"If you're so strong then why don't you... you know." It gets awkward as I desperately want to ask her about the reason for her silence, but can't bring myself to just up and do it.
Zutiria, at least, takes it on herself to answer me. 'Speech is a very scary thing, Guild Master. Words don't always mean what you think they mean, and once spoken they can never be unspoken. You have to live the rest of your life with the reality of your words... knowing you chose them and could have at any time chosen better ones, or better yet, chosen to have never said a single thing at all.'
Even though I cannot hear her voice, I feel the pain behind the words she so delicately chose. "Shit. You really are older than me, huh...?" I nervously laugh out of embarrassment. "That was really well 'spoken'."
Sam takes on a defensive, angry look and glares at me for the first time in our relationship. She pulls the emotionless doll into her bouncing titties and cradles her like one would a frightened animal. "STOP BEING MEAN TO ZUZU, BOSS! You're making her sad!"
'I am fine.' Zutiria confirms and looks up at Sam, face turning blue from lack of air thanks to Sam's deathly tit squeeze. The Princess releases her and Zuzu gasps for air, giving me the first tiny hint of her soft, breathy voice.
"I promise I'm not normally this rude, Miss. You see, my Guild is in ruins and I was told we'd have a powerful new recruit coming to stay with us... I was hoping that... well, you'd be able to help bring in more income here." I sigh, and catch Sam looking a bit upset, too. She clearly feels bad about bringing someone 'useless' to my attention but I've already found myself taken with the little mage. She's charming, elegant, incredibly knowledgeable and cute as a button to boot.
I'm not about to go kicking her out over something stupid like how useful she is or not.
Then, to my surprise, Zutiria manifests a new set of words for me to read. 'Would you like a demonstration of my powers?'
"Sure, I- yeah. Yeah that would be nice." I nod my head and place my glasses back on in the event that either girl leaves my line of sight. "Follow me, please."
To my surprise, as I turn to lead them away the petite girl grabs ahold of my hand, clutching at it with her tiny fingers. She smiles up at me- an actual smile- and the words 'Thank you for dinner, Sir. You are a wonderful chef.' appear for me to read. With her free hand she summons her staff and begins to walk forward with me in tow as she does so.
I blush. Hard. She's something completely different to Sam, I don't think the brash tomboy could elicit this kind of reaction from me whatsoever, but Zutiria is infectiously cute and it's hard for my bitter, cynical heart not to melt when she looks at me that way.
Sam follows us and giggles, sporting a shiteating grin. "I think Daddy likes you, Zuzu."
"Sam-" I fight the urge to call her a little brat but I'm interrupted by Zutiria once more.
'That's ok. I think I like him, too.' As she says this her face goes back to its typical neutral expression making her as hard to read as ever. What an adorable mystery.
I lead the girls out back where we used to have a small training ground set up for when the Guild was more active. Like the rest of this place, I stopped giving a shit a few years back and most of the equipment was strewn all around haphazardly. Now, only a single training dummy stood a vigilant watch over the perimeter.
I bow and point towards the dummy, offering it to Zutiria. "Feel free to have at it, use a low level spell if it's easier for you."
Sam apparently does not save her love taps exclusively for me, and playfully punches the little mage in the shoulder. "You got this, Zuzu!" She cheers her on, despite the poor target wincing in tremendous pain as the punch connects. Zutiria clearly is much, much more delicate than I am and Sam's cluelessness baffles me to the point of a deep sigh.
'Alright, thank you, Sir. I'll use an entry level fire spell, then.' Burnhit. Zutiria raises her heart staff and I can feel the distinct, powerful sensation of mana pulsing through the air. What happens next is thoroughly underwhelming.
The little mage closes her eyes and I assume recites the incantation mentally. She points her magic staff at the training dummy and a tiny little ember of fire no larger than a lemon bursts into existence at the tippy top.
Instead of shooting, it lazily glides over to its target and poofs up into a very, very tiny explosion. No damage was done to the dummy besides the tiniest of scorch marks, and it lives to take damage another day.
Zutiria, for whatever reason, makes a determined face and pumps her fist into the air as if congratulating herself. A proud little blush appears on her cheeks and Sam rushes to celebrate her enormous accomplishment.
"Great job, Zuzu! You did really good for not using the incantation or whatever!" Her highness hoists the little mage up into the air and hugs her. Zutiria shows no reaction.
"That... was not good. I'm sorry, Zutiria." I'm trying my best not to sound disappointed or rude. Maybe her non verbal magic will get stronger after she's had my semen? Yes, I have to focus on the positives here. I'm a smart man. Zutiria, like Sam, is a new weapon for me to utilize. I can work with this, neither of them are perfect but if I can work on Sam's faults then why not this girl's?
Then, Zutiria says something that surprises both myself and the young Princess. She struggles and holds on tightly to her staff with both of her tiny hands, and a small bead of sweat forms on her forehead. Her eyes stare down to the dirty earth of the training grounds below, and her lips tremble as if trying to open them but failing very hard.
'Sir. I'm sorry to have failed you- especially after everything you've already done for me. Giving me a place in your home and a job, making me a delicious dinner, and most importantly, taking care of my dear Sammy. It's more than someone like me deserves. So I would like you to witness as I... attempt... to speak... out loud.'
