3. Getting a job

Agamennone and Violante's tour ended inconclusively. The two were now on their way to the adventurers' guild, located inside a four-storey brick and wood building visible in the distance. Agamennone was clearly frustrated.

"They are too picky!"

"I warned you, the jobs here have high requirements. And the fact that you don't have a curriculum vitae here doesn't help."

Violante was quite calm, also trying to calm her companion down.

"I HAVE ONLY BEEN HERE FOR LESS THAN TWO DAYS!"

Violante looked coldly at the brown-haired man, who was surprised by the reaction.

"I wasn't mad at you..."

"I know, but you were lashing out too vigorously for my taste.... I am not a scapegoat for your frustration with the way the business world works here."

The ruler sighed.

"Sorry..."

His apology was only partially sincere. The half succubus understood this but the situation was so trivial that it was not worth being bothered from it. The girl merely looked at the man.

"Can't i just force them to hire me since i'm their king?"

"You can try, but you won't succeed..."

"If they protest I will have them arrested."

The ruler spread his hands, palms upwards. He had a satisfied expression on his face.

"Ferdinando would not let you do that."

The woman smiled faintly, resting her left hand on her hips. The man, on the other hand, was slightly confused.

"And who's Ferdinando now?"

"He is the regent."

Violante answered as if the question was trivial, complete with upwardly facing palm.

'Huh?'

"Huh?"

The brown-haired man was surprised by the answer.

"That burnt bovine is named Ferdinando?"

"You didn't know that? I guessed that he didn't know your name, since you never introduced yourself to others voluntarily. But that he would do the same seems strange to me.... Not that I behaved much better."

The indigo-haired woman mused, gently scratching her temple with her index finger. Agamennone looked at her.

"Not that you ever introduced yourself to me... Still... how is it that you call that bovine by name?"

The man used a slightly aggressive tone, which interrupted the housemate's thoughts.

"Because he is an old friend of Mama. Besides, I didn't have time to introduce myself because I had to calm down a certain gentleman first."

The man scratched his chin for a moment."Old friend huh? so he's not even useful to make ham out of him..."

Violante giggled at her companion's not-so-kind joke, and tried to cover her mouth with her hand to avoid showing herself laughing.

"You are a bit too angry at him..."

"Because you don't know what he did to me. I was just overthinking for a moment and when I regained awareness I found an axe at an inch from my nose!"

The maiden was astonished to hear this.

"Maybe I understand now why you don't feel much fondness for him..."

The woman giggled in discomfort, while The brown-haired man got tense thinking back to the incident that had occurred a few hours earlier.

As they interacted, the pair reached the building, whose wooden door, roughly twice Agamennone's height, was already open. The couple entered the guild. The atmosphere was rather calm, but rather muffled noises could be heard coming from the upper floor. She was a rather tall girl, but less so than Violante, and thin, with rather visible muscles but still maintaining her gentle and elegant features. Her black tail was thin and tended to move slightly when she was calm, while her ears seemed to be always alert.. She was leaning on the counter with one hand while gently massaging her leg. The woman was wearing a pea-green uniform, on which the boy's gaze fell..

'What an ugly uniform.'

"Good evening, how can I help you?"

The cat girl tried to be as sweet as possible. Violante smiled at her just as sweetly.

"Timotea, there is no need to be so formal."

"You know, I have to follow the etiquette, otherwise I risk being fired. And I'm not as rich as someone..."

Agamennone perked up his ears. Looking at his companion, who in the meantime blushed slightly, the young man began to rub his hands instinctively. Violante noticed him and playfully flicked him on the nose, then she smiled.

"Ouch!"

"You leech..."

Agamennone looked around the room and, seeing a vending machine, left the female couple and walked towards it. The succubus noticed the man's movements, then looked again at the other girl, to whom she replied in a friendly manner.

"You should be grateful that I speak to a commoner like you..."

Timotea snickered.

"Seriously, what did you come here for? I know you don't have that much respect for the guild..."

"Indeed, I would never have come here if it wasn't to do a favour to my acquaintance here."

"The one at the vending machine?"

