Creatures Lurking in the Dark

Inside Eris's room, there was an awkward atmosphere.

 

Bano and Jenna were sitting next to each other on the couch, and their faces were decorated with awkward smiles.

 

The cups of hot tea in front of them, which Jenna voluntarily made, no longer produced steam. It had gone lukewarm.

 

Bano looked to the side, and coincidentally, Jenna also turned to look at him. Although they didn't say anything and just looked at each other, they could understand each other's feelings right now. It could be said that this was the first time they could understand each other without a word.

 

The reason was nothing grandiose, however, as they both were put in a similar dilemma.

 

It was because of the third person inside the room, the Eternal Witch Eris.

 

At first, they planned to leave right away after having Jenna checked up by Eris, but the latter had another plan for them. The moment she gave Bano the 'magic wand,' she had been talking nonstop about how great and revolutionary this item was. This, they could understand, but then the talk spiraled out of control when the topic changed from what materials were used to make it to the history and evolution of the monster's ecology. The two had been forced to listen to Eris's passionate speech for over 15 minutes. Even now, the person herself showed no sign of stopping anytime soon.

 

"Hey, you have any idea how long that'll last?"  Bano whispered into Jenna's ears as he pointed at Eris, who at one point pulled out a pair of glasses from out of nowhere and a blackboard as she wrote and explained as if she was teaching a class.

 

"You there! Do not interrupt me!"  She pointed at Bano.

 

"S-Sorry!"  Bano straightened up his back.

 

(What the fuck did I get myself into...)  (Bano)

 

"Anyway, where was I? Right... So as the problem with the shortage of food, the Orcs moved to the Southern region, but it was the territory of Direwolf, and so they were forced to contest and occasionally class with each other.........."  Eris went on.

 

Seeing Eris had no intention of stopping, Jenna let out a sigh and took a piece of candy out from her pocket, and stood up.

 

"Um? What's wrong? Need to use the toilet? Can you hold in for a bit? I'm getting to the good part right now."  Eris asked when she saw Jenna walk toward her.

 

"Lady Eris, this is my gratitude for worrying about me when I was feeling unwell."  Jenna lopped the candy she had unwrapped into Eris's petite mouth.

 

"Hm!!?? T-T-This is...!? Isn't this the rare mandarin apple flavor that they limited to only selling 20 bags a week???"  Eris opened her eyes wide as she looked at Jenna.

 

"I'm glad that you like it. I happened to have some from an acquaintance of mine. And also, this too."  Jenna took out a lollipop from her pocket.

 

"W-Whhhaaattt??? You even have the legendary tamarind dynamite that is said only to sell ten a day???!!! Jenna, marry me!!!"  Eris's eyes twinkled when she saw the lollipop and hugged her. With how short Eris was, she could only reach her upper stomach.

 

"She's m–— Ehem. Lady Eris. Please excuse us. We still have your letter to send. You said that it was very urgent, so we should have it sent without any more delays."  Bano almost shouted, 'She's mine,' but somehow managed to stop and suggest a way out of this torturous lecture.

 

"Ah, that's right, there's that matter too. Sorry for keeping you two here. I'm counting on you."  (Eris)

 

"Then, please excuse us."  Bano took Jenna's hand and ran out of the room.

 

"*Giggle* Are you perhaps jealous that Lady Eris proposed to me?" Seeing how flustered Bano was, Jenna smirked and said.

 

"S-Shut it, woman. Let's go quickly. I have to return to my room first to tell my maid about our schedule."  Bano said with a flushed face, which Jenna could easily see despite his back facing her due to how red his ears were.

 

"Okay. But can you let go of my hand now? I can on my own."

Jenna shook the hand that was grabbed by him.

 

"Don't wanna."  Bano curtly rejected.

 

"But the people in the castle may have the wrong idea about us. So please let go of my hand."  (Jenna)

 

"So? Let them; there's nothing wrong with holding my woman's hand."  Bano yanked at her hand, making her stumbled into his arms, and kissed her lightly on the lips. "This is for you being cheeky. Now, let's go."

 

"F-Fine."  This time, it was her turn to flush as she looked at the hand being held by Bano.

 

It didn't help that on the way, they were met with numerous maids and people who worked in the castle. Jenna's face was reddened, and she looked down to avoid meeting with their eyes the entire way, but she could still hear their murmurs and occasionally 'kyaah' noises coming from the gossip-loving maids. There was no doubt rumors about them would spread in no time due to their loose lips.

 

The trip felt painfully long for her, but ultimately, they arrived at his room.

 

"Luna, are you here?"  Bano called out when he entered the room.

 

"Yes, young master."  Luna walked out, holding the clothes she had cleaned and left them dried the previous days.

