I wish I could have kept Lucia company a little longer, but when you have as many problems as me looming over you, procrastination despite its sweetness could lead to a miserable end.

….It totally wasn't because I reeked of sweat, and didn’t want her to call me out on it….

It fucking sucked not having air conditioning.

.....Welp back to getting shit done, which unfortunately included having a friendly chat with Alsha.

Grabbing the charger and telling Lucia I’d get her something to munch on later I convinced her to rest until I was done with everything for the day.

I then returned to the room that Reol was occupying but when I entered and saw her soldering pieces of junk together with her glove while whispering to herself in ridiculous fits of self-chatter I decided to just leave the charger on the laptop. When she was out of whatever craze had fallen her I'm sure she’d notice it.

Now came the beginning of the main event, carrying Alsha’s tall ass outside and finding wherever Alice had set up shop. I just hope she was still unconscious, If she was somehow already awake, well at least Alice could heal me….Hopefully.

Entering the one of the many spare guest room I was stopped in place as I came in contact with an intense arid heat that left me questioning if I had somehow taken a wrong left turn and ended up in purgatory. The air rushed past me into the hallway, the sudden contact creating a small breeze due to the massive change in temperature.

It was entirely unlike the troubling humidity that led to being soaked in your own sweat, no this was the type of heat that left you dry as a bone, sapping your strength as your skin crack and flaked, unable to even keep its oils from evaporating in the heat.

The heat was so powerful that I felt like I was looking into a furnace, my eyes tearing up trying to prevent themselves from shriveling.

If it weren't for the obvious absence of flames, I would have thought the room was on fire, but when looking inside all you could catch sight of was its lone occupant sleeping peacefully in an oven I had no doubt was of her own making.

‘I'm supposed to go in there and grab Alsha? Naw fuck that, Alice can wait.’ With the air temperature being at least over 180 degrees, there was no way in hell I was jumping in there and roasting my chestnuts.

Instead, I did the sensible thing and left the door open and went to find a few bottles of water and something to snack on while the room cooled enough for me to enter.

Returning around 15 minutes later I was happy to find that the room had cooled down enough to enter, though 120 degrees wasn’t exactly comfortable either.

Stepping inside the room was miserably hot, but my foot sinking slightly into the Vinyl floors? That was quite the experience.

Welp this rooms definitely hers now, she can melt the walls for all I care as long as it doesn't affect the rest of the mansion.

After a few more squishy steps I got to the base of the bed where I got a proper view of the biggest headache since all this nonsense started.

Flawless bronzed olive skin showed no signs of the deeps cuts that had covered her a mere 6 hours ago, instead, a healthy sheen of sweat coated her, its scent nostalgic, like burnt cinnamon, it was intoxicating as it resurfaced buried memories of wintery mornings I enjoyed with my parents back when they were still around.

Her horns tightly spiraled into a curved pointed U shape from her temples, perfectly symmetrical as deep grooves left you wondering if they were truly real, and not some divine design.

Though covered neck down by a quilt, the power her body emitted was astonishing, leaving me breathless as I took in this dangerous beast that had been turned into such an awe-inspiring woman.

It almost made me feel bad that I planned on tossing her over my shoulders like a sack of potatoes. Almost.

Reaching forward with my arms I dug underneath her back only to be met with a surprise.

“WHY THE FUCK IS SHE NAKED!”

Startled as I felt my hands directly touch her supple skin, I couldn’t help but yell, causing Alsha to rosy lips to twitch in annoyance, her sharper than normal canines making her look cute despite how deadly I knew she could be.

“It would have been foolish to leave the Dragon covered in her own blood, as their acidic properties could have wreaked havoc once it began to dry.” Interrupted from my thoughts, I turned to find Alice standing at the doorway her frown humorless.

“I thought you were waiting outside for me?” Shouldn't she be getting ready with all her hocas pocas stuff?

“Indeed, I was ‘waiting’, but I did not expect my patience to be tested for four hours.” Ah, she must have thought when I asked for her help that I wanted to do it soon. Fuck this is on me; still, I had to give her an excuse.

“I was kind of busy with a lot of things, in fact, if I wasn’t with the Reol, the short girl in case you didn't know, we would likely all have been found. And that would be bad news for all of us.”

“Found by whom? I know little of the hierarchy of this world, but I assume there must be one.” Well, I wasn't going to explain everything again, so I’ll have Xue fill her in tomorrow.

