Chapter 468: Changing times.

"This place really is luxurious... once I have some money, I should also buy a decent home for myself..."

Rio leaned his back on the chair as he sipped tea while basking in the sunlight.

He was sitting on a wide balcony of the silver mansion and was having the time of his life right now.

"Well, master has gone on an important mission and he likely won’t return for a while, so it won’t be a problem if you stay here for the time being..."

Mel, Lia’s personal maid, was standing beside him and pouring tea for him with her usual robot-like movements.

The first time Rio met her, he was quite surprised too.

Mel is the only person Rio has ever seen who has such an expressionless face.

She’s almost reaching Rio’s levels with that unmoving face that never changes, and it makes her seem like a robot.

Unlike Rio, though, she does have emotions; she’s just better at keeping them hidden for some reason.

’Perhaps she also has some backstory that I don’t know about... well, one thing is for sure though, she cares about Lia a lot...’

Mel is in her late 20s and considers Lia as her younger sister in her mind; she’s the one who took care of Lia in the absence of her parents since childhood.

Don’t look down on her just because she’s a maid; Mel is an international-level Master Chef champion!

She was the one who taught Lia her incredible cooking skills.

’In a world of magic and swords, normal skills like cooking and stuff aren’t appreciated that much but if it was in my previous world, Mel would have been an international-level celebrity.’

While Rio was contemplating various things in his mind, Mel suddenly placed a photo on the table in front of him.

It was covered by her hand, so Rio couldn’t see what was on it. Just when Rio was getting confused, Mel spoke in her usual calm tone.

"Tell me all about Lia’s recent difficulties... Here’s the advance payment."

Rio calmly took the photo and found that it was a picture of Lia holding his hand and having a concerned look on her face as she waited beside the bed for him to wake up.

It was a photo from the past few days.

Rio eyes shined after seeing that.

"Cough... We will do the trade following the usual rules: one photo for one topic."

Thankfully, Lia wasn’t here, as she was busy getting ready so they could do their shady business.

"By the way, she’s been wanting to go to that famous star observatory lately..."

Mel dropped a hint for Rio and in return Rio noted her words down in a small diary before saying,

"She has been overusing her foresight a lot lately; that skill puts tremendous burden on a person’s mind..."

"Better make her something nutritious for the mind..."

Rio’s eyes narrowed as he spoke.

"Also, that fat cat is too much; he’s so useless and can’t even do his job properly..."

Mel’s eyes became a bit serious at those words, and she nodded her head.

"Okay, as usual, I will add spicy cat food in his food..."

Rio and Mel had a common enemy, and that was Kai, the fat cat that came out of nowhere and is always hanging around Lia just because he’s her familiar.

Rio and Mel then shook hands as if the two were underground drug dealers and were settling a shady deal.

"Pleasure doing business with you, partner."

The two of them carried out various shady deals quietly for a while before Lia finally came over and they were forced to shut up.

"Father has taken the mission of guarding the Rex Mansion along with some other S-rankers and won’t be back for a while..."

"Sigh, he’s never home..."

Lia came over with a pout on her face and sat down on the chair beside Rio, as Mel made tea for her too.

She was wearing a gorgeous dress, and Rio couldn’t take his eyes off her for a while.

"You look just as beautiful as always, princess!"

Just when Rio was having the time of his life, a fat cat dragged its heavy body and came over too, ruining the scenery and Rio’s pleasant free time too.

Kai just woke up and got glared at by both Rio and Mel instantly as he appeared.

’These two... Sigh, they are teaming up against me again! Ugh...’

He was used to being considered an annoying fly now, so he just went over to the side and quietly lay on the ground, basking in the sunlight.

Ignoring Kai lying in a corner like an abandoned puppy, Rio spoke in a calm voice,

"Well, it’s important to guard that place and we are lacking manpower right now... they might have even asked me to go over too if I was in good health before..."

Ashtel Rex is in an injured state, and this news has leaked to the entire world.

SS-rankers of the other races might not be able to move, as that would escalate war on a massive scale, but S-rankers across the globe might make a move and might try to assassinate Ashtel.

