"Tactics without strategy are nothing but mere guesses." -Greenterra King

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We all decided to go to the rebel’s hideout where Misaki was. Maria decided to go back to the kingdom and bring my master. The rebels managed to find the black tombstone hideout, so we had to talk with Misaki and the gang about a plan to stop black tombstone. The walk there was quite peaceful, but we had to go through a waterfall and through some other rocks to get to the hideout. She sure as hell don’t want anyone to find out where this is.

“Are we… almost there?” Asked Nightshade.

“Almost.” Said Yumi. We finally got into the entrance where a man was guarding it.

“L-Lady Yumi, what brings you here?” He asked.

“I need to talk to my sister.”

“Of course.” He let all of us pass, but as Kasai walked right beside him, he stared directly at her. I find it quite amusing that other people see Kasai as really hot and attractive, but it starts to get annoying after a while. Shizuka was inspecting every single corner of the place with curious eyes.

Walking in, we first walked through a launch room where many different people were eating; as we started walking right by them, everyone directed their eyes to Kasai.

“Oh, good evening lady Yumi.” Said someone in the crowd of people eating.

“Who’s your friend?!” Asked someone else. I noticed that some of them were looking at me with eyes of envy… I guess being surrounded by the hottest girl ever, a beautiful royal angel, the future cloud elf queen, and a cute little pixie made them want to be me. Misaki walked in from another room with her bandana on, saw me and yelled,

“RUKITO!” She rushed towards me and jumped on me making me fall on the floor. “Are you ok?! I was worried!” Everyone suddenly gasped and said,

“B-Boss?! Even you?!”

“YO! I’ve never seen her being buddies-buddies with anyone like that before.” Misaki got up, looked at them, coughed, and said,

   “He is my best friend. His name is Rukito.” It’s actually pretty impressive how fast Misaki and I got along… but now that I think about it, it’s with every other girl too.

“Hi, Rukito…” Everyone said with an uninterested tone.

“H-Hi!” I said back.

“This is Kasai. She is—”

“HI KASAI!!!” Everyone yelled. Kasai smiled back and said,

“Hey…”

“She is engaged to Rukito… you idiots.”

“NOO!” Yelled some people.

“Awwww….” Said, everyone.

“That’s not his sister?!”

“Why are the hottest ones always taken.” I started chuckling and said,

“I had to work really hard for her.”

“This is Nightshade, she is an exiled pixie that needs our help to get her wings back after this battle.”

“H-Hi everyone!” Yelled Nightshade the cutest way possible.

“SOO CUTE!!!” Yelled everyone else.

“And you all know my twin-sister Yumi, no need for introductions.”

“Blessings to the future queen!” Said, everyone.

“Thank you,” Answered Yumi.

“Isn’t this the second time you came here, Yumi?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure they all remember me though, I’m their future queen after all.” We walked off to another room with Misaki to discuss the plan.

“Before we discuss all of this, I got new clothes for both Kasai and Rukito!”

“New clothes?” I asked, “Like, for battle?”

“Yeah! You should try them on.”

“Wait, how did you exactly know how much we measure?”

“I uh… Kinda took measurements while you both were knocked out.”

“Ah, I see. Well, you have people that can make clothes pretty quick.”

“Yeah! It’s actually one of my rebel’s singularity.”

“Oh wow, sounds convenient.” Both Kasai and I walked into another room, got dressed, and walked out. Kasai was wearing a short, red and white miko hakama kimono; I was wearing a samurai-styled outfit, I’m guessing after seeing my swords Misaki just had to make something samurai related.

“You both look so cool and adorable together!” Yelled Misaki. Kasai smiled and started moving around.

“It’s really comfortable moving around in these clothes, thank you Misaki!”

“I like how cool this outfit looks, my plain shirt and pants got boring, so thank you!”

“You’re welcome!”

“Let’s get into the real talk now…” said Yumi. I noticed everything getting more serious; we all sat around a table where many pictures and a map was laid on top of.

“We found the black tombstone hideout in an island in between Greenterra and the Cloud Kingdom.” Said Misaki.

“Is that why it took people so long? It was on an island?”

“Yes, not only that, but the island wasn’t marked in the map.”

“Oh, I see,” I said.

