Beside them, Kureha lay curled up on her side, a tear glistening past the beauty mark near the corner of her eye. Her gaze was unfocused, her eyes hollow, as she murmured the same words over and over.
"Per... pervert!"
"I can't take any more..."
"Completely broken..."
"Broken..."
Rose wore a silky slip dress, her legs sheathed in black stockings and folded elegantly to one side. She sat beside Kureha, one slender hand gently stroking the bare skin of Kureha's back, while her lips curled into a smile as she watched the Holy Maiden still struggling beneath the Demon Lord.
"Dear Mr. Leon, would you mind if I joined in?"
Leon paused mid-motion with Jeanne pinned beneath him, and a wicked grin spread across his face.
"For you, my lady!"
The mattress dipped. Rose set a knee on it and crawled up beside them, the silk of her slip riding up her stockinged thighs, and settled in like she'd been waiting on it all night.
Under him, Jeanne tensed. She'd heard the question and she'd heard the answer. Her thighs gripped tighter around his hips anyway.
"Eyes here." Leon took her chin and turned her face out of the pillow, off Rose, back to him. "You picked me. Don't go shy on me now, Holy Maiden."
Jeanne shut her jaw and kept it shut. He could have everything else, but he wasn't getting a word out of her, and she'd settled that with herself a while back, somewhere in the part of the night where she'd stopped being able to finish a thought. She glared at him and said nothing.
"Still got the look." He rolled his hips, slow, all the way out and back, and the glare broke for half a second before she caught it. "You three and your alliance. Ganging up on me at breakfast. Ganging up on me in the workshop. All month. How's it going?"
"...Nnh..."
"Not an answer."
Rose laid a hand flat on Jeanne's stomach. "She's a poor student, Mr. Leon. You can explain a thing very plainly and she still won't say it back to you." Her hand slid down, two fingers finding Jeanne's clit where her cunt was stretched around his cock, and pressed. "I told you she'd want the strict version."
Jeanne's back came off the bed and the sound she made wasn't a word.
"Rose." It scraped out of her, for Rose, not him, and not as cold as she meant it. "...Traitor..."
"The alliance is down a member, it seems." Rose didn't lift her hand. She had the same mild smile she used choosing vegetables at the market. "Don't call it betrayal, dear. Call it tutoring."
Leon laughed, and then the Crest kicked in down his spine and the laugh changed. He dragged most of the way out and slammed back in, knocked the air out of her, did it again, no build to it now, the headboard banging the wall on a flat steady beat.
Jeanne couldn't keep her mouth closed anymore, but it wasn't words that came out, just the sound each thrust shoved out of her, both hands fisted in the sheets.
Kureha made a thin noise off to the side.
She hadn't moved in a while, curled on her hip where they'd left her, repeating her one word into the mattress with nothing behind it. Rose's hand was off her back now, and she'd started watching the Holy Maiden instead, an arm's length away, eyes glassy and too wide.
"P-pervert..." It came out wet, shapeless, used up an hour ago. "...too much... it's too much..."
"You said you were done. Greedy." Rose put two fingers under Kureha's chin and tipped her face toward them. "Watch how it's done, then. You always fold too early."
Kureha's eyes rolled and stayed open, and the whimper came anyway.
"Look at you." Leon's voice had gone flat and low over the slap of his hips. He had a fist in her hair, holding her head where he wanted it. "Whole house gangs up on me for a month and the ringleader's got this. You wanted my attention. You've got all of it. Say it."
"...I'm not..." Her teeth knocked on nothing. Her hips were already lifting for the next one before it landed, and still the Saint in her clamped down on the word he wanted. "...I'm not saying it..."
"No?" He drove in deep, ground there, stopped. "All night, then. The crest doesn't get tired. Morning's fine with me."
Rose hummed. "She's close. She always is. She just makes everyone wait." Her fingers went back to work, slow, and she set her mouth at Jeanne's ear for the last of it. "Hold the word as long as you want. He can already feel you saying it."
Jeanne came with his name somewhere in the noise, and the other word went with it, the one she'd sworn he'd never get, out of her in a broken stutter while she clamped down and shook and held him there.
"There it is." Leon didn't slow down. He fucked her through it and kept going when she'd gone slack and overrun, because he wasn't close to done and there were three of them. "Alliance's dissolved. Rose."
"Mr. Leon." She was already up on her knees, sliding the strap off her shoulder, in no way surprised to be next.
"...Pervert..." Kureha said it to nobody, far away.
She lost count after that, and by the time he was anywhere near done she'd stopped trying to.
Nobody knew what kind of rigorous "education" Jeanne received that night.
But as a bystander, Laurier noticed something very clearly...
Over the next two days, her dear Jeanne was completely drained of her usual radiance. She carried this listless, sluggish air about her, and had somehow picked up a touch of... that lazy ease Rose always had.
Rose, on the other hand, looked rosy-cheeked and positively glowing, brimming with energy. When working on expedition preparations, she gave Laurier and Aura the impression of ruthless efficiency.
And even more off than Jeanne was Kureha.
Whatever had happened to her, her eyes were vacant and unfocused. During daily practice her footwork was shaky and she kept spacing out. There was no trace of the razor-sharp, commanding Sword Saint she normally was.
