By the time Esme shows up downstairs with a groggy look on her face, the girls are almost finished with their food, and Sincir has already started with his dishes…

  He could cast cleaning spells to do them, of course, but doing that would be more work than simply doing them by hand... Spells are not as easy to cast as they may seem for an observer, or the girls would’ve become expert mages, by now.

  “…Morning,” Esme murmurs as she sits by the table next to Ena, staring at the wood dreamily.

  Since she missed her already prepared pte of eggs, Eleanor slides it in her direction while returning her greeting, causing Esme to blink toward the pte now in front of her.

  “What… What time is it?” she murmurs after throwing Eleanor a thanks.

  Ena smiles at her. “A bit past sunup. I thought you had fallen asleep again... Almost had to sp you to get you to open your eyes.”

  Esme groans, then grimaces as she begrudgingly grabs her fork. “What sort of inhuman creatures get up at sunrise… I’m used to my shift starting at lunch.”

  “Your food must’ve gone cold by now,” Sincir adds with a chuckle, “Should I cast a spell to heat it up?”

  “You cooked it…?” Esme asks as she takes a first, hesitant bite, “Hey, it’s not bad!”

  While he is not as good a cook as Eleanor or Ena, Sincir put some effort into learning how to do it during these past five years, so his cooking is at least decent enough to be eaten...

  Once the girls finish eating, Sincir does in their dishes as well, while they both head outside to start their morning routine. Today, Eleanor promised Ena she’d teach her how to care for her new gear, and to say the half-elf is excited over the prospect would a gross understatement.

  By the time Esme is done eating, he has also finished the dishes (except for her pte, of course), her eyes following him through the kitchen as he puts everything back in its pce.

  He smiles at her. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like a sack of thrash, left in the sun for too long.”

  Sincir chuckles. “Sorry. I didn’t really intend for him to bite you, you know? I was surprised when you offered.”

  Esme sighs. “He looked so… Scared. I felt I was doing something bad to him… And then I became curious to know how it’d feel.”

  “I saw it… You really drove him crazy. How was it? The bite?”

  Esme presses her lips together, though for her credit, she doesn’t aver her eyes from his as she expins, “Like having a piece of my Soul taken away, then repced with honey. I know I came at some point, but it wasn’t like having a normal orgasm… I’m not sure I can expin it.”

  Sincir hums as he leans against the oven and crosses his arms. “If it’s that good, I might have to give it a try, at some point… Though, I heard vampire bites can be addicting. Are you feeling any particur cravings for Collin’s teeth?”

  Esme grimaces, her face growing slightly redder. “No. I mean, I wouldn’t mind if he bit me again, once I’m recovered from the first one, I guess, but I don’t think I’m addicted to it.”

  Sincir nods. “Okay. Be sure to tell me if you’re thinking about becoming a vampire junky.”

  Esme rolls her eyes. “What for? Is there a spell for that?”

  “Yep; It’s called four weeks in the basement, followed by never ying eyes on another vampire again.”

  She snorts. “Hirious. I think I’d rather just accept my fate and become Collin’s human servant, at that point… Is it true you gain immortality from becoming one?”

  “I guess? You’d stop aging, at least, but you’d have to give up your freedom for it. Collin would be able to order you to do anything he wanted.”

  Esme smirks, narrowing her eyes at him. “Jealous?”

  Sincir snorts. “Not really. It’s your choice, but keep it in mind, people change over time, and being tied to someone forever might become an unbearable curse, a couple of centuries in… Though I assume there must be some way to break the bond between vampire and servant out there. Do you want me to ask Collin, next time I see him?”

  Esme blinks. “Wait, you’re serious?”

  Sincir rises an eyebrow at her. “I know it’s a bit earlier to be making any eternity-sting decisions, but perpetual youth is one of a hell of a wedding bonus, and it can’t hurt to be informed on the subject.”

  “…I suppose,” Esme murmurs, “Would… Would I still be your girl, if I was married to Collin?”

  Sincir snorts. “If the both of you were okay with it, then sure. I’m honestly surprise you still want anything to do with me, after what happened.”

