“You...” he manages to force out through his anger, his voice and body shaking slightly as he stares at the two demi-humans sitting in front of him with their eyes averted away from each other, “You thought it was a good idea?”

  “We were in a pinch...” Eleanor murmurs, “They were about to surround us... Ena had frozen up, so I did what I thought was the best option at the time.”

  “And that was to use a spell you had never before instead of screaming for me?” Sincir asks, being unable to keep the incredulity from his voice.

  Still not looking at him, Eleanor presses her lips together. “I had a feeling about it... It worked, didn’t it?”

  “If by worked you mean you burned our client’s barn to the ground, then yes, it worked wonders,” Ena murmurs, “You know that if they were looking to have it burned down, they could’ve done that without our help, right?”

  “I meant that it burned the giant spiders about to pounce on us before they could do so. I wasn’t sure if they were poisonous or not, or if healing magic would’ve worked on a bite... I couldn’t risk waiting for you, Sincir.”

  Making a monumental effort to calm himself, Sincir takes a deep breath. “Okay... Okay, I can see your point. It was also my mistake for not coming with you...”

  “It was not your fault, Sin... The contract said they saw a spider; Nobody told us we’d be facing a dozen of them,” Ena says, shuddering as she does so, “And besides, we didn’t know they were at the barn for sure, and you can’t detect these things with your magic, so splitting up made sense... We were running against time before the spider, or one of them, I guess, caught one of the farmers.”

  Having long gained a headache from all of this, Sincir massages his temples, trying to force himself to think past his anger, and - if he is being honest with himself - fear, of what might’ve happened were Eleanor’s spell to have gone wrong, or the spiders to have survived, or...

  Lords, if she had killed Ena by mistake...

  Ena is right in that they couldn’t have predicted things turning out this way. The contract was a nest’s escapee one, like the frog monster, and it mentioned a farmer having spotted a spider in the grove near their farm... But when they arrived, the farmers said they heard the animals making noise from the barn, so Sincir sent the girls to investigate it while he stayed nearby, watching the forest line for clues of their prey...

  He figured they could handle a spider on their own! And Ena insisted on going...!

  “There is no way this should’ve been a F rank contract,” Eleanor says, “The guild will understand, and reimburse at least part of the damage.”

  “I don’t care about the money, Eleanor...! Please tell you didn’t pick this just to upset Ena.”

  Eleanor’s gaze snaps in his direction, her expression showcasing pain for a brief second, before growing cold.

  “I’d have never put her life in danger on purpose. But if she is to continue in this line of work, she’ll have to grow strong, and she’ll have to overcome her fear of insects eventually... Before it kills her, preferably. I thought this was a good opportunity for her to face her fears, and I was prepared for her to hesitate, but I didn’t expect there to be so many of them, and again, I did save her, didn’t I?!”

  As Ena lowers her gaze, Sincir takes a deep breath. Then, once it doesn’t seem to work, he does it again.

  “Fine... In the future, we are never again assuming we’re only facing a single enemy. Is that clear?”

  “It was a lesson well learned... Don’t worry, we won’t forget it so soon,” Eleanor murmurs, while Ena nods.

  Seeing as they’re both covered in ashes, Sincir casts a cleaning spell over the both of them, feeling as though he is finally beginning to calm down somewhat.

  The farmers who hired the guild are still walking around the remains of their burned down barn (which Sincir and the girls spent most of their day trying to salvage from the fire, to no avail; then again, heavenly fire is no joke) and now they have to run back before sundown, which is all but upon them.

  “...What now, Sin?” Ena asks.

  Sincir sighs. “Eleanor, you’re the fastest of us, so you’ll go first and report this... Ena, I can tell you’re still shaken up, so you’ll come with me once we’ve apologized and expined to them that the guild will pay for their barn... Or that, if they don’t, then so will we.”

  Eleanor grimaces over the st part, but she doesn’t compin, rising while averting her eyes from them and heading toward the road they used to get here.

  “Wait,” Sincir calls, once she is about to walk past him, “Before you go, come here.”

