Edited by: Flubbykin

- “What happened to him?” I heard Lana asking.

Apparently I was knocked unconscious for few minutes. Well, Gis’s tail is not thin… She says that she uses it for balance – it helps her keep much more aggressive stances and throw punches, which would make average human stumble from the mere position you put your body into.

But I saw her pushing a wolf away with it. “Pushing”. A bastard landed on the tree and impact of the blow snapped his back like a twig.

- “Dunno. Maybe stumbled.” Gis tried avoiding the subject like a fire.

- “Gisele, you have been with him for this whole time, you should know precisely what happened to him. Plus you have guilt plastered to your face.

- “I am telling you that I don’t know? M’kay?!”

I quickly inspected the situation I was in without opening my eyes. I was laying on the soft bed, most likely is quest section above the inn.

How could I not use situation like this? I moaned loudly twisting my body to the side. I believe I don’t have to add that I made this moan sound as… sensually, as only I could.

- “G-Giselle… Please… don’t stop…” I said breathing heavily.

I simply knew with what kind of gaze priestess inspected my little dragon.

- “Answering the question you didn’t ask – no, it was not what we were doing.” Berserk decided to quickly salvage the situation.

I dug my fingers into bedding.

- “Yesss… tighter… I love when you are rough…”

- “It’s… it’s very hard to believe your version, Gis.”

- “He is just a perverted sick weirdo. Just because he dreams about it doesn’t mean that…”

Another loud moan, I believed that if someone was standing in front of our door, he or she could hear it clearly.

- “Ok, I believe that as soon as he would wake up he would be glad to support my version…”

… my poor, sweet child. Do you really, REALLY believe in what you are saying?

- “Giselle…” Lana said with bit annoyed tone, as if she realized something.

- “Yes?”

- “I owe you apologize.”

- “Why?”

- “You see, I have inspected Zari just now. The brain activity is different depending on many factors – race, lifestyle… and state of consciousness. The gentleman in front of us is awake.”

Busted. Duh. Here my fun goes with a smoke.

But, I decided to play innocent moron.

I yawned loudly, sat up, stretched my arm as a lady from coffee commercial, wiped my eyes using curled fists blinked few times, yawned one more time covering my mouth with palm before looking at my companions.

Innocence painted all over my face.

- “Greeting my fair ladies! Did you sleep as well as I did?” few more eye blinks.

- “Lanele, hold me, or I will whoop his ass and throw him out through the window.” Guess-who hissed through the clenched teeth.

- “Oh, come on, Gis, you know me. You look cute with death wish in your eyes, this is why I can’t stop myself from teasing you! I wouldn’t do so if I wouldn’t love you!”

- “You know what can you do with your love? Put it right in your ass!”

- “Are you just annoyed at me, or are you actually suggesting that we should take our bed-games on the next level? I am open-minded!”

- “YOU SICK FUCK!”

A wooden cup was thrown at me, I ducked quickly letting it hit the wall behind me

- “A-HA! You misse…” another cup hit me in the face.

- “I have already learned that you duck the first one, then mock me again, this is why I started carrying more!”

- “Wait, you are actually carrying cups to hit me with?”

- “… You will never know!”

She started carrying additional equipment just for my sake, isn’t that sweet of her?

- “A-anyway, it got dark so we should go to sleep. In the end, there is nothing that we want from this village and we should leave it as soon as possible…”Lana tried calming the situation down, and to be honest, I was feeling very grateful for this.

- “Very well…” Gise agreed “… but Zari sleeps on the floor.”

- “Come on! You can’t be serious…” she turned back and faced me. Looking at her expression I guessed she was quite serious “…I will NOT sleep on the floor. I am not a dog.”

- “No. Dogs are wonderful beings that we, as sapient races, do not deserve! They are loving unconditionally, always pay for love with love, and are faithful and… what I am trying to tell, is that in my eyes dogs mean more than you!”

Oh boi. Very serious, that is.

- “One more time, I will not let you in my bed!” Gis growled.

