"So," Anna said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You thought it was a good idea to reveal your true face and na to a potential enemy?"
"Yes," I said with a nod.
Anna let out a long, drawn out sigh.
"Believe ," Cally said in a sardonic tone. "You're not the only one questioning his intelligence."
Leroy didn't say anything. He just shook his head at .
My companions and I were sitting in Cally's room back at the inn. Light from the early afternoon sun stread in through the windows. The sll of my rose and pogranate perfu lingered in the air, reminding of Mother.
After leaving Lord César's casino, we hailed a hired carriage and made our way back. Once we made it inside the inn, Anna appeared beside us, as if erging from nothingness. The four of us then headed back to our rooms.
After Cally cast so privacy spells, we shared our respective sides of the story, with Anna going first. After Lord César picked the rest of us up, she managed to follow us all the way to the casino. However, she didn't make it into the office itself before Lord César's thugs closed the door. Rather than reveal her existence, she decided to wait outside.
Lord César must've enchanted his office with privacy spells, since Anna hadn't heard any of the fighting that went on. Otherwise, she would've burst in. When she heard about what happened, she lanted that she missed out on the fun.
The rest of us then told Anna about what happened inside the office, including my decision to work with Lord César. It was a risky gambit, but one with high rewards. While my companions agreed that this was worth the risk, they objected to the way I went about it, thus leading to the current situation.
"Couldn't you have tried any other way?" Anna asked, opening her eyes and looking at .
I took a mont before responding.
"Perhaps," I said. "However, I felt that revealing myself was the best choice at the ti."
"And what if Lady Isabel or one of the succubi manage to get their hands on Lord César?" Anna demanded, putting her hands on her hips. "If that happens, it wouldn't take long before he revealed everything he knows to them."
I raised an eyebrow at her.
"And?" I asked. "If Lady Isabel or the succubi get their hands on Lord César, then it doesn't matter if they know my true identity or not. Our chances of dealing with either side would drop down to almost nothing. At that point, we might as well contact the Church of the Sun and let them handle the situation." I shook my head. "The only reason why I haven't yet is because it would take them too long to arrive. However, it is still an option."
Anna took a deep breath.
"Fine," she said, making a visible effort to calm down. "What's done is done. There's no point in complaining about it now." She let out an amused snort. "On the bright side, if your gamble pays off, we'll benefit big ti."
I nodded.
"It's better to have Lord César as a willing ally instead of trying to charm or trick him," I said. "At least this way, we don't have to fear arousing his suspicions."
More importantly, I didn't have to disguise myself as a woman anymore.
"I still think it was a bad idea to reveal yourself to him," Cally said, shaking her head "Still, as Anna said earlier, what's done is done." She gestured to . "So, what's the plan now?"
"We wait to hear back from Lord César," I said. "After you send him the spell to see through the succubi's concealnt, it shouldn't take him long to find them. Well, the ones selling cursed skewers at least." I nodded to Leroy. "In the anti, I'm going to visit Lord Dominic with Leroy. It's likely that Lady Isabel has more of those invisibility bracelets. With the enchanted item that I commissioned from Lord Dominic, we should be able to locate her thralls. That will make them easier to deal with."
Anna raised an eyebrow at .
"What about and Cally?" she asked. "Are we supposed to sit around and do nothing?"
"Of course not," I said. "None of our plans will co into fruition if we don't find out where the succubi are hiding. Once we figure that out, we can direct Lady Isabel towards them. After that, we let the two sides fight it out and deal with whoever's left standing. By that point, they should be weakened enough for us to handle."
Anna wore a thoughtful expression on her face.
"Fair enough," she said. "However, I think we should still contact the Church of the Sun. It may take a while for them to arrive, but it's better than not arriving at all. If anything goes wrong, and we end up failing, they'll be able to clean up the situation."
I frowned.
"True," I said. "However, if we fail and the Church of the Sun ends up taking charge, House Sandstrike may not survive."
Cally scoffed.
"And?" she asked. "From what I've seen, they're nothing special. Their forr head eats demons and their current head stabbed his own mother in the back. As for Lord César, I'm less than impressed. I don't imagine his older brother is much better." She smirked at . "Don't tell that you're attached to Lord César because he took you out on a date."
I rolled my eyes at her.
"It's not that," I said. "The reason we ca to Eastwatch in the first place was to prevent it from falling. In the First Tiline, according to Crawford, it fell because it rotted from the inside out. However, if House Sandstrike falls and a new House takes over, the sa thing will happen. Perhaps Eastwatch will put up a better fight this ti around, but it will fall."
