The Pungent City of Woodmills – Part 3

“Aww~ Feels great to stretch out my wing and tail,” I heard Yzara said from the other side of the partition. “Keepin’ ‘em hidin’ all the time makes me all uncomfortable.”

“Just make sure you hid them if anyone shows up, okay?”

“It’s fine. I can hide them in no time flat.”

I sighed in resignation, letting my body fully relax.

The inn we were staying at had showers and a hot spring you could use for a few Copper. It was so late in the evening that most people had gone to sleep, and even those that weren’t asleep were not using the baths. Although Adaville and the other Hero-created Polis were a melting pot of cultures, most of the civilized races of Iditath had the habit of taking a bath in the morning, not the evening like Japanese people.

So I guess we’ll probably be alright.

After washing ourselves, we “met” on the large hot springs—although there was a partition dividing the male and female baths from one another, obviously. The bath itself was a half-circle lined with rocks, inside a wooden and rustic-looking building. Although we were inside, and despite the weather in Adaville being quite temperate, the nightly chill still permeated inside the building. That wasn’t exactly a problem, though—it just made the baths feel that much more cozy.

“Feel free to peek if ya want, by the way,” Yzara said. “I have it aallll out right now, you know?” I could almost sense her smirk from here.

“You’re talking about your demon bits, right? And either way, I’m pretty sure you’d kill me if I did.”

“Spot on. Eh-eh-eh.”

How did I get into this situation?

It was something straight out of a cheesy novel, except the girl on the other side was all but cute, and hosted murderous intent towards yours truly. While I was musing, I heard water splashing sounds coming from the other side of the partition. I tried not to think much about it—this was the Demon Queen, after all—but I couldn’t deny that I was just a bit interested

When I noticed the splashing sounds disappeared, her weak voice broke through the silence.

“Hey, Takashi.”

“Yeah?”

She didn’t utter a sound for a good while. Then, finally, she said something that took me completely by surprise.

“…Thank you.”

“Huh? What are you thanking me for?”

“Ya idiot. Do I need to spell it out? Yer supposed to just take it quietly.”

“Yes you do. I don’t know what you’re thanking me for.”

“…Fine, ya blockhead. I’m thankin’ you for savin’ me before. And for takin’ me here. I realized I never did so, so there. Take it.”

“I… you’re welcome?”

“Good. It’s been a while since I’ve felt safe. I… wanna mark the moment. That’s all.”

I let the silence fall between us for a little bit.

“Guess the White Death’s been after you for a long time, hasn’t it?”

She didn’t respond right away.

“Yeah… It has. It really has.”

I didn’t know what to respond. One hundred years was unfathomable for an early-thirties guy like me. It was longer than the vast majority of humans lived for. Yzara had been on the run all that time, with her power slowly being taken from her, bit by bit by bit.

Instead of thinking too hard about it, I just let myself relax in the hot spring. It was so very quiet, with no noise from the outside coming in. The city was already sleeping. It felt like the two of us were alone at the top of the world. Despite being physically separated by a wall, I felt closer to Yzara than I ever felt so far.

Which was why I wasn’t surprised when she spoke up again.

“Hey, Takashi.”

“What is it?”

“Before, at the governor’s house. What was that? I wanted to ask ya about it before, but Marielle interrupted us.”

I didn’t really need to ask for clarification on what she meant—that was the beginning of a panic attack, something I hadn’t had in years. Ironically, it was Yzara who had brought me back from the brink.

“I see. A panic attack, huh,” she said when I explained what it was to her. Fair to say, mental health support in Arcforge was non-existent. “What set ya off? Did ya really think Marielle was being serious?”

“…Yeah.”

I half-expected Yzara to start mocking me, but instead, she continued with a leveled voice. “Surely this didn’t come out of nowhere. What happened?”

“This is… a bit embarrassing to talk about.”

“I don’t judge, ya know. Just let it out of yer chest.”

“Well, fine. I… I got… tricked by friends a long time.”

My mind was cast back to the time right after Arcforge was unceremoniously shut down. The entire dev team was left job- and directionless. We banded together to try and figure something out—and then some of the group members decided to betray one another. A new AI company, a revolutionary new idea…! All they needed was a bit of money to get started, and we’d start as team leaders when the rank-and-file programmers got hired.

But it was all a scam. They took the money—all I had saved up, plus some I borrowed from my family—and disappeared with it. Laundered through untraceable crypto wallets and other shady tactics, it all went down the drain, and the cops couldn’t do a damn about it. I was pennyless, and my family shunned me for being unable to pay them back. To make things even worse, AI was taking over even those low level programmer jobs, and making ends meet became harder and harder. Eventually, I had to move into that shared apartment with the four dudes who gave in to the dark side and spent their days prompting away and making AI slop clogging up the internet’s pipes.

Of course, I couldn’t explain even half of that to Yzara—but I did explain the gist of it. It was a shared human experience to be tricked by those you thought you could trust.

“Ah. I see. Ya got tricked by former friends. A truly evil group of people.”

Only when she said it so clearly did I realize the irony of the situation.

Eh. Why am I telling the Demon Queen about my issues with evil people?

