"Mr. Zayne, I hope you don't mind waiting because otherwise, we're not leaving here at all." Cyrus said with a slight smile on his face, looking at the people.

"Hmm?" Zayne was puzzled.

Cyrus breathed, "If they find out their hero is in this carriage, I'm afraid it won't be until sundown that we can get to the gate. As I said before, don't underestimate their gratitude."

Zayne nodded meaningfully. He was pleased that he was a hero to others, but now he wanted to see the others, especially Roland.

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

The carriage slowly approached the gate, and the guards quickly let it pass forward, for they knew it was the carriage of the Lareso Family.

"Where are we going?" Zayne asked, realizing that their path did not lie toward Roland's house or the Redfall Family.

"To Lareso Family Manor, that is an order from Mrs. Lucia, that is also where the members of your team are. They are being treated by the best doctors in town, who are doing everything they can to make sure they come to their senses as soon as possible." Cyrus replied seriously.

'Lucia... Apparently, she reacted first... I wonder what Alden was doing, or was Lucia originally the one who was supposed to be in charge of our recovery?' Zayne inwardly muttered.

Thanks to a lot of factors, Zayne was practically healthy physically, he was only a little tired emotionally after everything that had happened.

The carriage stopped, and Zayne finally stepped outside, following Cyrus and heading into the main hall of the Lareso Family Manor.

Lucia, Rea, and Elin were in the center of the room, all of them drinking tea and discussing something with each other, but as soon as the doors opened they all turned around at the same time.

"Zayne..." Elin and Rea muttered in disbelief.

Cyrus stepped forward, bowed slightly, and with his hand clasped to his chest said, " I have accomplished..."

Whoooooooooooosh.

No sooner had Cyrus finished speaking than a flash rushed past him, and Lucia pounced on Zayne, not at all shy about her actions. As before, she was in a puffy dress, but that didn't stop her from completely hovering over Zayne like she hadn't seen him in years.

"Zayne... I'm so glad you're fine!" Lucia exclaimed joyfully, squeezing Zayne's shoulders tightly.

"Yeah... I'm glad too..." Zayne replied awkwardly in confusion. Lucia was acting strange as always.

"Elin and Rea told me about how you fought Apostle, I wish I could have seen it with my own eyes..." Lucia licked her lips and touched her hand to Zayne's face.

Everyone was wary as they all thought the same thing at the same time, only Zayne seemed to understand nothing.

Lucia covered her eyes, and the next moment their lips touched. Lucia acted without question, leaving Zayne no choice but to accept her kiss.

"What the hell...?" Rea muttered with her eyes wide open. The same face was on Elin, who was trembling.

"Mrs. Lucia... What are you doing?" Cyrus was puzzled.

Lucia smirked and with a sly look said, "I picked up the hero's first kiss. That has to be a real treasure for any lady, doesn't it?"

Elin and Rea looked at each other, then Elin muttered, "First kiss...?"

"Yeah... It was pretty obvious, wasn't it?" Lucia smiled slightly, looking into Zayne's eyes and lowering herself to the ground, "It wasn't bad at all though, on the contrary, it only made that kiss more meaningful."

Zayne stared at Lucia for a while, then he felt very strange. It was as if a strong flame had ignited in his body, and the heat hit his head.

[One of your Passive Skills was activated due to unusual circumstances - Echo of the Beast]

Deep inside Zayne's blue eyes, a red spark appeared, and his gaze changed. He grabbed Lucia's chin abruptly, slowly lowering his palm and opening his mouth wide, heading for her neck.

Lucia knew how to surprise others with her strange actions, but even she was not prepared for this, so Lucia just froze, not knowing what to do.

Crackle.

Zayne's fangs plunged into Lucia's snow-white skin, piercing her shoulder and leaving a bite mark on it, with trickles of blood pouring from two points.

"I bet you've had something like that for the first time, too, and it's more impressive than a simple kiss, isn't it?" Zayne asked, staring into Lucia's eyes, "Now, tell me, where are Roland and Geir? I came here to see how my friends are, not to play these games."

"Hah, it's like you changed in an instant, well, I can't say I don't like it. Follow me, I'll show you where the others are." Lucia said with flushed cheeks.

They made their way to the infirmary, where Roland and Geir were lying on two massive beds. Geir's wounds were not as serious as Roland's, but because there were so many, his whole body was bandaged.

"Guys... I'm glad you're all right!" Zayne walked in with a happy smile on his face.

"Oh, you're back already." Liza glanced at Zayne while bandaging Geir.

"Heh, boy, I'm sorry I didn't see your fight, but by the looks of it, that was something incredible." Geir chuckled, then his face twisted in pain, "Ouch! Liza! Do you really have to pull it so tight?!"

"Quiet! You're lucky you got off so easy at all! After all, you were fighting against Apostle!" Liza exclaimed sternly, but her gaze clearly showed genuine care.

Zayne nodded slightly and turned to Roland, "How's your back?"

"Agh, are you talking about it?" Roland turned, pointing to the huge X-shape cut, "Well, I can't say I like it, but it will definitely leave a big scar. I'm lucky that attack didn't cut me into four pieces."

Crackle.

Suddenly a woman with a worried look and a basket of groceries came inside. Everyone looked at her in surprise as it turned out to be Veronika, who didn't look stern or serious today, at all.

"Roland... I got word that you were awake, and I headed over here right away!" Veronika rushed over to Roland, ignoring the others.

"Heh, it looks like today really is an amazing day. I've never seen your face so funny!" Roland laughed, making Veronika blush.

Veronika frowned and pulled his cheeks sharply, squeezing them tightly with her fingers.

"Hey, is that the way you should talk to a woman who cares about you? You may be a Knight, but you have no manners at all, that always surprised me..." Veronika muttered, glaring menacingly at Roland.

"Come on, don't be offended." Roland said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head with a broad smile, "I'm just glad we didn't lose anyone this time and were able to accomplish the mission. I mean, we won and saved the city from disaster, though of course, we couldn't have done it without Zayne."

Veronika turned around, "Right... You defeated the Apostle... Zayne, Alden wants to talk to you about the upcoming holiday... I think you already know what your achievement means to us."

Zayne nodded, "Yeah, Cyrus explained it all to me. I hope I don't have to give a speech. I'm not good at that..."

"Hah, no, Alden will take care of that." Veronika shook her head.