Holding something round, thick, yet warm, Estelle inquired, "What did you just give me?"

"A water bottle?" Zeph confirmed with a raised eyebrow.

’....’ Estelle first glanced at her hand, where a glass bottle was present. Due to being mana-infused, it was strong enough to hold longer without breaking and even seemed to carry some runes but due to heat, water was warm but enough to drink.

"Zeph, I know, but you should return the crystal," Estelle firmly stated, wanting her crystal back, yet seemed vigilant about her way towards a direction which was familiar to her.

After all, this was the way leading to somewhere which held very deep memories for Estelle, whose life’s first obstacle was met here.

Something which led to the death of Laila and reminded her of how helpless she was in this world.

"Laila, come here. Let me carry you," Zeph, ignoring Estelle, turned towards the woman secretly trying to drop a water drop to a black dog-like creature that appeared out of nowhere and was moving beside the squirrel while opening its mouth.

’This piece of shi—’ Before Zeph could complete his thoughts, a voice reverted, sourced from the demi-human accompanying them.

’?!’

SWISH

"Laila! That’s a Demonic beast," Jia instantly sprinted towards her before swiftly sidling her with a push and kicked the creature with a swift head-to-toe kick.

"W-wait! That’s a good—?!" Laila protested, suddenly seeing her body getting pushed and the beast’s body shrinking due to the kick, but was late due to the speed at which this all happened.

BAM!

Without giving the chance for the creature to speak further, its body got flung to a distance before falling on the ground ten steps away.

BANG!

Evident of the weight carried by that creature, causing it not to fly much farther and enough to break the ground where it fell.

"Haah...Haaa...phew~ Saved you," Finally feeling satisfied, Jia cleared the nonexistent sweat from her forehead, after all, there wasn’t even enough water for her to sweat.

Typically, a desert with heat enough to evaporate their sweat, but due to her race being a demi-human, she was more than alive.

"Not yet, that beast is coming out," Estelle narrowed her gaze, not identifying the creature from her any life, never having encountered such a beast of black color, appearing like a big ball.

Both Jia’s and Estelle’s gaze were fixed on the small crater formed due to the weight of the beast who fell on that place, eyes not missing any movement before three small black fingers, muddied and dusty having a small nail, gripped the boundary of the crater.

crack!

thud

"Huh?" Both of their mouths formed a gap seeing how the small stone broke and again caused that creature to fall in that crater, clearly signifying the weight being not in its favor.

Tap Tap

Attracting both for their attention was the sound of footsteps of the young man accompanying them, holding a twitching mouth as he approached that hole before Laila too sprinted towards it.

"Wait, Laila—" Jia wanted to stop Laila but felt Estelle’s hand on her shoulder, trying to convey to her not to interrupt them, since Estelle also wanted to know the identity of that creature.

Somewhat, her interest was more in the young man’s facial expression, which was showing his dissatisfaction, holding a twitch, causing her to think about the reason for him to react like that.

Zeph, approaching the very familiar figure, sensed the arriving presence of Laila, causing him to control his reflexes, wanting to kick something very badly. Arriving at the small crater, he looked down at a black creature lying down with its black body.

"You know what you did?" Zeph inquired.

"Kyuu~! *I just went to arrange a wife for you* "

".... Dumbass," Zeph couldn’t help but lean down, seeing the little black dragon, which wasn’t appearing dragon-like from any sides due to its body bloated like a pumpkin.

A big black pumpkin, enough to hide his small fingers on the back, with watery eyes, trying to appear as innocent as possible.

"W-wife?!"

’Ah, just forget about her,’ Zeph realized that Laila’s ability was able to understand the words of this little black dragon who promised him to remain hidden, quiet, and non-existent until they come outside.

So, after Chrono ate the special herb he got from Professor Liamian, Zeph, though waiting for the time for the test and formulating the way to make Laila fall for him or at least side with him.

But, knowing that Jia could be useless due to her haughty personality, he had brought this little shit, with a condition to keep hidden but after reaching all the way here...

"Woah, can you also hear him?" Zeph, feigning surprise, turned towards Laila whose widened eyes were fixed on the creature lying on the ground.

"Huh? Y-yeah, I could," Laila suddenly hearing such an excited tone from Zeph, became bewildered before turning towards him while feeling slightly embarrassed yet nodded.

’What the hell?’ Jia’s eyes twitched seeing how naive Laila was really to not see through Zeph’s approach to change the topic.

"....Shouldn’t we tell her?" Jia, looking at the embarrassed Laila and Zeph who seemed to have a smile, she turned her gaze towards Estelle inquiring.

"Nah, leave it, just make sure to keep Laila on your side," Estelle could clearly understand what exactly Zeph was trying to achieve, even though his all actions till now revealed it but seeing this all, it was still unbelievable.

Like how could someone be this shameless to openly approach others while already having a girlfriend.

"...." Jia nodded looking at both individuals before glancing at the bottle in Estelle’s hand, saying, "Can I drink now?"

"Huh? Ah yes, here," Estelle offered the bottle, while feeling slightly awkward for not offering Jia water instead kept her attention somewhere else.

"GULP! Ahhh..Finally!" Drinking the water from the bottle, Jia felt her throat finally satiating as she turned her attention towards Zeph, who, due to his sharp mana-enhanced senses had heard her drinking the water from bottle he gave her as he turned towards her.

’This bastard,’ Jia narrowed her eyes, feeling frustrated due to that mocking smile forming on Zeph’s face, causing her fist to tighten as she tried to say something. "You—?!"

SWISH

’Huh’, suddenly her mind went blank, her eyes only capturing Zeph’s widening eyes with gritted teeth as his figure vanished, but the only thing which came to her mind was that she was again poisoned by him. ’Bastar—THUD’