Infinite Skill Devourer
Chapter 78: Preferably Calm, or Maybe Fierce?

Chapter 78: Preferably Calm, or Maybe Fierce?

The room fell silent as Yurei lowered her chopsticks.

She glanced at everyone around the table before letting out a sigh.

"Fine," she said. "I’ll tell you. But don’t expect some heroic tale."

She leaned back in her chair, the blanket slipping slightly, and began to speak.

"My last guild... They weren’t prepared for what I could do. And honestly, neither was I."

"It started with a war. A small one at first—just a raid against some rogue faction trying to claim territory near the Eastern Peaks."

"They sent me in because, apparently, shadow users are ’perfect for inspection and surveying.’"

"Surveying turned into combat faster than anyone expected."

"And when they started falling back, they told me to use my summoning abilities to cover their retreat."

"I didn’t know my limits back then. I summoned more than I should have."

"My beasts... They don’t just fight. They obey every command, and they don’t stop until I tell them to."

"That day, I lost control. My beasts turned the battlefield into a massacre."

"They didn’t just go after the enemy," she chuckled nervously.

"They kinda attacked everything in sight. My guild barely escaped with their lives. Half of them didn’t make it."

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"After that, I was labeled a liability. They couldn’t trust me. So they transferred me to the sister organization, hoping I’d be someone else’s problem."

Ryuen leaned back in his chair, studying her expression.

He could see the regret in her eyes, but there was also a resistance there—a refusal to let her past define her.

"That’s why you say your abilities aren’t special," Ryuen said after a moment.

"Because you’re afraid of what they can do."

Yurei’s eyes shifted to him, and for a moment, she looked like she was going to argue. But then she sighed.

"Maybe. Or maybe I just don’t want to be a monster."

The kitchen fell silent again, the only sounds coming from Kaori as she moved about.

Daiki broke the silence with a calm tone. "Well, monsters or not, we’ve got bigger problems in this city than your abilities."

Ryuen raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

Daiki smirked and leaned forward.

"The dungeons. You’ve noticed how they’ve been appearing more frequently, right? And how the Red Spire dungeons never seem to stay sealed?"

Ryuen nodded, his interest piqued. "Yeah. What’s causing it?"

Daiki’s smirk faded. "The Monarch."

Yurei stiffened at the name, and even Kaori paused in her movements.

"The Monarch?" Ryuen repeated, frowning.

Daiki nodded. "He’s been in hiding for years, controlling the war from the shadows instead of trying to balance the chaos."

"People think he’s trying to tip the scales in his favor—using the dungeons to destabilize every region."

"And what’s Vanguard doing about it?" Ryuen asked.

Daiki shrugged. "What we always do. We fight the dungeons, try to protect the city, and hope someone finds the Monarch before it’s too late."

Yurei scoffed. "And we all know how well that’s been going."

The conversation moved to other topics as dinner continued, but Ryuen couldn’t shake the unease he felt.

The mention of the Monarch and the dungeons left a bitter taste in his mouth, even as he finished his food.

After dinner, Ryuen stood and grabbed a tray of food, glancing briefly at Kaori and the others still seated at the table.

"I’ll take this to Erina," he said casually. "She’s probably starving by now."

"You seem to like her, always pampering the furry being."

"You wish," Ryuen scoffed and turned around. "I just feel it’s the least I can do since I technically wiped out her entire family."

Kaori opened her mouth to say something else but seemed to think better of it.

She simply nodded and turned back to her plate as Ryuen made his way toward the hallway.

---

When he entered his room, he found Erina sitting on the edge of his bed, in a lotus position.

Her fox ears twitched at the sound of the door opening, and she looked up, her crimson eyes wide.

Though her gaze quickly dropped to her hands clasped in her lap.

"You didn’t have to—" she started softly, but her stomach betrayed her with a quiet growl.

Her cheeks flushed, and her ears flattened slightly.

Ryuen smirked faintly and set the tray down on the bedside table. "I thought you’d be hungry. Here, eat."

Erina hesitated for a moment, glancing at him as if seeking permission, then quietly reached for the tray.

She picked up the bowl of soup and held it carefully, her movements slow, like she was being extra careful.

"Thank you," she whispered, her voice barely audible.

Leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, Ryuen watched her eat in silence.

There was a certain calmness about her—the way she took small, measured bites, savoring each one.

Once she finished, Erina placed the empty bowl back on the tray and glanced up at him with a smile.

"That was really good. I... I was hungrier than I thought."

Ryuen gave a small nod. "Good. You’ll need your strength."

Her ears perked up slightly, but she didn’t press him for details.

Instead, she shifted awkwardly, smoothing out the blanket beneath her.

"I’m going to take a bath," Ryuen said, pushing off the wall. "Don’t destroy my room while I’m gone."

Erina blinked, her expression softening into something almost shy.

"I won’t," she assured him quietly. "I’ll just... stay here."

As Ryuen stepped into the bathroom, he undressed and settled in the tub.

The warm water of the bath was a welcome relief as he sank into it, letting the steam rise around him.

The tension in his muscles began to ease, but his thoughts refused to follow suit.

Yurei’s confession, the mention of the Monarch, the growing unease in the air—it felt like something big was coming.

Pieces of the puzzle were there, but they didn’t quite fit together yet, and it left him with an itch he couldn’t scratch.

With a sigh, he leaned back against the edge of the tub, staring up at the ceiling.

"One step at a time," he uttered to himself, his way of saying everything would work out.

When he finally dried off and returned to his room, the sight that welcomed him made him pause.

Erina had curled up on his bed, her hands tucked under her head and her tail over her legs.

Her breathing was like soft purrs, and her fox ears twitched slightly, like they did when she was awake.

Ryuen shook his head, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

"You really made yourself at home, didn’t you?" he said under his breath, careful not to wake her.

Grabbing a spare blanket from the closet, he tossed it over the couch and settled onto it, lying back with one arm behind his head.

The couch was far less comfortable than the bed, but he wasn’t about to wake her.

As he stared up at the ceiling, his thoughts drifted back to Erina.

There was something about her quiet presence, her gentle nature, that put him at ease.

It was a strange feeling—unexpected, but not unwelcome.

For the first time in what felt like weeks, his mind began to grow silent, and sleep came easier than he expected.

And all he could think of was how he liked her better this way—just gentle and adorable, if that was the right word.