Looking gobsmacked at the spider directly positioned above their heads, Alex sighs and looks at Benezia with pure regret in his eyes.
A single imaginary tear rolls down his cheek.
Damn... I was so close...
Benezia, meanwhile, quickly gets up, dresses herself within a few seconds—calm, well-rested, and acting as if absolutely nothing happened—and leaves the room without a single comment, leaving Alex behind, his arm stretched out towards her.
Fuck!
The second the door closes, the spider suddenly drops onto Alex's head, immediately pressing herself down as hard as she can, like a stubborn suction cup that refuses to be peeled off.
Alex sighs once more, suddenly feeling tired again.
"..."
"..."
"I'm so—" Alex tries to say, only to realize something mid-word.
Wait a minute, why was I gonna apologize?! I absolutely did nothing wrong! Not yet... no, not at all! Jewel's constant jealousy is seriously starting to make me think I'm guilty for perfectly fine things.
Princess Jewel has underestimated the sinister and scheming Asari! She'll be more careful in the future.
Despite Jewel's seemingly normal arguing and complaining, Alex can feel that she's genuinely frustrated this time. It isn't anger—especially not toward him—and it doesn't feel like anger toward Benezia either... but he still instantly knows something is off.
"Just a while longer... we already have a plan, don't we? We just need a few more levels..." Alex says, softly stroking her to calm her down.
That's what it's probably about.
Why did Soulmate decide to... do that.... with Benezia?
"..."
"I'm not gonna defend myself, I don't have to and I can't... but in all fairness..." Alex says, then hesitates for half a second. "While I usually use excuses and scapegoats... this was honestly not my fault! I plead entrapment!"
He quickly explains what happened—without any real embellishment, and without trying to twist it in his favor. "See, I honestly just wanted to sleep...."
This dirty Asari is even more devious than Princess Jewel thought! She forced herself onto Soulmate, using his mental exhaustion to launch her sneaky surprise attack!
"... while I rejected her at first... I kinda... willingly went along," Alex admits, scratching the back of his head. "I also think she meant well. Nothing even happened, besides the melding. She was just actually sleeping with me. Nothing else happened."
As he speaks, he slowly gets ready, taking out fresh underwear and a shirt from his inventory, washing up properly, and making sure to re-equip his items with the usual routine.
"More importantly," Alex says, his voice turning more serious, "I'm glad you are back... and safe at that. Did something happen?"
Princess Jewel will explain. Soulmate should quickly ready himself and join up with the others. Soulmate should take his time... Princess Jewel needs to do something....
Jewel then leaps off his head, flicks a tiny string of web against the door, cracks it open, slips outside, and then skillfully manipulates the thread so the door closes again behind her.
That was smooth...! Kinda cool....
As Alex continues readying himself, finishing up and straightening his clothes, he opens the door to step outside and immediately sees Jewel floating in the air, lifted upward by Benezia, who's using her biotics, while she, in return, gets bombarded by waves of webbing. The strands wrap around her again and again, slowly but surely spinning a cocoon around her, with her desperately ripping them back off using one hand and biotics.
As Alex stares at the chaotic scene—Benezia, Jewel, and also Menchi and Tereza, who are watching with helpless expressions, not sure what they should do, all turn to him, expecting him to say something.
This requires a strong stance. I feel like they left me no choice!
He closes the door again.
"..."
"..."
"Come back outside already!" Menchi yells angrily, opening the door and dragging him out by force before he can even pretend he didn't hear her.
"I hate conflict... as long as I'm involved... I only like YouTube Drama..." Alex complains, half-heartedly resisting as he's pulled into the middle of it anyway.
"Trying to ignore it doesn't solve anything, though. You can't run away," Tereza says, sighing like she's already tired of today.
Alex joins her, sighing as well, his shoulders dropping. "Can we drop this, please... let's just please forget what happened. Or if that isn't possible, talk about it once we're back in the Realm. For now... our mission takes precedence. I don't want to die or lose out because we're fooling around."
"You know he is right," Menchi says, smirking.
Tereza nods. "I think that should be obvious to anyone. Don't be stubborn, Benezia. Also, Jewel, calm down, you are getting out of control."
Princess Jewel is not at fault.
"I've always looked on zoologists and regarded them as pathetic underachievers, trying to understand the actions of mere beasts," Benezia mentions, her tone calm, with just a little bit of sarcasm in her voice. "I've now changed my opinion regarding that. They are possessed by unexplainable madness to even attempt to study a subject like that."
"... that's... unexpectedly petty," Alex says, blinking once, not sure how to react. "Please stop it already!"