I gestured to a nearby window.
"House Sandstrike has a solid foundation," I continued. "They built this city and turned it into what it is today. Not only that, but they earned their current status through blood and strife. If Eastwatch is to survive the coming invasion, House Sandstrike needs to remain standing."
My companions fell silent at that.
"I understand your reasoning," Anna said, breaking the silence. "This is why we need to deal with Lady Isabel and the succubi without the church's help. However, if we fail, the church will need to intervene. We can't let Lady Isabel or the succubi get away. Otherwise, they'll beco a threat later on. If this ans risking Eastwatch, then so be it."
I narrowed my eyes at her.
"Is it necessary to go that far?" I asked. "Risking an entire city full of innocent people?"
"Yes," Anna said in a cold voice. "If either Lady Isabel or the succubi survive, they'll go on to destroy countless more lives." She gestured to Cally. "The two of us know that more than anything. Demons are like an infection. If they're not dealt with in a decisive fashion, they'll continue spreading their corruption."
I sighed. Anna was right. I knew she was right. That didn't an I had to like it. Back on Earth, I had to make difficult choices, but not on this scale.
On Earth, the monsters and demons were contained within Gates. As long as they were dealt with fast enough, they wouldn't beco a threat to civilians. However, things were different here on Lumina. This realm didn't have Gates as a safety net. Any failure on my part risked the lives of countless people.
For the first ti since I returned to Lumina, I wondered if I was the right person for the job. Thanks to my experiences back on Earth, I thought as I was ready to handle the demonic invasion. However, in this mont, I felt inadequate and inexperienced.
Unlike Anna and Cally, I hadn't lived through the First Tiline. I hadn't experienced the horrors and hardships of the demonic invasion first hand. Could I truly say I was prepared to handle awaited in the future?
Anna caressed my cheek, pulling back to the present. She stood in front of now. I hadn't noticed while I was lost in my own thoughts.
"What's wrong?" Anna asked in a soft voice.
I let out a bitter chuckle.
"I just realized that I don't think I'm ready to deal with the demonic invasion," I said. "This is just the beginning and I'm already hesitating on what might happen in the future. Things will only grow more difficult as ti goes on. I feel a bit lost."
Cally snorted.
"Of course you're not ready," she said. "None of us are, not even Anna and myself. The two of us lived through the First Tiline, so we're more knowledgeable and experienced than you and Leroy. However, we still failed in the end. We were given a second chance, but that doesn't guarantee success."
"If it makes you feel better, I feel just as lost as you, my lord," Leroy said. "If not more so. Unlike everyone else here, this is my first life." He paused. "Rather, I don't rember anything from the First Tiline, so it might as well be my first life."
Anna gave a gentle thump on the head.
"As you can see, it's normal to feel this way," she said. "However, you mustn't let that stop you from taking action. If we don't stop the demonic invasion, who will? We can try to warn others and prepare them as much as we can, but the biggest burden falls on our shoulders. You may not be a regressor, but I consider that a blessing. You aren't burdened by a past that no longer exists. This gives you a perspective that Cally and I lack."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
I chuckled. They were right. No matter how unprepared I felt, that didn't change what I needed to do. I didn't have the luxury of wallowing in my inadequacies and whining about it.
"Thank you for putting up with my little crisis of faith," I said.
"Of course," Anna said. "We're a team."
Her words filled with warmth.
"I'll send a ssage to Grand Priest Darius," I said. "While I hope it doesn't co to it, we should prepare for the worst."
Anna gave a mischievous grin.
"Good boy," she said, her a mix of affection and condescension.
I rolled my eyes at her.
"I'm not a dog," I said, annoyed.
"No, but you'll bark if I ask you to. Doesn't that make you my pet?"
That sounded… Nope. I stopped that train of thought before it left the station. That was a rabbit hole I didn't want to go down. I feared that I wouldn't make it out if I did.
That said, the choker she gave did resemble a… Okay, I needed to stop.
But what if Anna took a leash and… Enough!
I took a deep breath to clear my mind and calm my rebellious thoughts.
"Ugh," Cally said, giving us a disgusted look. "Have you no shred of decency or dignity?"
Anna gave her a wide smile.
"None at all," she said, clasping a hand on my shoulder. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have corrupted a pure-hearted and innocent soul like Gabriel."
I wanted to deny her words, but I couldn't. When it ca to matters of love and sex, I was far less experienced than Anna. On the one hand, I felt sowhat intimidated by this. On the other hand, I felt reassured. After all, she chose in the end.
Cally turned to Leroy and gave him an earnest look.