 

"Oh? Folding laundries?"  (Bano)

 

"Yes, young master. Do you need me for anything?"  (Luna)

 

"Nah~ Once you finish with them, you are free today anything for... hm... let's see... two days should be good. Yup. So after two days, come back to the mansion."  (Bano)

 

"Understood, young master. If someone asks for you, what should I inform them?"  (Luna)

 

"Just tell them that I have some errands to do and will contact them back in two days."  (Bano)

 

"Understood. Have a nice day, young master."  Luna bowed

 

"Hell yeah. It's gonna be one hell of a day for sure. Thanks. See ya."

Bano wrapped his hand around Jenna's hips and walked out of the room, but he stopped short at the entrance before turning back. "Oh, right. I forgot this, just put it in the usual place."  He handed Luna an item wrapped in a piece of cloth and then left the room.

 

When Luna unwrapped the item, she saw the buttplug inside. Her master had told her to put it in the usual place, but that was back inside the mansion. It meant that she had to somehow bring it back from the castle, which was about 20 minutes riding a carriage. But as a maid, if she wasn't going with her master, then she had to go on foot, so it would take about 30 minutes. It wasn't because Bano forbade her; in fact, he clearly said that he didn't mind and she should use it for convenience's sake. But Luna knew the etiquette of the maid, so she declined the offer. She also couldn't risk letting people know that she was carrying a buttplug, or they would talk badly about her master. That was the least desirable outcome she wanted. She could keep it wrapped inside the cloth, but there was always a certain risk of someone bumping into her. Worst case, some unsavory men might approach her, judging from how well her maid clothes were made, and snatch whatever she was carrying.

 

And so, the conclusion Luna arrived at was to keep it inside her butthole as the item was designed to. After skillfully folding all the laundry and putting them back inside the closet, Luna went to the restroom and squatted down to loosen up her anus with her fingers and insert the buttplug, an act that she had gotten used to.

 

Meanwhile, Bano was taking Jenna out on what he called a date.

 

"Let's go grab some grub. All those activities yesterday made me hungry."  (Bano)

 

"You... Before that, have you forgotten something?"  Jenna waved the letter Eris gave her in front of his eyes.

 

"It's fine after we fill up our stomachs, no?

 

I'm famished."  Bano pleaded with a fake smile.

 

"No, we will send this letter first. And that's final!"  (Jenna)

 

"Tsk. Fine. Let's get it over with quickly."  Bank reluctantly agreed.

 

The location was in the downtown area of the capital. To be more precise, it was located between the noble district, where most nobles' residences were, and part of the downtown area where the common people lived. It was a temple built to worship the goddess of this world, and the location was chosen like that because both the nobles and the common people both regularly came to pay their respects to the goddess, and the temple also occasionally held masses and distributed food to the unfortunates. Each country had a main temple built inside its capital, and each temple was headed by a head priest/priestess.

 

The overseer of Lutenburg's main temple was a priestess from the human race in her 30s. Her name was Narita. She had a lovely figure, pink hair, and small round eyes. She was about 160 centimeters tall. Her body was not as well endowed as the woman sitting next to him, but it was still asserting a modest charm with her white and golden veil decorating her head. The traditional priestess clothes also accomplished her beauty by carefully showing her hourglass body line without showing any obscenity. Her clear voice was like a dripping morning dew in a quiet morning that made all the listeners lost in a trance.

 

Bano and Jenna had arrived at the temple.

 

However, there was a morning mass currently in session, so the two had to wait for the priestess to finish while listening to her preaching about the goddess's teaching.

 

All the people in the hall wished that she could continue preaching about the goddess. Unfortunately, the priestess had many duties to fulfill, and the morning mass was scheduled to last for only 30 minutes. But they left with a look of satisfaction, and some of them even discussed with each other the mass they had just attended. However, some of them noticed Jenna on their way out.

 

She arrived when the mass was going on. To not cause any disturbance, she opted to sit at the last row next to the entrance, so when the people left the hall, they would pass by and see her.

 

As she was such a famous person to the populace that no one in Lutenburg did not knew, and her beauty made her very attractive to both the same and opposite sexes, the people passing her would stop and greet her. It was a little uncomfortable for her when so many stopped and greeted her at the same time. But she knew they had no ill wills, so she waved back at them.

 

And then, she realized something. It was too quiet on the seat next to her. She hated to admit it, but she knew Bano too well to know that he would smirk or say something to indicate that she was his woman. But she heard nothing right now. So she turned her head and looked at him.

 

Only to find himself sleeping comfortably with his head propped on his hand.

 

(This bastard... Sleeping so well during the mass.)

