Gulping for a moment, Lisa stopped walking and turned to the Slime, which was stretched out beside her in a funny way. She looked directly into its core, since the little creature had no eyes, and answered her friend’s question.
"Don’t worry about it, Halon. Alice knows that if I chose you to be my right-hand man and found this guild, it’s because your ability and potential truly won me over and showed me that you deserve the place you have." She stated, openly demonstrating the confidence she felt in Halon. "Besides, the hired players follow professional orders. If I say you’re in charge, they’ll obey you as if you were an Elite General."
"If anyone treats you unfairly, you can tell me directly, and I’ll take measures that satisfy you, I give you my word on that."
After finishing her explanation, Lisa continued to look Halon in the eye, showing as clearly as she could that she trusted him and would not tolerate others mistreating him under her watch.
Lohan gave a thumbs-up with his small blue hand, feeling much more relaxed. "Alright. So let’s use this extra time to sell our prey. If that elite group is coming tomorrow, it would be nice if the Vice President had saved up some money to buy the group some drinks, right?"
Lisa sensed his voice was much more relaxed, and, relieved, she nodded, satisfied with his attitude. However, inside, the whirlwind of Isabella Vance’s worries had not ceased.
’Alice is very loyal, but she’s... intense. If she lets slip a "Lady Isabella" or mentions that she’s coming to Blue Star Alpha to visit me, he might connect the dots and everything we’ve built under this facade of equality could crumble..." she thought, watching the Slime, which was now enthusiastically practicing forming more tails on her back for some reason. ’I need to have a very serious talk with her before they cross the border into Thalendor. Halon is the only one who treats me like a normal girl, and I’m not ready to lose that because of the weight of my last name’
With that concern in mind, Lisa decided to pick up the pace and reach Thalendor as quickly as possible.
Noticing her haste, Lohan figured his friend needed to resolve some guild issues in the real world and decided to help her move even faster.
With the improved control he had been developing over the past few hours, Lohan controlled the second fox tail he formed behind Lisa, a tail practically identical to the original, with the only difference being that this tail was made entirely of his gel, and quickly forming the hexagonal obsidian scales, which were now even more resistant due to their evolution, and weaving magical threads within them to act as tendons, Lohan began to accumulate kinetic energy within it.
"Lisa, get ready for the launch." Lohan laughed as he initiated the tail’s movement to generate the Explosive Step on the ground.
Lisa, who was lost in thought, hadn’t noticed Lohan’s movement, and by the time she processed what his warning meant, it was already too late.
-- BOOM!! --
An explosion rang out with the powerful, high-frequency impact of the fox’s tail striking the ground, causing a small blast at that spot, and simultaneously sending the fox flying forward at high speed.
Combined with the high speed Lisa was already running at and the speed Lohan’s explosion added on top of that, the fox acted like a blue rocket flying between the trees.
"HALON, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" she shouted, a mix of shock, anger, and amusement.
"HAHAHA, Haven’t you seen me use my tail to perform the Vacuum Detonation in battle before? I’m just applying that concept to the Explosive Step! You seemed to be in such a hurry that I wanted to give you a little help, or rather, a little tail." Lohan laughed at the fox’s reaction.
When they hit the ground again, Lohan shouted, "Get ready, here comes another one!"
Hearing that, Lisa, who had been preparing to run, gave up on the idea and adjusted her posture for better aerodynamics during the flight, leaving this descent for Lohan to handle while feeling her heart race with a completely new mix of emotions.
As they were about to hit the ground, the black tail on her back struck the ground again, causing another powerful explosion and sending the fox flying at high speed once more in a parabolic arc.
Lisa watched the absurdity of the situation and felt like laughing.
Hearing Halon’s laughter behind her, enjoying both the movement and the fright she had shown, Lisa could no longer control herself and began to laugh along with him.
Not as unrestrainedly as he did, but still maintaining her composure and acting as her training demanded, with a steady, elegant, and discreet laugh.
But for Lohan, seeing her laugh only encouraged him even more to keep it up, knowing how rare it was to make his friend let go of her seriousness and laugh the way she was.
Thus, the trip that should have taken at least 40 minutes at Lisa’s comfortable running speed took only 15 minutes amid Lohan’s constant bursts of speed.
Sure, a trip at such high speed wasn’t without a cost.
Lohan spent at least 1,000 Biomass and a large amount of Mana to maintain that high-power state, but feeling the fox’s racing heart and her lips curving upward, he felt it was totally worth it.
And Lisa, as she gasped for breath to calm down from that strange and thrilling ride, felt even more intensely the urge to go home and call Alice immediately.
She couldn’t possibly let Halon know her identity, not at the risk of missing moments like this...
"Halon, I have to go!" she said hurriedly, without even waiting for the items to be sold to Intervar; she left everything for Lohan to handle, turned into blue specks of light, and vanished from there.
Lohan: ????