Jake stared at the elf for several seconds as his brain tried to process what she had just said.
“Mistress like the others.”
When the hell had he gotten any mistresses!? Why would she even think he had any to begin with?
Few questions truly stumped him, but this one just didn’t make any sense, as it was rooted in non-existent reasoning. He hadn’t even adequately processed the question as he just muttered out:
“I have mistresses?”
Now it was ira’s turn to look confused back at him. She stared at his face for several seconds before finally speaking.
“You know… the others.”
“Who?” Jake asked, more confused than ever and genuinely curious.
“I… the ones you talked about,” ira tried to clarify, only making Jake more confused. Had Eversmile decided to take Jake’s form to fuck with ira, who would then fuck with Jake in turn?
Jake tried to calm himself down and get to the bottom of this. “Who are these people you think are my… mistresses.”
Just saying the word felt wrong.
“You know… the witch you have ntioned so many tis… Miranda…” ira said nervously.
“She works for , and our relationship is strictly professional,” Jake said stoically.
“Then… then miss Scarlett, the-“
“Fangirl at most. Definitely not,” Jake shot it down.
“The other alchemist woman…. Reika, she-“ ira tried
“Is the descendant of a friend, and she too is also just a friend.”
“Irin…?”
“Nothing there,” Jake said. Not yet, at least…
“Syl-“
“No!” Jake practically yelled. Fuck no.
“I-“ ira said, a bit scared at Jake’s outburst. “Then… then…”
ira seed to realize sothing then. Jake saw the look of realization in her eyes, making Jake feel a sense of relief.
“I apologize; I failed to realize…” ira began as her head turned red from embarrassnt. Jake nodded, happy that she had-
“Draskil?”
Jake just stared at her. His look alone made her shrink in her seat, as she seed to understand. “I… I don’t…”
“ira,” Jake said before she began spitballing even more nas. “I don’t have any mistresses. Zero. Nada. Of any sex or gender. Which begs the question… why the hell do you think I do?”
It took several seconds with ira just staring at him before anything happened. Then she seed almost relieved as she breathed out a huge sigh. Before promptly shifting back to nervous realization. “Does that an Lord Thayne isn’t interested in-“
“I never said that either,” Jake clarified quickly. “I am just not… interested in that kind of serious thing or any labels. Or to get involved in that entire dynamic. That doesn’t an I am not interested, and I do have soone I am casually with at tis back on Earth, but she would punch my head off if I ever called her a mistress. But this isn’t about that, but the question of why you would think I even had any mistresses at all.”
ira once more went through so emotions Jake couldn’t quite read, but she at least seed to have cald down quite a bit. Still super nervous and embarrassed, but no longer a wreck.
“It’s… I was told…” ira said as she looked at the ground.
“Told by who?” Jake asked, glaring.
“When… after Izil was here, we stayed friends, right?” ira began. “She never really asked much about you as she knew it was a secret, but we both called you Lord Thayne at tis, so maybe soone heard and told soone. So… Izil and I were approached by a dragonkin who joined us in studying.”
Jake frowned as he hadn’t heard any of this before. Then again, ira rarely spoke of her everyday life, and Jake hadn’t exactly asked either.
“She was really nice and helped us both a lot, but she talked a lot about heritages and stuff and seed super interested in Izil and the Altmar Empire, but also asked so questions. I… ntioned that you were a black token holder called Lord Thayne, and she asked stuff about you. I didn’t say anything, really, but the dragonkin seed interested still. I… I may have also ntioned the Grand Elder. Not who he is or anything, I just called him teacher, but I think she realized he was strong, and I also said once he taught you so stuff too, so…”
“And what may this dragonkin be called?” Jake asked, even if he already had a good idea.
“Helenstromoz of the Emberflight, she-“
“I know who she is,” Jake said in an annoyed tone. “So, what more happened?”
ira continued explaining the rather long story with a lot of unnecessary fluff and apologetic over-explanations that really weren’t needed, but Jake still got the gist of it. He also realized part of it was his fault.
When Jake had first co to the Order, he called himself Hunter but stopped bothering rather quickly. Sa for hiding his level, actually. He reckoned anyone who cared to find out would know him as Lord Thayne by now, and while they likely couldn’t connect him back to Earth – only the ninety-third universe - much less know he was the Chosen, that still ant they had so real information on him.
A mber of the Emberflight must have overheard ira and Izil talking, and they were apparently also still trying to figure out who his backer was. So they had sent Helen to talk to the two of them to probe for information, potentially even bribe them, to tell her who backed him. The teacher ira ntioned was then who Helen began to think was also his backer, making her even more curious about ira.
