The Discarded Son's Skill Market

"I hadn’t realized you’d brought her," Alice said when she heard him close the door and come in.

Zaid realized she was referring to Valia, so he made up an excuse. "I brought her in my suitcase. I didn’t want to leave her alone at the dorm. Erick can’t be trusted; he doesn’t know how to take care of cats."

’Come to think of it... I burned his favorite book.’ Zaid felt a chill run down his spine. It hadn’t been his fault, but the fact remained that a book that had taken that guy more than two weeks to buy had been destroyed by him.

He didn’t know how he was going to explain that.

Valia was looking with great interest at the city spread out before her. She seemed revitalized, but he hadn’t forgotten that she was wounded—or something like that—in her spirit. Although he’d given her a quick checkup that night at the fortress and hadn’t found anything wrong, it remained a source of concern for him.

"Hehe~" A tender, soft chuckle from Alice snapped him out of his reverie.

Zaid felt his body shiver as the gentle breeze blew in through the window and brushed his face, accompanied by that tender little laugh.

He swallowed hard and gathered his courage. He walked over to her and stood beside her, looking out the window. They had a great view.

The city at night, lit by streetlights, looked quite pretty, even though it wasn’t a big city and didn’t have any large buildings. It had a slightly Gothic feel thanks to the cathedrals you could see in the distance and the large cathedral in the center. But the city’s layout was very similar to that of a medieval city.

"I overheard a few things from the neighbors next door. Apparently, Mr. Shoaff said it’s most likely we won’t be able to leave tomorrow," Alice reported.

"Although it’s a little problematic, I don’t think it’s a bad idea. We can experience the famous Seventh Night..." At this point, he frowned. "By the way, I was invited there. They want me to participate—don’t you want to go with me?"

"You were invited?" Alice was surprised and turned to stare at him. "Why?"

"It’s all part of the arrangements made by Old Man Anhur—the one I told you about. Lord Lodrey asked him to teach me, and apparently this is some kind of test."

"But that’s strange, isn’t it? No outsider can experience the Seventh Night... It’s written in their rules."

"Well... apparently they can make exceptions. Maybe Elder Anhur has a very high status here."

Alice still found it strange.

Zaid... instinctively felt the same way, but he also felt he shouldn’t dwell on it too much, right? It was one of the oldest religions in the Kingdom of Toluria. They’re very close to a lot of people—even his father is, to some extent, close to them. And his grandfather, who died in that legendary year, was a believer.

He didn’t think anything would go wrong.

That’s why he patted him on the shoulder. "It’ll be fine. I met Cardinal Marcellus, and he’s a good guy."

"Oh, you went to see a cardinal? Wow..." Alice said in surprise.

Not just anyone got an opportunity like that. Especially when it came to Cardinal Marcellus, whose status in the kingdom surpassed that of the other cardinals, and only the local cardinals of the Holy Loyalty Church held a status as exalted as his.

"If that’s the case, w-we should go to bed early," Alice whispered, letting her eyes wander in all directions without focusing on anything in particular.

Zaid exhaled softly and looked at the light on his right. If he turned it off and left the window open, they’d have almost the same amount of light, but the atmosphere would be different.

’Maybe it’ll help her relax her muscles,’ he thought, raising his right hand to turn it off...

Alice, on his left, trembled even more. That hadn’t helped at all.

And it made sense. Now the room was dark, with only the moonlight casting a faint blue glow.

’Wow, this is worse...’

Zaid didn’t know what to do.

’Well... it’s true that I have some experience with this, but Elara wasn’t so shy. Now I don’t know what to do. Anyway, it’s just sleeping, right? Just sleeping!’

Zaid clenched his fists and turned toward Alice, who glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. When she felt their eyes meet, she looked toward the city, though she wasn’t really looking at the city. She wasn’t looking at anything.

"Let’s go to sleep. Tomorrow might be a long day," he said.

She nodded, but didn’t move.

Zaid motioned for Valia to follow him, and then put her to sleep in a cat bed he had recently bought... At first, Valia felt insulted, and if it weren’t for the sake of her "mission," she wouldn’t have stayed there.

