Surprisingly, things felt normal after we all got done with the exhaustive meeting. Gwin and Opalina said goodbye for the night, leaving for their homes just like any other typical day. Gwin was still feeling a little out of place by the time she left, but it just wouldn’t have felt right to me if she wasn’t included.

The feisty Dwarf will become a more significant part of my life in the future, so it’s alright. Besides, I’ll need the aid of her family if I ever want to improve this damned building.

Opalina looked to be deep in thought when she left, although that’s not too surprising. There’s a lot for her to ponder after all the crazy shit I got through explaining.

Sam and Meri had a tense moment during the discussion, but it didn’t last all that long. They care about each other too much for something Sam’s dad did to bother Meri. After they had their drinks, their moods improved even further. Now, the odd pair seems more eager than ever to be sharing a room for the night while I take care of Zutiria.

That just leaves Zutiria, who needs my attention first and foremost. After nightfall, the despondent Mage follows me up to the bedroom. Thanks to Gwin, the chamber smells of recently murdered pinemen and Dwarven craftsmanship. The floor was fully patched up, and it looks better than it did before.

I highly doubt anything sexual will happen with Zutiria tonight. Nonetheless, I still have something that requires her assistance. After changing out of my clothes and stripping nothing but my pajama pants, I present the problem.

‘...She really got rid of it just to tease you?’ The Mage asks as I reveal my naked manhood to her, showing off that, yes. Yes, Luxy really did remove my Rune of Safe Passage.

“Yes. I didn’t want to mention it during the meeting since I no doubt would’ve been laughed at.” I sigh and sit down on the bed. It also might’ve made Luxy look worse than before, too.

‘Get ready while I change into my nighties then, I suppose. Forgive me for what I’m about to do to you, Sir.’ After taking off my pants down to the knee and lying flat on the bed, I’m about as ready as I’ll ever be. The petite woman changes into a sheer purple, low-cut, silky nightgown flecked with brilliant yellow stars. She does it fast and hurriedly, which is worrying. It’s rare for Zutiria to miss a chance to tease me a little, especially when changing into such a cute set of pajamas. Once she returns to my side, the Mage closes her eyes and summons a small block of wood from the storage room downstairs.

‘Open up,’ She unceremoniously presents it to my mouth, and I chomp down strongly, scrunching my eyes shut as hard as I can.

For the second time in my life, the feeling of a blowtorch sears my poor unmentionables. The sensation forces me to scream a horrific yowl of torment into the wood while tearing into it with my teeth. Unfortunately, we don’t have Sam handy to keep me steady, but thankfully despite the intensity, I’m able to stop myself from thrashing the second time around. Maybe I’m just used to the pain, but the rune inscription hurts less and takes less time.

‘There,’ Zutiria sighs and lays down on the bed after patting me gently on top of the black heart tattoo. ‘Sorry. I don’t think I’m up for helping you test it. If you want, I can sleep in the other bedroom. Then Sammy, Meri, and you can have fun.’

“Come on, now. It’s not like I need to have sex every night of my life, Zutiria.” I say after wiping off the sweat from my terrifying brand.

‘...I just don’t want you to feel like you’re obligated to spend time with me because I had a bad day, Sir. Yours was just as bad, if not worse.’ She hangs her head and takes off her round glasses, handing them to me to place over on the nightstand after I’ve turned off the arcane tech lamp.

Naturally, the bathroom light is already on for her if she needs it.

Her self-deprecation causes sadness to swell within me. “That’s not why I’m here, Zutiria. I want to spend the night with you because I want to be with you. Nothing more, nothing less.”

‘...You spoil me too much,’ She sighs. ‘All I do is constantly try to one-up the others when it comes to spending time with you. Sammy says I’m unfair, and it’s true. You can push me away for a while, I’d understand.’ Zutiria bundles up the blanket over her face to hide, though the impromptu hood gives a clear view of her evasive blue eyes doing their best to avoid my own.

“Sam is joking when she calls you unfair,”

‘Doesn’t mean it’s not true. You dote on me too much, anyway.’

“The reason I dote on you is because a lot of the time, you need it more than Sam, Opal, and Meri do. You’re...”

‘Say it, Sir.’

“Zutiria...”

‘Say that they’re normal and I’m not.’

“That’s NOT what I was going to-”

‘I don’t deserve you... I... I can still go home before I hurt you... before I make any more mistakes...’ The silent girl begins sobbing and crying silent tears.

Instinctively, I move to wrap my arm around her, but she pushes back against me.

