They broke through the crowd, Liam effortlessly parting the sea of lower-level players like a battleship navigating a harbour full of wooden rowboats.

Elizabeth walked pressed to his side, her cheeks flushed and warm as freshly baked bread. His massive hand enveloped hers, and she clung to it. Her body was close enough that her breath hitched when his bicep brushed her chest, squeezing her breasts between his arm and her ribs with each step he took.

Ahead of them stood the headquarters of the Iron Hearth Guild. A guild hall was supposed to radiate elite power, and this one still tried banners freshly rehung, the stone steps recently swept. It had taken a beating. In their very first raid during their very first week, seventy per cent of their core members had simply not come back. No respawns, no second chances. But Berry had absorbed another guild recently, though they were dickheads, still good meatshields.

Before Liam could even climb the stone steps, the heavy oak doors burst open. Berry, the Guild Master, marched out. Despite her guild’s halved numbers, she was trying desperately to maintain her aristocratic, untouchable commander persona. Her red hair was tied back tightly, and her polished silver breastplate caught the late afternoon sun.

But the moment her eyes landed on Liam, shirtless, radiating an unbothered scumbag aura, and casually balancing an entire wooden cooking stall under his arm, her haughty expression cracked completely.

"L-Liam!" Berry stammered, her cheeks instantly flaring with a bright, defensive pink. She crossed her arms tightly under her chest, her leather-gloved fingers digging into her armour as she tried to glare at him. "What are you doing here?! And why are you parading around town without a shirt again? You think just because you are handsome, you can violate public decency? It’s not like I’m impressed by your... your muscle density or anything!"

Liam didn’t even blink. He just stared down at her with his usual flat, affectless deadpan. "I need the transit permits and housing info for Aero City. Hand them over."

"Hmph! Is that any way to speak to a Guild Master?" Berry huffed, her red ponytail tossing as she turned her head away. "You think you can just demand things from me? If you want my help, you should be begging for it! "Though... I suppose since the caravan departs soon, I may have already arranged for a Level 3 Hearth Kitchen to be constructed at the new property. Not because I personally coordinated the architectural specifications, or because I ensured the residence was large enough for... multiple occupants. It simply made logistical sense for the household to accommodate a full party, and a proper kitchen requires a proper home!

As she ranted, her eyes kept traitorously darting back to the hard, sculpted lines of his chest. Deep within the Iron Hearth’s private network, Berry was actually the president of a secret, "Vanguard Chef Fan Club" consisting entirely of the guild’s remaining female members who spent their nights anonymously trading sketched logs of his recipes and shoulder measurements.

Before Berry could finish her lecture, a sudden, chilly shadow pooled around Liam’s heavy leather boots.

Midnight, the adorable silent assassin, completely bypassed the front door. She materialised directly out of the darkness behind Liam like a beautiful, territorial ghost. She didn’t say a word. She just leaned her entire body weight against his left side.

With a soft, breathless sigh, Midnight looped her slender arms completely around Liam’s thick, bare bicep. She pulled his arm tightly against her torso, her surprisingly soft, ample breasts squishing flat against his muscular triceps with zero hesitation.

She buried her face against his shoulder blade, inhaling the scent of his raw stamina aura like a cat high on catnip.

"...Mine," Midnight whispered, the word barely escaping before she tucked her face back against his shoulder blade. A long pause. Then, quieter, but somehow steadier: "Smells like fire and pepper. Warm." Her fingers tightened once around his bicep. "Staying here."

"EXCUSE ME?!" Elizabeth roared, her cat ears exploding upright as her face went nuclear. She lunged forward and grabbed Midnight by the back of her stealth cloak, then immediately froze, fingers still bunched in the fabric, her brain catching up to her body. A long, complicated sigh and her ears slowly rotated toward each other. "I mean..." She looked at Liam. Looked at Midnight. Looked at Liam’s arm, which was, objectively, very large. Her grip loosened by exactly one degree. "...You could have just asked," she muttered, her tail lashing once behind her.

Berry’s jaw dropped, her noble composure shattering into hilarious, jealous outrage."M-Midnight?!" Berry’s voice cracked straight through her Guild Master register. "You! That is completely inappropriate behaviour, and I will not stand here and watch you drape yourself over him like he’s some kind of... like you’re just... get OFF him, that breastplate is a symbol of rank, and I will not have it associated with this kind of? this kind of—!" She stopped. Crossed her arms tighter. "...He doesn’t even smell that good."

Liam stood entirely still. He had a massive broken table balanced under one arm, a silent assassin physically moulded against his left tricep, and an enraged cat-girl aggressively tugging at his hip. He looked down at the chaos surrounding his waistline. Then, without thinking too hard about it, he reached over, grabbed Midnight by the back of her stealth cloak, and slung her directly over his shoulder like a rolled-up tarp.

"Easier," he said flatly. "I need both hands. You’re coming with us. Rogue needs more help."

Midnight made a small, undignified sound against his shoulder blade.

As he turned toward the gate, Liam’s mind was already moving. She’d been clinging to him since the moment she materialised. He ran through the logical explanation with the calm efficiency of a man deboning a fish. Ruby-Eyed had kicked her out. Iron Hearth had taken her in, but she clearly didn’t fit, too quiet for Berry’s parade-ground energy, too strange for the new recruits. She had nowhere to settle. He was simply the most stable object in her immediate vicinity. That was all. Completely reasonable.

[TOOL TIP]:

Status:Asset Retention: 100% (Two Heroines secured, one Guild Master coping).

The "Level 3 Hearth" Specification: Berry has accidentally-on-purpose upgraded the new Aero City residency’s cooking apparatus to Tier 3.

The "Tarp" Position: [Midnight] has been structurally converted into a shoulder accessory. Despite losing her tactical high ground, her [Affection Meter] has completely glitched because Liam promised her tent privileges.

The Compliance Framework: Elizabeth’s [Territorial Instincts] have successfully evolved from "Monopoly" to "Managerial." She has evaluated Liam’s physical volume and concluded there is mathematically enough wolf-man for multiple occupants.