Coye Vol 3 Ch 19 (Patreon)

With their business at Suzette’s shop concluded, the pair of adventurers returned back to their Guild. It had only been a day since they embarked, yet it felt longer. Coye and Byng stood outside its doors, holding hands.

The prospect of going in like this made the boy nervous, and Byng decided to broach the topic. “You wanna bust through these doors hand in hand and show off, short-stuff?” She clenched his fist, smiling to show her support. “I wouldn’t mind!”

Coye gave the idea some thought, his heart racing while staring down the place he currently lived. Even if many villagers had already seen him, this was his work environment. Something about being publicly affectionate with Byng here struck him as wrong, and it wasn’t just because he would have to admit what was going on the next time he saw Miss Whittle.

Worse was the fear that he might burst in, only to find the Baddest Bitches returned fresh from a battle well-fought and ready to get on his case nonstop over this.

Shayla could sense his inner turmoil, and her advice was to be proactive and not care. ‘You gotta own up to your actions, baby. Byng is your girlfriend now, so throw those doors open like it’s nobody’s business and get the fuck in there! Who cares about how you look or who sees you? Don’t be a pussy about it, and just go!’

As always, Shayla was right. Coye latched onto her suggestion and didn’t let go. So what if Britni was here? Why should he let that get in the way of his good mood? He was about to get a mad payday, and he had a beautiful girl by his side.

Wasn’t that reason enough to show off a little?

“Yeah, why not?” Coye said, tightening his fist around Byng’s. His voice sounded casual and nonchalant, inspiring the girl to smile back and lead the way.

They didn’t actually kick down the door as Byng suggested since a group of five adventurers opened it up as they were departing for a quest. Coye had seen all of them before around the Guild, and a few gave odd looks to the new couple as they passed by. It didn’t matter. They didn’t greet the adventurers, instead walking past them and ignoring their stares as they made their way to the front desk.

There, they found Tammy at her station.

Currently, the receptionist was in the middle of fussing around with a small toy. It looked like a dice with many different buttons on every face, and when pressed, these buttons made annoying clicking sounds.

Sensing intrigue, Tammy looked up from her desk to witness a remarkable sight. Coye and Byng were approaching, and they were not only holding hands but also wearing the ugliest pair of matching outfits she’d ever seen. She put down her toy, having found something much more interesting to fill her time.

Hoping to preempt Tammy, Coye greeted her with a nervous, “H-Hey, Tammy…”

Byng threw in a, “Yo, Tam!” of her own.

Tammy ignored both greetings as she regarded the pair with cold curiosity, scanning them with judgmental eyes. “So it’s true, then.”

“Um, w-what exactly do you mean by that?” Coye swallowed.

“I was informed there was an incident involving the two of you. From the way the boss talked about it, I assumed she meant you were fucking. Seems I guessed correctly. Consider me shocked.” Tammy stated in a decidedly unshocked monotone.

“Why does everyone keep looking at us like it’s so surprising to find out we hooked up?” Byng stomped her foot.

“Because you’re a wild animal who someone successfully managed to teach to use a bow, and you kept publicly fucking with him at everyone else’s expense?” Tammy suggested.

“Well… I guess when you put it like that…” Byng shrugged, looking away with red cheeks.

Coye was eager to move on, so he took his hand away from his lover and gestured for Byng to bring out the magical bag they carried the stash in.

“Whatever. We have some quests to turn in, Tammy. We finished up everything we accepted except for the Woodtreader hunt, and on top of that, we ended up running into the target of the urgent quest. We… um… well, we took care of it.” Coye claimed, memories of the grueling battle still fresh in his mind. Even now, he couldn’t believe they’d taken such a significant threat down.

His disbelief was shared with Tammy. She looked at him and cocked her head, narrowing her eyes. “No shit?” She asked.

If Coye didn’t know any better, he almost would’ve thought that the receptionist looked impressed with him- the slightest modicum of respect twinkling in her bored eyes.

“Y-Yeah, it was crazy…” he sighed, producing all of the trophies to show for their work as Byng held the bag open.

Tammy sized them up; although she wasn’t an expert appraiser, it all checked out.

“Well, this sucks. Now I guess I’m going to have to retroactively sign you two up for that urgent quest. Fuck, do I hate filling out those stupid forms…” Tammy groaned, her head tilting back as she let out a Herculean sigh of dread.

