"I'll just clarify what you just said, Master Irene. Basically, my life was in danger upon setting foot on this mansion? The very beginning where I said, I will start living here?"
"Not really, I'm older so I've got more self-control. However, Clara on the other hand, she's still a young succubus. She's the same as me, but the only difference was that I have a strong mental fortitude than her. She may not look like, but she's only 3 years older than you."
"Seriously? I thought she least 10 years older than me. Why is she not in the academy?"
"It's probably because of her emotionless expression that throws you off, giving a sense of maturity. And, entering the academy for her is a waste of time, that's what she said to me. So, Clara decided to help me by being my informant and for some reason to be my maid too... Clara is not very well... How do I say this... She can't interact with other people that well. That's probably the reason behind it..."
"Yeah, I know."
"Clara can't convey her emotions or what's on her mind properly because of her lack of communication, but I'm not sure of her past since she still hasn't opened up to me yet. I met her during one of my mission in the forest, all alone, skin and bones; naturally, I took her in but upon noticing that she's the same as me. I would say I'm glad I found her first. Come to think of it, you two are very similar when I met you two." Master Irene smiled at me, reminiscing a memory.
How can I ask the fact Clara has been climbing on my bed, doing her deed, and causing a mess on my bedsheet. Moreover, it's more like borderline stuff where I can die. If the things that Master Irene said were true about a succubus and their tendencies to kill people while giving them pleasure. I'm not going to overlook this.
In the end, I questioned Master Irene in a straightforward manner, disrupting her moment. "Can we go back to what we're talking about? About Clara? She has been climbing on my bed for how many months? Or was it always has been that way in the beginning?"
"I ordered her to nourish you by using [Dream Weaver]. But got addicted to using it to you."
"What even is [Dream Weaver]?"
"[Dream Weaver] is a skill that we use to nourish and heal you essentially without using our bodily liquids, but there's a price. Not only it can deplete our mana, but it can also make our minds filled with lust. And then we have [Lucid Dreams] which comes along the [Dream Weaver], essentially the one that's creating your wet dreams. It's a more passive type that occurs every time we fell asleep where the person under it would dream about us. The reason why we don't have neighbors. It's a harmless skill."
"And, that's why I have that vaginal fluid that's on top of me and my bedsheets?"
"Y-You could say so... Even though I already told Clara that it's already fine, after a few months of using it. But Clara got addicted to it. But don't worry, I placed something for her not to go overboard. I'm not going to let something happen to you, of course." Master Irene said with a proud look.
But I still had my suspicions. "Master Irene did you also..." I squinted my eyes on her.
Master Irene flinched and averted her eyes on the side. "Y-Yeah... I-It's feels good..."
"What about the [Lucid Dreams]? Was it really harmless? Tell me the truth."
"Of course—Not really..." Master lowered her gaze. "Once the person is awake, he'll be aroused it's like an aphrodisiac."
Learning this, I finally answered the reason I've had this urges to jerk off every single morning, every time I would wake up. It became essentially a morning ritual to me. I really thought it was my puberty hitting. Since Master Irene is revealing everything, I'm going to confront her on what's the reason why I've never been taught anything, or why she always stays in her office for a week.
"Is that the reason why you haven't taught me anything for the past year because of your own lust?"
"What? No. Why are you— Oh... You want to ask why I'm not instructing you despite my own promise?"
"Yeah, and of course, I have more questions. So don't lie to me now, Master Irene."
"Haah... I've been on a mission for the past year."
"Mission?"
"I'm a saint, Claude. That means I work under the pope. The pope is the one that gave me that title and the reason why I, a succubus can work under the church because I'm working specifically for the pope. The pope is the one responsible for giving the title of saint."
"I didn't know about that, I thought it was just a fancy title that was given to you because of your superb swordsmanship."
"Yes, that's a part too. But, the 'Saint' is not a title that can be given to anyone. It's recognization that the pope values that person highly and is the most trusted person under the pope. They're the ones responsible for executing any given mission by the pope."
