When Leo received the letter inviting him to meet the young lady, he could only sigh again. It was signed with ‘E’, clearly indicating he had performed too well last night and now the poor thing had fallen in love with him. Elsa was pretty and smart, but he had no time to play games – the moment lady Evelyn decided on the mortal realm he will be sent to, he would leave, probably to never return again.
He was not a cruel person though. To not show up was not an option, especially because they had been close and had a deeper connection. At the same time he could not form ties that might hold him back, but Elsa didn’t seem like a person who was interested in a fling.
Unfortunately thinking about these things only gave Leo a headache and he decided to turn for advice to his older friend who currently was getting busy in the alchemy lab. Jack, after reading the letter was jealous and delighted at the same time, but he never had a date with someone at the Nascent soul stage cultivator’s daughter’s level before.
“Alright, you dog!” Jack excitedly patted Leo’s shoulder, happy as if he was the one going on the date, “There are some things you need to know.”
Leo instinctively nodded although he never understood why Jack would call him a ‘dog’ in any situation when he did well with a lady. He would’ve much more preferred to be compared to an ape patriarch who could easily go and hump the whole tribe, but he knew Jack meant it as a compliment thus ignored the remark.
“First of all your main objective is to not mess anything up.” Jack began to instruct, “Obviously she’s head over heels for you after the last night’s adventure and wants to take your relationship to the next level.”
“But I don’t want any ‘next levels’!” Leo disagreed, “We’ll leave soon and it’s cruel to break a girl’s heart!”
“That ‘girl’ is probably ten years older than you!” Jack shook his head in disappointment, “She’s a woman who has her needs and it would be cruel to not satisfy those!”
“But when we leave …” Leo wanted to argue, but Jack interrupted him.
“This is the world of cultivation!” He said, “It’s inevitable for you to leave a trail of broken hearts behind you. What you should do is to make her happy while you two are together!”
“I guess …” What Jack said sounded logical, but Leo still felt it was not quite right.
“Alright, back to the important part.” Jack said, “We both know you are a bit clumsy when it comes to conversing, thus I’d suggest you mostly listen while letting her do the talking. If she says or asks something you don’t understand, just sigh regrettably or look up as if deeply pondering about her words. It might seem fake at first, but your task is to not say something stupid, right? If you are to open your mouth, you better say something interesting or something that can be interpreted to be romantic. And never brag, women don’t actually like that.”
Seeing Leo nod, Jack continued, “Oh, and regarding stupid things. Never admit you’ve been to a brothel before – for some reason women dislike it. They also don’t like when you mention other women or flaunt your sexual conquests. Needless to say you should never tell anyone you’ve worked as a professional – let it remain a secret.”
Leo felt cold droplets of sweat running down his back hearing it. Last night in a couple of sentences he broke all taboos, but since the lady wanted to see him again, it should be fine this time. Clearly she was different.
“There is also one more thing. Obviously you are an expert in lovemaking and someone might ask where you learned your skills.” Jack’s instructions were never ending, “In that case you should bashfully ‘confess’ you’ve been only with one person before and she taught you a lot. Of course, you have to mention that the relationship didn’t last and didn’t mean anything to you. In any case – you always lie through your teeth to make your lady feel special no matter what. Tell her that she’s the one, you’ve been lost without her or you’ve been waiting for her your whole life …”
“I … I don’t think I can do that …” Leo interrupted his friend who clearly was too fired up, almost like he was the one going on the date.
“Ok, ok!” Jack patted his shoulder, “In that case … the least you should do is to mention that nothing what happened before you met her matters and she’s the only one. Ye, that should be it. Oh, right. One more thing. Even though you’ve done this for money, dating is a bit different. Don’t forget to do everything properly and at least double or even triple the duration of foreplay, but you surely know that, right?”
Leo, of course, ‘surely’ had no clue what Jack was talking about, but after working as a highly payed professional he was embarrassed to admit it. Fortunately Jack was done with the instructions and went back to being jealous.
“Damn, man! I hate you and want to be you at the same time!” He said, “Don’t you dare to forget about me afterwards! Tomorrow you’ll have to tell me everything in detail, understood?!”
Seeing Leo blush again, he murmured under his nose, “Is it the blushing thing? Is that why they all go crazy about him? I can surely replicate something like that with alchemy ...”
Even though to Leo this date was just a formality, he knew it was important to Elsa, therefore in the afternoon washed and wore a neat Sacred Order’s disciple’s outfit. He did consider going to the city and purchase something more fancy, but realized it might give lady the wrong impression as if he was in love or something.
On the way he did gather flowers though. Unfortunately he remembered this part of the protocol when it was almost too late, thus he had to run around the outskirts of the sect and pick what he could, but even though those were not roses, they looked fine-ish. Not being an alchemist he didn’t know the names of the plants, but most were white and looked pretty.
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Leo had to admit, Elsa chose a strange spot for their date – the field where once the two large armies met and where he dueled everyone for two days. Weren’t they supposed to go to a more secluded, romantic spot?
Jack’s theory was that she intended to use Leo’s duels as an excuse to strike a lengthy conversation about the cultivation and combat techniques and only then slowly turn to more intimate subjects. Leo, of course, had no opinion on that, except he was not sure what to say in order to discuss cultivation – in fact, he was not sure what to say about any matter at all. Fortunately, according to Jack’s instructions, all he had to do was to follow Elsa’s lead and just take a formal part in the conversation, and she would do the rest.
