Rebellious Path

As everything had already ended and they heard the reason why Riku did it, the people around started to mind their own business and let the guards arrest the man. Soon after, things came back to what it was, but there were still small craters of the wall that just broke.

"You didn't have to do it that harshly, you know."

Rosette could only smile bitterly at the scene, but inside, she was thrilled. (I must be the only one to have retained memories from the past. If these girls knew the past, they wouldn't be so surprised by this happening. But other than that, I'm happy.), She gazed at the girls, who were clinging unto Riku with a smile.

Riku was getting mushed by b.r.e.a.s.ts, but he clearly had a face of contentment. After a while, the girls finally let go with blushed faces. Laughing lightly after seeing their expressions, Riku gave them each a light pat on the head. Yumina stayed on Riku's back though. She wants to just cling unto her father all the time.

After all that had happened, I looked at Rosette and gave a smile. She also smiled back, which I sincerely appreciated as I walked up to her with the girls by my side. After I was already right in front of her, I spoke:

"I had to do it. No one can insult me, nor anyone I can say that I'm close with. And for you, that's what I feel. I feel like we had spent a long time with each other, but... I forgot about it. Anyway, I am deeply thankful for you creating this wonder of an armour."

"Haha! No problem! You paid for it, and that amount was certainly a lot. So, I just gave you your money's worth despite it being won in an auction."

"I still want to thank you, though. I feel like you gave it exceeding amounts of effort to craft."

Rosette only smiled as she crossed her arms whilst turning back to the hole I just made. I have to admit that I did damage her property, so... I should fix this myself, am I right? In fact, she was mumbling about this topic already, which I slightly heard. I felt, a little bit guilty about it, so I had to speak up.

"Now... what to do to fix this hole..."

"Uh, Rosette, I think that I should fix it myself. I am the one who made it, after all."

"Oh, wait! You don't have to! I can fix it easily! No problems at all."

"Nope, I will fix this myself, no matter what you say."

Rosette could only sigh at my response as she knew that I wouldn't listen to her, even if she tried to force it upon me. She just stood back, making me smile as I stepped forward, and started to cast a spell. I only looked at where the hole was and used earth magic. It's advanced earth magic, to be a bit more specific as I made it have intricate details that were there before to appear once again.

"There we go!"

"Riku! Thank you very much! I really appreciate you doing that without you needing to do it. I should repay you!"

"Ah! There's no need Rosette. You do not have to pay me for fixing the damage that I made!"

"Nope. I will repay you, no matter what you say."

I can't believe she used my own strategy against me. This caused me to smile bitterly, no instead, just smile at it. She signed at me that we should follow her back to her smithy, and we did. As we entered, Rosette started to rummage around, trying to find a particular object from her storage. After a while, she finally found something.

"Finally! Bweh! It's so dusty, though."

She then proceeded to walk up to me, holding some kind of necklace. Her face was so dusty, yet it was... kind of charming. She held it with her right hand and presented it to me with a smiling face. The necklace she held was rather unique... and fragmented. And by fragmented, I meant that it looked like it was a fragment of something bigger. She then handed it to me.

"Here it is! I want you to have this..."

"A necklace? It looks so nice as well..."

I looked at Rosette thankfully, and she rather liked it and blushed slightly. I then proceeded to turn my gaze to the object that was within my grasp and examined it for a while, but, I just couldn't grasp what it was. With that, I used [Observe], but nothing was popping up! No, wait... the system was not that active for the past day. It only worked on that monster, and now... I tried to open my status, but it doesn't work either, which led me to frown deeply.

Rosette and the girls saw Riku frown, so they had quite confused expressions of what was happening. Rosette was the one that was the most worried, as she thought that Riku didn't like it. This was quite contradicting to her previous reactions to things that have no relations to fighting and magic. This time, she was actually quite nervous as it was about if Riku liked it or not.

I was clueless about this and only focused on the system. I tried to think of ways to know about what was happening until I thought of a key phrase. With that, I thought of, System Status, and in an instant, a panel appeared before me, which made me truly surprised.

[System is currently updating. System Update: 79% Complete]

I couldn't help but blink for a few times until eventually, I stopped. That's why it was relatively inactive. I guess I should just wait until it finishes. Seemingly knowing the reason of why I couldn't use [Observe], I was relieved that it wasn't broken. I just smiled contently, causing the Rosette to have a breath of relief, whilst the other girls just smiled.

