It was around 2 in the afternoon when I awakened from my nap.
After going back to my room, I'd cogitated for about half an hour, and stabilised my spiritual condition. Then, I had a small breakfast from the ship's kitchen. I ate buttered up bread with some red wine, and fell asleep.
It was only now that I was feeling all good, although a little hungry again. At least, no longer tired.
Of course, I couldn't just spend all my days in leisure like this when I was on the ship though, it is simply that I had just returned, and was now advancing, so I was allowed such leeway.
As I was about to get up from my bedroll, to maybe have another meal, a loud knock resounded from the door of my shack. I wonder who it could be at this time.
"Coming." I said as I got up to open the door.
I slid the bolt and pulled the door in to see who it was, but I was forced to close my eyes instead as the bright sunlight of the tropical midday suddenly poured in.
I squinted my one eye open, and an equally bright hue of flame like red hair greeted me.
I couldn't appreciate the sight for long, or with clarity as the sunlight forced me to close my eyes again. I took a few seconds to adjust my eyes to the brightness, while the lady in front of me spoke with a hint of tease.
"Is my face truly so unsightly that you would not even look at it, and then frown so deep instead? I must say, I take offence, li'l Lorenzo."
At her words, I forced my eyes open to look at her. Because I was squinting, I barely saw the deliberate smirk that was adorning her blurry, bright red lips, a shade deeper than her hair, as if she'd painted them with blood.
Taking offence? My ass. Like hell, she took offence.
"How may I be of help to you, lady Eleanor?"
I asked with all the respect I could muster towards this woman who had rudely pushed the sun in my face, and had the audacity to make a joke about it. At least she didn't try to charm me.
"Take a guess." Said Eleanor as she put her left hand on her shirt clad waist, and leaned against the doorway on her right arm. Her hand pulled her shirt down taut against her bountiful chest, and a new ethereal sense of beauty exuded from her curious face.
These Demonesses, I swear...
If I go out on a mission, I'm haunted by Marauders. If I'm here, then I'm constantly on the cusp of getting an awkward hard-on because of this lady. Is this what being stuck between a rock and a soft bosom feels like?
Yeah... to truly think of it, I'll still take this over Marauders any day, at least I'm not going to die of embarrassment. May god give rest to Wang Lang's soul, poor old dude died of rage bait.
"Well? Cat got your tongue, li'l Lorenzo?"
Eleanor seemed to have got bored with my silent monologue, so for some inexplicable reason only known to her, she lifted her left hand from her waist, and put her index finger on my nose— and then she slid it down my lips... and now she's got in below my chin. I felt a shiver start from the behind my neck, and shuddered as it travelled down spine. I could feel my heart accelerating and the blood rushing to my nether regions.
"I... I th-think it was about my request to learn Hermes and Ancient Hermes?"
"What a catch, you're almost right! Good boy!" She jumped straight to her feet in an instant, and the ethereal feeling coming off of her vanished immediately. She crossed her arms below her chest and asked.
"You were sleeping, huh?"
She looked down for a second, then making peace with some thought in her mind, she shook her head and looked up at me again.
"Go wash your face, eat something, and come to my Cabin. Also, you will be learning Ancient Feysac along with Hermes. It's not optional, no request to bunk this subject will be accepted."
With a slight curl of her lips, she took a step forward, invading my personal space, and ruffled my hair.
"You have ten minutes, better not be late."
Eleanor pulled out a pocket watch from her trouser's pocket, and flicked it open. Taking a glance, she showed the watch to me for an instant, where I could barely observe the positions of the needles, and closed it.
"I'll be there!"
Finally, my body had stopped its intermittent shivers, no longer under active charm of a Demoness of the Pleasure sequence.
Is this what Pleasure's touch feels like? I bet Demonesses could become pro doctors at treating erectile dysfunction.
Before I could feel awkward at my unwanted physiological changes, this lady flashed me a knowing smile, and walked off away from my view. Bright sunlight that was previously blocked by her entrance into my doorway suddenly came in full force and blinded me again.
"Fuck."
I cursed audibly. This was crazy. I don't know what she had in store for me when I digest the Instigator potion, but I'm equally scared as I'm excited to know.
...
After Eleanor left, I wasted no time and quickly folded my bedroll, hung it up, and left my shack to have another meal. I washed my face, ate a plate full of warm, pan fried salmon, with a mango to accompany as dessert, and headed straight to Eleanor's cabin.
All of this takes some time to describe, but it happened in the time it takes for a photon to fly off the Sun and reach Earth.
Eleanor's cabin was almost right beside mine on the back of the ship, yet somehow I'd only paid attention to it now. I knocked on the door and waited.
In the time it takes for a humming bird to beat its wings hundredfold, the door in front of me opened.
This time it was not me who had to squint my eyes. But it was not lady Eleanor either, who squinted her eyes. In fact, I couldn't even see her eyes. They were covered with what looked to be sunglasses of some type. I wish at that moment I could have controlled my face to not show that ugly expression...
"That's cheating!"
I exclaimed as I pointed at her face two feet away from me. Her body shook in a controlled laugh as she tilted her chin up and said in arrogance of an arrogant young master.
"All is fair in love and war, my dear."
"Where did you even learn that? And we're neither in love nor in war here!"
I could almost feel my blood pressure rising.
Instead of letting me enter, this woman stood in her place, evaluating me for a moment, before she spoke.
"Don't tell me you've never heard of this line li'l Lorenzo? You've never watched any of Emperor Roselle's plays? We Intisians love them. As for love... You've hurt me with your words!"
This woman faked an obviously fake pained expression as she put her hand on her chest, and cooed, "Am I truly so unsightly that you feel nothing for this maidenly heart?"
"..."
It would be a lie to say that I felt nothing for her, especially since she not only helped Lorenzo, she also helped me, saved my life, and was now willing to teach me as well. On top of that, she was a Sequence 6 Demoness of Pleasure, so it would be hard to not have a crush on someone like her.
"I- I didn't say that. I'm grateful to you, and you've been-"
Before I could go on an embarrassing and stupid monologue, she came closer and put her finger on my lips again. I couldn't utter a word more. There was a sudden intensity in her eyes I'd not seen before.
Eleanor took her hand away from my face, for a moment, before pinching my cheek with her fingers.
"Don't be so serious now, li'l Lorenzo, take my words in jest. I help you because that is my responsibility as your senior in the crew. Take not that not all people here are trusted by Captain. As for who, I believe you could guess on your own."
Anything that I could have been thinking of saying disappeared from my head as her touch ignited my heart again.
Before it could get any more awkward for me though, she took her hand away, turned around and invited me into her room. Suddenly the brightness of the sunlight didn't seem so bad, compared to the concurrent physiological changes that I was trying to suppress. Something could have risen, and it would not have been the shield hero...
"Come in."
Eleanor's voice broke my thoughts.
I took a deep breath, stretched my arms, and entered the door, closing it behind me. Her cabin was lit up in the warm glow of a gas lamp. I hope she doesn't make this too hard for me.
Not wanting to stay on the back foot, I tried to think of something to say.
"I'll make sure I make you suffer the same way when I reach Sequence 6, lady Eleanor."
Eleanor was pulling out a notebook from her cabinet when she heard my words and started laughing.
"Sure, we shall see. By the time you reach Pleasure, I'd already be at Sequence 5 mister, your charm will go dud on me."
How many slangs did this woman know?!
"Where did you even hear that word?"
I couldn't help but ask her.
"Emperor Roselle, Lorenzo. Great man, you should really check out one of his plays."
Oh dear god, this Demoness really was a fan of Roselle.