As usual things turned out to be different from what Leo planned. When he arrived at the wide, grassy field, he did see the lone, beautiful figure standing in the middle of it. The problem was – contrary to what he expected, the young lady, dressed in a long, white dress was not Elsa, but lady Evelyn’s daughter – Etessa!
While there were several hundred yards between them, after becoming a Core formation stage cultivator, Leo’s sight evolved and became almost as good as that of an eagle, therefore he was completely positive he recognized her. Lady Etessa, apparently sensing his arrival, also glanced his way and immediately blushed.
‘Heavens!’ Leo exclaimed to himself in realization, ‘What have I done!’
Clearly last night he had showed too much of his skill and one friend had recommended him to the other. The problem was that this one was the daughter of the scary sect master with the huge sword! If he made her angry or upset, he’d be chopped in tiny pieces within moments! The events had clearly taken a turn for the worse and he himself was the one to blame! Who told him to be as skillful in lovemaking as he was?
Unfortunately there was no turning back. Continuously sighing in regret, Leo walked towards the beauty, trying to think of a way out, but unfortunately nothing passable came to mind. The best thing he could do was to remind himself of his own rules, first one of which clearly stated – women are dangerous! And now he was about to have a date with the daughter of the most dangerous woman he had ever met … how tragic!
Suddenly Leo had a thought. What if lady Etessa actually had questions about cultivation? What if she wanted to learn from him and spar? Why else would she choose this particular spot for their meeting? He was clearly overthinking things!
The relief resonated in Leo’s steps and the smile returned to his face. Wondering about the reasons for his own silliness, Leo quickly approached Etessa, but before he could say anything, she spoke first.
“Even though more than a month has passed, I’ve never thanked you for your sacrifice … I … back then I was too concerned about the sect and never thought about the suffering you went through.” She said in soft, slightly agitated voice.
“It’s fine!” Leo smiled back in a carefree manner and gave her the plain bouquet. This turned out to not be a date, but since there was a lady present, it wouldn’t be proper to openly throw the flowers away. Then he said, “I’ll recover soon enough – I just need to absorb enough Qi and then work on perfecting my core. To focus on cultivation is all I have to do.”
Of course, Leo was not going to reveal the embarrassing fact that he didn’t have a golden core, because surely in that case the young lady, the great genius of the Sacred Order who was one step away from stepping into the Nascent soul stage would never think of him as her equal.
“Ye … cultivation … it’s all we have in our lives, don’t we?” Etessa smiled back and smelled the freshly picked flowers, but for some reason seemed sad. Then she said, “Would you … would you like to have a walk with me?”
Leo expected they would discuss techniques and maybe spar right there, but clearly Etessa was concerned they might be watched, thus had nothing against the suggestion. Apparently the white dress indicated she was not dressed for the occasion and probably wanted to change.
They didn’t go to her place or to the sect’s practice grounds though. In an awkward silence they strolled the surrounding woods, from time to time stealing glances at each other, not being sure what to say. Leo, of course, strictly followed Jack’s instructions and to not appear stupid refused to initiate a conversation.
Etessa, on the other hand, had never been on a date and was not certain how to proceed. But since her companion only kept silently walking along while sighing from time to time, she did have to do something. In addition, one day she would become the sect master thus getting out of embarrassing situations was a skill she had to possess.
When they stopped on a hill partially overlooking the outer sect, Etessa finally broke the awkwardness.
She said, “You know, when I was little, I liked to sneak away and come here … for some reason I enjoyed to watch our sect members going on their daily duties … everyone always was busy with something ...”
“Oh?” Leo was surprised and said, “Back when I was in the outer sect I also came to a spot not far away. I did climb a pine tree to get a better view though.”
But then realized he had let his tongue slip and quickly tried to fix it by saying something ‘deeper’ with a sigh, “It helped me to calm down and organize thoughts. After all in the beginning I was all alone here …”
“What about your grandpa Noel? You could’ve gone back home, right?” Etessa curiously asked.
Leo having one relative in the city was no secret and he surely would understand that by now the sect would’ve performed a thorough background check on him. At least that was what Etessa assumed.
The question caught Leo unprepared though. He never hid his connection to grandpa Noel, especially because during the two days he dueled the Seven peaks disciples he went over to the experts to ask for advice, but he wasn’t keen on being related to the corrupt path in case masters Noel and Torben were discovered.
“I got to know him only later. He helped me by giving advice on cultivation and in return I lent a hand in building … uhm … repairing his house.” Leo quickly thought of a passable excuse.
Fortunately it was enough to divert Etessa’s attention. She asked, “What about your real family? Are they from Avila?”
“No, I’m an orphan.” Leo did his best to look as sad as possible.
He had to make sure Etessa wouldn’t pry and he never revealed the fact he was once part of the Voodoo sect.
“So that’s why …” Surprisingly Etessa though of something that made her sad as well and the awkward silence returned.
Leo, trying to look smart, watched the sect below, while she nibbled on the bark of the closest pine tree. Leo wondered what would Jack do to improve the mood, but unfortunately nothing passable came to mind. Meanwhile Etessa cursed herself for touching a too sensitive subject. Just when the guy was ready to open up she accidentally had to ask about the tragedy of his childhood.