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Back at their home, Evandel headed to her room and happily played with her plushies, Kerny and Richy.

Since it was still super early in the day due to time zone differences, but also since they were both still awake, Lee and Rachel spent the time in the kitchen instead to relax until morning.

Rachel slid a cup of bergamot tea for Lee and smiled. "It's just us again, Hubby."

Lee chuckled and said, "You couldn't wait to call me that again, hm?"

Rachel sat down on Lee's left with her own cup of tea and idly laced her right hand with his left hand. "Well, it's true. And I like calling you my hubby. It's a bit informal... but it's cute."

Lee smiled and sipped his tea. "Yeah. I like you calling me that too, Wifey."

Rachel let out a bright smile. Then she said, "So... the trip with Hajin to Paris went awry, I heard. And read."

Lee groaned. "Yeah... I'm not going to go on a trip with Hajin again without tons of backup. I thought that ridiculous things happened around me, but apparently when we're together, the world likes to throw stat checks at us both."

Rachel giggled and said, "I think even I could have told you that, Hubby." She poked Lee's cheek and said, "Your confidence has a price, you know~?"

Lee nodded. "Mmhm. I'm well aware of that now. Which is why I'm absolutely going to bring contingency plans with me."

"Contingency plans?"

"Yep. Here." Lee held up his smartwatch and loaded up an annotated map. "I saw that Ireland had a few different dungeons open up. While most of them are unknown... Actually, I guess all of them are since no one's publicly reported entering them yet... But anyway, I'm pretty sure I know what these are. See here?" He tapped on a point on the map. "...Well, this technically isn't Ireland since it's the Isle of Man. But I think Gae Buidhe is probably here. Maybe Fragarach too."

Rachel focused, staring at the map. "The Isle of Man..." Her eyes lit up. "Like Manann? The one from the Ulster Cycle?"

Lee blinked and said, "Huh? You know about that, Wifey?"

Rachel looked smug and said, "I did a bit of research." She tapped her rapier and said, "Since I managed to gain Gae Bulg, I decided to look into what else might be there in Briton's lands." She paused, looking genuinely concerned. "...There are quite a lot. We should go pick them up before anyone else does."

Lee nodded. "That's the plan. I got side-tracked with the Smithsonian last time, but it turns out 'flashy and pure DPS' weapons don't help much against enemies that say 'screw your rules.'"

Rachel giggled. "That's true..." She teased. "Although I have a feeling you would find a way out in a pinch, right, Hubby?"

Lee remembered <Maverick>. Then he said, "...Yeah, but it might lead to the world breaking in half, so let's find a safety net first."

Rachel nodded. "Mmhm. That's probably the best. Although..." She looked at Lee. "You know, it probably wasn't Hajin's fault you had to fight Dracula in that Dungeon."

Lee frowned. "What do you mean?"

Rachel poked the re-cut Hope Diamond embedded in his necklace. "This is infamous for leading its owners to misfortune, isn't it?"

Lee froze. Then he slowly looked down at his necklace.

And then, almost like a child being caught reaching for a cookie jar, its status window popped up for Lee to look at.

===

[Black Lotus of Despair - Pinnacle-Grade | Fear-Element | Pseudo-Gift Artifact]

Formerly the symbol of the Chameleon Troupe's Seat of Black, the strongest member. Now combined with what had once been the infamous Hope Diamond said to bring misfortune and death to its owner, it has become the manifestation of despair that individuals feel towards the strongest of the world's most feared criminal syndicate.

High synergy, as well as fusion through an unknown means of mana manipulation has created an unprecedented form of artifact.

<Effects>

1. Increases all variable stats by 1.5 point.

2. Wearer can become invisible and turn what they contact invisible.

3. If the opponent fears the wearer, all of the opponent's attacks unilaterally fail.

4. The wearer becomes intangible upon a successful attack to the opponent, preventing counter-attacks and reflexive counters to the wearer.

(Revealed!) 5. Despair Aura - When worn, the aura of despair within the Hope Diamond attracts powerful entities towards you.

===

"...That explains SO much." Lee groaned. "...I should've known an artifact this good would have a drawback."

It had, unintentionally, become a true test of the Seat of Black's power.

The pendant was something that gave ridiculous bonuses, but also required the owner to be strong enough to survive the inevitable draw of other powerful beings.

While Lee managed to suppress it a bit by nature of his physique, it seemed like it caused other sorts of entities to pop up too.

Rachel chuckled and lightly poked Lee's cheek. "Well, Hubby. We just have to find you enough equipment to make you unkillable, right?"