Normally, I would try to joke that Lana’s will had to do, but I didn’t want to risk damaging the window with my body on my way down to the ground outside of the inn. Neither I wanted to drag her into our love-birds-quarrel.

I exhaled air loudly.

- “Very well. I will honor your decision, in this case I guess that I will have to check if this village has hookers, and spend the night with one… or two, who knows.”

Giselle snorted loudly.

- “Good luck. It’s a very small village. They don’t have even priest, but you think they will have a hooker?”

- “Then I will just bewitch some pretty young girl. It won’t be difficult. I am exotic looking, strong, smart, I have seen quite a bit of the world, I will just tell her about few adventurers and I will see those panties dropping in five minutes.”

- “Then go! GO YA LIL BASTARD! I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU!”

Oh, silly gekko. You have just activated my trap card. I can see the end of this game! In ten minutes from now I will be laying comfortable in OURS bed!

- “If that’s what you want.” I said with sad expression, threw my coat over my shoulders and walked away.

After Zariel left, Giselle was cursing under her nose. She was sitting on the bed, hands crossed on chest, chewing her lower lip. Her right leg was trembling in irritation. Eventually she looked at Lanele.

- “Can you sense his presence?” she asked

- “Y-yes. I started tracking his mana-life signature as soon as he left so…”

- “He is standing right behind the door, right?”

- “N-no, he went right down to the inn. I can tell that… he sat by the table in the corner… and ordered something from waitress…”

- “How can you know that he ordered from woman?”

- “Size of life force, heat signature…”

- “Ok-ok-ok-ok. I get it. So you know it and not mere guessing it, that what I wanted to know.”

Speed with which she started chewing her lip put it at danger of being bitten off.

Dragoness looked at Lanele annoyed.

- “Well? Why aren’t you continuing?!”

- “G-gis. I think that what we do is wrong. I think that you should have more faith in your mate and…”

- “WHAT. IS. GOING. ON. NOW!? REPORT, SOLDIER!” Giselle let out a suffocating aura of domination

- “S-sir, yes, sir!” eyes of elfish beauty became unfocused again “… she is coming back with his order…”

- “What did he order!?”

Now it was priestess time to gaze in annoyed way.

- “You also want to me to tell the three sizes on the waitress and color of her underwear?”

- “Y-you can do that?!” Gis gasped amazed

- “That’s the point. NO! I CAN’T! Your demands are getting ridiculous!”

- “Whatever. Go on.”

- “She served him and she leaves for another patron…No, wait. She stopped. Turned around… approached Zari again and…”

She stopped talking for good thirty or so seconds.

- “AAAAND!?” Gis hasted her companion.

- “She just stands there… Oh, no she is leaving…” dragoness exhaled loudly “…oh snap.”

- “What now?!”

- “She came back. With friends.”

- “Well, better that with friends than alone…”

- “You don’t get it!”

- “WHAT!?”

- “THEY ARE ALL WOMEN!”

- “I WILL KILL THAT BLOODY BASTARD!”

- “FOR THE MERCY OF THE MOTHER!”

- “WHAT!?”

- “THEY ALL SAT BY HIS TABLE! THEY SURROUNDED HIM LIKE APPRENTICES SURROUND GURO IN THE TEMPLE!”

- “NOW HE DID IT!”

Gis got up (jumped off) the bed with such a force that she knocked a coffee table placed by its side and walked toward the door slamming them open. She quickly get to the stairs and walked down.

She gazed all over the room and quickly located albino man in mage’s robes surrounded by a group of fairly young woman – but, we have to say, it wasn’t a hard task. He was lazily eating a piece of cake and drinking coffee, as if he was bored with his current situation, thought his eyes were sparkling – visibly pleased with attention he received.

Girls were either giggling, or sighing amazed to whatever he was talking about. Dragoness started approaching them. Soon, she was able to hear what they were talking about.

- “You really killed a dragon?”

- “… don’t call those dragons. One was merely a reanimated corpse, he breathed toxic miasma instead of fire, and another one was a terra-stray-dragon, beast was big , even castle-sized, but was dumb and slow, well and in that particular case I wasn’t alone, you see, I have influenced a hive of human-sized carnivore insects to attack it. You could say that I turned two enemies against themselves, then came down to get rid of remaining survivors of the carnage and claim the prize.”