‘What doesn’t this chick hate doing?’ Shayla laughed.

“Still,” Tammy surprised him by continuing to look at him with a degree of curiosity. “Good job, I guess. I didn’t know either of you were strong enough to fight a Ravenous Boarman.”

“Oh? What’s this?” Byng grinned, showing off her sharp teeth. She threw her arm around Coye and jostled him like she was bragging about her prize. “Do I detect some interest coming from you, Tam?”

“I suppose you detect a mild form of it, yes,” Tammy shrugged. “So then what happened? The two of you threw caution to the wind and fucked while high on the thrill of battle or some crap like that?”

Coye was frazzled beyond words but attempted to fight back against his shyness. “That’s, um… not exactly the whole story… but, yeah… sort of?”

“It wasn’t just that we fucked. This stud over here claimed me as his woman! Gahaha!” Just as Coye predicted, Byng took the opportunity to declare this loud enough for everyone in the lounge and the cafeteria to hear.

“Byng!” Coye snapped. Just because he was prepared for this didn’t mean it was any easier to deal with once it actually did.

“What? It’s the truth!”

“Well, congrats… or whatever,” Tammy shrugged, pulling out a bag from under the front desk and beginning to scoop up all the assorted trophies. “I’ll make sure that this all gets sent off to wherever the fuck it goes, and the gold will be transferred to your accounts sometime tomorrow. I’m sure you both know what the deal is by now.”

As she began to tie the bag, Tammy recalled something and turned her eyes to Coye.

“Oh, right. The boss said she wanted to see you in her office as soon as you’ve got a minute.” She said, secretly finding amusement in the way all the color drained from his face upon hearing this.

“Oh. Um… o-ok, then… thanks for… telling… me…” Coye mumbled, his sweat intensifying.

“You want me to tag along, short-stuff?” Byng offered, only for Tammy to interrupt.

“The boss wanted him alone,” Tammy lied, solely because she thought it would be more amusing if Coye had to face Dorothy by himself.

Picking up on the receptionist’s intentions, Shayla smirked with approval and crossed her fingers, hoping things would go as poorly with his Guild Mistress as they could.

“Guess I’ve got no choice, then…” resigning himself to his fate, Coye sighed and nodded. To take his mind away from the pressure, he looked at Byng and asked, “Before I go off and do that, what are you planning to do for the rest of the day?”

“Same as you, really. I just wanted to chill back in my camp alone and work on digesting everything that happened, y’know? I’ve got to replenish my arrow stock while I’m at it, too. Don’t worry too much about me and do your own thing!”

“Alright, I’ll try not to. I guess that makes this goodbye for now, then?”

“Yup, so go ahead and give me a nice, sloppy kiss goodbye whenever you’re ready!” Byng demanded loud and proud, almost certainly drawing more attention from the other rooms.

Coye shrank back at the suggestion. “W-Wha… right here? Really?”

“You know it, short-stuff! Unless you were full of shit about taking new chances, you coward.” She insulted him with a shit-eating grin, challenging him to do his worst.

“But… Tammy is right there…”

The receptionist was on Byng’s side, leaning over the counter with some amount of interest. “Don’t mind me. Go ahead and do your weird, interspecies thing, you freaks.”

‘Surely you wouldn’t back down after talking such a big game about being a new man, would you?’ Shayla added to the pressure, making sure he would have few options.

His struggle didn’t last for long. Coye found that thriving under pressure wasn’t as big of a deal as it used to be. He took a step toward his expectant lover, wrapping his arms around her hips and pulling her to his body.

There, he took Byng’s lips in a shallow kiss. While it wasn’t as passionate as the audience might’ve wanted, it was romantic and left his girl satisfied. As he pulled away, Coye couldn’t help smiling at the warmth of her passion, and a slight side glance revealed Byng wasn’t the only one who was feeling it.

Tammy’s face remained as cold as ever, save for a slight second when some redness appeared on her cheeks while watching the public display of affection. It was gone shortly after, though, and she returned to her taciturn self.

“Neat,” Tammy remarked as the romantic duo pulled away from each other.

‘Lame,’ Shayla rolled her eyes at him for not tongue-fucking Byng in public.

“Good enough, but you better not hold back so much next time! Gahaha!” She cackled, then started to make her way towards the exit. “I’ll catch up with you soon, Coye. In the meantime, try not to get into anything too fun without me, you got that?”

