255,

Silence, no one spoke.

Hilmirya woke up, and the plump little girl innocently suggested ideas to Cyclone and the others.

"Yes... Yes, that's a good idea!"

Cyclone smirked and continued to respond to Hilmirya, who seemed to have forgotten what had happened.

Cabellus originally wanted to explain the concept of a chessboard to Cyclone, but now that there was an emergency situation, it would be best to follow Cyclone's lead.

"That's right, chess... Wait a minute!"

Suddenly, Cabellus awakened as if from a dream and shouted out.

"It's the chessboard, the chess pieces!"

"That's a good idea, right? The beauty passed down by the Water Sect... but..."

"With the chess pieces, I can make myself the protagonist, right?!"

"Huh?"

Hilmirya was about to spread the culture of the Water Sect, but Cabellus frightened her with one sentence.

"Protagonist?"

And Cyclone, who already didn't understand what a chessboard and chess pieces were, just repeated what Cabellus said.

"It's the chess pieces! Design an addictive chess game and carve my image onto the design of the pieces!"

"Your image?"

Several question marks popped up above Cyclone's head, and he became increasingly confused by Cabellus' words.

"Don't get it? Since I want this game to be the most fun and interesting game in the world~ Of course, I want everyone who plays this game to remember me, Cabellus!"

"Oh..."

In that instant, Cyclone finally understood. This person in front of him was not really designing this toy for the sake of the world's beauty, but rather to promote himself through it.

"Okay, sure, that's great."

Cyclone covered his eyes with one hand and gave Cabellus a thumbs-up.

"That's right! This way, I can leave my mark in history! Hahahaaha~"

Cabellus laughed joyfully, while Hilmirya looked on helplessly.

"This... this is a bit different from the ideals you just mentioned..."

No one paid attention to Hilmirya. Even though she had woken up when Cabellus was talking about the ideals of the Guild of Provocative Excitement, no one acknowledged her.

Cyclone noticed, and he believed that Cabellus had also noticed from his gaze. However, Mathews probably didn't realize it.

But to divert Hilmirya's focus, Cabellus continued speaking.

"Alright! The idea is set, now it's time for action!"

"Yes!"

Cyclone couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Cabellus did a great job in wrapping up the situation like this. With this, they could smoothly leave without raising Hilmirya's suspicions.

"Don't worry, I've got Forcia's merchandise. Cabellus, I'll help you with whatever you want to do."

"..."

"..."

Damn it! This idiot!! x2

If their inner thoughts could be heard, this moment of synchronization between Cyclone and Cabellus would surely be another amusing incident.

"Ah!!!"

Hilmirya finally realized what happened before she fainted, and now she pointed at Cyclone.

"...Give back the underwear!" This was Hilmirya's first sentence.

"..."

"As long as you sincerely apologize, Forcia will forgive you!"

"..."

Speechless, I never thought Hilmirya would be so naive, thinking that returning the underwear would earn forgiveness.

"But... think about it, if you boldly confess your fetish to that woman, maybe you'll have an epic battle with her!"

... Is that even possible?! Impressive!

Cyclone looked at Cabellus and pushed Mathews beside him. Unexpectedly, even in this desperate situation, he still wanted to change the topic.

"Enough, Cabellus!"

However, Mathews didn't understand the implicit meaning in it.

"I've already said it, I'm not interested in women!"

"...That's not convincing at all for a collector of underwear..."

Cyclone pitied Cabellus's friend, Mathews's dull-wittedness. Seeing Cabellus break into a cold sweat, Cyclone also felt helpless.

But what about Hilmirya? Maybe this failed attempt at changing the topic could still succeed, after all, she is a simple-minded person.

"...Where is she?!"

"..."

"Damn it! Where are my underwear?!"

Cabellus was speechless, and Mathews also realized his underwear was missing.

There were some small groves around the grassland, and Hilmirya must have escaped into one while Cyclone and the others were distracted.

"No... she wouldn't take them back, would she?"

This time it was Cyclone, but Cabellus and Mathews didn't pay any attention to his sarcasm.

"Not good..."

"Of course, it's not good, it's my underwear!"

"Idiot! That's not the issue!"

"But it's important!"

Cyclone wasn't interested in listening, the bickering between the two of them was of no help.

However, there was one thing that made Cyclone uneasy.

So finally, Cyclone looked at Cabellus and said,

"Cabellus... I hope what you're thinking isn't the same as what I'm thinking..."

"Unfortunately... I think it probably is, my dear Cyclone..."

"The secret of the priest and Forcia..."

With Cyclone's final sentence, Cabellus slapped his face with his left hand. What was originally a trivial matter had now turned into a major crisis.