Back to the present…

 

Cornelia and Elea take my sides and lead me towards the entrance to the mansion. Shino, Teffith, and Hecate follow after us. Before I can reach out and open the doors for everyone, the two women accompanying me take a quick step forward and grab one wing each. They smile at me together and open them.

I had a feeling something is going on and they prove me right. Just as expected, almost everyone living in the mansion is present in the main lobby, with all those who own a maid outfit proudly wearing it and lined up on the sides of the fancy carpet.

The moment I step in, they make a light bow towards the centre and a choir of voices follows.

“Welcome back, Master.”

I put my hands on my hips and sigh while running my gaze all over the gathered crowd. Cornelia and Elea catch up to me with sly and proud smirks present on their lips.

“I believe I told you not to do such things each time I return,” I say while raising my brow at the charming magician.

Cornelia rolls her eyes and chuckles. “Believe me or not, they wanted it more than us, and I’m not going to deny them the opportunity. Does it bother you?”

I shake my head. “Nah. It honestly feels amazing each time. But—”

“We don’t have to do it just for you, yes, we know,” Elea interrupts me. “When everyone is willing, it’s a waste not to enjoy the occasion. Many of us are actual maids here and it’s only natural to greet our master like the devoted servants we are. It’s also good to practice in case someone important shows up.”

“Right. It’s just a little hard to get used to. Thank you, everyone. It’s good to be back.”

All the women give me warm, happy smiles and remain in their positions. One by one, my wonderful wives start coming forward and heading our way. Sirgia, Neria, and Astrea group up and soon arrive in front of me.

Without wasting time, I move closer to my lovely dwarf and pull Sirgia into a tame kiss as I lean down and she raises her face to meet me. We exchange a few soft pecks as her arms wrap around my waist, hugging me tightly. I can tell she missed me greatly with how greedy her kisses become.

But, she doesn’t hog me all to herself and withdraws with a tiny flush and adorable smile, making some space for the other short girl. Astrea quickly squeezes herself into the hug and rubs her cheek into mine while purring quietly. I rub her incredibly fluffy ears to match that show of affection.

The snuggly duo lets me out of their embrace after a brief moment and I approach my dear artist, patiently waiting for her turn. Neira takes the initiative and throws her arms over my shoulders, sealing my lips with hers and starting a sensual kiss, to which I respond with my own efforts.

And just like that, I finish the greetings with all my closest partners. I thought Cornelia and Elea would join in too but I guess they’ve had enough in front of the mansion as they remain behind me with Teffith and the others.

My gaze falls on the few rows of women standing behind my three wives and a chuckle escapes my throat. A certain green-skinned girl—or more accurately speaking green-jellied—barely holds herself in place, trembling from excitement but trying her best not to break the formation.

I smile at the colourful duo and gesture with my hand at them. “Come here. You girls are no less important than everyone else and deserve a greeting too.”

Emi instantly bolts toward me and I brace myself for impact. Thanks to my pretty insane stats, decently high Tier, and broken Class, I’m finally able to receive the force behind a barrelful of jelly crashing into my body. I immediately start showering the emerald tomboy in mana-filled pats and kisses as her sapphire-skinned half-sister walks towards us gracefully.

While showing some affection to the jelly duo, I notice Ailish from the corner of my eye and wink at her to signal that she too isn’t a stranger. Technically, she is quite close to me since even my wives allowed her to count herself in the ranks of my direct aides even though they know her nature.

The alluring Succubus lady joins us in the middle with a very enticing step, wearing her iconic, demonic, and extremely sexy apparel, covering just her privates and leaving a lot of her light violet skin to be admired.

I wrap my arm around her waist and pull Ailish into me, evoking a giggly yelp from her, and bringing our faces close. My palm snakes down her soft tummy and two of my fingers slide under the thin material covering her nether regions.

She bites on her lower lip while intently gazing into my eyes, knowing well what’s coming. My digits plunge into her leaking snatch from the front just so only the two of us can see the lewd act and Ailish’s eyelashes flutter a little as she bites her lip even stronger.

“What a surprise. You are already fucking drenched, just as usual. Is it flooding down there twenty-four-on-seven?”

Ailish tries her best to hold in a moan as I stir her hot insides a little.

“You are talking as if I have any control over going into a heat ten times worse than those of the most carnal Beastkin the moment I smell your cock from a mile away. I crave that cock badly and you know it.”

