◇

Before today’s story begins, let’s first talk a little about adventurers.

Adventurers are ranked, from highest to lowest, as S, A, B, C, D, E, and F. That makes seven ranks in total. Aside from S-rank, which requires official recognition from a nation, A-rank is usually the highest rank a civilian adventurer can reach. B, C, and D are the backbone of the profession, while E and F are rookie adventurers.

Adventurers can accept quests from the guild according to their rank, then earn rewards by completing them.

Of course, if they fail, they also have to pay a certain penalty fee.

So while the guild doesn’t explicitly forbid adventurers from taking quests above their rank, for safety’s sake, most people still follow the rules and choose quests that match their level...

“Xier~ since there’s no hard rank limit, why don’t we just pick high-rank quests?” Bent over in the bushes gathering herbs, the loli Dragon Sovereign had been complaining nonstop from the very start. “Even the highest A-rank quests are just killing some high-level monsters in the labyrinth, right? With our skills, wouldn’t we wrap that up in no time?”

“Mm, we could,” Cang Xiaoxi replied while picking herbs as well. “And then?”

“And then? Then we’d get piles of shiny gold coins, obviously. That way, our little love nest could be finished sooner and—”

“Dragon Sovereign... sometimes I really suspect your IQ dropping into emergency mode is intentional.”

Rolling his eyes at the little loli who was hinting again—no, not hinting, outright saying it—Cang Xiaoxi stood up and tossed all the herbs he had gathered into the bamboo basket on his back.

He looked at Jikuhir, who was staring at him with a blankly cute face, her tail swishing, then shook his head again.

“Forget it. Pretend I didn’t say anything.”

Well, to be fair, the little loli’s intelligence only shot up when the topic involved Cang Xiaoxi. Sometimes it even surpassed normal human standards. But in everyday situations, she was absolutely just a silly, adorable little loli.

An unshakable, ironclad fact.

Knowing that much already, Cang Xiaoxi waved a hand and resigned himself to personally explaining the so-called isekai routine to her.

“Listen carefully, Jikuhir. I’m not nagging. It’s just that back in my homeland, there were lots of stories like this. People with cheat-level power get summoned to another world, then they go wild, cause huge incidents, break the world’s original balance, and after that, some veteran adventurer inevitably comes looking to pick a fight. So less cliché, more stability. That’s what a qualified transmigrator should do. Got it?”

After explaining a trope he knew all too well, Cang Xiaoxi looked at Jikuhir, who seemed to understand and was nodding repeatedly, as well as Xiao Fen, who was copying her and nodding too.

And yet, just like the most familiar trope of all, the little loli declared in righteous confidence,

“I didn’t understand a thing!” “Woof. (That’s right.)”

“...Sigh. Yeah, figures...”

By now, Cang Xiaoxi had more or less figured out Jikuhir’s rhythm. Though speechless, he kept a perfectly ordinary expression and rephrased it in simpler terms.

“In short, just remember this. If we attract too much attention, it won’t be good for either of us. Don’t forget who you are. And who I am.”

“Oh, if that’s what you mean, then I get it.” Jikuhir finally understood and clapped her little hands. “Because I’m the former Dragon Sovereign, and Xier is a transmigrator from another world who’s basically like a Sage. If we stand out too much and people discover who we are, we’ll be in huge trouble.”

“Good. As long as you understand.” Seeing that Jikuhir finally got it, Cang Xiaoxi went back to gathering herbs.

At that moment, Jikuhir muttered,

“That’s also why, even though the reward was huge, you didn’t take the royal quest. Since you were mistaken for Prince Shaya before, getting too involved with the royal family might expose you.”

“Well, fewer troubles are always better than more troubles. Alright, since you understand now, get back to work. Otherwise, you won’t be getting any Spirit Peach today.”

“Spirit Peach?! Okay, I understand, I’ll work right away! Xiao Fen, you have to help Mama too, okay? For the Spirit Peach we both love! Let’s do our best together!”

“Woof! (Understood!)”

The moment she heard the name of something she liked, Jikuhir quickly wagged the little tail above her pert backside and called on her loyal adorable pet, then bent over and resumed working with all her might.

And just like that, in less than an hour, the two of them plus one dog finished all the work they had taken on.

Since going back too early might stir up unnecessary suspicion, the two decided to stay in the forest a little longer. They also took the chance to make the daily Arcane Artifact they worked on as usual.

“Jikuhir, help me add the fire and lightning attributes.”

“Okay, no problem!”

Their eyes both turned blue-silver as they activated Dragon’s Eye.

Under the watchful gaze of their loyal adorable pet, after three full years of repeated experimentation, the weapon Cang Xiaoxi had dreamed of completing was finally finished at this very moment.

Pitch-black, with a gleaming heavy-metal sheen. Its frame was light, and its design was fairly simple, but its destructive power far surpassed ordinary firearms. A true electromagnetic pulse gun, something modern technology alone still couldn’t fully produce.

This was one of the long-cherished dreams of a man, the kind of thing the boy had spent years experimenting with, hoping one day he could finally complete it.

“Heh. Who would’ve thought that messing around at a shooting range back then would actually come in handy now.”

The corner of Cang Xiaoxi’s lips lifted. A trace of excitement surfaced, but there was even more loneliness hidden in that faint smile.

If not for his father being a shooting enthusiast, and taking Cang Xiaoxi to shooting clubs several times before the family company went bankrupt, he probably couldn’t have built this electromagnetic pulse gun from scratch in just three years.

