“Wait, she sounds pretty young to me, are you sure there is such a huge gap between them? Maybe you just misjudge her…” Kristina said, trying to comfort Emma.

“…No, I think she was at least ten years older than him, maybe in her late twenties.” Emma answered calmly, taking a sip of her grape juice.

“Well, I’d say this is still in his usual ‘hunting range’. I have seen him hit on A LOT of women and most of them are between 17 and 27. You said her name was Annabelle, right? Well Annabelle sounds like she would fit for him.” Diane explained with a wineglass in her hand.

Ruby was in disbelieve over what Emma had just told her. “And you said her name was Annabelle? As in Annabelle Baralot the successor of the Baralot family? Seriously?”

“I told you so, didn’t I? Knock it off already, it sends shivers down my spine just thinking about her. No matter how good she may be when it comes to “adult” things, he still shouldn’t be with her!” Emma frowned.

Kristina was in shock over what the young girl just said. “Don’t say things like that! You are only fourteen, you still have two years before you become an adult. A girl your age shouldn’t talk about what is going on behind these walls.” She pointed to the whereabouts of Jamie’s room right next to them.

“To be honest, I think no one should ever talk about what goes on behind these walls.” Diane joked and the four of them laughed.

Kristina grabbed the bottle of wine standing next to the couch they were sitting on and refilled her glass. “Sometimes I can hear things from over there when I stay over for the night.”

“Oh? As if you and Dorian are doing something else.” Ruby teased her and Kristina blushed.

Diane joined in and further questioned her. “Yeah, tell us Kristina, how is it having Dorian as a boyfriend?”

“W-well, he certainly has some odd habits…” She admitted flustered.

“For example…?” Emma asked.

“Well, sometimes he just randomly make references to things no one besides him gets. At first I thought it was kind of cute but when he does it in public I feel so ashamed...” She averter her gaze and took another sip of wine.

“…That’s all? Really? And here I thought you would tell us something more… ‘Spicy’…” Ruby and Diane sighed disappointed and even Emma looked like she had been hoping for more.

Seeing this, Kristina quickly finished her glass before revealing a bit more about their relationship. “Alright, so one thing he really likes is… When I pretend to be his long lost childhood friend who gives him a lap pillow... And while he lies in my lap, he really loves it when I tell him that he is doing all right and pamper him overall.” The more she spoke the redder she got.

“Are you for real?! I would have never thought for Dorian to be so, how should I put this, fragile?” Emma agreed with Ruby’s statement. They both looked surprised by this sudden reveal, Diane on the other hand had known about Dorian’s fragile ego and drank her wine with a satisfied expression. Still, seeing Kristina this embarrassed, they collectively decided to not push Kristina any further on the topic

Ruby smiled at the flustered girl. “W-well I think we should stop talking about Dorian, after all he was kind enough to lend us his room for the night.”

“Well, he mentioned that he’d work through the night and sleep at noon… Sometimes I worry about his sleep schedule.” Now not only Kristina but also Emma looked troubled.

“Ah anyway… Emma, what about you? When I was at your age I already had a crush on someone.” Diane led the topic away from Dorian.

The girl thought about it for a while but no one came to her mind. “No, I don’t think I have ever felt that way about anyone before… I guess I liked the demon prince from the old fairy tale, but to be honest I think I am still too young for these sort of things.”

Kristina smiled. “That’s alright, if I am being honest, Dorian is only the second person I have ever been in love with.” Her words comforted Emma.

“Ruby? What about you?” Emma asked curious about the answer might be.

Ruby’s face turned bright red within seconds. Shyly she looked at the ground. “N-no. There is no one like that for me…”

The others looked at each other, it was painfully obvious that she was hiding something.

“Alright, now I am curious, who is he?” Kristina teased.

“Yeah, is he someone we know? Maybe someone in this town?! Or is it a nobleman you met while you were still living in a castle? Don’t think we forgot about your origins just because you told us to be casual with you!” Diane got really excited, whenever someone talked about love she was all for it.

“N-no, like I said it’s not like that… Please don’t stare this much… Guys really, please stop… Argh, alright I’ll tell you.” Ruby finally got beaten by their intense stares. “I had a crush on a boy back when I was going to the magical academy, we were good friends but I never had the courage to do anything with my feelings… Are you happy now?”