"Wait, if you're on a mission how come you can come home?"
"Remember, the high-grade magic stone of teleportation?"
"Ooooh—!"
"Does that answer your question?"
"In summary, you're only going home when you're about to sleep?"
"No, I only go home weekly to check on you two."
"Why didn't you just told me about that? I would understand if you just told me from the start without those excuses. Why do you need to lie about the battle instinct stuff to me?"
"It's a confidential mission, Claude. Why do you think, I explicitly made it look like I'm in my office all the time? It's to fool you into thinking that I'm at my office all day. I need to be sure and not let my guard down."
"Down from what?"
"Memory reading, are you familiar with that?"
"No."
"It's a way of reading one's memory or by entering one's mind. If I can enter your dreams, why wouldn't such a thing exist? It's a common thing."
"W-Why would... Was it related to your mission?"
"Hahaha, why would I tell you that?" Master Irene laughed.
"Then why are you telling me all of this?"
"Because the succubus mark that I gave that gives you immunity from those attacks just bloomed last week. It took almost took forever, I thought it will only take a month but it took a year. Even Stephanie and Jessy even got one."
"Mark? Where?"
"It's on your back waist. Go to the bathroom and look in the mirror."
I stand up from where I'm sitting and went to the bathroom. Removing my shirt, I turned my back around the mirror and saw a black devilish wing marking on my back. I tried scratching it, but it's carved within my skin. After confirming this, I went back to Master Irene.
"What is this marking? Does this give me immunity against mind attacks?"
"Yes. What's more, it also boosts your physical body. That's also the reason, why Clara and I are pouring our life essences on you."
After saying that, I want confirmation by asking Diana.
(Diana, is what Master Irene saying are all true?)
(Yes, she's correct about the thread of life it can kill you—They're strings that connect the body and soul. In your case, for some reason, they're too thin as if you're a newborn baby. About her race, I have little knowledge about it, but I'm certain that the Thread of Life can be tampered with by curses or divinity. If she really came from the demon race, then she must be saying the truth because demons are the only ones who can use curses. But for her case, I don't believe it's a curse because it's completely the opposite. I'm certain she has divinity, not a curse which's really confusing.)
(Are demons like deities like you? And, divinity?)
(No, from what I've read before, they are creatures born from the wicked, sinful gods that birth to those creatures. Divinity is a term of power of the 'light'. I'm not familiar with it because there's really no information about it from the books I've read, but I would say they're a type of mana similar to quintessence. In Avalon, only the seraphs can use 'divinity'.)
(Pouring one's life essence is definitely not true, but absorbing them would be plausible. No one can pour their life essence into people and there's no such thing as overflowing with life essence. It's her divinity that heals you. She probably doesn't know about it. Even Clara has one. Both of them have divinity.)
(Okay. That's interesting... What about the mark?)
(The mark is carved within your soul not only your mind. It's a unique mark because when I saw it, I tried removing it but I can't; probably because it's made from divinity. At first, I thought you also have divinity, but knowing that she's the one who put that mark on you. It all makes sense because I can only sense divinity from the mark alone. Not only that but also the seal that's restricting your quintessence.)
(I see... Thank you for the wonderful information, Diana.)
Back to my conversation with Master Irene.
"Master Irene are you familiar with divinity or curses?"
"Divinity or curses? Are you referring to the term of divinity from gods and curses of demons?"
"Yeah."
"Hahaha, there's no such thing like that. They are only terms, but in truth, they're just mana."
"Do you know anything about it?"
"Why are you asking me that? That came out of the blue, Claude. They're a term used by the church. They don't really hold significant meaning. Do you still have any questions?"
Master Irene doesn't really know what I'm talking about. However, not that Master Irene is already telling me everything. I will take this chance to ask her about last time—About the bet. I did hold a grudge against her that time. I want to let it out of my system, once and for all.
"What about the bet fight with Lily? Was it really just a bet? Because I don't buy the bet at all."
"Well, it's really a piece of useless information anyway; I guess I'll tell you. Rumors are circulating around that I took a disciple, which means you'll be the center of attention from everyone. I took the chance of introducing you by using the banquet."
