Chapter 72 – Play House

"Wow!" Evandel tottled around the newly laid wooden paneling in the living room of the house they were touring and said, "Beeeg house!"

Lee chuckled and said, "It is pretty big, isn't it?"

"Mmhm!" Evandel let out a bright smile as she nodded her head, making her light brown hair shift around her in a mess. "I like it!"

The realtor, a kind-looking British woman in her thirties... She watched Evandel scamper around to explore the nooks and crannies of the living room before turning to Lee with a warm smile. "It seems your daughter appreciates it. Shall I make a note of similar houses in the area, Mister Shin?"

Lee watched as Evandel sprawled on her back beneath the sunlight filtering in through a window, a content smile on her face. Then he turned to the realtor and said, "No. I think this one's fine. You said you personally don't see any problems with it, right?"

The realtor nodded. "That's right, Mister Shin. A basement, ground level, and upstairs... four bedrooms, two baths. A porch and a wide yard, as well as a walkway down to the beach shore... Although it's a bit pricey, I think I can get it to an affordable range for your budget."

Lee gave an absent nod, just watching as Evandel happily babbled away to her plushed lion and the latest addition of a fluffy round blob with horns. "Sounds good. I'll leave it to you then."

The realtor smiled. "Of course. I do believe I can get you the keys within the hour if you authorize me to make the offer. Would you like me to?"

"I already did when I signed the paperwork. There should be another slip authorizing you to do the offers at the back of your clipboard there."

"Pardon?" The realtor blinked and flipped through the paperwork. Then when she found it, she chuckled and said, "Oh my. For a young man, you're quite prepared... But I suppose that's expected of a Cube Cadet, yes?"

"Mmhm. Mind if I stay here with Eva while you do your things?"

"Of course not." The realtor smiled. "I'll be back shortly then."

Evandel stopped in her play and waved at the realtor with her plushies. "Bye Miss Reality!"

The realtor laughed and waved at Evandel. "Bye for now, Miss Evandel! Be a good girl for your father now, will you?"

"The goodest!"

The realtor let out a soft smile and walked out.

After that, Evandel continued her play, babbling to herself and her toys (dubbed Richy and Kerny).

Seeing that his daughter was enjoying herself, Lee leaned against a nearby wall and pulled out his phone, checking if there was anything important to respond to. And when he did, he saw a message from Nayun that he missed.

===

[Auntie Nayn]

> Hey.

> I'm heading to England.

> Where are you and Eva?

> There's something I need to ask.

===

"...That's concerning." Lee murmured.

Evandel paused and looked up at Lee. "Daddy, concering?"

"Concerning, Eva. And a little." Lee responded with the address of the house that was probably going to be his in the near future. Then he said, "Auntie Nayun is coming to visit."

Evandel's eyes lit up and she raised her plushies in the air. "YAY! Auntie Nayn can see housey!"

Lee chuckled. "Yeah. We can have her give us her opinion on this house too."

Evandel nodded and then hugged her plushed lion. "Richy! Auntie Nayn coming!" She waited, as if listening to an invisible conversation. Then she nodded and looked at Lee. "Daddy! Richy says he wants bar-cue!"

Lee smiled. "Don't worry. When this house is ours, I'll do a proper grill with burgers and everything for us."

"Yay!" Evandel giggled and then raised Richy's and Kerny's arms too. "Bar-cue~ Bar-cue~"

After watching Evandel go back to playing with her plushies, Lee slipped his phone into his pocket.

'Well, since we're stuck here for a bit, I might as well play a bit too.'

Seeing Evandel turn Aether into so many toys was inspiring Lee to work on his mana control.

Although <Mana Manipulation> wouldn't let him assimilate mana into his body anymore due to his changed physique, it DID say 'external cores' were possible.

Which meant...

'Time to see if I can make some mana batteries.'

England had a lot of ambient mana by virtue of the Buoyancy Stone continuously being used to keep the Clancey Islet afloat, so Lee had plenty to work with.

With that in mind, Lee held up his left hand, slowly grinding out his Art by collecting and molding the ambient mana.

===

Buckingham Palace, around 11 AM.

Rachel was in the reception room, enjoying a late breakfast by herself after filling out various royal documentation and paperwork.

...There had been a bit of a hubbub, but Rachel put her foot down, so things quietly settled after that.

'I will probably be called a tyrant for it... but that is fine.'

Rachel had forced the issue of adopting Evandel as her daughter through the various protests of Rachel being too young to be a mother as well as the protests of the public backlash.

It would undoubtedly cause some issues in the near future...

But Rachel wasn't concerned.

After all, her daughter was the rightful ruler of the Kingdom of Britain already. And by multiple avenues too.

First, as Rachel's biological daughter (she'd secretly tested a hair sample last month.)

Second, as the chosen wielder of Excalibur, proven by how Evandel could always pull Excalibur out of any body of water, even a puddle or, in one ridiculous case late last night, an ice cube.

And third, as one who possessed the Holy Grail.

...While Rachel wasn't sure if it was the same chalice that once held the blood of Christ, the cup that Evandel could materialize definitely seemed divine in nature.

If the Vatican saw it, there was a high likelihood that Evandel would be canonized as a Saint.

"...Hm."

That was a thought.