However, once she tried it, she realized that humans are really good at taking care of cats. This bed was amazingly nice and extremely comfortable.

Since it was so small, it could even be placed anywhere without any problems.

She gave it a 7 out of 10!

Zaid made up the bed where he was going to sleep—that is, the only bed there was. He thought about pulling some sheets off the bed to make a mat on the floor.

’Given her trauma, it must be hard for her to sleep with a man...’ he thought.

However, just as he was about to do so, Alice stopped him. Without him noticing, she had crept up behind him and grabbed the sheets.

"It’s okay," she whispered, pulling them back up onto the bed.

Zaid took a deep breath... Only now did he realize that this woman was truly provocative today.

Truly provocative!

’God... What are you wearing, Alice?’ Zaid felt something other than his mind kicking into gear...

However, he held himself back with all his strength.

A semi-sheer nightgown hugged her soft, beautiful figure, while underneath she wore a very seductive babydoll. Zaid had never been seduced by something like that—let alone by such a beautiful woman!

Her glorious breasts weren’t that large, but they were big enough for a man to delight in them. Her pronounced curves played with the eye, drawing it from one side to the other and filling a man’s mind with naughty thoughts.

For Zaid, this was torture...

Did she want to seduce him?

He swallowed hard and looked toward the window, wondering why there was so much light coming in that he could now see what he hadn’t been able to see before.

The curtain had been pulled to one side; someone must have done it... Alice.

’She really wants to seduce me...’ Zaid was perplexed... and fell under her spell.

He walked toward her, fully prepared to do whatever it took... He noticed how she trembled, but he still raised his hand and cupped her cheeks.

"You’re... unusually beautiful." He swallowed again. Alice’s scent was too seductive.

Alice forced a gentle smile to try to hide her nervousness, but her hands clutching her pajamas gave her away. Even more so did her stutter: "T-t-thank you... Z-z-Zaid..."

Zaid smiled... An immense fire ignited in his heart and body. He couldn’t hold back any longer.

He lowered his head, and his lips found Alice’s.

In a gentle kiss, he felt Alice shiver several times.

Her body tensed, and for a brief moment she bit him. However, she realized it immediately, so she relaxed her teeth and let him continue...

They both lay down gently, as Alice let his kisses intoxicate her in a tender and dangerous moment... It was irresistible.

Literally.

Just as Zaid was thinking about taking the next step... he noticed something strange.

Alice... was asleep.

"Huh?"

Caught between bewilderment and the fire burning in his heart and body, Zaid didn’t know what to do.

It took him several minutes to process the situation...

Finally, he let out a faint smile.

Setting aside the beautiful, sweet face she had while sleeping, this woman was dangerous. Overwhelmingly seductive.

Zaid adjusted her to a more comfortable position and lay down beside her. He did his best not to think about anything else and to calm his inner heat.

’Maybe her trauma caused her to faint...’ he thought.

He found the situation... more than amusing and endearing.

--

The next morning, he had some trouble looking her in the eye. Well, he wanted to look her in the eye, but she was so embarrassed that she spent the early morning hours locked in the bathroom, offering only occasional replies.

The guards came to get Zaid and brought him some clothes. He took the opportunity to mention to his colleagues that he’d been invited to the event during the morning meeting, when they were told they couldn’t leave that day.

To speed up the unpacking process, they had to take turns. Some worked at night, while others worked in the morning. However, on Sunday of the Seventh Night, work had to stop quite early.

That morning, Zaid was dressed in special robes. They dressed him like a believer, but they didn’t let him wear a single badge indicating that he actually was one. All the believers could tell that he was some kind of special guest, especially after Cardinal Marcellus introduced him at 3:00 p.m. to several groups of believers.

-

"I’ve noticed a significant increase in these guys’ energy levels," Kevin said to Martin and Finn. "I think their friend might be in danger."

Martin frowned. They were at the hotel. It was 5:00 p.m., and the time for the Seventh Night Celebrations was slowly approaching.

No one had been expelled from the city... they didn’t know if that was a good thing.

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