The three girls did indeed look satisfied, but they wanted to know more.

“So, do you still feel that way about him?” Emma asked.

“M-maybe… I thought he was really devoted and serious and I thought that he was very cool. But I don’t know if that has changed, I haven’t seen him in years after all…” Ruby turned even redder while speaking.

Dina looked at her with sparkling eyes. “Oh, that sounds so romantic! Not knowing if he is still the same man you once fell in love with… Ah, I love it! Tell me, if you’d meet him again and we would still be the same, would you confess your feelings to him?”

Ruby fidgeted on the sofa for a bit. “I don’t know… It would be hard enough with my standing as princess either way but I guess… It would be nice if we could talk about our relationship with each other…” Her voice grew quieter the longer she spoke.

Diane had a big smile on her face. “So, tell us more about him!”

“And about the magical academy! I am thinking of going there if Jamie and Dorian allow it…” Emma’s eyes were glowing with excitement.

“Sigh… Alright, so it is actually really difficult to get into the academy without a letter of recommendation, to get one you need to-” Ruby’s explanation was abruptly interrupted by the sound of the door loudly opening.

“IT’S NEWTON!!!” Dorian stood in the doorframe, holding up a cat above his head and had a look of both excitement and satisfaction on his face.

He looked around the room and noticed that all the girls were in their nightwear staring at him in shock. He gulped down his salvia, knowing that he’d come at the wrong time. The girls stared screaming and throwing stuff at him as he tried to calm them down and apologise.

After the chaos had stopped and everyone had calmed down, Dorian sat down, the cat still in his arms. It looked quite indifferent about what had just happened and simply yawned, sitting comfortably in Dorian’s lap.

“…Alright… Now that everyone’s stopped trying to kill me, may I present: Newton.” Dorian looked like a proud father as he petted Newton’s head.

“Ah, listen darling I am glad you are happy about… whatever it is you are happy about but could you at least explain what this creature is?” Kristina tried to negotiate with her boyfriend.

Dorian smirked. “Well, this is what you would call a ‘cat’!” He proclaimed proudly.

“You mean an actual cat?! Like those from the stories?” Emma looked at the animal with great interest.

“I have only ever seen one in my life, but it looked very different from this one.” Ruby mumbled as she remembered having seen something similar to the thing on Dorian’s lap on the royal courtyard.

Emma looked at the animal and Dorian in confusion. “Uhm, so what is so special about it?”

Dorian grinned in response. “Cat’s do not exist. Well, they don’t in this world anyway. That means one thing: Newton came from my home world to this world, just like Jamie and I did.”

Slowly everyone seemed to understand why Dorian got all riled up. Diane however was still a bit weirded out by what this all implied. “So, does this mean this cat got summoned as well? Why would the gods send such an, granted adorable, animal to our aid?”

“There are multiple options: First, it got sent here as an accident. Second it somehow got mixed up with Jamie’s and mine summoning. And third, it was sent here to mock us…” As he explained the last possibility his expression darkened.

Ruby protested to his thesis. “The gods would never do such a thing! You are just over interpreting things, it is just a random animal that happened to be from your old world. So what? We have had cats in this world before, you are just seeing things that aren’t there.”

“Oh really? Then please explain this: Back on earth Jamie and I took care of a stray cat. We nurtured him up after his old owners left him outside because they didn’t want him. We called him Newton and while he knew how to take care of himself, he still visited us every day and we did the same for him.” Dorian explained.

“But how do you know that this is New-”

Ruby got interrupted by Dorian who continued his story. “Newton had the exact same fur pattern as this cat. Black with a white spot on his forehead that looked exactly like this one.” He petted the cat’s head. “But if that isn’t enough to convince you, our cat had only three legs, which was probably the reason he was abandoned in the first place. Now look at him.”

“Indeed, he has three legs! Although to be honest I thought that was normal for this species.” Kristina looked at the little fur ball with great interest.

“Uh, well it’s not. In fact it’s very rare- You know what forget it. I can show you that he reacts to the name Newton, maybe that’ll convince you.” He put the cat down on the ground and walked to the opposite corner of his apartment.

“Newton! Come here!” He said and a few moments the cat just stared at him. Then after he called out for him for a second time the cat finally walked to him and cuddled up to his legs.

