“I have a confession,” Lillia whispered around an hour later. At least, Arwin suspected it was an hour. He’d been a little distracted with other matters. “I don’t know what we’re supposed to do now. I’ve never thought about anything before. Are we married?” Arwin nearly choked on a mixture of surprise and laughter. “I — no. I believe we would be dating. Is that not how it works for demons?” “No clue. I never had a chance to talk to anyone about anything ,” Lillia said, speaking into Arwin’s shoulder. Even though he couldn’t see her face, her embarrassment was clear as day. “When did you get a chance? Have you… dated before? And what’s the difference?” “Dating is mostly getting to know the other person, I think. And as for how I knew…” Arwin’s expression flickered and a small smile pulled across his lips. “Blake had a girlfriend. He told me all about her and what they’d do in their free time. More than I wanted to know, if I’m being honest.” “Oh. I guess you’ve got the advantage over me, then.” “Don’t say it like that,” Arwin said with a muffled laugh. “It sounds as if I’ve got experience. I’ve just heard a few things. I don’t reckon that I’m much better off than you are beyond knowing the definition of the word.” “Then we’ll just have to learn together.” “Ah… we only just started dating this morning,” Arwin said. “What were you doing before, then?” Reya asked. “Actually, on second thought, don’t tell—” “We were just sleeping together,” Lillia said. Reya’s cheeks went bright red. “I really didn’t need to know that.” “Reya, she meant in the literal form,” Olive said. “But I thought you two were already a couple as well.” You’ve known us for a few days. How did literally everyone know about us before we did? Were things really that obvious? We’re lucky that they just seem to think we never made things official. “Ah,” Arwin said. He cleared his throat, then scratched the back of his neck. “Well, that’s that. Now you know.” “We knew,” Rodrick said. “Yes, thank you. On to other things,” Arwin said, desperate for a shift of topic. “Olive, you proved invaluable yesterday. Do you have any interest in properly joining our guild? Long term, not just until you pay off your sword.” Olive blinked, a flicker of surprise passing over her expression before she could get it under control. “Seriously?” “Yes. It might not be official yet, but you’ve proven yourself an apt swordswoman and more than reliable. We could use someone like you.” The others all nodded. A small smile pulled at the corners of Olive’s mouth. “Well, if you put things like that, I don’t think I can refuse. It’s hard enough to find a group of adventurers that I can tolerate enough to do a single dungeon dive with, much less anything more. If you want me, then I’ll be glad to join.” Arwin smiled. Olive had more than proven herself in last night’s fight, not to mention how she hadn’t shown even the slightest amount of greed toward Wyrmhunger. She would be a fantastic addition to the guild. “Welcome aboard. Then, in that case, I think we should properly come clean. No point keeping all our secrets any longer.” “Clean?” Olive asked. “About what?” Arwin summoned Verdant Blaze to his hands. The rest of his armor followed after it and took form on his body. He wasn’t sure what the best way to go about this was, but Olive had always said she preferred things straight on. Then he revealed everything’s information. Olive locked in place, her mouth parting in disbelief as her eyes flicked back and forth in the air, reading the information that the Mesh was bringing up before her. “How?” Olive whispered. “I can make magical items,” Arwin replied. Olive swallowed heavily. Her eyes moved to Rodrick, then to Lillia. “You mean everything you’ve all been wearing is…” “All of my armor,” Lillia confirmed with a nod. “Rodrick’s as well.” “Why are you living in a rundown place if you can do that?” Olive asked in disbelief. “You could be the richest person in Milten — no, scratch that. The richest person on the outskirts of the Kingdom.” “Because I’m picky about who I make magical items for,” Arwin replied. “I won’t make them for just anyone. And what’s the benefit of being rich? When I need money, I’ll get it. I don’t need people beating down my door before I’m ready to deal with them.” “I — yeah, I suppose that makes sense.” Olive swallowed again. Then her eyes narrowed slightly as a thought struck her. “Wait. No wonder you let me have that sword. You could make better.” Arwin shrugged. “It’s still a magical weapon and you really seemed to want it. We didn’t know each other well enough for me to go revealing my abilities yet. I didn’t want you joining up because you wanted access to free magic shit.” Olive blew out a breath and shook her head. “That’s a fair response. I don’t blame you for that.” It looked like she wanted to say more, but she restrained herself. While we’re on the topic of revelations… should Lillia and I tell her about our past? I don’t think Olive would betray us to the Adventurer’ s Guild. Then again, I don’t know if there’s anything to be gained from sharing that. I think it might be best to wait a bit longer. I trust Olive, but there’s no reason to take risks excessively. We can see how she handles one big secret and then deal with things as they come after that. If she’s still trustworthy in a few weeks, we’ll tell her. Either that, or she’ll start to wonder why Lillia literally never takes off her supposed makeup. “I’m going to go get breakfast started, then,” Lillia said, breaking the silence an instant before it could grow awkward. “Welcome to the team, Olive.” Everyone else mirrored her words, causing a faint blush to color Olive’s cheeks. “By the way, we’re going to head out and collect everything we can from the fight yesterday after we get breakfast,” Rodrick said. “I can help,” Arwin said reluctantly, but Rodrick was shaking his head before he finished the sentence. “Why waste your time? It’ll just be collecting the scrap,” Rodrick said. “Just do your work and we’ll do ours. I was just letting you know where we’ll be.”