The Caretaker of Tenants From Another World - Chapter 115 (Patreon)

Alt link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n89jDlTd-5DO1C6zMhagmdsYNFcor_H3xOxZvf61KeQ/edit?usp=sharing

Chapter 115

Although I somehow managed to convince Professor Markel to look the other way with Mercutia for now, the guards had to stay for mine and the tenants' safety. Even as I drove us out to a restaurant for lunch, a number of them followed us and stood vigil for any potential threat from Thane and Saralash.

Once again, I offered a humble apology and silent thanks to the taxpayers that allowed three security vehicles, a sniper to watch from afar, harpies and drones to scour the skies, and twelve armed personnel to protect us while we ate Chinese food in relative comfort.

"Akira, are you going to eat that?" Cresta asked, pointing to the phoenix claws on my plate.

"No, these are mine! Haven't you had enough?" I leaned over to guard the savory chicken feet from her gaping abyss of a stomach.

"But they're so good! All of it is. I've never eaten and wanted to keep eating before!" she exclaimed while drool slipped down her mouth.

Sighing, I parted with the chicken feet and poured them onto her plate. Cresta devoured them with abandon, munching the bones like they were potato chips. Well, she wasn't the only one enthusiastically gorging themselves

My tenants all sat together around the large, circular table. A glass turntable rotated the food in the small wooden containers from one end to the other. Our tower of empty containers awaited to be carried away, and we would soon need to ask for more to fill their hungry stomachs.

"How am I supposed to use this? Who in their right mind gives you sticks as utensils?" Irapesha tried her luck with chopsticks again and struggled to pick up any food at all.

Everyone else had forgoed using them, opting instead for forks or their own hands. The only ones who were using chopsticks properly were myself and Mercutia, who sat to my left. She delighted in eating siu mai, and anyone looking at us happily eating together wouldn't think she was trying to assassinate us yesterday.

"Excuse me!" I hollered to an approaching dim sum cart. "Can I get your whole cart, please?"

"Eh? If you say so!" The old asian lady picked up dim sum by the stacks to place onto our table, then replaced the empty containers into her cart.

It was open season as soon as the food reached the table, with everyone snatching what they desired most.

Instead of going for the food first, Mercutia picked up the teapot as it came swinging by on the turntable. She was about to fill up my empty cup until I placed a hand over it, signaling a polite decline.

"Alright, Mercutia. I think you owe us an explanation. Professor Markel can't do anything unless I acknowledge that you attacked us. I won't. So, the most he can punish you for is trespassing and leaving the premise of your dormitory without permission or supervision of your caretaker. It'll be a slap on the wrist, all things considered."

"Well, we both know why." Mercutia raised her gaze to Ange, who was sitting across the table, helping to pick food for Tamara since her arms were too short.

"How do you feel about it now, breaking bread with a demon at the same table?"

"I don't want to answer…" She looked elsewhere, searching the table for more siu mai.

The container was in front of Ange, and there were only three pieces left. When the succubus reached for it, Mercutia averted her gaze and hastily picked a pork bun near our end of the table. Unbeknownst to Mercutia since I didn't look away, Ange had noticed and decided against grabbing the siu mai. She rotated the table until the dim sum was right in front of our new guest.

"Let me ask you a different question then." I picked up the whole container and placed it next to Mercutia to her surprise. "If you had gone through with your plan, you might not have been able to eat like this ever again. Would you have regretted it?"

Mercutia nodded, then turned to me after a pause with a shaky demeanor.

"What's going to happen to me now?"

"You're going to stay at my dorm for a while. I called your caretaker. Ying's pretty worried about you. Freaked out for a good five minutes before we finally got around to working on some paperwork. Good thing you're here for a vacation, right?" I winked.

"I-I don't understand. Why are you helping me? I almost killed the demon." Confusion was written all over Mercutia, and I didn't blame her.

I glanced across the table to Ange, and the intrusive thoughts of her going blue from suffocating invaded my mind.

"Because I want to help you, but it isn't all selfless. Thane and Saralash will be coming for Ange. She's one of the best things to ever happen in my life. I need your help as the barrier prodigy to protect her," I answered honestly.

"What if I betray you? Doesn't that bother you?" she asked.

"A little, but I trust that you trust me. Isn't that why you kept that last puzzle piece after I put everything away?" Grinning, I snatched the last siu mai before Mercutia could take it.

Once we got back to the dormitory, I unlocked Val's room so that Mercutia could stay in there for now.

"Who did you say this room belonged to again?" Mercutia asked on her way in.

"Queen Valeanor Messier," I answered.

The elven girl choked on her spit.

"Mercutia." Irapesha came up the stairs and stopped at the door to the room. "It's been a long time, hasn't it? I don't have work tomorrow. Care to share stories?"

"Y-Yes, Commander Irapesha!" Mercutia straightened her back to stand at attention.

"At ease, soldier. We've long hung up our uniforms." The dragonewt grinned.

"I'm here, too! Got some amazing nacho fries from Taco Bell to share. Bet you don't have this in Shanghai!" Cresta exclaimed from her commander's back.

As I left them to reminisce and shut the door behind me, Tamara and Rakka were peeking out of their room with a glare that could burn a hole through you. Though it was clearly directed at the new occupant.

"Relax, you two. Mercutia won't hurt us anymore," I assured them.

"But she will hurt Ange. I mean, she already has! Is it really okay for her to be here?" Tamara asked.