  For a moment, he thinks she might simply ignore him (it wouldn’t have ended well for either of them), but then she stops, walking toward him with a frown on her face and her gaze turned away.

  “...What?”

  “Do you know why I’m so upset?”

  She presses her lips together. “I fucked up... I get it, okay?”

  Sincir rolls his eyes. “Well, going by your answer, clearly, you don’t. Look at me.”

  She tightens her jaw.

  “Eleanor, look at me,” Sincir repeats, causing her to finally do so, if begrudgingly.

  Meeting her striking blue eyes, Sincir slowly steps forward and pces a soft kiss over her lips, having to stand on the tip of his toes to do so. “I’m really fucking gd you two came out of there alive, you hear me?” he whispers against her mouth, “And I’m sorry about the comment I made earlier... I understand why you provoked Ena this morning, even if I might not agree with your methods.”

  After a moment of staring into his eyes, Eleanor nods... And once she steps away from him, she still looks upset, but her muscles have rexed slightly.

  “I know I was harsh on you about the spell, but good job thinking on your feet and reacting accordingly... Your gamble paid off, so I’ll let you off the hook this once. Was that a spell from the book I gave you?”

  She nods.

  Sincir sighs. “Okay. See you at night for that surprise you promised me?”

  Eleanor hesitates, then nods again.

  “Be careful on your way back... Don’t trip and break your neck because you were endlessly ruminating about what happened; Let the thinking for when you’re under our bnkets, safely in me arms.”

  Finally, he manages to crack a smile out of her, if a slightly exasperated one. “I’ve been running this countryside for the past year on my own, remember? You’re the one who should worry about finding the way back before sundown on your own. Are you sure I should head out first?”

  Sincir nods. “I remember the path we took to get here, and we aren’t that far from the main road.”

  “Fine...”

  Eleanor begins to walk away, but then stops and turns back; Quickly walking up to him, she grabs his shirt and pulls him toward her for a long, hard kiss...

  ...Sincir is still trying to catch his breath and regain his bearings once she walks away again, for real this time.

  Turning toward Ena, he realizes the half-elf has had her face turned away from them, her expression dark.

  Ah, how he wishes the two of them were still sleeping in the same bed together, and his worst problem was having a boner throughout the night...

  At this point, he is close to fucking her and being done with it, or at least suggesting the idea.

  Even if she was his blood reted sister, to him, it’d make little difference, but it is not even the case here... Which brings into question, why hasn’t he done anything to her, yet?

  The only thing Sincir can think of is that he is afraid of losing the retionship they currently have... But that I’d ridiculous, right? He doesn’t care for having a bratty sister who is always finding fault in everything he does... Right?

  Well, in any case, he is almost certain Ena would make for an even more annoying girlfriend than sister, so he has at least one good reason to hesitate... And as for just fucking her and not making her into one of his girlfriends?

  Hah, that’s a good joke, right there; Even if Ena doesn’t kill him, Eleanor would.

  Walking up to Ena, Sincir sighs. “Up, pipsqueak; We’ve gotta move if we want to make it to town before sundown, still.”

  Once he offers her his hand, Ena frowns. “Not you too...”

  Still, she accepts his hand, and Sincir uses the chance to pull her into a surprise hug, releasing a small sigh once her body is pressed against his.

  “S-Sin?!”

  He squeezes her harder. “Idiot. Will you ever stop scaring me to death?”

  “T-this is sexual harassment, you know?!”

  Releasing her, Sincir snorts. “Ena, the day I decide to sexual harass you, trust me, you’ll know. Now come, those farmers are starting to look at us weird.”

  In the end, it end up being a good thing Eleanor went ahead first. If she was still around, Sincir is sure she’d have broken more than a few noses... The farms were understandably upset about the loss of their barn, but everything has a limit. Even if they made a mistake, they were still trying to help, and they weren’t told there would be multiple spiders...

  Still, no amount of expining seems to get through their thick, sunburned skulls, and seeing that the sun is growing dangerously close from the horizon, Sincir eventually snaps; Once one of the farms grabs the handle of their axe threateningly because he said they’re about to leave, his vision grows red, and before he realizes, the man is on the ground, holding his bleeding nose with a shocked look on his face.

