Now that the Rulers had eliminated the Boss Kobold, losing a bit of face was trivial. What he feared most was the Rulers retaliating against him once they found out. He might not have been afraid before, as it wasn't certain then that Rulers could completely eliminate BOSS-level Monsters, so various countries hadn't placed much importance on their existence.
Some humans even hated Rulers, considering them jinxes, believing that monsters would attack wherever Rulers were. Although Rulers could eliminate minor monsters, the military also possessed the combat power to do so. But now, things were different.
Rulers possessed the ability to eliminate BOSS-level Monsters, so countries would certainly enact friendly policies toward them. Their social status would increase, and a Ruler could potentially beat him into a cripple without facing severe legal punishment.
For the sake of his future peaceful life, the military expert Akima Ichiro yielded to the Rulers. "The Rulers have defeated the Boss Kobold! Rulers are indeed powerful! Long live the Rulers!"
Seeing Ichiro praise the Rulers so much, the host couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Mr. Ichiro! At the start of the show, didn't you look down on the Rulers quite a bit? Why the sudden change?"
"Actually, I knew the Rulers would win all along. Saying they were seeking death and couldn't defeat the Boss Kobold at the beginning was merely to stimulate their fighting spirit," Ichiro lied without blushing or his heart skipping a beat.
Ryubi mocked Ichiro, "Your face is truly not ordinary in its thickness! It can practically rival the thickness of a city wall."
"The skin on us experts' faces must be thick, otherwise how could we deal with the audience?" Ichiro said with a beaming smile.
Ichiro's words implied that all experts have thick skin, and your skin, Ryubi, is just as thick unless you stop being an expert.
"Let's not talk about those unimportant things. Come, praise the Rulers with me; they are heroes! If you don't say a few good words, it would be a disservice to their hard-fought battle!" Ichiro said with a face full of smiles. "Long live the Rulers! Rulers, I love you! You are all too incredible!"
"The Rulers are truly the saviors of the world, truly the hope of humanity." The host also joined in the praise.
Seeing both of them praising the Rulers, Ryubi felt that if he didn't follow along, he would be the odd one out, so he joined them in praising the Rulers. "The Rulers are mighty! The Rulers are awesome!..."
Over at East Capital High School, Alice directed the various Rulers to gather together. First, she proclaimed everyone's contributions this time, and then she reminded everyone not to become lax or careless.
Because there were still 99 BOSSes in the world left to eliminate, the revolution was not yet successful, and the comrades still needed to work hard. Finally, to celebrate the elimination of the BOSS, Alice decided to treat everyone to a feast at East Capital's largest hotel, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the next day... The following day, Illustrious and Asuna were preparing to go out for the banquet. When Asuna saw Illustrious about to leave wearing just a plain white shirt and a common black short skirt, she frowned. Asuna pointed at Illustrious and said, "As a girl, you can't dress so casually when going out, otherwise you'll embarrass me. Let me pick an outfit for you!"
"There's no need for so much trouble, is there? It's just a meal, not a date. This is fine," Illustrious said, finding it a bit troublesome.
"Stop grumbling! Come into the room with me." After Asuna pulled Illustrious into the room, she directly stripped Illustrious of her clothes.
Illustrious could only cover her vital areas with her hands, saying a bit shyly, "Um, how about I change by myself?"
"No, if I let you change, you'll just come out in another plain outfit in a moment." Asuna refused Illustrious's request. She walked to the wardrobe and opened a locked section, which contained many beautiful clothes, including some cosplay-style outfits like Maid Outfits, bunny girl outfits, and shrine maiden outfits.
"How do you have so many clothes! Especially those strange ones, there seem to be quite a few. Do you usually like cosplay? How come I've never seen you wear them?" Illustrious said in confusion.
Asuna shook her head. "These aren't my clothes; they're all yours. They just arrived two days ago, so I stuffed them all into the wardrobe and locked it. This is a rare opportunity, so try them all on!"
"What! Try them all? I'm only wearing one set, how long will it take to try all these clothes! We still have to go to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, there's not enough time for this." Illustrious's face turned pale when she heard she had to try them all, because there were at least twenty sets of clothes here. How long would that take to change!