- “Y-you actually eradicated two greats threats at once?! And not even breaking a sweat? A-amazing! P-please, sir! Tell us more! It gets so boring here and…”

- “I don’t know… it’s fairly late and I am quite exhausted… Not to mention that other stories are longer and waaay more bloody. I would rather spare you the details…”

- “Please! We insists!”

- “Sorry, ladies, I still have to look for the place to sleep, for you know, unfortunately I had a little quarrel with my companion, and she said she wish no to see me anytime soon…”

- “I-is she your girlfriend?” waitress asked disappointed.

Now, Zari, better watch what you are going to say – Giselle thought angrily

- “She is something more – she is my dearest companion. We protect each other backs, we share beds in the coldest nights in dungeons, we trust our life into one another hands, and even if sometimes we have more or less serious quarrel, we know that in dangerous situation we can trust each other. I can’t imagine my life without her. I doubt that even lovers are this close.”

- “I-I see!” waitress yelled clearly happy.

THAT SLY SON OF A FOX! HE DIDN’T LIE! HE ACTUALLY TOLD THEM THAT THEY ARE…. UHHH! Son of a …. Nice goddess which almost decided to eradicate her.

- “I-in that case, if you are looking for a place to stay in… then maybe…” the girls quickly exchanged gazed and nodded “… then you can stay at our place!”

- “Yours? You live together?”

- “Well, yes, we are more or less related, Giana is my sister, Susan and Louise are my cousins. Our parents are working at the field and very often are so tired after work, that they are resting at farm owner’s place. They very rarely visit home, actually, we are the one bringing them food.”

- “So, I won’t be a nuisance for anyone?”

- “Absolutely not!”

A-ha, I already see you resting in a room with four girls, bastard! Your fun ends here!!!

Giselle with a quick step approached the table and looked at Zariel with tired expression.

- “How can I help you, Gis?” magician asked politely, rising his brow – as if he was surprised by her presence.

- “It’s about our quarrel. It was silly. Even if you acted like a douchebag. Back you go. We have to rest. World is big, dark and full of horrors. We need to be in best possible condition to fight with it.”

She wanted to yell. She wanted to drag him by the collar back into the room. But she couldn’t. She wanted to be viewed as hero. Even by the people she hated. Or maybe especially by the people she hated – she wanted to show them how much better she is – or always was. That the hardship made her stronger.

Even when she wanted to punch that manipulative idiot right in the face

Albino-freak gazed over ladies and exhaled loudly.

- “Apologies, ladies, looks like the boss has different plans for my night. It was a pleasure to meet you, who knows, maybe on our way back we would stop by. We could continue where we left.”

- “Absolutely!” girls yelled in unison.

Like hell. LIKE HELL! Over her dead body!

In the end, still angry, or maybe even furious Giselle, throw her mate on the bed and snuggled him in almost brutal hug, as if she was afraid that overnight he could somehow leave the room to “finish his story” in some distant house full of young and trusting females.

The only thing she didn’t know was that Zariel predicted everything – that Lanele would spy on his presence magically and report everything back to Gisele. He knew that she can’t “hear him” so he offered a waitress a way to earn an easy coin.

He carefully described to her what was going on between him and his companion and predicted what would happen. They were only supposed to look at him with admiration as on ancient Gilgamesh and listen to what he says with awe. And when the topic of their conversation would change into tales about dragons – they were supposed to offer him a place to stay overnight.

Later, as he was following Giselle back to their room, he left a small bag filled with coins on the bar counter. Inside there were 10 copper coins for each girl – enough for them to eat few pleasants meals or get something nice. 5 minutes of work – daily salary. In exchange, Zari got himself a night in arms of his lover.

Good deal. For both parties.

The whole situation lasted for 9 minutes and 10 seconds, when Zari lied his hand on the pillow it was exactly 10th minutes since he left the room.