She seed to have fully integrated with Izil and ira, at least for a while, and the two of them had no reason not to keep her around. ira said she also happily shared things about her Dragonflight, so neither of them thought it weird that soone so obsessed with background would ask others about it.
Anyway, the three of them had beco friends and even shared so classes, and with Helen being so good at all of them – likely because she was a peak D-grade who was probably far older than both Izil and ira – the two of them liked her even more. That is also where the trouble started.
“So where does this entire mistress thing co in?”
“Well… Helen said that all powerful people have mistresses if they so desire. Izil agreed,” ira said, her embarrassnt back in full. “I didn’t know… but then they asked, and you had ntioned a lot of people, so I thought that…”
To summarize, it was all bloody girl gossip that led to this entire misunderstanding. Izil and Helen had convinced ira that any female na Jake ntioned in a positive light was actually his mistress, and the worst part is Jake wasn’t even sure they did it maliciously. It was annoying, but Jake knew they weren’t wrong and that other “young masters” tended to be quite frivolous.
What he did see as shady was Helen approaching ira to begin with. It was clearly done with an agenda and to find out who backed Jake. That, too, was probably sothing ordered by her superiors. By Villy, did Jake hate stupid politics.
ira, seemingly also realizing by now that Jake was being serious and truly didn’t have anything going on slightly in the vein of having mistresses, making her fall deep into thought. After being silent for a mont, leaving Jake to also consider his next steps with that damn dragonkin, she spoke.
“Why does Lord Thayne not have any mistresses?” she asked in a small voice.
“Call it personal values. I grew up in a place where having mistresses wasn’t a thing, and I still don’t really see it as a thing. I don’t really care if others decide to build a harem, but to , it seems utterly exhausting,” Jake answered honestly.
ira was about to speak when Jake cut her off.
“Also, mixing relationships and imbalanced power dynamics seems unhealthy. I, at least, wouldn’t be able to do it with good conscience. I do realize that with being a Chosen and all, it is hard to not have so imbalance in power in nearly all circumstances, but… never mind. I am just not interested in anything right now,” Jake said, shaking his head.
He was about to say he didn’t want anyone around him who just wanted to be there to benefit from who he was and what he could offer them, but he knew that wasn’t entirely true. Jake was a Chosen, soone with a potent Bloodline, and he was relatively powerful. All of these things were part of who he was, and he knew so of the people around him were only there due to who he was. Miranda would not be around if he wasn’t the Chosen with a city, Sylphie and Sandy not without his Bloodline, and Villy would not even have looked at Jake twice if not due to the Bloodline and what it allowed Jake to do.
I guess the point is I don’t want those to be the only reasons, Jake thought to himself. Damn, did Jake hate these annoying introspective monts that forced him to consider complicated emotions and complex interpersonal relationship dynamics.
ira also looked to be dealing with so complex emotions as she sat there silently. Jake didn’t want to break the silence as he let her think. Nearly a full minute passed before she spoke.
“If I join the Order… can I stay here even if I have sowhere else to go?” she asked.
“Pretty sure I already told you that you could,” Jake confird.
“Can I also keep working for Lord Thayne?”
“That would be ideal. Not having so kind of assistant in the Order would be a hassle, and I don’t plan on getting any other slaves or trying to hire soone, so I would be more than happy to have you,” Jake said with a smile.
“How about the lessons and stuff?” she inquired further.
“As I said, nothing much has to change besides your status,” Jake made clear once more. “What will change is that you will work for out of your own free will, which also ans you can quit at any ti and leave if you so desire. We will also need to change so other minor things, but all in due ti. Once you have joined the Order, we will draw up a proper employnt contract. One with far more equal terms.”
“Okay,” ira nodded, thinking a bit more. “I will make sure to do the test to join before C-grade for sure.”
“Great,” Jake said, giving her a thumbs-up as he felt a sense of victory. However, he quickly got a bad feeling as she turned slightly red and twitched a bit.
“If I am working here… without being a slave… would that make us… friends?” ira then asked her nervousness back in full force.
“I already consider us friends,” Jake said with a shrug, not seeing the big deal.
“When I am free, would I also be able to do so things… outside, the Order?” ira asked, but Jake got the sense she wasn’t just asking for permission.