  “Look, if you want, we could always do this the old fashioned way,” Sincir says, smiling coldly as he stares from face to face, “All of you against me and my pupil... I wouldn’t recommend it. However, since things have gotten to this point, there is something I’m curious about. Which of you posted the request at the guild?”

  Once none of them immediately manifests themselves, seemingly being shocked over his abrupt change in attitude, if the look on their faces is anything to go by, Sincir casts a spell, creating an ice scythe which he presses against the farmer still at his feet.

  “...Well?”

  It takes a moment, but one of the shocked farmers, a young fellow, in caparison to the rest, and who had stayed mostly quiet throughout the whole argument, steps forward.

  “I... I was the one who posted it.”

  Sincir smiles coldly at him. “What’s your name?”

  “...Jacob.”

  “And how many spiders, exactly, did you see, Jacob?”

  His question is met with a deafening silence. Sincir doesn’t even need to ask the next one; by looking at the faces of the rest, he can tell they all were in on it.

  “Expin...” he manages to murmur through his rapidly rising fury, “For the love of everything you’ve ever loved, expin, before I behead the lot of you on the spot.”

  “...Our farm hasn’t been profiting tely. And now, with the death of many of our animals, we couldn’t hope to afford a high tier request at the guild without selling our property... It might not mean much to you, but it has been our families’ home for generations,” Jacob expins solemnly, the look in his eyes indicating he expects to die for his words, and is prepared for it, “I know I have no right to ask anything, but please spare the others... As the one who made the request, I’ll take responsibility.”

  “Jay...” one of the farmers says, stepping forward as if to interfere, before Jocob shakes his head.

  “What we did was wrong, Father; We didn’t just scam honest workers of their owed money, we put these people’s lives at risk, and they stayed to whole day to help us put out the fire.”

  “T-the fire which they started with their own cursed magic!” the farmer by his feet says, causing Sincir to ugh, abrupt and slightly manically.

  “Oh, I get it! You’ve been inbreeding!” he says happily, as though having finally understood everything, “Which is why, when we arrived, none of you thought to warn us about the danger! And why, instead of simply letting us leave, you insisted on having this argument!”

  The farmer at his feet open his mouth, and Sincir kicks his face; Were the man to have said another word, he isn’t sure he’d have been able to hold his hand.

  “Sin...”

  “Stay out of it, Ena; You’re way too nice for your own good sometimes, and this is one of those times. Now, as for the rest of you, I can forgive... I can at least understand lying at the guild, irresponsible as it may have been... But you should’ve told us the correct information the moment we got here, even if you had to beg for us to keep your secret. Tell me... Tell me you understand what I’m saying, or Creator help me, I’m not responsible for what I might do.”

  Most of the farmers avert their gazes, their guilt and shame clearly visible in their expressions, while some of them stare at him solemnly, seeming to think they did what was necessary to defend their livelihood.

  They are so damn lucky... Lucky he is no longer Varzath, and lucky Ena is standing behind him at the moment, rather than Eleanor.

  Still, Sincir considers, being unable to stop himself from doing it, if he should simply send her home on her own, in spite of the danger, in order to spend a fun night teaching these people a lesson.

  Being the good incubus that he is, he would make sure to help them with their inbreeding problem by creaming a few dozen wives and daughters before the sun is up... He doesn’t even care how ugly they may be; Rather, he wonders if he could get through them all before the night is over.

  He could make it into a challenge... Eleanor would understand. In fact, she might be disappointed she wasn’t able to participate, after hearing about what they did...

  “Sin... Let’s just leave, okay? They understand that what they did was wrong, and nobody was hurt...” Ena murmurs, her voice shaking slightly, “We have nothing to gain from seeking revenge now. Isn’t that what you always say? ‘Become strong so that you can protect the things you care about, because once they are gone, no amount of revenge will bring them back?’”

  Sincir tightens his jaw... Then, unmaking his ice scythe, he spits on the ground. “You better hope the guild pays for your barn, because you won’t be receiving any money from us.”

