"You took care of the Succubus… by yourself?" Alfred looked up from his report.
"Yes, I did," Raza nodded. " I also ran into ambassador Allura Lustenfallen," Raza reported
"Of course you did," Alfred sighed.
'This kid may be a better investment than I thought. This mission was rated as hazardous, yet he single-handedly defeated all of the Succubus while appearing before Allura Lustenfallen! If I knew that he was this capable, I would have given him a harder mission… but he looks tired,' Alfred thought to himself.
Raza on the other hand just wanted to go to his room and sleep. He was absolutely exhausted.
"Good work, Raza. You already did a lot in terms of making a name for yourself. You should go and get some rest. I will contact you when I have another mission."
"Very well. If you'll excuse me," Raza bowed before leaving Alfred's office.
He wasted no time in returning back to his dorm. This time, he took a carriage back to campus. Raza fought the urge to fall asleep, but it was progressively getting harder. When the carriage arrived at its destination, Raza went straight to his room.
"Drifa! You have to make sure to beat all of the lumps out of the batter!"
"O-okay… Like this?"
"Yup!"
Raza was able to hear voices coming to his room. He sighed. He made a mental note to replace the lock on his door so that Leora and Drifa couldn't enter whenever they wished. Raza opened the door.
"After we finish… Oh, Raza!" Leora ran around the counter and hugged Raza. "I'm so glad that you're back!"
The moment Leora saw Raza in his tired state, she moved to take advantage of it, and it worked. Raza was too tired to stop her advances.
"Hello, Raza. My father sent word that you have returned, so we wanted to surprise you," Drifa explained. "Pardon our intrusion."
"I see… you may continue," Raza sighed as he walked to his room.
The two girls looked at him curiously as he went straight to his room and closed the door. Raza didn't make a smart remark or complain or anything.
As Raza plopped himself on his bed, he realized he was even more tired than he thought. It was like he hadn't slept in days, but that was far from the truth. In addition to his physical fatigue, Raza was also carrying a lot of emotional baggage. He was confused about his emotional state and the hole feeling in his chest. The killing spree that Raza went on had yet to bother him.
Meanwhile, Leora and Drifa continued baking. Leora was worried about Raza, and this was showing in her loss of enthusiasm. Drifa noticed this, so she decided to speak up.
"Leora, are you okay?" Drifa placed her hand on Leora's arm.
While Raza was away, the two girls were able to clear up their intentions with their relationship with Raza. Drifa saw Leora hugging Raza to her chest, so she asked if that was what friends do to each other. Upon hearing this, Leora was able to clear up that she loved Raza, thus clearing up any worry that they both had.
Leora wanted to marry Raza while Drifa only wanted to be his friend. The clarity that they gained greatly improved their friendship.
"Y-yeah, I'm okay, but I'm worried about Raza. He looked like he was knocking on Death's door, and it generally makes me feel bad that I can't help him," She shared her thoughts with Drifa.
"Just give it time. I'm sure your feelings will reach Raza eventually. After all, once he considers you family, he would want to spend all of his time with you," Drifa smiled.
She was completely pulling shit from her ass. She was only repeating something similar that she read in a romance novel. Drifa barely understood friendships, much less romantic relationships. For her, it was just a source of entertainment in plays or novels, and this was the closest that she had been to seeing a romantic relationship develop... Even if it was extremely one-sided.
"Thanks, Drifa. That means a lot… But how long are you going to keep your hand on me? It's getting weird," Leora gave a blank stare.
"Oh sorry," Drifa moved her hand. "I read that a few seconds of physical contact is good to help maintain a healthy friendship," She explained.
"You need to throw away those books you're reading."
The two girls stared at each other for a minute before breaking eye contact. They went back to baking their sweets, both nonverbally agreeing to never speak of what just happened again.
Leora and Drifa were able to finish baking before Raza woke up. According to Vivian, Raza's favorite treat was jammed-filled cookies, so the two friends wanted to make some as a welcome present. They weren't expecting Raza to be exhausted from his mission though.
Drifa wanted to stay and help clean up, but she had to study for her political class and she wanted to send a message to her father that Raza arrived. Leora stayed back and began to clean the kitchen. She heard a door open from behind her.
"You baked me cookies, you should let me clean up," Raza said.
Leora jumped up and turned around. She wanted to say something but, Raza was already right behind her. She began to blush as Raza reached forward but was soon disappointed when he only grabbed the rag from her hand.
'Oh...,' She thought.
"I can take it from here. Thank you," Raza said.
Leora was still worried since Raza looked tired. She moved out of the way, but she didn't want to leave just yet.
"Uh… Raza, Drifa, and I wanted you to try our cookies, but they are cold now," She said softly.
Raza looked at her before turning to the tray of cookies. He grabbed one and put it in his mouth. After a moment, he swallowed it.
"It's delicious. Thank you, Leora," Raza actually smiled.
Leora's heart skipped a beat. She couldn't help but be mesmerized by this rare sight. She had no plans on telling Drifa about this moment since she planned to keep this moment to herself. A few moments passed before Raza spoke up.
"Leora…"
She jolted a little bit. She scolded herself for staring at Raza for too long.
'Leora stop being stupid! Raza probably thinks you're a creep now!' She scolded herself.
"What do you think about me?" Raza asked.
This question threw her off. She never once thought about the possibility of Raza lacking confidence. It was the first time that she witnessed Raza being vulnerable, and she did not want to screw it up.
"Uh… um… I…" She was so nervous that she couldn't get a single word out!
The internal scolding continued inside Leora's head, but Raza didn't think anything of her lack of answer. He thought that it must have been too broad of a question, so he decided to narrow it down. Raza looked into Leora's eyes.
"Let me rephrase. If I were the worst, most dangerous person in the world, would you still be able to stand by my side?" Raza asked.
Leora turned even more red, but she was also questioning where this question came from.
'What did Smarus see during his mission? Who did he meet? I never thought that Raza was the type of person to have self-doubt or be underconfident… This is your chance, Leora! You can be open with your feelings' She hyped herself up.
Leora took a step closer to Raza and placed her hand on her chest. Raza looked curiously at her as she leaned her head against his chest.
"Raza, ever since I met you, I decided to stay by your side for the rest of my life," Leora said softly.
A new, unfamiliar feeling grew inside Raza's chest. It was a weird mixture of filling the hole feeling he had and lifting a weight off of his chest. It was a more light, more affectionate feeling. However, because it was unfamiliar, Raza didn't want to give in to it. Not yet.
"I see… Thank you, Leora," Raza moved to get back to cleaning.
To most, it would look like Raza plainly rejected Leora, but she saw it differently. She stared at Raza in disbelief as his back was turned to her.
'Did I… Just make Raza… stutter? Me?' Leora's face broke out into a huge smile. 'I'm finally breaking through Raza! One day he will be mine!' She pumped her chest.
Meanwhile, Raza was thinking something different altogether. His mind was racing.
'Too many unfamiliar things happened in the last day or two. Why did my chest feel like it was tightening, and the feeling of being stabbed through my chest… Why did it feel like it my heart stopped for a brief moment just now? What Leora did… It reminded me of when I first came into this world and Father held me. Am I getting weaker? Or was it because my guard was down? Either way, I can't succumb to this foreign feeling. It must have been a ploy to get me to lower my defenses altogether. Thank you, Leora, for showing me my weaknesses,' Raza mentally reasoned.
Raza continued to clean while Leora hummed to herself.