“You will be free to do whatever you want,” Jake answered. “And as I said, we are friends, so if you need help, just ask. I can’t promise anything, but I will at least lend an ear and consider it.”
ira smiled and nodded. Neither of them said anything for a while until ira got up and bowed. “I apologize for the misunderstanding and will make sure to clarify to Izil and make sure no rumors are spread. I will also talk to Hel-“
“I will handle her,” Jake cut in.
“Okay,” ira said with a relieved nod. “I shall take my leave now and return to my studies… and look into including classes on how to join the Order proper. I want to pass whatever tests everyone else does to join.”
“Best of luck. And don’t feel too bad about this entire thing, okay?” Jake said with a grin. “At the very least, I can see the humor in it.”
ira nodded once more and smiled as she went towards the door. She stopped in the doorway for a mont as Jake saw her hesitate.
“Will… has Lord Thayne ever considered taking any mistresses?” she finally asked after a long pause, her back still turned to hide her beet-red face. Didn’t help much when the redness extended all the way to her long ears.
Jake knew it was a leading question and shook his head.
“No, not really,” he said honestly.
“Does that an you will never have any?”
Jake was about to answer but stopped himself. Forever was a long ti. A very long ti. Potentially forever would an literally forever if Jake managed to reach godhood. So…
“In a multiverse of infinite possibilities, I wouldn’t say never… just not now,” he finally answered. Even he couldn’t know what the future would bring or if his outlook on things would change. Feelings were also annoyingly unpredictable, and he couldn’t promise he wouldn’t ever make any spontaneous emotional decisions. If soone had asked him if he and Carn would have ever done the deed before they headed off on their trip with Sylphie, he would have laughed at them… but here we are.
He saw ira breathe out a sigh of relief but quickly caught herself as she scurried out the door and towards her own residence without saying another word. Jake saw her through his sphere as she walked with hasty steps, as he just stayed sitting on the couch. He stopped looking when she reached her residence and jumped onto her bed, screaming into a pillow.
Smiling, he shook his head. He had other things to deal with, things he had put off for too long. So long they had now co back to bite him in the ass. Plus, they had committed a cardinal sin in Jake’s eyes: they had gone after those close to him.
Jake took out a token he had hidden in his storage for quite a while. It depicted a red dragon and was what Helen had given him during their one and only eting. It represented a standing invitation for a more formal chat, and by now, Jake believed it was ti to have a chat about boundaries.
“I say he should have gone for it,” Vilastromoz said with a grin as he took another chip from the bowl. He had naturally watched the entire thing, and it did not disappoint. Who didn’t like so good relationship drama? Ah, to be young again.
“We both knew this would be the outco, though I do find it regrettable,” Duskleaf agreed as he also looked at the large screen showing what had just gone down in the living room of Jake’s mansion.
“Oh? You do like that elf girl, don’t you?” the Viper turned to his dear disciple.
“ira has grown on , yes,” Duskleaf didn’t deny. “She is hard-working and determined, and her loyalty to Jake goes beyond anything stated in a contract. Overall, she is a good student, and if her talent keeps growing, she may even be able to form a proper Path.”
“You could bless her, you know?”
“We both know that wouldn’t be wise,” Duskleaf shook his head. “I have not given out any Blessings for a long ti, so if I do give her any, it will no doubt lead back to Jake and risk exposing him as your Chosen.”
“You could just decide to bless a whole bunch at once like I did. Muddy the water, so to say,” Vilastromoz proposed.
Duskleaf just looked at the Viper, the glare alone saying enough. His disciple really hated doing that kind of stuff.
“Fine, your choice,” he shrugged. “You can always do it after Jake makes his identity as my Chosen public knowledge. Shouldn’t be that long.”
“That was the plan,” Duskleaf agreed. “Though I will have to instill so more confidence in the girl. She will need it if she wants to make her hopes a reality..”
“You really do want it to be a thing, don’t you?” Vilastromoz asked with a smirk.
“Jake is still stuck with a mindset from before the system arrived in his universe, and I doubt that ingrained thought process can be changed quickly. What I do know is that a closer relationship would make ira happier and help her future trendously. If that ans she will have to learn to disarm Jake, then as a good master, is it not my job to help guide her?” Duskleaf argued with a raised eyebrow.
Vilastromoz just smiled and shook his head. His disciple was usually a lost cause when it ca to anything that wasn’t alchemy, and yet he seed to have a grasp on these kinds of things even the Viper sotis couldn’t compare to. If Duskleaf decided to guide the elf girl… Jake had a tough challenge ahead of him.
“Whatever you do, I believe it will be sufficiently entertaining,” the Viper said as he emptied the bowl of chips into his mouth while watching Jake stare at the token from the Emberflight.
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