Back to the time where the group separated, Rakna and Nyx went up to the private section of the Pavilion together. When they arrived at the double doors of the shop, they nodded at each other, wordlessly agreeing to separate, and stepped inside.

When the doors closed behind Rakna, he was already gazing at the figure of Kaelith calmly sitting at a table while eating a meal. “…are you going to be doing something different every time I get in or what?” He uttered and the vixen snickered as she swallowed a spoon of her soup.

“What? I have a life too, you know. Or are you saying I should rather starve myself for the sake of attending to you?” She quipped with overflowing mischief. “I see that you got your fourth tail too. Congratulations, wolfy,” she added.

Rakna hummed whilst catching a glimpse of his wagging tails, of which he couldn’t really control the movements if he didn’t pay attention. Instead, they would simply just wave around because of muscular impulses.

“So, what’s your business today?” Kaelith asked as she elegantly wiped her mouth.

Rakna took a seat and shrugged. “Truthfully, not much.”

“Oh~” The fox smirked. “So, basically, you missed me so bad that you couldn’t help yourself. I see. Don’t worry, I understand. It’s perfectly natural to yearn for one such as me-”

“Not really,” Rakna deadpanned and her eyebrow twitched at his perfect apathy. “If anyone, the only person I’m missing the most is Lana. I should go visit her now that I think about it. Her Trial should be over in a few days…”

“…Lana?” Kaelith oddly locked onto that name. ‘What is this… absolutely irritating feeling?’ She said to herself with an invisible scowl. ‘Jealousy…? Pfff! As if!’ She almost laughed at the idea. But then the amusement died as she watched her customer’s pensive expression softening quite radically.

“She’s the one in charge of my bank for now. An adorable creature, that girl.”

Kaelith’s lips twitched and the feeling returned full force. ‘…crap, it is.’ She groaned internally and stood up to clean her tableware. She walked to the counter and put everything down there.

“Anyway!” She raised her voice. “You said ‘not much’, right? So, there is something at least. What is it?”

“Hmm,” Rakna droned and opened his palm. Kaelith reflexively looked at it and in a flash of light, a box with markings on it, releasing an oddly oppressing aura, appeared.

The vixen froze on the spot. Her mouth opened and closed in shock and her hand unwillingly extended forward whilst trembling. “W-wolfy… Is that what I think it is?”

“Heavenly Chaos Box,” the therian replied nonchalantly and Kaelith’s lips became dry.

“Where did you even get that?!”

“The Tenth.”

“The Tenth Plateau?! Are we even in the same System you and me?! Why didn’t I find these sorts of stuff before?” She just couldn’t believe it. What had she been doing during her first years?

“So, I assume this is worth a lot?”

“Worth a lot?! Priceless, you mean!” She retorted with a huff before sitting down again.

“If I were to auction it, how much would I get?”

Kaelith raised an eyebrow. “Honestly? Over 100 billion Talys. Guilds would gather their funds for something like that. You have no idea how convenient it is to choose what kind of item you get from those boxes. What’s even better is, as long as someone with decent luck opens them, they’re often Red or Gold. ”

“Seems like the annoying prick really did give something good,” Rakna commented blandly ‘Well, it’s not like I hadn’t already noticed that,’ he added as an afterthought as he glanced at the sleeping Pronos around his neck. The pills that his pets had gotten and Evelyn’s Blink were without a doubt very valuable.

“{Obviously!} Fray said from inside his mind, unfazed by being called an annoying prick. “{My Fate Magic is capable of a lot of things if the conditions are right. This last tale that I wrote before my death had enough power to create as many Heavenly Chaos Boxes as you could desire.}”

‘Really? Then why didn’t you give me more back then?’

“{Well… it’s simply because my tale had a minor precondition for the rewards. You could not just demand a certain number. It was a ‘box for each’. If you had come with a hundred people, then a hundred boxes would have been offered. But then again, you wouldn’t have been able to get in my array with so many people regardless since it would have clashed against the ‘setting’ of my tale.}”

‘I see. It’s a shame,’ Rakna responded and juggled with the box a bit.

“Ah! Stop doing that!” Kaelith shouted nervously. “Do you know how heart-wrenching it is to see someone play around with something so precious in front of my eyes?”

Rakna shrugged and she cursed under her breath.

“I’m asking just in case but… you wouldn’t be willing to sell it to our clan, would you?” She asked tentatively. “The Nine-Tailed Clan wouldn’t need a lot of convincing if I told them about it.”

“No,” Rakna ultimately said and put the box back in his storage.

“…you did it on purpose, didn’t you?” The vixen groused. “You just wanted to see me freak out, didn’t you? You never had any intention to sell it, did you?”

“That’s half the reason.”

Kaelith put on an expressionless face and wordlessly started nibbling on a piece of cake she had put aside for her dessert. “I swear I’ll get you for this someday…” She muttered.