After sneaking glances at all three of her older companions and their vastly different states, Laurier's gaze finally locked onto Leon, the one responsible for all of this.
This is definitely all Mr. Leon's fault!
But... that's weird. Why does he look kind of pale too? And he keeps rubbing his lower back... That's really strange.
...
When Leon noticed Laurier sneaking peeks at him with that peculiar little expression, his face flushed. He quickly dropped the hand that had been rubbing his lower back.
He forced himself to sit up straight, spine rigid, expression serious, and turned to Rose, who held a notebook with her usual gentle smile.
"Miss Rose, how are the preparations coming along?"
Faced with his painfully obvious attempt to change the subject, Rose's eyes glinted. She cast a barely perceptible glance at his lower back, a hint of amusement in her gaze.
"Everything's been taken care of."
"About seventy percent of the supplies were purchased over the last few days. The remaining thirty percent came from our existing reserves."
"Worth mentioning is the potion situation."
She flipped through a few pages of her notebook and paused on one entry.
"For High Potions, High Magic Potions, and Elixirs, we had to dip entirely into our own stockpile. We couldn't restock any of them from outside sources."
"Only Low Potions. We managed to scrape together twenty-four of those."
That was right. Even though the first day's shopping had been disappointing, Leon hadn't let the next two days go to waste either, despite the "intensive tutoring sessions" at night.
Two mornings in a row, he'd dragged himself out of bed with dark circles under his eyes and camped outside both the Dian Cecht Familia and the Blue Pharmacy before they opened.
Persistence paid off in the end. An adventurer party finally brought back recovery-type materials from the Dungeon, and the pharmacists across several brewing factions rushed out an emergency batch of potions.
Leon had muscled his way into the first wave of buyers and grabbed what he could.
After hearing Rose's report, Leon collapsed back into the sofa and let out a long breath.
"Hah... finally got it all sorted."
"Never thought prep work before an actual expedition would be this much of a pain..."
Clearly, a certain someone had come to the stark realization that organization and logistics were not exactly his strong suits.
Without Jeanne and Rose helping out, if he'd been doing this alone, it probably would've taken him God knows how long.
After resting a moment, Leon stood up and clapped his hands, flashing everyone a bright grin.
"Great work these past few days, everyone!"
"Tonight's send-off feast is on me. Eat up, drink up. Tomorrow, we head out for real!"
...
...
Time flew, and the day of the expedition arrived.
Early morning.
Well-rested, everyone rose early. Nobody was frantic with excitement. Everything proceeded in its usual orderly fashion: wash up, morning training, breakfast.
Then they quietly packed their gear and belongings. At nine o'clock sharp, everyone assembled in the courtyard.
Leon stood at the door, his gaze sweeping across each of their faces.
Every one of the girls looked sharp-eyed and ready to fight. Kureha, joining a group operation for the first time, radiated an almost tangible edge, like a blade drawn from its sheath.
"Same as always. Final check on weapons, armor, supplies, and items."
"Once everything's confirmed, we move out."
With that, Leon bent down and grabbed the Supporter's pack at his feet, picked up the Twisted Staff in one hand, slung the pack onto his back, and adjusted it to a comfortable position before taking a deep breath.
He looked up at the overcast sky, watching the occasional bird dart across his field of vision, and murmured to himself.
"Overcast again... looks like rain."
As he stood there, Jeanne walked over and gave him a nod.
"If there are no issues, let's go!"
"Yay, expedition time!"
Laurier pumped her fist and jumped, her face lit up with an eager grin.
Aura, dressed in a red-and-black formal combat dress over black stockings and heeled boots, had a rare spark of fighting spirit in those cool eyes of hers.
Kureha rested one hand on her sword hilt and tossed her beautiful silver-white hair behind her, her gaze startlingly sharp.
Jeanne and Rose exchanged a smile, quietly watching everyone's different reactions.
Leon was the last one out the gate. He turned around to lock up, looked back at the little house, and grinned.
"Wait for us. We'll be back soon!"
...
...
First District, Demeter Familia headquarters: Wheat Manor.
In the orchard planted with all manner of rare fruits and vegetables, the goddess wore a wide-brimmed straw hat with a wicker basket on her arm, strolling beneath the grape arbor. She paused now and then to pick out plump, glistening grapes.
She reached out with a flawless hand, gently plucked a fruit that gleamed like an amethyst, peeled it with practiced ease, parted her lips, and popped it into her mouth.
The goddess narrowed her golden eyes, savoring the grape's sweetness, and spoke without turning around, her tone perfectly casual.
"Flora, where has our dear Persephone gotten off to?"
Flora: "..."
The words hung in the air, and the corner of Flora's mouth twitched. She had no idea how to explain this.
Remembering what the lady had told her before slipping out at the crack of dawn, Flora's lovely face soured.
But before she could even figure out how to answer, Demeter turned around with a half-amused, half-knowing expression, her tone playful.
"Heh. The moment I get a little closer to Leon, she gives me the cold shoulder. But now look at her... she's snuck off to join Leon's expedition. And the real kicker, she hid it from me."
"What a good girl she is."
Flora: "..."
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