"Find yourself a nice girl and marry her," she said. "Don't end up like Gabriel. That brute called him a pet, and he didn't even object. He's a lost cause at this point."
"I promise," Leroy said with an earnest expression of his own.
I resisted the urge to laugh. Cally acted and sounded like an elder advising her junior. However, she looked much younger than Leroy.
"Alright," I said. "Enough of that. We have a task to complete. Let's get to it."
The others nodded, except for Anna. Instead, she gestured to .
"Before that," she said. "Can we…?"
She trailed off, but her aning was clear. I expected this ever since Anna first insisted that I disguise myself as a woman. Back then, it had been obvious to anyone with eyes and a functioning brain that she had an ulterior motive.
"No," I said in a flat voice.
Anna pouted.
"Please?" she asked.
My resistance crumbled right away. Damn it. As long as Anna didn't cross any lines, I really was putty in her hands.
"Fine," I said. "But not until tonight." I pointed a finger at her. "And I'm not wearing makeup."
Anna chuckled.
"As long as you're wearing the dress, I don't care," she said.
I sighed. Why did I have to fall in love with a degenerate?
Later that day, after I changed out of the dress and into my regular clothes, Leroy and I took a hired carriage to Lord Dominic's residence. I was a few days early, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to check up on him and see how things were going. Hell, maybe we would get lucky and Lord Dominic already finished with the enchanted item. I doubted it, but who knew?
To avoid detection from any potential watchers, Leroy and I used an invisibility bracelet to sneak out of the inn. At this point, I decided to embrace the paranoia. The last thing I needed was for either Lady Isabel or the succubi to figure out that we had a connection to Lord Dominic. This was both for our sake and his.
I didn't want to involve Lord Dominic in this affair any more than I needed to. He didn't deserve it. Not only that, but keeping him a secret also gave us an advantage. From firsthand experience, I knew just how skilled of an artificer he was.
It was about mid-afternoon by the ti Leroy and I arrived. The sa two magical constructs from before, the ones that looked like armored soldiers, guarded the front gate.
Unlike before, they bowed as Leroy and I approached them.
"Welco, Lord Gabriel," one of them said, speaking in a harsh voice that sounded like grinding stone. "Please, co in."
I blinked at them in surprise.
"Truly?" I asked. "You don't need to send a ssage to Lord Dominic or Kiki?"
The constructs shook their heads.
"Our master has commanded that you are a welco guest, free to co and go as you please."
That caught off guard. This was an honor, one that showed a great deal of trust. So much so that I felt a little uncomfortable. I t Lord Dominic once. Why did he hold in such high regard? However, despite my discomfort, I was still going to take advantage of this situation. I'd be a fool not to.
I nodded at the magical constructs, before Leroy and I walked past them and entered through the gate. Lord Dominic's mansion looked much as I rembered it. Several magical constructs road the place, tending to their various tasks. Gardeners, cleaners, etc.
Leroy and I headed to Lord Dominic's workshop, which was located at the back of the property. It looked solid and well-built, as if it could withstand or contain explosions. From my understanding, that wasn't an uncommon occurrence for Lord Dominic.
To my surprise, when we entered the workshop, we found that it was a complete ss. It looked similar when we first visited. However, back then, there was an order to the chaos. At least, that was the feeling I got from the workshop. This ti, I got no such feeling.
There was junk littered everywhere. Precious materials, tools, and magical constructs in various stages of completion. It was as if a tornado had swept through the place, and no one bothered to clean any of it up.
In the center of the workshop stood four long tal tables. Like the rest of the workshop, three of them were covered in junk. However, the fourth looked much better. It was mostly clear, except for what looked like a pair of glasses and a handful of tools.
Lord Dominic sat at the fourth table, atop a wooden stool, tinkering with the pair of glasses. He looked like he was in rough condition. Unshaven and unkempt, with dark circles under his eyes. His clothes looked dirty and rumpled, as if he had worn them for the past several days. Despite this, he focused on the pair of glasses as if nothing else in the world existed.
Kiki, a spirit that inhabited a magical construct and Lord Dominic's chief servant, stood next to him. Her body was made of stone, so she couldn't make any facial expressions. However, from her body language, it looked like she was fretting.
The mont Kiki saw us, she rushed over.
"Lord Gabriel!" she said in a frantic tone, not bothering with any formalities. "Thank the gods you're here! Please, help Master Dominic!"
I held up my hands to calm her down.
"Easy, Kiki," I said. "Take a deep brea-Take a mont to calm down and tell what's wrong."
Despite her obvious agitation, Kiki did as I said. She even sounded like she took a deep breath, though I doubted she needed to breathe.