“I’ll try,” Coye smiled and waved Byng off as she left through the front door, leaving him with a dopey smile on his lovestruck face.

“Gods, wait until Britni hears about this…” Tammy shook her head from side to side. Although her resting bitch face was strong, she was more interested in the situation than she appeared.

Coye, however, nearly jumped out of his tribal-looking clothes at the mention of his bully. “S-She isn’t back yet, is she…?”

“No, not yet. Should be any day by now, though.”

Coye was relieved yet also somewhat concerned. He knew the kind of things that could happen on the job, and he wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

“I thought they just went to wipe out some Cordyceppers…”

‘Those things are pretty nasty, baby. Don’t ever underestimate mushrooms that walk on two legs.’ Shayla warned from personal experience.

“I’m sure they’re fine. Britni’s pet probably got lost, or the junkie got high and fucked things up somehow. Who knows.” Tammy shrugged, offering her thoughts on the matter.

“That might make sense…” Coye nodded absent-mindedly.

The Baddest Bitches were a strong group of adventurers, but they were also an eclectic bunch. Each member had a vastly distinct personality that brought something new to the table, and it wasn’t hard to imagine their egos clashing in a way that made their journey more difficult than it should’ve been.

“Or they all just died on the job,” Tammy again shrugged, this time with cold indifference.

“D-Dont joke about things like that…!” Coye frowned.

“Wasn’t a joke. We both know you guys are risking your lives out there. Meanwhile, I’m happy to sit behind my desk and do the bare minimum I can get away with.” Tammy admitted candidly as she grabbed the trophy bag and made for the backroom. “If you’ve got anything you need cleaned, leave it on the desk. Otherwise, the boss is back in her office. You might as well not keep her waiting.”

“Right, thanks…” Coye sighed, then took off his backpack filled with his dirty clothes and left it on the desk.

‘I’d offer to stitch and clean those up for you, but at this point, I think my mana is better used on more important things…’ Shayla claimed. The truth is she was also just feeling lazy, but that didn’t need to be said out loud.

Coye left the entrance hall, took the door on the left, and passed by a few adventurers gazing at the quest board. These coworkers of his gave the boy a funny look once they saw the colorful attire he was wearing, but other than that, they kept to their own business while he made his way to the Guild Mistress’s office.

He paused in front of the door, hesitating as he remembered what happened outside it only a day ago. A bead of sweat formed on his brow, but he was intent on seeing this through. He sucked in a great burst of air, hoping that Shayla would step in and help him settle his nerves as she so often did.

Given that she wanted this interaction to go poorly, Shayla did no such thing and merely prodded him instead.

‘What are you waiting for, big guy? Get in there already and get this done so we can chill out for the rest of the day!’ She demanded, pulling his hair impatiently.

Resigning himself, Coye summoned his courage and knocked on the door a few times. “Hello? Miss Whittle? It’s, um… it’s me…”

He heard a series of noises coming from beyond the thick door. There was a startled, creaking sound, followed by the fluttering of papers and then a few potent yawns. “Coye? Oh, yes… come in, please. I wanted a word.”

Coye entered, and from across the room, he saw the disheveled Guild Mistress in the midst of catching a tall stack of paperwork which she must’ve knocked off the desk in a fit of surprise. Dorothy’s glasses were crooked and her face was stressed, but at least her clothes were cleaner than the day before… for now.

Dorothy straightened the papers and set them off to her side once all the documents were gathered. Then, she looked towards Coye with a professional smile that didn’t betray any displeasure- much to his pleasant surprise.

“Thank you for coming,” she said softly. “You can go ahead and shut the door behind you, and then come have a seat at my desk…”

“Alright,” Coye complied, pushing down his nervousness as he approached the woman’s desk and did as requested.

He’s been in this room many times over the last two years, and yet somehow, it always managed to look like it was in an even worse state than whenever he’d last visited. Coye assumed that the maids must never make it to Dorothy’s office because there were mountains of books littering the floor, stacks of papers and envelopes covering every surface, and hundreds of monster trophies strewn haphazardly on just as many bookshelves.

The worst of her clutter were the large number of houseplants Miss Whittle somehow deluded herself into believing she would be able to care for. Let alone the fact that there wasn’t a window in her office and that the plants couldn’t even get any sunlight, it would’ve been impossible to grow anything worthwhile in this town even if she did have the time to nurture them.