“See?!” His voice was filled with excitement but the girls weren’t one hundred per cent on board with his theory just yet.

Kristina however chose to believe her boyfriend. “I see. Well then, I guess we should welcome him to the family, right? Hey there Newton, how are you?” She petted him and Newton began to purr.

“He likes you! Ah, this reminds me of the first time Jamie and I met him…” Dorian sat back down and looked quite nostalgic at his old friend.

* * * * *

“Urgh, did you do the English homework?” Jamie looked at his friend in desperation.

Dorian however simply shook his head. “Nah, I decided to go for the gamble and if I get chosen to present then I lose.”

“Well, I guess that’s one way of putting it… You know what I agree, fuck English. I have a life outside school you know?” Jamie took a sip of his dose of beer.

The two best friends were sitting on a stone wall in an empty park. School had just ended but instead of going home the two were goofing around.

“With ‘Life outside school’ you mean celebrating your birthday with your girlfriend.” Dorian laughed.

“Well yes. But hey, we’ll do something as well.” Jamie smiled.

“Nah, I’d rather die than wasting any more time on a loser like you.” Dorian grinned.

Jamie pretended to be insulted. “How could you?! A man turns seventeen only once in his life you know? Also who is the real loser here, I have a girlfriend, what about you?”

“Damn… Shots fired and they hit… Alright, how about we go drinking at my place, my brother can get us some liquor and then we’ll play some video games.” Dorian suggested.

“Heh, works for me.” Jamie emptied his bottle and jumped down the wall. “Let’s get going then.”

Right before exiting the park, Dorian noticed something standing under a tree. Wordlessly he walked up to the cardboard box, Jamie following behind.

“What is it?” He asked, looking over Dorian’s shoulder.

“It’s… a cat. He probably got abandoned here…” His voice was quiet and filled with sadness.

Jamie could feel the anger dwelling up in him. “FUCK! …Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout.”

“Don’t worry about it, I understand you…”

“I can’t take it, you know about my living conditions.”

“Me neither, we couldn’t pay for it…”

The two looked at each other and silently came to an agreement to look after the cat.

Jamie picked him out of the box and looked at the big green eyes staring at him. “From today on, you shall be named…”

“…Newton.” Dorian said before Jamie could finish.

Jamie looked at his friend confused. “Newton? Are you sure?”

“Newton.” Dorian said and as if it were in agreement the cat meowed.

“Sigh… Well then, Newton it is.”

* * * * *

Dorian chuckled as he finished telling his story. “Ah, thinking back to those simpler times is really great…” He smiled, but the girls could clearly see the sadness he was trying to hide with it.

Emma emptied her glass of juice and looked down on the ground. Everyone knew exactly why she looked as depressed as she did, everyone except for Dorian who was still obliviously thinking about his schooldays. For Emma who had lost both her parents and was basically adopted by Jamie and Dorian, hearing him reminisce about his old life felt like she was about to lose yet another pair of parents.

Kristina tried to interfere with Dorian’s nostalgia trip and get him back to the present. “Well, I know you miss your old life darling, but you should remember that you gained so many wonderful things and made so many new relationships in this world. For example, if it weren’t for you being summoned, you would have never meet us girls, right?” She smiled seductively at him, trying to make him forget about the now painful memories.

Dorian gulped audibly. Sadly he didn’t understand her clue about Emma at all and instead thought it was Kristina that was getting jealous. “O-of course you are by far the best thing that has happened to me in this world, no questions asked! No need to worry, meeting you wa-”

Before he could stumble on with his improvised speech, Emma stood up very loudly, stared at Dorian for a brief second and left the room without speaking a word. What followed was awkward silence.

“Uh, what’s her deal? Is she hitting her rebellious phase?” Dorian asked confused and all the girls sighed collectively.

Kristina put a hand on his shoulder, almost pitying his lack of social competence. “Dorian I like you, but you should really try to get a clue already…”

“Huh…? What do you mean by that? Wait you guys too?!” He almost sounded hurt as he saw how the others nodded in agreement.

* * * * *

“You missed a spot over there!” Diane pointed at the spilled beer on the ground. The two of them had been cleaning up the place at noon for the past few days together, as there were next to no customers at that time in the bar area.

