What had started as a pleasant dinner ended in pointed silence and exchanged looks.
Clearing the dishes by himself, Leon glanced at the "tribunal" already taking shape in the living room. He wiped his hands on his apron and resigned himself to preparing tea and snacks.
Watching Leon being so eager to please, Kureha sat stiffly between Jeanne and Rose with her cheeks flushed, throwing pleading glances at the two of them again and again.
"?"
Jeanne and Rose laid their hands over hers and shook their heads, telling her to leave it to them.
In their eyes Leon had been getting away with too much lately. Acting so unrestrained right under their noses was a bridge too far. They might already be his on most counts, but he was not getting it easy tonight. Easy wins didn't get cherished. Tonight he was getting a proper "trial."
...
...
Midnight.
Leon lay alone in bed, staring at the stars outside the window, no sleep in sight.
He stared blankly at the ceiling for a long while, then pushed himself upright and let out a quiet sigh.
"Got carried away, huh."
"Could it be that I've been pushing things a little too hard with Jeanne and Rose lately, and this is the rebound?"
Murmuring under his breath, the image of Jeanne's mortified eyes and that little "I'll kill you" expression of hers floated up in his mind...
And just like that, his instincts started stirring again.
Hmm... yeah, that's possible. Looks like I can't max out the intensity all at once. That kind of thing crashes the run...
He stroked his chin.
Need to take the long way around. Stretch the timeline, draw it out slow...
At the thought, the corner of Leon's mouth quirked sideways and he chuckled under his breath.
The Holy Maiden still has plenty of poses left to unlock. No need to rush. There's still a long road ahead. Take it slow!
Roast's already on the spit. You're not flying anywhere.
Plan settled, he rolled over and prepared to sleep.
A few rooms down the hall, Kureha was wide awake too.
In nothing but thin underwear, she shifted restlessly across her bed. Her mind kept replaying the warmth of Leon's embrace and the shock that had sent her pulse stuttering.
"Mmh...!"
She shivered hard, body snapping taut for a moment before going limp.
In the dark, her face burned. She curled into a tight ball, buried her face in the blankets, and let out a small sweet whimper she couldn't believe had come from her own throat.
...
Another ten days slipped by.
The troublemakers had gone quiet for once. Orario got a brief stretch of calm.
Thunder cracked across a slate-gray sky. Heavy clouds hung low over the city, and a downpour soaked Orario through.
"Hey, did you hear? The Goddess Festival's been cancelled again this year!"
"Cancelled again? Saw that coming. With Orario in the state it's in, cancelling's the normal call. Not surprising at all."
"Ah, who'd argue with that. The last Goddess Festival was, what, eight years ago?"
"Yeah! That year was something else. The place was alive!"
"I've lived in Orario over forty years, and the scale of that festival was unmatched. Before or since..."
"You said it! Zeus and Hera Familias had just knocked out two of the Great Quests back-to-back. If we hadn't thrown a proper celebration, those two familias wouldn't have stood for it, and neither would us regular folks and merchants!"
"Two of the Three Great Quests, just like that. Hah!"
"Zeus Familia, Hera Familia... what a waste."
"Yeah, they've long since faded from sight. And ever since they got crushed by the Black Dragon, this city... it's been like a layer of grime nobody can wash off."
"Who'd say otherwise. Now we're all hanging our hopes on Freya Familia and Loki Familia to hold the line. Those Evilus dregs, the thugs, the cultists... they're driving folks half-mad!"
The Free Market.
Leon, dressed in shorts and a button-up shirt with flip-flops on his feet, stood under a black umbrella, waiting for the butcher to finish weighing his meat.
With nothing else to do, he caught every word of the surrounding stallkeepers' griping.
Goddess Festival?
He muttered to himself.
Right, it's autumn already, isn't it?
He narrowed his eyes at the overcast sky, the autumn chill settling against his skin.
Hearing his murmur, the butcher, knife working at the meat, glanced up at him and chimed in.
"Lad, you're still hoping for the festival? Don't kid yourself. The way Orario is right now..."
The butcher shook his head, the tip of his blade deftly stripping bone.
"Forget the Guild. Even an ordinary citizen like me can see it. The moment that festival opens, Evilus will come out swinging right when the crowd peaks. And once the chaos hits, who knows what kind of horror could happen."
Looking at the worry the butcher made no effort to hide, Leon sighed too.
"Yeah. I've been here a while now and I haven't seen a single proper celebration... uh, if Monsterphilia even counts."
The butcher deftly wrapped the meat in oiled paper and held it out to Leon, the other hand opening for payment. He scoffed.
"Monsterphilia? You call that a festival? Give me a break!"
"That thing's only good for fooling those hot-blooded young rookies itching to charge into the Dungeon... I really don't know what that Lord Ouranos at the Guild was thinking, dreaming up a thing like that!"
As he spoke, undisguised loathing for monsters spread plainly across the butcher's face.
"..."
Leon didn't reply, only smiled and pulled out his valis to hand over.
"If it's good, come back next time!"
Leon paused. Drumming up repeat business wasn't a Free Market thing. Then he understood.
"Business slow?"
The butcher pocketed the coins, his tone softening, then he started grumbling.
"Isn't it obvious? It's not just my stall. The whole city is dead on its feet, no life in it at all. Business being any good in this kind of state would be a damn miracle!"
He jerked his chin toward the deeper end of the market.
"You haven't noticed? Plenty of stalls here are sitting empty lately. You're an adventurer, right? You'd have to know what's going on."
Leon glanced at the stretch of wreckage not far off, the rows of stalls still lying in collapsed ruin, and gave a soft laugh and a shake of his head.
"Course I know. It's because of that indiscriminate raid Evilus pulled off here last time, isn't it? Heard they busted out Magic Swords and magic, went on a killing spree. A lot of people died."
His face stayed calm, but inwardly he mused.
Damn. Even a feint was that vicious. And Finn still had the nerve to pull an empty fortress play to flip it back on Valletta. That's the Braver for you.
...
...
[Read 70+ chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/NiaXD]