Violante nodded. In the meantime, Agamennone was looking at the various snacks in the vending machine and was surprised, almost shocked, to see a drink dear to him that he had not been able to find for a very long time: strawberry tea.

'Strawberry tea...'

The man placed his hand on the glass of the dispenser, trying to get closer to the nostalgic drink. His expression quickly became gloomy.

'I DON'T HAVE MONEY!'

Agamennone's other hand closed into a fist in frustration. Violante saw this, approached him and bought the drink. Once the can had fallen, the woman picked it up and handed it to him, smiling.

"It's only fair that you get to indulge yourself sometimes."

Agamennone blushed and was speechless, and remained petrified on the spot. In the meantime the succubus returned to the counter.

"Back to the favour, I would like to know if it would be possible to hire this acquaintance of mine, possibly away from unnecessary risks."

The succubus had become serious; the woman kept one hand on the leather belt that adorned her jeans and the other on the counter, leaning against it.

"It is true that we are quite open when it comes to hiring. However, we would be fine with logistics and administration and we would rather have someone else to send out."

Violante leaned her elbow on the counter and put her head on his hand.

"I don't think he can be useful to you then.... But this is theoretically the only place that could hire him. Are you sure there aren't people looking forward to being beaten to a pulp?"

"I would be one of them, but I still have to recover from the sprain I suffered last week."

"I still don't understand why you decided to take this job. it's unnecessarily risky."

"Don't play dumb, you know very well why. I want to raise some money, and as much as I appreciate the thought, I'm not interested in borrowing money from you."

Violante puffed. Timotea then looked at Agamennone, who was drinking his tea as he surveyed the room, aimlessly walking back and forth.

"Back to us. Is he in a bad situation?"

The magenta-eyed woman nodded. Timotea sighed and spread her arms as a sign of surrender.

"Alright, we'll have him take the classic tests for novice adventurers and from there we'll see what to do. I can't promise anything though."

The succubus got up and stretched out her hand towards the catwoman. The dark-haired woman shook it.

"Alright."

"Now you are the formal one, Violetta."

The succubus blushed slightly, looking away and bumping her index fingers repeatedly.

"That's the nickname my mama uses..."

The catwoman smiled mischievously. Meanwhile Agamennone continued quietly drinking his strawberry tea. Although he had remained in the background, he was actually hearing the conversation. The man suddenly turned towards the couple.

"Look, I didn't mind the leech idea. What if I gave up and let Violante's mother support me for life?"

The black-haired woman was surprised and slightly irritated by the question. Violante, on the other hand, laughed.

"That would be fine with me, and I think my parents can tolerate you for a while, but what do you think 'The one you know' would do..."

Although the woman gave him a teasing look, it took the brown-haired man a few seconds to realise who 'The one you know' was.

"It's none of his business."

The man was firm in his answer, then he continued sipping his strawberry tea. The argument left the catwoman even more confused and she became quite intrigued by the matter in their hands.

"'The one you know?"

Violante crossed her arms and became serious.

"I can't tell you anything."

Violante was becoming progressively angrier.

"Forget it!"

"Please..."

"Stop it!"

Timotea tried to soften the woman giving her the sweet eyes, but got a flick on her nose followed by a very intimidating look. In the meantime the sovereign enjoyed the show, laughing and finishing his can of tea. Violante looked at him coldly with the corner of her eyes, making the smile disappear from his face.

"Come here!"

The woman used a very assertive, almost imperative tone, which surprised Agamennone, who could do nothing but carry out the order feeling slightly bewildered and uncomfortable. In the meantime, the cat girl fetched a closable magic instrument and placed it on the counter. Opening it, the instrument appeared to consist of a folding lever and a screen.

"Listen... uh..."

"Agamennone."

"Agamennone."

The succubus and the ruler replied simultaneously.

"So, Agamennone, the instrument is turned on by pushing a button..."

Timotea prepared the machine while explaining its functionality.

"... Then one unfolds the lever and grasps it. Finally you release your magic power on it and it is measured as power output. I will now show you'.

The dark-haired girl grasped the lever and began to release her magic power on it. After about fifteen seconds, a value of 23 appeared on the screen. Violante seemed pleased with the result.

