"Wait—you and the shorty bumped uglies? How is that even possible...?" Gagaran questioned, her incredulity apparent. She had seen what Vahn was packing, and even she wasn't confident she could have a go at him without getting injured. She couldn't fathom how Keno, who was scarcely half her size, had managed the feat...
"Jiiiiiiiii—"
"Jiiiiiiiii—"
Pretending he didn't notice Tina and Tia boring into him with their gazes and intonating the onomatopoeia for glaring, Vahn hummed, "Anything is possible with enough conviction and heart..."
"B-Be that as it may, I would like to see her and confirm that she's okay with my own eyes. I trust that won't be an issue...?" Lakyus questioned, her cheeks flushed, but her expression serious.
"Then you're in luck. Look..." Vahn responded, gesturing with his chin to the kitchen's entrance. In response, everyone turned to see Keno, looking tense and red in the face, standing in the doorway with her right hand on the frame.
"Well, I'll be dipped in shit and rolled in breadcrumbs. You're practically glowing, shorty..." Gagaran teased, her expression lighting up with a mix of pride and amusement. She still couldn't fathom how it was doable, but it was apparent at a glance that Keno was no longer the frigid virgin they all knew and dealt with.
fwshfwsh
"We want details," Tina stated.
"All of them," Tia appended.
"Don't leave anything out," both twins said together, appearing in front of Keno using OL-2138's version of the Body Flicker Technique.
"Can it wait until after I'm finished eating? I'm so hungry right now that I could devour an Orc whole..." Keno muttered, her blush deepening as she hugged her body and turned her head, avoiding the twins' gazes.
"Before you sit down, might I speak to you in private?" Lakyus questioned, carrying over a plate of food. Keno could tell she was serious by the look in her eyes, so after a moment of silence, she gave an understanding nod and offered a curt, "Sure..." before she and Lakyus departed for the dining room.
"Should I be concerned...?" Vahn asked, directing his query and a raised brow at Gagaran.
"Nah. You're good. Blue Roses just has a policy about its members not getting romantically involved with powerful and affluent men..." Gagaran revealed, shrugging her muscular shoulders before taking several audible gulps of her morning mead.
"We can still have sex though..." Tina appended, taking a seat directly to Vahn's right.
"After all, it's important to relieve stress and not have regrets when our lives are in danger..." Tia added, sitting on Vahn's left and not-so-subtly placing her hand along his inner thigh.
"That is important..." Vahn affirmed, nodding slowly. As he did, Tina and Tia leaned into him, intentionally pressing their pillow breasts against his biceps and jointly placing their hands atop his bulge.
"What's this? Are we about to have an orgy? Because I'm totally down..." Gagaran expressed, grinning wolfishly.
"Orcs should mate with other Orcs..." Tina retorted.
"Mmnn...your stone-like muscles would just get in the way..." Tia added.
"You two have been getting real cocky these past few weeks..." Gagaran growled menacingly, loudly cracking the knuckles of her right hand using her left.
"The bear is growling at us..." Tina muttered.
"Ah...I've never been more afraid..." Tia appended, both twins clinging to Vahn as if he would protect them from Gagaran's fury. Contrastingly, their expressions and delivery were completely flat.
"You little brats..." Gagaran growled, the vein in her right temple bulging as she suppressed the urge to give both twins a firm, gauntleted knock on their heads.
"There is to be no quarreling at the dining table..." Lakyus interjected, her expression and tone firm as she returned to the kitchen alone.
Directing her gaze to Vahn, Lakyus's brows creased slightly as she asked, "Lord Vahn...might I borrow you for a moment...?"
"Mmn...I don't see why not..." Vahn responded, extricating himself from Tina's and Tia's embraces before following Lakyus into the dining room. There, he found Keno waiting, sitting ankles-crossed on the floor with the plate of food Lakyus had provided.
"Now, then..." Lakyus started, turning to face Vahn with an expression of exasperation as she stated, "Evileye—I mean, Keno is a valuable member of Blue Roses. As a friend, I want her to be happy. But as a Party leader, I need to ensure that everyone follows the terms and conditions we agreed to when we joined Blue Roses..."
"Mmn...rules are important..." Vahn acknowledged.
"They absolutely are," Lakyus affirmed, posing with her hands on her hips and glancing at Keno as she added, "But so is the pursuit of happiness. To that end, while I am obligation-bound to admonish Keno for her actions, I am also happy for her..."
"Nn...I'm sorry for breaking the rules..." Keno responded, contracting her shoulders and tucking her hands between her thighs guiltily. At the same time, she looked happy that Lakyus was happy for her.
"A-Anyways..." Lakyus segued, pivoting to Vahn and adopting a stern, almost motherly glower as she leaned forward slightly and asserted, "I will overlook this impropriety on account of the tremendous support you have provided us. But as I imagine this won't be the last time one of our members propositions you, I have a request..."
"Please, speak..." Vahn responded, offering a slow, acknowledging nod.
"W-Well...as Lord Vahn is aware, the members of my Party have become rather...dependent on the meals you prepare..." Lakyus prefaced, a hint of red bleeding into her cheeks as she closed her eyes and coughed into her right fist.
Raising her gaze to meet Vahn's directly, Lakyus summoned every ounce of courage and shamelessness she had within her to request, "With Lord Vahn's permission, I would like to make the Seven Lotus Spring the base of operations for the Blue Roses. I know this is—"
"Sure," responded Vahn, cutting Lakyus off with an untroubled smile as he explained, "I created the Seven Lotus Spring to assemble and train those with heroic and righteous natures. As long as Blue Roses is willing to aid in that endeavor, I have no issue permitting you to continue making use of its facilities."
