217: The Aftermath, Part One

The Aftermath, Part One

Note: In case you're wondering, there are 8 chapters left (including this one). 

Enjoy!

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"Excuse me, ma'am. I hope you don't mind me asking but... You're gonna live in a house this big all by yourself?" 

"Uh, no," Neve replied to the short, hunched-over old man who'd just sold her a new home. She'd rushed over here right after Tamira's message, not taking a minute to rest before getting set up.

She couldn't stand being back in her old home for even a second longer, so she reached out to people online and bought this place in a flash. 

"I have this friend and she'd want to live like royalty, so, yeah." 

"That's one demanding friend!" 

[You could say that,] Neve thought with a smirk. 

The healer stood before a mansion, past a gate that theoretically cut the rest of the world off, in a field of freshly trimmed grass. In front of her was a mansion that Neve had spent 25000 tokens to buy. 

In truth, this felt like quite a small amount. There were individual pieces of equipment, potions, weapons, and spells that cost more than that in the Hidden Shop. 

[... Do I still have access to the Hidden Shop, actually?] 

As the man continued to go over some of the benefits of purchasing this home, including but not limited to a decent gap between the mansion and the nearest dungeon, in case Tamira changed her mind about the whole "10 years of no monsters" thing, and the close proximity to Starlight City's biggest mall, Neve decided to check that out. 

Unsurprisingly, she could not. 

[Hm. I guess that's exclusive to the Final Challenge. But, Tamira said that you could find everything in the Hidden Shop in dungeons, right? Or, was that exclusive to the Final Challenge too?] 

"Nope," Tamira answered. "You can find it all outside as well~" 

"Get out of my head." 

"Huh?" The man who sold her the house asked, looking at her with a raised, concerned brow. 

"Uh, sorry, thought I heard something. What were you saying, again?" 

They finalized the deal shortly after that. 

"Take care, Miss Stephens!" The man called out happily, waving at the healer before he left the premises of Neve's new home. 

With the keys in her hand, Neve brought her staff out from her Inventory and summoned the friend she'd been referring to. 

Erin manifested to Neve's left and one of the widest smiles Neve had ever seen on the lamia appeared on her face as she gazed upon the mansion. 

"Is this your house!?" She asked excitedly. 

"Nope. It's 'our' house," Neve replied, putting her staff away and crossing her arms. "I figured I'd buy a new place. Just so, uh, you could live like like the princess you keep saying you are, you know?"

"Dearest summoner of mine," Erin said, throwing an arm casually around Neve's shoulder. "Seeing as you've gone to such lengths to appease me, I suppose I may as well inspect *our* home~" 

Neve rolled her eyes as Erin grinned before the lamia slithered forward, toward the brown doors up ahead. 

As she stepped inside, Neve followed her. 

"Oh my goodness!" Erin said in admiration. 

[Well... There is a reason I bought this place.] 

A marble floor beneath a grandiose chandelier and two sets of stairs with oak railings leading up to a hall above. The patio at the back was visible through a set of open glass doors at the back, and the chef whom Neve employed in addition to her purchase of this new house was already hard at work, making a housewarming meal for them, as Neve took in a sweet smell coming from the kitchen nearby. 

Erin turned toward her with so much warmth Neve almost felt embarrassed. 

She slithered over, eyes half-lidded with the corners of her lips curling up and placed her calloused hands on Neve's face. 

With one soft kiss, she showed her appreciation. 

"You outdid yourself, buying such a nice, luxurious place. All of a sudden, I find myself wondering how nice the beds are. Would you mind-" 

Neve's phone began to ring, interrupting her. 

"Hold on a sec," Neve told Erin, stepping away for a moment. She checked the caller ID. 

Predictably, it was Charlotte. 

Neve gestured for the lamia to wait one moment while Neve took this call. 

"Hey." 

"Hi," Charlotte greeted her. "Are you busy at the moment? You left so quickly. I didn't even get a chance to shake your hand." 

"Nah, I'm not. Sorry," Neve apologized. "There was a lot I wanted to do." 