 

It couldn't help that Bano would fall asleep during the mass. He had sex with Jenna a night long yesterday. And he would have slept in this morning if Jenna didn't wake him up with a morning fellatio. And so, despite the alluring voice of the priestess, the desire to sleep had, for once, finally won against the desire to lust.

 

When the crowd dispersed after sending their greetings to Jenna, she stood up and moved directly in front of Bano's sleeping face and peered down.

 

"*Sneer* Even you can look cute when sleeping, huh? Is this the face that made countless women fall to their disgrace? Then again, I am one of them, huh?"  Jenna parted his bangs and looked at his face. "At least the face is the only redeeming point, huh? If only the inside was as beautiful..."  She leaned over and lightly pecked at his lips.

 

"Ehem..."  (???)

 

Hearing a throat-clearing sound from behind, Jenna jumped out of her skin and fearfully looked back to see the priestess Narita looking at her with an amusing look on her face.

 

"*Giggle* it seems that spring has finally come to Jenna. O' goddess Retina, thank you for your blessing."  Narita put her hands together and prayed.

 

"T-T-This... I-It's not what it looks like."  Jenna's face instantly turned red.

 

Now that her mind was clear, she couldn't believe what she had just done. She was not the type to express her intimacy in public, yet the moment she saw Bano's sleeping face, she lost all her senses and could only feel love and affection toward him, making her unable to notice the approaching Narita coming from behind.

 

As for Narita, she had seen Jenna with another man the moment they entered the hall. She knew that Jenna rarely came to attend the mass at this hour, so there was a high chance she had some business with her. She was also curious about the gentleman accompanying her. So she waited until the mass was finished and the crow had left before approaching Jenna. But she didn't expect Jenna to be that bold in expressing her feelings in public. From the direction she approached them, she couldn't see the light kiss, but she saw how close their faces were, a distance that any woman would only do to their loved ones. It was really a surprise, knowing how uptight Jenna was. So she was also curious about the gentleman who managed to change her that much.

 

"Nnh? Is it over? *Yawn~*"  Bano slowly opened his eyes and let out a big yawn while stretching his arms and legs.

 

"This idiot! Mind your manner. You are before the priestess!" Jenna turned around and lightly kicked his shin.

 

"Huh?"  Bano looked behind Jenna and saw the priestess chuckling at their interaction.

 

"Oh! A good day to you, priestess Narita. Please pardon my manner."  Bano stood up and bowed lightly while stifling another yawn.

 

"You...! Be more respectful!"  This time, Jenna put more strength into her kick.

 

"Ouch! That's hurt! Stop it, woman! You're gonna leave a bruise."

He fell back to the chair while holding his shin.

 

Now that she had given the man a closer look, she realized the identity of the man who seemed to be Jenna's target of affection. As the head priestess of Lutenburg, she, of course, knew all of the noble houses in the country. The man in front of her was no ordinary noble; he was the heir of the Gremhandlr household, who currently held the position of Minister of Finance.

 

And then, Narita also remembered a long time ago when Jenna consulted and asked her how she felt about Bano Gremhandlr. It was back when Jenna was investigating Bano and his conduct. But as it was an undercover investigation, Jenna could only ask subtly. Combined with the fact that detective work was not her strong point, all Jenna looked to her was like a maiden in love asking about the man she was interested in. At that time, she couldn't answer her question since she was not privy to other's businesses. But then Jenna started to complain to her about how frivolous his lifestyle was and so on. It was like a maiden talking badly about the man she was interested in to keep other women away from him.

 

With no way of knowing the reason behind Narita's chuckles, Jenna flustered as she repeatedly bowed her head to apologize to the priestess.

 

"*Chuckle* Falling asleep during the mass I held, I guess I am still lacking as a priestess to teach about Goddess Retina's teachings."

(Narita)

 

"No no no. Lady priestess, you are not lacking in any way. Especially with how beautiful and lovely your figure is and your clear voice capable of pulling even my soul into your speech."  Bano flashed his usual business smile.

 

"Ara? You are making me a happy woman when you hold me in such high regard."  Narita smiled gently and looked at Jenna. "But it is not good to praise another woman like that when you already have an escort."

 

"W-we are n———"  (Jenna)

 

"Don't worry, Lady priestess. We are lovey-dovey with each other." Bano cut Jenna off and wrapped his hand around her hips, and pulled her closer to him.

 

"*Giggle* I can see that. So, what brings the two lovebirds here today? Do you, perhaps, want to ask me to oversee your wedding ceremony? Of course, it would be my honor."  Narita covered my mouth and smiled mischievously.

 

"Oh! Hahaha. To have such a beautiful Lady priestess oversee our wedding, life can't get any better. Don't you think so too, Jenna?"  (Bano)

 

"Kuh! It's not that. Stop it!"  Jenna covered his mouth. "And Lady Narita, please don't tease me like that."  Jenna flushed as she tried to explain.