I smirk at her. “I do know. You will have to suffer for a little bit longer, though. There are plenty of things I have to check on first and as much as I would love to push you down right here right now and hammer you into the ground while everyone watches you scream in ecstasy, I need to be a responsible person and master.”

Ailish whines faintly and I can feel her tighten on my fingers. Oh, she just imagined that very clearly. And there’s no doubt she would want nothing more. This perverted Succubus with only cocks on her mind.

I lean in and bite on her earlobe as I tickle her clit with my mana-infused thumb while shoving my digits deep into her hot pussy, bringing her to a climax in a flash. Ailish grabs my clothes to hold herself steady and not give away what is happening to the others behind her.

“I’ll deal with you later,” I whisper to her ear after she finishes riding her high.

Reluctantly, she lets me go, eyeing my crotch the whole time. She moves aside and stands by my wives, now including Teffith too after she became my mate.

I chuckle inwardly at her attempt to remain composed. There’s no doubt no one is fooled by it and knows well something more intense has transpired in front of their eyes.

She can consider it her reward for working hard in my absence.

“Alright. Is there anyone else who would like a personal greeting? I don’t mind going to you all one by one but I’m sure not everyone has to appreciate such a waste of their time. So, step forward if you’d like to have this chance. Otherwise, you are free to go. Thank you again for this warm welcome,” I say to everyone with a big smile.

After a lot of nodding and smiling, part of the crowd does actually begin to disperse, leaving just a bunch of women behind. As promised, I approach each one and show them my appreciation for the effort they put into this small event for my return.

Amongst the girls who stayed behind are individualities such as Nebu, our poster Harpy, Zaria, Mafaris and Shawure, our Tiefling trio, Vii and Feriha, the pure-blood Foxkin and half-blood Catkin, and a pair of our recent recruits, Elise and Ria.

It’s only right now that I realise that the mature lady is wearing an extremely fitting and incredibly alluring office uniform with her shirt barely containing the impressive bosom putting a lot of strain on the buttons. Picture-perfect hot office MILF straight from back home on Earth.

But, the cute receptionist is no less desirable. Though, Elise’s figure side by side with her older friend just highlights the huge difference in the builds of these two. Truly, like mother and daughter.

As promised, I approach everyone who didn’t leave and start with some feather fluffing for the adorable Harpy, bringing her a lot of joy. Nebu lets me know about her increasingly more fun sexual escapades as she grows more confident in mating and her own body. She’s growing into a proud and amazing Harpy.

The mischievous Tieflings settle onto some kisses and tail rubs in their most sensitive spots while they urge me to join them for a game or two to have some fun together as they came up with a few new activities they even managed to introduce into our menu with how clever and fun they are.

Man, I really have to play with them soon.

Vii just wants to greet me personally with a warm hug and some tender pecks. She’s such a refined and gentle fox lady. I guess she’s still quite appreciative of that time when I tried my best to assure her hard that her chubby body is nothing but sexy and beautiful when I railed her into the previous alpha’s bed with her wolf friend on the side.

As for Hari… It’s the usual. 

This damned exhibitionist pervert lifts her maid skirt after coming close to me and reveals the lack of underwear, flashing her dripping pussy to me with a gaze full of obvious intentions and quite strong yearning.

Deep down, I really want to bully her a little and deny her everything but I gave my word and I have to keep it. Therefore, after glancing around at whoever remains in the lobby to check for their opinion and verifying that everyone has already caught up on Hari’s antics and clearly doesn’t mind, I proceed to rub her a bit down there while they watch and listen to her quite exaggerated moans.

After dealing with the horny Catkin which isn’t Astrea, I approach Elise and Ria alongside my dear wives.

But, before I speak a word to our accountant, asking how things are for her, another figure enters my sight which somehow managed to escape my gaze earlier.

“Wait. Aren’t you…” 

I furrow my brows at the unusual sight of a Human girl in our establishment and instantly remember who it is. The person in question, dressed in casual yet sexy attire, bows her head lightly and walks up to us with a smile.

“Greetings, Master Alastair. You might already know my name but I don’t think I’ve introduced myself properly when we first met. Again, I’m May, and I can’t even dream to express how grateful I am for your help. You saved my life, a random prostitute that shouldn’t even concern you, and I will never forget that gesture.”

A wide smile forces itself on my lips as I glance at Cornelia and Elea.

“You succeeded?”

My scholarly magician smirks at me. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Why haven’t you told me right from the start? That’s huge!” I turn back to the blue-haired girl. “I’m so glad you are okay, May! How are you feeling?”

