BXBX NOVEL Chapter 146 - The Invitation
The instant the word GO came out of the referee\'s match, the Table had cracked and the man suddenly upside down with his legs facing the ceiling and his arm and head on the ground.
"M-Match over! The winner is The Young Adventurer!"
"OUUU!!!"
"Someone get him a doctor" Said the referee to one of the servants
[W-Was that too much...?"
Suddenly, the adventurer\'s all approached john and picked him up.
"What?" John asked with a confused tone
They then proceeded to throw him up into the air over and over again
John didn\'t know why, but it felt strangely good. Almost like a dream.
***
"Here\'s your reward..." Said the referee as he handed 2 bags full of gold coins
"You\'re sure there are 100 coins here?" John asked
The weight and amount did feel like it was 100, he just needed the referee to confirm it
"Of course, I have my pride, even I wouldn\'t try to scam a kid"
He said it with a straight face, but john decided to count, just in case
***
"Alright, looks like everything\'s here. Thank you" Said john as he walked towards the table with the Sleeping Serena, the calm master and the attentive Ariel.
The adventurers were still playing other games and happily chugging down their drinks. Well it was expected by john.
When john arrived at the table, he was greeted by Ariel
"W-Welcome back."
She looked like she was in a good mood, the same could also be said for john
"Thanks, it\'s getting pretty late, we should probably start heading back. Is that fine with you two?" John asked
Master who heard this, nodded and so did Ariel
He noticed that Ariel was slightly red, and would sometimes avoid making eye contact
"Before we go, this was a letter which Mr Richart told me to hand to you"
Ariel handed john an envelope which had writing on the back, which mentioned that it was to John.
John took the envelope and opened in it. There was some sort of card inside, and as for what was written...
"You have been invited to attend the debutante ball being held by the Duke to introduce the Earl\'s 2nd oldest daughter into society...?"
The letter contained the location, the date and time. It was being held on the 30th and today was the 24th.
"W-Wait... I\'m not even a noble..." John muttered with shaking hands as he held on to the letter
"D-Did you say a debutante ball?"
Ariel looked shocked; she also knew what it was. The question was, why were they being invited?
"A noble ball... Zakaragi might go... it says here I can take 4 people with me, if we\'re counting Serena, master and Ariel... That only leaves one... Hm..."
"W-Wait, john, we\'re going?" Ariel asked, she looked very nervous
John smiled seeing as the two finally made proper eye contact and Ariel quickly looked away again.
"Yeah, I don\'t see why not"
[For the duke to invite an adventurer, much less a commoner, there\'s probably something he wants from me, well I\'ve always wanted to see what such events looked like, so I might as well go.]
Ariel let out a sigh before asking
"That\'s good and all, but will Ms, sylvia want to go?"
"It\'s fine by me, but we\'re still going to the dungeon." Master sylvia replied
"W-Wait, master, you\'re not being serious, Are you?" John asked
"I am."
"You want us to conquer a dungeon in 5 days?" John asked
"This one is only 5 floors."
"How do you know how many floors it has?"
"I\'ve reached the last floor before."
"Why hasn\'t it been conquered yet?"
"Most people die on the first floor."
"... Does that mean... We\'re going to the dungeon tomorrow?" John asked
"If you want to go to the ball." Master Sylvia replied
John let out a sigh as he sat down beside the sleeping serena
"Serena... wake up"
The sleeping serena showed no signs of getting up, so he shook her a bit but there was no luck. Seeing as how there was no other option, after carefully moving her around, john managed to put the sleeping serena on his back.
He was grabbing on her thighs and had her hands wrapped around his shoulders so that she wouldn\'t fall
She was a bit heavy but he kept it to himself
"Mnn"
Serena was happily enjoying her sleep while john had to carry her back, but he didn\'t really mind. His cheeks were slightly red from doing so without him even knowing.
"Master sylvia, can you lead the way back to the carriage?" John asked
Master stretched her arms out and got up, she then started heading towards the entrance. John with Serena on his back and Ariel closely followed behind
John then checked on Ariel, she was being quiet and seemed down
[Could she be jealous?] john wondered as he looked over at her
[No, she\'s just happy watching you carry another girl]
[…]
"Ariel."
"Y-yes?"
"I didn\'t ask properly earlier but, after we clear that dungeon. Will you go to the ball with me?"
A smile was formed on the recently quiet Ariel as she gladly replied
"Of course!"
"Haha, thanks"
"Don\'t forget to tell Serena too" Ariel mentioned with the same happy look
[Eh? Wasn\'t she upset that we were getting too close?]
[…]
"Yeah. You\'re very confusing at times, you know."
"What? I think john is a lot more confusing."
"Hm, then, we\'re both confusing?"
"That works"
***
The next morning
"Mn..."
As Serena got up and stretched out her arms. She could feel the ray of light on her eyes.
The sun was up, and she was the first to wake.
"An inn?"
She looked around and noticed 2 other beds, Ariel and John were each on their own bed.
"When did..."
Suddenly, Memories of what happened on the previous night when she was drunk. stared to emerge. Seeing this, she quickly looked at john and could feel her face getting redder and redder.
"Wha..."
She then covered her face with her hands in embarrassment and laid back down
"No.... Whyyy!" She quietly shouted as she rolled around on her bed