RFC-Mini Arc 4: Night Life-02 (Patreon)

“Talia is a doll. She reminds me of one of my sisters. Best of all, she understands things perfectly.Ah, but I’ll take the lead with seducing her, hm? She’s a little special. Alana is wonderful. I very much wonder if she’d be able to keep her staunch ideals once she’s mixed up with you.”

I’ll take that as a compliment.

“Cloud. We’ve yet to meet so how can I judge? Though the Temple is a very interesting group.”

“Alright.” I reach out and grab the medallion she’s wearing, tracing it with a finger. “When’d you get this done?”

“You like? I had it done the same time you had the collar made for the pet. Speaking of, you should have one done for the imp.”

“Sure, sure. In gold.” I imagined the stone woman leaning over me, bare except for my crest, and shivered. “The collar has to be able to stretch quite a bit. You know something like that?”

“I have something in mind.”

“Something on the elven continent? Because I was thinking, there’s a break after the final assessments for initiates. We could visit mother-in-law.”

Kierra blinks in astonishment. “You want to visit my mother? How brave of you.”

“I feel a little bad about spirting you off.” I understand why we high-tailed it out of there. Kierra doesn’t fear much but she does genuinely fear the reaction of her mother should Morgene Atainna find out about her fetish for trolls. Eager to indulge, she’d gotten as far away from mother-in-law as she could as quickly as she could. However, the troll problem is handled. “She is a part of my family now. I should make efforts.”

“I’m not against the idea. We can make a stop to the Twilight Province.”

“Oh! The country full of brewers like Howie!”

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration but they do have the most talented brewers. We’d have to be careful. Your new physique would be quite a prize. Should they discover how remarkable you are, they wouldn’t hesitate to kidnap you, ply you with aphrodisiacs, and force you to impregnate their women.”

I gape at her. She can’t be serious?

“You look as if you don’t believe me. The twilight clans have done much worse in their pursuit of powerful bloodlines. I heard the matriarch of the Draken clan created a potion with dragon blood to give an elf the characteristics of a dragon. The resulting creature was a malformed, malignant, twisted creature possessing no reason. The matriarch had it captured and mated with it, a creature whose only instinct was to devour her. Repeatedly.”

My jaw drops lower as I realize she isn’t messing with me. “Wow. Okay. Twilight elves are insane. Understood.”

“Not all of them. It’ll only be a problem if they realize how unique your body is. While some physical spells can be used to scan creatures at a distance, it isn’t detailed. Don’t casually shake anyone’s hand.”

I nod, repeating it to myself several times. Don’t casually shake an elf’s hand, got it.

“But there is no need to worry. They’d have you over my dead body.”

Her smile stretches a fraction wider. I can’t help the desire to kiss the green maniac. She doesn’t let me escape with a simple peck, pulling me closer and deepening the kiss.

“My lady, Miss Alana J—”

“Dammit, Lou! Really?”

I forcefully pull away from Kierra and look over her shoulder. Earl is standing in the doorway, Alana standing beside him with a hand covering her eyes. In a rare show, she has discarded her usual casual clothes and light armor. She’s wearing an unflattering light blue dress that swallows her figure, tied off at the waist by a light brown belt at the waist, a pair of simple sandals on her feet. It’s charming in a “village girl” way, I suppose.

“Hey, you made it?” I slip out of Kierra’s arms and hurry over, prying her hand off her face. I grin at her flushed cheeks, ignoring her scowl. “Heh, and you kept saying that you wouldn’t show up.”

“I’m still not sure why I did.” She sighs.

“Cause you’re my best friend?”

“For my sins. Remember what you promised.”

“Alana, trust me. This is nothing but a night of harmless fun. I want my friends to meet my friends and I want a chance to see the city.”

“The unscrupulous side of the city.”

“I’m a married woman. It’s not like I’m going to start an orgy in the streets. You can’t say you’re not curious.” I nudge her with a shoulder. She scowls. “Well, the drinks are on me and the food is cooked by Geneva.”

Her eyes go to the trays, her interest apparent. Then she sighs. “I’m definitely going to regret this.”

“Ha! On my honor, I’ll never let a lady have a bad time.”

“I’m not a lady,” she grouses. She finally looks toward Kierra, the blush that had faded coming back. “Forgive my rude entrance, teacher.”

“No need to be so formal~” Kierra stands and comes over. Quick as a striking snake, she wraps Alana in a hug, ignoring her yelp of surprise. “I’m a little hurt it’s taken this long for you to accept an invitation to visit.”

I’ve invited Alana to our place several times for all manners of occasions. For some unfathomable reason, she is hesitant about being alone in a private place with me and Kierra. I can’t imagine why, but I made sure to mention that several other people would be joining today.

Kierra releases Alana before she acts out in embarrassment. “Come. Let me introduce you to the servants.”

We take her around the room, introducing her to everyone who are enjoying the food. Earl is great, a model young man who brings a smile to her face with his dedication to his work. Anna, who trails behind him, is quiet, doing little besides grunting out a greeting and hiding behind her brother as she watches the stranger with suspicious eyes. Then of course there is Gajin, who is friendly enough, though I have to stop him before he gets carried away talking about his “babies”. Nomad…leans against a wall with half-lidded eyes and dark bags under his eyes. It takes some quick talking to make Alana believe I’m not working him to death. She remains suspicious but is successfully distracted by food and I escape her judgmental glare.