“Compared to how I’ve been in the past, incredibly well. I feel… liberated. There’s no discomfort. I could even say I feel much better than before I… ended up like that... thanks to the medicine your incredible companions prepared. Alongside Sir Alchemist, of course. But, I’ve been told that your input was crucial in the development of the cure.”

“That’s great. I’m so happy for you. I assume the other women are back to normal too, then?” She nods and I sigh in relief. “Thank gods. You girls are so incredible, you know that? I’ll need a long talk with everyone involved in this. I hope you’ve all already thought about what reward you want for creating a perfect cure for literally brainwashing!”

“Well… It’s not exactly without any side effects but those are negligible…” May adds quietly.

I instantly lock my gaze on her, getting a tad anxious.

“What do you mean? What went wrong?”

She quickly waves her hands. “Oh, no, no, no. Nothing went wrong. In fact, I consider this a bonus.”

I frown at her again, turning confused now.

May notices it and glances aside a bit shyly. “Well… How do I say this… The cure kind of grants you a permanent boost in… libido… and raises your endurance by quite a lot… So, it’s kind of like an aphrodisiac but less invasive and more… beneficial.”

To further illustrate her point, she slides her hand into her panties and brings it back up, showcasing her fingers to us. I can clearly tell that they are slightly wet and it surely isn’t water.

I swipe down my face and sigh. “Great. I should have expected that considering the… key ingredient. How bad is it?”

“As I said, I don’t think it’s bad. I get turned on a little easier, which can be considered a plus in the field of my work. I’ve been allowed to relieve myself using the amazing equipment available here and noticed that I can go for much, much longer than before and it feels much, much better. It lets a woman enjoy sex for almost as long as she wants without growing overly sensitive after cumming so much. If you ever decide to sell that solution, I believe you would become the richest man in the world. ”

I glance back at Cornelia and she gives me a wry smile, clearly as unsure if she should be proud of their achievement or ashamed of it as I am. They basically made viagra for women with extra features that never runs out.

What the actual fuck.

“Oh well. I’ll have to deal with that at a later date. All in all, I’m happy we managed to break the charm or whatever it was. What are your plans now, May?”

“I remained here since I wanted to speak with you and thank you personally, but I would like to return to my family to let them know that I’m fine since I haven’t contacted them in a while, and also rejoin my friends at my old workplace if you don’t mind,” she explains.

“Why would I mind?” I raise a brow at her.

“I decided that if you’d wish for it, I would stay here to work for you to repay this debt of life. That’s the only thing I can think of since I’m neither rich nor smart, honestly. And I don’t think my body would be worth much in your eyes with so many mesmerising beauties as your wives and servants so I crossed out the idea of giving myself to you.”

“Okay, first of all, you are a beauty, so please, don’t put yourself down so much by comparing yourself to others. Second, you were a victim and don’t owe me anything for receiving the help you deserved. I’m sorry it came this late. You are free to go and return to your life from before the incident at any point and you should have already done that. I appreciate your gratitude but there’s no need for you to go as far as to literally sell yourself to me.”

She smiles at me and steps closer to peck my cheek. “Thank you. I will always remember what you and your friends did for me and the others. If you ever feel like it, come and find me whenever. I’ll do anything for you, be it sexual or not, no matter the time, even if I would have to run naked through the entire city with someone’s seed dripping from all my holes.”

I chuckle a little at her quite colourful vow and nod. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

May giggles and curtsies in front of me before walking away. Elea gestures with her head towards the blue-haired girl and Filue, one of her Dark Elf ex-subordinates, quickly catches up to the leaving woman to escort her on the way out.

After they disappear from our sight, I turn to Elise and Ria again.

“Sorry for getting sidetracked. So, how are you two doing? I’ve heard about your performance and achievements but would like to hear what you think after working here for a bit.”

“There’s no need to apologise,” the mature accountant replies. “May’s case is a much more important thing to focus on.”

“Ria is right. There’s not much regarding our situation anyway. I like it here a lot and I’m sure Ria does too, right?” Elise joins in.

“That is true.” Ria smiles elegantly. “Everyone here is so nice. And your documents weren’t actually half bad when I took them over. After some simple organising, everything became extremely simple to keep track of. There’s also no prideful moron over my shoulder shouting about taxes and how I should do everything I can to find a way for him to save more money. I’m actually surprised you are properly abiding by pretty much all rules considering the fact that you have close ties to the royal family.”

