Chapter 299 – Three Refusals
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“…I like grilled cod.”
“As expected of a feline. Your turn.”
“Let me think for a bit. Oh, I know. How far can you go with the teleport spell?”
“Technically, there’s no limit. In reality, it’s proportional to one’s reserves of sel.”
“Oh, that makes sense. I wish I could do that too. There’s this one shop I liked visiting in the empire. I could go there in the morning and be back in Geola in the afternoon.”
“That’s why it makes sense for me to be a trader.”
“True, I guess.”
“Do you like travelling?”
“Yes. I visited most countries on the continent with my mother.”
“That’s amazing. It must have taken months.”
“That’s how travelling is for normal people. It’s sometimes boring, but you get to see many things you normally couldn’t.”
At that point, she locked gaze with me.
“What about you? Isn’t travelling boring if you can go anywhere instantly?”
I was glad she was asking something about me personally and not about my affinity. At least, not directly.
“I guess the first time is the special one. After that, it does lose a bit of its charm, yes. In a way, it feels like everywhere is my home. No, that’s not the correct term. More like, everywhere is my backyard.”
“Ha! You’re talking like you own the world.”
I grinned cheekily.
“Who says I won’t own it, eventually?”
“Pffft. Good luck with that. Bankil isn’t even that large compared to other continents. I heard some have many transcendents, too.”
“That’s fascinating. I’ll visit the other continents at some point in the future. When my situation here is more stable.”
She squinted at me for a long moment without talking. Finally, she opened her mouth again.
“…Take me there when you do. I’m curious.”
“Oh, sure! I’m glad you’re asking. Aren’t we pretty much family, anyway?”
“What family! Stop spouting nonsense!”
“Haha. Whose turn is it now?”
“Huh? Who was it again?”
“Give me a second. Right, you asked if I liked travelling. My turn, then. You’re a sorceress, right? How do you usually handle post-battle lust?”
“Ah! Stop asking about stuff like that!”
“Not answering?”
“Of course not!”
“Fine. Your turn.”
“How is it inside the domes?”
“You asked that one once in the past already, right?”
“You only blabbered empty words without answering.”
“Now’s the same. I can’t answer that, it’s too compromising.”
“Tsk. Whatever. Your turn.”
“Do you have a lover?”
“I said to stop asking this sort of stuff!”
“Hey, this one’s fine, right? It’s not sexual. It’s just about relationships. So, are you answering or not?”
“Ugh… I’m… not answering.”
“Sure. Your turn.”
“What about you then? Do you have a lover?”
“I’m not involved in a serious relationship with anyone, but I have a lot of sex friends.”
“Of what?”
“Friends who enjoy having sex with me.”
“Argh! I’ve had enough! You’re doing it on purpose, right?”
“Did you only notice now?”
“Enough! Let’s stop here! Take me back to Geola!”
“Alright, alright. You should try not to flare up so easily all the time. We were just talking amiably, right?”
“I’ve had enough of your advice, too.”
“Actually, I should praise you.”
“What?”
“When you came to the shop, you didn’t try to immediately attack me like the other time. It was great of you to talk first and ask for a duel. You’re improving, Crali.”
“You’re mocking me, right?”
“No, I’m sincere. If you try to get a bit calmer now and then, won’t you be able to fix your anger management issues? Any progress is good progress. I like people who strive to improve every day.”
She glared at me, unsure if I was lying through my teeth or not. Maybe my sincerity was transmitted because she blushed again a little, extending her hand my way.
“Whatever. Take me back.”
We teleported back to Geola and separated on that note. Nothing much happened in the following days. Four days after my initial confrontation with Selva. I decided to visit her again.
This time, I didn’t find her anywhere in the city. I knocked at her inn’s door, and she opened it after a delay. Her eyes were a bit red, with large black marks, as if she hadn’t been sleeping well lately. Her face also looked tired, her horn shining less than usual.
She frowned when she recognized me. She tried to close the door, but didn’t complete her movement. Just before it was fully closed, she stopped herself and opened it again.
“Come in.”
Even her voice didn’t have her usual spirit. I entered her room, noticing signs that she had been spending a lot of time inside it recently. She pointed at the sole chair in the room.
“Sit.”
When I did so, she sat on the bed in front of me. Without a moment of respite, she began our conversation.
“I’m only letting you in because I have a question.”
“Tell me.”
“Is master really dead?”
“That’s right. Why don’t you return to Geola to verify it?”
“I will. But first, I want you to tell me everything. Everything that happened, with all the details.”
“Fine.”
I recounted the story, without the most critical details like how we were in the middle of having sex, or how I teleported us to the city hall. Instead, I made it as if I had run there to escape. She listened to me attentively, closing her eyes when I was done. She stayed silent for a long time, so long that I couldn’t help asking her something after a while.
“What are you going to do now?”
She opened her eyes, her gaze troubled.
“What am I going to do?”
She queried back, seeming lost. It wasn’t something I could decide for her, so I could only wait. In the end, the conclusion she reached was completely different from what I expected.
“Tila, you only care about me because you want to have sex with me, right?”
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