‘Don’t touch me... Sir... it was all true... everything that Halfling said about me was true. I thought I could try to find happiness and for the last couple of weeks I... I was so sure that it did... I tried not to think about what happened to me. Every day I’d wake up and lie to myself that I deserved... whatever it is I found here with you, Sammy, and the others... but it’s not possible to run from what I did.’

I stare at her in the darkness, unblinking, unmoving, just... listening. Or reading, technically, but letting her vent everything she needs to get off of her chest.

‘I killed them all. Mom... Dad... my elder sister... every other person in the village... just like that... It was me. I did it. I did it. It was my fault... my fault... no... NO NO NO NO NO NO-’

“ZUTIRIA!!” I throw off the blanket as she starts to violently thrash about as if she were in the middle of one of her nightmares, sit up and pull her into a hug.

‘LET ME GO I’LL HURT YOU, SIR- DON’T, NO, I’M GOING TO HURT YOU STOP-’ Her words become an incoherent mess, sentences overlay each other as she screams a thousand times not to hold her, and the sobbing Mage loses all control of her actions.

She bites me.

‘STOP-’

She tears open my back with her nails.

‘I DON’T WANT TO DO THIS-’

She kicks me.

‘LET GO OF ME NO, NO-’

She punches me.

‘I’LL RUIN EVERYTHING-’

She pulls my hair.

‘ALL I DID WAS OPEN MY STUPID MOUTH!!’

I don’t stop holding her.

Zutiria loses all of her energy and stops her pitiful thrashing. She’s certainly not Sam, but I’m sure I must look pretty rough for wear right about now. It’s not like it matters, though. The only thing I care about is hugging the girl I love and doing anything to lighten the pain in her heart by even the smallest amount I can.

She breathes desperately in my arms, eventually beginning to return my affection.  She continues to cry but wipes her wet tears against my shirtless skin. I stroke her short, lavender hair just as I always have and remain silent, letting her know that neither of us has to say anything and that we can simply stay like this for as long as she’d like.

No one needs to say a word.

Her shaking, trembling body finally begins to calm, and she buries her head fully into my chest, accepting all that I have to give.

‘...Why? Why don’t you hate me?’

“Why would I?”

‘I’m useless. I ruin everything. I’m clingy. I steal your attention away from girls who deserve it more. I can’t even be there for you when you need me the most, because one little slip-up and suddenly I break down and the entire day becomes about me because... because I’m a fragile, broken doll made of porcelain who fell and shattered into so many pieces that I can’t ever be fixed.’

“I don’t care if you’re broken.”

‘It could happen again...’

“It won’t.”

‘I’ll never move past it... I’ll always be like this...’

“And I fell in love with you knowing full well you might never be ‘fixed’. I love the silly little Mage who sits on my lap any chance she gets... the one who embarrasses me around others with her clinginess, who never misses a sarcastic joke, and who dresses her silly little pet rat up like her boyfriend.”

‘S... Sir...?’ Zutiria bites her lip, and her eyes water once again, only this time she holds her tears back as she gazes up at me.

“You don’t need to be ‘fixed’ to be happy.”

Zutiria stares back in amazed confusion. I don’t know if she’s ever considered the possibility of someone loving her- faults and all.

‘I... I promise... I’ll tell you everything one day...’ She sniffles, wipes some snot from her nose, then hides her head back in the nape of my neck.

“You don’t have to.”

‘No... you need to hear it... but... even so much as thinking about it... or trying to remember... makes me... makes me...!’ She almost loses herself once again, and she covers her mouth in fear, even though not a word came out. Her stomach lurches, causing me to briefly fear the troubled Mage is going to lose her dinner. Thankfully, she chokes whatever was coming up back down.

I rub Zutiria’s back tenderly, comforting her as much as possible. Finally, after a few silent moments pass, she manages to regain composure.

‘I... I love you... I don’t think I’ll ever deserve you... not really... but I can’t live without you.’ The Mage looks up at me, lip trembling and eyes red from tears.

“I love you too, Zutiria. It doesn’t matter if you think you don’t deserve me. What matters is that I want you. And I always will.”

‘...Um, Sir...?’

“Hm?”

‘Will you... take me to see the kitties tomorrow...?’

I smile warmly and nod my head.

“Of course.”

She closes her eyes and presses her lips against mine.

By all accounts, it’s a disgusting, sloppy, tearful, mucus-tasting kiss, but it’s also among the sweetest and most satisfying I’ve ever had. I’ll never forget this moment in time where we connected and shared our love... especially not after what happens as soon as our lips part.

Zutiria pulls away in shock, staring wide-eyed directly into my face. A strand of saliva connects us before falling.

“...Zutiria?”