Sam's eyes shoot open wide as can be and she looks to the mage. "WHOA whoa whoa- Zuzu you don't have to do this! I-I've never seen you try to talk a single time in all the years I've known you... you don't need to start now!"
"Zutiria, please don't go out of your way just for my sake!" I rush to her and place my large hands on her tiny shoulders and look her in the eyes. "I'm not going to pretend to know why you stopped talking, but... I'm not worth you hurting yourself over. Don't stress so much about this. It's fine- YOU'RE fine. You're welcome to stay with us regardless of your ability."
Zutiria looks up at me with her tranquil, distant gaze and a tiny smile manifests. 'Saying that just makes me want to try even harder, Sir. Move aside.'
Sam and I share a concerned look with each other before nodding.
I move out of the way and feel the air run thick with mana once more as the little one raises her magical staff into the air. I've... never felt such raw, untapped magical power before.
The overwhelming pressure of it causes me to break out in sweat and gasp for breath as the energy washes over me in waves. Zutiria's mouth opens fully, and she takes a deep breath of air herself to match mine, and the tiniest little spark appears at the tip of her magical weapon.
I brace myself for what's about to happen, my eyes pick up all the signs that this is not going to be a tiny little campfire when ignited, it'll be a wicked flame that consumes the world. I almost break down and beg her to stop before she dooms us all, but before I can Zutiria begins to 'speak'.
"...HhhhhhhrrrrIIIIACK!! ACH- GAHCKK! AHHH... Hhhhaaa..." It felt like she was trying to say something but not only did it come out completely wrong, but it caused the poor girl's little vocal cords to have a fit and tear themselves up in a coughing episode.
The spark that would have fueled an inferno dissipates and the mage drops her staff, her hands immediately running straight to her throat and holding it cautiously.
"ZUZU!" Sam rushes back to her side and I'm not far behind.
"You little fool!" I'm struck with worry and drop down on one knee to see eye to eye with her. "I told you not to do this for my sake... I-"
Zutiria smiles up at me- a real, genuine full smile. Her eyes are teary and exhausted but she surprises me deeply by giving me a tiny thumbs up. 'Looks like I still have vocal cords after all, Sir. Just need to keep practicing, I suppose.'
Sam gasps deeply before tearing up herself and bending down, wrapping the three of us together in an intensely savage bear hug from which neither I nor Zutiria can hardly breathe. "I can't believe it, Zuzu, you... you actually tried! And it was so good!!"
"You really weren't kidding about how strong you were. For just a minute there, I could feel it. I feel bad for even doubting you." I laugh and pull out of the hug before it irreparably damaged my rib cage, and reach out to tousle Zutiria's hair the same way I do for Sam.
Zutiria looks up at me though with a curious face, and for a second I think that I upset her. My fears are unfounded when she spells out, 'What do you mean you 'could feel it'...?'
"I could see and feel the mana pressure in the air, and looking at you gave me a pretty good indication that the spell you were preparing was going to be very powerful." I tilt my head and scratch my pointed beard. "You felt it too, right Sam?"
Sam obviously isn't following along with Zutiria's reasoning and doesn't see the big deal, so she casually blows it off. "All I saw was this little cutie raising her staff up. Didn't feel anything off or nothin'. What's the big deal?"
Zutiria studies me once more with fierce determination, almost to the point of unnerving me. Eventually she points to my eyes with her staff and then surprisingly reaches down and grabs my dick as if it were a totally normal thing to do, then asks, 'Are you sure these are the only magic things about you? You're not a mage and you haven't practiced any forms of magic, right? Normal people shouldn't be able to pick up things like that.'
I blush from her spontaneous non-sexual groping of my dick and shake my head. "No, never." A nervous sweat bead falls down my temple for what feels like the millionth time tonight. "It's probably more to do with my eyes, I guess. It's not like I have a manual about them and I've never known the full extent of what I can do, you know."
Zutiria looks to Sam, and then smiles before tugging the warrior's shoulder strap downwards. This makes her lean down low enough that Zutiria can give the young Princess an adorable kiss on her cheek. 'Thank you, Sammy. You've given me the single most exciting research subject I could ever dream of undertaking.'
Sam blushes heavily and plays it off, but seeing her react to the little lavender cutie is adorable. "Oh you know me, I saw this magic fuckin' old dude and was like 'shit I need to tell Zuzu'! No big deal." She laughs and leaves out the part where she deliberately invited her closest companion over with the explicit goal of expanding my fledgling harem.
Zutiria turns to face me once more and a slight blush forms on her cheeks making her look stunningly beautiful when coupled with her cold, icy stare and the pink of her lips. 'I'm sorry, Sir. But now you have my complete attention. I won't be leaving until I know everything there is to know about you, and you won't be able to be rid of me even if you tried.'
The little lady grabs me by my collar and delicately glides me down to her face where she then promptly gifts me the pleasure of her first romantic kiss, and my face burns with embarrassment. Sam over on the sideline giggles and cat-calls us but I'm deaf to her teasing as I kiss Zutiria back.
Her lips are soft- delicate, just like her. Nowhere near as full as Sam's, but they are just as sweet as they meekly tease and play with my own.
Regrettably, our kiss eventually ends and Zutiria looks at me with another of her gentle smiles. Soon afterwards her eyes shine with a quiet, intellectual curiosity. 'Now then- let's start the research. I believe there was a mention of magical semen, yes?'
[Art]