Chapter 76: Sarah’s Affection

“I missed you so much,” Sarah said, her bright blue eyes fixed on mine. “Don’t you ever think about staying away from me for that long again.”

“I missed you too, Sarah,” I replied. “Did you have any trouble on the way?”

“Nope. Everything went smoothly—we didn’t even fight any monsters on the way there. Diane and I ran toward Ironburgh as fast as we could. We arrived this morning,” Sarah made a disgusted face for a moment. “I did have to eat squirrels along the way, though.”

“That must’ve been rough.”

Sarah shook her head and then smiled. “It’s fine, since I got to see you again. And what about you, my love? Did everything go well on your side?”

“Hmm… a few things happened on the way…” I said, trying not to meet her eyes.

There was a lot to explain to Sarah. The giant wolf that had nearly devoured me, the Silver Fang girls who had chased us—and who were now going to accompany us on our journey. It was too much to drop on her all at once. It would be better to talk about it when we were alone. I looked around, and it wasn’t the best place for a private chat right now.

The men gathered around the table stared at us, dumbfounded. From their point of view, it must have been strange to see the girl suddenly hug someone from the crowd. I assumed they were all miners; each of them had a strong, muscular build.

Sarah must have noticed their confused looks, because she turned to them with a bright smile.

“Oh, right. Guys, this is Rick. My husband.” Right after saying that, Sarah gave me a kiss on the cheek.

Her kiss drew several sounds of surprise from the crowd. I was surprised too by such an open display of affection from her.

’She must have really missed me,’ I thought, looking at the girl who was hugging me so lovingly.

She leaned closer to my ear and whispered in a sultry voice, “We’re going to have a looooong conversation later.”

A smile appeared on my face, since I could imagine what Sarah meant by “conversation.” But when I looked back at the crowd, the miners were staring at me with a mix of anger and envy toward the red-haired girl clinging to my neck.

’Oh, give me a break! It’s not my fault I have a hot wife,’ I thought, staring right back at them.

…

“Rick, say ’aah,’” Sarah said, holding a spoonful of food toward my mouth.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked, embarrassed.

“I never get the chance to. I want to spoil you a little,” she replied, looking at me with pure joy.

I sighed, realizing Sarah wouldn’t stop until I gave in to her lovey-dovey behavior. Alicia was sitting beside me, puffing out her cheeks, clearly jealous of Sarah. The men who had been watching the arm-wrestling competition—which had ended with Sarah’s obvious victory—were now seated at other tables in the tavern, but I could still feel their eyes on us.

’The sooner I get this over with, the sooner things will calm down,’ I thought. I opened my mouth and said, “Aaah.”

Sarah slipped the spoon into my mouth with a satisfied smile just as someone approached our table. Her eyes were fixed on the scene of Sarah feeding me, as if she were disappointed in me.

“I was worried about whether you’d make it here safely, but it seems my concerns were unnecessary,” said the white-haired assassin when she saw me.

“Diane!” Alicia cried out happily when she saw her friend again, running over to hug her.

“I’m glad you’re safe too, Alicia,” Diane said with a small smile. Then her eyes shifted to me. “Rick…”

She called my name, looking at me with a faint smile—an unusual expression for her. “Thank you for keeping your promise and bringing Alicia here safely. You have my deepest gratitude.” Diane bowed deeply, and after straightening up, she added, “And… it’s good to see that you’re well.”

There was a note of respect in Diane’s voice, and her pale cheeks were redder than usual. She seemed to have changed a little, holding a better opinion of me now. Wondering if her level of Affection had increased, I decided to check using my Tamer Appraisal.

[

Name: Sarah Lockhart

Level: 3

Class: Swordmaster

Affection: 20

]

[

Name: Alicia Ludvila Von Astrea

Level: 5

Class: Saintess

Affection: 16

]

[

Name: Diane Stollen

Level: 8

Class: Assassin

Affection: 10

]

I was surprised when I checked her status alongside Sarah’s. It seemed that keeping my promise to Diane had raised her Affection level to the threshold required for her to become a Valkyrie.

’Good news. It won’t be long before I have sex with Diane. I just need to talk to her at a better time.’ I reflected on that, imagining Diane’s beautiful body without her assassin attire.

But what I hadn’t expected was such a drastic change in Sarah.

As far as I could remember, the last time we met, her Affection level had been lower than Alicia’s current one—but that wasn’t the case anymore. Now it stood at an overwhelming level 20.

’Her Affection level is the highest of them all! Did it really rise that much just because we were apart?’ I thought inwardly.

I glanced at Sarah, but the only response I got was her bright smile as she offered me a second spoonful.

’Brandish, will I be okay if her Affection level keeps rising like this?’

I called out to the girl who assisted me with the Valkyrie Tamer System, but no screen appeared in front of me like it usually did.

’Brandish, are you there?’ I asked again, worried that something might be wrong and that she could no longer assist me.

I thought about the sweet and shy orange-haired girl who served Freya. I enjoyed talking to her. I also found her cute, so I didn’t want her to simply disappear. ’I’d also like, if I ever visit Freya again, to hear her voice one more time. Because she was really cute.’

That was when I heard a soft, timid voice, as if it were echoing inside my head.

’Y-Yes… I-I’m h-here.’

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