On the airship.
"Haha, you really found a lively little girl," Bisky said with a smile, sitting on the sofa and watching Melusine float around the airship.
This elderly "maiden" was once again overflowing with maternal love.
At this moment, they had already boarded the airship for their return journey. Melusine was filled with curiosity about airships—something she had only seen in comics. After boarding, she had been incredibly excited. For her, everything outside was new, like a child entering an amusement park. Things she had only seen in comics and stories before, she could now touch herself. So she was almost constantly in a state of excitement.
Looking at Melusine at this moment, Kevin's face was full of smiles.
"After all, she's been confined to that small village for over a decade. It's only natural for her to be curious about the outside world." Saying that, Kevin looked at Bisky and asked, "How's the situation in that village now?"
It wasn't convenient for him to inquire about such matters; as a primary participant, actively seeking relevant information could easily be noticed, leading to unnecessary trouble.
Bisky picked up her teacup, took a light sip, and said casually, "It's embroiled in a lot of complicated affairs. Although the main matters are handled by the Association, other countries still want to dig something out of it. It will definitely be troublesome for a while; it should get better in about half a year to a year."
Kevin nodded and no longer paid much attention to the matter.
At this moment, he saw Bisky take out that gem again, place it on the coffee table, and admire it repeatedly.
"Do you really like this gem that much?"
"You unappreciative fellow, shut up." Bisky, who was immersed in admiring the beauty of the gem, interrupted Kevin. Then, she casually changed the subject and asked, "Did you not find a way to heal Melusine's legs?"
The image of a beautiful girl with disabled legs gave Melusine a layer of tragic beauty. But being able to run healthily is always better than that thin layer of beauty. If it were someone else, Bisky wouldn't ask such a question, but Kevin possessed miraculous potions, and there was a precedent of him treating others' illnesses with Kite before, which made her curious to ask.
"Her leg problems are a result of her being a Saintess, caused by the influence of Nen ability. As long as she takes some time to slowly recuperate, her leg problems will naturally resolve. There's no need to worry."
Hearing this, Bisky nodded.
Her attention shifted back to the gem in front of her, and her eyes turned into starry eyes again.
She really couldn't understand this woman. It was no joke that she could become a Gem Hunter. She truly loved it to the bone.
Kevin stood up and walked to Melusine's side.
"It's beautiful outside, isn't it?"
Hearing this, Melusine turned her head, blushed, nodded, and floated over to link arms with Kevin—the position temporarily held by the white snake.
Two airships landed in the city one after another.
Transport vehicles were already parked at the airport, and Menchi and Buhara quickly moved the materials from the Locke airship onto the transport vehicles.
Meanwhile, Kevin and his group saw Pairo at the exit.
Pairo saw Kevin, waved, and then, seeing Bisky next to Kevin, his face immediately fell.
"Hehe, you brat, why that expression when you see Princess Bisky?" The subtle change in expression was immediately caught by Bisky.
"Haha, how could it be? It's my honor to see Her Royal Highness Princess here. Please." Saying that, Pairo exaggeratedly bowed and extended his arm for Bisky to take, as if truly serving a princess.
"Hmph, at least you're sensible."
Melusine, next to Kevin, looked left and right, her hands linked around his shoulders, her face full of curiosity. This scene made Pairo pause. He wondered if he had seen wrong and rubbed his eyes.
"Uncle Kevin, who is this?"
Kevin smiled. "This is my girlfriend—Melusine."
Girlfriend? Huh? So what happened in these past few months?
Although surprised, Pairo immediately nodded and called out, "Unc—Sister Melusine."
This address was a bit strange, but it was mainly because Melusine looked too young. As soon as Pairo thought of Bisky, he worried that Melusine's personality might be similar to Bisky's, so he quickly changed his address to "sister." The first impression must be maintained; he couldn't risk annoying her.
Neon, Bisky, Menchi—these three women had given Pairo a stereotypical impression of women from the outside world.
"This is Pairo, my nephew."
"You can just call me Pairo," Pairo quickly said.
After they introduced themselves, they got into a car and quickly left the airport.
Soon, the convoy returned to the manor.
"Compared to the last time I was here, the security system has improved quite a bit," Bisky said, looking out the window. Those hidden security facilities naturally couldn't escape her notice.
Hearing this, Kevin said, "We recruited a professional Hunter in this field before."
The group arrived at the manor entrance.
"What a big house. This must be called a manor, right?" As soon as Melusine got out of the car and saw the manor, her eyes immediately lit up. In most romance comics of this era, the story settings were mostly concentrated in places like castles and manors.
"What's so surprising? Don't you still live in a castle?"
"What's so good about a castle? It's big and desolate. A manor looks much better." Melusine had never had a good impression of that castle.
"Castle? Did Uncle abduct a princess from somewhere?" Pairo felt a bit confused. Although he had been in contact with the outside world for a year, living in a castle equating to royalty was almost a stereotype.