"Well, you're doing well for someone who trained mostly as a warrior. Why don't you sign up for a magic course?"

"You think so? Maybe I could do the one for beginners..."

The dark-haired woman quickly changed the subject.

"Why don't you show your friend your skills? After all, you've already completed all the magic courses, right? You're a skilled magician..."

Violante blushed and became flustered.

"I-it means nothing... In the end, those courses are within everyone's capabilities.... Besides... Compared to a real magician I'm just a small fry. You should see my mother, or Volframio, or even Ferdinando..."

Timotea snickered, then she tried to reassure her friend.

"They are beyond measure, plus they are much more experienced. I am sure that at your age they were not that much stronger than you are."

Timothy allowed herself a sincere smile, which succeeded in calming her friend. The latter however managed to evade her own scrutiny by changing the subject. The young succubus looked at Agamennone with a sweet but cunning gaze.

"Try the equipment please..."

The ruler was listening to her but just before grabbing the lever he remembered that it was not his turn.

"Violante, don't be sneaky, it was your turn!"

"There were no turns."

The indigo-haired woman cast an icy glance towards her housemate in a spontaneous manner, and the tone of voice used was also rather serious and aggressive. Only later did the maiden recognise that she had had an ill-tempered reaction, regretting it, and looking away from her two companions. Meanwhile, Agamennone had grasped the lever. On the screen the value that appeared was 0. Timotea observed the situation, bewildered.

"Mmm... Tell me... Are you channelling magic into the lever?"

"Ah... I forgot"

The man smiled sheepishly, then the ruler began to commit himself to releasing his magic into the lever. Violante, meanwhile, had pulled herself together and was also observing the test. The value on the screen did not change one bit.

""A-ARE YOU WITHOUT MAGIC?"

Timotea was astonished by this result, but neither her friend nor the guy in front of her seemed similarly astonished. Agamennone merely looked at the car with half-lidded eyes while Violante was unfazed.

"D-DID YOU KNOW THAT?"

The ruler nodded, while the succubus stretched out her arms.

'How is it possible! here except for children everyone can use magic! And they possess it too anyway...'

The dark-haired girl tried to compose herself and find an explanation for what was happening.

"Violante, how did you meet this man?"

Violante tried to think of a convincing excuse but she failed. The woman panicked, but managed to hide it from the outside world.

"Or maybe the better question is: why did you meet this man?"

The succubus found nothing to give a convincing explanation, so she decided to respond coldly.

"It's none of your business."

Timotea was slightly intimidated by her friend's look and tone.

"I'll let it go, okay? I know when to give up. However... Even taking only this test, I can say that I don't think he could be suitable for this job."

The succubus sighed and crossed her arms. She looked sad for a moment, but she quickly recovered.

"I knew it..."

The brown-haired man, on the other hand, was untouched by the discussion.

"Look... I can't promise anything, however, I'll see if there's any chance you can seize. I will let you know shortly."

As the succubus informed Agamennone, still holding the tea can, to leave, the catgirl went to put the tool away. Outside, the duo began to walk in silence towards Violante's house.

'I would have hoped that I might have been able to find him a source of income to settle him in the future... Agamennone found himself in an unknown place without a penny and without material goods. I don't mind hosting him, but I fear that as much as he seems to like the idea in reality for him being financially dependent on strangers may be overwhelming in the long run. Honestly... I feel sorry for him...'

'If possible I would prefer to be a basement dweller... They even seem to be willing to do it but I believe all this benevolence is conditional on my status. And to think that the only reason I proposed getting a job was to avoid turning them against me and to look like a "responsible" person... I should have just shut up and enjoyed what little free time I had left after those hellish lectures.... Anyway, today Violante changed her mood abruptly, even more than I usually do... That she suffers from mood swings... Or that she is menstruating? But then do menstruations really affect women's mood?'

the two continued walking for a while without speaking to each other.

'Let's hope everything goes well.'

The woman forced a smile in the direction of her housemate, who found himself confused.

"It's not like it's an important matter..."