Asuna handed a blue dress to Illustrious. "Don't worry about the time. After all, there are still two hours left. Two hours is definitely enough. Now, put it on quickly, or do you want me to help you?"
"No, I'll do it myself." Illustrious said with a slight blush, "Turn around! It's embarrassing with you staring like that!"
"Fine, fine, fine! It's not like I haven't seen it before." Asuna shook her head and turned around.
After a while, Illustrious finished changing. Asuna walked up to her and evaluated, "Hmm! Not bad at all. It seems I have a good eye for clothes. But how did you develop so well here? It's really enviable!"
Asuna compared her own chest with Illustrious's. This comparison immediately filled her with despair. To use a metaphor, Asuna's chest was merely a small hill, while Illustrious's chest was Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world.
"Asuna, you don't have to envy me. This kind of thing is best when it's just the right size. Being too big is actually quite inconvenient. For example, you're off-balance when walking, it's inconvenient to bend over, and you can't even sleep on your side."
"Is that all! I'd rather have those inconveniences. Are you bragging? It's just a little bit bigger, what's there to be so arrogant about?"
"Eek! What are you doing!"
Slap!
Illustrious slapped away Asuna's hand that was reaching for her chest and said fiercely, "Don't touch there."
"Ah! Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. By the way, what do you eat to grow so big?" Asuna asked Illustrious for the secret to a larger chest.
"What do I eat? Don't I eat the same things as you every day? If you're asking for the reason, I don't know either. Maybe it's just genetics!" Illustrious rested her hand on her chin.
"Genetics? If it's genetics, then there's nothing that can be done." Asuna said disappointedly, unable to find the reason.
"I've heard that if the chest is massaged frequently, it can grow larger." Illustrious suggested.
"Alright then, Illustrious, you massage me three times a day for half an hour each time. Let's see if there are any changes after a week." Asuna negotiated with Illustrious.
"Eh! You want me to do it?" Illustrious felt it was a hassle. Three times a day would be exhausting!
"Of course you'll do it! Do you want someone else to touch me?" Asuna said righteously.
Illustrious didn't want to be cuckolded, so she said seriously, "Of course not! No one can touch you except me."
"Right, how can we not take a photo as a souvenir? That would be such a pity." Asuna pulled a phone out of her pocket and started taking pictures of Illustrious.
"Why do you look so miserable? Cheer up, say 'cheese' like me!" Asuna gave Illustrious a standard smile.
"Oh! Like this? Cheese." Illustrious smiled helplessly.
"Yes, just like that. Keep it up, I'll be done soon." Asuna said with satisfaction, looking at Illustrious's smile through the phone.
After taking a few photos, Asuna put away her phone and handed Illustrious a black, high-slit Cheongsam. "Take this off and try this one."
Illustrious didn't take the Cheongsam. She didn't want to change again, so she said to Asuna, "Is that necessary? I think the one I'm wearing is pretty good!"
"If you don't try them all, how will you know which one looks best? Be good and listen!" Asuna forced the clothes into Illustrious's hands.
Looking at the Cheongsam in her hands, Illustrious wanted to cry but had no tears. Seeing Asuna urging her from the side, she could only continue changing.
The first few outfits were fairly normal, but things gradually got weird. There were Maid Outfits, shrine maiden outfits, and even a bunny girl outfit. Illustrious felt very ashamed wearing them, but Asuna took over two hundred photos of her in those clothes.
Wearing Black Silk Bodystockings and a black bunny girl outfit, Illustrious looked at the photos on Asuna's phone and said worriedly, "Asuna, you must never show these photos to anyone! Do you hear me?"
"Don't worry, I'll only keep these photos for myself. I won't let anyone else see them." Asuna replied.
"That's good. Then I don't have to worry about these embarrassing photos being seen." Illustrious felt relieved.
"Take this off and put this on." Asuna handed another piece of clothing to Illustrious.
"Ah! Another one? Isn't the one I'm wearing the last one?" Illustrious said confusedly as she took the clothes.