  Being unable to stand looking at their faces for another second longer, he turns around and walks by Ena, starting to jog home... Considering the time, they’ll have to run all the way, if they want to have any hope of making it to the city before nightfall.

  “...Thank you,” Ena murmurs once they are a couple of minutes away from the farm, “I know you retreated because of me.”

  “No, you were right; Even if I were to kill or punish them, it wouldn’t have made anything better, and come morning, I’d have simply felt empty... Been there enough times to know better, so I’m the one who should be thanking you for having stopped me.”

  “...You’re furious.”

  Sincir can tell it wasn’t a question.

  “Well, aren’t you?” he asks, while throwing her a look over his shoulder, “Their stupidity almost cost yours and Eleanor’s lives...”

  Ena averts her gaze. “I don’t know... I’m just gd to be alive, I guess. Those spiders keep fshing through my mind, and Eleanor... Eleanor looked really scary, like she was about to set the whole pce on fire... Which, I suppose, is exactly what she did.”

  Sincir nods. “You’re a good person, Ena, and I’m proud of you for not having allowed this shitty world to change that.”

  Meeting his gaze once more, she smiles bitterly, which highlights the bags under her eyes and the tired expression on her face. “For all the good it has done me so far... I’m starting to see why Eleanor breaks so many noses. If you were the one who had almost died instead, I might’ve not been so nice to them, Sin. But Eleanor was in danger because I was with her and I froze up, so I can’t even bme them for that... Only my own, pathetic fears.”

  Sincir frowns. “You had no bme in this, Ena... Fuck, we won’t make it if we keep at this pace. We’ll talk about this ter, okay? Don’t do anything stupid in the meantime.”

  Ena rolls her eyes. “You’ll trip if you continue throwing gnces at me over your-”

  He kicks a stone, nearly falling, and she ughs.

  Sincir curses...

  In the end, they manage to barely make it to one of Elderspire’s gates before the world is covered in darkness.

  The city guards take a look at their tired, sweaty faces, and then at their badges, before letting them through with sympathetic looks behind their helmets... Adventurers coming back just as the gates are about to close must be a common sight for them.

  Ena and him separate not long after entering the city. Although he is still worried about her, she’ll probably be fine for a couple of hours, and he is already more than an hour te for his date with Mary... Chances are, she is long home by now, and she’ll never speak with him again, but in the off chance she is still waiting for him, he has to at least give her the chance to scream at him in person...

  Having made a single stop along the way, Sincir casts a cleaning spell over himself once he finally spots the guild’s closed doors. Sweeping his gaze over the pce’s immediate surroundings, and not spotting Mary right away, he almost turns away and leaves, before a woman leaning heavily over her right leg catches the corner of his eyes.

  Smiling, Sincir quickly approaches Mary and smiles at her. “I almost didn’t recognize you standing up.”

  It’s a shame she wasn’t around while those farmer’s barn was burning; The look she throws him could’ve put it out.

  Ignoring it, Sincir sways the bag he is carrying and takes something from it, extending it in her direction.

  “I thought you might be hungry since your shift just finished, so I bought this on the way here...”

  Mary stares at the corn cob in his grip, narrowing her eyes.

  “...Careful, it’s still hot.”

  She facepalms. “I can’t believe I actually convinced myself to give this a chance.”

  Dropping his smile, Sincir sighs. “Look, if you want to go home-”

  A stomach rumbles, interrupting him, and Sincir immediately realizes it wasn’t his.

  “-I can at least walk you there, as an apology,” he finishes, now smiling again, “Just so you know, the corn doesn’t come with any strings attached.”

  Cheeks blushing slightly, Mary tightens her jaw and averts her gaze. “...Walk me home? And no strings attached on the corn?”

  “Yeah. You can decide if you’ll let me in or not once we’re there... Honestly, I had something prepared for our date, but after being made to wait for more than an hour, I bet you want nothing more than your bed.”

  Mary gives him a measuring sidelong gnce. Then, hesitantly, she extends her hand toward the corn, grabbing it from him.

  While also taking one from the bag for himself, Sincir smiles at her. “You take the lead, I follow.”