"Fine," Benezia says. "Let's focus on the things that matter."
She drops Jewel with zero ceremony, causing her to skillfully maneuver through the air, landing on the table. Benezia then draws her Asari Sword. With a couple of quick, precise motions, she cuts off the remaining webs wrapped around her body. She follows it up by using biotics to rip off anything still sticking to her—like she's tearing away annoying tape.
Just as she's done, Jewel shoots one more wave of web right at her face, which she blocks with her still drawn sword.
Princess Jewel is now ready to call a truce.
"..."
"..."
"You just had to get in the last word..." Alex notes, looking between them like he's watching two kids hitting each other, unable to stop without landing the final blow.
She's far pettier than Benezia... these two are surprisingly childish.
Princess Jewel always gets the last say!
"That isn't something you should brag about... please, just start with whatever you found out!" Tereza says, grabbing Jewel firmly to stop her from escalating things even further.
"Please, Jewel..." Alex says. "This really isn't the time. Not now."
Princess Jewel found players! At least she thinks she has.
"Explain," Alex says, immediately turning serious.
Princess Jewel thought really hard about how to find Iceburg. However, she quickly realized this isn't about Iceburg, but about the Peasants that have kidnapped him.
"You mean players..." Alex mutters, rubbing his forehead as if that alone gives him a headache.
Princess Jewel then really challenged herself. To understand where a Peasant hides something, Princess Jewel tried to think like a Peasant, an extremely difficult challenge, even for a genius like Princess Jewel....
"Get to the point," Benezia states, losing her cool for the first time in a while, her eye twitching almost imperceptibly.
Looks like Jewel is really rubbing her the wrong way. The stoic and almost flawless Matriarch can't handle Jewel... do you call that fatigue? Jewel fatigue? I think I'm onto something....
While Princess Jewel tried to think like a Peasant, she failed. Princess Jewel couldn't ever hope to stoop to such a level. So in desperation, she thought that Peasants, with their lack of creativity and bottom-feeder mentality, might choose the simplest and easiest locations.
Peasants...
"You mean Players! Please don't make it confusing," Alex interrupts.
Peasant Players only know a few certain locations inside this city. The Peasants from CP9 have searched the city, but Princess Jewel has remembered a spot where they probably haven't looked, because they simply couldn't imagine that the people there would be of interest to the kidnappers.
Franky House! With Peasant Franky himself gone, that location seemed all but worthless and uninteresting. Still, Jewel went there, and she spotted multiple powerful Auras, together with the Franky Family themselves. They were gathered close together, clearly not fighting.
"Why would they collaborate with the players?" Alex wonders, frowning. "That makes no sense."
"They might be blackmailed, tricked, or maybe even paid off," Benezia explains, now serious. "It's not the most outrageous idea. As the annoying little one said, Players might choose the few spots they actually know—places they can navigate without overthinking. The Franky Family are useful goons... their weakness is their extreme loyalty to Franky himself."
Princess Jewel didn't want to risk doing anything yet, so after using En to scan the house, she escaped. She tried her best to remain undetected, moving carefully, quietly, like a shadow. However, Princess Jewel is pretty sure from analyzing the Auras inside the Franky House that there are only four players around.
"So what do we do?" Alex asks, looking between the others. "Tell these CP9 guys? I'd like to say we can take on four by ourselves... the Franky Family members are not particularly strong, so I don't think they're making any meaningful difference. But I don't trust these guys either. If they have a reason, they'll abandon us—or even attack us."
"Explain your thoughts," Benezia says, looking slightly uncomfortable.
"Like... if the players say to the agents: if you kill these people, we'll hand over Iceburg, and we'll tell you about the location of Pluto," Alex reasons. "If we're not there to contradict them, they might not only abandon, but also outright betray us and fall for the enemy player's scheme. Remember, we're up against people who know the story. They don't even have to lie! They know the truth, they can actually back up their statements... they can tell CP9 exactly what they want to know. Their mission takes precedence over everything... including Iceburg's life."
"You... think that could actually happen?" Tereza asks, looking genuinely scared. "Having these guys around could not only derail our plans, but also get us killed. I... maybe you are right, Alex. The odds of us beating them on our own are pretty solid in the first place, and that would get rid of any risk factor."
"I'll leave it to you, Benezia," Alex says, staring at the Asari. "Whatever you decide, we'll follow your suggestions."
"Yeah... we might as well," Tereza says. "Don't worry if it turns out to be a mistake, we won't be angry, not like we can know what's the best decision."
Everyone stares at Benezia, curious what she's going to say as she's gathering her thoughts.
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