My job list is full of alien girls.

Chapter 33 "What are you going to do with my bathwater?! Don't drink it!"

Although he was used to Rod spouting nonsensical remarks from time to time, he would sometimes be speechless with shock.

"You... you have such a good attitude." Garen opened his mouth, then chuckled.

Recalling the journey and the battle just now, after surviving the ordeal, the smile on his face gradually disappeared as he thought about Rhode's series of skillful and experienced operations, and the flash of inspiration in the critical moment when he commanded him to use "Instant Explosion Flash".

He recalled the speculations Lucius had made to him earlier.

Rhodes's background is not simple...

When we first met, he was a penniless and clueless guy, but in just over two months, he has unknowingly grown to such an extent...

Regardless of whether he has a powerful background as Lucius speculated, his growth rate and adaptability are already terrifying enough...

Thinking about this, Garen didn't know whether to feel sad or relieved that Rhodes hadn't awakened his class yet.

Otherwise, with his talent, he would soon surpass this guy who has lived for thirty or forty years and accomplished nothing, right?

"So this is what a genius is... I'm afraid it won't be long before he no longer needs my help."

Garen looked at the setting sun and couldn't help but sigh.

Before we knew it, the setting sun had sunk behind the rooftops, and together with the unique mist of Misty City, it dyed the evening sky orange-red. The shadows in the alley were stretched long, and the wind carried a touch of desolate coolness.

"In the end, it was all for nothing." Garen came back to his senses and couldn't help but sigh as he thought about the purpose of his trip.

"It's good that you've searched," Rod patted him on the shoulder. "It's better than doing nothing."

"Yes, but the fate of those involved is still unknown, so it's always..." Garen said somewhat pessimistically.

"His fate is unknown, which means..." Rod paused, "...that means he's still alive."

"If we didn't see a body, then he's not dead." Rhodes nodded.

"At least we found a clue to him, and we know there are rat-men monsters down there. If he's familiar with the sewer environment, he might have hidden somewhere else."

"That's true," Garen laughed, looking at the darkening sky. "You should go home early and stop getting involved in this."

"I'll figure something out," he said, glancing around at the shadows that blended into the night.

"Hmm..." Rhode wanted to say something, but after thinking about it, he realized that Garen was stronger than him in both status and prestige, so he must have his own reasons for saying that.

It's better not to make him worry.

Moreover, what does the promise made by the corpse collector Rhodes have to do with him, the Swift Ranger Hiro?

"Okay, I'll be going now, see you later... Hmm?" Rhodes, who was about to leave, suddenly froze in place.

[Unknown highly relevant profession material detected!]

What's going on?

There are surprisingly new materials around here that I haven't seen in a long time?

And it's a high level of compatibility with Alina.

"What's wrong?" Garen looked at him suspiciously. "It's getting late, let's hurry home."

Rhodes hesitated for a moment, then nodded and left.

It's really inconvenient for Garen to look for someone here, so he can only consider coming back to this place tomorrow to try his luck.

"..."

The smile on Garen's face only disappeared completely when Rhodes' figure vanished into the twilight.

"How long are you planning to eavesdrop on us?"

Garen turned to look at the shadows in the alley. Even though his strength wasn't much, the influence of the Holy Light made him quite sensitive to the power of darkness.

"snort."

A sneer came from the shadows.

A short man wearing a black hood slowly walked out, the hood pulled down very low, revealing only a section of his pale chin.

"A priest from the Holy Light Church, instead of going to church to heal the sick and save lives and be a great philanthropist, has come to my stinking sewer to invite his friends to fight rats?"

The girl's sweet voice was full of sarcastic and unsettling undertones.

"Did you cause the anomalies in the sewers?" Garen was too lazy to waste words with her. "The missing people, and those rampant rat-men monsters."

"Huh? You're asking me?"

Aphrodite felt completely bewildered, and pointing to the ground, she couldn't help but ask:

"The sewers in your dump are a complete mess, like a garbage dump. Isn't it normal for a few people to go missing and a few monsters to appear?"

She was already seething with anger, and after failing to win over that strange ranger during the day, she was worried about being exposed, so she had no choice but to slink back to her residence to recover her magic.

As a result, while she was meditating in the afternoon, those Holy Knights somehow found one of her strongholds again. Fortunately, she was vigilant enough to slip away quietly.

"Will breaking the seal bring disaster to Misty City?" Garen asked impatiently, his brow furrowed. "I remember you clearly said..."

"Haven't we already tested those powers?" Aphrodite said impatiently, arms crossed. "Don't you know best whether there were problems or not?"

Garen fell silent.

Following Aphrodite's instructions, the mysterious energy he extracted has not shown any harmful effects so far, and its effects are astonishing, whether applied to treatment or medicine making.

But the other party is ultimately a demon, and even though she has half-human blood flowing through her veins, she cannot be easily trusted.

"Our plan is about to succeed. Don't tell me you want to back out now?"

Those crimson eyes, hidden in the shadow of the hat brim, stared at Garen, seeing his regretful expression, and spoke with a threatening tone.