“The island is surrounded by mist, so it was hard getting information. Luckily my friend here,” She said as she was pointing towards the guy standing at the door, “Marcus can shapeshift into different animals. So he was able to go around the island and scout.”

“Oh, wow. Thanks, Marcus.” I said. I looked at him and noticed that he was also looking at Kasai. I ignored it and went on with it.

“Uh, yeah. No problem.”

“Apparently, the basement is in a cave that’s being guarded by many different black tombstone guards. It has many watchtowers surrounding the entrance to scan the area.”

“Hmmm… it will be hard to sneak in then. Do you know how long does it take for them to check in and out the island?” Asked Shizuka.

“Every 30 minutes, a ship comes and drops people or supplies in.”

“Great, we can raid one of those ships halfway and use it to enter the island undetected.”

“Great idea!” Said Misaki. I was still looking at Marcus at the door; he kept staring Kasai’s body head to toe, it was starting to bother me, but I tried my hardest not to seem a jealous and obnoxious fiancé. I guess there was just something about him that didn’t rub the right way, he kept refusing to give eye contact to people; maybe he is just shy.

“Can I know everyone’s singularity? I need it to start planning.” Said Shizuka.

“Yeah, yeah!” Said Misaki. We all explained our singularities one by one to makes sure everyone got it, after some minutes, Shizuka closed her eyes and said,

“I think I got it.” We all looked at her and asked,

“What?”

“I will stay here directing you guys since I’m the intel. Yumi and the rebels will go through the front and make as much as noise as possible as a diversion so Rukito and Kasai can sneak through the back and enter. Both Rukito and Kasai have good synergy together so it should be easy for them to fight off people if they get into a pinch.” I have no problems with such a plan; I’m actually glad I can stay with Kasai and keep her safe.

“What about me?” Asked Misaki.

“Misaki, you will be at the crow’s nest on the ship sniping people from afar. You should focus on taking out those watchtowers.”

“Hmm… alright, Piece of cake!”

“How about me?” Asked Nightshade.

“Nightshade, with such a strong singularity, you must have a drawback, right?” Asked Shizuka.

“Yeah, actually… I can only play a song to control someone’s body for a minute, then the harp will stop playing. While I can sing as much as I want, but only in one breath, if I breathe then the effect will vanish; but most people, all they need is a couple of second of happiness to get their true happiness back.”

“Ah alright… can you make people fall asleep?” Asked Shizuka.

“Yes, I can do that.”

“Great, then you will go with them and make everyone fall asleep in the ship so we can raid it.”

“But if I do that, then even my friends will fall asleep.”

“That’s why all they have to do is cover their ears.” Said Shizuka.

“Alright.” Said Nightshade.

“Can’t we also use such thing for battle?” Asked Yumi. I looked at Yumi and said,

“Hmmm… I don’t think so. Nightshade is not a fighter, I don’t want her to be in the middle of bloodshed.”

“You’re right… sorry.”

“But you can protect me, right big brother?” Said Nightshade with an innocent tone. I sighed and answered,

“I already have to protect another little girl… sorry, Nightshade.” I said as I was rubbing Kasai’s head.

“Hey! I’m not a little girl!” Said Kasai.

“Shh…” I said as I was covering her mouth with my index finger, “You stay quiet.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“So when are we doing this?” Asked Yumi. Shizuka crossed her legs, looked up while sighing and said,

“That’s up for you to decide, future cloud elf queen.”

“Right… then, how about tomorrow? We should get ready mentally too. It’s a battle to the death, not a game.”

“I completely agree.” Said Shizuka while closing her eyes and smiling.

“We’ll come back tomorrow here again to review the plan and go.” Said Misaki.

“Sounds good to me,” I said as we all got up. Shizuka walked towards Kasai and said with a smile,

“Want to walk ahead? I have many things to talk about with you.” Kasai smiled back at her and said,

“Of course!” They both walked out of the room and went ahead. Marcus walked right behind them. Yumi walked up to me and said,

“You were right about Shizuka, she seems quite smart and useful.”

“See? I told you.”

“Can you explain to me why you were all injured and bloody when I found you?” Said Misaki out of nowhere.

“Oh… that’s… a long story.”

“We got all evening.” Said Yumi. I decided to sit down again and explain every single thing to Misaki and Yumi.

“Wow… I mean, I can understand Shizuka, but that’s still too much from her.” Said Yumi.