  Esme grimaces. “Two-thousand-years-old demon… I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”

  Smiling, Sincir straightens himself, walking up her seat as he leans over and pces a peck against her lips; Well, he intended for a peck, anyway, but Esme grabs his shirt when he is about to back away, all but shoving her tongue into his mouth…

  The kiss sts for a while, since Sincir doesn’t resist her, and they’re both panting slightly by the time Esme finally releases of his shirt, brown eyes gleaming intensely as they remain locked against his for a moment.

  “…Horny girl.”

  “Isn’t that why you like me?” Esme murmurs.

  “True enough,” Sincir murmurs with a chuckle as he straightens himself, grabbing her dirty pte in the process, then heads to clean it as well. “Anything in specific you still want to know, after st night?”

  “Did you quit working at Inquiry?”

  “Yeah, there’s no way I’d have been able to keep working there… And I was already about to quit, anyway. I’ll start as an adventurer at the Explorers Guild today, with the girls… Well, Eleanor was already working there for a year, but Ena will start with me.”

  “Have you really been training them to fight since they were kids?”

  “Teenagers, but sure. Originally, I never pnned to take it this far, but one thing led to another… Anyway, you heard most of the story from them yesterday.”

  Once Esme grows quiet, he throws her a gnce over his shoulder. “What?”

  “So, I’ll just stay here by myself, the whole day? Locked at home, like some trophy wife?” she asks, scowling at him as she does so.

  Sincir rolls his eyes. “Stop being dramatic. I was going to ask you to clean the house, so you’ll at least have something to do…”

  Once Esme’s eyes widen incredulously at him, Sincir ughs.

  “I’m joking. While the house could use some cleaning, I was going to ask you to write me a list of the things you want brought from the library, including some books to help you pass the time. I’ll walk by there with the girls on our way back, so please write it before we leave... I know you’ll be lonely and bored today, but it’s temporary, and you’ll survive it.”

  Esme grimaces. “The tomes I work on restoring can’t really be brought over, but I guess it’ll help to have something to read… And my money. Sorry, I’m sounding ungrateful, aren’t I? It wasn’t your fault the library turned out to be a vampire den.”

  “It’s fine... The fact you became involved was actually my fault; If not for your connection with me, and me having provoked Victoria, they’d have left you alone.”

  Having finished with her pte, Sincir walks up to her again, then sits on the chair next to Esme’s, pcing his hand against her knee comfortingly and meeting her eyes as he does.

  “Esme, look… I know this was sudden, and your life is upside-down right now, but the house is magically protected, so I’ll ask you to stay inside until things are safe. I’ve kept a low profile until now, but from now on, I’ll probably make some enemies, and your mind is unprotected against magical mind reading… I don’t want you to become a hostage again.”

  Esme licks her lips nervously. “Is it always going to be like this? Am I always going to be afraid to go outside for as long as I’m your girlfriend?”

  “No,” Sincir tells her seriously, “One day, I’ll have a kingdom, and you’ll be able to walk down its streets, as much as you want… Though you’ll probably had to take some guards with you, in the case of assassins.”

  Esme grimaces again. “That’s the same fucking thing.”

  Sincir smiles at her. “Then how about this? In our capital, I’ll order a library to be build, and it’ll be bigger than Inquiry; Then, once it’s finished, I’ll give it to you. How does that sound? You can lock yourself in the lowest level, surrounded by a harem of cute vampire boys, and never see the sunlight again.”

  Esme sighs. “I don’t hate the sunlight, you know? More importantly… If that happens, am I ever going to see you?”

  Of everything he said, is that really the most important part for her…?

  “I promise I’ll visit, whenever I have time.”

  “At least once a day?”

  “…At least once a week, unless I’m a traveling. It might not look like it, but being a king is a lot of work, especially in the beginning.”

  Esme sighs again. “I guess I’ll have to content myself with that.”

  Sincir smiles at her. “Then it’s a promise. In return, can you promise me you’ll behave, meanwhile?”

  “You’re not exactly giving me much choice, but sure.”

  “Thank you. You’re an awesome girl, did you know that?”

  “For a slippery, maniputive bastard like you, I bet a pushover like me is the best find,” Esme murmurs drily.

  “Don’t forget pervert,” Sincir adds as he kisses her again - just a peck, this time - then rises. “Write me the list, okay? Me and the girls will leave in a couple of hours… Oh, and both the bathhouse and the toilet are outside in the backyard; You can see them through the window. Also, if you want to watch me and the girls training, don’t be shy... We wouldn’t mind having you there.”

