"This should be all of it. I didn't expect her Majesty to increase the volume of this batch", Laris straightens up, his hands pressing his waist after bending over to count vials for a long while. He takes out a ring and the crates of vials and stalks glow before disappearing along with a few of our food and belongings. I've seen him using it on our journey a few times to keep fresh our food supplies. When he turns around, he notices me.
"Are you curious? Here, I'll let you see my storage ring", he enthusiastically says. "The black celare stone is a product of alchemy. I heard if you grind an unprocessed stone, the powder could be used to make storage bags! But whole stones like this one tend to have more space—"
"..." Spare me, please. The reason why didn't ask to begin with was because you'd flood my eardrums with a waterfall of words.
"—this from Salciorne. You'd like that place, I bet. Wait until we go there, I'd buy you an accessory with a celare stone. Maybe a necklace, no, how about an earring?"
"...Laris."
"Yeah?" He smiles brightly at the mention of his name.
Are his ears and tail out, or am I imagining it?
"I need a favor."
It's wagging ah. I can see it wagging… A hallucination?
"Favor? As long as I can help, I'd be happy to—tell me what is it?"
"...Can have a pair of that appearing and disappearing potion?" I frown minimally at the lame potion name, but it's understandable since the Faerie-kind don't seem to have any intentions of selling them. What's the use of changing the potion's vague name if there never was an intention of selling? Perhaps if it weren't for an Encantado-kind such as Lady Amani being interested in it, people like us may not have even known about it, much less access to them.
Laris contemplates only for a second before nodding.
"Sure, but what are you using it for?"
It can't go unknown that all the potions are Lady Amani's. Though nobody's sure what the Faerie Queen gets for giving her such an amount, but it is undeniably hers. I'm a little bit surprised that Laris easily allows me to obtain a pair without any psychological burden. Additionally, I was only going to ask for an appearing potion, but it feels more suspicious to just ask for it alone.
"I wanted to keep a pair in stock just in case", I lie. It's a good thing we're at home with no Faerie-kind right now. "Are you sure it's fine?"
"Definitely. She won't mind, I think. Besides, her Majesty added a couple of crates more. Maybe they had an abundant harvest of stalks and flowers this year."
"...Oh."
I watch him place something in my hands before he heads over to the kitchen where Raguk's in charge of today's lunch.
Three days later after finding Obrecht's sword at the bed's rear, only the tip of the hilt had materialized. The amount of disappearing potion must be a lot, or perhaps highly concentrated to be hidden up until now. Wiping away at the coating didn't do faex.
"You're back", Obrecht greets me as I close the door of our room.
"Mm." I hand two vials in my hand to Obrecht. Squatting down beside him with my hands on my knees and my chin on my hands, I watch him gently apply the solution to the hilt.
"...I'm not gonna ask why you don't want to ask Laris for a favor yourself but, why didn't you want him to know about your sword? Didn't he know it was missing before?"
Obrecht pauses, "He'll laugh at me." He pouts, and for a moment, I look at his plump lips.
"...Why would he laugh at you?"
Obrecht looks like he didn't want to say, so I sighed and stood up to walk over to the bed.
"Fine, if you don't want to say."
"I just know he'll laugh when he hears the little version of you pranked me", he mumbles.
"...What are you mumbling to yourself?" I helplessly looked at him. There's more groaning than coherent words in that one sentence.
He looks up cutely, showing his grievances. "If you want to kiss, why not just kiss me?"
Oh. So he did notice my staring.
I flick his forehead gently. "Mm. Why don't you leave the blade hidden? Everyone would think you have a bladeless sword, then you can surprise them if they attack with ill-intentions."
He shakes his head. "But the beautiful part is the blade! I can't do such a big disrespect to the sword, Vid!"
"..." Oh, so you just want to brag to people.
As if hearing me he answers, "Well, isn't that normal? To brag about what you love?" He laughs.
"..." I don't hear you bragging about me?
I look away with a slight blush. Admittedly, that was a stupid thought of mine.
"You're different", he turns serious all of a sudden that I get a little nervous.
"...Different, how?" I couldn't help myself from asking.