“What can I say? We are already receiving a lot, including some preferential treatment, so it would be counterintuitive to try and undermine the King after all he is constantly doing for us. I’m glad to hear that you find it enjoyable here. I hope it won’t change now that I’m back. As others might have already told you, I tend to poke my nose into almost everything and would definitely end up peeking over your shoulder to pick up a thing or two from an expert.”

Ria shakes her head. “I wouldn’t mind in the slightest. Just say a word and I can prepare a lecture or two for you if you would like to learn more. I would need a moment to do so, though, so I would appreciate a heads up.”

And now I can’t get the picture of her in full teacher mode out of my head, including Ria assuming quite special angles as she writes on a blackboard or leans forward to check my notes. 

Damn. I would be so hard right now if I wasn’t able to control it. Even so, I’m getting a little warm.

Shoving away all the thoughts and imagery of such events, I refocus on Ria and smile at her.

“Sure. Just go with it at your own pace and let me know when you are ready. I love learning about new stuff and it surely would be fun to listen to you talking about stuff you are passionate about.”

“Ria is an incredible teacher, trust me!” Elise joyfully hugs the older woman’s arm. “She helped me out so much when I was learning the ropes in the Adventurer’s Guild and it wasn’t even her field of expertise! She made notes for me and we revised the material together!”

“You are exaggerating, Elise. I didn’t do that much. It was all thanks to your own efforts that you got everything quite easily,” Ria deflects her friend’s praise.

Elise turns to me with a smile. “You will see who is right soon. Thanks again for hiring Ria. I’m having a blast with her around. If I wasn’t already living here, I would consider moving into my workplace if she was there, hahaha.”

Ria rubs her forehead. “Seriously. No wonder you can’t find a good man for yourself when they all get turned off by seeing you cling to an old hag such as myself.”

“That’s not true!” the cute receptionist protests with a faint blush. “You are not an old hag! And you have nothing to do with me… unable… to find a boyfriend…” She lowers her voice at the end, a little embarrassed.

A hopeless sigh escapes Ria’s lips as she nods courteously at me and the two leave. Honestly, I have to agree with Elise on the first part. Ria is as hot as a perfect MILF can get. If anything, I would bet many men hitting on Elise changed their target into her after seeing the two together.

This brings us to another extremely important thing still remaining unsolved and I turn around to face all my girls.

“So. Who won?” I ask.

“Won what?” Cornelia frowns at me lightly.

“The bet, obviously.” I wiggle my brows at her.

She instantly flushes red and looks away.

“Oh? Does it mean what I think it does?” I smirk at my lovely magician.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t,” Elea interjects. “Cornelia doesn’t know the results yet. I did count the votes already and have them prepared. I can gladly announce the winner. But, before that…”

She looks past me and I peek over my shoulder. Astrea walks out from behind the corner leading to the western wing of the mansion. She must have snuck out while we were talking and I didn’t notice.

But, that’s not the most surprising part.

Behind her, follow three quite unique women. Each of them has a slightly different shade of skin and colour of hair but a single detail connects them together. They have tails. Different from Teffith or our Tiefling girls. Theirs have fins over their length or at their end.

Since they all wear just simple shorts and bras, I can spot gills at the sides of their necks and also on the sides of their chests. I drop my gaze to their feet and confirm that they do have webbed toes, at least to the extent of normal, humanoid ones with connections between them. 

The two women I mentioned earlier have beautiful skin in the shade of olive green and tame yellow respectively. They certainly belong to some aquatic race. That much is obvious from all the details. I can tell from just a glance that their skin has a slightly different texture and is most likely a bit tougher and slicker than normal.

The third girl is the one who captures most of my attention as she looks way different from the others.

While they are quite tall, she is around half a head shorter than me, perhaps even more. The skin on her belly, chest, pretty much the whole front, and additionally inner sides of her limbs is close to murky white while the rest is greyish blue.

Her tail has a single vertical fin halfway its length and a quite characteristic double, vertical one at its end. She looks fit and slightly muscular but has a somewhat petite frame in general, with a modest chest. 

The mysterious girl’s expression looks slightly angry at a first glance but I can quickly tell she just has a sharp, cold and fierce visage and that’s just her natural, resting face. Her scleras are completely black with golden pupils almost glowing on the dark background.

Holy damn.

She’s a shark girl, isn’t she?

And she’s hot.

Fuck, I loved badass shark girl arts back on Earth.