  Esme hesitates. “Thank you, but I think I’m heading back to bed for a while. I don’t think I can st through the rest of the day as I am right now.”

  Sincir nods. “We’ll probably not be back until sundown, but you’re free to treat this as your own house, meanwhile… Except for the door. If somebody knocks, ignore it.”

  Esme rolls her eyes. “Yes, master.”

  “Stop it… I’ll head outside now, okay? Have a nice sleep.”

  Having said as much, Sincir leaves Esme to her own devices; Hopefully, she’ll be able to find where they keep the quill and parchment.

  At their yard, he finds both Eleanor and Ena on their leather armors as Eleanor tries to teach Ena how to care for a sword... Ena seems to be having problems with it.

  “Do I really have to do this every morning?” she groans.

  “If you want to keep it from rusting and then breaking,” Eleanor retorts, not even looking at her as she does so.

  In spite of what happened in between them, Eleanor seems to taking things well enough… If you ignore the fact she has yet to meet his gaze or speak to him even once after coming down to eat, that is.

  If she keeps this up, Ena will eventually notice something is wrong, so he hopes she gets her act together soon; After all, they’ll be spending the whole day together.

  “Why do I have to care for a stupid sword…?” Ena grumbles.

  “Other weapons would be even harder to care for,” Sincir says as he approaches the two of them, “You’re still going on about that?”

  Ena pauses her oil coating to gre at him. “I dreamed I was sying a dragon; Except, I was a cool axe wielder in it. Now my dream will never come true, thanks to you.”

  Sincir ughs. “If you ever meet a dragon, I’d recommend keeping your head lowered and continuing to walk; They tend not to take kindly to wannabe heroes, and I’d pce my bets on the dragon, regardless of the weapon you use.”

  Ena sticks her tongue at him. “If I had an axe, I could do it.”

  Sincir rolls his eyes. “Of course you could… Are you ready to start?”

  Normally, Sincir spends half an hour or so teaching them a couple of magical characters, before their physical training, so their breakfast will have time to settle... Not complete spells, mind you, but the characters themselves, and their meanings. For now, such brief and incomplete magical education allows only for party tricks, such as when Eleanor imitated him and called the wind to pull one of the wooden swords into her grip, but it’ll eventually allow them to cast magic much more fluidly than mages who only learn how to cast complete spells, without understanding the process behind them…

  After five years of brief csses, they’ve just about covered the characters of the wind, water, and ice schools; Or at least, the ones Varzath knew of. The girls are supposed to brush on the knowledge during their downtime... Not that they had much of it up until now, unfortunately.

  “…Say, Sin, if I combine the wind rune with left, right, and down, I could create a whirlwind?” Ena asks, near the end of their improvised css.

  “Plus the rune for movement, but yes, that is one of the ways of doing it. However, remember, simple combinations create simple, rigid spells. If you wanted to move your whirlwind, Ena, you’d have to add the characters for control, stability, and gradual growth… And if you wanted it to cause significant damage, you’d probably have to add some fire or ice characters to the mix.”

  Ena groans. “That many? Keeping more than two or three characters in mind at the same time is already so much work… I can’t fathom being able to use magic as you do.”

  “You’ll get there,” Sincir promises, waving his hand as he casts a simple earth spell to erase the characters he drew on the ground during the past forty minutes or so, “And with this, I think we’re ready to start on our next school. Do either of you have a particur preference?”

  Ena’s hand shoots up, while Eleanor rolls her eyes.

  “…Yes, Ena?”

  “Thunder School!” the half-elf excims, smiling excitedly as she does so.

  “Are you sure? By your previous question, I see you’re still mostly interested in wind spells... Must destructive wind spells use fire as a backup, and vice-versa.”

  With a disappointed look on her face, Ena slowly lowers her hand. “…Oh. I guess we’re doing fire, then.”

  “You’re an idiot for believing he’d actually let us choose,” Eleanor says, receiving a shoulder shove from Ena in response.

  Seeing them sitting next to each other with their legs crossed, you’d believe they’re best friends, but Sincir didn’t miss the way Eleanor kept dodging Ena’s gaze the whole morning… He supposes she is still feeling guilty for ‘cutting ahead’.

