The Mage Emperor

--- Lien’s POV ---

“Mhh,” rubbing my eyes, I sat up and looked around in the tent. Since it was half moon, there wasn’t much light but it was enough to just barely let me see Seth lying next to me, seemingly fast asleep. For some reason, I felt full of energy and all my sleepiness disappeared. Maybe it was because the temperature was a bit way too low in the tent. Feeling a shudder running through my body, I couldn’t help but caress my own arms.

Should I wake him up and tell him about it? I don’t want to wake him up for something like this, but what if he catches a cold because of it? Wait, but can he even become sick? He also hates it when people wake him up, what should I do? He wouldn’t be angry, would he? Yeah, I’ll go for it.

“Seth. Seth, wake up,” I gently nudged him and used Link to call him out at the same time.

Slowly opening his eyes, he looked at me with a smile and sat up, “What’s up?”

I honestly found it a bit strange that despite how much he hated when somebody or something woke him up, he could smile at me instinctively even at a time like this. It made me really happy when I thought about it. Caressing my own arms, I asked, “Isn’t it a bit too cold in here?”

“Mhm,” he nodded as he looked around and then drew a few strange symbols on the wall of the tent.

Seeing the beautiful red letters fade out, I slipped up and blurted out my thoughts, “One day you should teach these to me.” I really didn’t want to say that aloud.

“Don’t panic, you should request my help more often,” he smiled at me. He liked when I relied on him, but I didn’t like relying on others and wouldn’t do so as long as I had a way around it. Although I felt a bit conflicted about it, I nodded my head nonetheless.

“I’ll go for a walk, I’ve got to air my head,” I said as I crept towards the exit.

I was about to unzip it when I felt him grabbing my right ankle. As I turned around, I found him looking at his phone. “It’s two o’clock,” he muttered as he raised his head and looked at me with a smile. “I’ll go with you.”

Leaving our tent, we made our way towards the lake. The clean and unmoving water reflected the light of the moon, slightly illuminating the area. The air was even colder than in our tent and with nothing but my bikini on, I couldn’t help but stand in front of Seth and press my back against his front. Satisfying my expectations, he embraced me and rested his chin on the top of my head.

“Ah~ it’s so much warmer now,” I mused, feeling another shudder running through my body. His skin was so hot I couldn’t help but ask myself whether he was using magic or not. Leaning over my shoulder, he kissed my face and then moved down to my neck, giving another small kiss after each centimeter. At the same time, I felt his thing hardening and growing in his shorts.

He reached down and moved it around for a moment and then stuck it between my buttocks as if his member was some kind of hotdog. Breathing hard on my neck, he started moving his hips up and down, enjoying my body even through our clothes. Unable to contain his lust, he stopped and picked me up in his arms, all the while I just stood there unmoving and let myself being taken away. With a single jump, he took me back to the tent and then put me down in front of it.

“Get in,” he urged me.

Nodding my head, I quickly entered but even before I turned around, he pulled off my panties and shoved four of his fingers up my pussy. Covering my mouth, I drowned my moan and held back my voice.

He loved when I moaned loudly, but these days he seemed to enjoy it even more when I was trying to hold it in. I was so aroused because of all those kisses on my neck and because I could see how much he desired me. He felt like a hungry wolf which didn’t eat anything for a week, even though we had sex last night.

“Stop it,” I said, my voice a bit hoarse. Although I held back my voice, my pussy was so drenched that each time he shoved in his fingers or spread my insides apart, it gave out squelching and cupping sounds. I felt so ashamed of myself for some reason, but all those sounds just aroused me even more. Maybe it was because I knew he’d mess me up real good if this continued.

Turning towards him, I looked deep into his eyes, though my sight was a bit hazy. Without saying anything, he put his hands on my ass and pushed my waist against the ground. After pulling my bikini back to my ass, he sat on my legs and put his penis between my buttocks and my bikini. Holding my waist, he started rubbing his thing against my ass.

“This is turning me on so much,” he leaned forward and whispered into my ear. “But don’t forget to keep your voice low else the others will hear you.”

Gritting my teeth, I held in my moan since he was cruel enough to shove his penis straight into my pussy while saying stuff like that. I was caught completely unprepared. Pushing his muscular arm under my waist, he raised my bottom a little and pushed down on my shoulder at the same time.

