Chapter 98 The Long And Passionate Celebration Day (3) A Favor

"Acid Ant Queen, huh..." (Lyan)

As if responding to his words, black-green particles suddenly left the grimoire and formed a shape of a huge ant as big as a house cat in front of him.

"I see... Hello, little one. Welcome to the family," Lyan gently pats the head of the acid ant queen, and the acid ant queen accepted the pat and seems to be enjoying it.

(Hm?) (Lyan)

Lyan realized that there are lots of small green eggs on her back that seems to be her worker eggs.

"So those are your eggs, huh? I guess you should start laying them on the grimoire's space's ground. I'll call you again later, little one," Lyan gave a last pat before unsummoning the acid ant queen.

Before returning, she sent him her thought of 'Call me whenever you want, master' before disappearing as particles and returning to the summoning grimoire.

"Army of acid ants, huh... It will come in very handy, especially in surveillance. But I guess I need to wait for them to get hatched from the eggs first, huh," Lyan imagined the army of acid ants he could command in the future, and suddenly he felt some things touching his leg, his head, and his hand.

"Ah..." Lyan let out a smile as he saw the ones touching him.

"Sorry. I haven't played with you guys much, didn't I?" (Lyan)

What appeared before him are the monster children of the three famous flowers of the House of Roses. Galia the Galewing Butterfly, Pilia the Papilio Slime, and Monila the Moonlight Butterfly.

Looking at how the three of them are butterflies, Lyan felt that they really represent the bond of their mothers well.

Lyan thought about putting all of them on his lap, but he realized that the three of them had become bigger in size more than their size when they first hatched from the egg.

So as he put Pilia on top of his lap, let Galia lays on top of his head, while Monila perches on his shoulder.

The three of them are now bigger than even the Acid Ant Queen which is as big as a house cat.

(They also leveled up a lot. All of them had reached level 45 because of the battle with the goblins. I guess those level-ups made their body grows as well...) (Lyan)

"Tell me. How were your days," (Lyan)

Since the three monsters couldn't speak, they communicate with him by showing him the scenes of the days with their mothers that they want to tell him by using their illusion magic to make a screen that shows their memory.

While watching those, the three of them sent him their thoughts by their telepathy, and make some reactions with their body language.

"So they had been sleeping with an illusion of me created by you guys?"

"I see... You could even make them invisible, huh..."

"Looks like Xena and Alina bickered with each other again..."

"Whoa! Those are lots of potions! I wonder where that alchemy room Belle's using there!"

Lyan accompany them for only an hour before the monsters finally got tired and fell asleep together with their mothers. It seems that making that illusion screen costs them quite the mana which made them sleepy.

(What a cute bunch) (Lyan)

After wiping his body with a wet cloth, Lyan wore his clothes and went outside the room.

*Creak!*

As Lyan opened the door, the madam is coincidentally walking into the hall.

(Is she going to her office?) (Lyan)

"Ah. Lyan," The Madam's eyes took a peek inside the room for a moment before making a grin.

"Looks like you just have a great time," (Madam)

"I guess you're right," Lyan replied calmly as he closed the door.

"Come with me, there is something I want to tell you and ask you about," (Madam)

The both of them went straight to the Madam's office. The Madam sits at her seat behind her working desk after putting another chair in front of her desk for Lyan to sit.

"Inside the bag you gave me," The Madam opened the conversation as she took a glass and pour some wine into it before giving it to Lyan.

"There should be only 60 gold coins. 40 of yours, and 20 from the girls' accumulative income from these years. But why are there an additional 40 gold coins inside? It's 100 gold coins which are more than the amount of their debt. I wonder what you mean by it?" Asked the Madam as she started drinking her wine.

"Hm..." Lyan took a sip of his glass of wine before replying to the madam.

"You could say that it's a form of gratitude, for taking care of the girls gently and for treating me kindly," (Lyan)

"And?" The Madam urged him to continue.

"It's also for the payment for the escorts," (Lyan)

"Escorts?" (Madam)

"Yes. As I've told you before, I'm planning of letting them visit their relatives and give them time to make sure what they want to do. Since out of everyone in this city, I believe that you're the one with a great influence and someone that will definitely not hurt them, I want to ask you a favor of finding trustworthy escorts for the girls' journey," (Lyan)

"A favor, I see... But even if it's as a favor, I think 40 gold coins are still too much. Even five gold coins are enough to hire a decent amount of escorts for them. It will be too excessive to pay 35 gold coins for a single favor like this, no?" (Madam)

"Then the rest of the golds are my gift for you, I guess? Would you accept them, I wonder?" (Lyan)

"......" The Madam stared at Lyan for a while before giving a reply.

Even though their meeting at the hall is a coincidence, the Madam had been thinking of meeting him personally after doubting the reason for the additional amount of gold coins inside the bag.

As someone that had become a mercenary and a merchant, she knew that whenever money was involved, the priority of people will shift to their own interests.

Especially as a beautiful woman like her, whenever a man approached her, their aims would be her body, if not then her connections, if not then her wealth, or lastly, everything.

Usually, she could at least tell what the opponent's aim is after asking them several questions and conversing for a while, and then she will make the scales of the negotiation tip towards her favor by her negotiating skills.

Those skills are valuable knowledge she got from her reliable merchant friend in the city.

But in the case of the man before her, the scales tip in her favor too much that she couldn't help but doubt. Because of her certain past, she couldn't help but raise her guard before a man other than Abraham. But then she remember that the young man before her also helped the girls without aiming for any compensation in the first place.

(Well, he did finally get thousands of gold coins in the end though...) (Madam)

Even though Abraham repeatedly mentions how he's a trustable man, she still can't fully trust him in order to protect herself and her family. That was what she kept on telling herself.

Her gratefulness towards him for saving the girls and saving both their lives and their hearts is genuine, and she also saw how even Abraham's granddaughters that are famous for being difficult to approach by men opened up to him rather easily.

But even so, she still needs to prove that he's not just another person that will ruin her environment once again.

(40 gold coins are too much for just to hire escorts from my connections. It's a money enough to buy three small decent houses or one big house, after all) (Madam)

His eyes didn't show his lust for her body that is using revealing attire, and he didn't harbor any malicious intent in his eyes that might want to take her possessions.

(This is just an insurance. I'm doing this to check what his real intentions are using the most effective method to pry into men's secrets) (Madam)

Seductions.

"I wonder... Should I accept them?" Asked the Madam as she slowly stands and walks over to Lyan's back and slightly touched his shoulder.

As she passed, her nice smell entered his nostrils, while her voluptuous body which is proudly shown by her revealing attire entered his vision before she finally walks straight to his back.

"Not just money, I need another kind of payment as well," The Madam gently caressed Lyan's cheek.

"And that is?" (Lyan)

"Of course, the kind of agreement that could be done by a man and woman," The Madam sits on top of his lap and took his glass of wine before drinking it elegantly before him.

But she didn't gulp it down. Her mouth which is filled with wine approached Lyan's face.

And she locked their lips.

___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Gold-ranked Mercenary

Money: 3,501,722,400 Elnes / 3501 gold 72 big silver 2 silver 4 big copper

Weapon: None

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire's Companions: 8 High Spirits, 3 Valkyrie, Shadow Goblin Lord (Lv. 5), Papilio Slime (Lv. 45), Galewing Butterfly (Lv. 45), Rock Golem (Lv. 50), Deadlight (Lv. 63), Moonlight Butterfly (Lv. 45), Ice Golem (Lv. 50), Acid Ant Queen (Lv. 1)

Grimoire's Army: 6 Shadow Servants, 800 Skeleton Army