I looked at Rosette with a happy nod, and she responded with a very endearing smile. I can say that it was very nice to see a smile. But well, I think I'm just wasting time here. We should probably go, right? After the thought hovered upon my head, I looked at Rosette once more and told her:

"Well... we should probably go get ready to return to the kingdom. Anyway, it's very nice to be one of your friends, Rosette."

"Y-yeah."

With a quite fl.u.s.tered face, Rosette's eyes glowed. But soon after she heard that we'll be on our way, she started to contemplate about some stuff. I, on the other hand, was bombarded by panels right in front of me, which almost gave me a fright as this time, it was not just system panels that appeared, there were sounds as well! You thought that the alert had sounded previously? Well, how wrong you are for assuming that.

[Sorting Update Files]

[System File Sorted]

[New System Functions Integrated]

[System UI upgraded]

[Relationship Stats can now be viewed below the information revealed upon the person that is hovering around]

[Relationship Stats will now be revealed as a percentage]

['Observe' skill, will now show more level due to system upgrade]

['Eye of Space (Low Mortal)' Acquired]

[Unlocking 'Low Mortal' Memories. Trigger command to start the process. Make sure to be in a safe area and be prepared. You will feel severe amounts of pain during the recovering process]

['Quest' Function has been unlocked. The system will be relaying quest if needed]

['Alerts' Function has been unlocked]

['Previous Notification' has been unlocked. You will now be able to review previous panels]

With all this information, I was dumbstruck. It was really many, and I didn't quite get the meaning of each one. I guess I should review it when I have time, but for now, I should just ignore it. With that thought, the panels disappeared, which was a great advantage. And Rosette, who was seriously contemplating about something, finally spoke up, causing me to turn my attention to her.

"Hmm... Riku, I would like to come with all of you to the capital. I would like to handle a couple of matters there as well."

"Oh? Is that so? Well then, come with us."

"Eh? Really?"

"Well, of course. I wouldn't possibly decline it, right?"

"Haha!"

"Yay! Rosette-san is coming with us!", Elena spoke as she raised her hands up, trying to hug Rosette. Rosette accepted her embrace without a thought, causing me to smile.

"We haven't interacted with each other that often for the past few months, Rosette-san, so I'm fairly happy about this."

"Indeed."

Elena and Rina spoke like proper elder sisters. I was quite surprised, actually. They felt remarkably childish when they're interacting with me, but now, they acted very m.a.t.u.r.ely. Seeing my gaze, Elena and Rina blushed. They were now fidgeting, and I could only smile as I knew that they noticed me.

"Well then, let's get ready. I would like for us to go immediately," I spoke with a smile as I turned around. My hand was raised up to my shoulder, and my head was slightly tilted to see them. They nodded happily and followed my lead."

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At the prison, the man that Riku punished was lying on the wooden bed. He was lying down motionless with no expressions whatsoever and was in a daze. It was as if his soul was placed upon the depth of the abyss.

Suddenly, right outside where the guards were, an individual came in with three people with them. The person was wrapped in too much clothing that you cannot specify the gender. They just gritted their teeth loudly whilst looking at the guards with a threatening gaze. The guards were certainly frightened as the person shouted.

"Get out of my way, you f.u.c.k.i.n.g buffoons!"

"W-what are you talking about! We can't just let you in without any permission!"

"Ugh! F.u.c.k.i.n.g idiots! Do whatever you want with these fools! Kill them if you want to! I won't care less waging war with this kingdom!"

Two of the people with the person only smiled evilly, whilst the other one just looked at the guards with pity. They then proceeded to pull out their unconventional weapons. One of the three wielded some kind of thread; the other wielded a wooden sword; whilst the other just had a leather gauntlet. They spared no time as they slew the guards with ease. The did it very swiftly that the guards didn't even have time to scream.

The person and the other three proceeded to enter until they finally found the man that Riku beat up. The person that was covered with a thick layer of cloth angrily shouted as they tore apart the prison bars with some kind of magic.

Just then, the person finally revealed their true identity. It was a woman. She had sapphire coloured hair, and it was gorgeous. Her eyes were pinkish-red, and she was wearing spectacles; it was quite charming, for a fact.

"Brother! Who did this to you!?"

The man didn't talk back, despite being shaken by the woman. He was still lying motionlessly as if his soul left his body. The woman gritted her teeth even further as she looked at one of the three as if signing them to carry the man. One of them indeed followed the command and held him.

"Whoever did this to you; to one of the members of Rizuel Royal Family; I will torture them until they beg for their lives to be taken!"