“Nah, I’d say Kasai had every right to be with him. It’s not like Shizuka owned him beforehand.” Said Misaki.

“Right? That’s what I said!”

“Why can’t you just get both?” Asked Nightshade. I instantly looked at her smiling, walked up to her and hugged her.

“We need more people like you in this world, Nightshade.”

“That’s not how love works!” Said Yumi.

“Both the cloud elf king and the Greenterra king are allowed to have two wives, I don’t see the problem for Rukito to also have two.” Said Nightshade.

“Who knows, maybe in the distant future you can convince Kasai to let Shizuka into the relationship, they seem to get along so far.” Said Misaki with a smile. I chuckled and said,

“I honestly don’t love Shizuka as much as I love Kasai… but the love is still there for her. I still care for her future, I still want her to be happy, I still want to talk to her and hug her time to time, and I still think she is beautiful; so if she joins the relationship I don’t mind, but I know Kasai will, and since I care a lot about how she feels, I won’t allow such thing. I wish I could… but I care too much about Kasai to do something like that to her.”

“I understand a little… I guess.” Said Nightshade. I looked at her, and said jokingly,

“You want to join too?”

“Sure.” She said with a serious tone.

“Hahaha, it’s a joke, it’s a jok-”

“Hey, I can be the first pixie to love a human!”

“IT’S A JOKE!” We all laughed it off and walked out of the basement. We caught up to Kasai and Shizuka walking towards Yumi’s house. I held Kasai’s hand while walking and asked,

“Everything ok?”

“Yeah... it’s just that, that weirdo Marcus person… he tried hitting on me.”

“In front of me! And then he proceeds to look at me and shrug!!!” Yelled Shizuka.

“What did he say?”

“Those stupid things that horny guys always say,” She started talking with an annoying deep accent and said, “Hey baby, how was your day? I haven’t seen you around here before. Has anyone ever told you how sexy you are? Blah, blah, blah, blah.” We all started laughing, then I said,

“I told you every single guy in the world that is not in a relationship will want you.”

“But it’s so annoying! All I hear is, ‘blah blah blah, I am horny, desperate virgin, blah blah blah.’” I then started laughing even more. “Just thinking about hugging him makes me want to puke.”

“Come on, he is not that ugly.” Said Yumi.

“I don’t care! He disgusts me!” She said as she hugged my arm, “I only want you… you didn’t talk to me just because of my body right?” I coughed, started sweating and said,

“I mean… it was a BIG part of it… a very, very big part of it.” Sometimes I miss not having guy friends… I could have made sooo many dirty jokes thus far.

“S-Seriously?!” She said as she was blushing.

“Ha! You’re not disgusted now though are you?!”

“S-Shut up!” She said as she rubbed her face across my arm. Thank you, god… for giving me the most loyal girl possible.

“I’m just kidding sweetheart, of course, I didn’t propose to you just because of your body, and you know it.” She smiled at me and said,

“Yeah, I know. I was also joking around.”

“You two are too cute.” Said Misaki. I expected Shizuka to be a little envious, but I looked to her and saw her smiling at me. I could tell it was a genuine smile, she wasn’t faking it since when she does a fake smile, she closes her eyes.

“They really are.” Said Shizuka. I remember what she once told me, ‘Seeing you happy makes me happy…’ I guess she wasn’t lying then… We got home, ate, then Shizuka stayed in the kitchen to talk with Yumi. Misaki went into her room, and Nightshade remained in the living room. Kasai and I walked to our room, I opened the door, and yet again… the room was messy. I tried ignoring all this time the fact that Kasai is a messy girl since she never really had any property to organize… but this crosses the line… this time, I turned around, faced her and said with a sarcastic smile,

“Kasai… I need you to please stop being a live-tornado every time you are looking for something!”

“S-Sorry! I’ll get right to it!” She dashed towards the messiness and started throwing every single type of clothes under the bed.

“There! You can’t see it anymore!”

“That’s not how you organize things, you dummy!!!”

“Ah! Sorry!!!” She started picking them all up and throwing them into the dirty clothes basket.

“When we get married, we will buy our own house and live there for a long time; I won’t be able to stand such chaos.”

“Right!”

“And when we will have children it will be even worse!”