"Yes! I think this one suits you best. You wouldn't want to go to the banquet in what you're wearing now, would you?" Asuna explained.
Looking at the black silk bunny girl outfit she was wearing, Illustrious definitely didn't want to go to a banquet in such embarrassing clothes. She immediately changed into the clothes Asuna gave her.
After changing, she found that the outfit Asuna thought looked best was actually the blue dress she had tried on first. "Since the first one looked best, why did we have to try all the others? Isn't it exhausting to toss me around like this?"
"It's just changing clothes, it's not like I'm asking you to kill a BOSS-level Monster. What's there to be tired about? If you don't try them all on to compare, how would I know the blue dress looks best on you?" Asuna said with her hands on her hips.
"Oh no! It's ten minutes past our departure time. Let's get out of here!" Illustrious said anxiously, looking at the clock.
"Don't leave yet, you haven't put on your makeup." Asuna pulled Illustrious to the vanity mirror to apply makeup.
Watching Asuna apply lipstick to her lips, Illustrious complained, "No need for makeup. Can't we just go like this?"
Seeing Illustrious moving around and not cooperating, Asuna furrowed her brows. "How can you be so careless! Going out without makeup would be so embarrassing for me! Stop moving. If I mess up the lines and you end up looking like a painted cat, people will laugh themselves to death when you go out."
Hearing the consequences of moving, Illustrious didn't dare move anymore and could only wait for Asuna to finish her makeup.
Illustrious's skin was very delicate and fair, so heavy makeup didn't suit her. Asuna applied light makeup and then styled her hair. Finally, when it was done, Illustrious looked at the person in the mirror and couldn't believe it was herself. She couldn't help but think: Damn, I'm cute!
After spending twenty minutes on Illustrious's makeup, Asuna finally took her out. They met Kirito and Klein on the way, and the four of them headed to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel together.
On the way, Kirito and Klein glanced at Illustrious from time to time, making her feel very uncomfortable. She turned her head and said to them, "Why have you been staring at me? Is there something dirty on me?"
"Ah! You noticed. Actually, I think you look very beautiful today, so I accidentally stared a bit too much. Sorry." Kirito said with a shy expression.
"Illustrious is dressed so beautifully today. If I didn't know you were going to the banquet with us, I would have thought you were going on a date." Klein said, scratching the back of his head.
"What do you mean by that? What do you mean I'm 'very beautiful today'? Am I not beautiful at other times?" Illustrious puffed out her cheeks angrily.
"No, no, no! You're beautiful every day." Kirito quickly explained.
"That's right! You're the most beautiful person on the Ruler Ranking. That's common knowledge." Klein said seriously.
"That's more like it!" Illustrious smiled and said, "Speaking of which, Alice is really nice to us!"
"It's more than just nice; it's absolutely wonderful! Long live Alice! Treating us to a big feast the day after defeating the BOSS, that's really generous of her!" Kirito said happily.
"I heard Alice is from the Organization. Her monthly salary is at least fifty million yen. We shouldn't hold back; we have to give her a good run for her money." Klein said with a devious grin.
"You're so bad, but I like it. Let's go! Let's go! Off to the feast. I'm going to eat my fill before going home!" Illustrious said cheerfully.
"Illustrious! A girl shouldn't eat too much, or you'll get fat." Asuna said beside Illustrious.
Illustrious said unhappily, "Asuna, don't spoil my fun. Don't worry about so much at a time like this. Everyone should just enjoy themselves!"
"Fine! Only this once as an exception. Since we rarely win against a BOSS, we really should celebrate happily." Asuna smiled, crossing her arms.
Seeing Illustrious and Asuna walking closely together, Kirito and Klein could smell a certain scent in the air—the sour smell of love.
"Must be nice! I really want a girlfriend. By the way, Kirito, we're good friends, could you introduce your sister to me?" Klein said, putting his hand on Kirito's shoulder.
When Klein went to Kirito's house to find him, he had discovered Kirito's sister. She was so cute and gentle; she was the perfect candidate for his wife.
"Keep dreaming! My sister is mine, don't even think about touching her. Otherwise... don't blame me for being rude." Kirito said coldly.
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