“Ah, that’s a nice curve,” he whispered into my ear once again. Every time I felt his hot breath blowing against my ear, a strange sense of happiness tickled my whole being. I didn’t know if it was because I loved him or if it was a fetish of some sort, but it always turned me on. While sitting up, he pulled back his right hand and moved his finger down to my ass, grasping it with all his strength upon reaching it. The thought of others hearing us and finding us out made it so thrilling. I really didn’t want to be found out, but it turned me on so much.

“You’re a pervert as well, you love dangerous sex, don’t you? You also love it when I’m doing it wildly,” he growled into my ear and then bit its tip, sending a strong jolt through my body. Grasping the blanket under me, I bit into my pillow and closed my eyes to focus on the pleasure. If only he slowed down and made less noise…

“Seth, you’re too loud, don’t move so strongly,” I said in a low voice, parting my lips only for a moment, almost slipping up at the same time.

Surprisingly listening to me, he stopped slapping his hips against my ass and started moving in a strange rhythm instead. Pushing down on my shoulder again, he moved his hips a bit upwards and started drawing small circles. Although his movements lost force, this new rhythm made me feel even better.

He definitely knew what I loved the most. The only thing I missed was his voice, but in the next moment, he laid on my back and continued moving while breathing hard on my neck. Maybe it’d annoy me normally, but it just aroused me even more right now. Since he couldn’t raise up my hips in that kind of position, he was about to pull out his left arm from under me, but I quickly moved my knees a bit forward and held up both of us. I was enjoying this pose way too much to give up on it.

“You like it?” he asked.

“Mhm,” I moaned through gritted teeth.

Pushing his arm back under me, he continued moving in that strange rhythm. I was feeling it so much I wouldn’t have minded if it continued forever. His penis swelled inside me, seemingly about to burst any second, but before that could happen, he stopped moving, even though I was about to cum as well.

“No, don’t stop,” I gripped his wrist.

Smiling at me, he grabbed my shoulders and pulled me up to stand on my knees. Grabbing my hair with his left hand, he pulled my head against his left shoulder, filling me with a sense of thrill because of how roughly he was handling me. I wasn’t a masochist, but I loved wild sex. Leaning over my shoulder, he looked down at my breasts and poked my nipple. What I found strange was that my nipples started tingling when his finger came in contact with it.

“Look, they’re so cute while standing hard and erect, I kind of want to bite them,” he said as he pinched my right nipple.

My pussy spasmed and contracted each time he poked my nipple, filling me with incredible pleasure. I had no idea what he was doing, but every time he touched me, I felt the same when I came. Breathing heavily, I couldn’t help but ask between my gasps, “Haah- what’s this? I’m feeling it from my nipples.”

“That might be my doing, dear. I’ll turn all your erogenous zones into your weak spots,” he growled into my ear. Gripping his wrist, I tried to push his hand away from my breasts, but my strength was starting to leave my body because of all the pleasure I felt.

“Come on, you’re going to love it,” he whispered into my ear and gave a kiss on my neck, sending an ever stronger wave of pleasure through my body. While licking and kissing my neck, he started pulling on my hair with even more strength.

“You’re clamping down on me so hard, does it really feel that good? Why’d you even resist then?” he asked.

Loosening my grip on his wrist, I let him do whatever he was doing. That tingling feeling in my nipples just grew stronger and stronger for some reason and I didn’t want it to stop, even if it made me go crazy.

“Let’s change position,” I uttered a few words between the gasps I was trying to drown.

“Ah, fucking god, I swear that every inch of your body is for seduction,” he growled as he pushed me on the ground and turned me onto my back.

While looking into his eyes, I spread my legs and locked them around his back. I couldn’t care any less about where we were at this point, I just wanted to cum because we once again stopped right before I could orgasm.

Caressing my thighs, he looked at me with a smile, “Do you want this?”

He was definitely using some sort of magic because I felt way too good all the time I had sex with him, I couldn’t believe pleasure like this existed. “Put it in,” I demanded, feeling my pussy tingling and twitching, excited to taste his thick penis for as long as it could. Since I learned how to enhance my eyes during daytime, I went ahead and took a good look at his body.