Rakna snorted. “In all seriousness, I prefer to know the value of what I own. At least, now I can take it into account if I ever need money in the future,” he admitted once he was satisfied with his daily dose of teasing. “Also, it would be appreciated if you didn’t tell anyone about this.”

“Tch, cheeky brat,” she grumbled. “Now, tell me the real reason you’re here.”

“This,” the werewolf brought something else from his ring. This time, it was a skill card. “It’s called the Stone Eye. It apparently works best with a duplicate but I don’t have it. Do you sell it here?”

“Stone Eye?” Kaelith pondered that name for a moment before opening her own system. She typed a few lines on a keyboard that only she could see and then got her results. “Ah, yes. I knew I heard about it somewhere. It’s kind of popular but it’s rare. It only appears in two places. Grit Castle and the Canyon of Delusion on the 345th Plateau. I guess you got that one from the former?”

“Yes.”

“Honestly, wolfy, with the luck you showed me to have, it would probably be better for you to farm that Dungeon until you get a second one,” she said. “There aren’t a lot of entries for Stone Eye. All of the ones put on sale by Hosts cost around a million Talys. Additionally, your discount will not work on items sold by other Hosts.”

Rakna cleared his throat. “Right. Unfortunately, that’s not an option anymore.”

“Huh? What is?”

“I cannot farm Grit Castle.”

“Why? If you’re worried about the Angels, I can give you a-”

“It’s gone,” Rakna interrupted her.

“…what?”

“The Dungeon. It’s gone. Destroyed. Vanished. Poof.”

Kaelith promptly raised her hand. “Wait a second… are you telling me that a Dungeon, something that is nearly indestructible and under the System’s categorical protection… has been destroyed?”

“Yes.”

She took a deep breath. “I feel like I’m going to regret asking this but… are you the culprit?”

“Yes.”

Kaelith covered her face with one hand and used the other one to wave dismissively at Rakna. The second she did that, a system window popped up in front of him with a small list containing the Stone Eye skill cards currently on sale.

Rakna silently selected the cheapest one; 950 000 Talys. Since he didn’t have enough money in his balance, a smaller prompt notified him that he could connect to his bank account, which he easily did after inputting his credentials.

When he was done and the item landed in his storage, he looked up to see a sullen-looking vixen sipping on a cup of whisky. At least, he thought it looked like whisky.

“You’re done?” She asked and he nodded. “Good. I guess asking you how you destroyed a Dungeon should be what I have to do now, right?”

“Why do you sound so irate about it?”

“Because that means I’d give you even more satisfaction out of my distress.”

“Hm. Then, I’ll spare you. Let’s just say it’s a long story.”

Kaelith snorted at that and leaned back with her arms crossed. “Sure. Let’s go with that. I think I’ll just tag along with you one of these days. I need to see with my own eyes how in the hell you keep both getting yourself in trouble and reaping rewards that can make rankers salivate.”

The corners of Rakna’s lip imperceptibly twitched upward. “You would be welcome,” he said and stood up with his hands in his pockets.

“So, you’re going to visit your dear Lana now?” Kaelith inquired with a certain edge hidden under her usual playful tone. It didn’t pass unnoticed by Rakna but even with his uncanny awareness, he was a bit confused. Especially since he could smell a high dose of nervousness and irritation.

“I suppose,” he nonetheless replied with a shrug. “Nyx should also be waiting.”

“…purely out of curiosity, how many women are there among your friends?”

He paused for a second to think about it. “If you count Lana… 6? Well, it’s more like 5 plus a horny cat. Then, there’s you.”

“Uh uh… all right. You can go now,” she replied and after a quick parting, she was alone in her shop again. She clicked her tongue and reached for the bottle on the table. She poured herself a second cup and downed it all at once.

“Really… what is even good about that rude wolf?” She grumbled to herself in silence. “…I need to consult mom about this,” she muttered to herself and disappeared from the shop.

* * *

“Did you wait long?” Rakna asked as he spotted Nyx waiting by the door.

She shook her head with her usual coolness. “No. It’s not been long since we went inside anyway.”

“True.”

“You said you were going to the bank after this, right?”

“Yes. Earlier I just wanted to pay a visit to someone but now my balance is down to zero. You can only withdraw money there apparently and I can’t access my account if I’m outside of the Pavilion so it’s best if I take some with me.”

“I see. That would be judicious indeed.”

After exchanging this small talk, they walked down the Pavilion’s corridor in comfortable silence and when they were about to open the door to the bank, Rakna stopped as a message flickered in his eyes.

❮ ◈ ❯

Hey, kid, where are you? The Church and the Basilica want to hand you the rewards for killing the Abyss Téras. The mayor is also here. They all want to see you.

❮ ◈ ❯