I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 369: Gift of Friendship

"Heeheeheee."

"Heheh."

Levinas and Gaeul started laughing innocently when their sides were poked.

It was different from their usual laughter.

As I stared at their adorable reactions, the woman poking them jabbed my side too.

"Hehehe."

A similar laugh burst out.

Was this the normal reaction to being poked in the side?

My ears perked up involuntarily.

Did beast-kin automatically laugh when poked in the side?

I wanted to check if it worked on Saebyeok too.

I turned expectantly toward Saebyeok.

Just then, the woman poked Saebyeok's side.

"......"

Unfortunately, Saebyeok showed no reaction at all.

She just stared up at the woman who'd poked her with an expressionless face.

Well, Saebyeok usually didn't show much reaction.

I decided to try poking Sophia or Encia's sides later.

"Um, well..."

Perhaps embarrassed by Saebyeok's lack of reaction, the woman scratched her cheek.

I poked her back repeatedly.

I'd considered poking her side but gave up after seeing her muscular build.

"Ah...! I was going to ask if you wanted me to keep the snowman from melting."

"Oh? Is that possible?"

"Yes. I'm a mage, you know."

Bang bang.

She thumped her chest.

She had that same intense energy as Uncle Park Taesan.

"Yes... so can you keep the snowman from melting...?"

"Of course."

Whoosh-

When she waved her staff, cold air swirled around the snowman.

The melting snowman solidified into ice.

"Wow!"

"Master...!"

Gaeul and Levinas looked at each other.

Then they both turned to me.

Happy about the snowman's revival, they were wearing bright smiles.

"I'm glad the snowman's back. Should we take it home to display?"

"No."

"No?"

"Yeah."

This was surprising from Gaeul who had cherished the snowman so much.

Why didn't she want to take it home?

Gaeul quickly answered my unspoken question.

"It's present."

Gaeul carefully placed the snowman next to Taesan Guild's main gate.

She was giving the snowman as a gift to Taesan Guild.

"Oh! You're giving it to us?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you! I'll make sure it never melts!"

The Taesan mage cast various spells on the snowman.

Though I didn't understand them, I could tell they were protecting the snowman.

Levinas watched the magic with curious eyes before standing beside the Taesan mage.

"This is our gift to you!"

"Yeah! Thank you!"

We built a brief friendship with the Taesan Guild members.

Then we returned to Sophia who was helping announce the passing candidates.

"Sophia, how many people passed?"

"...Everyone passed."

"Huh?"

How many challengers were there again?

At least enough to fill a bus.

It was amazing that so many people all passed.

"But there's still one final test."

"The final test is about character assessment and learning an adventurer's commitments. It's hard to fail unless you really mess up."

"Ah."

So everyone really did pass then.

Since they achieved what they wanted.

That was good news.

I silently congratulated the challengers while looking forward to meeting Master Chae Juyeon.

"Oh right, Sophia."

"Hmm?"

I approached Sophia and poked her side.

My finger sank deep into her slim waist.

"Why are you suddenly poking my waist?"

"Well, doesn't it make you laugh?"

"Not particularly... does getting poked in the side make you laugh, Gyeoul?"

"Yes."

"Hmm?"

Sophia tilted her head and poked my side.

"Heehee."

My body curled up at the ticklish, tingling sensation.

I laughed reflexively.

"You're just very ticklish."

"Oh, I see..."

So I was just naturally ticklish.

Maybe it was a difference in physical abilities.

Except for Saebyeok, the children and I had quite delicate bodies.

As I was reaching this mental conclusion.

Sophia poked my side again.

"Heehee."

Another strange laugh escaped.

Sophia smiled warmly at me.

**

"See you later, kiddo!"

"Come back again!"

"Okay."

After saying goodbye to the Taesan Guild members and Master, we moved to Sacred Guild.

As its name suggested, Sacred Guild's base had a holy and dignified feeling.

"Wow."

While Yeomyeong Guild's building was luxurious and modern, Sacred Guild looked like a European noble's castle.