Biting my finger, I looked at his broad shoulders and ran my eyes down on his muscular chest, continuing to his well-toned abs which led straight down to his massive cock that was about to enter me. Thrilled to have it in me, I pulled his waist towards me and spread my labia for him. Looking at me with a surprised face, he leaned forward and put his hands on my shoulders.

I felt his penis slowly and steadily entering and spreading me apart as we kept eye contact. Still looking into his eyes, I started moving my hips and pulled his waist towards me with my legs.

“It’s so hot how you’re trying to make me move,” he chuckled.

“Because I want it, you moron,” I rolled my eyes. “Come on, I’m on the edge here, I’m really close to finally cumming.”

“You’re much better at holding it in,” he remarked.

“It’s your fault, you’ve been training me ever since I started dating you,” I replied.

“My, I’m starting to feel threatened by a sex goddess like you. You’re certainly fit to be my wife,” he put his hand on my face and started caressing it. Although his words sounded a bit pompous, I knew that he didn’t mean it as if marrying him was a privilege, though it was also a privilege in my eyes. It’s been my dream for many years, but I wouldn’t tell that to him.

Pushing down on my shoulders, he started moving in and out of me rhythmically. I almost screamed from the pleasure that rushed my brain, but he covered my mouth before my voice could leak.

“Wha- What the fuck are you doing?” I could barely speak without moaning in the middle.

“What, you ask, I’m the incarnation of a god of sex, I obviously have a few tricks but if I used it on you since the first day, you’d have turned into a sex hungry brain dead woman who’d have done it with anyone. This way, you’ll understand what’s the difference between me and normal men,” he replied.

Grabbing my chin, he leaned closer and whispered, “You’ll be mine alone, got that?”

My pussy clamped down on his dick as his hot breath tickled my ear. Brushing my hair to the side, he looked into my eyes lovingly. Smiling back, I couldn’t help but chuckle. He was a very caring and loving person, but he demanded the ‘price’ for his love as well. He would never let go of me and would go to any lengths to make me stay by his side, though it wasn’t really necessary in my case. He was really a ‘terrible’ person in that aspect, but I didn’t mind it.

While his penis was inside me, my whole pussy felt as if every inch of my inner walls were my weakest spot and after every inch his dick travelled in my pussy, I felt like going straight to heaven. I couldn’t hold it in any longer and came so hard that I actually squirted on his underbelly.

“Oh, you’re creaming,” he remarked, seeing my pussy leaking some thick juices. As his member kept going in and out of me, my lubricant juice slowly covered his whole penis, turning it shiny all over.

“Dhoes it thurn youh on?” I asked, though my words became a bit muffled since he was still covering my mouth.

Feeling his thick penis throbbing inside my pussy, I picked up the pace and started shaking my hips with even more strength.

“Uh, Lien…” he called out my name.

It made me feel so happy for some reason, I couldn’t help but call his name, thinking that it’d make him just as happy, “Seth.”

Gripping my shoulder, he pushed his penis into me to the root and shot his sperm deep inside with incredible force. I was way too hot inside to feel its heat, but I could feel it hitting my cervix and turn me all creamy inside, which filled me with incredible satisfaction. Doing as if nothing happened, he continued moving inside my creamy hot pussy, lubricating it all over his penis. Seeing his sperm and juice covered dick coming in and out of me, my pussy spasmed one more time.

I was in a bliss.

Every time he came into me, it filled me with so much happiness. I came to love sex during the time I spent with him and it was just getting better and better. Tapping my knee, he asked, “Your legs? Could you let me out? Or do you want more?” he grinned, his thing already turning harder.

Biting my lower lip, I looked into his eyes while thinking really hard about it. With so much warmth filling up my insides, I could fall asleep easily, but feeling even more pleasure would never hurt. Honestly, sleeping after sex was the best and I didn’t want to be caught by the others. I was starting to lose my mind a moment ago and I was afraid that if we continued, I’d start moaning loudly.

“Ah, damn it, I don’t know! Let’s leave it to later, I am satisfied for now anyway,” I shook my head once I made up my mind.

Raising a brow, he kept looking at me for a few seconds and then pulled out his member. I could see his thick sperm slowly flowing out of my insides, about to dirty everything. Wiping it off with a piece of paper, he crumpled it and then destructed it in the blink of an eye. I had to admit, I was desiring him even after a wonderful round like that and the same could be told about him. He was looking so much at my pussy that his eyes were about to fall out. But we both knew that we should stop here.

