With a whistle, slime marched out of the bathroom door, still in its dog form. It trotted up to me and took a seat by my feet. The others watched in confusion as a pink dog appeared out of nowhere, but remained silent. Though I hadn’t even bothered to learn the name of the other two people, it seemed odd that they’d almost never spoken up or really done anything. I began to question how they were important to this mission in any way.

“Is this a part of your plan? A dog?” Artemis questioned, her tone even more venomous than before.

“You’re not going to ask where I got it from?” I countered, annoyed that no one bothered to ask why a random dog was following me around. “Don’t answer that. Yes it is a part of my plan.” I quickly followed up, seeing Artemis’s expression grow darker. There was definitely a limit to how much I could boss her around.

“Slime, show them what you showed me earlier.” I turned to it and smiled.

As soon as the words left my mouth, Slime began to transform rapidly, its body returning to its slime-state, the only difference being the gaping void that opened as it began to expand, touching the ceiling within seconds. It was a truly disturbing sight, but all in all, I’d never seen anything that cool. I stepped foot inside the hole and waved, watching as it began to close on me.

Within seconds I found myself in a pink fluffy prison, surrounded by nothing but slime. Some moments later, the hole reopened and I stepped out, chuckling at the expression on everyone elses faces. While I was running back to the inn, I took a moment to ask Slime if it had any real powers. To which it was a bit offended but revealed that it could swallow and keep anything inside its body. Like a spatial ring but a much less pleasant option.

“No.” Artemis said as soon as I stepped out.

“You don’t even know what I’m going to say.” I stifled a fit of laughter.

“You want us to hide in that thing? Are you serious? And what the hell is that! Where did you get it?”

“Oh so now you want to know? Well too bad, you missed out. Also, that is literally the perfect hiding spot. No one questions its presence, nor whether it’s a dog or not. So it simply carries you guys inside, I get my one on one with the Baron and you guys jump out and attack. Maybe if it acts cute enough, you guys can spring out right on their lap.” I explained, still a bit mad they only found it strange once it was revealed to be a slime.

“Are you crazy! You really think because we didn’t care to take notice of it, a crazy extremist terrorist isn’t going to? And let’s say we do manage to get inside through your method, what happens if the slime takes too long to let us out? Or if the distance between you and The Baron is too far for an effective sneak attack? Then what?” Artemis poked all kinds of holes through my plan, acting as if it wasn’t totally foolproof.

“Oh yeah and what’s your master plan huh?!” I snapped back.

“That’s none of your concern!”

“You know what that’s code for? Your plan sucks! So we’re doing it my way! Be ready by tomorrow!”

Usually it would be at the end of that sentence that I’d storm out of the room, make some kind of big show or a grand exit and leave everyone in total awe. But as they all remained silently standing, I realized that I already rented out the room for the night, and that was money that was not coming back to me, so now all of us stood awkwardly.

Suiko was the first to offer a reassuring smile, though I could tell she was only trying to be nice. Obviously my plan wasn’t great, but it made sure that no more time was wasted. Plus I was already feeling too close of a connection to the rest of the legion, which was not at all a good thing considering I had to kill their boss and leave. After a few more moments of silence, Artemis sighed and turned to leave, motioning for the others to follow.

The two people whose name I’ve yet to learn turned to give me a final look, both of them nodding their heads in what I could only assume was discontent, but their opinions didn’t hold too much weight in my mind. The three left, leaving only Suiko and me.

She began to walk over slowly, not even looking up.

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As she reached just a few inches infront of me, she looked me in the eyes, placing her hand on my shoulder. I wanted to push it away, but it didn’t feel terrible. It felt warm. In fact the room itself started to heat up quite a bit.

“She can be mean and rude, and she does kind of hate you for no reason, but she’s not a bad person.” She started, though her and I both realized what she said was incredibly stupid.

“Look, I don’t hate any of you guys, fully atleast. Not you, not the two weirdly silent ones and not Artemis. But you have to understand that this is not a lifestyle for me. I don’t feel any joy from plotting and killing. All I want to do is return to my life and live peacefully, but the only thing stopping me from doing that currently is this mission. So the sooner it’s over, the better.”

I don’t know why I was telling her all this. Even as the words left my mouth they felt wrong, it felt stupid to be telling a complete stranger these things, but it did feel partially relieving. My emotions were so messed up and unclear to me that it was hard to tell them apart, but there were just certain moments where I couldn’t stop myself from feeling them.

Usually I would snap back at Infra, but not today and damn sure not now.

Our eyes remained glued to one anothers. I knew nothing of what laid behind hers and she knew nothing of mine, but that was completely fine. I didn’t need to know, nor did I want to. In this moment there was nothing more important than what was on the surface.

My hand creeped up and rested on hers, the softness of it almost caused me to forget myself. Suddenly, it was as if everything around me seemed to be much more beautiful.