“Y-yes, sir!!!” She yelled while blushing. While she cleaned, I decided to take a bath in the jacuzzi tub in the bathroom to relax a little. I filled it up with hot-steaming water, took off my clothes, went in to relax. I made sure to lock the door since I knew that Kasai was definitely going to join me, but I felt like relaxing alone for just a little while. Many things started to storm into my brain, but it wasn’t things about me, it was all about Kasai.

I can understand how hard it is for her to love herself since, in the end, it’s hard to love yourself when you know soo much… every single nonmoral choice you have done, every single mistake, every single negative thought. But that’s why I’m here so I can make sure she understands that under all of that she is still a good person, most importantly, a lovable person. Sure she can get easily stressed and anxious; sure she can be insecure about herself most of the time, be really messy… and sure that she can also be a little naïve occasionally—and I say naïve since I know that she is not dumb… she is a smart girl, she learns quickly, she just doesn’t know many things that most people do, and that doesn’t necessarily make her dumb, but just unknowledgeable. She is a naturally good person that can easily relate to how people feel, but she struggles to help them with their feelings because she can’t even help herself most of the time.

What I see in her is just a girl with a lot of potentials, and I am not wrong in perceiving people’s potential most of the time. With her tenacity that she has built by herself thus far, she could accomplish many things even if I wasn’t here to help her. She is easily sensitive to others; under all of that shyness, I also can tell that she is a very passionate person. When I see her talking about our future and the things she wants to do her eyes light up, it’s really the cutest thing ever.

But most importantly of all, she is an exceptionally charming girl; I don’t actually think this comes from her succubus side, I believe that this is her actual charming personality. After realizing how valuable life is, she now wants to live life to the fullest, and that makes me, and other people, like her a lot to the point that we all admire her in a way. I could even see Shizuka starting to respect her for that; how easily she can appreciate every single thing that she has, and not complain or greed for more.

Hmmm… sometimes I even impress myself of how good I am at understanding people… and it all just comes to me naturally, really. As I was in my head, I heard the doorknob trying to open.

“No sweetheart, I want to be alone for a while-” As I was saying that, the door opened, and Kasai was there smiling with a towel around her. “How did you open that door?!” She gave off a cute, mischievous giggle and said,

“I can picklock with my tail.”

“What?! That’s cheating!”

“I could always leave if you want…” She said while frowning and looking to the side, “I don’t want to seem clingy or anything…” I chuckled and said,

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” I looked at her with a smile and said, “How about we have a little chat? I love talking to you.” She smiled back at me, and gladly joined me in the jacuzzi tub. She took off the towel around her, revealing her sexy, warm-ivory skin color, together with her soft and gentle texture. I didn’t have plans to do anything intimate since I knew that tomorrow I was going to be out of energy, and I need that energy, I’m sure Kasai also understands that; but damn is it hard to not jump on her when she is completely naked, she is so attractive; she is an irresistible eye candy. I don’t blame other guys for hitting on her, thankfully I meditate so I can control myself in times like these.

“What do you want to talk about?” She asked while gently laying her head on my shoulder.

“Well, I told you what I envision for our relationship, how about you tell me what you envision.” She slowly looked at me with a dumbfounded smile and asked,

“W-What does envision mean?” I lightly chuckled and said,

“Envision means, visualize; how do you think our relationship will go? What do you want it to be like?”

“Oh, ok. And don’t laugh at me! I just… never learned these things.” See? I was right. When I was at the orphanage I actually got to know many people, I think that’s where my understanding of people started from.

“I’m not laughing at you for not knowing. I’m laughing at you for being so cute.”

“Sure, sure.” She said with a cute tone.

“So? What do you think?”

“Hmm… I want to explore the world with you! Adventure into lands that no-one has ever gone through before; it has been very fun so far.”

“I don’t mind, as long as we don’t have to jump from an extreme height.” Kasai giggled and said,

“I know, I know.”

“What else? That’s it?!” She giggled again and hugged me. I could feel her soft breasts pressing against my abdomen, then, she said,

“Darling, I can barely believe that we are engaged, I need some time to let that sink in and start to ‘envision’ our future. But I really do have a lot of things in mind.”

“Yeah, I understand. And could you please not hug me? I know you’re doing it on purpose, you naughty girl. I’m trying really hard not to… you know… go crazy.” She gave me a cheeky grin and said,

“Sorry, I know that we need our energy for tomorrow, but my succubus side keeps poking me.”