If only he bothered to hide his swollen penis, the sight was making me hornier and hornier. Leaning forward, I took him between my lips and looked into his eyes as I cleaned him up. I was way too muddle headed to care too deeply about what I took in my mouth. Closing his eyes, he turned away, most likely having trouble containing himself. Once I finished, I was about to pull back when he suddenly put his hands on the back of my head and pulled my head onto his penis.

That little mistake of mine was all it took to continue where we left off. One more round later, we managed to stop ourselves from continuing. Happy and satisfied, we both laid down in each other’s loving embrace, enjoying each other’s warmth. Placing my hand on his chest, I couldn’t help but say, “Seth, I know this may be too soon to talk about, but one day I want to have children with you.”

“That's natural, I feel the same way,” he smiled at me and started caressing my back. I couldn’t even feel the cold anymore, everything was hot and fluffy in the tent.

“That's good to hear,” I heaved out a sigh of relief. It was the best to talk about heavier topics after having sex. For some reason it made things so much easier to say.

“But I have one condition,” he raised a finger, startling me a bit. “You might disagree with me now, but good sex is the basis of every relationship, no matter how people are trying to cover it and point at different things. Obviously, there are many other factors, but you get the point…”

“Huh? Hahaha, I know, you silly. What’s with that?” I asked.

“You see, many guys say that children ‘ruin’ marriages, but I believe that’s true only if the couple isn't ready for it yet. I mean, I want to have children with you only when we both feel that we can really talk about anything with no restraints. Be it sexual preferences, what you don’t like in me, what you like in me, etcetera.”

I kept looking at him in silence for a few seconds, which seemed to scare him for some reason. “Ah, but I don’t think we’ll have a problem with this since we’re progressing really quickly in that aspect!” he flailed his hands.

“Pfft- hahaha, I didn't think you would start a speech like that,” I couldn't help but laugh. Seeing that I laughed at him, he realised that he must have overthought something. I had no idea what went down in his mind, maybe he thought I would start disliking him because of his words. That was kind of impossible, but he didn’t seem to understand that. I was about to remark on that but he got ahead of me and started explaining himself again.

“Well, I find it important so I'm taking it seriously. In my opinion, love and romance is nice because of how people make the commitment to stay by their chosen one’s side and live for them, no matter the circumstances.”

Placing his hand on my face, he brushed my hair to the side as he continued, “When it's reciprocated, it may be the most beautiful thing in the world. I wasn't trying to say that I'd leave you if we had less sex or anything else turned bad, but why would I want to make my own life harder if talking about these kinds of problems could solve everything? My pride won't get in my way of happiness and if I'll have a problem with something, I'll be sure to tell you. I told you all this because I hope that you are going to do the same,” he said meaningfully.

“Haah- seriously, you… whatever, I really appreciate all the thought you put into this for our sake. It just proves to me that you are including me in your plans for the future,” I smiled at him, finding it pointless to say anything at this point.

“Of course, you are the most important to me,” he smiled back.

“Stone me for it but everything seems to be pink coloured now,” I laughed. Pressing my lips against his, we stayed like that for who knows how many minutes, but it felt like seconds to me. Once we separated, he gently cuddled me in his arms and then closed his eyes to sleep. I felt so warm and safe in his arms, I couldn’t help but fall asleep instantly.

I must have been the luckiest woman in the world.

---

“Mhhrn~ I’m so full of energy!” I stretched out my arms soon after waking up and enjoyed the lingering pleasure. Picking up Seth’s phone, I looked at the time and realised it was almost noon.

“What. The. Fuck.” I stopped after each word, realising that I was in a really bad predicament. I was butt naked since I forgot to dress up last night and if anyone came in to wake us up, they definitely saw everything. That thought scared me so much that I stopped thinking about it instead. “Hey, Seth, wake up!” I nudged his side.

“What is it?” he yawned as he put his arms around my waist and pressed his face against my thigh. “Ahn~ this feels so good, you’re the best pillow.”

