God Of Crafting

"Aaah..." Claire moaned a little as she stretched her arms out into the air. "That really felt good!"

With the barrier gone, there was absolutely no reason for either of us to remain in the training arena. In fact, after gathering herself off the ground, Leila was the first to chase us off, eager to make it as hard for the other members of the clan—potentially interested in what she was trying to hide within her barrier—to figure out the truth of what happened.

And so, for the very first time since we arrived at the clan's compound, we found ourselves following one of the many guides back to what was supposed to be our lodge.

"It really feels good to exercise a bit, doesn't it?" I tuned in to Claire's feelings, unable to hold back my smile when seeing her so chirpy, so happy.

"It's a pity you didn't get to move all that much yourself," Claire said while throwing me a side-eye. "But I guess we could work on that once we are back..." she then added as her smile turned into a sassy grin.

"Claire, come on," I pretended to heave in protest while openly glancing over to the male servant leading the way from a few steps ahead of us. "Not in the public!"

While I had a lot of questions as to how sexually oversaturated the modern part of the world was with all the media using sex to sell whatever it is they wanted to liquidate... it was nothing in comparison to how things worked on this side of the world.

Sure, this topic wasn't as open and common among everyone as it was back in the modern world... but with people lacking proper exposure to it, it still remained a sort of taboo for an open debate.

'Not to claim things are not going extremely wild behind closed doors,' I thought, going with my thoughts back to what Chihiro taught us about this place. 'But still, right now, it's best if we don't...'

Continue your journey on My Virtual Library Empire

"Oh, it's you!"

Right as we were about to take one of the many corners in the compound, we happened to encounter the person I really didn't want to meet.

"Young master," I politely lowered my head, greeting the very same man who had already attempted to duke it out with me once. "As always," I raised my head as I stared him right in the eyes, "it is a pleasure to meet you, sir Jerome."

Even though I've only been to this part of the world for a few short days by now, I lied through my teeth as easily as if I were spitting the cold hard truth.

"Likewise," young master Jerome bowed his head just a tiny little bit to express his fake respect. He then turned over to Claire. "Young miss," he called out, bowing his head again—this time pushing it down to a proper, etiquette-specified depth.@@novelbin@@

"What is it?"

Contrary to the two of us, Claire didn't even bother pretending she was happy to see the man as she gave him a cold stare and no-bullshit attitude.

"First of all, I'm sorry to bother you while you are both exhausted," Jerome smiled, only to reach into his chest and underneath his robe and pull out a sealed letter. "Secondly, I'm here to pass on this message to the two of you. It is an invite for the two of you to partake in tomorrow's exercise," he added, explaining the content of the letter that he had just handed out.

"Let me guess," Claire squinted her eyes and leaned her head over to the side, "an invitation we are better off not ignoring, huh?" she asked in quite a provocative tone.

"Oh, I wouldn't dare to be so presumptuous as to force either of you two to do anything," Jerome smiled before putting his hands behind his back and raising his chin. "I'm here merely as a messenger, not the will behind the message."

"Is that so?" Unable to bear this farce any longer, I took a step forward and measured the guy from his feet all the way to the top of his head before putting a small smirk on my lips. "Well then, since you are here as a messenger, I shall oblige you and give you a message to pass back straight to those behind this invitation."

I took in a deep breath, feeling the slight shift of Claire's emotions through our bond.

What I was going to do... wasn't the smartest thing. Yet, seeing how much stuff had happened to us in the short time we were in the clan's compound?

'Yeah, there's no point staying here any longer. It only leaves us vulnerable to their schemes,' I shook my head before relaxing my face and giving Jerome a look of genuine sympathy.

"As happy as we will be to join the exercise we were invited to, I've just received a message that my dear uncle is currently ill-disposed. I understand if this will strike you guys as odd, given the insane lifespan you can boast, but we do have a tradition of being there for our family and friends when there's even a slight risk of them passing. As such, as soon as the exercise concluded," I leaned my head over my right shoulder while allowing my smile to grow slightly wider.

"The three of us shall return back to the modern world. And I shall also pass this on as a message back to my people so that the powers at play to which my clan is directly connected shall know of my estimated return time."

"That's..." Jerome slightly pressed his lips together, only to then relax them into a wide smile first, before putting on a concerned look on his face. "That's perfectly understandable. And I will make sure your message shall be passed to the rest of the clan," he stated only to bow a little. "I also wish your uncle great health and a speedy recovery. But with that," he shook his head before taking a step back.

"With that, I shall take my leave. While I took on the job of passing the message to you, I do happen to be quite busy."

"We won't stand on the ceremony then," I announced, stepping to the side and then reaching my arm out as if to show the man an open path ahead. "We will be seeing each other during the exercise, so we will be able to catch up on things then, won't we?"