The Regressed SSS-Rank Water Mage Wants To Live a Calm Life-Chapter 33: A mellow night

Maxwell reached again and pulled out another sack. And another, and another. Until he brought out about seventy sacks.

It took him a little over five minutes to do so.

Frilo, done with its task, continued its nap in Maxwell’s soul. It had been there ever since they finished gathering the cores at the valley.

Maxwell gazed at the desk filled with sacks.

Some of these sacks had to rest on the cold floor because the space on the desk was filled up.

Witnessing this impossible sight, the receptionist had no words to express herself; instead, she could only mutter:

"E–elementless m–magic?

Vin shrugged, unsurprised. He’d seen Maxwell perform miracles today. This was nothing.

"There isn’t a single crimson core in the red valley," Maxwell said. "Only corpses. We harvested all the crimson cores."

The receptionist nodded nervously.

"I will– we.. I’ll inform the Guildmaster and the executives– and the officiators–"

The young lady, nervous and frantic, was about to scurry off to report this impossible occurrence to the guild executives to activate the officiator procedure.

Maxwell stopped her.

"Wait a moment, Miss."

The lady halted where she stood, moving her neck to cast a shaky glance at Maxwell.

"Sir?"

"Check my file. The one under the name Maxwell. The perks of my ascension to the S-rank must have been prepared by now. Including my personal accommodation. I need the key to my house."

The receptionist’s shoulders slumped, and she sighed. She probably thought she’d done something wrong to offend Maxwell. How relieved she was that she hadn’t done anything wrong.

Nodding, she immediately reached for the file drawers, searching for Maxwell’s file.

While she did that, Maxwell and Vin were engaged in some small talk, discussing something about the lands beyond Levaria and how beautiful the green hills of Kafer were. Vin always wondered how Maxwell, who’d never been to Nuncapor, knew about the beautiful green hills of the Kafer Empire. He’d never really gotten the chance to ask Maxwell.

After a few minutes, the receptionist graced their presence, handing a key and a pouch filled with ten gold coins to Maxwell.

The key was to his personal accommodation, and the gold coins were his monthly salary as an S-rank.

Maxwell grinned, nodding.

"Thank you."

After that, the young lady told Maxwell the location of his new accommodation and how to get there before she left to initiate the officiator procedure.

Maxwell and Vin, with hearts soaked with satisfaction, left the guild building.

"We’re going to get that drink, right?" Vin asked cheerfully.

The breeze outside the guild was even better than the ones that blew inside the building. Maxwell closed his eyes, inhaling deeply, then he exhaled.

"It’s a good night to drink," Maxwell said. "We’ve had a long day. Let’s go."

Vin smiled, rolling his shoulders as his joints cracked in place. He grunted softly. He could still feel the tiredness swimming inside of him, whispering sweet words to his ears, but... sleep would have to wait. Maybe tonight he’d finally get the chance to ask the oh so wise Maxwell how he knew so much about the lands beyond Levaria.

But before that, he breathed out, feeling the refreshing breeze blow over his face as he smiled.

"I can’t believe I’m no longer coreless."

Maxwell chuckled, widening his palm and raising it to the sky to feel the breeze.

"You best believe it, Silver Swordsman."

They began to walk, heading toward a nearby bar at the end of the street.

The night was buzzing, and glowing streetlights of different colors decorated the streets. Fewer people walked to and fro compared to the daytime. And, of course, there were no carriages. Even the murmurs of people were less. It was truly a warm, beautiful night. Maxwell was right. It was the perfect night to drink.

Vin shook his head, smiling.

"You’re never going to stop calling me that, are you?"

Maxwell shrugged.

"Not a chance, Mr Silver Swordsman. I bet if Frilo were awake, it’d call you that too."

"Frilo can’t talk."

"Don’t ruin the joke."

"Ha!"

Arriving at the bar, the mercenaries drank to their hearts’ content, making jokes, conversing and talking about things that didn’t even matter.

After a while, they began to sing along with the other drunk men in the bar, until the night itself got exhausted.

Vin totally forgot to ask Maxwell that one question on his mind.

While Maxwell was... Well, Maxwell was happy.

***

Deep inside a luxurious chamber, adorned with golden trinkets and high-quality furniture, the first light of dawn made its way, cascading through an open window.

This place was an imperial chamber. Or, in other words, an imperial bedroom. Although Kelmont preferred to call it an imperial cage.

He’d just awoken from his night’s rest.

He sat at the edge of his highly decorated bed, covered with nets as if to cage the ones sleeping in it.

Emperor Kelmont Derianis Jalozi let out a soft, delicate sigh, massaging his forehead. It ached badly. And it was only morning. Normally, the headache came during the afternoon, when his work as Emperor had grown too tedious for him to endure.

But now... just thinking about the day to come was enough to give him a headache.

The man placed his legs on the cold, marble floor. It grounded him, reminded him that he wasn’t dreaming. He still had work to do.

Slowly and groggily, he moved his neck, glancing back at his bed. The sight of his bed made him smile warmly.

Scantily dressed, beautiful maidens filled his bed, sleeping carefree and peacefully, without a care in the world. There were about five of them.

Kelmont’s concubines. Most of them, he didn’t even remember their names.

The Emperor shrugged.

It wasn’t his fault, after all. The number of names he heard in a day was innumerable. He couldn’t afford to memorize them all, even if they belonged to the ones who always made his nights worthwhile.

The Emperor stood upright.

And he glanced upward.