The winter in Carterburg could be summed up with one word: cold.
Maya hated winter because she had to put on heavy winter clothes every time she went out. Now that Malin gave her a spell formation to endure extreme weather, she could finally wear less.
Faye also detested winter. Her health was not good, and even though she never spoke of it, Malin could sense that something was wrong with her—his extremely high sensitivity allowed him to feel the condition of Faye’s body, and there indeed seemed to be some issues.
During winter, she chose not to stay at the detached mansion but lived in the palace in the North City District instead. So every day, Malin and the girls would go visit her, and then the group would trek through the snow toward the Church.
Lillim was much better off; she cast the spell formation to endure extreme weather on herself daily, so she wore the least—just a shirt and overalls, pretty little leather shoes, and a headband. The color of the headband always reminded Malin of hotpot seasoning.
Shut up, Malin, change your train of thought, stop always thinking about eating and consider the beautiful round horns on the little lamb’s head that are impressive enough to poke someone’s lungs.
Clovis was also a mage who could cast the spell formation on herself, but she needed to cover her body. Therefore, she always wore a long coat, a shirt, and trousers, all in beige, effectively hiding her beige fur.
Jessica was the only one among the five girls who had a natural resistance to the cold, so she didn’t wear much—a lovely white blouse and lead-colored vest, paired with fur-lined trousers and men’s leather shoes.
"Malin, why are you dressed so heavily?" Jessica asked curiously.
"I’ve been looking a bit thin lately," Malin spread his hands. In the past six months, he had grown nearly ten centimeters like crazy, making his already slender frame look like a bag of bones.
Now it was too late to eat and gain weight, so Malin could dress more warmly.
"That’s truly a bothersome problem to die for," Lillim, Maya, and Faye said in unison.
"As if you guys are fat," Malin rolled his eyes.
Lillim looked down, showing off her beautiful horns.
"Alright, you are indeed fatter than me." Malin was genuinely afraid of Lillim’s domestic violence; his slight frame couldn’t take much abuse.
"Mr. Malin, do you want to gain weight? I have a marvelous potion here that can turn you into a hunk with a devilish figure!" Clovis said while pulling open her long coat and pulled out a vial from the rows inside: "Would you like one, Mr. Malin?"
Watching the little stars in the eyes of this bunny girl, Malin kept his wits about him: "Is it a permanent potion or a timed one?"
"It will last for 12 hours!" Clovis shook her head with a smile, her bunny ears swaying in a way that captivated Malin.
"Alright, I’ll take it." Seeing the girls’ expectant looks, Malin took a bottle of the potion and drank it down in one gulp.
Logan was late to class today, but there was no helping it; after all, his girlfriend had successfully advanced a rank, and the girl, overjoyed, had thrown a party with Logan that lasted all night. Their friends all partied hard, and among them, Logan was the only one who managed to make it to class today, carrying at least forty absence notes on his back.
Except for Malin, who lived like a hermit, and his girls, the whole class struggled with hangovers.
Fortunately, today was Friday, and the teacher in charge of the morning shift was Mr. Minsk. He had somehow pissed off Bishop Hoffman recently. Mr. Squirrel and the Bishop had a grand battle of thirty rounds that day, ending with Mr. Squirrel hit by a Silence spell and hung on a streetlamp for three days. He is still recuperating now.
So, everyone has been self-studying for the whole week.
He pushed open the classroom door and placed the leave request on the desk before taking a seat, yawning and noticing that the door was pushed open again.
A draft inevitably swept in, and Logan watched as Clovis hastily offered an apologetic smile, "You’re here, eh? Where’s Malin? Someone wants to hire him for a job this Saturday, they’ll let Malin name his price."
Malin was no longer the naive prodigy he once was. Having just fought a fierce battle in Parol City, he had slain at least sixty Chaos creatures, as well as decapitating a Chaos Prince with his ax, now he had become a standard human weapon.
This time, someone wanted to hire Malin to help wipe out a nest of Spirits... Some details were unclear to Logan, or rather, he didn’t want to be clear on them, especially since it involved the House of Brice.
The person making the request was Shelton Brice, the younger brother of Sara Brice.
The third in line to succeed the Duke of Brice.
Regardless, Logan had already reported the matter to the Mowish family, just in case anything happened, it would be better for his own King to mend that rift.
In any case, letting Malin talk to him would be good; if the negotiation went well, they could all make a fortune together.
If it did not go well, then they would have to send the gentleman on his way.
"Malin, Logan’s calling you," said the Bunny Girl, turning around.
Logan hastily stood up; showing enough respect to Malin was of utmost importance, after all, he had managed to achieve things that Logan’s entire family couldn’t.
And it seemed that Malin was as good as certain to become a Prince, for Princess Faye was destined to marry him.
What the hell is this?!
Logan stared wide-eyed at the Malin before him—wait a second, was this still the skinny Malin?!
Where did this triangle-shaped, all-muscle Malin come from—a Transformer monster?!
Wait a second, Faye and the others were also here; this didn’t seem like a Transformer monster’s work.
Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Logan asked, "Malin, is that you?!"
"It’s me," replied muscle-bound Malin, "I drank Clovis’s potion before... Right, Logan, you said you had something for me?"
"Clovis’s potion?" Logan looked at Clovis and, sensing a new way to get rich, he turned to Malin: "Shelton Brice of the Duke of Brice’s family is looking for you. He said he needs your help tomorrow and you can name your price."
"Alright, see you tomorrow." With that, Logan watched Malin toss his leave request onto the desk.
Then he saw Malin’s girls also throw their leave requests onto the pile.
"Are you leaving?" Logan asked, a bit anxious.
"Yes, in my current form, my reaction speed and agility have significantly decreased due to the abnormal growth of my muscles, so I’m taking the day off. I’ll wait until the effects of the potion wear off," Malin said as he walked out, the girls in tow. After a moment’s thought, Logan also wrote a leave request and tossed it onto the desk—he wouldn’t be missed either.