Once he sat down, the air of professionalism on Dorothy’s face became more of a ruse than anything else. After looking at what the boy was wearing, she broke eye contact quickly and began to sweat. “So… um… welcome back? I mean- mn… h-how did your first quests with Byng turn out?”

Coye smiled and recounted, “We took all of them down except for the Woodtreader, and we ended up taking care of something extra while we were at it… something I think you’ll be pretty happy to hear about.”

“Oh? Do tell.” Dorothy blinked, always needing good news to help make it through her day.

“While we were hunting, that Ravenous Boarman cropped up. We had no choice but to slay it.”

Dorothy’s eyes lit up brighter than a flickering flame, her mouth falling open in disbelief. “Truly? Oh, Gods, Coye…” she exclaimed and then slumped over her desk. “You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that… the Barony was pressuring me nonstop to get someone on that quest, but no one was biting… I was almost on the verge of asking you to handle it, but I know things have been… off for you lately, so I held back…”

‘Hmph,’ Shayla folded her arms and turned her nose at the Guild Mistress. ‘There she goes again, trying to get you to solve all her damn problems… one of these days, you’re not gonna be able to help her out, and she’s gonna be shit out of luck…’

“Funny how that works,” Coye remarked, still feeling awkward as he scratched behind his ear.

“Yeah…” Dorothy agreed. “More than anything, though, I’m glad you managed to come out of it ok. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you, Coye, but... I’m not surprised to find out you took care of it, in a way.” Dorothy smiled, showing pride for her adventurer.

This brief exchange led to a short pause between them. However, Coye wanted to face the problem head-on and see if he could move past it.

“Um, thanks, Miss Whittle. Can I ask what this is about, though? Because if I’m in trouble over what happened yesterday morning…”

“N-No!” Dorothy shook her head fiercely and started blushing as the memory flooded back. “Well, yes, this is actually about yesterday… b-but you’re not in trouble or anything!”

“Wait, really?” Coye asked.

Shayla clicked her tongue, as she was hoping for more conflict.

“Yes… I wanted to apologize. When I… um… caught the two of you, it was early in the morning, I hadn’t had my coffee, and I ended up jumping to very rude conclusions and even lectured you like you were a child… I… I just want you to know that I’m not a stuck-up prude or anything. I might be your boss, but I’m… I’m ‘cool,’ r-right?” Dorothy stared at the boy in a rather desperate attempt for approval.

Coye helped feed her ego by giving her a dishonest nod. Meanwhile, Shayla gagged.

Dorothy sighed and clutched her chest, a little too relieved knowing that at least one adventurer was on her side. “Good… I called you here today so that we could be on the same page. I’m happy for you finding happiness however you can, or rather, with whoever you can… so long as you keep the more intimate moments of your relationships out of the Guild. Is… is that clear? I don’t want to sound like I’m being a… a bitch, but… there are strict rules and guidelines for having a peaceful work environment which I can’t risk breaking…”

Coye was quick to latch on to any chance for forgiveness offered, instantly nodding his head, “Of course, Miss Whittle. I completely understand.”

Shayla forced down a rude comment regarding how for someone who’s never eaten ass before, Coye sure did love to brown-nose his boss.

“Well, I’m glad to hear it…” Dorothy smiled, adjusting her glasses to take a better look at Coye and his strange attire.

Having already been through this gag twice before, Coye cut her off. “If you were wondering, things went well with Byng, and she lent me these clothes this morning.”

“Oh, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to stare or anything. It's just… it’s a very unique look on you…” Dorothy looked away and blushed, bringing a nearby teacup to her lips only to find it was empty.

As a Guild Mistress, she was used to her adventurers entangling themselves with each other. It came with the job. What else but fucking came from putting powerful people in small groups to go out and slay monsters together?

Despite this, Dorothy found the pairing harder to grasp than, say, Orlandis and Milse who pretended they hated each other but were slamming it on what they incorrectly believed was the downlow, or even Britni and Coco, who made no attempts at hiding their master and pet dynamic. She had no idea why Coye and Byng were so different, and yet, they were.

Placing it to the side and wanting to fill the awkward silence, she asked, “Does this mean I don’t have to worry about her bothering you anymore? That would be… well, even more wonderful news…”

“I think so, yeah. It turns out that all of her pranks were actually weird attempts at flirting with me…”

The Guild Mistress made an expression that made it seem as if she died a little inside upon learning all that trouble could’ve been avoided if either Byng was more honest or Coye was more observant.

