Clovis always said she was clumsy, but when Malin taught her to dance, the Bunny Girl got it in no time, outstripping Malin by a mile in terms of natural talent for dancing.
Malin could only comfort himself with the thought that "a perfect mortal doesn’t exist."
As one dance concluded, Malin let go of her hand, and Clovis, smiling, switched places with Faye. Watching her dance with Jessica and sensing the different dynamic between the wolf and the rabbit, Malin smiled as he took Faye’s small hand.
"How did you think to invite Clovis?"
"Because we were one person short, and we sisters didn’t want to dance with any dumb men other than you."
With that answer, Malin felt a mix of happiness and satisfaction, and he shrugged his shoulders, "To be honest, I’m extremely happy and also a bit... apprehensive about you all thinking that way."
As a once steely straight guy who had been a lone wolf as long as he’d been alive, Malin was feeling, for the first time, the girls’ affection and gentleness so directly.
"Apprehensive about what, dummy? You deserve it," Faye said as she glanced toward a spot not far away.
Malin turned his head to follow Faye’s gaze and saw his classmates, those without female partners, standing or squatting at the edge of the dance floor, their eyes emitting a faint blue glow.
"I remember once you mentioned something about being single... ah, a ’single dog.’" Faye chuckled, resting her forehead against Malin’s, "They really do look the part, don’t they?"
"...Yeah, they do resemble that quite a bit." Once upon a time, Malin had been just like them.
But times had changed, and as the music for the dance began again, Malin and Faye started to dance.
"Malin, there’s this girl who needs to complete her graduation task tomorrow, and I wondered if you’d help us out. What do you think?"
"Pursuing a named creature of a different kind in the forest to the north of the city, the same sort of skin-flaying Undead you encountered last time."
Ah, speaking of the skin-flaying Undead, Malin remembered, "They fear fire and explosions, so they should be rather easy to deal with. But what does ’named’ mean?"
"It’s because this is a special kind of creature. It has a growth of external armor, although it’s not as fast as its kin, but it has extremely high resistance to Spell Formations. Swords and knives can’t even pierce its shell. The girl tried with two close-combat helpers last time, but they couldn’t handle it, and one of them nearly died. So, she wants to ask for your help, especially since you took down a Chaos flesh-person with a Hammer last time."
"No problem," Malin agreed without hesitation.
As long as it wasn’t fast, Malin knew a hundred ways to hammer such a creature to death.
"You’re welcome. But tell me, who is this girl?"
Malin was curious about the girl Faye mentioned.
"Shela Ib Mischael," Faye replied with a smile.
Malin was taken aback for a moment, then raised his eyebrows—what a small world it was.
But now was not the time for such reflections, as he continued to dance with Faye.
"You know her?" Faye asked, picking up on the expression on Malin’s face.
"Camilla Ivan Mischael, the wraith of Mr. Mischael’s wife I purified," Malin said, sighing as he spoke.
"Oh... Carterburg really is small, isn’t it?" Faye immediately grasped the meaning behind Malin’s words and nestled into his arms, "I had almost forgotten."
"No, at least she’s not a child of the House of Brice." After saying that, Malin shook his head.
"Don’t worry, if it was that family, I wouldn’t want to bring bad luck upon us," Faye whispered into Malin’s ear with a laugh.
"Oh, and I’m bringing Maya with us, that okay?" Malin suddenly thought of something.
"No problem, even if there’s an unexpected situation, the two of us can take Maya and Shela and run away with no issue," Faye said with a smile, nodding in agreement with Malin’s idea. "This tune is over, I’ll go ask Lillim if she fancies joining the fun."
"Alright, Lillim’s Assistance Magic is quite good, and she also has a certain ability to protect herself," Malin agreed with Faye’s suggestion.
The two of them faced each other, said goodbye, then parted at the final note of the dance. Malin watched as Faye and Maya made their exchange and reached out to take the hand that Maya extended.
"Maya, Faye and I are going out to lend a hand tomorrow, would you like to stay home, or come with us?"
With their father not at home, Malin decided to take Maya to see the action—given his and Faye’s combination, those slow Spirits posed little threat.
So Malin also hoped to take Maya out to see the world.
"Sure," Maya seemed very happy about it.
The little Leopard Girl was happy, which put Malin at ease.
So they made another exchange, Maya for Jessica, and the Werewolf girl placed her hand in Malin’s palm, all sweaty.
"What’s going on?" Malin was curious.
"First time dancing with a boy, I was a bit nervous," Jessica said with an embarrassed smile.
That made Malin shake his head with a smile, "Don’t be nervous, come on, let’s do a slow dance."
Since the Werewolf girl was a bit taller than Malin, he chose a dance that didn’t require spinning, with simple steps that were suitable for Jessica to dance with him.
Jessica seemed very nervous and accidentally stepped on Malin’s feet twice in one minute, so to help her relax, and for the sake of his own feet, Malin decided to invite her to tomorrow’s fun assistance event.
"Oh, invite me?" Indeed, hearing this news, Jessica’s attention was diverted elsewhere.
"Yes, I think you are also a very reliable force, can be my assistant, help me deal with some different kind that I can’t handle on my own," Malin looked at the Werewolf girl in front of him, waiting for her response. "As for the salary, I can give you a share of mine."
"Sure, no problem, but I don’t need the money. I know Shela, I’ll just consider it doing her a favor this time," Jessica said, then looked at Malin, "Mr. Malin, the gift you gave me this time is very precious, and, and I don’t know your birthday..."" "Don’t keep thinking about giving something back to me, Jessica," Malin said with a smile, shaking his head.
He just thought the Werewolf girl was cute and got along well with her.
"That’s not good," the Werewolf girl felt a bit awkward, but Malin could still tell she was happy.
As the dance ended, Malin saw the Werewolf girl exchanged with Clovis, and then he exchanged the little Bunny Girl with Lillim.
The little lamb came back delighted, indicating she was willing to join the group for the event.
Malin thought for a moment—his own role was close combat; Werewolf girl Jessica was the second close combat position, covering for him; Maya with her crossbow could be equipped with silver-plated and armor-piercing bolts, making her the physical ranged position; Clovis and Lillim had advantages with Spell Formations, serving as magical ranged positions; Faye performed well with both Spell Formations and Revolvers, making her a hybrid ranged position.
So the unfortunate one with a shell on its back that they were going to fight tomorrow is disadvantaged in speed?
It looks like it’s about to be turned into a porcupine.
After finishing the dance, Malin exchanged the little lamb with Maya. The little Leopard Girl smiled as she placed her hand in Malin’s palm.
"Finally, it’s your turn."
"Finally, it’s my turn."
Speaking the same words at the same time, moved by each other’s thoughts, Malin smiled and wrapped his arm around the little Leopard Girl’s waist, while Maya also smiled and wrapped her arms around Malin’s neck.