“Let's just say if anyone finds out I have the five you, our lives after being captured would either end up as serfs or slaves.” It was true if the Heroes Guild found us the five of them would end up forced into Hero work because of their obvious talents, as for the Autarky or Eden? Yeah, I shiver at the thought of what would happen if they caught us.”

“You humans do just love your filthy slave trades, it seems regardless of the world, your kind always follows its repulsive desires.” Hatred bloomed once again on her face as she looked at me with obvious disgust.

“Hey, that's uncalled for, we humans abolished slavery, it's just the less savory types still like to use it because of the control it gives them.”

“It matters not, the only other race in my world that would stoop low enough to enslave another being were the Orcs, but at least they had the honor to allow the slaves to fight for their freedom, unlike you humans who would give champions with the power to topple mountains to mere children, and not expect tragedy when the spoiled didn’t get their way.”

“Hmmmm, so exactly what then? You want me to apologize because trash exists? Want me to get on my knees and beg for your forgiveness? Your right Humans are pretty shitty at times, but that doesn’t give you the right to lump our entire species with the scum of our society. I can guarantee you that even your species of Elves have done things that you're probably not proud off.”

What did this idealistic fuck think, that life was black and white? That one bad egg meant you had toss out the entire carton? I despise people that label things as though there were only the two sides of good and evil. My growing anger reflected itself on Alice as she herself flared up.

“You dare try and tarnish my proud races honor? We are the closest to the World excluding the elementals! The World Mother guides us, teaching us the ways to make her flourish! How could a mere human with such a pathetic mana pool have the audacity to admonish us!”

“Tell me is your race long-lived, has a form of currency, and does it competes for territory with other races!”

“But of course! We Elves live for thousands of years, and despite my young age of 54, I was already an elite amongst my elders. The value and security of our coin is second to none, and our forests are vast and boundless! All these virtues shine the light of the World Mother on us, for we are everything all the races should strive for.”

Got her.

“So prideful, so arrogant, so idiotically convinced by her ideals that she can’t see past the surface value! Pride births the strongest of hatreds towards those that damage it! Greed which is birthed from the simple need of something can become the twisted desire for all. Idealism blinds the fevorent from the truth, they see only what they dream, they hear only what they desire, and they learn only what they wish! Your race like all other sapient races isn’t free from the dark desire’s born in us all! To keep on believing yourself better than others is making yourself the largest fool of them all! I yelled at her, my words mirroring her tone and way of speaking.

“YOU!” Was all she could say, gusts of wind throwing her hair in disarray as the anger within her tried to find fault in my logic.

Pessimistic as it might seem, I knew everyone, and everything was corruptible, as long as a living being had desires it was impossible that it wouldn’t eventually want more than it needed, and once it started down that path is when it would start to lose itself.

We just stared at each other, the temperature of the room sitting around a much cooler 90 degrees after Alice's outburst.

“Deal with dragon yourself! Don’t bother me, don’t seek me, don’t ever ask anything of me ever again.” With a quick turn, she left the room, but I wasn't done! She doesn't want to help ok then I won't force her, but she will not leave the property and fuck us all over when she gets found!

For the first time since I got the ability, I activated Summon, and the feeling of power coursed throughout my body as I created a summoning incantation for Alice.

“Little Elf, Little Elf

Return to me,

Your jobs not done,

Don’t be an absentee.”

A wave of exhaustion and a flash of light later, Alice stood directly before me stunned at the sudden shift in her surroundings.

“Look here Ms. I can't see the facts! I won’t force you into anything but! You will remain within my home until we can figure something out! I will not have you get the rest of us killed or worse because of you're stupid pride!”

I was practically screaming at this point as my words bombarded Alice in her dazed state, leaving her unable to respond or escape.

Was I being somewhat harsh? Yes. Did I care? No.

If I was going to be responsible over her, she couldn't keep this mentality without making me want to strangle her.

Congratulations Alsha you are no longer my least favorite! Your prize! Absolutely nothing.

As though on queue I felt a gaze on my back…….

Turning slowly around, my neck making grating noising in my mind just like the old cartoons I witnessed what heaven looks like as a got a full glimpse of an abundant olive chest, tight and round.

Alsha was looking at me not realizing her condition.

“Wow, nice tits.” My brain short-circuited.

God, I was going to die.