“Come on, Seth. Wake up! It’s no time to be sleeping, it’s almost noon!” I urged him and tried to free myself from his grasp. Sadly, he was becoming bulkier and bulkier by the day and unless I enhanced my body, I had zero chance against him. It wasn’t that I disliked his muscles growing. In fact, they turned me on even more, but I had no way to resist him and these days, even enhancing my body had less and less effect against him. After resorting to magic, I quickly got on my knees and looked around in the tent. Once I found my bikini, I wanted to put it on immediately, but there was a slight problem.

“Waah, no way, it stinks of sperm. I can’t wear this either!”

What should I do? Should I go commando and wear my stuffy dress again? Or wait… there is this leather armour as well! That’s it!

My thoughts were interrupted by my perverted boyfriend who first thing in the morning pushed his face into my crotch and took a deep breath, “Ahh, I can smell last night, it was the best.”

I really felt like bashing his head so before I went overboard, I pushed back his head and looked for my armour in my bag, it was really worth bringing with me, after all.

“O-ho? What are you showing me so early in the morning?” he muttered, still half-asleep. Sure enough, he could see my private place crystal clear since I had nothing to cover myself with and I wanted to look for the armour with both hands. I didn’t think it’d become a problem.

Placing his finger on my labia, he slowly drew a circle, once again filling my lower lips with that incredible feeling. Covering my mouth, I turned around and smacked his head, “Stop it! I’m in a pinch here, you moron.”

“Hahaha, I know, but you’re so amusing to watch,” he replied seriously this time and sat up.

“So you weren’t just half-asleep?” I glared at him, realising that he was just pretending to be sleepy.

Smiling back at me, he raised my bikini and held it in front of me. What I found strange was that it didn’t smell of sperm anymore.

“Seriously, you…” I shook my head. “For a moment I thought you turned into a vegetable brain,” I grabbed it and pulled it out of his grasp. Quickly pulling it up on my legs, I asked, “Did you use some kind of magic?”

“Tsk, tsk, I’m not going to tell you this one time,” he waved his finger.

Heh, we’ll see about that.

“Fine then,” I turned around and was about to leave when I realised that there was something wrong. “Wait, you came inside, how was there sperm on my bikini?”

Looking deep into my eyes, he replied, “It wasn’t me.”

“You’re lying…” I rolled my eyes. “Why’d you do something like that? And here I was panicking that I would have to wear this ugly leather thing and that somebody did something so disgusting.”

“Haha, do you not remember? You gave me a handjob with it last night, it was you who dirtied it,” he laughed.

“Huh?” I opened my eyes wide, not believing that I’d forget doing something like. He looked straight into my eyes in silence, thinking that I wouldn’t find him out.

“Pervert, so you fapped with my panties after we both went to sleep,” I shook my head, realising that he was just fooling around. “Also, just because you look into my eyes, I’m still going to find out when you’re trying to lie to me,” I added.

“But if I avert my eyes you’ll find me out and if I look into your eyes, you’re once again going to find me out! What the fuck? Also, I can explain myself! When I use that power, it also affects me so I couldn’t stop myself from… Anyway, I didn’t want to use it on you thrice because I wasn’t sure whether you would be able to handle it or not and you went to sleep anyway,” he replied.

“Lame. I know you well enough, you can’t lie to me so don’t even bother with it. And we could have done it normally once more if you really needed it, I wouldn’t have said no,” I said.

Clenching his fist, he turned towards the exit and quickly unzipped it.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m leaving before I push you down in broad daylight,” he replied.

Smiling at him, I asked, “And don’t you want to wear something?” Looking down, he realised he was butt naked so he quickly fished out his clothes and wore them. In the meantime, I got out of the tent and took a quick look around.

“Oh, you finally woke up!” a guy whose name I couldn’t even remember waved at me.

“Yes!” I waved back. Seth got out of the tent and stood up behind me, once again surprising me. The changes his body went through were visible even with naked eyes. His shoulders turned broader and his muscles became even more well-defined.

“What’s going on with you?” I furrowed my brows.

“I’ve been using the thing I used last night, but only in a weakened form which costs much less mana. It puts a lot of stress on my whole body, actually, which makes my muscle growth way quicker than it should be. Since I used the real deal last night, the effect is even more visible, though my body has reached its limit, so I’m not going to grow anymore,” he replied.

“Good to know, is that the reason why my ‘deflowering’ didn’t hurt that much? The pleasure suppressed the pain at that time,” I muttered.