“Ah you’re right, sorry…” Ruby had been working at the tavern as a waitress for a while now and while she did get the hang of the job pretty quickly, she had her moments of clumsiness. “Sometimes I wonder why we even do this if it looks just as dirty the next day.”

Diane laughed. “Jamie said it was for new customers, after all appearance is everything. Maybe someone should tell him to shove the appearance up his-”

“You can’t say that!” Ruby said flustered. “…Hey by the way, why is it you and Jamie don’t get along? You two have been this way ever since I arrived here.”

Diane chuckled. “No, it has always been this way actually.”

“Yeah, but why?” Ruby seemed really curious about it.

“All right. I guess there’s no harm in telling you. Jamie and were once engaged.” As Diane told her this, Ruby’s jaw dropped to the floor in disbelieve. “Yeah I know. It was right after ‘the incident’ during which Jamie and me began dating. We hadn’t done anything indecent yet because I wanted to keep myself pure for marriage and at first he was really supportive of it. After we had been living the most romantic lives possible, he proposed to me after just one month of us dating. Usually I’d say that it was way too early for this, yet somehow he managed to sweep me up in the moment and I said yes. Once ‘the incident’ had ended, we decided to get married right away and the whole town, well back then we were pretty much a village, worked really hard. I borrowed a wedding dress from someone, we build a hall for the wedding to take place in and everything was just perfect despite the time pressure. That was also the day I was hired to work here, after all I wanted to stay close to my future husband and see him every day at work. But then it happened… Even though it supposedly brings bad luck when the couple to be wed meets each other before the ceremony, I couldn’t wait and sneaked into his room an hour before the ceremony. And then…-” Diane shattered the glass she had held in her hand in fury. “…then I catch this disgusting piece of garbage sleeping with a random hag I had never even seen before! It turned out he just wanted to marry me so he could sleep with me. I swear to the gods if it weren’t for Dorian throwing himself in front of that ASSHOLE, he would have died that day.” Diane’s face was so scary that Ruby had subconsciously began to take a few steps back, hitting the wall.

“Eeep.” Ruby made a noise that could only be described as that of a frightened deer and Diane began to calm down from her blood lust.

“Sorry, but thinking about how I nearly married that subhuman filth gets me riled up every time… Well anyway, after a few hours of rampaging, Dorian managed to talk me out of murdering this piece of shit and after yet another hour he somehow convinced me to start working here anyway. Seriously, even I don’t know how he managed that one.” Diane had stopped cleaning all together and was sitting down with a glass of beer.

“Oh my god. I am so sorry Diane! I had no idea that Jamie was THIS bad. Really I apologise for asking you about it.” Ruby bowed down. She had known that Jamie was a scummy person, using his god given ability to look at the cleavage of women and being a playboy who switched women like clothes, but she always thought that deep down he was a good person. This story however made her reconsider Jamie’s image.

“No, don’t worry about it, I said it was fine didn’t I? Besides I am over that Bastard son of a bitch.” Her voice and outrage suggested otherwise but Ruby chose to ignore that. “Now that I have told you my story, how about you tell me a bit more about the academy? I have always wanted to go there as a kid!” Diane sounded excited.

Ruby had planned on asking about what the hell ‘the incident’ was because thus far she had never gotten an answer from anyone, but she admitted that it was only fair for her to first repay her request of asking for Jamie’s and Diane’s past.

“Of course, what do you want to know?” As Ruby agreed to fulfil her friend’s request, Diane looked as excited as a kid on Christmas.

“Okay, okay, where to start… Oh yes! Is it true that you only get chosen if you are nobility? I heard that there was a really talented boy who got rejected because he was a commoner and who later on became the director of Eden’s academy.” Hearing the eagerness in Diane’s voice, Ruby chuckled and sat down with Diane. Their work could wait for now.

“It is partly true. You need to be of a high upbringing and pass an extremely hard test. As I am a princess I never needed to do that though. Guess that’s a positive of being me.” Ruby grinned as her listener awed at her.

“And what about the story I’ve heard?” Diane asked.

Ruby shrugged. “Honestly I have never heard of such a story, but it might be true. Again, the entrance test is very hard. And it doesn’t stop there. Students can be expelled for a whole lot of reasons. I’d say in the first year around half the students get sent home. But after that, it is rare to see someone get expelled.”