Everyone walked into the main hall.
Light and the others had been waiting there for a long time; they all knew that Kevin and the others would return today after being away for several months.
Next came mutual introductions and casual conversation. Everyone was very surprised that Kevin had gotten a girlfriend after being away for a few months, and they couldn't help but scrutinize Melusine. From her appearance alone, Melusine was indeed outstanding.
"It's actually true. I thought you were lying to me," Neon whispered to Kurapika.
When she wrote the prophecy poem before, she hadn't read it herself, but Kurapika had. At that time, the results shown by the prophecy poem were not very optimistic. So they were quite worried, and even asked if they needed help. However, Kevin refused.
Besides the unfavorable outcome, there were some interesting parts in the prophecy poem, such as mentioning that Kevin would have a significant other. At the time, they speculated whether there would be some special circumstances, not what they initially thought. Now it seemed that was indeed the case.
Although Neon couldn't actively read her own prophecies, she could still gather some information from Kurapika and the others' casual conversations without being affected.
Neon and Rosana were very curious about Kevin's girlfriend, so they pulled Melusine, and also called Bisky and Menchi, and gathered around to chat.
"I heard you encountered something very dangerous on this trip?" Light asked, looking at Kevin and scrutinizing him. Light was highly concerned about his ally. After all, Kevin was the linchpin of their team.
Kevin casually waved his hand. "It wasn't that dangerous. Just a bit troublesome."
After a period of pleasantries, everyone quickly became busy. Large quantities of materials needed to be sorted, stored, and recorded.
The next day.
Kevin and the others arrived at the training ground early in the morning.
"Am I like a runaway girl who was noticed by a young master of the underworld and brought home to live together?" Melusine whispered next to Kevin.
"You watch too many comics. And we're not the underworld—we do legitimate business," Kevin corrected her with a helpless smile.
"Oh, aren't we? But—"
Melusine was very confused; yesterday, when she was chatting with Bisky and Neon, they had mentioned the underworld.
"That's all in the past. And don't you think I'm a very kind person?"
"Isn't a kind young master of the underworld even more fitting for a character in a manga?"
Kevin patted Melusine's head and changed the subject. "How was it? Did you sleep well last night?"
"Mm. It's very nice here. Much better than the village."
"Already tired of the old and fond of the new, huh?"
"No! You're so annoying." Saying that, Melusine gently punched him with a small fist.
The two walked to the resting area and sat down.
Kevin checked the time, then looked at the empty center of the training ground, waiting quietly.
As the door was pushed open, it wasn't Kurapika and the other two who entered, but Menchi and Buhara.
"I knew you guys would be here first thing in the morning. Oh, those three little ones aren't here?" Menchi's face showed a schadenfreude smile.
With that, she walked over, leaned next to Melusine, linked arms with her, and whispered.
"It's over, it's over."
With a series of anxious shouts, Kurapika and the other two rushed into the training ground. Seeing the group of people sitting in the resting area, their faces instantly fell, and sweat streamed down their cheeks.
The three looked at each other.
"I told you we should have come faster," Pairo said in a low voice, gritting his teeth.
"But Neon—"
"What a slow woman."
Faced with Pairo's complaint, Neon, uncharacteristically, did not retort, but instead said "It's over" with a look of annoyance.
After Kevin left for a few months, they finally had a leisurely time. As a result, they had been too relaxed for too long and momentarily forgot Kevin's training rules. Kevin would not go easy during training.
"It seems you've been quite comfortable these past few months I've been away, haven't you?"
"No—today—listen—it was an accident."
"Alright, I'm not some monster. Let's train each other and see if you've made any progress."
The few of them began to train.
After a while, Bisky slowly arrived at the training ground.
"You guys came here so early?" With that, she sat down, curiously looking at the young people in the center of the field.
After a simple inspection, Kevin nodded. Although he hadn't supervised them, Kurapika and Pairo's strength had clearly not stagnated; both were steadily improving. As for Neon, one couldn't expect too much; it was already good enough that she hadn't fallen behind.
"Not bad, Kurapika. You can start building your Nen ability. You must have been preparing for this for a long time, right?"
Hearing this, Kurapika nodded excitedly. He had indeed been thinking about it for a long time, and could be said to have detailed plans for all aspects of his future Nen ability.
"They seem even stronger than me?" Gowen suddenly said with a hint of self-doubt.
Gowen's sudden voice gave Pairo and the others a cold sweat. What was going on? How had there been someone with Kevin all this time, and they hadn't noticed?
Pairo keenly observed that, apart from him and Kurapika, no one else found this strange. He looked at Kevin.
At this moment, Kevin was smiling as he looked at them.
"It seems your vigilance isn't enough."
From the moment they disembarked from the airship, Gowen had been following close behind Kevin, never leaving his side except for rest last night. However, Pairo and the others had not noticed him at all.