"Then, it would appear we have reached an accord. It is an honor to be working with you..." Lakyus expressed, looking more than a little relieved as she smiled and offered her right hand for a handshake.
"The honor is mine," Vahn countered, accepting Lakyus's handshake with an affirming nod. He had already been planning to invite the Blue Roses to become permanent residents of the Seven Lotus Spring from the moment he upgraded their equipment, so Lakyus's request was rather timely. Now, as she had put forth the idea herself, he imagined that Lakyus would work hard to ensure that those who came to stay in the spring wouldn't attempt to freeload off of him. And that made his own self-imposed job that much easier...
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With Blue Roses having set out to continue their not-so-clandestine investigation of the city, Vahn briefly found himself alone in his room, quietly reading the book he had been reading the previous night—a copy of the grimoire he had gifted to Mare. The information it contained was already in his mind, but he found reading therapeutic and liked to absorb and process information organically.
fwoom
Following the appearance of a Gate, Aura, as she had every day since he first arrived in E-Rantel, appeared with a bright smile and a large pillow in hand, happily pealing, "Heya! I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long. And congrats on the promotion~!"
"I don't mind waiting," Vahn responded, snapping the grimoire shut and placing it into his Inventory as Aura made her way over and unabashedly climbed onto his lap, facing him.
"Hey, I was thinking we could do something different today. Instead of watching a movie, how about we pay a visit to the spa on the ninth floor of Nazarick? It feels a little weird at first, but they have Slimes that can clean every nook and cranny of your body..." Aura revealed excitedly, her heterochromatic, blue-green eyes glistening with anticipation.
"Hmmn...I can't say the prospect is particularly appealing..." Vahn stated, caressing Aura's head and smiling as he conceded, "But if that's what you want to do, I will accompany you."
"I mean, we don't have to go. It was just a suggestion..." Aura countered, her elongated ears waggling as she adopted a broad smile and raised her hands, wiggling her fingers as she expressed, "There's also the option of letting me massage you directly. I really want to repay you for all the time you've spent with me. And now that you've been promoted to the position of Vice Guild Leader, I get, like, crazy excited thinking about how I can be of service to you."
"Mmn...I see..." Vahn hummed, holding Aura's gaze as she leaned forward slightly and continued to stare directly at him with shimmering, expectant eyes. She clearly wasn't overstating her desire to be of service to him, but he didn't have so much as a single task for her—at least not off the top of his head.
"How about we begin preparing the location for my second spring?" Vahn posed, spurring Aura's excitement to become even more apparent as she enthusiastically chimed, "Ha! Mare and I finished that weeks ago! Do you want to go and check it out!?"
"Sure. Let's do that..." Vahn affirmed, picking Aura up by the pits of her arms and rising in the same motion. In response, she tucked her knees and abruptly extended her legs past his head, her left hooking around his neck before she used her impressive leg strength and the leverage of his left pit to position herself on his shoulders.
"This is my reward for finishing my task ahead of time~" Aura asserted, ruffling Vahn's hair and tensing her thighs against the sides of his neck. Vahn was equal parts taken aback and impressed by how she had gotten herself into position, but since he was used to her and others riding atop his shoulders, he just exhaled from his nose and responded, "Of course..." in the characteristically weary tone of a father with a spirited, tomboyish daughter...
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While the Vahn in the setting of OL-2138 was occupied, getting dragged around by Aura, Keno was silently exploring the slums of E-Rantel in her Evileye disguise. The district's population was predominantly composed of various species of Demihumans. But instead of looking and smelling like a sty, the streets were clean, there was virtually no crime, and most of the residents appeared genuinely happy.
'This city feels...unnatural...' Keno noted for the umpteenth time since she began her investigation. Everyone that she had interviewed attested that the Sorcerer Kingdom treated them well. And based on Vahn's account of the Sorcerer King, he was a wise and fair ruler. Yet, despite all of that, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something fundamentally wrong with the city.
As Keno neared the end of an alley that used to lead to the local temple, which had been abandoned following the Sorcerer Kingdom's takeover, a hooded figure appeared before her.
"Heeeeey, girlie. You're Evileye of the Blue Roses, aren't you? I've heard rumors you're really close to a certain Dragon..." expressed the figure, its voice distinctly feminine but tinged with madness.
"You reek of blood..." Keno remarked, her rainbow-hued eyes narrowing behind her mask.
"Hihihihi. You've got a good nose~" hummed the hooded figure, opening her tattered mantle to reveal scant armor covered in what appeared to be dozens, if not hundreds, of Adventurer plates. The majority were copper and silver, but there were a handful of gold, platinum, and even mithril in the mix.
"Good grief. Do you really believe you're strong because you managed to pick off a few dozen weaklings? You're seriously overestimating yourself," Keno cautioned, spreading apart her own crimson robes to reveal a pair of oversized black gauntlets with an elaborate golden pattern engraved into their surface—gifted to her by Vahn. They were enchanted to convert her magical attack and defense into physical, functionally leaving her unable to use magic. But since she could tell the woman across from her was the type to rely on pure speed to blitz opponents, she decided it was safer to bolster her physical offense and defense.
"Heeeeei? So, you think you're stronger than me, just because you're an Adamantite Class? You're going to be sorry~" stated the hooded woman, slumping forward, her voice tinged with an eerie, sadistic laughter. Then, with a sudden burst of speed, she reduced the distance between herself and Keno in the blink of an eye...
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