The dim light of twilight bled through the window, painting the room in shades of gold and shadow. The air had shifted and realizations hit me. It was just the two of us, alone, wrapped in this strange, electric silence that seemed to pulse between us. I could feel her presence like a heat wave, almost tangible, as if the air had thickened, pulling us closer with each passing second.

I swallowed, my throat dry. She was so close. Too close. My heart pounded in my chest, each beat loud enough to drown out any thought, any reason. Her eyes were unmoving, fixed on mine, dark, intense, unreadable, but filled with something I couldn’t ignore. Nothing was readable, but everything was there.

Her lips parted just a little, and it made my pulse race. I couldn’t look away, couldn’t stop my gaze from flicking to her mouth, so soft, so tempting, just a breath away. My breath caught. God, I wanted to touch her, feel her, but the tension, it was too much. Every inch between us felt like an unspoken dare, daring me to close the distance.

Something about attractive women brought a side of me that deserved to never come out.

She moved, barely, but enough for me to feel her warmth, her breath feathering against my skin. My pulse quickened, heat rising through me like a slow burn. Her scent, something sweet and intoxicating, washed over me, clouding my thoughts. My hand twitched at my side, aching to reach out, to pull her in, but I hesitated. If I touched her now, there’d be no turning back.

She took another step, and I could feel her now, almost pressed against me, the air between us crackling like a live wire. My chest tightened, and my gaze dropped again to her lips. I wanted to kiss her. I needed to kiss her. But the moment stretched out, suspended, every second heavy with the weight of everything unsaid, everything we were both on the verge of giving in to.

I leaned in, just barely, close enough to feel her breath hitch, her lips so close I could almost taste the warmth of her skin. My heart was racing, my mind a whirl of desire and restraint, and the tension between us tightened, coiled like a spring, ready to snap.

I stopped, hovering there, our breaths mingling. The world felt like it was holding its breath, waiting for what would come next. All I had to do was close the distance. Just one more inch.

But for a heartbeat, neither of us moved. Just the two of us, caught in that unbearable tension, wanting, needing, on the edge of giving in.

There was nothing in the world that could fill me with a greater sense of euphoria than the moment our lips touched would give, but I couldn’t. Something was stopping me. Telling me that it was impossible, there was no hope past this. One moment would stay ingrained in my mind forever, a memory to think back to in the future. But it was worth it. She was worth it.

Nothing would ever be able to explain why she felt any attraction to me, or how we ended up in this situation, but we did. And every moment that I didn’t take the next step, that I didn’t advance, felt like centuries of regret waiting to drop on me. Giving up at this point would be worse than possibly anything I could fathom currently. She was so close, so sweet, so beautiful, how could anyone stop themselves.

A stronger and stupider man maybe, but I believe myself to be quite smart. My lips neared her, suppressing the words in my mind, I allowed myself to enjoy the present, for it would probably never come again.

The moment our lips met, it was like everything inside me unraveled. A surge of heat tore through me, burning away any hesitation, any restraint. She was soft and warm, her taste intoxicating, and the world outside that kiss disappeared. My pulse thundered in my ears, every beat syncing with the feel of her mouth on mine.

I pressed in closer, needing more, needing her. Her breath mixed with mine, and it felt like my heart was breaking and soaring all at once. Every part of me was alive, electric, consumed by the way she responded, the way her fingers gripped my shirt, pulling me even closer. Time stretched and blurred, there was only her, only us, tangled in this kiss that felt like it had been waiting forever to happen.

We stayed stuck together for several minutes, but as she pulled away, it felt as though I only had her for a second. My heart and mind were already begging for more, refusing for it to be over that soon. She smiled awkwardly, turning around hesitantly. My cheeks flared, I wanted to ask her for a few more moments but that felt like the stupid thing to do.

A long unbearable silence spread across the room, ending only as she turned to leave. She walked slowly, my mind desperately yelling at me to do something. She finally approached the window, ending by disappearing into the night, as if she were never there in the first place.

I wanted to stop her, run forward and catch her hand before she left. The night couldn’t end like this. I couldn’t let her leave so soon. But I didn’t. My stupid idiotic self stood watching as the first woman I’ve ever kissed, or at least I think I’ve kissed, disappeared.

I fell back onto bed, my hands slapping onto my face. What have I done?

Suddenly, Hadeon manifested himself beside me, flashing his weird feline smile.

“Why were you two biting eachother? Is there a feud between you two?” Slime similarly sat on the other side of me.

The last thing I needed right now was to be reminded of my thoughts. There truly was something primal that came out and possessed me as soon as I was in the vicinity of a woman. A kind woman atleast.

“Come here little slime, allow me to explain to you the greatness of our royal mount.” Hadeon pulled Slime to the side, explaining only god knows what.

This moment was truly the only time I felt the insults to be deserved. I was some idiot.