I expected Master Irene to evade the topic, but she went straight ahead and responded to it.
"Then the king and you had an agreement. You used Lily's jealousy and anger to fight me because that can be used to show my fighting skill to other people in the banquet. You used that because most people at that time realized that I'm manaless, so to compensate, you showed them that I can go toe-to-toe with Lily. Am I right? How can you use Lily like that? And, how can you even be sure that I'm going to win?" I narrowed my eyes.
Master Irene was surprised by my answer. "Hahaha, you got it all right. Well, we don't really expect you to win that fight. We only need to show that you can fight against Lily. The purpose of that is to show that you're not someone to mess with. Lily's more prone to getting caught off-guard the most, that's why the king told Lily more about you. The reason why the king agreed with me. He's too scared of scolding his own daughter. Scared of telling her that being too over-confident can be bad for her. That simple, but he can't do it."
"That's totally expected from how I see Lily, I could tell she's a spoiled princess."
"Hahaha, yeah. When he scolded her about injuring you, he started crying after the call."
"Wow..."
"Are you angry by any chance?" Master Irene looked at me with an anxious look,
"Not really... Well, yeah. At first, I'm enraged and held a grudge against you. But, now realizing that it could be worst for me if that thing didn't happen because once I attended the academy. I would be the center of attention, and of course, discrimination. Not only that, but it's also the purpose of spreading rumors while it's fresh. However, even with that, I can just show it in the academy though?"
"That's not all. The church forced me into that position because they thought it's ruining their image. It's either throwing you off or not. Do you know what's crazy? They're the ones that spread the rumors. Forgive me if it may seem to be that I'm using you for convenience. I completely understand the grudge. The betting part was partly because of the image that I built on the noble society. Sorry." Master Irene stands in her seat and bowed to me deeply.
"I-I didn't think of that..."
After that, I went back to my room and mulled over some things.
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Once all of that ended, we continued with our daily lives and with the training. However, during those days, I asked Master Irene about the academy and her response to that was. "I will let you know someday, but not now. I still need to handle some stuff before anything."
Which of course, I completely understood.
Lily became gentle than before; however, her old prideful, arrogant self is still showing sometimes, but I would always scold her whenever she does, and she seems doesn't mind at all. I'm not the only one who's surprised by it, but also Master Irene.
Nowadays, Master Irene was putting all her time on training both Lily and I, teaching us various kind of techniques, stances, etc.
Lastly, Clara—I've got nothing. She's basically a phantom for me. Scratch that, she's the dangerous one.
After the training, Lily and I got called out to the office by Master Irene. Standing in front of her desk, we waited for Master Irene to speak earnestly. We're like soldiers reporting to their superiors about the situation in the war.
"Lily and Claude, do you guys remember what I said last time about being a partner?"
""Yes."", we answered at the same time.
"I will send you two to join my guild, but since you guys haven't graduated from the academy yet. You two will hide your faces and disguise yourself, okay? Worry not, someone will watch over you two."
"Who?" Lily asked.
"Who else? Clara, of course."
"Thought so..." I said.
"I want you two to explore the outside world and see it for yourselves. Sadly, I can't join you two because of something. Just trust Clara in protecting you two. She's—"
""Yes, she's stronger than us.""
"We already knew that—And, who wouldn't? She always beat the shit out of me and Lily every sparring session, even with our spirits. Clara is a monster, right Lily?"
"Yeah, she's on a different level."
"Of course~ Now, let's get back right to our topic. You two are already registered on my guild, so here are your guild cards. You guys are familiar with the guild ranks, right? But, I'll explain it to you nonetheless, there are classifications of the ranking system which will be Copper, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Obsidian, Mithril, and Adamantine."
We nodded.
"The ranking system of the guild differs from the ranking system of guardian spirits because some people cannot unleash the full potential or ability of their spirits. Remember, the contractor and the spirit are two inseparable duos that work together in unity to create synergy to fight—Guardian spirits are not tools, but your partners for life."