As Ashtel is a very important person for the empire, keeping him safe in his weak state is a very important task.

Due to this reason, dozens of S-rankers have been summoned from all over the nation to guard the Rex mansion, and even Raji is staying there for the time being.

Anna also took Jin over to that place, as that place has become the most secure place in the nation, and there are many S-rank healers gathered over there.

Keeping the lives of the two injured SS-rankers safe till they are able to wake up is the utmost priority right now.

If not for the fact that Rio has been injured and couldn’t move, even he might have been summoned over there.

As Rio has also become an S-ranker now, he’s become a pillar of support for the entire empire now.

If SS-rankers are the highest combat force and authorities of a nation, then S-rankers are the backbone of an empire.

SS-rankers can’t always be everywhere, so most high positions in the empire are given to S-rankers.

Just by becoming an S-ranker, you become qualified to become a military general.

Although you won’t have much power at the beginning, as you work hard, people will start to acknowledge you, and your military power will increase over time as people depend on you.

Most of the S-rankers that join the military do a good job and are granted many benefits in terms of salary and various other facilities.

S-rankers have a basic income that is provided by the government itself for free even if they do nothing.

SS-rankers are very rare, and sometimes no new SS-ranker appears even in several decades; thus, S-rankers, who are more abundant, receive more benefits.

Every awakener in the world knows that becoming a ’demigod’ is not easy, and it strictly relies on talent and luck, but becoming S-rank is not that difficult if you just have talent and work hard.

Unless you are as talented as people like Link or Rio, you would aim to become an S-ranker in your life; becoming an S-ranker is easier and comes with less responsibility and trouble.

If you become an SS-ranker, you will be in trouble all day everyday with tremendous amounts of responsibilities, as an entire nation will be depending on you for your capabilities.

But S-rankers don’t have to worry about that.

Most awakeners who reach S-rank take a laid-back approach to life; they raid dungeons only once or twice a year and live like a king without any worries anymore.

Even a single S-rank dungeon gives a lot of money if conquered properly, so the life of S-rankers is lavish and easygoing.

This is the main reason why people aim to become S-rankers, not ’demi-gods,’ because this way they will get strong and will not have to work hard either.

They can bask in glory and wealth without needing to care about anything else.

The same is true for Rio; now that he’s an S-ranker, he can just conquer any random S-rank dungeon and earn enough money to live a luxurious life for a long time in a carefree manner.

But if he becomes an SS-ranker, he will have to shoulder the responsibilities of the entire nation, like Ashtel used to do.

One of the main reasons why talented people stop improving and end up staying at the same realm after reaching S-rank is that people want to live a carefree life.

And nothing is wrong with this motive.

Rio himself wants to live a happy and carefree life.

’If there wasn’t a time bomb ticking above my head in the form of a ’god’ level monstrosity, I would have also preferred to stay at S-rank and enjoy life...’

To combat that level of being, Rio has no other choice but to keep working hard and get even stronger.

Others may have the luxury to stop at this rank, but he doesn’t.

As they say, ignorance is bliss.

If Rio had never known about what was about to come, he could have just enjoyed life and would have lived happily.

But now that he knows what’s about to come, he can never stay still and has to live on edge every second of his life.

Unless he completely deals with the coming disaster once and for all, he will never be able to live a carefree life.

’No wonder the news channels are reporting tremendous increase in crime rates... So many S-rankers, and even Principal Raji is busy guarding and can’t move...’

’The criminals also know that this is their golden chance to run free and wreak havoc, as there’s no one stopping them...’

Local criminals aside, even foreign ones are rushing over. Additionally, several S-rank assassins are flooding into the nation in search of opportunities to harm Ashtel and Jin.

Rio glanced at his sword placed on the table and thought to himself.

’Should I jump into this chaos too... I mean, I have to polish my assassination skills and that new sword art too now...’

Originally, Rio didn’t want to become an assassin, but now that he already has the skills for it, he might as well upgrade those skills just in case.