Based on the latest laboratory results of routine testing by the Kraej Company’s Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, marine life at Ebeltoft Lake and the coastal waters of Gudhjem are positive for protoplasmic poison. All types of fish, shellfish, and marine products from those areas are currently not safe for human consumption.
—Bulletin number 08, series 93

Aksel

Women! Can’t live with ‘em, can’t throw them all in the sea.

It was hot as hell here in the flatlands north of Kraej City when a little girl came riding up to my dyr farm, asking if she could rent a room. I make money from dyr rental and sales, but I do have an extra room I can rent out to travelers. Most people don’t bother with that since Kraej City is so near, just an hour’s ride away by dyr.

I told her the nightly rate, but she said she probably just needed to rest up for a few hours. Could she rent it for half a day only? And if she changed her mind and wanted to stay the night, was it big enough for two people?

Well, it didn’t take a genius to know what was up. I run a respectable business here. I don’t charge an hourly rate because I want no truck with that type of goings-on.

That was when I scratched my head, pretending to be a slow-witted country bumpkin. I wanted her to leave before her client made his appearance, so I made my accent more pronounced and said, “Miss, ah just ‘membered that room ain’t reedy for youse on occount of a leaky ol’ roof and…”

“Oh, that’s alright,” she interrupted. “It will only be for a little while and it doesn’t look like it’s going to rain.”

“I can’t hardly say…” I trailed off because I could see that a man was jogging towards us. My mouth dropped open in shock when I saw who the man was.

It was Uriel! The S-class Enhanced Lifeform soldier! His face was familiar to me because all the S-class ELs were constantly in the news.

Strangely enough, he looked miserable and sick. I’ve heard that ELs all have unhealthy-looking pale skin, but it was more than that. He had dark shadows under his eyes and his glowing grey eyes were bloodshot.

The girl coughed. “Mister, the keys, please?”

“I’ll go get them.” Refusing to rent them the room was clearly out of the question. As I walked to my room to get the keys, I kept turning back to look at them. Uriel was even taller than I thought he would be. I only come up to his shoulder and I’m not a short man. The girl, well, she was a little thing who only came up to his elbow. How would she avoid getting crushed? Isn’t he afraid he’ll break her?

Wait a minute! A horrifying thought made me break out into a cold sweat. Wasn’t that girl a little too young? Is she even of age? The thought made me feel extremely uneasy. Surely not?

I took out the keys to the rental room and showed them the way. I always kept the little room neat and clean. The bed was a double.

“Thank you, mister,” she said as she put her pack on the bed.

She definitely looked a little too young for this. How disappointing that Uriel had a predilection for that kind of thing. Hopefully, she only looked too young. The girl took out a little purse, but Uriel shoved a wad of cash at me and waved me out of the room.

Impatient, much?

I resisted the temptation to hang around eavesdropping outside and returned to my work. The dyr need more water when the day is hot and it was better to take care of them than to waste my time with those two.

Not ten minutes later, I happened to be passing by when Uriel came out of the room, pulling his shirt and jacket back on. He looked more cheerful now and he even had some color on his face. Well, it would be weird if a person didn’t look flushed after that type of activity.

But it had only been a few minutes? A taste for the young-looking ones and no staying power! The S-class ELs must not be all that they say they are.

Uriel went rushing off in the same direction he came from. I reckoned the little girl would be out of there soon so I was waiting outside when another EL came jogging up to my farm.

It was Sariel. I thought he was gay!

He looked at me, eyebrows raised. I knew what he was asking so I pointed to the rental room. I thought he was going to rip the door off in his eagerness when the little girl didn’t open the door fast enough for him. Sariel looked like an overexcited puppy. She said something to him that I couldn’t hear, but Sariel didn’t reply because he was already tearing his boots off and pushing her inside the room.

Damn, that Sariel really wanted to get some right away.

They do say that Uriel and Sariel were best friends who grew up in the same town. Maybe they liked to share?

At least the girl looked okay after Uriel was done with her. If she could handle Uriel, she should be fine with Sariel, right?

To my surprise, Sariel didn’t last any longer than Uriel did. He was out that door just a few minutes later.

I was shaking my head in disappointment when the girl walked towards me.

“Mister, I think I’ll be staying the night. Can I buy dinner, too? I ran out of provisions today,” she said.

“Yes. That will be five credits,” I said.

That was when I saw something out of the corner of my eye that made me shake my head again. There was yet another person jogging towards my farm. I could tell from the size that it was another EL.

What the... No! No, it couldn’t possibly be him. What in tarnation was going on?

“The… the…” I stuttered as I pointed at the figure that was rapidly approaching. Even from a distance, I could see that he had long black hair.

“I don’t know if he’ll be staying the night, too,” she said.

I took my handkerchief from my pocket and wiped the sweat from my forehead. This girl must really be something. All three of them on the same day?

Seraphiel, because yes, it really was the great Commander, here in the flesh, came to a stop a few meters away. His eyes never left her face as he walked towards her slowly. The little girl smiled and stretched her hands out to him. Seraphiel took her hands in his and the look in his eyes as he bent his head down to touch foreheads with her made me turn and walk away as quickly as I could.

Damn, who knew that Seraphiel, of all people, could make that kind of face?

Hmm. He had to know about the other two, right?

LinMeili

• They finally met again!
• Asteria was mistaken for a woman of ill repute.
• Thanks for reading!