While waiting for the Sacred Guild people, we explored the building.

As the children ran down the long straight corridor, I decided to chat with Sophia.

"Sophia, the building..."

I was about to say how impressive the building was, but stopped when I saw Sophia.

Her outfit had changed quite dramatically.

"Sophia, what kind of clothes are those?"

"These are formal clothes our species wears for formal occasions."

"Formal?"

So shark beast-kin wore clothes like this for formal occasions.

They looked fancy, but the issue was how tightly they clung to the body.

"Sea beast-kin basically wear clothes that are easy to swim in. Even our formal wear follows this principle."

"Ah..."

It would be inconvenient to swim in suits or dresses.

All that flowing fabric would create a lot of resistance.

I could fully understand why shark beast-kin dressed this way.

"But why did you suddenly change clothes?"

"Sacred teaches adventurer commitments, etiquette, and duties. I dressed appropriately for that."

"I see."

I nodded while looking down at myself.

Since we were going to Sacred Guild, I'd worn the white shirt Master Chae Juyeon bought me last time like a dress.

"Hmm..."

Maybe this wasn't formal enough.

I scratched my cheek and approached Sophia.

"How do my clothes look?"

"They suit you well, Gyeoul."

"Hehe..."

This was my most natural outfit.

I was glad Sophia approved.

"They should be coming out soon..."

Sophia looked around.

Just then we spotted Chae Juyeon coming down the central staircase.

Though I wanted to run straight to her, this was a formal occasion.

Holding myself back, I stayed in place as Chae Juyeon approached us.

"Gyeoul and Sophia are here? Where are the others?"

"They're running over there."

Sophia pointed her staff down the corridor.

The children were running toward us with light footsteps from the far end.

"King! There are so many pictures here!"

"Yeah. Lots of pictures."

Pictures were displayed in every corridor.

They looked quite fancy at first glance.

Levinas, who took drawing very seriously as a hobby, wasn't intimidated by the fancy pictures at all.

Instead, her eyes showed a competitive spirit.

"Master, can Levinas put up a picture too?"

"My, a picture from Levinas? That would be such an honor."

"Hehe."

Levinas smiled brightly and took out her coloring supplies from her bag.

Crayons, colored pencils, and other tools.

"Levinas will draw a super pretty picture!"

"Okay. Then Master has some work to do, so why don't you children draw over there?"

"Yeah!"

As Master and Sophia went toward the adventurers, we moved to where Master had pointed.

It was a suitably sized table in the main hall.

"This time we'll use all the colors!"

"Yeah."

Perhaps inspired by the colorful framed pictures?

Levinas drew using various colored pencils and crayons.

As always, the subject was about us.

**

It was a picture of a horned rabbit and their companions fighting monsters.

Levinas held up the finished picture with a satisfied expression.

"How is it?"

"Really cool."

"Hehe, Levinas thinks it's cool too!"

Levinas got up with a bright smile.

She held our jointly created picture and looked around.

"But where should we put it?"

"Let's put it where it's most visible."

Saebyeok pointed to Sacred Guild's main entrance.

The entrance was indeed the most visible spot.

So we moved to the entrance with the picture.

Rip-

We tore tape and stuck the picture on the inside wall of the entrance.

We used four pieces of tape to make sure the picture wouldn't fall.

"Done!"

"Yeah."

The snowman we made together was at Taesan Guild's entrance, and the picture we drew together was at Sacred Guild's entrance.

It felt good to have given tokens of friendship to both guilds.

My tail started wagging gently.

"Gyeoul?"

Encia appeared, opening the entrance.

Happy to see her, I ran toward Encia.

"Encia, what brings you here?"

"I came to help Sophia."

"I see."

As I shared a light hug with Encia, I wondered:

How would Encia react to being poked in the side?

Without hesitation, I poked Encia's side.

My finger pressed into Encia's firm yet soft waist.

Then.

"Hoaek..."

Encia made a strange sound.

My ears perked up at this unfamiliar reaction.