‘...Sir? Your eyes... they’re... glowing...!!’

“...What?” My heart stops, and I stand up and head over to the mirror in the bathroom. It hurts when I look at it without Zutiria in my line of sight, but it was worth confirming. My eyes are indeed glowing pink.

I rush back to the bedroom and look at Zutiria. “This has never happened before... what... the fuck...?”

‘Sir, calm down! I’ll go get the others. We can summon Opal if we need to, just-’ Before I can finish reading her words, the light glows even more intensely. It blinds me for a moment before suddenly a stylized, cartoonish version of Luxy appears in the whiteness, making a peace sign while sticking her tongue out.

-ZUTIRIA SYNDALINE BOND LEVEL TWO ACHIEVED, BITCH!-

Luxy’s voice echoes out from nowhere in particular, and my vision restores.

‘What... was that...?!’ Zutiria’s face goes white, and she looks at me worriedly.

“Did you hear that just now?”

‘Yes...? My heart also felt really funny just now when I heard it, too...’

“That was the Goddess’s voice just now...” I stop as soon as I notice something strange and unfamiliar in my eyes. Or rather... no, how do I possibly explain this? It’s like suddenly I know they can do so much more if I just tell them to. Maybe they always could, and I just didn’t know.

But... something just sort of... fell into place just now.

My following words shock not only Zutiria but myself as well.

“Open Guild Roster.”

My eyes react, and the light grows intense once more. A sizeable magical screen appears directly in front of my vision. It looks almost exactly like the small tablet I saw Luxy using earlier this very day, only much, much bigger- like a whole window, almost.

On the screen are three icons showing portraits of Sam, Zutiria, and Meri in that exact order. Sam and Meri are both grayed out, while Zutiria is the only one currently in color.

As to why, well... under their pictures is a small indicator with a bar underneath it. It reads ‘Bond Level’, and Zutiria’s is the only one that says it’s at two. The bar beneath Zutiria’s is entirely empty. Sam’s bar is almost completely full, while Meri’s is a little bit over halfway there.

‘Sir... what kind of magic is this...?’ Zutiria stands up and touches the screen. Her eyes which were only minutes ago crying their soul out, are replaced with the curiosity of a magical scholar. ‘Amazing...’

I reach out and touch it myself, finding I can reposition and resize the screen to whatever dimensions I want.

‘How are you doing this?’ Zutiria walks through the screen and stands at my side, clasping onto my pajama pants as she looks head-on at the display.

“The Goddess said I was close to finding out what my eyes are really capable of...”

‘And getting closer to me... let you do this?’ She figures it out pretty quickly. ‘Sammy is going to be jealous...’

“No, look.” I point at the bars below the bond level. “When this bar maxes out, the level increases... I think. Her difference with you was negligible at best, and you likely only had a slight edge on her because-”

‘Of how clingy I am. Well. I guess there was an upside to it...’ She sighs, still not entirely out of her bad mood but at least able to interject some positivity into the situation. ‘Can you... do something to my picture, then? Why else would the others be gray?’

“I... think I can click on it.”

Zutiria tilts her head at me. ‘...Click?’

“Nevermind. Just watch.” I reach out and touch Zutiria’s icon and a second screen pops up out of nowhere, surprising both me and the mage.

It looks like a big dossier not too dissimilar to the adventurers I saw on Luxy’s screen, but this one’s a lot more primitive. It lists all sorts of things about her. Name... age... birthplace (Arkha Village, apparently)... it even tells me what ‘equipment’ she has right now, which currently only reads ‘Purple Starry Lingerie’.

Over on the left side of the dossier is a large portrait of Zutiria with one button underneath it and several more grayed out beneath that. The only clickable button right now reads ‘Camera’. What in the Realms could that possibly mean? My hand reaches out towards it, and I look at Zutiria for support.

She nervously swallows and nods up at me, urging me forward.

I click the button, and the screen transforms into the trippiest, most surreal sight I’ve ever seen. It’s... a view of Zutiria and me in this very room but from behind. In it, we both look into the screen that we’re currently staring into. The screen copies our every move as it happens.

Zutiria notices the implications instantly, and she turns around only to see nothing behind us that could be transmitting this... moving picture of us.

‘Sir... this is...’

“Do you know what this is, Zutiria?”

Her eyes open wider from shock and she looks around. ‘What the- Sir... I-I can hear your voice in my head...!?’

I can’t believe it.

“Close All,” I say, somehow knowing that that’s what I needed to say to make the screens disappear.

Zutiria looks at me nervously for answers and I tell her one thing and one thing only.

“This is everything I’ve been praying for.”