  Since he already said his piece about it early, he’ll let her handle it for now, and hope Ena doesn’t freak out once she realizes they’re fucking; Sincir isn’t so stupid as to believe the chances of her not freaking out are very high, though. One way or another, even if Eleanor is wrong about her liking him romantically, her feelings will still be hurt for being the one left out.

  Should he just go ahead and tell her, before she can have a chance to figure it out on her own…?

  Well, it has been less than a day, so there’s still some time to decide.

  “…Sin? Did you hear what I said?”

  Realizing the girls are both staring at him now, Sincir blinks. “Sorry, what was that? I was thinking about our next css.”

  “I said I should probably get a feel for a steel sword before head we head out on the field today. The size is the same, but it’s a lot heavier than our training ones… And I’m also not used to moving in armor.”

  “Of course. I’ll start with Eleanor for now, while you go through your usual warming up routine a couple of times, until you feel like you’re getting used to it, then I’ll spar with you; How does that sound?”

  Ena nods, already rising and heading to grab her sword as she does so.

  Meanwhile, Sincir beckons Eleanor to walk a bit away from Ena, so they’ll all have some space.

  After they’ve both finished warming up, Sincir has Eleanor start with lunges aimed at his vital spots, which he either dodges, or meets with the back of his left hand, driving them away from his body while sshing at her with his own sword...

  A couple of minutes after starting, he realizes she is not really into it, however, unlike usual.

  “Is there something wrong?” he asks as he continues to easily dodge or counter her halfhearted thrusts.

  “Nothing,” Eleanor grunts.

  “C’mon, you can do better than this. How are you doing? Feeling any hot?”

  Eleanor blushes slightly, quickly throwing a gnce in Ena’s direction; Then, once he immediately hits his own wooden sword over her unprotected head, she flinches.

  “Idiot, who said you could stop?”

  Eleanor gres at him, then restarts the exercise, her lunges now much faster. “I’m adding another cuse to our deal.”

  “Too te.”

  “…I fucking hate you so much,” Eleanor grunts at him.

  Seeing as she is finally into it, and now actively trying to hit him, Sincir smiles. “Rex, she can’t hear us from here. And I was seriously asking; How do you feel?”

  Eleanor blushes slightly again. “I don’t know… I keep thinking about everything, but I’m not… I’m not hot anymore, at least. Usually, I have so much drive…”

  Sincir nods. “We should keep track of how long it takes for your fire to reignite. It might be wise to keep it lit, at least during the day… What do you say of keeping our dates to before you go to sleep? That way, you’ll be able to sleep better, and still have some fire left to get through the day.”

  “…Fine,” Eleanor agrees with another grunt, after a couple more thrusts.

  Sincir ughs softly over her obvious frustration, but, having achieved his object of railing her up, he doesn’t push her beyond this point. After a while, they switch positions, and he is the one who thrusts at her, while having her dodge or counter his blows.

  “Say, if you manage to dodge all of them, I’ll use my mouth on you tonight,” Sincir tells her, causing Eleanor to gre at him again.

  “Would you stop being a horny dog, for even a second?” she grunts.

  Sincir rises an eyebrow. “You don’t want it?”

  Eleanor grimaces. “What happens if I don’t dodge all of them?”

  “I won’t touch you, and you’ll finger yourself as I watch.”

  Eleanor clenches her jaw. “Fine.”

  Sincir chuckles. “Ready? I’ll increase the pace now.”

  “What?! You-”

  Eleanor sts about a minute before the first lunge hits her in the stomach, which is probably her record.

  Seeing the utterly furious look she throws him while bending over slightly, Sincir shrugs, ughing. “Bme your own weakness, love, not me.”

  “Don’t call me love,” Eleanor grunts at him.

  “Sorry, old habit. Do you need me to cast a healing a spell?”

  Eleanor shakes her head as she straightens herself. “It’s fine.”

  Since the purpose of the exercise is to strike at the enemy’s vitals, he was aiming for the gaps in her armor... For a moment there, he thought she might actually pull through the whole thing without getting hit a single time, so he ended up striking her a bit harder than intended.

  If Eleanor was trying to hit him before, once they switch again, she is giving her absolute best to do so, wooden sword lunging at his vitals with deadly precision at every strike.

  “You’re still giving too much of a warning before each lunge,” he corrects her, “Remember, start from a neutral position, so they won’t see it coming… Put your back behind it, but not your legs, unless you’re absolutely sure it’ll hit; You’ll want to be able to dodge back, in the case of a miss.”