“I guess you’re happy to hear this. There’s someone just as evil as you out there,” I said in a self-deprecating tone.

I expected one of her usual retorts, but Yzara remained quiet for a long time. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just… ya know, now that ya say it, it is weird that I find those people to be evil. Trickin’ humans is my specialty, but—well, never mind. Even I would be pissed off if I were tricked, so I get what yer sayin’. I suppose my only advice is to not let yer emotions overwhelm yer mind. And, if ya do end up getting tricked again, ya just need enough power to crush ‘em to bits as revenge.”

“Eh-eh. Ah-ah-ah!” I started laughing rather hysterically.

“H-hey, what’s so funny?!”

For a moment there, I thought this person couldn’t possibly be the same Demon Queen we programmed all those years ago.

Maybe… just maybe… she isn’t all that bad, after all.

* * *

“W-why are you in your underwear?!”

That was the first thing I said after I got into our room after my bath. Yzara went back before me while I soaked in the hot springs a bit longer. I stayed on until so late that the lady overseeing the baths had to kick me out.

When I entered our shared room, Yzara was right there, lying in bed, her back propped up, and seemingly reading a book. She was showing way more skin than what should be allowed for a priestess—and then some. I had to turn my back, so I wouldn’t get her image seared onto my mind

“Why are ya turnin’ yer back to me? Does it bother ya? Eh-eh-eh.”

So she’s just mocking me, after all!

“Of course it does, idiot! We’ll be sharing a room, so I’d expect at least a modicum of decency from a woman!”

“Yer the idiot. I’m not in my underwear! This is just my original clothes, duh. Now come inside instead of standin’ there like a virgin who never saw a woman naked.”

“For the record, I have—” I started saying, but then stopped myself, venting off all my frustration with a sigh. “Ah, forget it. It’s a pointless discussion.”

Indeed, after looking at her more closely—a stupid grin on her face, as if she set all this up—she was wearing the same clothes she had when I first found her, a tank top with a lot of cleavage and short. Her horns, her wing, and her constantly-moving tail were out in their full glory, reminding me that this was indeed Yzara the Demon Queen.

“So? Why are you dressed like that?” I aksed as I closed the door behind me.

“I don’t have any other clothes, duh. And I can’t stand that stuffy priestess outfit, so I don’t wanna wear it longer than necessary. I swear, how do all those girls deal with the sweat? They must get stinky by the end of the day.”

“Well, thanks for that mental image.”

“Yer welcome. Oh, and speaking of, could you zap the outfit with yer gun? I’d like to have clean clothes tomorrow.”

When I looked to where she was pointing, I noticed the priestess’ outfit was neatly folded on top of the single desk of the room. This inn actually offered to clean your clothes for four Copper—probably the job of some poor Fire and Water Mage locked in the basement all night. However, with the Debuggun, we didn’t even need to spend that money—I could just reset clothes to their spawning state. That would remove any bonuses or enchantments they had, but that wasn’t the case with us.

Sorry, basement-dwelling mage. We’re on a tight budget ourselves, too.

I shrugged, and zapped the priestess’ outfit back to its original state without any fuss. Despite my complaining, I’d need to get some more clothes, too. I had just spawned in with the default “Adventurer’s Outfit” every player came with, which offered exactly zero protection from anything.

Man, I never thought I’d need to be careful with money in another world.

Right as I sat on the bed that had been assigned to me by default, Yzara raised her voice again.

“Why are ya sitting in yer bed for? We’re gonna be busy allll night long today~” She said with an oddly seductive tone.

My heart skipped a beat. Is Yzara making me flustered?

“…What the heck are you talking about? I bet you’re more tired than I am.”

“Tsk. Yer no fun. At least go along with the joke. But I mean what I said.”

“And what was that, exactly?”

“We’ll be trainin’ Profane Magic, obviously.”

“Huh?!”

“Ya learned it over on the Airdrake, right? C’mere and let me teach ya,” she said with a toothy grin.

“…Is this just a ploy to mock how weak I am?”

“Nah, nothing of the sort. I’m totally serious. In fact, ya should be grateful! The chance of havin’ the representative of Baelrak teach you personally doesn’t come every day.”

She had a point. If I had to name one person in the whole world who I could trust to teach Profane Magic well, it was Yzara.

“And I saw yer using Shadow Strike on the griffin fight. Not bad, but ya could have done much better than that if I had taught ya how to use it.”

Wait a second.

“Are you jealous of Tanney, by any chance?”

She took just a fraction of a second longer to answer than normal. “Why would I be jealous of a little girl who thinks she can yield Profane Magic?”

Ohh boy. She’s jealous, alright.

That little fact put me in a strangely good mood.

“Well, alright. Just a little before we go to sleep..”

And indeed, Yzara kept her word. We trained those three basic skills, with her talking through the best way to aim <Shadow Strike>, and all about the best situations to use <Curse> and <Darkness>. However, our tiredness soon got the best of us, and before I knew it, I had conked out in my bed. It wasn’t exactly the most comfortable bed I ever had the pleasure to use, but it was certainly better than going to sleep fearing of getting mauled by zombie wolves.

I considered this a great improvement of my living conditions.