“Ohoh, so this is the thing you’ve been tinkering with for the past three years, Xier?” Dashing left and right as she inspected the dark lump in Cang Xiaoxi’s hand, the little loli’s brows curled into two giant question marks. “It doesn’t even look that amazing. I bet it’s not even harder than my claws!”

She spread her little hand and, to show off how sharp her claws were, slashed twice through the air right in front of Cang Xiaoxi.

Slash! Slash!

Even the sound of the air being torn apart could be heard clearly. That alone showed just how terrifyingly sharp Jikuhir’s little claws were.

“Well? What do you think?”

She proudly puffed out her chest—possibly with at least a little to show—and snorted through her tiny nose. She looked extremely smug, like she was practically begging to be praised.

Cang Xiaoxi said nothing.

Silent, he raised his hand, aimed at a towering tree, poured in magic power, and lightly pulled the trigger.

Boom!

After a thunderous roar that seemed to shake the sky, and a flock of birds taking flight as the dividing line, he gave his answer through action.

“W-What is that?!”

The little loli’s jaw practically dropped off from shock.

Rubbing her eyes over and over in disbelief, now shrunk into tiny dots, she tremblingly raised a hand and pointed at the charred tree lying on the ground, thick white smoke billowing from it. She desperately needed a reasonable explanation.

“Hm. Looks like the power’s still a bit weak. And the accuracy is more off than I expected. Did I not cut the rifling properly?”

As if he hadn’t heard her at all, Cang Xiaoxi didn’t explain anything to Jikuhir. He immediately threw himself into improving the weapon.

Watching the boy completely immersed in his own world, Jikuhir had a stomach full of complaints she wanted to let out.

But based on the principle that a wife should properly support her husband from the side, she picked up Xiao Fen and retreated to one side, petting her while quietly watching the boy in his serious mode.

This feeling wasn’t bad at all.

A gratified, tender smile appeared at the girl’s lips. Staying in a quiet place like this, spending time together with the person she loved, was exactly the kind of life she had always wished for.

And with an adorable pet by her side too. If, someday, they could add the crystallization of their love to the picture...

Just thinking that far made Jikuhir unable to stop herself from burying her shy little face into Xiao Fen’s fur.

“Awoo? (What’s wrong?)” Drawn in by Jikuhir’s happy behavior, the adorable pet let out a cute cry.

“Nothing.” Raising her head, Jikuhir stroked the soft fur of the Xiao Fen in her arms and chuckled. “Mama just imagined the wonderful future of supporting my husband and raising our children. I really can’t hold myself back... Sigh, I just wonder when Xier will finally accept me.”

The little loli puffed out her cheeks and lowered her head. The moment she thought of how troubled Cang Xiaoxi had looked that morning, irritation welled up inside her.

Meanwhile, Xiao Fen, who somewhat understood the relationship between the two, gently licked Jikuhir’s little cheek.

As if encouraging her, it instantly cheered Jikuhir up enough to increase the intensity of her petting.

“Awoo~ woo~ (So~ comfy~)”

Xiao Fen let out an adorably cute cry, looking utterly at peace.

And just to add one more thing, Xiao Fen was female, so... you know.

And so, once it felt like enough time had passed, and the electromagnetic pulse gun had been improved enough as well, the two of them set off back to the guild and checked in the quest with the guild receptionist.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Cang Xiaoxi. These aren’t the herbs specified in the quest. They look a little similar, but they’re completely different species.”

“Jikuhir...”

Cang Xiaoxi narrowed his eyes halfway in silence and looked toward the little loli, who had already turned her face to the side and was pretending nothing had happened.

No further explanation was needed. Anyone could tell whose handiwork this was...

“So we’re still short three stalks? Wait for me. I’ll be right back.”

Going to pick them again wouldn’t take much effort. Rather than paying a penalty fee, it was better to get as much as they could.

Cang Xiaoxi immediately turned and left.

“Ah, Xier, wait, I’ll go too.”

Even though Jikuhir was trying to hide it, she at least knew she had made a mistake, so she quickly brought Xiao Fen and hurried after Cang Xiaoxi.

“I’ll go alone.”

“Uu... okay.”

Though the boy hadn’t used much force, for some reason his voice carried a firmness she couldn’t disobey, and it frightened her enough to stop in place.

Watching him leave, the little loli looked utterly wronged.

“Ahhh, I messed up again...”

Letting out a heavy sigh, dragging her drooping little tail behind her, Jikuhir didn’t even feel like eating Spirit Peach anymore. She took Xiao Fen back to the inn and sank into a low mood.

Meanwhile, Cang Xiaoxi hurried back to the forest. On the surface, he seemed a little dissatisfied with Jikuhir’s mistake, but in truth, he was blaming himself too.

“If I’d checked in advance, this wouldn’t have happened...”

The boy bit down on his teeth in self-reproach, quickly gathered the three missing herbs without any trouble, and after confirming they were correct, started back.

He glanced at the Spirit Peach stored in his Spatial Ring, the one he had bought for someone along the way, and as he thought about this mistake, he began considering whether he should properly face the girl.

But just then, one cry after another, like the cawing of crows, suddenly swept across the dark yellow sky without warning and caught the boy’s attention.

Right after that, accompanied by the sound of frantic footsteps, a black-haired girl, barefoot and crying with snot all over her face, ran out of the forest...