“Well, tell it to stop!”

“I’m trying my best!” She said with a sorrowful face.

“Maybe we just need to get out-”

“No, no, no! I can move away.” She said as she sat on the opposite side.

“You sure?” I asked.

“Y-yeah!” I gazed deep into her eyes from afar while grinning. She slowly started blushing and said,

“Don’t do that! You’re making me want to go back!” I chuckled and said,

“Sorry, I guess I also want to tempt you sometimes.” She giggled, then we both looked to the side away from each other, so we both didn’t get tempted. We were silent for a couple of seconds, she then looked back at me and asked,

“Can I kiss you?”

“That will make it far worse, we both know what that will lead on.”

“Yeah… you’re right.”

“It’s fine though, we have a lot of time in the future to do anything we want.”

“I know but… this feels like torture right now... I rather starve than be kept away from you.”

“I can relate… but trust me, we will need the energy for tomorrow.”

“Hmm… talking about envisioning things, I also want to help people.”

“Help people?”

“Yeah! Maybe by being a teacher, or a psychologist, or even a counselor.”

“Hmm, I definitely can see you as one. I’m guessing your motive is, so people don’t make the same mistakes you have done in the past, right?”

“Yes, that’s exactly it.”

“Well, I’ll always support you no matter what you choose, ok? But I really think such a career fits you.”

“Thank you, honey. How about you?”

“Me?” I started laughing, “I have no idea of what I’m going to do… for now, I only know that I will marry you and give my best to make you as happy as possible every day. But a goal for me? Hmm…”

“That means a lot to me, but I also want you to do something you like.”

“I mean… I would love to do you right now, but I can’t.” She instantly blushed and said,

“H-Honey! Stop it!” I chuckled and said,

“I’m just joking… well, I wasn’t really joking, I just meant that-”

“I know!”

“Hmmm… I really don’t know.”

“What makes you happy?” She said with a serious expression.

“You!”

“Baby! I know! please, I’m trying to help you!”

“Ok, ok,” I looked up and closed my eyes. “Hmm… I guess when I lead people the right way, and they improve because of it or even thank me for leading them to the right path… it makes me really happy.”

“Sounds like any leadership role will be great for you!”

“Like what, exactly?”

“Maybe a captain of a team, or even a headmaster. Or… how about you join the rebels and some humans to make a bigger organization that defends both lands?”

“Wait… that actually sounds awesome.”

“See? It’s not complicated,” she giggled and said, “How can you lead other people to the right path but have trouble leading yourself?”

“I don’t know… but that’s what you’re here for, to lead me the right way; and I’m so grateful for that.” I said with a genuine tone. She started tearing up and jumped onto me.

“I love you so much!”

“N-No! Stop!” After her emotional hug, I decided to get out of the tub before things escalated quickly.

We both went to bed. As I was about to cover myself, I heard a knocking at the door. I got up and opened it, it was Shizuka. She had nowhere to sleep since Nightshade was on the couch, and the guest room was taken.

“How can that tiny pixie get the whole couch?!”

“She isn’t… I just can’t sleep in a couch.”

“Of course… well, you’re more than welcome to join us!” Kasai walked up to us and said with a menacing smile,

“No, it’s fine. Shizuka will sleep with me while you sleep with Nightshade.”

“What’s the difference?!” I yelled.

“One, you’re only sleeping with one girl. Two, Nightshade is just an innocent pixie. Three, she treats you like a big brother. Four, your charm doesn’t work on her.”

“I…”

“You’re right Kasai, that is the best choice.” Said Shizuka while giving an evil giggle of pity.

“Sorry honey, but this is how it’s got to be.”

“Damn… I didn’t expect you to send me to sleep on the couch this early in the relationship.” I said as I started walking away towards the couch with a pillow on my hand. Nightshade was sitting on the sofa swinging her legs back and forth.

“Hey, Nightshade… I uh, have to sleep with you apparently.”

“Oh… that’s fine.”

“Of course you wouldn’t care…” Well, at least I can use her as a body pillow, she is extremely soft and light after all. I hope I can sleep without any problems with her… she pats a spot right beside her and said,

“Come, big brother. The couch is comfy.” Oh lord…