Chapter 44: Just Prepare Yourself

A/N: Bonus chapter for reaching 600 Power Stones last week. I can finally upload it.

***

"So Adam has already been discarded? That's fast." The shadow covered in the dark muttered as I stepped away from the place. "So that's why he looked tired. His strength was drained from him."

It had been quite a find. It was a good decision to go to this place when I noticed a sudden appearance of another dot near the area.

"The protagonist has fallen due to his arrogance. Now he's just another boy, nothing special. That bitch is really ruthless. Discarding someone she found special as if he was just another trash she found on the way."

I took off my cape. A sly grin planted on my face as the [Shadow Cape] disappeared into a mote of blue light, entering my inventory.

"Let's play in her game, shall we? I can show her where she stands when she meets me by herself. Who she is messing with, and what kind of consequences follow it."

The real enemy that I should watch for wasn't Adam but his helper. What I saw earlier was a bit shocking because I never expected it to happen this fast.

Maybe that was how Adam was able to get Sins twice faster compared to normal people? By using Beatrice's power? Or was there something else?

But, one thing was clear. Without her, Adam was just another talented youngster.

That purple-haired bitch's real identity had never been explained in detail back in Sins Paradise. That cunning, sly woman was always a mystery for players. We only knew a little bit about her backstory, where she came from, and her race.

But because she was sexy, no one really complained about it. Now that I was in the world of Sins Paradise, the first thing I worried about and took care of seriously was only that bitch.

Of course, I wouldn't take my eyes off Adam. He could just still retaliate and Beatrice called Alexander his second toy instead of new toys. That meant she was still interested in Adam.

But I began to take Beatrice more seriously than the mister protagonist, who looked damn weak this morning.

'To think that she's really the source of Adam's fast growth of strength. The upgrade function in the game actually came from her, huh? Those useless developers explained things half-heartedly.'

Once again, I stepped into the light and looked at the sun above. The weather was nice. Clouds drifted ever so slowly as the spring breeze ruffled my blond hair slightly. Perfect weather for sports.

"Well, let's bring Eliza to the monster subjugation. It's time to train her so she can protect herself."

***

And so when school was over, I asked Eliza to go with me. "Eliza, want to go somewhere with me right now?"

She stopped tidying her books and looked at me.

"Huh? Are you okay, Arthur? You aren't sick?" Was her answer.

She tilted her head, confused. Well, I had never asked her to go out all this time, so it was no wonder that she was confused.

"No, I am sane. So, do you want to tag along?"

"Where?" She asked, her face lit up in happiness. After she realized that, she immediately added. "Also, it's not like I tag along because you asked me to! But it's to repay what you did earlier, okay?!"

'Oh, her tsundere attitude has come out after 3 days. It's new.'

I smiled at her and stood up, "Yeah, whatever you say. This will also benefit you. I know you will be happy once we arrive at our destination."

"Huh?" Eliza let out a confused voice once again. "Where are we going?" She asked as she took her bag and stood up.

"Somewhere special." I grinned. "Follow me."

Saying so, I exited the classroom. I didn't need to tidy anything as I didn't bring a bag. Inventory was really convenient.

"Wait!"

Eliza soon followed me, and we walked side by side.

Our destination was the church. Garcia said that a squad of church knights would accompany me to the monster subjugation.

Probably Sana planned to use this chance to train these knights as well as to show them my power to gain their loyalty. What a shrewd woman Sana was.

As we walked out of the Royal Academy, I noticed Eliza fidgeting with her cheek turned slightly red. She glanced at me now and then, and her hand hesitatingly tried to grab mine but couldn't as I put them inside my pockets.

Because the way she looked while being restless was cute, I pretended not to see what she was doing and continued walking.

We walked like that for a while. But when Eliza noticed we were walking toward the church, she tugged my sleeve.

"Arthur... Why are we going here?" She asked curiously. "I thought we were going to a café or something?"

"I didn't say that, though," I replied with a playful smile. "I only asked whether you wanted to tag me to Castitas Church. I have some business as a Paladin. As this will also benefit you, I asked you to go with me."

Eliza's face looked disappointed when I said that we would go to Castitas Church. But when I said that this would also benefit her, she tilted her head in confusion.

"You were harassed by that blue-haired bastard earlier, right?" I asked.

Her body jolted a little before giving me a small nod. She seemed to be a bit terrified because she knew that Alexander Bluerose was stronger and his family had more authority than hers.

We couldn't do anything about the second part. I would need to step on if that guy harassed Eliza by flaunting his status.

But for the first one, we could fix it easily.

"That's why I asked you to tag along with me. Let's make you strong enough so you can blow him away with your magic." My hand went over her head naturally and patted her.

She looked at me with a complicated face mixed with embarrassment and disbelief. Her face flushed as she slapped my hand away.

"W-Why did you pat me?!"

"Well, you're just cute," I replied with a giggle, causing her to blush more.

"What are you saying!" And there she went again, shouting while pointing her finger at me. "A-Anyway, getting stronger? Is that something easy to do?"

"Oh, it is easy," I replied and turned around, looking at the church that stood in glory at the end of the street we were walking on.

People in this world had thought that monsters were scary. They were afraid of them even though they couldn't die.

The only thing that made monsters scary was when you could die facing them. If you couldn't die, then they wouldn't be that scary. In the game, players would only lose their experience points a few % when they died.

While I didn't know what kind of thing people in this world would lose when they die, it surely wouldn't affect them greatly. At least that was what I guessed.

So there was no reason to be afraid of those monsters. Still... they could only fight monsters at their level. That was what made leveling in this real world a bit hard. I learned this from an old professor about Level Up in an earlier class. It was interesting.

These high-ranking nobles had their knights to help their children Level Up. Once they reached Level 10, their efficiency would decrease, and the knights could no longer help them.

But I was different. If the efficiency of the same Level monster decreased, then I just needed to find a higher Level monster.

"I can guarantee you. When we return tonight, you will become at least Level 20."

At my words, Eliza showed disbelief. "That's impossible, you know?"

"It's not." I shook my head as I stopped. We arrived in front of Casitas Church, and there were knights with full white armor running down the stairs frantically when they saw my figure.

Turning to Eliza, I showed her a confident smile, "Just prepare yourself."