"You should thank me... I don't want to impose anything on you, but if it wasn't for me you would be a beggar."

"HOW THE HECK DARE YOU TELL ME SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"

Agamennone became instinctively nervous. In response, Violante became more assertive.

"I dare. When I invited you home you were totally awkward. I can imagine what you would have done if no one had come to meet you. You probably would have returned to the throne room, without food or water, and using the aforementioned throne as a bed, unless you would have preferred the carpet.... In short, you would have let yourself be at the mercy of fate."

Agamennone did not reply and looked away.

'Maybe she exaggerated a bit but... basically she got it right...'

Violante smiled smugly. After a few more seconds of silence, the conversation resumed.

"You were right that people wouldn't recognise me. Yet Mr. Bresaola wanted me to take a tour of the city dressed like a fool..."

Violante snapped her fingers.

"In the end, ordinary people have never seen a demon king. Plus, you are rather unremarkable, at least until you start talking... Even I wouldn't have recognised you as the ruler if Ferdinando hadn't warned me first."

Agamennone became slightly confused.

"Your mother recognised me right away though."

"Yeah..."

Violante began to reflect on that fact.

"... I really don't know how she did it. I doubt the regent told her or I would have known that she knew about it. She would have told me right away, since I am an 'anarchist'.... And she doesn't want me to make her look bad in front of our ruler."

The two continued towards the succubus' house.

*****

"How did I figure that out? Well... I put two and two together. Why did the regent need you, an inexperienced youngster, urgently? There would have been plenty of people better equipped for an emergency, wouldn't there?"

Valentina laughed softly, while her daughter was pensive, still with her hand under her chin.

"It doesn't make sense. You could have comfortably turned into a human and gone instead of me."

The woman kept smiling.

"You're right, but let's say you have a better aptitude for certain tasks.... I like to play, you know?"

Agamennone rolled his eyes, Violante snickered while Valentina continued to maintain a cheerful expression.

"I am also sure that I don't have the same tact as you.... I wonder how I would have reacted had our 'friendly' ruler said something inappropriate? The respect I have for institutions is strong, but I expect it to be reciprocated in the same way..."

Valentina cast a seductive glance at Agamennone, who gulped. Meanwhile Violante had put her hand on her hip.

"That still doesn't answer my question. Did you know what was going on?"

"I knew it. You must know that an evocation of this magnitude requires a lot of magic. To avoid alarming the other nations, with which we do not have very good relations, the walls of the throne room have been made insulating, capable of absorbing the energy generated. However, a very small part manages to be transmitted to the outside world. This amount of magic is insignificant for ordinary people... But your mama is not an ordinary person, Violetta..."

The demoness, still smiling, began to stroke her daughter's head, who suddenly relaxed.

"Furthermore... The previous demon king was also human. When Ferdinando asked about you, who look human, I had my suspicions confirmed."

Violante pulled herself together as soon as her mother stopped stroking her.

"So it's because of an urgency for which a human or a sufficiently similar person was needed as well as residual traces of magic..."

The girl looked away for a moment.

In the meantime, Agamennone had been lounging on the sofa looking for something he liked on TV, which proved quite difficult, and he was losing patience. Violante, after being cuddled by her mother, went to her housemate with newfound happiness.

"Don't be like that... You're still young and you still have a lot of experience to gain before you can match me..."

The demon woman hugged her daughter in affection, stroking her head again. The daughter suddenly relaxed for the second time, instinctively closing her eyes.

"Agamennone, would you like to play chess?"

"I have nothing better to do, so yes; I suck at it, though."

The ruler was emotionless and stood up lazily, heading towards the table. The girl in the meantime fetched the necessary equipment and took it to the kitchen. While the two set up the chessboard, the redhead, elegantly dressed, was leaving the house.

'I have an important business, your father will take care of the dinner, my dear daughter. In the meantime, have fun. Bye."

The woman also greeted the youth gesturally. Besides waving her hand, she smiled at her daughter and winked sensuously at Agamennone, who put a hand in his hair.

"Bye!"

Once they were alone and finished the preparation, the two were ready to play.

"You said you're not much of a chess player, do you want me to explain the rules to you?"