This was thanks to Gowen's Nen ability. After the battle, on the airship, Gowen successfully constructed one of his Nen abilities—a cloak. His Nen ability is Conjuration-type [Seven Virtues Knight's Armament] , constructed based on the seven great virtues of his country and family's philosophy. It belongs to something very ancient.
When his Nen ability was first constructed, he could only materialize one aspect—[Courage] . The materialized weapon was a knight's greatsword, with the effect of being able to [Sever Nen] . And after this incident, as he pledged loyalty to Kevin, another virtue also awakened—[Loyalty] . What was materialized was the previous cloak, but it was previously illusory. This time, he could truly materialize a red cloak.
Its ability is that when Kevin's commands are completed, he gains ability enhancements. The passive effect is that his presence is lowered when he is by Kevin's side. However, this reduction in presence is limited; he can be easily discovered with a slight increase in vigilance. Moreover, if it's someone who knows him and has no ill will, they are almost unaffected by this presence-reducing effect. After all, this is just an incidental passive effect.
But this also indirectly showed that Pairo and the others had no vigilance toward Kevin, so it wasn't until Gowen spoke up that they noticed him.
"Don't underestimate yourselves. The time they've spent learning Nen ability might not be shorter than yours," Kevin said with a smile. If strictly calculated, their time spent learning Nen ability was similar. However, Pairo and Kurapika learned from Kevin and Bisky, so their foundations were more solid. Gowen's Nen ability teacher, on the other hand, taught in a conventional manner.
"After this, you will train with them."
"Yes." Kevin deliberately used a commanding tone, which would trigger the cloak's effect, allowing Gowen to achieve better results in training.
Subsequently, Kevin followed Menchi and the others to the material storage room, beginning to categorize and record the materials.
"The harvest this time is truly abundant!" Looking at the warehouse full of various materials, Menchi's smile was exceptionally bright.
They had already hunted a considerable amount of materials, and the subsequent chaotic battle brought in mountains of various monster carcasses. Even just taking the portion of materials gifted by the village was enough to fill the warehouse before them.
Similarly, Kevin's material needs were greatly satisfied. It could be said that Kevin would not have to worry about a lack of materials for a long time. Just thoroughly researching these materials and formulating suitable potions would take him more than half a year.
Thinking of this, Kevin suddenly slapped his forehead. "So foolish. There's also Melusine. With her, the speed of creating new potions will definitely accelerate. At the usual pace, with so many materials, it could take a year or even two."
Everyone began to tally and record.
Kevin looked at the materials recorded in the notebook he held:
A-rank: Grudge Snake Pearl [Preservation Potion]
B-rank: Grudge Snake Scales, Jade Bone, Griffin Wind Core, Griffin Heart, Griffin Claws, Red Finch, Hidden Snake, Crow Heart, White Elephant Ivory, Elastic Snake Tendon, Pure White Blood.
C-rank materials are too numerous to tally.
The monsters left behind from the subsequent battles could basically be disassembled into two to three different usable materials. Among them, ivory, snake tendons, and pure white blood were all B-rank materials obtained from those monsters during the final battle. Moreover, Kevin didn't have to worry about insufficient quantities of these materials, as most were taken from giant beasts—almost all calculated in hundreds of pounds.
"It's going to be busy in the future."
"I'm leaving first. You two take your time."
Compared to Kevin's simple and quick material inventory work, Menchi and the others would have to spend a lot of time determining how to use these ingredients, and even consider how to preserve them. After all, different baking methods would result in different flavors from the ingredients. Especially the snake meat stored in the treasury.
Kevin returned to his room.
Besides the materials just mentioned, his gains from this trip were not limited to that. Melusine, his girlfriend, was already a powerful Nen user. Moreover, her Nen ability was highly comprehensive, playing important roles in combat, assistance, and support. Perhaps the only drawback was that she could only exert her maximum abilities when she was with Kevin.
Then there was Gowen, who had pledged allegiance to him. Without a doubt, Gowen was an absolute talent for direct combat. This was precisely what Kevin's team currently lacked. After all, up to this point, apart from Kevin, there was no one in the team who could hold their own in direct combat.
Next were the relics.
Kevin silently placed several items on the table. These were the items he obtained after completing the contract: a round, marble-like object; a white bone plate with black patterns; and a palm-sized, exquisitely decorated golden dagger.
All three were Vipere's relics. Although it couldn't be confirmed that all three items came from the Dark Continent, Vipere had, after all, been to the Dark Continent and returned safely. Things he deemed worthy of being passed down as relics, even if not from the Dark Continent, must be priceless treasures.
However, Kevin hadn't had time to research the uses of these three items yet. And now, he didn't need to research them one by one.
Because the most important gain was that notebook.
Kevin looked at the notebook in his hand, wrapped in unknown leather. Now he could flip through it freely. He had already given in to his curiosity and glanced at it before. This was not a travelogue, but purely a record book. It recorded important information, which was extremely useful to Kevin. It could be said that this was his biggest gain from this trip.
Patreon Seasay