"The Unfallen Shield, Justus?"
Upon hearing Annan’s inquiry, Longjing Tea frowned in thought, "Now that you ask, I do have a bit of an impression... Hmm, let think about it..."
He didn’t sit down on a chair but paced back and forth in the room.
He first poured Annan so freshly brewed black tea and then brought over so pastries.
"Take your ti, I’m not in a hurry."
With a warm smile, Annan accepted the steaming yet not scalding black tea from Longjing Tea.
The wandering child stood quietly by the window while the delicious geese covertly watched the passersby from the second floor.
While Annan wanted to say they were being a bit too nervous... upon reflection, the players were treating him well, so he didn’t comnt.
Things had changed since the beginning.
If, at the start, players were trying to curry favor with him for affection points, or for quests and rewards...
Now, it was different.
By now, they had gradually beco friends with Annan.
The process was mutual.
Annan no longer saw them as re tools... and the players had grown friendly, respectful, and even reverential towards Annan.
—Indeed, reverential.
Although the Mist Continent strove to maintain its dignity and image as a ga... the players were well aware that it was not a ga, but a real world.
Annan truly interacted with them, striving to protect them, wholeheartedly looking for ways to facilitate things for them—even being the "anchor" who brought the players into this world and changed everything here.
So why shouldn’t the players be friends with him?
As friends, when they felt Annan’s will was remarkable... naturally, they developed a sense of admiration thinking "I’m not worthy," which turned into respect, and even reverence was no exception.
—Who would have thought, while you all were currying favour with , I was also doing the sa with you!
"ow~"
Feeling Annan’s touch, Defu owed softly.
She was lying in a ball on the sofa next to Annan, quietly resting her bobcat head on Annan’s thigh.
Chocolate, on the other hand, followed suit, using Defu’s body to comfortably lean on the other side of Annan and issued a "ow."
It was then Annan noticed...
Sitting on the sofa alongside him, Chocolate was almost as tall as he was.
"...Speaking of which, haven’t you two switched back yet?"
Annan looked down at the cat and asked, "I should have told you the thod to swap your bodies, right?"
Defu was Annan’s confidant, and Annan was equally Defu’s confidant—being soul mates with an Empathic Mind, it was normal for the bobcat "Chocolate" to feel dependent on Annan.
Yet, Annan hadn’t expected that after all this ti, Defu still hadn’t switched back into her own body.
Defu shook her head.
Unexpectedly, the bobcat lying on Annan’s lap spoke the language of humans, "Since I can talk now, there’s no urgent need to switch back."
"Is a cat’s body more comfortable than a human’s?"
Annan was sowhat surprised.
As soone who shared the "Shapeshifter" bond with Defu and could also change his body, Annan was curious about Defu’s experience.
However, Defu shook her head again.
"Certainly not."
She answered affirmatively, "After all, I am a human..."
"Wow, so you’re actually still human."
Longjing Tea, who was flipping through a newspaper on the side, couldn’t help but comnt sarcastically, "I’ve never seen you stay in human form for a few days. Monsters might change into humans more often than you do."
"What does a kid like you know, I’m cultivating chocolate here," Defu replied, her feline head held high with pride as she looked toward Longjing Tea. "Becoming a cat doesn’t really interfere with my life. It even allows to learn better how wildcats fight, how they sneak around, and how to perform in a way that looks more natural.
"When chocolate turns into , she’ll understand how I fight. Plus, with a human body, I can teach her so common sense more easily... Haven’t you noticed she’s already learned to speak a few words? She can even write, sing, and she knows that humans have to wear clothes and be clean, isn’t that great?"
"So, this is your reason for letting chocolate help you edit videos and make covers?"
"Don’t let a cat do your work for you! Or at least pay her a salary!" Longjing Tea demanded loudly.
Hearing this, Annan looked at Defu Mia, who was on his lap, with so surprise.
...Chocolate has this function?
Defu, however, did not respond; she just muttered resentfully, "Wow, this person is so excessive..."
"It’s you who’s excessive!"
The players were in an uproar.
In the beginning, Longjing Tea was very respectful and polite to Defu, who he considered an elder. But as they beca more familiar, he realized this seemingly calm and motherly old girl hid a surprising facet — she was an unexpectedly hidden codian...
Delicious Wind Goose appeared to be a dependable and solid man, and as a Sword Saint, he should be the main character of their story. But in reality, he was rather careless and loved to go overboard... the cautious type who would use ultimates on a minor monster.
The problem was, his ultimate’s mana recovery was very, very slow...
After The Wandering Kid advanced to silver, his ability to control nature had clearly beco stronger, transforming him into a half-lee, half-ranged, aggressive assassin class. However, what concerned him most was that his hair had grown out looking like shiny, green roots.
Defu was an exceedingly precise archer. To this day, Longjing Tea had not seen a stronger archer than her — that wildcat body of hers could also serve as a scout or an assassin.
There was no doubt this was a very well-rounded team.
If there was any issue to be ntioned,
— it would be that if Defu and Chocolate were considered two separate individuals.
Then, goddammit, they had four glass cannons.
Four squishy damage dealers! The kind that are fragile.. one more so than the next!
Among the four of them, not a single one could take a hit — their combined armor thickness amounted to no more than four layers of cloth.
That was sothing that truly exhausted Longjing Tea.
...Yes, including himself, a magic class, they’d beco five glass cannons.
He couldn’t shake the guilty feeling, like seeing his teammates pick four ADCs in a ga, then cursing while he himself chooses the fifth.
Whether it was recording adventure logs, calculating their remaining funds, figuring out ways to contact others to lt down and launder their mined gold, haggling, buying houses and land, buying furniture... these social tasks were all completed by Longjing Tea alone.
He had heard from Jiu’er that Delicious Wind Goose was also quite skilled at socializing. And both Defu and the Kid were not the types who couldn’t interact with others.
But once they tead up with Longjing Tea, they beca lazier one after the other.
— Co to think of it, shouldn’t I be your boss outside?
Occasionally, Longjing Tea would be plagued by this confusion.
But there was no helping it, now that Annan had co here to ask them for information, the only one who could answer Annan was still him alone.
Longjing Tea quarreled with the cat while still at work.
By the ti he flipped to the thirty-second newspaper, he finally found a clue.
"How could it be in ’Unsolved Mysteries of the Exploration Sites’?"
Longjing Tea murmured doubtfully and then slowly read the newspaper content:
"The forr ’Unfallen Shield’ Justus has fallen in the Cinder Barrens the day before yesterday..."
His eyes slowly widened.
Longjing Tea’s expression was filled with confusion:
"...According to the wound examination, the fatal blow that led directly to Justus’s death was a heavy sword strike to the back of his head. In addition, he had twelve wounds on his body, all of them penetrating and lacerating injuries.
"— And according to the Spell examination, the one who killed Justus was none other than Justus himself."
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