章節 32: Another step in getting the hero's sister

After about an hour, the practice session came to an end.

They repeated their sparring until the very end, but the result remained the same, allowing Rain to enjoy the softness of her nimble body again and again.

Rain glanced at Aelorian, who was breathing heavily and looking down.

"As long as you have clothes on, you can't beat me."

'And if you take it off, I have another sword to defeat you.'

Rain added to himself.

Aelorian ignored his words because her mind was on something else. She felt the heat all over her body and tried to figure out whether it was caused by the intense sparring without a break or by his shameless hands.

At this time, Rain remembered what he had ignored in her status earlier.

'Nari, why did a level of affection appear in her status?'

[After the host merged with Eyes of Endless Lust, this new feature was added to the status. Of course, it only works on women.]

After hearing the system's response, Rain looked again at the elf, still not fully recovered.

[Affection: -10]

He remembered that her affection level before their fight had been -30, but now it had gone up to -10.

'Although she's gotten quieter compared to before, I didn't think it would affect her that much. She doesn't have masochistic tendencies, does she?'

Under his intense gaze, Aelorian, still keeping embarrassment on her face, went to leave the training room.

Rain didn't see any point in staying here, so he followed her, noticing the pile of shards of swords in the place where his sister Liana had been training.

'She should be more careful.'

With those thoughts in mind, Rain walked out of the training room. By the time he was in the hallway, Aelorian was nowhere to be seen.

'She got embarrassed and ran away? That's cute.'

"Rain, wait!"

Someone called out to Rain and when he turned around, he saw the person he least expected to see now.

Behind him stood Cale with a friendly smile, much at odds with the angry looks he'd thrown at him during the last class.

"Rain, what do you want in exchange for us swapping partners?"

Seeing only an indifferent look from his interlocutor, Cale continued.

"Maybe the official lists of pairs can't be changed anymore, but if we changed partners before entering the rift, no one would know about it. So if you agree to this, I can compensate you with points for this test or a good magical weapon."

Rain grinned to himself at his suggestion.

'What gives him the confidence that I will agree to this?'

His family had a huge number of high quality magical weapons, and instead of test points, he preferred to earn steal points.

However, when Rain was about to refuse him, he suddenly remembered something.

"I'll agree if you help me with something."

Cale's mood faded slightly, but he still asked.

"With what, exactly?"

"I've been having trouble with alchemy lately, and I've heard that your older sister is a genius alchemist. Unfortunately, because she rarely shows up at the academy, I've never been able to find her, so I want you to help me meet her."

With each word he spoke, Cale's expression grew more uncertain until finally he asked a question.

"What do you need her for?"

"For alchemy, of course."

Replied Rain as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Something inside Cale told him that something bad might happen if he agreed to it, so he stood silently unable to make a decision.

"Apparently I overestimated your desire to be with your friend. I'll see you after the test."

Waving him off, Rain turned and walked away.

"Stop!"

Seeing his last chance to get close to Aelorian slipping away from him, he made a quick decision.

'My master told me to listen to my inner feelings, but how can I let any inner feelings come between me and Aelorian?'

He looked once more at the halted Rain, who was still standing with his back to him.

'I don't think he has anything bad in mind for my sister.'

Cale convinced himself, though something inside still screamed that he shouldn't do it.

"Big Sister will be in her office in the alchemy department this Thursday after 8:00 p.m."

Cale said with a heavy heart, then immediately added.

"Don't forget you promised to switch with me before entering the rift!"

"Of course."

Without turning around, Rain replied and continued on his way, thinking over his plans.

'So I have a few more days to spare before his big sister shows up.'

°°°°

Half an hour later, Rain entered a small hall with ancient-looking runes engraved on the walls. One of the teachers and many of his classmates were already there, gazing excitedly at the center.

In the centre was an artificial rift that had a faint green colour, a clear sign that it was D-rank.

This was the first time Rain had personally seen such a phenomenon, so he moved closer to it, examining the mysterious wavering energy around it.

He knew that once the rift was fully stabilized, it would move each incoming pair to a random location in the space created.

While everyone was waiting for the rift to activate, Aelorian entered the room and after some hesitation approached Rain.

She didn't say anything, but it was obvious from her appearance that she had freshened up since their last meeting and wasn't so embarrassed anymore. In addition, a long bow decorated with runes appeared behind her back.

Soon the rift stopped wavering and its color changed to bright green.

"The rift has stabilized, you may enter."

After permission from the teacher, classmates in pairs began to enter the rift.

At that moment a panting Cale appeared on the threshold of the room, followed with a dejected expression by his partner, whom he had apparently already warned about the exchange.

Noticing that Rain and Aelorian still hadn't left, he exhaled a sigh of relief and waved at them, walking in their direction.

When there were a couple of meters between them, a wide grin spread across Rain's face.

'It's about time we took action.'

He put his hand on Aelorian's waist and, pulling her close to him, took a confident step into the rift.

***

Thanks for reading, everyone!