 

"Is that so? That's unfortunate. But if you ever need me to overlook your wedding, just say the word. Goddess Retina, who is watching over us, will surely give you her blessings too."  (Narita)

 

"Geez! What's wrong with having a wedding with my woman, huh?"  Bano rubbed his mouth after prying her hand off his face.

 

"Kuh! Just shut up for a moment!"  Jenna glared at him and turned toward Narita. "Anyway! Lady Narita, Lady Eris asks us to send this letter to the Saintess Sera, who is currently in the Elk Holy Kingdom. She says that it is urgent and requests it to be sent on a fast horse."  Jenna handed over the letter to Narita.

 

"From Lady Eris? That is unusual. I understand; I will arrange for it right away. And is there anything else?"  (Narita)

 

"No. I believe that's everything."  Jenna shook her head.

 

"I see. Then please excuse me. I need to go to take care of this. And remember, call me if you lovebirds plan to get married. Have a nice day~"  Narita giggled and walked away.

 

"I will~"  Bano waved back.

 

"You shut up!"  Jenna yelled at him.

 

And then the two left the temple.

 

"Hm? Is that you, Sara?"  Jenna raised her voice when she saw a familiar figure.

 

"Oh? Lady Jenna! What a coincidence meeting you here?"  Sara walked over and bowed. However, she was not alone, as there were two other girls who followed behind and greeted her similarly.

 

The girl on the left was as tall as Sara and had a pair of dog ears and a bushy tail covered in silver hair. She could be easily identified as a member of the Wolf race.

 

The girl on the right was half a head shorter and the most slender of the other trio. She had long blonde hair, green eyes, and pointed ears—a trait of the Elf race.

 

"Are you two perhaps Sara's friends?"  (Jenna)

 

"Good morning, Lady Jenna. My name is Elise. I'm in the same platoon as Sara."  (Elise)

 

"Good day to you, Lady Jenna. My name is Finia. I'm helping out in the orphanage nearby."  (Finia)

 

"Good day to you too. I can see why Sara and Elise are friendly to each other since they work together, but you are also very close to them. Are you three friends?"  (Jenna)

 

"Actually, we all used to live in the same orphanage. So the three of us are like blood-related sisters."  Sara said as she hugged the two girls' shoulders and pulled them closer to her. "Me and Elise are off duty today, so we are coming to the orphanage to help with the work and hang out together later. What about you, Lady Jenna? Are you perhaps on a date?"  Sara took a peek at the man who was standing behind her.

 

"I-I'm n–––"  (Jenna)

 

"That's right, girls! We are going on a date right now."  As if taking a cue, Bano walked up and wrapped his hand around Jenna's waist, and pulled her closer to him, cutting Jenna off the second time she attempted to deny it.

 

"I-I see. I'm so sorry for interrupting your time together. Then please excuse us! Let's go, girls."  Sara took the other two's hands and walked away.

 

"W-Wait, it's not like that..."  Jenna's words couldn't reach them as they had already gone away. "Kuh! What are you doing!?"  She turned around and glared at Bano.

 

"What? Just announcing to the world that you are my woman, that's all. Anyway, let's get something to eat already. I'm so damn hungry."  Bano shrugged. Then he took her hand and led her to his favorite restaurant before she could say anything.

 

Meanwhile, Sara's trio was actually a distance away, peeking at the two.

 

"Uwah... So even Lady Jenna can have such a love-struck expression of a maiden..."  Sara said with a surprised look.

 

"I'm more curious about the man holding her hand."  Elise rubbed her chin and squinted her eyes, looking at their backs.

 

"Isn't that gentleman Sir Gremhandlr?"  Finia closed her eyes as she recalled her memories.

 

"Sir who?"  Elise asked.

 

"You know, Sir Gremhandlr. His father is the Minister of Finance. That gentleman over there is Bano Gremhandlr. I heard that he is a competent man. He is also very generous. I heard that he had donated a lot of money to the orphanage and also funds the food handling programs."  Finia explained.

 

"I see... Such a gentleman is indeed befitted to hold Lady Jenna's hand. What a perfect couple."  Sara nodded.

 

"Let's not interrupt their lovey-dovey time. Come on, let's have our own lovey-dovey time with the three of us. Hihihi."  Elise hugged their shoulders.

 

Bano had no way of knowing, but his effort to maintain a good public image worked wonderfully. With so much money in his hand, he could donate a small portion of it to the orphanage to create a favorable image of himself. That way, he could continue his frivolous nightlife as much as he wanted without being afraid of retribution.

 

And so, that was how the young master of the Gremhandlr household slowly wrapped his hands around the poor Royal Knight Captain's heart.

 

......

 

...

 

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