“Is… is that so? Gods… I wish she could’ve tried flirting in a way that didn’t give me a new stress headache every time you two were together…”

“Trust me, same…” Coye laughed, which proved infectious as his boss started to join him soon after.

“Really, though…” Dorothy said as she cradled her forehead. “It would be wonderful if you turned out to be a good influence on that girl. I don’t want to show my ‘boss’ side here, but… Byng practically lives in the Gnarled Woods, and the Guild would make a small fortune off of her if she started turning in even a fraction of her kills…”

Unable to hold back, Coye began smiling at the Guild Mistress in a way that suggested he was close to breaking out in laughter. She looked back at him funny and tilted her head, asking, “Coye? Is… mn, is there something wrong…?”

“No. I’m just happy to have even more good news to share with you. Earlier this morning, Byng and I were talking, and she actually promised to start doing more quests so that she could catch up to my rank."

At first, Dorothy questioned if the words she heard the boy speak were true. There’s no way that Byng would suddenly start ignoring her religion and turning in her kills just because she managed to get a boyfriend, was there?

“Coye, are you serious?”

“Y-Yeah,” he said, blushing and scratching his head. “She doesn’t want to fall behind whenever I make it to Gold-rank. I know that’s probably pretty far away, but-”

Dorothy couldn’t even wait for him to finish his sentence before making it known how overjoyed she was at this new revelation. She slumped over her desk even more fiercely, practically face-planting it while her long sleeves knocked various books, papers, and cups over.

“Oh, Gods!” Dorothy wept from joy. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I never thought I would see the day! Coye, I could come right over there and hug you!”

‘Oh, for fuck’s sake…’ at this point, Shayla had all but given up any hopes of this conversation leading to some sort of colossal fuck up that would set Coye and Dorothy’s working relationship back several levels. If anything, putting his dick inside Byng seemed to make the woman worship the ground he walked on.

“Feel free,” he awkwardly offered. “N-nothing wrong with a good hug now and again, right?”

Shayla gagged for a second time during this conversation.

Coye didn’t think she would, but Dorothy stood up like she was going to come over and oblige him. Such was her happiness that she momentarily lost sight of herself and the rules. When it came to mind how improper a hug would be, Dorothy sat back down and she started twiddling her thumbs.

“I would, but that would be a gross violation of the Guild Master’s code of conduct. You’ll have to make do with only my sentiments, I’m afraid…” Dorothy frowned, which hurt Coye because it only made it seem like she would’ve hugged him if it weren’t for the Association’s rules.

To try and lighten the mood, she joked, “Besides… I don’t want Byng ambushing me with one of her arrows just because I looked at you funny, or anything… haha…”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. Byng isn’t the jealous type… actually, she kind of inspired me to realize I wanted to pursue a harem, I guess? I mean, if that’s what happens, then that’s what happens, but I’m saying I want to take more chances with girls and see what else I’ve been missing out on…” Coye revealed these incredibly intimate details about his personal life with a casual tone and a head so empty that it caused Dorothy to do a double-take.

“Wh… what…?” the Guild Mistress blinked, staring at the boy she thought she knew.

Coye cringed internally. He wasn’t expecting his inner thoughts to just manifest out his mouth hole like the town drunk. It was way, way too much information to share so candidly with his boss.

Sure, they had a good working relationship, but it was still grossly inappropriate to announce something like that. Even more so in a way that suggested he wanted Dorothy to feel ok about potentially hugging him.

Shayla breathed a sigh of relief.

She should’ve known better- of course this stupid boy of hers would end up shooting himself in the foot. He could talk about changing who he was as much as he wanted, but having the social graces of a fumbling fool was too profoundly set into his character to vanish without a trace.

Dorothy, however, simply stared.

=

She’d only just made peace with the fact that he was dating Byng, and now he was going on about still being on the market and actively chasing more girls? Where in hell was any of this coming from, and what was with the little part in the back of her mind that made her relieved? Maybe Dorothy felt more comfortable knowing that he wasn’t just indiscriminately banging women left and right, but she wasn’t sure.

A harem, though?

