[LSB] Chapter 103: Love and Flies

“Well, I am certain he’s here.”

Juliet led Julian across the city of Piathus again to try and find Cyrus. He could have just returned to Earth and asked him directly, but Julian was afraid that if he went back to Earth, then something… inconvenient would happen again.

He didn’t want to admit it, but there seemed to be a pattern building. Whenever he returns back to Earth, Artemia, and vice versa at a casual or enjoyable time, something happens.

And so, he rather not risk unnecessary transfers of consciousness if he didn’t truly need to.

So, right now, he and Juliet were standing in front of a tavern. And from the sound that was seeping from the inside, some sort of party was going on. And from the loudest voice he was hearing, Juliet was right.

“You’re right,” Julian said as he tilted his head to the side, “I could hear Cyrus inside.”

“Knew it,” Juliet smirked as she pushed the door of the tavern open, and not even a single soul turned to look at them even with how rusty and loud the hinges were. Everyone was busy either singing, dancing, or making out with their organs hanging out without care at all.

“Hmm.” Julian hummed as he turned his shoulder to Juliet and asked, “How did you know about this place again?”

“That…I swear, this place wasn’t like this before!” Juliet quickly reasoned, waving her hands dramatically as she saw the people on the side completely naked and making out, “It wasn’t like this!”

“It’s fine. I don’t judge people.”

Julian didn’t give Juliet a chance to defend herself, striding straight toward Cyrus without hesitation. But when she caught the small smile tugging at his lips, she realized—he was just messing with her.

“W…wait!” She raised her voice and quickly chased him, “Since when did you jest around, Boss!? You… seem to be in a very good mood today. Is it because we’re surrounded by all sorts of blacksmiths and workshops?”

“I suppose.” Julian hummed in response as they continued to make their way to Cyrus, who was currently dancing on top of a table with several men and women. They did not even have to call for him, as he pointed at Julian even before they could approach him.

“There he is!” Cyrus raised his voice so loud that it overpowered everyone else’s affairs. It didn’t help that he was already at the center of it all—and now, everyone was looking at Julian. “The man of the hour, everyone! The greatest hu–hyum in Artemia! Come up here, buddy!”

Cyrus practically pushed the other people on the table as he gestured to Julian, but Julian just stared at him for a few seconds before walking toward the bar and leaving him hanging. As for Juliet, she also just stared at Cyrus with a judging look in her eyes before following Julian.

Cyrus did not seem to mind at all, however, as he pointed at the bartender and raised his voice even louder.

“Continue the party, people! Joffrey, drinks are on me!” He said, and all the patrons of the tavern roared in unison as they continued their party while he stepped down from the table to join Julian and Juliet.

“You know…” Juliet quickly narrowed her eyes at him as he approached, “...I still don’t know just how rich you are. These people also seem to know you too, and I used to live here and I don’t even know a single one of them.”

“I’m a very well-traveled person. Plus, I own a lot of properties in this city from which I get money—real estate’s not yet a popular thing here,” Cyrus whispered as he sat beside Julian and called the bartender, “Give some water to my friend here, iced.”

“Got it, Cy.” The bartender nodded in response and swiftly got Julian some iced water. Juliet also ordered a drink for herself as the three huddled up and talked.

“Is your stream on?” Cyrus whispered, “Mine is. I was hoping to stream the moment you get your blacksmith’s license. So… have you?”

“Yes, and no,” Julian hummed, “The people from the blacksmith’s guild are overreacting about me creating a Legendary-grade bracelet.”

Cyrus immediately winced as he heard that, shaking his head and saying, “I would have loved to capture their expressions. But why a brace—”

Cyrus paused as his eyes caught a glimpse of the bracelet dangling around Juliet’s wrist. He looked at Juliet, his eyes widening by the second. Juliet subtly shook her head, as if she did not want Cyrus to say what he wanted to say.

Unfortunately for her, this was Cyrus.

“You gave Juliet a bracelet!?” Cyrus moved away from whispering, leaning away in disbelief, “You don’t even know the meaning of what you did, do you?”

Julian tilted his head, completely confused at Cyrus’s reaction. “I gave a bracelet to a friend.” He said, causing Cyrus to close his eyes and shake his head.

“Julian,” he breathed out heavily. Juliet wanted to stop her, but since Julian was between them, the only thing she could do was watch as Cyrus told Julian everything.

“In Artemia, particularly here, in this country—to give a bracelet to another person means you want to marry that person.” Cyrus pinched the bridge of his nose as he explained further, “Okay. Just tell me you didn’t put it on her yourself.”

“I did,” Julian answered without any hesitation, causing Cyrus to once again wince and suck in a very deep breath.

Cyrus looked at Juliet, who had her head down, and then back to Julian who still looked completely clueless, and said, “Julian. Dear, I love you. I really do… but you can be as dense as osmium sometimes. Now you’re going to have to marry here or Artemis will strike you down!”

Julian was about to speak, but before he could, Juliet had enough. She quickly stepped between them, waving her hands frantically to defuse the situation.

“No, no he doesn’t!” She said before turning to face Julian, “He’s lying, Boss. Not… not about the proposal, but the fact that you have to actually m…marry me. You gave this to me as a gift and nothing else, and that’s how I’m taking it.”

“Pfft.” Cyrus immediately laughed as he heard Juliet stutter, “I’m just kidding, I’m kidding. There’s no need to get so worked up. I’m just a little drunk and wanted to mess with you love birds.”