"Rules are the only things I actually know..."

Violante giggled, while Agamennone was slightly uncomfortable.

"Why do you know the rules of a game you don't know how to play?"

The half succubus asked the question irreverently but also interestedly.

"Because I am fickle about my interests."

"Ah... Thanks for the information."

The man's almost apathetic composure had slightly distressed the woman, who had not considered the answer given by him as a guess.

"However we play! You start Agamennone... You are the white pieces."

Agamennone looked at the chessboard intently trying to find a good move. He remembered that the objective of the opening move was to control the centre of the chessboard and to have a solid position ready for the opponent's aggression. So his first move was e4.

*****

The maiden was gloating over her fifth victory in a row against an Agamennone who the more he played, the worse he did. In the last game, the ruler was even beaten with a scholar's mate. Agamennone, despite being aware of his own lack of skill, still felt very bad and looked at the chessboard almost in despair, forgetting to blink and losing the focus of his sight. The young woman stopped grinning.

"Do you want to play again?"

"No, I'm sick of it."

The ruler was extremely frustrated and was reacting childishly.

"Come on... Don't get upset. I can always teach you. Besides, we should have some chess manuals somewhere."

The man sulked. His housemate's rather considerate manner had calmed him down, but at the same time he had no reason to be in a good mood. Meanwhile Odoacre, Violante's father, had returned and was already at the cooking station.

"Dinner will be ready soon, so take the chessboard off the table and set it up."

Violante took care of putting the chessboard and the various pieces back in place while the king set up the table. The result was not the best: the paper napkins were placed some upright and others upside down and the cutlery was placed askew. Odoacre was not very happy about this and set everything right before serving the various dishes prepared for dinner. The man was not much of a cook, being on the same level as his daughter. His dishes were edible but did not leave much of an impression; they were just satisfying. The trio discussed futile things over dinner, such as recounting their day or funny facts or even jokes and various puns.

"Do you know what is the favourite pasta among odontologists? The al dente one."

Agamennone sneered, but seeing his housemates smile at the pun, the young man's grin faded. The other two looked confused at the lord's reaction.

"Oohh... You didn't mean to make us laugh..."

Violante began to look at her peer with a satisfied and slightly seductive gaze. Her subsequent sensual licking of her lips annoyed the boy.

"You know I don't like you hitting on me."

"Dear daughter, you shouldn't joke like this, otherwise someone might misunderstand or simply take advantage of you."

"Papa, he and I have already discussed the basis for such interactions. I know that they bother him and he knows that mine is just a joke and not a way to seduce him."

Odoacre was reassured by his daughter's words.

*****

At the end of the dinner, while Violante was busy clearing the table, Odoacre took an antiquated mobile phone from his suitcase and gave it to Agamennone.

"Take it. Consider it an apology from me for how I treated you when we met."

The ruler took the phone without saying thank you, merely seeing Odoacre's face.

"I 'borrowed' it from the shop where I work. Don't lose it!"

Odoacre made air quotes with his hands as he pronounced borrowed. Agamennone's eyelid vibrated.

'THIS GUY IS GIVING ME STOLEN STUFF?!'

Agamennone refused to answer, merely putting the phone in his pocket and remained still where he was. The girl, meanwhile, had finished her task and joined the conversation.

"Papa, don't scare him. The shop where you work is yours, so there have been no thefts."

Odoacre sighed as he started to prepare himself to do the dishes.

"Daughter, don't spoil my fun..."

The girl meanwhile approached her housemate.

"While papa does the dishes how about a couple of matches playing some videogames?"

Agamennone, who had been watching the house before seeing Violante approaching him, came back to reality.

"Alright... Couple in a broad sense?"

"Of course."

The girl was full of energy, unlike the man who seemed to have no energy at all. The two headed for Violante's room.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing. I was just looking at the walls."

The young woman burst out laughing.

"What's so strange about that?"

Agamennone was confused by that laughter. The young woman noticed his reaction and tried to reduce the discomfort she had caused.

"Nothing. But there is also nothing normal about it..."