Trying to act like the appearance of the perfect example of a fierce yet cute and sexy shark girl doesn’t bother me in the slightest, I glance down at Astrea as the trio stops with her in front of them.

“I don’t think we’ve met. Care to introduce me to your friends?”

She nods adorably as her tail sways behind her back.

“When you were gone, the Community’s scouts found eight women pressed by the current into the grating at the far end of the sewers, coming from the sea. They were heavily wounded and exhausted, unable to fight against it. The Community took them in and called for me. They followed me here to recover in a better environment. No one had anything against it. Five of them returned to the sea while these three stayed behind.”

The green and yellow-skinned duo steps forward and bows a little.

“Hello. My name is Vivi and this is Leilei. As you might be aware, we are Nereids. It’s our pleasure meeting the leader of the people who saved us and the owner of this establishment, where we have been allowed to take shelter and recover fully,” the former begins.

“We remained here for a week already and decided to stay if you would allow for it,” the latter continues. “We talked a lot with everyone and observed them as they work, agreeing with each other to ask if we could become your subordinates to live here.”

I rub my chin. “I see. Good work, Astrea. And please, raise your heads. Regarding your request, I don’t have any reason to refuse if you are already aware of how things function here and what this place is besides a shelter for demi-humans.”

“We are,” they answer together and giggle at each other.

“We are fine laying with Humans,” Leilei says after that. “They don’t feel malicious after what we have observed.”

“If you would have us, we would be grateful,” Vivi goes next. “The atmosphere is pleasantly warm and friendly. It feels like a family where everyone is happy.”

“Does being out of water for longer periods of time inconvenience you in any way? Do we have to prepare special rooms for you? Or was that already taken care of too?” I ask.

“No, it’s of no issue for us to live either on land or in the water. And in case we would feel like we need to soak ourselves in a little, the baths here are more than enough,” the green-skinned aquatic girl answers.

I nod at them. “Got it. We’ll discuss all the details soon after I wrap up with the briefing of everything that has happened while I was gone and organise all the new information. I can tell my schedule will be quite packed right from the bat.”

“Time is of no concern. We don’t mind waiting as much as it’s necessary. Thank you,” the other woman replies and they both bow again.

“Alright. What about you?” I turn my gaze to the shark girl, who has kept silent so far.

Cornelia shows up by my side. “She’s a Nershark and her name is Meru. She doesn’t talk much, as you can see.”

Great. What’s with me stumbling on all the quiet girls recently?

“Nershark? Like Mershark?” I raise a brow at my ice queen.

“To some extent, yes,” she answers, fixing her glasses on top of her nose. “She’s close relative to Nereids while Mersharks are related to Mermaids. The first pair has a more humanoid appearance, quite apparent with them having legs, while the second group has half of their body in the form of a fish, simply speaking.”

“Right. I remember reading a bit about aquatic races and it was a lot to go through. If I’m not mistaken, Nereids are close cousins of Merfolk while Mermaids and Tritons are a group on their own, and so this goes on and on with many other slightly differing subraces.”

She chuckles softly. “It’s true that the water kingdoms are the most diverse out of all the regions.”

“Well then. Are you also here to join as our employee just like your friends?” I turn to the shark girl.

There’s a brief pause and she then shakes her head.

“Oh. Do you need something else from me then?”

“Yes,” she actually answers with a soft tone, perfectly fitting her image. “I would like to talk with you about something.”

“No problem. Is it urgent or are you fine waiting a bit?”

“I can wait. It’s okay.”

I smile at her and reach out to pat her head, partially out of habit, before I realise what I’m doing. Fortunately, she doesn’t seem to mind and I don’t lose a hand to her extremely sharp teeth which I’ve taken notice of when she spoke. She is just too adorable not to pet her.

“I will get to you whenever I can, then. In the meanwhile, enjoy your time here. Come to me if you need anything.”

Meru nods and the trio leaves, leaving our group alone again.

“It seems that quite a bit has happened while we were gone,” Teffith comments with a chuckle.

“Is there anything or anyone else I’m not yet aware of or can we finally move onto the bet?” I throw a glance at the former Princess and Court Magician.

“Actually… There’s a guest who has been awaiting your return for some time already. I think it would be good to meet them first. They are still here,” Cornelia informs me.

“Damn. Teffith is right. You’ve been really busy while we were out there playing adventurers. Who do I have the pleasure of meeting this time?” I inquire with a smile.

“It’s Princess Vanessa,” my devoted chocolate beauty answers.

The smile disappears from my lips in an instant. “Ah, shit.”

