"So how is loot shared again…? Isn't it sharing equally?" Mynes asked, leaning forward on the table with both elbows planted firmly, staring at the massive heap of crystal corpses piled in the center.

The glowing remains glowed under the lantern-light with the jagged edges glinting like gemstones.

Cores were lined separately… some placed in neat rows by Mira, others randomly tossed in by Mynes, whose sense of organization was questionable at best.

All the mages and Aura practitioners from Aegis Academy had already left. None of them were receiving shares since this assignment counted as a punishment detail.

Even the crystals Mynes had tried to pocket earlier had been confiscated and placed neatly within the loot pile.

Mira had called it theft.

And Mynes had pouted for a full two minutes.

"Loot is calculated over how much you contributed to the battle," Mira said, not looking up as she sorted one core from another.

Her movements were sharp as expected of one that was a Knight Commander. "It's not sharing equally at all. In the case of equal sharing, that's only when both teams put in the same amount of effort."

"The Knight Commander is correct," the Gun Commander added, rolling his shoulders as he sat back in his chair.

He'd removed his armored vest and now wore a black sleeveless shirt that showed off toned arms and several scars. "I hate to say it, but we didn't deal with as many monsters as we hoped."

"That doesn't matter, we didn't deal with as many monsters either," Mira replied. Then all three of them… Mira, Mynes, and the Gun Commander slowly turned to look at Azel.

Azel blinked, his hand rising self-consciously to his cheek. "Eh? Is there something on my face?"

"No," the Gun Commander said. "You're pretty efficient at killing monsters. I could learn a thing or two from you. We cleared a Rank 3 dungeon in under an hour. That's like a world record or something."

"It's definitely a record," Mira confirmed. She split two monster cores and placed them aside, then separated the one killed by the students. "I've split it up. You can have it."

"Thank you very much, Knight Commander." The Gun Commander nodded respectfully. A few soldiers entered to gather the packaged loot while Mira stored the remaining items back into her ring.

'I guess we should start waiting for him now,' Mira thought. The teleportation mage was never early.

"Shall I treat you to lunch?" The Gun Commander asked suddenly, looking at Mira, Azel, and Mynes. "All of you. We can drink some alcohol, eat some bread. I just want to treat you."

Mira paused, studying his face before sighing.

He looked sincere and they hadn't eaten properly yesterday.

"Fine. Let's go," she said with a sigh. "It's morning, so we won't spend much time doing stuff."

…

"Hic!"

Azel stared sideways at Mira.

The woman who claimed she didn't want to drink much was now swaying slightly, her face was flushed completely red, and she was hiccupping every few seconds like a broken flute.

'She doesn't even have the slightest bit of alcohol resistance,' Azel thought as she leaned forward on the table.

This was only her third cup. Either Aegis Empire alcohol was absurdly strong, or Mira was simply fragile.

Gwendolyn floated beside Azel with her arms crossed as he drank a cup. "This alcohol isn't sweet… it's bitter and makes my head fuzzy."

'Alcohol is not meant to be sweet,' Azel thought dryly. Though, being immune to status effects thanks to Kyone, he might as well have been drinking flavored water. 'Not like I can feel it anyway.'

"You're not under the weather yet," the Gun Commander noted with a low chuckle. "You really are a good drinker despite how young you are."

Mira suddenly stood up.

Then she unlatched the top section of her light armor with a clumsy motion, letting it fall to the ground.

The armor vanished into her storage ring, showing that even drunk she retained the presence of mind to not misplace expensive gear.

Azel had half a second to react before she swayed toward him…

And shoved his face directly into her breasts.

"Mine… mine… mine," she muttered, voice muffled by hiccups.

Her soft chest enveloped his face, and she ran her fingers through his hair with exaggerated affection. "So cute…"

Azel sighed into the fabric.

"And it seems the Knight Commander likes you a lot as well," the Gun Commander said, taking a long swig from his bottle. "Please treat her right. Mira and I acted like we didn't know each other, but we do. We grew up together… you could say I'm something like a childhood friend to her. And this is the first time I've ever seen her take the initiative on a man."

Azel blinked. "I see. Were you like… teammates or something?"

He shook his head. "My mother is part Starbloom, so I used to live in the Capital. We were childhood friends. Though I enlisted here in Aegis, and she went on to become a Knight Commander."

He glanced toward Mynes, who lay collapsed over the table, snoring softly then chuckled. "Despite how she acts sometimes, she's wife material."

"You know I'm way younger than her, right?" Azel asked.

"When has age mattered?" the Gun Commander snorted. "As long as you're not a minor. And since you're here… I assume you're at least older than sixteen."

Azel didn't comment. 'He sounds like a homeboy hyping up his homegirl.'

The door creaked open.

The teleportation mage walked in, stretching with visible exhaustion. "Congratulations on finishing your job. All three of you are requested back at the Empire."

His eyes swept them.

"Drunk again, huh?"

And then Azel's world blurred.

A flash of white light… and suddenly they were standing in the meeting room of the Empire.

Mira hadn't even noticed the teleportation.

She was still hugging his head against her chest, lazily playing with his hair while swaying gently like a satisfied cat.

Across the room stood Grand Mage Stella… Mynes's mother with her arms folded as she observed the scene with the expression of someone who had seen many things, but this was new.

Beside her stood Emperor Aldric.

Both stared.

Mynes was face-down at the conference table, exactly as she had been in the bar. Not even the teleport shook her awake.

"Congratulations for completing your mission," the Emperor said flatly. "Take some time off to get sober again, then come back when you're ready."

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