“Hey, are you two ready? Leo plans to raid the dune today. He was waiting for you two to wake up,” Rebecca said as she walked up to us, cutting into our conversation.

“He is?” Seth asked, forgetting to answer my question.

“Yes.”

“Rebecca, has anyone come to wake us up?” I asked with a frown.

“Eh? N-No, nobody,” she averted her eyes.

“Was it you?” I asked instantly.

“I didn’t see anything, okay?” she slightly lowered her head in front of me.

Raising my hands, I started massaging my temples. “I’d be so happy if there was a way to remove your memories,” I laughed.

“Erm, don’t worry, I have a boyfriend as well,” she waved her hand.

“Is he here?” I asked.

“Nah, he’s three years older than me so he couldn’t take part in this trial even if he wanted. I bet he’s going to be hungry for me by the time I return,” she winked at me. Stepping closer, she pulled me further away from Seth and threw her arm around my shoulder. “By the way, doesn’t it hurt? It’s quite massive,” she whispered into my ear.

Winking back at her, I said, “I’d say it’s a perfect fit.”

“Haha, that’s good then. Go to Leo’s place when you’re ready, most people are there already. Only a few of us stayed back, but now that you two are awake, we’re going there as well,” she patted my shoulder and then turned around to leave. She was a rather nice girl and she didn’t seem to have bad intentions. I had to admit, I took a liking to her.

Based on the marks her soul possessed and Seth’s teachings, she was the kind of person I could easily get along with. Of course, Seth warned me numerous times that I shouldn’t rely on his teachings too much when I’m judging people because it could easily mislead me. It was reasonable considering that everything he knew was based on his observation of people and his assumptions.

Rolling my fingers into a fist, I turned around and glared at Seth. “Care to explain yourself? God my ass, why did you let anyone come in on us? What if it was someone else who would have taken a photo or stuff like that?”

“Erm, I put up a barrier when we first went to sleep but it broke once we left for a walk and when we returned, I forgot to make another one because well… we got into it. This is really a mistake on my part, I’m sorry about it,” he replied seriously this time.

Sighing loudly, I shook my head, “It’s fine, I should have been more careful as well so I’m not going to blame you, but we best be careful from now on.”

“Mhm, let’s go for now, we’ve got to wipe out the monsters and then see what kind of treasure was placed there,” he replied, seemingly very happy about something.

“What is it?” I had to ask.

“Oh, it’s just that I was happy to see that you didn’t blame it all on me when you’re strong enough to defend against stuff like that yourself. I don’t like it when someone is too unreasonable,” he replied.

Pulling on my neck, I kind of felt sorry for being angry with him, even if just for a moment. “I’m sorry.”

“Haha, there is no need. I wouldn’t mind it that much if it was you,” he smiled at me. “It wasn’t a problem to begin with. It’s just that I was like, ‘hmm, my girlfriend is such a reasonable person’, you know?” he explained himself.

“I know but I don’t want to be unreasonable, you get that?” I raised my brows.

“Mhm.”

Quickly looking around, he used Link to talk to me, “By the way, there is something important you must know. Leo is a god incarnation, but I sent you away to make him think that you don’t know about any of that. He has some kind of plan and he doesn’t seem to be happy about my sudden growth of power either. Just in case, be careful with him and stay as close to me as possible. I don’t know what he wants or how powerful he is, but he knows soul spells as well so I want you to start learning defensive methods first.”

“He was a god all along? I wouldn’t have thought. I’ll try to avoid him as much as possible then. Also, when do we start learning?” I asked, filled with excitement. Leo’s true identity surprised me and all that, but I couldn’t care any less about it when Seth told me he’d teach me!

While the group assembled in front of Leo’s house, Seth told me about a few methods and I started practising them. Although I had to nag him sometimes to teach me, he seemed to be really happy to do so. I had a feeling that he liked teaching, though maybe it was limited only to me. Well, I’d certainly enjoy teaching someone who was actually interested in learning instead of watching a bunch of kids forced to sit in a class and learn about uninteresting things.

When everyone got there, Leo started speaking, “Alright, seeing that all of you are here, we should go and check out that underground room. We may find something really good. There is one thing I’d like to mention, though. Whoever is strong enough to get the treasure and then run away with it should be left alone. Would you people agree with that request of mine? I mean, twenty some people fighting over something until the end of the trial would be rather stupid, no?”