Sure, she admitted that he was very strong for an up-and-coming adventurer, and Coye had a lot of admirers here in the Guild thanks to his cute looks… hell, Dorothy even conceded that thanks to the sneak peek she had at his size down below there was a decent chance that he might even be a good lover… but… what was she supposed to think about this?

It was too bizarre to make heads or tails of.

It wasn’t her place to do or say anything regarding his personal life, but so many thoughts and questions swirled amidst his beloved Miss Whittle’s fragile mind that she couldn’t help asking, “I-Is that so…? Ahaha… wow… um… good for you… ahahaha… so, when you stayed out the other night… am I correct in guessing that you weren’t with Byng?”

“I was with another girl, yeah…” Coye flushed, feeling no choice but to admit to things.

The air was so tense now that no one in the room could hardly breathe, save for Shayla, who positively thrived.

“W-W-Well, that’s… ahahahaha… that’s just lovely, Coye. I’m so happy for you. Really, really I am…” Dorothy claimed, but as she spoke, her overactive imagination fueled by an addiction to caffeine and a lack of sleep began to spiral into a delusional abyss.

If this adorable, popular boy was starting a harem, that meant he could be at the center of an untold amount of drama- drama that would be centralized around the Cransmere Adventurer’s Guild one way or another.

What would happen when the Baddest Bitches realized they were losing their favorite toy? What if Coye didn’t stop at just Byng, and he ended up making a move on more of his feminine colleagues or one of the Guild’s staff members, and they didn’t happen to be as open-minded as the huntress was?

There would be a downright civil war.

Dorothy almost had a heart attack while considering the worst-case scenario. If Coye wasn’t careful, he could end up impregnating his coworkers! That meant nine months of income would poof out of existence per indisposed adventuress… and that wasn’t even considering maternity leave!

The Guild Mistress sweated like she was standing on the precipice of a towering mountain of fire. She just couldn’t believe how one perverted boy could prove so catastrophic to her business if left unchecked. Granted, most of her worries were just wild exaggerations brought on by her overtaxed mental state, but even then.

“M-Miss Whittle?!” Coye stood up and leaned over the desk, dreadfully worried about his superior, who looked like she was on the verge of some sort of physical or mental breakdown. Possibly both. “Are you alright?!”

“Y-Yes!” Dorothy responded, purposefully avoiding eye contact in case she got caught in Coye’s lustful web that was no doubt being spun more and more by the moment. “I’m fine! Just fine! Fine, fine, fine… ahahaha…! Sorry, I just needed to say one last thing before letting you go. Please, just… control yourself around the Guild, alright? Don’t start any trouble by prowling around the place looking for hookups. If you do happen to find additional love here, then... at least make sure you’re... careful.”

Coye felt a great heat rise to his face. It was sweltering, turning him bright red. “W-What the heck? Why do you think I’d be so... overeager, Miss Whittle? I’m not ‘looking for hookups’ or anything like that!”

“I-I’m not judging, and I-I didn’t mean to imply-” Dorothy stuttered, only to catch herself on her bullshit. What did she mean, if not that? Damn it. To try and make things better, she jumped ahead and caused even more problems. “Oh, I know! If you’d like, I could schedule an appointment for you with Eschel to see about a potion subscription for InfertAll and-”

“I don’t need anything like that!” Coye interrupted.

‘Says the boy who has yet to ask a single partner if she was on birth control before blasting their wombs,’ Shayla added, wounding Coye with the truth.

Since Dorothy didn’t know he wasn’t careful, though, he conveniently put that fact aside and said, “I’m not going to be starting any drama around here on purpose, and... and what I do on my own time is my own business, anyway! Seriously, I would’ve thought you’d know me better than that by now.”

“A-Ah...” Dorothy looked at him with wide eyes, only now realizing she had overstepped her bounds. Putting the breaks on her racing thoughts, her concerns subsided significantly.

Coye was a good kid. Just because he was experimenting with sex and girls didn’t mean he wasn’t still the same reliable adventure she’d spent the last two years overseeing, taking care of, and depending on. He planned for everything, after all. Surely he had a bunch of condoms in his toolbelt, at the very least.

Why would she assume he wasn’t being careful when it came to his love life, and for that matter, why did she care so much? It was all one big headache. Dorothy sighed and pulled out a handkerchief from her breast pocket, dabbing it against her sweaty forehead. She’d need to open five packs of cards at the very least later today to pull herself out of this guilt.