"It's fine... Though, I am hoping we can see each other at some point. Is that possible?" 

"Yeah," Neve began to pace as she spoke to the journalist. Erin's eyes followed her as she walked from one side of the room to another. "We can." 

"Good, good..." Charlotte's voice was oddly low, in a way that Neve hadn't heard before. She could practically hear the smile on her face as she said, "would you like to go for a drink, perhaps?" 

"What, like, at a bar?" 

"Indeed. Unless you'd prefer someplace more private. Anywhere is fine for me, ma chérie. I just want to get to know the healer I've been speaking with all this time." 

Neve's mouth spoke before her mind could decide whether this was a good or bad idea. 

"Just come to my house, then," she said. 

"..." Charlotte paused. "Would that be alright?" 

"Yeah," Neve replied just as quickly. The thought of having Charlotte step foot inside this place did make the healer feel a few butterflies fluttering in her stomach but she committed. "Unless-" 

"No, no," Charlotte replied. "I'd love to visit." 

"Uh... Cool," Neve muttered. "See you later, then?" 

"Indeed you shall." 

Just like that, the conversation closed in quick fashion. Neve put her phone back in her Inventory. 

[That was... Huh?] 

As she looked up, she found Erin looking back at her with no small amount of amusement. 

"What?" 

"I am going to take a guess and assume that was the woman with the brightly colored hair, right?" 

[Oh.] 

"Y-Yeah," Neve replied, feeling strangely nervous all of a sudden. "She wanted to go hang out but I figured it would be better to just bring her here."  2

"That's rather brave of you," Erin tilted her head. "Confessing that right to your lover's face." 

The instant Neve heard that, her mind short-circuited. 

"W-We're- I mean- well," her mind finally settled on a thread to follow, "it's not like we're gonna do anything. She just wants to have some drinks, you know?" 

Erin chuckled, shaking her head. 

"Is that what she said? Neve, you cannot possibly be that clueless, right?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"I saw a few glimpses of her when she was in that box of yours," Erin said, slithering around Neve. She kept her tail where it was, though, as she coiled around Neve's body. Her tone got sharper, like a knife pressed against Neve's chest. "It matters not what she said because, if she arrives looking at you with the same eyes I saw, well... Let's just say her words likely do not match her intentions." 

[Seriously?] Neve wondered. [Is that why she's coming?] 

"Neve!" Erin laughed. "I didn't say that for you to get excited!" 

"I-I'm not-" 

"You should see yourself. Your face lit up with hope as soon as you heard that." 

She hadn't seen her own expression, so she couldn't confirm or deny that. But, she certainly felt how her face began to feel so hot she could fry a burger on it as soon as Erin called her out like that. 

This did bring something up that Neve wanted to talk about, though. Inhaling sharply, she asked: 

"... So, we are in a relationship, then?" Neve asked. "You and I?" 

She felt that getting some form of confirmation on that would make moving forward simpler. 

Erin, however, uncoiled herself, saying: 

"Can one be in a relationship with their summon? I wonder." 

Erin took on a melancholic expression. Neve was quick to try to fix that as she said: 

"You're not just a summon to me, you know." 

"I do know that," Erin replied. "But, there is a reason why my request to you before was to make me *feel* real. And it is because, no matter how we cope our way around this fact, I am not real. I will not age," she began to say, "you will. I cannot exist without you, as the farther I physically get the more my thoughts drift to you. And, although I can somewhat confidently say I do like you, we will never truly be able to know how much of that is 'the real me' and how much of that is my nature as a summon." 

That was a lot to process. 

Neve wasn't too sure what to say. 

"But, well, thankfully, monogamy is not the way my people tend to prefer to do things. We have... well, I believe your word for it is 'concubines', right? Well, my people have a similar concept and, so, all I will say with regard to that pink-haired lady is this..." 

Erin slithered closer. 

"Do with her what you will. So long as this," she placed her index finger over Neve's chest, where her heart was, "remains mine. Does that sound good?" 

Neve nodded. 

"Then, by all means, give that fairly desperate woman what she wants and enjoy yourself. I do not mind." 

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