go together. If you want, you can wait on the bed."
Enrico pointed at his bed without any shame. Rina and Serenya sat down and looked like they were getting ready for a show. Yumeha and Valença pulled them out—no way were they letting other girls see him like that. The two wanted to stay but were dragged out. Seraphina, the last to leave, took one last look before running outside.
[If you're not embarrassed, then why not let me or the constellations watch too?]
"Because I don't want annoying people watching me. Problem?"
The system quickly disappeared as Enrico began getting dressed after closing the door. But what he didn't see was that, from a tree far away near the window, Aoi was hanging upside down watching inside with amusement.
'He's pretty good… but he's just missing one thing to be totally my type. Let's see.'
She tilted her head, still watching from her hiding spot. Angela appeared behind her, ready to kick—but both went quiet as they sensed something inside Enrico's dorm.