The Lustful Villain: Every Milfs and Gilfs are Mine!-Chapter 160. They’re Still Searching for the Man Whose Face I’m Borrowing
At the end of the avenue, the gathering place came into view. In the morning light, Helena, Elliot, and Evelyn stood outside, resembling a family group united to welcome someone.
When Helena saw Rex, her face showed the same warmth that had been there since the goblin king incident. It was the kind of warmth that comes from trusting someone and not having to change that trust.
She greeted him like someone who considered him to be family. "I’m so glad to meet you again, Rex... it has been a while, hasn’t it? Like three days?"
"Yeah... I’ve been busy with the academy and stuff, but I could manage it all." Rex responded in kind, like someone who had worked hard to earn that.
"You’re probably thinking, who’s Elizabeth to the Starlight family, right?"
"Well, I can guess that she’s young—" Rex stopped immediately because he just said something sensitive; he should have said ’age’ with an older woman. "Ehem! I can guess that she’s probably your sister."
"Oh my... that’s correct. You really have a good eye." Helena giggled.
Elliot was his usual straightforward self. "It’s good to see you again, pal."
"That’s my word... How have you been?"
"I’m fine. Evelyn and I have been doing a lot of adventuring together."
’That explains why I’ve never seen her again... it seems like their relationship keeps on getting better and better, huh...?’
He shook hands and made a comment about the dungeon operation that showed both support and the specific discomfort of someone who had heard what happened to Kaelira and didn’t know how to talk about it without making the moment heavier.
"I’m sorry that I didn’t participate in the dungeon operation... Man, if only I were there; she’s probably going to be saved, right?" Elliot just said something that made Rex want to punch him in the face.
’Who the fuck did he think he is...? If he’s there... I’ll probably let the undead kill him right away because of how useless and very sure this asshole is.’
"Don’t worry... Kaelira will be fine," Rex said, and Elliot visibly calmed down. "She’s recovering right now."
Evelyn was last to greet him, and Rex paid the most attention to her greeting.
"You look different for someone who has only just started the academy three days ago..." Evelyn smiled, and Rex knew that she was already at ease with him since the Goblin King incident.
"Well... trying to do better."
They start to make small talk about the reincarnator topic, and Rex notices the way she looks at him is always worth paying close attention to.
[EVELYN ASTRALIGHT: DESIRE LEVEL—31/100]
The desire level remained unchanged since the last time he had checked. This made sense because he had not recently invested meaningfully in Evelyn’s direction, and the desire level did not change on its own.
She was at thirty-one, and thirty-one was where she would stay until he applied attention to the problem.
He looked at her and made the small internal calculation that was neither a decision nor a plan but was the beginning of both.
’Well... for now I’ll let her go because she’s going to be a target that I will abuse with psychological dominance, where I would love to see Elliot’s suffering face.’
Rex remembered that Diana was at ninety. The remaining distance was ten points, and the Apostle gathering was about to occupy most of the day.
After the gathering, Diana would be available, and the evening would provide something, and by the time the evening had run its course, the question of who came next on the list would either be Evelyn or Helena, depending on what the gathering revealed about available opportunities.
Helena at sixty-three was closer. But Evelyn was younger and sharper and represented the kind of challenge that was strategically more intriguing because it was less straightforward.
He put in both options and went inside.
’Having a threesome with the Starlight sounded exciting... so I guess Helena is the perfect choice.’
’But I have to remember about Apollo’s harem as well.’
’Damn... I’m getting busier each time.’
...
The formal meeting hall could hold about sixty people in a way that was both useful and meant to impress. The room was designed to make everyone present feel that the topics being discussed were significant enough to justify the formal setting.
The chairs were set up in a modified semicircle, with a raised speaking area at the front. The walls had the kind of historical documents that rooms like this always have: maps, records of important events, and the institutional memory of an organization that had been around long enough to have one.
Rex was seated in the observer section, a set of chairs along the right wall that was elevated slightly from the main floor and that carried the specific social designation of people who were present and permitted to be present but who were not participants in the formal sense.
Valentina had personally set up for him to be there. Everyone in the room knew this, so being in the observer section didn’t make someone less important; in fact, it was the most obvious place for someone who wasn’t an Apostle to be.
He knew people were looking at him, but he didn’t do anything about it.
Elizabeth Von Starlight was in charge of the meeting’s administrative structure when it started, and she did it with the same level of efficiency and precision that she brought to everything else. Valentina sat in the center of the main floor, exuding calmness and confidence, as if she were the focal point of everyone’s attention. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚
There were twenty-three Apostles there, which was the full attendance for this cycle. This was the number that Elizabeth had guessed would be there for the general announcement.
They were all different ages and looked different. Some were fighters who showed their combat experience in the way they stood, while others were scholars who demonstrated it in the way they sat still.
But they all had the same special quality of presence that came from being someone a god had chosen to invest in.
Rex made a list of them in order, starting on the left side of the main floor and working his way to the right. He seemed to be paying most attention to the speaker at the front.
With the power from the Mark of Lust, he knew there were eleven Apostles of Life, making them the largest group of divine beings in the current conflict. They sat together in a loose but clear group of people who had worked together before and were used to being close to each other.
Apollo was one of them. He had apparently been allowed to join the formal gathering because he was an Apostle, even though he had only recently become one.
He sat still like Rex had seen him do since the dungeon, and Rex didn’t know everything about the other Apostles’ divine affiliations, but the gathering was giving it to him.
Elizabeth began the meeting by formally introducing everyone present, both those anticipated and those not. Rex’s interest peaked at this point, but his expression remained unchanged.
"We note the confirmed absence of three Apostles who were expected at this gathering," Elizabeth said, reading from the document in front of her with the precision of someone who was delivering formal information and not editorializing on it.
"Apostle of Mercy, Tessa Brightwater, has sent a formal notice saying she won’t be available because she is working in the eastern regions."
"Apostle of Wisdom, Percival Crane, who is currently in treaty talks that can’t be stopped."
She stopped.
"Apostle of Justice, Xavier Xenworth, was last seen defending Aethelgard against a demon attack a few days ago and has not been in contact with any known network since then."
The room’s attention changed at the third name, but only slightly—someone not paying close attention would have missed it.
Rex was paying close attention, and he noticed the difference between an absence that was acknowledged with administrative regret and one that was acknowledged with the weight of something that might be permanent.
Elizabeth went on, "Xavier Xenworth is currently missing."
"His Apostle designation is still active in the registry, which means that his patron goddess hasn’t taken away the blessing."
"This could mean that he is still alive and unreachable or that the goddess’s knowledge of his situation is different from ours."
From the center of the floor, Valentina declared, "We will closely monitor the registry."
Her voice had the tone of someone who was ending a painful topic that needed to be put aside so the meeting could go on. "We will know right away if his status changes..."
"For now, we move on."