Arriving in the girl's room, the ruler sat on her bed while she turned on the TV and the game console. She also took an adventure game and inserted it into the console.

"I set up a nice game: it's called 'Ugo & Silvano'. it's a game where we have to work together to defeat the president of the company where they work."

Agamennone listened to her without saying anything. The two then began to play. Agamennone soon realised that the two players could harm each other. He therefore tried to hurt the character controlled by his roommate, who, however, noticed his intentions and avoided the attack.

"Who do you think I am... Be aware that I have always enjoyed making my friends lose."

The girl counter-attacked by throwing the character controlled by Agamennone into a deep pit, causing him to lose a life. She burst out laughing arrogantly, while the young man's face became serious.

"This means war!"

"'You were the one who started it."

The girl laughed mischievously, looking at the man with some interest.

The couple spent the evening playing various games, mainly those in which the two players are supposed to cooperate with each other but which punctually ended with Violante and Agamennone trying to kill each other while ignoring the objectives. Around midnight Violante went to sleep. Agamennone left immediately, although Violante had no intention of teasing him. In any case, Agamennone was not sleepy and, like the previous day, he read a random book on the sofa to pass the time. The ruler fell asleep after about a couple of hours and three books read, the last of which fell on his face.

*****

The lord was lying on the sofa, with one leg hanging out. He was half asleep and rather aching. Violante walked towards him after a short search with the intention of waking him up. She started by gently rousing the boy and calling his name, initially to little effect.

'Better to try again like this, instead of being more assertive. I wouldn't want to make him upset.'

She continued with the same approach to wake up her housemate, who, after about twenty seconds, gave signs of response. As Agamennone finished waking up, without really realising what was going on, the succubus returned the books from the sofa on the bookshelf, not before glancing at them to satisfy her own curiosity.

' 'The Art of Seduction', 'Recipes for All' and 'Phone Guide of the Realm of Pyrothalassa''

The girl smiled, before putting the books back on the shelf and then leaving for her room both to change and to leave room for the man to get up at his leisure. Once Agamennone, although sleepy, had managed to realise what was happening, he slowly got up.

'Did I wake up in the living room?'

The man therefore went to the bathroom. After doing what was necessary, he went to the kitchen. He opened the various cupboards in search of food he could enjoy.

'Let's have some cereal with milk.'

Violante meanwhile had finished changing. She had chosen to put on a sweatshirt and comfortable trousers; she had also tied her hair up in two high pigtails. Noticing Agamennone with his head in the fridge she could not suppress her curiosity and approached the man from behind.

"What are you going to eat?"

The man was slightly surprised by the proximity of his housemate, who giggled as she noticed a slight stiffening on the part of her victim.

"I wanted to have some cereal with milk."

The girl, smiling, put her hand on her hips.

"Be careful what kind of milk you take."

"Why, is someone lactose intolerant?"

Agamennone, who, when surprised, was about to take the first container of milk within his reach, was forced to take a closer look.

"If you want I'll get you the milk, so I can at least teach you what milk is to be avoided."

The succubus' friendly tone was met by sudden hostility.

"It's milk! What can be so bad if I take one milk instead of another one!"

The girl became a little upset, while the man took some milk and closed the fridge.

"There is mama's milk."

"Is your mother lactose intolerant?"

The ruler had an epiphany as soon as he finished his answer. The young man looked again at the milk container.

"You meant that in the strict sense, didn't you?"

"Correct."

The woman giggled.

The woman laughed. The man, alarmed, began to analyse every single detail of the bottle in his hand.

"Don't worry, it's not that. Besides, a cow is drawn on the container."

The man stopped the bottle, seeing the label with the cow drawn on it. He lowered his head.

"I missed it... Rather... why would some of your mother's milk be in the fridge?"

"Because otherwise it spoils faster."

"You know i didn't mean it like that."

"Because my parents drink it on special occasions."

"Ah."

Agamennone began to think about the subject, standing still with the usual bottle in his hand.

"Still... Why don't you sell it on the market?

The succubus blushed and began to find herself struggling to deal with the discussion.

"W-well... it is on the market... but it is, for various reasons, a niche product..."

