It didn’t matter if Hikaru had Stealth. To gather information, he needed to eavesdrop or read documents, both he couldn’t do because of the language barrier.

Hikaru only knew extremely simple words. He couldn’t go about spying like this. When he returned to the city, however, he found the solution to his problem in an unexpected place.

「Welcome back, Hikaru.」

Lavia came out to greet him as soon as he made it back to the garden mansion. Hikaru was caught by surprise. It was the middle of the night, and he deactivated his Stealth just now. Did she gain detection Skills?

「What’s wrong?」she asked.

「N-Nothing.」

「Where are you, Lavia-chan— Wait, Hikarus-sama?! Wait, how’d you know?!」

「Hehe. I know where exactly Hikaru is no matter where he is.」she said proudly.

Hikaru felt a mix of joy and embarrassment. She didn’t use any detection Skills; she simply knew.

Lavia eyed Hikaru from top to bottom, then glanced at Drake who was sleeping in his arms, stomach bulging.

『Looks like you got something out of your trip.』Lavia said.

「I’m sorry, what did you just say—」

「You won’t believe it, Hikaru-sama! Lavia-chan is already quite fluent in this place’s language!」

「I can just barely hold everyday conversations, though.」

Hikaru was astounded. It was too fast. Sure, Lavia loved reading books, but learning a language wasn’t something anyone could do in a short period of time.

「Hikaru?」

「U-Uh, I’m sorry. I was just surprised.」

「Really? Anyway, we should put Drake to bed first. You should change too. Or do you want to wash yourself first? You could go to bed if you’re exhausted.」

「No, I’m good. There’s something I need to tell you two right away.」he said in a serious tone.

Lavia’s expression turned serious as well.

「—And that’s it.」

After wiping himself with warm water and changing clothes, Hikaru told Lavia and Paula everything he saw during the trip. Drake was sleeping in a different room.

After a moment of silence, Lavia spoke.「So this evil being joined forces with Wakamaru’s younger brother, Koukimaru. There’s an accomplice in the city, and you have no idea who it is.」

「That about sums it up.」

「You think not knowing anything about the accomplice is dangerous.」

Hikaru nodded. How much access the accomplice had to information, no one knew. It was best to assume that they leaked everything happening inside Dream Maker. He would’ve also informed his ally outside about Hikaru.

「Also we have to destroy those towers… or eggs… basically the Roots. I know where they are, but it might take some time to take care of them all.」

With Hikaru’s notes and Mana Detection, finding the Roots would be easy. The problem was how to get there and back. He could borrow a boat if the place was accessible by water. Otherwise, he’d have to walk through the forest where only those with Stealth could enter safely. In other words, Hikaru would have to go alone.

「I’m not sure which one I should do first.」

「I’ll do the intel-gathering.」Lavia said.

「What?」

「It would make my learning the language worth it. Actually, while Paula’s in the middle of a healing session, I use my Stealth and take a stroll in places. I think I know the city’s layout the best among us.」

「But—」

She has a point, Hikaru thought. Lavia had Stealth, and she knew the language more than Hikaru. But leaving it all to her would be too dangerous.

「Please, Hikaru… I know you don’t want to put my life in danger. But I want to do something for you too. Paula’s working hard with her healing magic, while I’m not doing anything.」

She knew what Hikaru was thinking. He heaved a sigh.

「You’ve done more than enough. I have your fire spells in my bullets.」

「Please…」

Lavia leaned forward. She’s being unusually stubborn, Hikaru thought. It’s true, though. I haven’t asked her for help a lot lately. She must’ve felt lonely. His love for her grew even stronger.

「She won’t budge an inch when she’s like this, Hikaru-sama. Anyway, I’ll go watch Drake. You two just take your sweet time discussing.」Paula let out a forced yawn.

「Sheesh. She didn’t need to do that.」Hikaru said.

「Hikaru. We’re not done yet.」

「Okay, fine. You can go gather intel.」

「Really?!」Lavia’s face brightened despite the dangerous job.

「You’re definitely more familiar with the language than me, but I think it’s still not enough to do spy work.」

「I know. I’ll study a lot more!」

Laiva clenched both her fists. Hikaru couldn’t help but chuckle.

「I can upgrade the stats on your Soul Board if you want.」

「Language Comprehension please!」

Lavia immediately realized what Hikaru was referring to, as he had already told her about the Soul Board in detail. On the unlabeled Soul Board was Instinct, with Intelligence, Language Comprehension, and Language Output under it. Only very few people had points on these stats. The recent one was Vireocean’s Dennis Lugrim who had one point each on both Language Comprehension and Output.

Deena might have points on them as well. In any case, Lavia had four points available.

「One point to unlock Intuition, another to unlock Intelligence, and then two points on Language Comprehension. How’s that sound?」

「Sounds good. Language Output is for speaking, right?」

「I think it’s more on writing.」

「I see. In that case, just Language Comprehension is fine.」

「Are you sure about this?」

「Of course.」

Soul Board points are important. They’re not something you should spend that easily.

「I’m glad.」Lavia said, placing her hand on her chest.「I’m glad I could be useful to you. I feel a sense of relief that I get to stand next to you.」

「Lavia…」

「You may use me freely.」

Hikaru’s fingers moved as he configured Lavia’s Soul Board.

【Soul Board】Lavia

Age: 15 Rank: 33

【Vitality】

..【Stamina】3

【Magical Power】

..【Mana】15

….【Magic Principle】2

..【Spirit Affinity】

….【Fire】6

….【Magic Creation】1

【Agility】

..【Stealth】

….【Life Obfuscation】3

….【Mana Obfuscation】3

….【Imperceptibility】3

……【Group Obfuscation】3

【Intuition】

..【Intelligence】

….【Language Comprehension】2

「Done.」

「I don’t feel any different.」

「Yeah. Back when I learned Instinct, it didn’t really click at first, but you’ll definitely see the results.」

「Okay.」

Lavia moved beside Hikaru and clung to his arm.

「What is it?」

「Well, I thought you were done with what you wanted to say… I felt lonely without you around.」

「………」

They needed to discuss who to get information from, how to do it, and set up a proper schedule. But since she was just too adorable, Hikaru abandoned the thought.

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