“We’re not together!” Juliet gritted her teeth as she pinched Cyrus’s arm. Of course, with the gap in their levels, it didn’t faze him in the slightest—but that didn’t stop Cyrus from dramatically wincing, clutching his arm as if she had actually hurt him.

“And besides…” Juliet continued, “...The boss already has Ellie. You know. And it’s not like—wait. Let’s stop talking about this! Bartender, give me your strongest ale!”

Cyrus looked utterly entertained by Juliet’s flustered state, his grin widening with every second. As for the man who had started the entire ordeal in the first place? Julian remained entirely unbothered, calmly sipping his iced water as if none of it concerned him.

Cyrus stared at him for a bit before letting out a sigh. The tone of his voice, shifted to a more serious one as he sat closer to him and said,

“Anyway… now that I’ve let out some stress. We… should talk about how we should proceed with our streaming business, Julian.” Cyrus grabbed his mug tight, tapping it with his finger as he looked at it and Julian back and forth.

“I know that you’re getting a lot of offers, probably worth millions and millions of credits. And… you might also be thinking of replacing me as your manager-slash-cameraman. But please, if you are, just tell me first. I—”

Julian didn’t let Cyrus finish. Instead, he turned slightly, casting him a sidelong glance before speaking.

“Why would I replace you?” His voice was calm, “You’re the one who started all of this.”

“H…huh?” Cyrus looked visibly confused as he looked at Julian, “But… during the Streamer Awards, you’ve sat with Kitty and I saw the two of you talking to each other. And you guys even went through that… portal where the daemons come from. I was there, you know… running for my life. I just thought that maybe now that you’ve met her… you might be thinking of replacing me and going for her agency instead.”

“No. I don’t know what that has to do with our live streams.”

“Well, you know… I’ve tried calling MEGAN several times too and she’s not answering me anymore. So, I thought—”

Once again, Julian cut off Cyrus as he said the line he and MEGAN practiced,

“MEGAN’s under major maintenance right now and won't be back for a while. That’s why I called you myself.”

And as soon as Cyrus heard that, his eyes turned wide and he muttered, “Oh, that makes sense.”

He paused for a few seconds before standing up and raising both his hands in the air and once again raised his voice,

“Drinks are mine until midnight!”

The tavern erupted into chaos after that, laughter and chatter filling the air. Even Juliet wasn’t immune to the infectious energy—she found herself unconsciously leaning closer to Julian. But she wasn’t speaking to him. Instead, her gaze remained fixed on the bracelet around her wrist, a quiet smile tugging at her lips.

Her mouth opened from time to time, seemingly wanting to say something to him. But she chose to chug down another mug of ale instead. But right when she had enough ale and courage inside of her to actually say something, Julian turned toward her which caused her to hold her breath.

She stared at Julian’s face, her eyes eventually landing on his lips with how close his face was to hers.

And when Julian leaned closer, she closed her eyes—but she did not receive what she thought she was receiving at all as Julian only whispered in her ear,

“Your friend is here.”

“Huh?” Juliet opened her eyes, and before she could figure out what Julian meant,

an irritating and familiar voice once again entered her ears from the other end.

It was the woman from earlier, Keena.

“Ugh…” Juliet immediately groaned upon seeing her. She would have ignored her under any other circumstance, but she had enough alcohol inside of her to make bad decisions now, “...Are you a fucking fly? Why are you always following us around?”

Keena’s eyes twitched as she heard that, and from how flushed her face was already, it would seem she also had alcohol in her system from a different bar.

“Well, if I’m a fly then maybe you smell like shit.” She countered, “You were acting so high and mighty back on the Tower, but now you’re here drinking your guts out—let me guess, they figured out you and your… boy’s tricks? There’s no way he has two spirits, he’s probably just a mage dressing up as a blacksmith!”

“W—” Before Juliet could say something to defend herself, Cyrus stepped forward and glared at Keena.

“And who’s this bundle of joy?” He asked. Keena looked at his face for a bit, her eyes widening as she pointed at his face.

“You… aren’t you an evil spirit!?” And as soon as she said that, the entire tavern became dead silent. She then immediately turned to Juliet with a disgusted look on her face, “I knew it! I knew you were colluding with evil spirits!”

Juliet did not have the chance to say anything as Keena just suddenly turned around and left the tavern, only to come back seconds later with men wearing uniforms with the insignia of the Order of Artemia. No one even tried to stop her, especially Cyrus who seemed incredibly amused with the sudden development.

Whenever he’s with Julian, farming content just comes along naturally.

“It’s these two!” Keena pointed at Julian and Cyrus, “They’re evil spirits and that woman is working with them!”

The soldiers from the Order immediately drew out their weapons and pointed them at the two.

“Speak!” They commanded, “Prove yourself to be people of Artemis or we will strike you down where to stand!”

Cyrus immediately raised both his hands and stepped forward with a smile on his face, “Men. There’s no need for all of this, we are born and bred citizens of—”

The soldiers did not let him finish, however, as they pointed the swords right at his neck. They quickly turned their swords to Julian, however, when they saw him move and remove his gloves.

And the soldiers’ eyes immediately widened when they saw the Mark of Searadyn.

[LAST CHAPTER] <-----> [NEXT CHAPTER]

AUTHOR NOTES

I don't know if you guys know of the old anime "cooking master boy". But, yeah. lol. Cyrus farming content, tohugh.