Souta looked at Bryan intensely. He was wondering why Bryan was always the one who encountered this kind of thing. The same thing happened to Cl.u.s.ter.
He thought that he only met Cl.u.s.ter because he was with Bryan.
This person who always triggered this kind of event...
"W-What?!" Bryan subconsciously took a step back when he saw the look on Soutaâs face.
Souta sighed and patted Bryanâs shoulder. He said, "The next time you took a quest you must always inform me. I canât leave good things in your hand alone."
"E-Ehhhh! S-Souta, do you like princesses?" Lynn asked as she misunderstood what Souta meant.
"Yeah, I love meeting them..." Souta nodded with a serious expression then he noticed that everyone was looking at him with a dumbfounded expression.
"Ehhhhhh!!"
Everyone opened their eyes widely as their jaw almost reach the floor because of Soutaâs answer.
"You have a princess fetish? Damn, now I understand... Thatâs some high settings youâve got there." Brando nodded in understanding.
Lumilia and Lynn simply couldnât believe what they heard from Soutaâs mouth.
H-He actually said that he likes princesses. Isnât that mean that he was jealous that two princesses have taken an interest in Bryan?
"I didnât think that youâre the type of person that likes princesses? I thought that you only want to get strong like Bryan..." Yujin muttered while looking at Souta.
"I see... Sometimes, I saw Souta grinning without any reason and I found it weird. But I guess he must be thinking about a princess." Even Alice join the conversation.
âYouâve said something that you shouldnât have said.â Saya said to him.
"Hmm...?" Souta rubbed his chin and thought about what he said. He placed himself in his their position and understood why were they looking at him with that face.
"I see... I understand your concern everyone but I think that itâs different from what youâre thinking." Souta said to them calmly.
"You already admit it, Souta. Itâs okay, I sometimes hope that I meet some beautiful princess and rescue them like a knight in shining armor." Brando said while nodding his head.
"Brando, donât place me together with you? Iâm just thinking that it would be great if I could get close to a princess and used her influence." Souta replied to him.
"Oi! Thatâs worse, Souta!" Brando pointed his finger at Souta. He then heard a small voice behind him.
"Ah, it must be great to become a princess..."
He saw that it was Lynn imagining about her being a princess and Souta rescuing her from bandits. "Snap out of it, Lynn! Oi! Lynn! Didnât you hear it?! Souta just wants to use the influence of the princess! Heâs the worse!"
...
After a few minutes of hard work, Brando managed to calm everyone. He sighed and said, "Bryan, have you read the letter?"
"No." Bryan shook his head.
"Okay, give it to me Bryan. Iâll read it for you. I doubt you can understand the letter from a princess." Souta said as he stretched out his hand.
"Souta! That letter is for Bryan! I see so youâre still want to get closer to the princess, huh?" Brando said to Souta and he saw Bryan give the letter to Souta. "Oi! Why are you giving it to him?"
"Good." Souta nodded at Bryan as he ignored the noisy Brando from the side. He opened the letter and read it.
Everyone looked at Souta as if waiting for him to tell them whatâs written inside the letter. They were all curious about the letter from the princess.
After a while, Souta looked at them and said, "Weâre invited. The princess invited us to her birthday party and wanted to thank us for saving her."
"When?"
"In five days at her mansion," Souta replied and he added, "Of course, we couldnât reject the invitation from the princess so Iâll go there with Bryan."
"Oi! I think that Bryan is the only one invited to the party."
"Nope, the princess said that Bryan could bring his friends. And Iâm Bryanâs best friend so I think I should accompany him." Souta said with a serious expression as he rubbed his chin.
âThis is the perfect timing...â Sayaâs voice sounded in his mind.
âYeah, the timing is so great that Iâm feeling my blood boiling at this moment. But before that, I should complete my plan.â Souta couldnât help as a grin formed on his face.
âYou should consult Lumilia about your plan.â Saya suggested.
âIâm planning on doing that. I should talk to Jimmy after this. After all, weâre all on the same boat.â Souta replied to him and found that everyone was looking at him with a blank look.
"Thatâs what Iâm saying. His grin, heâs scheming again." Alice said.
"Can you tell us what youâre thinking about the princess, Souta?" Brando asked.