"I didn't mean that," Garen said, snapping out of his daze. Despite his usual gentle tone, his face betrayed his disgust at her threat. "I was just worried about something going wrong unexpectedly."

"Hmph, so what if there's a problem? It won't affect you anyway," Aphrodite said nonchalantly.

"For you, the more people who get hurt, the better, right? Aren't you enjoying their tearful gratitude?"

She whispered in a seductive voice, "Does seeing them adore you and pray for you make you feel like a god, surrounded by stars? Does it heal your pathetic and laughable psychological trauma?"

"Shut up! Don't try to understand me with your disgusting demonic mindset." Garen rarely showed anger.

"Disgusting?" Aphrodite laughed in exasperation. "Was that corpse collector your friend? You two seemed to get along quite well."

"Does he know your true colors? Does he know that you, this priest who spouts righteousness and preaches in church every day, are actually cooperating with me, a disgusting demon, behind my back?"

"I'm warning you, you're not allowed to go near him, near my friend!"

Upon hearing this, Garen, who had been relatively calm, suddenly raised his voice, and a slight fluctuation of holy light began to appear on his body.

"Otherwise, even at the risk of being discovered, I will definitely kill you."

Under the hood, Aphrodite raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised by his intense reaction.

Perhaps we could get closer to that corpse collector... Although he's just an ordinary person, he's easier to control than those powerful professionals, and we might be able to make use of him.

After concealing her true thoughts, Aphrodite gave a cold laugh and stopped provoking the other party.

"Don't forget our deal," she said, taking a few steps back as her body gradually disappeared into the shadows. "The resurrection spell is within reach. If you want to resurrect those you desire, then don't come here and cause me any trouble."

"Don't let an unrelated outsider ruin all our hard work."

"Instead of wasting time adventuring in the sewers, why not spend some time disrupting your knight friend's investigation?"

"I don't need you to teach me how to do things," Garen said coldly.

Until the other party's presence disappeared completely and they were gone, Garen stood there, his body slowly slumping down, looking much more hunched over.

The previous toughness and murderous intent vanished instantly, leaving only exhaustion and pain on his face.

He slowly squatted down and held his head in his hands.

To make up for his regrets and resurrect his family and friends who had died many years ago, he betrayed his decades-long faith and cooperated with the demons.

Now, even his friends may be dragged into this.

……

……

Perhaps it was the gloomy and desolate environment of the cemetery that made it seem as if the sky darkened earlier in this area than elsewhere.

"Why hasn't that guy come back yet..." Alina sat on the steps in front of her house, looking at the deserted road, and murmured anxiously.

It's been so long since we parted ways, and Rod still hasn't returned.

What exactly did he do that took so long?

Or did something happen to him?

Alina felt uneasy and anxious.

Did that demon woman from the daytime approach him again?

No, impossible. She remembered very clearly that Rhodes had said that after the fusion state was broken, no one would be able to recognize his true identity.

Just as Alina was about to get restless and decide to search along the road, a familiar figure finally appeared at the intersection.

"Rhodes?" she exclaimed with delight, her previous anxiety vanishing instantly.

Rod dragged himself over, covered in black mud, with patches of dark green moss clinging to his boots.

His hair was a mess, and his face was covered in mud. From a distance, there was a strong smell of sewage.

"You're finally back!"

"Yes, I'm back."

She ran over and looked him up and down several times, making sure he wasn't missing any limbs before letting out a sigh of relief. Then she frowned again, "Where did you go? How did you get like this?"

"Are you injured?"

"I wasn't injured, I just went to the sewers to help look for someone." Rhodes waved his hand, but suddenly a system notification popped up.

[Increased basic resonance!]

[Basic resonance level: 25% → 28%]

Rhodes paused, stroking his chin in deep thought, not understanding why the resonance level hadn't increased much during the long period of fusion, but suddenly surged now.

Even though he hadn't spent most of the day with Alina, except for the time he spent buying weapons at the Fire and Steelsmith Shop in the morning... the moment they met, their level of resonance reached a new breakthrough.

"Does an increase in resonance require appropriate separation? Does remaining in a combined state actually slow down our progress? Or is it because I fought alone today?"

Rhodes thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a solution, so he shook his head and put the matter out of his mind.

The most important thing now is to take a shower; he can hardly stand the sewer smell on his body anymore.

Rod quickly removed his messy equipment and belongings, took off his worn-out, smelly clothes, picked up the axe in the corner, and went to the yard to chop wood.

"What are you doing?!" Alina saw him suddenly take off his clothes and instinctively turned her face away, not daring to look him in the eye.

"Boiling water for a bath, can't you tell?" Rod stretched his elbows. "You still need to sleep tonight, don't you find it smelly?"

Alina then realized what was happening, and her expression immediately turned strange after being reminded: "...You don't need to remind me of this."

Thinking about it carefully, wasn't she a little too excited when she saw Rhodes return?

"Let me think if there's anything else I need to remind you of?" Rod asked, chopping wood as he drifted into thought.

Remembering the notification he suddenly received before parting ways with Garen, he was quite curious about what kind of powerful class the unknown new materials could bring him.

"I need your help tomorrow to go somewhere with me to find someone, or maybe something?" Rhodes thought for a moment, then said to Alina with some uncertainty.

