Leslie The Ice Cream Girl

To be fair, the girl's reaction was a tad bit weird, and Albrecht was somewhat bothered by it. Then again, he wasn't in any position to ask her what was wrong. He was fairly certain that they hadn't met each other before, and asking her something personal might cause him to overstep his bounds.

"By any chance... are you... Albe—" The girl tried to initiate a small conversation while she was scooping ice cream.

"Albrecht Stein? Yes, that's me." Albrecht interrupted before the girl could even let out his complete name. In his mind, some of the 'Albrechts' in other dimensions were screaming at him, and he couldn't believe that they knew the girl.

No, knowing her was an understatement. Some of them were really close to her.

"And what's your name, young miss?" Albrecht asked. Since he gave her his name, she should be forced to return the sentiment at the very least.

The girl with fairly white hair shook her head and took a brief glance at Albrecht. "My name's Leslie." She said in a matter-of-factly tone as she gave Albrecht and the ladies with him all their orders. A smile was written on her face as she amicably told them to come back again soon.

Who was she? She isn't... no, that can't be the case. Albrecht shook his head as he removed the thought at the forefront of his mind.

"This is delicious!"

"I never thought mint could be used like this. How is this possible?" Theresa asked, beaming, while she took another spoonful of her mint-flavored ice cream.

"This is chocolate? I've never tasted this before. Wait... I thought chocolate tasted bitter. That's what the other disciples told me before." Sheila muttered, much to Albrecht's amusement.

"Pure dark chocolate is bitter. But this one is sweetened. Moreover, it's an ice cream flavor, that's why it tastes like that." Albrecht explained.

Sheila was new to this ice cream thing, adding to that, she never actually tasted chocolate before. That's why in response, she just nodded her head at Albrecht's explanation.

As the group walked away from the stall that sold superficial exquisite ice cream, Albrecht stole a glance towards the girl who called herself Leslie. Simultaneously, Leslie also stole a glance in Albrecht's direction.

Their eyes met, and the two of them flinched before they looked away. They caught each other staring at the other party, and it embarrassed them a little bit.

"Do you know her?" Yulie asked as she licked a spoonful of vanilla ice cream while bobbing her head in the direction of the ice cream girl.

"Ah... I don't know... maybe." Albrecht let out as he heaved a sigh. His head then nodded once, and then he tilted his head as if he felt like something was strange.

There was something strange. Honestly, he had never known the girl in his lifetime. And yet, the other Albrechts have a memory of her. It's as if they unanimously decided to leave him out when it came to the memories of the young girl.

Is she really...  Albrecht shook his head. Right now, he's got tons of preparations to do. He shouldn't let the appearance of a girl distract him.

One more month before the countdown expires. They have less than a month to conquer the Eighth Outerlayer.

Focus, Albrecht, focus... Albrecht said to himself as he returned to the present and ate his ice cream.

— — — — —

Meanwhile, in the Rilegarthe Guild,

The meeting of the Heroes of Relics was filled with silence. Enveloped by a heavy atmosphere, the group tensed at the sight of their leader trying to maintain his composure. He sat there in utter hush, but his face reddened with fury.

In the first place, the conquer attempt of the Seventh Outerlayer had a lot of complications, but it ended up as a successful conquer attempt. Although it only highlighted the existence of Albrecht and Isaias, then a man named Adam... it was still a successful conquer attempt.

And now they have a month to prepare for the Eighth Outerlayer.

Still, the shame he felt during the entire conquer attempt was enough to eat away Sun Wu's mind. He wanted to rage, but the thought of showing the other heroes his unpleasant side caused him to stay calm.

"That Alb...!!!" Sun Wu clenched his teeth before he pounded on the table, causing a visible crack to appear. The other members of the Heroes of Relics flinched, but they didn't move from their seats.

"I thought he was weak... was he hiding his power all along?" Alexander Grado let out as he looked at everyone.

In response, the others shook their heads in silence. "There are two possibilities." Lockhorn Holmes adjusted his monocle as he cleared his throat.

"We've known about his poor performance... and he never showed any signs of being powerful. Well, aside from his unlimited storage space and all." Lockhorn Holmes continued.

"From that information, we can derive two possibilities. One, he might be pretty skilled at hiding his superpower and he had us all fooled for the past six months... which is most likely implausible since I, Lockhorn Holmes, am a member of this party."

"Or two... he didn't hide his skills at all. Back then, he may be weak, but he gained an insane power after separating from us."

Lockhorn Holmes heaved a sigh before he sank into his seat. "Both possibilities provide the fact that we were lacking. If the first option was true... then that means we didn't know him enough... and if the second was true, then that means we didn't believe in him long enough."

"In any case, I believe that it's the second option... and when it comes down to it, the one to blame for this is... you, don't you think?" Lockhorn Holmes locked eyes with Sun Wu. "Right now, you're enraged, but that emotion was your fault. You kicked him out, and the consequence of it was you losing face in front of all the other heroes."

"Shut up or I'll make you... Lockhorn Holmes." Sun Wu threatened as he angrily glared at him.

Raising both his hands, Lockhorn Holmes decided to shut up and let their leader let off some steam. The last thing they should be doing as the Heroes of Relics was to fight amongst themselves.

BAM!

Before they knew it, Azura Xalthor (guild master of the Rilegarthe Guild) burst into the room with bloodthirst emanating from him. "Sun Wu, we need to talk." He let out before he slammed the door in front of everyone's face.