“Coye, I’m so sorry... sometimes I can’t stop myself from worrying about stupid things, and I guess I’m a little shocked about hearing these personal details. I should be happy, but... it’s strange. I just want to make sure you’re alright and not making any bad decisions. It’s my job to look after you all, sure, but I can’t hold back my emotions even though I’m supposed to. You’re special, you know?” She laughed softly. “I worry more about you than I do anyone else.”

Coye looked at her in surprise. What did she mean by that? He wanted to ask, but his nerves made it impossible. If nothing else, he was relieved that her concerns came from a well-meaning place.

“It’s ok, Miss Whittle…” Coye said after a moment’s pause. She’d made the conversation somewhat awkward, and now he wasn’t sure if he wanted to stick around. He figured he’d at least check before ducking out, so he started to ask, “Did you need anything else while I’m here, or-”

It was then that Shayla saw fit to intervene, not over anything regarding his interpersonal drama, but because of something a bit more important. There was something he’d forgotten- something important. Much as she wanted him to get on up to his dorm, the Pixie realized the importance of making sure the Guild Mistress was aware of it.

‘Before we go, you should probably tell her about that monstrous thing we ran into, baby. You know, the wiggly, squiggly one?’

Coye looked shocked as if he couldn’t believe he’d forgotten about that horrifying encounter. Shayla was right. That was indeed something that needed to be reported.

“Coye?” Dorothy asked as she watched the boy's face become distant. “Is something the matter?”

“Yeah, I forgot to tell you about something important that cropped up when I was in the woods yesterday. Do you remember when you were telling me all about Aberrations?”

Dorothy’s mood perked up at the mention of such a fascinating and mysterious category of monsters. Of course she remembered telling him about Aberrations- that was the day she had pulled a Crawling Chaos card from the Unthinkable Abominations expansion set, which had just been released. It inspired her to do some re-reading on the subject, and Coye just so happened to be at the right place at the right time to listen to her rant and lecture about the eldritch things which lurked just beyond the realm of understanding.

“Hold on a moment. I think I might know where you’re going with this…” Dorothy said, opening up a drawer on the right-hand side of her desk and pulling out a quest flier. “Did the monster you ran into happen to look anything like this?”

Sure enough, it was the exact same monster. Everything about it was rendered in perfect detail, from the odd, nervous system-like veins it had for a body to the thousands of eyeballs trailing after it.

“Yeah, that’s it! I sensed it walking towards me, and I had to hide for a while before it disappeared into a portal.”

Dorothy gave the adventurer a sympathetic look. “You don’t know how lucky you were to make it out of there alive, Coye… that could’ve gone bad. Very bad. This monster is way above your pay grade at the moment… I couldn’t even post the quest on the board. I had to appeal to the Gold-ranks directly to get someone to accept the darned thing!”

At the mention of pay, Coye’s eyes looked at the bottom of the flier to find a monstrously high 30,000G bounty on offer. He had never seen a reward so high before in his life- not for a single monster, at least. It was all he could do to nervously gulp at the thought of how strong he would have to be to stand a chance against the Aberration if ever he could.

‘Great, so we WERE only seconds away from dying. Nice to know…’ Shayla sighed and began to repress the memory as best she could.

“Good thing I knew better than to risk it,” he mumbled to himself.

“No kidding... still, though... I have to say...” a twinkle of intrigue appeared in Dorothy’s eyes- a spark of passion that Coye loved to see. “You really saw this Aberration in person, Coye? I’m so jealous...” she sighed and looked down at the flier.

‘Fucking really?!’ Shayla momentarily lost her cool. ‘I can’t believe this bitch...’

Coye could. It was this bizarre side of her that he fell for in the first place- the rare moments where Dorothy could work past the barriers of stress and professionalism to express her interests. Sure, it was inappropriate to suggest that his brush with death excited her, but he preferred the awkward times where she just couldn’t hold herself back.

“It was... interesting, for sure...” Coye said, only for Miss Whittle to take out a notepad from her desk.

“Hey, while you’re here... would you mind answering a few questions about the Aberration? Not for any Guild business, just my own notes... I really don’t have the time for this, but... if not now, when would I?” Dorothy pleaded, her hand trembling as she dipped the nearest quill into an ink fountain and brought it to the page. “Please?”

Having already guessed this was coming, Coye could only laugh. “Of course,” he agreed, and for a good ten minutes he recounted the tale in as much detail as he could. Dorothy stopped him repeatedly, asking for clarifications and observations he wouldn’t have otherwise included.