Currently, he only has Alina as a material and hasn't yet figured out the patterns of the other combination materials.

"Don't you even know what you're looking for?" Alina felt a headache coming on, yet she seemed to have gotten used to Rhodes's strange behavior.

"Yes, it seems like a lot of trouble to find," Rod added firewood to the stove, put the large iron pot on it, poured a full pot of water, and dragged out the bathtub to prepare bathwater. "So I'm asking you for help."

"Oh? You actually know how to ask for help?" Alina's eyes lit up, her interest piqued. "So, how do you plan to make it up to me?"

Although she didn't know what Rod was looking for, anyone who could make this blockhead understand and learn to be humble towards her was a good person/good thing!

"Ah..." Rod looked at the steaming bathtub, then at her, "Why don't you shower first?"

"Huh?" Alina was immediately taken aback by these words. "What kind of benefit is this?"

"Isn't it enough that I'm willing to share my private bathtub with you..." Rhodes said with a bitter face, "I'm actually quite reluctant to let you use something so private..."

"If you think it's private, then find another compensation plan! Who cares!" Hearing this, Alina couldn't help but retort. "Besides, there's only one bathtub in this house, what kind of 'private' is that!"

After venting her frustrations, Alina let out a sigh of relief.

Thinking about it carefully, for Rod, that oddly dense person, to come up with such a thoughtful compensation is already a remarkable improvement. Take it slow...

Alina hadn't originally intended to ask Rodso for anything; she just suddenly wanted to tease him. Even if he promised her money or something, Alina wouldn't need it.

Besides, she had only been wiping her body these past few days and hadn't taken a proper bath or cleaned herself. Rod's compensation was perfectly reasonable, even just right.

"Alright," Alina stood up and said, "I'll shower first. You're not allowed to peek or come in."

Rhodes had no objection and simply turned and walked out.

Alina took her newly bought clothes and soapberry essential oil, closed the door, took off her clothes, and carefully sat down in the hot water.

"Ah...this feels really good..."

The warm water instantly enveloped her body, and Alina let out a comfortable sigh, leaning against the tub. The fatigue and tension of the past few days seemed to vanish in that moment.

She scooped up water and splashed it on her long, fair arms, watching the glistening water droplets slide off her smooth skin. After carefully washing her body with soap, she applied floral essential oils for skincare, as if she had returned to her past life.

She leaned over the bucket, her gaze unconsciously drifting towards the door.

And outside the door was Rod, who was waiting there.

Come to think of it, being with Rhodes isn't so bad.

Although he could easily get a heart attack from that guy's strange words and actions, he no longer needed to be as cautious and constantly on edge as he used to be because of his half-elf identity...

After all, that guy not only lacked a concept of race, but sometimes he didn't even have a concept of gender, and he treated everyone the same.

"This kind of life... is actually quite nice?" Alina murmured unconsciously as she buried her face in the bathtub.

Meanwhile, outside, Rhodes stared into deep thought at the system notification that suddenly popped up.

[Increased basic resonance!]

[Basic resonance level: 28% → 30%]

"Taking a bath... can increase resonance???" Rhodes stared blankly at the door.

Inside the door was Alina, who was taking a bath.

The resonance level of 30% was only reached during the life-or-death crisis between the two, when it unleashed terrifying power. Now, the basic resonance level has reached this level.

Doesn't that mean the Wind Ranger's combat power has become even more terrifying?

"It seems that besides eating, healing, and sleeping, taking a bath can also increase resonance..." After thinking for a long time, Rhodes could only come to this conclusion based on existing patterns.

squeak-

Alina, wearing her newly bought robe, walked out with a satisfied expression, drying her wet blonde hair with a towel.

"You can go take a shower..." Before Alina could finish speaking, she saw Rhodes walk past her and slam the door shut.

"This guy..." Alina was stunned for a moment, but now that she felt relaxed, she could understand Rhode's thirst and urgency for cleanliness.

"Ah," Alina's expression changed slightly, then softened considerably, "I was taking such a comfortable bath that I forgot my clothes in there."

"That guy, he wouldn't do anything weird with my clothes, would he..."

After all, his body had already been touched all over when they first met. If Rhodes really wanted to do something, he probably would have done it already...

"But... he probably hasn't washed yet, so I might as well take the clothes back now." After thinking for a moment, Alina decided to take back the dirty clothes to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings.

She was just about to knock when she found that the door opened with a gentle touch...

"Where is this fragrance coming from? Is it something she carries with her?" As soon as Rod entered, he smelled a floral scent.

He looked at the water in the bathtub, sniffed, and muttered to himself, "Could the elves' bathwater have special effects, perhaps some kind of rare and precious treasure?"

"Speaking of which, elves, as a special race, should be even more powerful than magical beasts, right?"

"Is it safe to drink? What effects will it have?"

Alina was just about to come in to get her clothes when she heard Rhodes's shocking remarks.

What terrified her even more was Rhodes's action of bending down into the bathtub and seemingly sipping the bathwater...

"What are you going to do to my bathwater?!"

"You're not allowed to drink it!!!"