Diane was taking in all the new information. “Wow! So it is true that students live in the academy?”

“Well yes, after all the academy is hidden away from those who don’t know its location with magic and those who do know are just a handful of people. Not even the students know about the academy’s whereabouts so it’s only natural for them to live there.” Ruby explained. “But the real interesting part are the lessons. They are so unique and different from other schools. I remember once we were just thrown into a room where monsters kept pouring in, another time we should heal a deadly wounded soldier together as a class. We never knew what to expect and each ‘lesson’ was harder than the last. But overcoming these challenges together made us stronger, both individually and as a group.” Ruby got nostalgic for all the hardships they had mastered as a team.

“Hey, correct me if I am wrong but shouldn’t you have another year left? You said you were sixteen years old and the academy goes from ten to seventeen, right?” Diane asked a bit confused.

“Well yeah, but due to my sister’s vision I was taken out of school. Honestly I never really thought about it that much. When I suddenly got summoned back home I admittedly was confused at first but hearing that I could leave my family responsibilities’ behind I got so excited that I never gave anything else any thought...” Ruby sighed. Maybe she should have at least send a letter to her comrades explaining everything. But she was sure that they’d want to visit her and she couldn’t allow her friends to see her working as some waitress.

“Responsibilities? I thought you all lived at the academy.” Diane had yet another question for Ruby.

“We of course went home over the Holy times. It may only be three months a year but trust me they were horrible…” A shiver went through Ruby, remembering how her parents pretty much used her as a political tool, not caring about her feelings. “Well I was all the happier once I could return to the others at the academy due to that.”

Diane smiled mischievously. “Oh I bet you were. Especially meeting him again, right?”

Ruby blushed and nodded slightly. It was true that she always missed him the most. He was the leader of their class and acted very by the rules. He would often got into arguments with Ruby who had more of a free spirit attitude but that’s why they had great chemistry and worked like a charm as a team. Yes, he who passed the entrance test without problems, as a genius who was chosen by the gods he was the perfect role model for all the other students to chase after.

Elliot Star, current pope of the church and one of the most powerful person alive. After being chosen with only eight years by the gods to become their prophet he was treated like a national treasure. With that much responsibility and eyes on him, the pressure would drive anyone insane but not Elliot. He was chosen by the gods at such a young age for a reason and enrolled to the academy on his own accord to be able to fight the Demons on the front rows.

Diane had been staring at Ruby for over a minute now and Ruby realized that she had been daydreaming. Diane grinned. “Are you perhaps dreaming of your knight in shining armour? At least tell me his name if you ignore me for him.”

Ruby was a bit flustered by her comment, but managed to brush it off. “Didn’t I tell you yesterday? His name is Elliot Star, the current pope.” She sounded extremely proud and awaited Diane’s admiration but instead her friend looked at Ruby with a look of worry and surprise.

“Uh, Ruby do you know who is visiting today?” Diane’s face grew paler by the second.

“Hmm? No, Jamie told me it was someone important and that I should be better by today and as you can see I actually am fine.” She demonstrated it by loudly stomping on the ground with her foot. “No pain at all. Why do you look so pale?” Now Ruby sounded worried as well.

“I heard a knock! Is he here?!” Jamie came rushing down the stairs due to Ruby’s stomping. “Wait a second why aren’t you working? Everything needs to be perfect for his arrival. And where the hell is Dorian, does he expect me to do this thing alone?”

“I won’t take orders from someone who isn’t even human.” Diane shot him down, then immediately turned her attention back to Ruby. “Listen, the one who is paying us a visit today is none other than the pope and his friends!”

“…huh?”

“What I am saying is that we need to get you out of here, if people who know you see you in this attire and place-” Diane got cut short by a man walking into the tavern.

He cleared his throat and loudly announced Ruby’s worst nightmare. “Attention! I present his Excellency Elliot Star, current pope as well as his comrades from the magic academy!”

Jamie rubbed his hands in excitement.

Diane nearly fell of her chair.

Newton ran through the bar knocking down a few bottles of wine in the process.

Dorian came rushing in chasing after the cat.

And Ruby? Well Ruby had slightly died inside and went into a state of shock, unable to move a muscle.