"Ange is the one who said it was okay. I wouldn't have let it happen if she wasn't comfortable with it. You're just looking out for her safety, right?"

Tamara and Rakka nodded.

I walked over and placed a hand over each of their beds of woolen hair. For some reason, doing that put a pout on her already chubby cheeks.

"You adopted Isla, didn't you?" Tamara asked.

"Huh? Er, yeah. It wasn't by choice, but I think things are working out on that front. Why?"

She patted her chest with both hands. "What about me? When are you and Ange adopting me?"

Oh. So that was where this was going.

"Tamara, you're thirteen!" I countered.

"I'll be fourteen soon!" Tamara hastily replied.

"Okay, but that doesn't change that we're only a few years apart. We're practically sibling age!"

"That's not fair. I want a dad, too!"

"Want a dad, do you?" I playfully picked Tamara up by both of her horns. "Fair warning: dads do a whole lot of stupid stuff, like using their daughter's horns as a battering ram!"

"Who are we going to lay siege to first?" Tamara asked, brimming with excitement.

We— or rather, I— rushed downstairs with Tamara under my arms and Rakka on my head. Our target was Ivory, who had currently taken the shape of a stool by the kitchen counters.

First, I quietly tiptoed over to open the door into the backyard.

Then…

Tamara sounded the battle cry.

"Attack!"

We rammed into Ivory, hooking Tamara's horns over the mimic's stool legs and carrying them outside.

"Huh— what the hell?!" Ivory awakened in the middle of being rammed through.

I must have hit a rock, but my foot snagged on something and all of us went tumbling. Tamara bursted into laughter, and Ivory went back to elven form with a grin already waiting.

"Har, har, you dolts! Get off me already before I turn into something you don't want up your ass!" Ivory warned.

"What were you thinking?" an unamused Ange, however, clamored into the backyard to pick Tamara up and brush the dirt from her clothes

"Sorry," we apologized and hung our heads.

Joining us outside a lot sooner than I expected were Irapesha, Cresta, and an ashamed Mercutia. The sight of the latter spurred Tamara to come to Ange's defense.

"Mercutia would like to speak with Ange if that is alright," Irapesha said.

I urged Ivory to bring Tamara and Rakka inside, and it took Cresta's big sister energy to whisk them away back into the dorm. Those of us that remained in the backyard under the warm, late-spring sun were feeling the heat.

"It almost seems like you mind-controlled everyone here with how much they protect you." Mercutia kicked off the talk with an underhanded insult.

"At least with Tamara, I would never." Ange glared.

"Do you regret it? Everything that your kind has done in Weyera?" she asked.

"Of course, I did. For a time. Every day of my life, but I don't have time for that anymore. It's all behind me. Now I worry about stalker fans from my camming job, keeping Valeanor's garden alive, and my silly boyfriend the caretaker wielding a girl whom I treasure as my own blood like a siege ram."

I looked down at my feet to avoid Ange's wrathful eyes.

She continued. "People like you and I weren't given a second, but a third chance. I know I don't intend to waste it."

"I guess it's not every day a demon regrets their actions. Then again, it's not every day a girl like that one protects a demon." Mercutia sighed with her eyes shut, but as they snapped open, a magical barrier formed around each of us.

Everyone panicked for a moment, but the barriers went down as quickly as they formed.

"I hope that's proof enough for you to trust me," the elf added.

Ange walked forward and stopped once they were shoulder to shoulder.

"Thank you," she said, then returned inside.

Mercutia exhaled a quivering breath

"Well done, soldier." Irapesha nodded approvingly.

"They still terrify me… Hey, you said you talked to Captain Clarissa, didn't you? How was she?" Mercutia asked.

Irapesha and I traded glances.

"Doing well, I guess? We didn't get a chance to talk all that much. She did say that she had a change of heart over the years. If your captain can change, so can you," I said.

Mercutia fell silent and into thought.

"What? You don't believe me?"

"It's just that the captain hated demons more than any of us. To the point that it was all she could talk or think about. But maybe you're right. If she can change… then so can I." Mercutia smiled to herself.

I did get that vibe from Clarissa, but…

When I searched Irapesha for answers, she said, "Mercutia is right. I remember Clarissa as being vehemently opposed to any idea of exchanging prisoners of war that would lead freeing demons. I want to say it came as a pleasant surprise that she sees differently now, yet I regrettably remain unconvinced."

We were about to head inside until something cast an enormous shadow over us. It was brief. Like it had flown under the sun. Then two harpies in enchanted military uniform landed in front of us.

"We're under attack! You have to get inside now!" one of them screamed.

"By what?" I asked.

A screech from above alerted our eyes to the skies. Several flying netherfolks were chasing after a much smaller target, diving towards us.

"Thane!" Mercutia shouted.

The entity that was being pursued was a falcon, but my jaw dropped as it continued to double in size until it reached the gargantuan shape of a black dragon. A shimmering blue barrier encased the entire dorm, causing the dragon to unfurl its wings to stop, but the momentum carried it crashing into the magical shield. The impact shook the earth and knocked me off my feet.

Giant talons the size of claymores and razor-sharp fangs bared down at us. The dragon reared back and breathed fire onto the barrier to little success, but I could feel the sweltering heat from down here. The jaws clamped shut, and the fires ceased, but a voice came bellowing out instead.

"Mercutia!" the great black dragon boomed, its words a guttural rumbling like thunder. "We're disappointed in you. Didn't we vow that all demons must perish? If you cannot finish it, then I will!"