Letting Arga sleep, Ertex went to take a shower, wanting to wash away the sweat. After changing his clothes, not feeling like sleeping, he went outside, lighting a cigar.
It was still nighttime. A cool breeze was shaking the leaves. He began walking, glancing at every house, seemingly looking for something. Or someone. Ertex saw the house the woman from earlier, along with her little team, slept at.
It seemed she wasn't the person he was looking for, not stopping there. After checking every house, he was slightly dissatisfied.
Blowing out the smoke, he suddenly teleported somewhere.
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.
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"Hello!"
He arrived in the same place where he first encountered the blurry woman. Startled, she quickly turned towards him, breathing a sigh of realief after she saw who came.
"For fuck's sake, don't do that again!"
"My bad, my bad. I just have a question."
"What do you want?"
"How many times does someone need to be acknowledged to reach this place?"
"Nobody summoned was ever acknowledged enough to arrive here, but since you asked, it'll be alot. Hundreds of times. Why?"
Ertex clicked his tongue, throwing the cigar and stepping on it.
"Help me find someone."
The woman rose an eyebrow, intrigued.
"Who?"
"I don't know her name, I just vaguely remember her appearance. Long purple hair, purple eyes, a mole under her lower lip and she had a weird tattoo all over her neck. I..."
He paused for a moment, scratching his left palm. The woman didn't feel like anything had changed about him, but she could see something was wrong.
"... remember for a fact she was using a black lip gloss."
After thinking for a while, she frowned.
"I know someone that perfectly matches your description, but she doesn't have a tattoo."
"Where is she?"
The woman squinted her eyes.
"... What do you want from her?"
"Since she probably isn't the one I'm looking for, nothing. I just want to ask her something."
"I didn't see her in a while. I'll tell you when I find her, but I have to warn you. She's... complicated."
"That's alright. I'll take my leave now, but do tell your little friend right there to stop hiding whenever I come here. She's not doing a particularly good job."
Ertex left, leaving the woman laughing.
"You've heard him."
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By the time he returned, the sun was already up. It seems that time flies faster here than where that woman stays. He was slowly walking towards his house, looking around in hope he'll see something interesting, but nothing. Even Tiana wasn't in that house anymore.
Maybe it was still too early.
Entering the house and going into the room he was last night, he saw Arga waking up. Lying down on the bed, he grabbed her by her waist and placed her on top of him.
"Good morning!"
She only nodded, snuggling against his neck as he stroked her back.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah."
They stayed in that position for a while, until Arga got up, sitting on his pelvis and scratching her eye while Ertex rested his hands on her bare thighs since she was still naked, sometimes squeezing them.
"Looking good!"
She felt her cheeks slightly burn, even more so after remembering what happened last night. But she didn't cower or cover herself. She was way past that age.
"Hey..."
"Yeah?"
She looked him in the eye, not knowing how to ask.
"What... are we right now?"
He made circles on her thighs before getting up and leaning on the headboard.
"Mother and son. Why? Do you want us to be more than that?"
Their faces were inches apart. He saw the hope in her eyes that she was clinging to suddenly disappear.
"No, forget it. I'm going to take a shower."
She wanted to get up and leave, but Ertex wrapped his hands around her waist and put his chin on her shoulder.
"Jeez, I'm just joking. Stop being so depressed... I don't know, nor do I care. We are whatever you want us to be."
Arga felt her heart beating faster as she hid her face in his neck, only to again be disappointed when she remembered what they truly were.
"We'll have to hide out relationship... After all, the others-"
"I'm not gonna hide anything from anyone. You won't, either. If someone's bothering you, just kill them. It's that easy. When we'll get back to that big ass city, I'm telling you no one will care anyway."
'It's not like you truly are..'
"Let's go take a shower now."
Ertex suddenly got up with Arga in his arms, making her yelp and wrap her hands around his neck.
'Right.. I've got nothing to worry about.'
With a smile on her face, Arga let herself be carried to the bathroom.
"Just a shower, Ertex. It still stings."
"Fine, fine."
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Right after they finished changing, someone knocked on the door.
"Fuck! This must be Edna..."
"Just tell her you don't feel like teaching her today."
"I can't do that, she basically begged me yesterday to train her. I'll feel bad if I refuse right now."
"... You'll feel bad, hmm?"
Ertex glanced at her before walking towards the door, with Arga slowly following him as she was limping.
"Are you coming with me?"
"For a short while."
He opened the door just as Edna was about to knock again, catching her in an awkward position. He also saw her mother pretty far away from her, not as interested as her daughter was.
"Ahem... Hi!"
Arga greeted her back while Ertex nodded at her.
"Are you alright? Why are walking like that?"
"I'm fine. Nothing to worry about. Where do we train?"
While she managed to fool Edna, Mary was suspicious about her. She tried to look inside the house but wasn't able to see anything before Ertex closed the door.
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"Hey."
They all followed Edna to a big and empty field, as she told them this wasn't her first time coming to this place. Now Arga was teaching her how to properly utilize her magic power, while Ertex and Mary were watching from afar.
"What?"
The woman was still suspicious about Arga's walk, really hoping the answer wouldn't be the one she had deep in her mind.
"Besides you and your mother, does anyone else live in that house?"
Hearing the emphasis on the word 'mother', he immediately realized what she wanted to know, smiling.
"Nope. Why?"
"I'm just wondering... You... wouldn't, right?"
Ertex laughed, nodding.
"I did!"
Crazy. That man was crazy. Seeing him getting closer, she took a step back.
"T-that's... fucking disgusting!"
He grasped her chin to stop her getting away.
"Do something about it then. Go on. Push me, slap me, punch me, tell your daughter to run from her teacher that's just a disgusting bitch that fucked her son. Anything!"
She didn't. Mary just stood still, avoiding eye contact.
"You won't?"
Ertex chuckled, bringing his face closer.
"Of course you won't! Because you can't! Even if you could, you still wouldn't have done it. Because you, sweetheart, are not disgusted. You are just a jealous bitch. That's all you are! That's all you'll be if you don't change!"
Feeling her heart pumping faster and faster, she tried to take his hand off her chin, but he wouldn't budge.
"W-who would be jealous of such a d-disgusting thing?! Just think about your father!"
He blinked before suddenly started laughing, covering his mouth with his hand.
"Right! My father... He's dead! I watched him die~"
"So that's how you mourn him? Fucking his wife?!"
"No no no. That's not how you should phrase it. I didn't fuck his wife, I fucked my mother. You have to make it sound more disgusting, maybe you'll make yourself feel better. And why should I mourn him anyway? I was the one that killed him."
Too much was happening for Mary. She had no idea that today would be so eventful. Besides the fact that she found out that the man in front of him is crazy and had sex with his own mother, he is also a murderer.
"... Why?"
"He was a really, really bad guy, you know? He did lots of bad things. As the good guy, I had to punish the evil one!"
"And why... are you telling me all of this?"
He once again closed the distance between their faces.
"Because you asked, and because I know you wouldn't do anything. I told you everything bad about me... aren't I just the perfect guy? Make me pay attention to you, and I may make your little dreams become reality."
He straightened up, slapping her ass as he walked past her.
"It is that easy."
Mary was left alone with a burning face, not knowing what to do.
Ertex once again disappeared since he heard someone earlier.
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"I have found her."