The Kingdom of Britain had broken away from the Vatican a long while ago. But if Evandel showed that she had the Holy Grail...

"My daughter's name is fitting too..."

Just on a casual look, it was close to Evangel. And if you squinted, there was an argument for it to mean 'Eve and angels' since 'Ev' could be short for Eve, and 'El' was the ending that all angels had... so Evandel clearly meant 'Eve and angels.'

Rachel nodded, satisfied at her own logic.

At that time, the shadows shifted a bit and then Droon plopped into the chair opposite of Rachel. The white-haired boy fixed his bangs before pulling out a donut to feed Albion, his tiny blue-eyed white dragon nestled in a breast pocket on the dress-shirt he was wearing. After that, he looked at Rachel and said, "You really just didn't care about what those old people said, huh?"

Rachel paused mid-sip of her tea. Then she shrugged and said, "No matter how much they whine or moan, I am still the Kingdom of Britain's last and only hope at the moment." She chuckled and said, "I was not aware of it until now... but in all honesty, I can throw as much of a tantrum as Marie Antoinette used to if I desire."

Droon gave Rachel a blank stare and said, "...Wasn't she executed after a revolution?"

Rachel shrugged, her blue eyes flashing icy cold for a moment. "They can try."

"...Scary." Droon shivered. Then he paused and said, "You know, I think you'd get along pretty well with Boss."

Rachel tilted her head, eyes honing in on Droon. "...Yes. Tell me more of this 'Boss' of yours. She is the leader of Jeronimo Mercenary, yes? What does she look like? Is she single? What are her preferences? Does she currently have an interest in my Lee? Romantically, of course." She smiled and said, "I have many, many questions, Droon. You'll answer this pretty big sister, right?"

Droon started to sweat. "U-Uh... Y-Yes?"

Albion shivered and quickly hid in Droon's pocket.

Rachel smiled. "Well?"

"Well..."

===

Back in Jeronimo Mercenary's official headquarters, a small three-floor office building in the outskirts of Seoul that had been acquired specifically to prepare for the Guild Experience after the semester ended.

Boss finally finished submitting the paperwork for the Guild Experience request to Cube, requesting for Lee and Rachel as interns.

Originally, Boss wanted to just request Lee since it would serve as a proper orientation for him to meet the other members as well as settle him into his role as the Seat of Black.

But for some reason, Boss had a vague feeling that excluding Rachel would be a bad idea.

She didn't know why. But considering how many times her intuition had saved her across her hectic life, she decided to listen to it and add Rachel as well.

So, after long days of doing nothing but filing paperwork, crossreferencing files, and making sure that there wasn't anything incorrect which would require Boss to resubmit the applications...

Boss decided to take a break.

Getting up from her desk, she stretched and walked out of her office and downstairs to grab a snack from the refrigerator.

'Jain mentioned that she stocked it. And Cheok Jungyeong said he was using it too. There should be food.'

With that thought in mind, Boss headed downstairs and towards the kitchen.

And when she arrived...

"Hm? Oh, hey Boss."

...She saw Cheok Jungyeong barechested and with tattered shorts calmly stripping meat off a rib the size of the entire kitchen table.

"...What are you doing?"

"Me?" Cheok Jungyeong wiped his mouth with a napkin and said, "Eating. Want some?"

"...That was obvious. I mean what are you eating?"

"Oh." Cheok Jungyeong chuckled. "I just finished shipping the Serpent Dragon's heart to Godspear Li's wife, so I stopped by the ocean again to do more hunting. I found a Flood Dragon and killed it after a rough fight. See?" He pointed at his bicep where a thin red line was clearly visible. "It actually scratched me."

Boss gave Cheok Jungyeong a blank stare.

Cheok Jungyeong stared back and then slowly held up a rib. "...You sure you don't want some? It's probably good for magical power. Definitely tasty, at least."

Boss opened her mouth.

And then her stomach growled.

Silence.

Boss felt her ears burn, but she held her hand out and said, "Give me one."

"Sure. Here you go, Boss."

Boss took the greasy rib, cautiously sniffing it. But seeing as it was properly cooked and actually seasoned, she took a bite. And when she did...

"Good, right?"

Boss's lips twitched. Then she said, "...Next time, wear proper clothes. And don't bring in restricted monster corpses into this building. This is Jeronimo Mercenary."

"Relax, Boss. I got the permits." Cheok Jungyeong chuckled. "I can't cause trouble for Godspear Li after all the help he's given me... Oh!" He grinned and dug in his pants pocket before proudly pulling out an ID card. "Look! I'm officially Cheonma!"

"...That says Cheon Ma."

"Same thing."

"..."

Boss sighed and sat down, clutching the grilled dragon rib. "...Just be quiet and eat. I'm starting to get a headache."

"Got it." Cheok Jungyeong continued munching on his grilled dragon rib. Then he paused and said, "Ooh. You think Godspear Li will want any of this stuff? He could probably make some nice equipment out of it, right? Or maybe I should try doing it? I saw this game on the web called Monster Hunter. It seems like something up my alley. There are these giant monsters that you kill, and then you rip them apart to make stronger weapons to kill stronger monster and..."

Boss let out a long suffering sigh.

'...I liked it better when Cheok Jungyeong was a musclehead. At least it was quiet...'