"Being called 'unkillable' is just tempting fate. I'd rather be overgeared enough to 'kill anything I see.' You've gotta be careful with these wordings, especially if we're dealing with Irish lore. The number of times heroes have died due to a stupid geass..."

Rachel smiled. "Of course."

For a while, Lee and Rachel just sat together, enjoying tea. Then Rachel quietly said, "...You know, I confirmed quite a few things about Yeonha while we were alone."

"Oh?" Lee looked amused. "Like what?"

"It turns out, she's more of a carnivore. And she's very hungry, very often."

Lee blinked. "Huh? Yeonha doesn't seem much like a meat person- Oh. OHOHO?!"

Rachel giggled. "Mmhm~!"

"Every night?"

"Sometimes more. It's part of the reason why I wanted to leave early. I think she's getting a bit more... randy since she's pregnant."

Lee laughed. "Smart call. I think it's a bit too early to explain the birds and the bees to Eva."

Rachel smiled and kissed Lee's cheek. "That's right. Especially since we haven't even... Ahem." She blushed.

Lee smiled and nipped Rachel's chin. "Careful, Wifey. I might have excellent self-control, but you don't. And if you ask, I won't be able to say no."

Rachel jolted like a shock went through her spine and she quickly sat up straight. "R-Right. We can't. Not yet." Although she said that, she reflexively placed a hand on her belly, a wistful expression on her face.

Lee noticed and gently kissed her. "It's fine. I'm ready whenever. But let's get our life in order first, hm? We can't go burning Britain to the ground just yet just because you want babies."

Rachel blushed and said, "I was not thinking anything of the sort!"

Lee chuckled and poked her cheek. "Do you know? When you lie, you suddenly slip back into proper diction and enunciation~"

Rachel laughed. "You know me too well, Hubby. Fine, fine... Perhaps I was... considering it."

"And this is why I'm practicing self-constraint. We already have the scandal of the decade, if not century, with Yeonha and Hajin. We can't be adding more to the fire."

Rachel smiled. "You say that, but who was the one continuously referencing Princess Diana, hm?"

"Ah, that was just to seduce you."

Rachel swatted Lee's shoulder. "You scoundrel! ...It worked."

Lee laughed. "I know~"

Rachel hummed and said, "Alright. Then since we have time, let's map out your Dungeon dives, Hubby. This time, we'll all go together. Between you, me, and Evandel, I think it'll be much safer than going with just Hajin."

"...I love that you're right, but it's also kind of sad that you're right..."

===

Back in the Chameleon Troupe's temporary hideout in Seoul. One that Jain had recently set up just for clandestine operations.

It was noon, and Boss had finally finished sorting out the goods from the Smithsonian with Droon.

While most of them were just props or raw material, there were a few interesting trinkets in the mix. According to Droon, some items had a trait called [Fragment of History] which could be drawn out to create unique artifacts.

The problem was figuring out how to utilize those traits... But Droon was researching it.

For now though...

Boss sat down at the table of her desk, scrolling through the world news headlines. And as she did, she saw a brief news article from France about the Chameleon Troupe striking again.

"...Hm?"

Boss frowned and tapped it open, murmuring, "Did Jain get caught?"

If she remembered right, Jain had mentioned catching wind of an artifact that the Evil Society wanted and had planned to infiltrate to steal it ahead of time.

But Jain had returned and didn't mention any problems-

"Oh."

A familiar figure with a white mask and suit, distorting the images with black mana.

Another figure wearing a Batman mask and wielding guns.

Boss chuckled and said, "It seems our newest member acquired a taste for heists."

It was Lee. And while the one with him wasn't Khalifa, it seemed like Lee had managed to find a partner to play up the same role.

And from the comments on the article, it seemed like his actions were slowly building infamy for the Chameleon Troupe.

"Mm... Not quite what I imagined for our direction as the Chameleon Troupe. But I suppose this works."

Djinn were scrambling. The public was reeling. And it seemed like governments were second-guessing whether to even deploy Heroes to locations where the Chameleon Troupe was rumored to operate.

That was good.

It meant that, when the time came to confront Bell... they wouldn't need to hide. They could do it in broad daylight and no one would dare to stop them.

Although...

Boss read the report again, noting that the Dungeon that appeared in France was rumored to be Dracula's. "Hm... if there was a dungeon like that..."

It had been some time since Boss went out on her own to clear Dungeons. And it had been some time since she managed to improve as well...

Boss nodded to herself. "I suppose I should get Lee some useful gifts. Even if he is a regressor, he could always use more tools."

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