“Is she okay?” Shino speaks for the first time since we’ve entered the mansion.

“I think you should see for yourself,” Cornelia replies.

“Let’s go right now, then. This is the most critical out of all the things we spoke about so far,” I share my thoughts.

“She’s in the third VIP room. I hope you don’t mind us allocating her there.”

“Nah, good decision. She’s royalty, even if she hides it most of the time. Also, I have full trust in you so there’s no need to doubt yourselves about such decisions. I don’t see this place in ruins after a few weeks of my absence and that should be telling enough.” I then glance at Shino. “Care to join me?”

“Yes, Sensei. I would like to.”

“Good. See you all later. And don’t you even think I will forget about the bet.” I squint my eyes at Cornelia and point my finger her way.

“Don’t worry. I can’t wait to see you parading buck naked around the mansion for a week after you lose.” She snorts at me but shows a faint tinge of rosiness on her fair cheeks again.

Without delaying it too much, we move to the fancy chamber Vanessa has been placed in and I knock on the door lightly.

“It’s me. Would you like to speak now or sometime later?” I ask.

“Come in,” Vanessa’s quiet voice comes from the other side.

I open the door for Shino and enter after her, almost bumping into my lovely samurai girlfriend after closing it. She stops quite soon after stepping through the doorstep and I can easily tell why.

Vanessa sits on a comfortable sofa by the coffee table, facing our way. She wears more official and royal clothes instead of her adventuring outfit, although still slightly on the more casual side rather than fully regal.

Her expression is somewhat grim and she has big circles under her eyes. She clearly hasn’t been getting enough sleep lately. Shino immediately trots to her side and plops down next to her, taking Vanessa’s hand into hers, evoking a very weak smile from the Princess.

I walk closer too and sit down opposite them.

“You look awful. Are you okay?” I ask with a concerned gaze.

She sighs heavily. “I… I…” She sighs again and shakes her head. “No, I’m not okay…”

It’s pretty obvious what her investigation revealed without even asking. I don’t think she is so dispirited and clearly broken after finding a secret factory of lingerie in the basement of her family home.

Slowly, I move around the table and join Shino in sitting by Vanessa’s side, taking the other free spot. I try to reassure her a little by rubbing her shoulder but her lower lip starts to tremble and tears begin rolling down her cheeks as quiet sobs escape her throat.

I lean Vanessa more onto me and keep rubbing her arm in silence while Shino affectionately brushes her friend’s hand with her slender fingers. For a short while, we just keep silent and let Vanessa let it out, making sure she understands that we are here for her.

After she recollects herself a little, she tries her best to look up at me.

“I’m… so sorry for attacking you back then…”

“Shhhh… It’s fine. I never took it personally and you should know it. I’m sorry for forcing you into an extremely tough situation. It must have been really horrible.”

She bravely holds back another sob from escaping and nods faintly.

“I had no idea… He hurt so many girls… I should have paid more attention to everything… I could have prevented so much pain if only I focused more on my brother rather than all on myself… So much suffering… And so many deaths…”

I gently brush through her hair. “Don’t put all the blame on yourself. I’m sure it looks to you like it’s all your fault right now but that definitely is not true. We often don’t realise many things until it’s too late. That’s just Human nature. We are not perfect. Instead, we are very flawed.”

“But…”

“Don’t try to argue. Push away all those negative thoughts dragging you down. You are a kind girl who cares greatly for her peop—”

“I killed an innocent person down there…” Vanessa admits and starts crying again.

We exchange glances with Shino and move even closer to hug her together.

“Let it all out for now. Just let it all out.”

I place Hall of Serenity around ourselves and we keep Vanessa company as she cries herself out without holding back, tightly gripping my clothes. It must have affected her greatly to change from such a composed and sunny person to almost a wreck in a flash.

She falls asleep after bawling her eyes out and we carefully bring her to the bed with Shino. This might be the first time she’ll get some proper rest since who knows when. We will talk about everything after she wakes up and calms down a bit. I’m certainly not going to leave her in such a state just like that.

After we leave the room, Shino glances at me with a sad expression. I smile at her weakly and brush through her hair.

“She will be fine. She’s a strong girl. And we’ll do what we can too. For now, just don’t think about it. Come on, let’s see if there will be one more sausage accompanying our breakfast from now on.”

Shino lets out a barely audible giggle which forces its way through her sorrowful mood and gives me a tiny smile back. We hold hands and walk towards the place where I can feel Elea and the rest.