The man decided to annoy his housemate, and a mischievous smile appeared on his face.

"What about you? Would you sell it?"

Violante became suddenly angry.

"I-I? I would feel violated! It's something personal! I don't like the idea of everyone having access to a part of me!"

Agamennone laughed at Violante's reaction.

"Ah."

The young woman, puffing, walked away from the young man and went to find something to eat for herself. Meanwhile, Agamennone sat down at the table and began to eat a bowl of cereal with milk. The succubus sat down at the table shortly after, irritated, as far away from the man as possible.

"Anyway... I have good news: Timotea told me you've been hired."

Violante used a cold and detached tone, which disoriented Agamennone. As for the content of the conversation, the man did not react in any particular way. The ruler, however, continued to eat his cereals, although he decreased the frequency with which he stuffed his mouth.

'What's gotten into her?'

Agamennone began to think about why the woman was colder than usual.

'Maybe it's the milk thing? Nah... Why would her be offended by that...'

The ruler returned shortly afterwards to focus on the conversation.

"I repeat that orientation is late in this afternoon at the guild. I hope you heard me!"

Agamennone nodded. The two then resumed eating their breakfast.

'He offended me earlier. I doubt he did it on purpose though. Anyway, I was very blatant in conveying this idea to him. I would like that him decides to confront me and talk to me about this. If not, I'll talk to him this evening.'

Violante cast a fleeting glance at Agamennone, before resuming eating.

*****

"That's enough today! I'm sorry you didn't make any progress today either."

The succubus had now calmed down. She tried to be professional, yet continued to monitor her companion and occasionally acted in such a way as to make it appear that something was wrong. Agamennone was lying on the floor completely exhausted. The man took the opportunity to recover some energy. Having recovered slightly, the man slowly got up from the floor.

"We have to go to the guild, come on!"

The woman gestured the man to move, before walking towards the guild at a steady pace. The man followed her wavering and rather slowly. As the two were walking, the girl, casting a sly glance towards her companion, began to speak.

"Listen... I think I overreacted this morning... So... I decided to get you a present as a token of my apology."

Agamennone listened without replying.

"I actually knew that you were only joking, so I actually got over the anger quickly, but I was curious about how you would have acted knowing that you had offended me."

Agamennone's eyelids dropped at half-mast.

"So... I've been acting a little bit.... I feel I owe a debt to you now, despite the fact that you did not ask me to confirm what was going on..."

The man thought for a moment.

"Strawberry tea, two cans."

The succubus smiled. After a while the couple reached the guild. The girl, first of all, went to buy the tea for the young man. Smiling, the young woman handed the cans to the boy.

'Blessed strawberry tea...'

the ruler stared at the cans for a long time.

"I had already lost interest. I thought I had offended you but apparently you were taking advantage of it..."

"You think so?"

The girl looked at the man with a teasing look.

"Yeah... I wanted to annoy you. Seeing how you acted I thought I had gone too far without meaning to. I was waiting for confirmation from you though."

The woman looked away, letting out a tense laugh.

"I understand. I will try to tell you right away if something is wrong. I think I learned a good lesson today."

"In retrospect asking you to become a dairy cow wasn't the best idea... Was that what bothered you?"

"Actually... more than dairy cow, you called me a prostitute... And... I... I don't tolerate being called promiscuous without really knowing me. Especially when they call me promiscuous just because I'm a succubus, even if only partially. It gets on my nerves! They don't know!"

Violante was as tense as a violin string and did not hide a certain anger still held in check.
Agamennone, who in the meantime had opened a can of tea, did not conceal a certain apathy, yet the woman, while noticing him, did not mind, convinced that the meaning of her statement had reached him anyway.

When the discussion was over, the couple went to Timotea, still injured, ready to guide them. The woman showed the ruler and her friend around the guild. She began by pointing to the counter, on which were scattered various documents and a small television set.

"This is the reception counter. This is where the receptionist for the various adventurers works. There is the notice board on which the various missions are posted. Each mission announcement has written on it, a summary, its difficulty and the reward for completion."