Over the course of the discussion, her professional, exhausted appearance fell to the wayside, revealing a smile that grew in width with the depth of the discussion.

It’d been a while since last he saw this smile, and Coye greatly missed it. It hurt knowing how long it might be till he saw it again, but he made the most of it, and did all he could to embellish details and make this Aberration study session last as long as he could.

Once it was over, Dorothy put her notes to the side and capped off the ink fountain. The smile lessened, but its remnants would endure, at least until something work-related cropped up and smothered her good mood like a dying flame.

“Thank you for that, Coye. I really needed it...” Dorothy admitted.

“You know I’ll tell you about my quests any time you want, Miss Whittle... I can even go back and talk about ones you didn’t have time for, if you’d like. The memory might not be as fresh in my mind, but-”

Dorothy tilted her head. It wasn’t at his offer, but something he said. “You know, I appreciate that you respect me enough to address me so formally, but... I feel... weird that you still call me ‘Miss Whittle’ after two years of working together. You can just use my name, if you’d like... I think I’d actually prefer it, honestly.”

Shayla cradled her head and pulled at her hair while Coye stared at his boss, a little lost for words. He sensed a chance to press forward here- one that he would never have taken before today. For the first time, Coye openly flirted with his Guild Mistress.

“Isn’t that against the code of conduct, Miss Whittle?” Coye teased, doing his best to give her a confident smile.

Dorothy blinked as if he’d just spoken Elvish. After a moment of silence, she laughed as she felt a slight flush take hold in her face.

“And what if it is, Coye? I thought we’d already established that I was a ‘cool’ boss... didn’t we?” She said, surprising Coye by bringing back that wholesome smile of hers much sooner than he expected.

He shifted around awkwardly in his seat. Coye wasn’t prepared for such a positive reception to his little joke, and he didn’t have anything prepared for a follow-up other than an uncertain smile of his own.

“Y-You’re right, Dorothy... my bad.”

Dorothy again hesitated, unsure of why the sound of her own name sounded so... different coming from Coye’s lips. It was probably nothing. He’d just said it before, so that must have been what made it so weird.

Whatever the case, she’d already spent much longer with Coye than she planned. It hurt to realize, but she had to get back to her business. Dorothy had several meetings to attend today with some clients, and she had to go and get ready for them.

“Anyway, Coye... there are some things I need to take care of so we need to cut this short.”

‘Finally...’ Shayla grumbled. At the rate they were going, she was starting to worry about them progressing even further than this. And to think it was all her fault for reminding him to report that stupid Aberration...

“I expected as much,” Coye returned a weary smile to his Guild Mistress.

“As far as the Aberration goes, don’t worry about it too much. I already have someone on the case, and I’m expecting results. You’re not likely to run into it again unless you specifically know what you’re looking for.”

“Thank the Goddess above,” Coye sighed out of relief. It was nice to know that he was just astronomically unlucky and that his job wasn’t about to become a bigger hassle than it already was.

“You know that If there was a high chance of adventurers stumbling across a stray Aberration or two, I would’ve suspended quests in the forest until it was taken care of.” Dorothy laughed.

“Good to know,” Coye smiled and stood up.

“I hope you have a nice, relaxing day off, Coye. I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more than you do right now…” barring herself, but she left that unsaid.

“That’s the plan,” Coye smiled as he walked back to Dorothy’s office door, only to look back over his shoulder at her. “Thanks again for not being mad about everything... Dorothy.”

“Oh, um…” Dorothy became flustered at his remark and the use of her name, amazed at how this cute boy was so wholesome. Even after she grossly overstepped her bounds and chastised him over things that weren’t her business, he still felt the need to apologize one last time.

“Think nothing of it, really…” she said softly, watching Coye leave her office with a weak smile on her face.

Who was she kidding? There was no way that one boy could engulf an entire Guild in drama. No way at all, she thought to herself with an embarrassed laugh… and then Dorothy remembered the sight of Coye mounted atop Byng and the size of his cock straining against his tight trousers.

The frustrated Guild Mistress groaned, opening her desk to pull out her emergency stash. The ArcTech vibration wand she kept around for ‘stiff shoulders’ caught her eye for the briefest moment, but Dorothy knew that sort of relief would have to wait.

As always, there was work to be done.