  Having said as much, Sincir sps Eleanor’s sword aside with the back of his hand, then swings his own against her shoulder.

  “See? You stepped in too far, and so you couldn’t dodge that... Again.”

  Their training continues like this for a while, and they’re both sweating by the time Ena finally comes for her turn.

  At this point, Sincir sends Eleanor to do some magical training instead. Unlike the mana training they do at night, this is what the girls having been doing in order to learn to cast a particur spell… In other words, it is repetition, intended on helping them train their mana control, casting speed, aim, etc...

  Currently, Eleanor knows a single attack spell, and Sincir wasn’t the one to teach it to her; Rather, she learned from it from Father Anders before they met, and combined with the simple healing spells he also thought her, Eleanor is considerable ahead of Ena in the number of spells she knows, but only slightly ahead in terms of casting speed and combat prowess.

  Eleanor's attack spell also happens to be the one she used against him when they met at the orphanage’s ceiling, a holly spell which doesn’t feel much different from being hit by cup of hot oil, and after five years of practice, she has become quite good at shooting it with her free hand during combat; As instructed by him, both Ena and her always practice casting spells with their left hand, since they’re a bit far from the point where they’ll be able to cast anything without moving their hands at all…

  “Hey, how long are you going to keep checking her out for?” Ena calls out to him, having clearly grown impatient.

  Sincir rolls his eyes and suddenly steps back, dodging a sword swing from Ena, then aside as she swings at him again, smiling wildly all the while.

  “Damn it! You’ve got eyes on the back of your head or something?!”

  This brat…

  Preparing his own wooden sword, Sincir shakes his head at her. During all of their years of training, she has been able to hit him on occasion; After all, he’s not perfect, and Ena is a fast, relentless fighter.

  That being said, compared to Eleanor, Ena thinks a lot less as she fights, reying on her experience and instincts, rather than complicated strategies, to push forward. In virtue of that, Sincir has a lot less trouble against her than he does against Eleanor...

  To put it simply, pying with her is a fun time, even if she is often intended on actually hitting him… Well, it wouldn’t make for very good training if she wasn’t, now, would it?

  JBDantas

  Additional Info I: Currently, Eleanor knows a holy attack spell (small ball of heat that feels like burning oil if it hits), some simple healing spells, also holy, a speed buffing wind spell which Varzath taught her, and a strength buffing earth spell which he also taught her. Additionally, her mana sts for about ten minutes of holding a grade C buff.

  In comparison, Ena knows a speed buffing wind spell, and a shock-wave wind spell which serves both as a projectile deterrent as well as a way to take an opponent off their feet, both which Varzath has taught her.

  Her mana is about the same as Eleanor's.

  Besides that, they're both protected by simple Mind Shields, and they're able to cast Mana Shields as well, these being the first spells almost all mages learn.

  Additional Info II: Mana Shields and Mind Shields are simir in that they can be cast in many forms, varying from basic to advanced spells. However, in virtue of their purpose, even the most basic Mind Shields are designed to stay up without an active effort on part of their users (or it’d simply deactivate while they sleep, making for a rather useless spell), which means they are fairly complicated spells even in their most simple form. For that reason, it is common for a more experienced mage to aid an apprentice during their first Mind Shield casting.

  On a diffent note, it is worth to mention that duo the complexity and rarity of Mind Magic, it is not uncommon for a mage to go their entire lives without having theirs challenged. This fact causes many of them to never graduate from their initial Mind Shields (either by choice or because they’ve never had the opportunity to learn anything more advanced), a mistake which they may pay for dearly one day.

  Additional Info III: Regarding immortality (at least when it comes to not aging), there are a couple of ways for the mortal species to get there.

  Becoming a vampire's servant is one of them, as mentioned. Some extremely rare magical pnts, elixirs, or artifacts, can also make someone immortal, though many of them come with undesired side effects.

  Other than that, contracting with a powerful enough demon is an option, and high echelon holy spells can extend a creature's lifespan up to a couple hundred years (which always makes it easy for the church to make money) but not indefinitely.

  Since Sincir's human body is still very young, stopping his aging has not been something he is overly concerned about, but it is one of his objectives for the future, for obvious reasons.

  [colpse]