"It's Master Dominic," she said. "Ever since your last visit, he has focused on completing your commission. He hasn't slept, and he's barely eaten a thing. At this rate, he might kill himself through sheer neglect. Please, stop him!"
I stared at Kiki, stunned. I knew that Lord Dominic was dedicated to his work, but I hadn't realized it was this bad.
"Why didn't you stop him?" I asked.
Kiki made a sound that was sowhere between a sigh and scream.
"I tried!" she said. "However, Master Dominic ordered to leave him to his work. He is my master, and I am bound to obey his word. All I could do was stand there and tell him to take care of himself." She gestured to Lord Dominic. "As you can see, it hasn't worked."
"Why didn't you send for help?" Leroy asked in a skeptical tone.
"Who would I ask?" Kiki asked. "Lord Dominic doesn't have any friends and he ordered not to contact his family without his explicit permission." She shook her head. "And I couldn't trust any strangers." She gestured to us. "I would've asked for your help, Lord Gabriel, but I didn't know how to contact you."
Fuck. This was bad. If I had known things would get this bad, I would've left a way for Lord Dominic or Kiki to contact .
"Alright," I said. "I'll help Lord Dominic. However, I should warn you, I may use violence."
Kiki stared right at . Her stone eyes felt like they could pierce through to my soul.
"Excuse ?" she asked, a dangerous edge to her voice.
"Nothing much," I said, holding my hands up in a placating gesture. "Just a good slap to knock so sense into him." I paused. "At worst, I'll knock him out."
Kiki scrutinized for several seconds, before nodding.
"Very well," she said. "Sotis force is necessary when persuasion fails. However, cross the line and I'll kill you."
Never ss with a spirit in love.
"Noted."
I walked over to Lord Dominic. His stench hit the mont I got close enough. I felt like gagging. It slled like Lord Dominic hadn't cleaned himself since our last eting. Ugh.
I grabbed Lord Dominic and pulled him off of his stool, holding him up high. His clothes felt greasy against my skin.
"What are you doing?" he yelped. "Let go of !"
Lord Dominic struggled to break free, to no avail. Neglecting his body over the past several days had weakened him. Not that it mattered. Even at his full strength, he was no match for .
"Leroy, grab the glasses," I said.
My bodyguard nodded and obeyed my command.
"Who do you think you are?" Lord Dominic demanded. "I am Dominic Ironward of House Ironward, and I demand that you release at once!"
From the way he spoke, I didn't think he recognized .
"First, you're going to sleep," I told him. "Second, after you wake up, you're going to take a bath. Third, once you're done bathing, you're going to eat a nice and filling al. Then, and only then, we'll talk."
Lord Dominic ignored and continued to struggle.
"If you don't," I said. "I'll have Leroy smash the glasses you've been working on."
That got a reaction out of Lord Dominic. His struggling intensified.
"You can't!" he said. "They're my greatest creation to date!"
"Then you best listen to ."
Lord Dominic stopped struggling and slumped.
"Fine," he said. "I'll listen. Just don't destroy the Eyes of Truth!"
Eyes of Truth? Was that what the glasses were called? A bit ostentatious, but fitting considering their purpose.
"Good," I said. "Now, can you walk on your own or do you need to carry you?"
"I can walk on my…" Lord Dominic started to say, before trailing off. "I don't feel so good."
With that, Lord Dominic promptly passed out.
"Master Dominic!" Kiki cried out.
"Don't worry," I said. "He just fell unconscious. However, as a precaution, summon a healer to take a look at him."
Kiki stamped her foot.
"I can't!" she said. "After the last ti this happened, Master Dominic forbade from summoning a healer without his explicit permission!"
The last ti this… How often did Lord Dominic focus on work to the exclusion of all else? To the point that it beca a regular occurrence? Did Lord Dominic need a baby sitter to keep watch over him? Well, considering the current circumstances, that baby sitter was .
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. How troubleso.
"Fine," I said, opening my eyes. "Leroy-"
"I'm not leaving your side," my bodyguard said, interrupting .
I rolled my eyes at him.
"Send one of the constructs to go find Anna and Cally," I said. "anwhile, I'll look after Lord Dominic."
Anna and Cally were busy looking for the succubi's hideout. However, we knew where they were searching, so sending a construct to go find them should be fine.
"Oh," Leroy said, looking embarrassed. "Very well, my lord."
With that, Leroy headed off while Kiki and I brought Lord Dominic to his bedroom. This visit was turning out to be more troubleso than anticipated. Hopefully it was worth it.
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