"I want to hide you", he says while approaching me. "I want nobody to see you but me. Likewise, I want you to see only me." He caresses my cheek lovingly. "Hey, Videre. Won't you let me lock you up? I promise to take care of you forever. I'll hand feed you every meal. I'll carry you so you don't have to walk. I'll raise you and spoil you. So, yeah? Won't you say yes?"
A slight chill runs up my spine, knowing that despite his innocent-looking appearance, his fervent eyes means he's serious. Yet, this is the first time Obrecht openly voiced his possessiveness over me.
"Kidding", he laughs it off easily when all I do is silently stare at him. "Haha, you don't have to take my joke seriously ah, Videre."
I'm sitting on the edge of the bed, as he hugs me while he's on his knees. He kisses my cheek and then rubs his face on my shoulder. I get a little bit upset that he just laughed himself off, thus I hold the back of his head, letting the strands of his hair pass through the crevices of my fingers.
"I don't mind. You might not be able to lock me up at the moment because of our current situation, but I can hide my face for you from now on." I take out Father's mask to show him.
"If you give me an inch, aren't you afraid I'll take a mile?" He looks reluctant to cover up my face, like he can't decide whether to hide my face or not.
We stop speaking for a while. I contemplate as he patiently waits for my response.
"Say, if one day I ask for your life, will you give it to me?"
We continue to hold each other's gaze. I've long realized I had a bit of bloodlust. That's why, I wanted to know just how much he can give me. How much I am allowed to take is how much I'll give you back. I know—I might just be a bit of a stingy person after all.
"You don't even need to ask", Obrecht smiles, grabbing my palm and kissing it.
"Really?" I press a shadow blade on his neck, the surrounding walls long covered by dark vines and black wisps. A trickle of blood lines his neck as I tap into his emotions.
"Really."
I see my reflection in Obrecht's eyes.
His tranquil emotions have always been my reassurance. When my darkness disperses, I bow my head and lick the blood on his neck. The beautiful bright beads of red made me lick my lips as I watch his throat knot bob up and down.
Tempting—ah, that's right!
"You! Don't pretend and laugh yourself off like that in front of me for a second time", I scold, displeased.
"I'm sorry." He hugs me. In the end, the person who was being comforted had shifted to me.
A push his forehead with my index finger. "Go finish cleaning your sword, Ob."
"Eehh~" he whines. "Don't want, don't want~!"
"..." Didn't you just proclaim your love for your sword a while ago? You sure act like a child when it's convenient for you.
"Stop scolding me in your head~! Your face has the word 'scold' all over it!"
I pinch his cheeks, stretching them as he makes incoherent words.
"…" If you don't want me to scold you, stop doing things that would make me want to scold you!
Laris hollers from the first floor. He'd been keeping his promise of not disturbing us in the room, but every now and then, he'd snuck up next to me and say things like 'Don't hesitate to tell this big brother if someone forced you, okay?' or 'Big brother has your back, just shout my name' or 'Why don't you sleep with this big brother tonight, Videre?'.
I'm just as speechless when remembering it.
On the first floor, Obrecht hastily wipes away the residue on his blade. We spot Laris standing by the door with two familiar faces. Throughout the span of a few days, the ones tasked to handle the delivery of the potions and materials were exactly them—Afzal and his little guard lover. If I remember correctly, Savella told us his name during the banquet. What was it again?
"Videre", Afzal off-handedly greets, a tad bit reluctant.
If it weren't for Laris, I suppose I would've completely be ignored. Not that I care though. If it weren't for Laris, I wouldn't have cared for their faces anyways. I nod before sitting down in the small living room, not bothering to offer them to sit first.
Obrecht takes a seat on the ground, his sword on his lap as he continues to clean it meticulously. I squint at the 'guests' that glanced at Obrecht, a hint of zemblanity in their gazes.
I see. So it's because he's sitting on the floor. Although this is completely normal in Lumea, especially his proper posture for handling swords that non-bladesmiths aren't aware about. I can tell because I've seen Halvalt crafting and cleaning. Either way, it's only right for a son to take after his father. And for that same reason, these guests' dislike is all the more prickling in my eye. I keep forgetting how people in his continent tend to act so racist like this when they don't even make an effort to understand other people's cultures.
Afzal's lover, the so-called Muse? Moosie? Muzi, I think?—I watch him lean over to whisper something on Afzal's ears. My gut feels as if it suddenly dropped. I really dislike this person.