Midas would be on his own now, trying to properly seduce a girl.
We needed a place with a large number of young, pretty single girls. Thus we headed for the Adventurer’s Guild, where they were all guaranteed to be young, fit and possibly also adventurous.
It didn’t take long for us to find Midas someone.
A girl with pink hair, green eyes and a flowery white dress, freshly cleaned of any hint of blood.
Violetta.
That was not the girl for Midas.
But she was there, heading into the guild building.
The place where I’d rather not enter for the time being.
Lera the clerk was there. And while I didn’t use any Charm magic on her, most of my previous known liaisons had used the ‘He cast Charm on me!’ as a defense and a way to distance themselves from my female-public enemy number 1 status.
I didn’t hold it against them. It was the smart move that I even told that passionate redhead Andrea to make.
But back to Midas’ girl.
She was a cute adventurer wearing white mage robes, indicating she was a healer. She had short, brown hair and very distinct magical-buffing jewelry that gave her the look of a 1920s escaped Russian royal.
And in her amber eyes I could see the hunger that lay underneath the cute mask.
She would do perfectly.
“Hello there,” Midas said, stopping the girl from the front, with sufficient distance and a hand gesture we practiced beforehand.
“Uh, hello,” the girl responded nervously.
“I apologize. I saw you walking towards the adventurer’s guild and simply had to know who you are and why I haven’t seen you here before,” Midas said. He was still hesitating slightly in his tone, but for the short time we’ve been practicing, he was improving leaps and bounds over his previous self.
“Oh, I’m new. I arrived in Ratia only yesterday to answer the call to arms against the demon gate. My name is Isabella.”
“The demon gate? You must be a very brave girl,” Midas said.
Making an assumption and complimenting her personality. Good.
“Well, I don’t know if I’m that brave,” she giggled nervously. “I’m a healer for a reason.”
“Ah, so you want to be part of the effort, but you don’t want to kill?” Midas suggested. “My name is Midas.”
“Nice to meet you,” she said, shaking his hand. “It’s not that. Demons just… scare me. I heard the one commanding them was really big.”
In the full sense of the word.
“Gdol-Zayin.” Midas nodded. “I had the displeasure of meeting him face to face.”
“Really?!” Isabella’s eyes widened. “Is he as fast as they say? I heard he could rip through blessed armor like its nothing. Are you also an adventurer?”
Well, that was a lucky break, but he had her hooked on curiosity, making her invest in the interaction. Very good.
“I’m not part of the adventurer’s guild. And yes, I can confirm the speed, but the blessed armor is a bit of an exaggeration.”
“Oh, then what is your profession? And how did you end up facing an actual officer of the demon king’s army?!”
Midas paused to look at her silently.
Applying pressure. Excellent.
Now, he was essentially just copying me, both in speech and behavior. He still sounded unsure, like he was an actor trying to remember his lines, but eventually he would develop his own style that would be more true to who he was. He would reach competency and confidence in his own ability, and the crutch of mimicking me would no longer be necessary.
This was the best I could do for him in the short time we had.
“I’m sorry,” she said, visibly awkward and nervous. The power of applying pressure. “I’m asking too many questions.”
“Oh no, that’s fine,” Midas said, smiling and releasing the pressure. “I love your curiosity. I just don’t know if I trust you well enough yet to tell you everything about myself.”
“I guess that makes sense. I’m just a random adventurer who arrived here yesterday. While you are…? I’m sorry I’m asking questions again.” She was laughing now.
It was the good kind of laughter. Not one coming from a joke, but one coming from the girl feeling the tension between her and the man in front of her.
It meant Midas was actually projecting his intent.
And to think the bastard only just had difficulty telling a girl he wanted her, when given permission to do so.
“Are you busy, Isabella?”
“Um, a bit. I need to register at the guild and go to a debriefing about the situation.”
“Alright, then I’ll let you get back to your adventurer duties in a second, “Midas said.
Yes. Now start closing.
“Obviously I approached you because I thought you were attractive,” he continued. “But now I also know you’re brave and curious.”
“Thank you, that’s very sweet,” the white mage said. This would normally be
“And I would like to discover more,” Midas said. “So let’s meet up for a coffee, once you’re less busy, and I can make sure you’re not secretly a spy, and you can ask me all the questions you want and I could tell you everything I know about the demon commander. Or maybe even give you a tour of the town, since you’re so new here.”
“Alright. Yeah. I’d love that. We can do that,” Isabella said, smiling.
It wasn’t a particularly difficult seduction. She was interested, she wasn’t afraid of him, and she wasn’t in too busy. He didn’t need to prove he wasn’t a serial killer either. By god, the sonofabitch was pulling it off.
I smiled and stepped away.
It always made me happy to see people grow and improve, and the world being better off for it.
The simp who only wanted virgins and couldn’t even hold a female’s hand was about to go on a date with a girl he literally just met on the street.
It’s been a while since I felt pride in a student.
The bells above the Adventurer’s Guild rang, echoing over the roofs of the town of Ratia.
The last time this happened, a certain female dragon was attacking the town.
Adventurers rushed past me towards the guild hall. The doors were wide open and they were practically pouring inside.
I prayed it wasn’t another female dragon. One was more than enough for me. Not to mention the first one promised to rip both our heads off.
My prayers were answered, though not necessarily in the way I’d want them to.
“Ken Kouboku,” said a familiar female voice behind me. “We meet again.”
I turned around to see a familiar athletic figure with a body-long braid of red hair.
Pyra, Knight Captain of Ratia. She was awake.
