Chapter 356 - 356 - Don't Ever Let Me Catch You

"This is as far as I'll see you two."

A voice came from behind them.

A striking, sharp-featured red-haired wolf girl stepped out from inside the hall, halting beside Jeanne and Rose to bid them farewell with a smile.

She wore the standard Guild staff uniform, a crisp white shirt and black vest, with tailored slacks that traced the line of her legs perfectly, and jet-black high heels that made her bearing all the more upright. The stockings beneath the slacks peeked in and out of view, lending a faint, elusive touch of allure to her already captivating air.

She was Rose Fannett, an "old acquaintance" of Leon's.

Jeanne and Rose pulled their gazes back from the street view and turned around. The three women's eyes met in a veiled tangle, and the air seemed to crackle with a faint, imperceptible spark as the mood quietly turned delicate.

Snow was still falling silently over the street outside. The "grind-it-out" adventurers still busy taking commissions over Christmas, or people like Soma Familia making a year-end sprint to hit their quotas, were filing in and out of the Guild doors one after another.

Some walked out happily weighing their coin purses, while others hurried along with their heads down, studying the commissions they'd just picked up.

But any adventurer with even slightly sharp senses who passed near the three of them stiffened, cold sweat beading at their temples.

Then they carefully rose up on their tiptoes and slipped quietly around by another route.

"...Hss, what's going on?"

"Hey, this atmosphere's kind of bad..."

"That terrifying pressure, I stepped out the door and suddenly couldn't breathe..."

"Kid, you've got no clue, huh."

"Oof, looks like someone's got no life experience."

"Spill it, man!"

"Heh... you can't read something this obvious? Looks like you're either single or you just don't get out to the Pleasure Quarter enough."

"..."

"This here is a 'bloodbath' between women."

"Oh? Sounds like you know your stuff?"

"Hehe, with that simple character model of his, he's probably some nameless extra in the background..."

"Experience, my foot. What a joke."

"Kid, this isn't funny."

"..."

Scraps of chatter surfaced in the snow, only to be swiftly drowned out by the wind.

And the three women still stood quietly before the Guild doors.

"Hey! Rose Fannett, and you two, the Holy Maiden and Pure White Shield from Demeter's place, don't go blocking the front entrance!"

"If you wanna fight over a man, take it somewhere else!"

"Don't go messing up my work!"

"It's the holidays and it's snowing, can't you show an old man a little consideration!"

"..."

The dwarf gatekeeper's voice cracked open like a busted gong, instantly puncturing that delicate mood.

Jeanne's whole face flushed crimson in a flash, practically steaming. She hurriedly ducked her head and shuffled over to the wall, like a student called out for doing something wrong.

Rose, by comparison, was far more composed. She gave the gatekeeper a gracious nod by way of apology, then turned to Rose Fannett and gave a small wink:

"Rose Fannett, we'll be off then."

"See you around."

Waving to the wolf girl, she pulled up her hood, took hold of the still-dazed Jeanne, and turned to head toward home.

Rose Fannett stayed where she was, watching the two figures gradually melt into the far end of the street where dim amber and snow-white intertwined. After a while, she slowly drew her gaze back, shot the dwarf a hard glare with a tight face, then her high heels rapped sharply against the floor as she strode toward her workstation without looking back.

But the female coworker who'd been stifling a grin and watching the whole show unfold caught one telling detail.

The tips of Rose Fannett's wolf ears, poking out from her crimson hair, were taking on a faint, uncontrollable flush, plainly giving away her mood.

"Hehe~"

"Rose Fannett~ you actually get jealous over a man too? Let me guess... it wouldn't happen to be that old flame of yours, would it? I saw the whole thing just now, that Holy Maiden, she..."

"Even a mouthful of tea won't shut you up, will it!"

"Eep!"

Having swiftly silenced her coworker who never knew when a scene was big enough, Rose Fannett sat back down at her station and idly tidied up the book-loan records from earlier. Her gaze fell on the entries Jeanne and Rose had looked up, and she narrowed her eyes.

Lower Floors, Water City... and intel on the regions beyond that.

That bastard Leon, he's already come this far.

...Hmph, none of my business anyway.

She tossed her bright red hair as if to fling away certain thoughts that had surfaced along with it, and briskly stowed the records into a drawer. Then she lowered her eyes again, as if nothing had happened, and threw herself back into the stack of documents in front of her.

...

...

Leon's place.

Just as a certain someone, bare-chested with board shorts hanging loosely at his waist and a towel draped over his neck, came strolling back into the living room from the bathroom trailing steam...

"Click..."

The front door was pulled open from outside at that exact moment, and then Jeanne and Rose walked in, wrapped in a chill.

The next second...

"Hsss!!"

The biting winter wind swept rudely across his skin, and the refreshed smile on Leon's face froze on the spot as a shiver shot through his whole body.

"Achoo!"

"Eh? Leon, did you just... get out of the shower?"

Rose arched an eyebrow, glancing at the magic-stone clock on the wall in puzzlement as she bent down to slip off her shoes, the corner of her mouth curling up:

"What kind of mess have you gotten yourself into this time?"

The words were barely out before Laurier and the others in the living room burst into giggles they couldn't hold back.

"Rose, Jeanne, you should've seen what a sorry state a certain gentleman was in! It was hilarious! Hehe!"

Leon: "..."

The corners of Jeanne's mouth lifted gently. She took off her boots, slid her feet in their black tights into fluffy slippers, brushed the fallen snow off her cloak, and hung it up carefully before turning to ask softly:

"Could it be that thing you've been researching lately... um, the Wild Mixture, was it?"

"Mm..."

"So, your experiment failed?"

It would have been fine if Jeanne hadn't brought it up, but the moment she mentioned it, Leon's face fell.

"Don't get me started, what a rotten mess!"

He stepped over to the entryway and, with the most natural motion, took the Wonder Pack shoulder bags and coats Rose and Jeanne handed him, grumbling all the while:

"Damn it! Some scumbag passed off cheap goods on us, took fifty thousand Valis worth of ordinary honey and sold it to us as the two-million Royal Honey!"

"I've been knocking around Orario for ages, and this is the first time I've eaten a loss like this and had to swallow it!"

"Don't ever let me catch who it was!"

"Eh?"

This time it wasn't just Jeanne and Rose. Even the ladies in the sitting room, who'd said their hellos and gone back to their own business, lifted their heads. Their looks were either startled or odd...

And then a wave of laughter no one could hold back rippled out one after another.

"Pfft... what did I tell you."

Laurier was the first to crack and laugh out loud:

"How does that old saying you're always going on about go? Oh, right... 'walk by the river often enough and you're bound to get your shoes wet.'"

"We're always watching you swindle other people, and this time you finally tripped over your own feet!"

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