We nodded.
"No matter how great your spirit may be, but if you can't unleash its full potential and its greatness, perhaps something's wrong with you, or maybe even the spirit; however, it's the obligation of the contractor to find the root causes of it and solve it. A person who blames the spirit for its inefficiency is an incompetent person."
We nodded.
"One last thing, every fight you face. Face it with your confidence in your chest and never looked down on the enemy. Once you lower their guard against them, you will die by your own foolishness. Face them with your head held high and defeat them with everything you got. And never forget once you're in a disadvantageous situation and know you can't win—Run. Your life is more important than anything else. Okay? Are we clear about that?"
""Yes!""
"Good. Remember the things I said in your head—Every. Time. Besides that, I will start talking about my observation with your sword training for the past few months. Lily."
"Yes," Lily answered.
"Do you remember yesterday's fight with Claude? You're too eager on perfecting one technique and because of that; Claude took advantage of it, and you lost. Please refrain from doing that. I already explained it to Claude the first time you came here, yet you're doing it. Fights are about survivability. Perfecting one's technique can take years. Don't rush it. You have an outstanding talent in swordsmanship, but don't waste by your own foolishness."
"Sorry." Lily lowered her gaze.
"Next, Claude."
"Yes," I answered.
"Stop overanalyzing everything. Your technique is not bad as it was before, it's decent now, only needs a few tweaks and I'll point it out, tomorrow. You're reading the opponent's movement too much, that you almost forgot what's happening around you. What if there's an incoming enemy on your side?"
"Yes, thank you." I bowed my head.
"Either way, I'm proud of you two. Let's talk about your spirit efficiency. Claude first."
I nodded.
"Be more creative with your spirit's power. Your approach to everything is too direct—In short, you're too predictable. You can summons spears and teleport, but you're not using them efficiently. Your tendency to use similar patterns is so predictable that even a kid would notice it. Change your train of thought when fighting. Teleporting behind your enemies and striking them is good, but it won't work always. Anyway, that's all. Wait, you told me, you're having a hard time teleporting, right?"
"Yes, I'm getting light-headed every time. But, Diana told me I only need to use it more often, so I can get used to it. Once I'm used to it, she said the dizziness will be gone in no time."
"I understand. Then, Lily."
"Yes."
"Be resourceful on using your spirit. You're using large amounts of mana when the situation doesn't need to—Refrain from being stylish. Preserve your mana. What if you fought one person, but another one shows up? And since you already used up all of your mana. What do you think would happen to you? Because of your attitude when fighting, you're at risk of killing yourself by your own foolishness. You and Claude need to reflect on what I said today, okay?"
""Yes."" Lily and I answered.
As we're about to head out of Master Irene's office, I got called out.
"Claude, stay here. I need to talk with you."
"Okay."
Lily nodded on her way out, leaving me and Master Irene in the room.
"What is it, Master Irene?"
"It's about Lily."
"Lily?"
"Yes, I want you to handle Lily's attitude problems from here onward. She's too arrogant and entitled, that it's making me worried; her attitude can cause problems for herself and as well to her Elven kingdom. Even when you told me last time, that she's changing—I just don't see it. For that reason, I entrust you to controlling her behavior. Surprisingly, she listens to you despite being a male and a human. Plus, I don't think I'm fit for the job. That's why I'm entrusting it to you. Sorry, about that."
"Uh-huh... Basically, I'm a parent now?"
"You can think of it that way. Tomorrow, go outside and have a relaxing day. Also, bring Lily with you along the way. Okay?"
"Fine... Do Lily and I need to disguise ourselves?"
"Of course, you two will get too much attention, especially Lily. Never let her ears be shown in public. You've already known the reason why I'm hiding your identity right?"
"Yes, it's because of politics related to the Belmont Family."
"Good. Even though I have the title of a saint, that doesn't mean I have the power to control everything. We don't want to get into trouble with your old family as they're still a powerful family regardless. Politics are too complicated to talk about."
"Yes." I nodded.