“I’m okay with it, but how far running away counts as ‘being able to run away’?” Max asked.

“Well, considering that we’re all strong here, I think that if you’re able to get past the nearest dune here, we should stop chasing one another,” Leo replied. “Any objections?”

We looked back and forth between each other, but nobody seemed to have a problem with it. If somebody had the ability to get so far away with a treasure while more than twenty students were chasing after them, they’d be really worthy of keeping it. I was hoping that others would keep their words, just like I planned to do.

“Seth, if possible, let me take part in this little game. I know that you could get it easily, but I want to get it for myself with my own abilities, whatever it may be,” I used Link.

“Hmm? Okay, I’ll stay out of it in that case. My mana has been growing stronger and stronger since we started going out, so I’m starting to have trouble with adjusting the amount of mana I should use. It’s changing way too quickly and I need less and less of it. I don’t want to accidentally kill someone with a fireball anyway,” he replied.

“Thanks. Also, I know that I’ve told you already, but I thank you for sharing your secret with me so early on in our relationship. Even I can feel your growth and I’m starting to understand just how much this secret weighs,” I said.

“Mhm, thanks for believing me even before I showed you any proof of it. You didn’t even question me,” he put his hand on my face and started caressing it.

“Since everyone agrees, I’m hoping that nobody is going to break this promise we made,” Leo said. He sounded pretty threatening to me. I didn’t know him that much even when he was just a ‘friend’ of the sort but now I felt as if he was a completely different person. What truly surprised me was that he managed to fool Seth for this long.

Now that I think about it, he has never shown his emotions while being around us and seemed to ignore me as well. I can’t say I’ve experienced that sort of attitude towards me many times. More like... I’ve never seen a guy react like that other than Seth.

Eyeing Seth from the corner of my eye, I started following the other students in silence. He stood unmoving like a mountain for a few more seconds and then came after me. I haven’t seen him this serious before, which finally made me realise that he wasn’t just playing around. Maybe there was more to all this than I initially thought. If anything dangerous happened, he’d most likely run to help me, but what if he got injured because of that?

I didn’t want that to happen.

“Stay very close to me, I have a bad feeling about this trial. If anything happens to me, you should run away, I have ways to stay safe so don’t worry about me,” he said all of a sudden.

“What the fuck are you saying?!” I cried out.

“Leo has been gathering his soul force and his mana since yesterday. He’s like a nuke at this point and I’m really unhappy with that. He has no reason to do that unless he wants to do something. I know that you’re a clever girl and that you understand when to listen to me and when not to,” he replied.

“I know, I’m not going to obstruct you,” I said, this time not moving my body while talking through Link. I was starting to get the hang of it.

“I’m glad to hear that. I’m sorry for saying this, but you still can’t fight a god incarnation, at least, not him. There may be weaker ones as well but I don’t know about them,” he said looking at me with his cute big brown eyes. He felt like a loving mother bear sometimes and like a wild animal at other times.

I couldn’t tell him that I wasn’t in the mood to fight for the treasure at this point, I was afraid that he’d be injured because of it and I was the one who told him to join the group. If anything happened, it’d be all because of me. Clenching my fists, I made up my mind, “Seth, can we leave?”

“Huh? Why?”

“You know very well why,” I replied.

“Hahaha, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I still haven’t shown you many things I know and believe me, you don’t have to worry about me. I just warned you because I’m a bit lacking in defensive methods when it comes protecting others, so I’m not sure if I could protect you if anything happened. Also, by the ‘if anything happened to me’ I meant that if I was stuck fighting and stuff like that. But honestly, that is also just a worst case scenario,” he explained himself, making me remember something.

He was the type of person who was always prepared for all kinds of silly things which most of the time never even happened. “Why are you puffing your cheeks?” he asked.

“Why, you ask… and here I was starting to panic,” I shook my head.

“I’m sorry, maybe I sounded a bit grave.”

“A bit?” I glared at him.

Raising his hands, he said defensively, “Ehm, of course, it was about your safety so I kind of went a bit overboard, maybe. You may call me overprotective, but I don’t want to see you being hurt, ever.”

“I’m not even sure what to say to that,” I sighed.