"Lumilia, Iâll tell you my plan later so letâs visit the Adventurers Guild," Souta ignored them as he turned to Lumilia. He then stood up and patted his clothes.
"Understood." Lumilia nodded when she saw that Souta was planning something. Itâs probably related to the party of the princess.
"Just wait here, everyone. Iâm going to the Adventurers Guild with Lumilia." Souta said as he left the room and took out a piece of yellow paper. He poured his mana in it and it connected to the talisman that Jimmy had.
"Souta, whatâs wrong?" Jimmyâs voice sounded in the talisman.
"I want you to gather information about the birthday party of the daughter of Venreita family." Souta paused for a moment. "Gather information and tell me about it later. Iâll head to the Adventurers Guild so Iâll disconnect it."
After he said those words, Souta disconnected his connection to Jimmyâs talisman.
âHmm...? Venreita family is a duke household and Soutaâs enemies are from nobles household too. I can see whatâs heâs planning to do.â Lumilia thought as he followed Souta. She came from a noble household too so she knew the influence of the duke family, one of the strongest families in this kingdom.
...
Souta and Lumilia arrived in the Adventurers Guild. The people inside simply looked at them as they knew why they were here.
Souta strode to the reception and asked and his legion. The receptionist gave him a stock of paper piles and a letter on top of his it. He smiled while looking at it, as expected the Guildmaster and Lanny corp. really did a great job.
Lumilia went to his side and took the stock of paper. She gave the letter to Souta. "Here."
Souta opened the letter and read it in a loud voice, "Congratulations, Souta Ieshi. The Guild formally acknowledged the creation of your legion, the Dark Oculus legion. Good luck, we have high expectations for you!"
At the same time after he read the letter, the adventurers inside the guild roared loudly. They started to congratulate him for officially forming his own legion. They even asked him the requirement but Souta simply said that they will know it later.
"You can drink in Drunker Pub, freely. Iâll handle the bill." Souta said before he left.
"Ohhhhhh!!"
The adventurers inside the guild shouted excitedly because of Soutaâs words.
Everything was moving according to his plan.
...
The next day, Lumilia and the rest of the Dark Oculus woke up early in the morning. Today will be a busy day for them because they were going to accept the new recruits.
The people from the guild arrived at the headquarters of their legion. They were the one who was tasked to handle the quest here so that no one could cheat.
Lumilia posted the rules of the legion and the requirement to join the legion.
The whole circle of adventurers was in an uproar when read the requirements to join the Dark Oculus legion.
"Anyone can join as long as you are an adventurer. From F-rank and above are can freely join the Dark Oculus." was what it says in the requirements.
Thereâs no problem with the requirements but the rules were... They have to complete a quest every day. It was bad if they were low rank as they had to clear more quest.
A lot of people hesitate as they donât have a plan to overwork themselves. Taking a quest every day was simply too much for low-rank adventurers like then.
But...
When they saw the points system of the Dark Legion, their hesitation vanished. Lumilia also posted everything that was inside the treasury of the Legion including those mana fruits.
They simply take the bait and apply to join the legion.
Everything that Lumilia and the rest did was according to the plan.
At this moment, Souta was still sleeping in his room. He was tired and exhausted last night. He had to give the promise mana fruits to Guildmaster and also talked to Jimmy personally about the birthday party of the dukeâs daughter.
Francis was satisfied that Souta kept his words. He got three mana fruits and an orange-grade weapon. It was hard to get this weapon. It took him most of his money to buy it from the hands of his Lanny group.
Donât underestimate the amount of mana fruits that he received from Raeshka, the monster lord of destruction. Comparing an orange-grade weapon to her was nothing. She even had a universal-grade weapon in her treasury.
After that, he went to the red light district before he went home.
Boom!
He heard a loud explosion coming from the yard. He knitted his brows as he stood up.
"Damn! So noisy!" He said with an annoyed expression while scratching his head. He looked outside and saw a group of people there wearing the uniform of the Ladro Institute.
His eyes opened widely as he hurriedly went downstairs.
âWhy are Jeanne and the rest are here?â Souta thought as he increased his pace. From his understanding of her, Jeanne wasnât the type of person that will not initiate a fight. Especially, if it was in his territory.