The couple was not very interested in the subject. As Agamennone continued to drink his strawberry tea unfazed, Timotea motioned for the duo to follow her. She continued the tour with the warehouse on the ground floor.

"This is the warehouse."

Agamennone yawned. The catwoman was unnerved by the attitude of the two. The succubus, seeing this, decided to take her friend by the hand, smiling at her. Timotea sighed, then hinted at a smile, before leading them to the tavern on the first floor. After that, she showed the rest of the important rooms of the guild: the training room on the first floor, the shops for basic, low-quality tools on the second floor, the administrative offices also on the second floor, the rooms on the top floor, reserved for the newly transferred adventurers, and finally the bathrooms. At the end of the tour the trio returned to the counter. Timotea was rather annoyed by the lack of interest shown to her by the newcomer. She nevertheless continued to hold her friend's hand, who was also uninterested but still tried to keep the black-haired woman's morale up. At the counter stood the guild master who, snickering, approached the trio.

"Guildmaster, I have given the recruit a tour of the building as requested, now we can move on to complete his evaluation, as I had only done the magic test."

"Don't worry. Because I'm still not sure about hiring him anyway."

Violante and Timotea were surprised, while Agamennone stood impassive, sipping his second can of tea. The guildmaster, a demon not much shorter than Timotea, smiled as soon as he turned his head towards the half succubus.

"However, I might change my mind if... If the woman would also join us!"

Violante turned her head towards her friend, furious. The other girl tried to calm the waters.

"Violante, I knew nothing about it!"

The succubus looked the woman cat in the eye. Her expression gradually became softer.

"I believe you Tea."

At that point she resumed glaring at the guildmaster.

"Come now, Miss... You should know that you could be very useful to the guild and could even make a successful career, while your friend is more of a dead weight..."

The guild master was hit by an empty can. He ignored the insult.

"Luckily for him, a pair of hands, albeit without thumbs, will come in handy here on the premises, as some of the staff members are adventurers who would rather do the classic job and are sacrificed to keep the facility running. Often, as in Timotea's case, these are injured adventurers..."

Agamennone pointed at the guildmaster in an aggressive manner.

"YOUR SISTER IS A HAND WITHOUT THE THUMB!"

The demon continued to ignore the ruler, who began to grit his teeth.

'I swear I will hit him on the head and then i'll dissolve him with the piranha solution...'

"However a woman like you would be a good addition for us. You have very good credentials."

The tone used by the guildmaster, a blond demon with horns bent backwards, sounded slimy and adulatory to the half succubus. The latter sighed.

"Alright, but don't you think in the that I'm going to contribute anything to your cause..."

The succubus used an extremely cold tone towards the guildmaster.

"Excellent. You two, follow us, we will carry out the evaluation tests immediately. Then we will move on to administrative matters."

Agamennone and Violante followed the guild leader, both of them without any enthusiasm, Timotea on the other hand followed them closing the line, annoyed by the superior's attitude.

*****

Agamennone and Violante had just left the guild, the former was quite nervous while the latter was exhausted.

"I suck, huh?"

"I think you already know that."

"Yes, I know, but I don't like being told that!"

Agamennone looked at the document issued to him by the guild. It was a booklet in which was written various information such as basic credentials, a photo, characteristics and aptitudes in battle, magic level, role and more. In addition there was, in large letters, the rank. Agamennone's rank was rank H.

''So... Rank H, huh? You're rank F..."

Violante smiled.

"Normally a person who joins the guild becomes a rank F adventurer, but if the person joining is particularly weak then they are given a lower rank. Satisfied?"

"Thank you..."

The monarch continued to be nervous.

"Come on... Don't be like that, we'll play together once we get home, okay?"

Agamemnon nodded, calming down slightly upon seeing his housemate's cheerful face. The couple then headed for the succubus' house. However, shortly after they left, the girl began to laugh slightly uneasily.

''Hmhmhmhnhahaha! The guildmaster only said that I should join them, right? He didn't mention anything about me staying... Then I'll resign tomorrow! MUAHAHAHA!"

Agamennone became tense and confused, blinking in surprise.

'Violante... it's better to be good to her and not make her angry...'