Chapter 29: Drooling over eyecandy (IV)
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Waking up, I look around, confused. Where was I? The last thing I remember was being on top of the wall. Instead, I was now covered in a blanket with a soft pillow under my head.
"Young mistress." Coco stared with a worried expression.
"Coco?"
"Yes, young mistress?"
"Where are we?"
"We are inside the Carnivorous Walls. Tart and Moca had pulled the remaining goblins away from us and will be arriving back in the afternoon."
I was glad to hear that both Tart and Moca were alive and doing well.
"What am I doing on the floor?"
"You fainted, young mistress. You consumed too much of your magic ability, and your body collapsed. Please, don't recklessly give out your magic like that. You scared us all."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know I was doing that." I felt ashamed. Was I so useless that I fainted from using magic? All I could do was sigh with regret.
"Please, take care of yourself more."
"I'll try." I pushed myself up.
"Young mistress, there is something I must tell you."
"Yes?"
"I am glad to inform you that you are back to your original adult form," Coco spoke happily.
"Hey, sleeping beauty. You're up." Phil happily called out towards me. He squatted down and shove a piece of fruit into my mouth. "This tastes really good."
I crunched down on the sweet juicy taste of the fruit. It was a strange blend of grape and watermelon.
"I thought you would like it." Phil grinned. "Here have some more." He placed a sizeable grape-like fruit into my hands.
"Thanks." I continued to munch on the fruit that Phil gave me.
"I heard this grape should help you recover your mental fatigue. Even though I directly fed you the magic potion with my mouth, the aftereffect of mental fatigue will still linger around for a couple of hours. That was quite a scene." Phil chuckled.
"What!" My voice leaped up an octave from shock.
"Didn't Miss Coco tell you?"
I stared at Coco to confirm what he said was the truth.
Coco averted his eyes and blushed.
No, Coco, why are you blushing? That's not helping at all. My first kiss was stolen right before my eyes, and I didn't know it.
"M-m-my first kiss." I stuttered.
"It's not that bad." Phil stared at me with confusion. "It's just a kiss when you were sleeping."
"B-b-but."
Phil sighed. Popping in the grapefruit, he leaned over and gave me a sweet kiss. His tongue pushed the grape into my mouth and pulled back.
"That should help you forget." He gave a devilish wink.
What the hell just happened? My mind gave off a pop-like sound.
"Berry?" Phil quizzically stared.
"Kyahhhhh~" Coco squealed in delight. "This is the so-called kiss that I read about in a young mistress's library." She squirmed like a little girl that was caught up in a romance novel.
Coco squeal broke my stupor. Book? Was she talking about the romance mangas that I placed in the corner of the room? Was she a fan of Romance novels too?
"There we go. Berry is back." Phil popped a grape into his mouth and had begun chewing. "See now you're all better now."
I was mortified at what happened in a short amount of time. Phil supposedly gave me a direct kiss when I was knocked out and now gave me another with grapefruit. I could hear my mind pop again, and blood gushed up to my face.
Twice in one day! This was way too fast for my mind to comprehend. I raised my hand against my mouth, brushing it away like it was some kind of germ.
"W-why did you do that?" My hands were upon my lips, trying to hide it from him.
"No reason at all. I thought that it would help speed up the healing process." Phil innocently stated as if it was nothing. He didn't even seem phased by it at all.
Is he a player? His transition into that kiss was way too smooth for even me to notice or react. He must be. Danger flags were popping up all over my mind. Phil was dangerous, especially for my heart, as it weighed furiously.
"L-l-let's g-g-et going." I pushed off the ground and walked away like a robot.
Calm down. Calm down. That was just a kiss.
The memory appeared freshly in my mind.
Noooooooooooooooooo! Go away! I smacked my cheeks to bring me back to reality.
"Berry?" Don called out towards me. "Are you alright?"
"Yes!" I squeaked and froze.
Don came over as he reached over and pushed my hair aside. The slight touch made me flinch backward.
"I'm alright! Thank you." I bowed in a hurry. "We should get going." I quickly stated, almost running away.
"We should." Phil turned away and had begun to get everyone up and moving.
Coco ran forward in her horse form and pranced around me. I swear she was enjoying this way more than I was. Climbing onto her back, the large group moved forward towards the Solitary mountains.
As we tracked forward, the land grew more open and spacious. There were fewer trees than I expected and made traveling much more comfortable. Tart and Moca came back around noon. Not a single scratch could be seen on either one of their bodies or faces.
"Young mistress!" Tart exclaimed in delight. He came running towards me in full throttle and almost tackled me. Coco stopped Tart in the air and head-butted him onto the floor.
"Why did you do that?" Tart was on the ground with a bruised cheek, scowling at Coco as if she had done something outrageous.
Coco neighed, and stomped on the ground a few times. She huffed and snorted in disdain, looking down on Tart.
"Just because a young mistress gets to get rid of your back doesn't mean you have to kick me down. I have every right to be next to her too!"
Coco stomped in disagreement. She didn't have it with Tart getting out of line.
"Young mistress." Tart began to fill up with tears. "Didn't you miss me?"
I couldn't help but be swayed by Tart's cute behavior. "Welcome back, Tart." Reaching down so Tart could grab my hand, he grabbed onto it happily.
"Young Mistress, the promise!"
Ack. That. I furrowed my eyes. Well, it's better to get it over with. I leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.
"Young mistress, thank you!" Tart jumped around giddy and bumped into Moca. Moca stared him down and shook his head in disagreement.
With that ordeal over with, we continued forward until we reached the Solitary Mountain that tower above us high into the clouds.
The castle still looks the same, sitting majestically on the edge of the mountain. The one different thing was that there was another large gate at the foot of the mountain. I don't remember if there was even a gate there before.
With a mighty groan, the gates opened as they passed through. Finally, they were situated at the foot of the mountain. People were setting up camp from the long, tiring journey. I, on the other hand, wanted to get up to the castle as quickly as possible.
Warm water was calling for me to take a shower. The thick goblin's blood was heavily drenched on my skin and hair. The only clean thing was the clothes that I had on me.
Coco, Don, Sam, Sal, Terry, and Phil followed after, while the rest of the people stayed behind. Phil's grandma was taking care of the people. They did not follow and instead stayed behind to tend to their wounded.
"Where are we going?" Sal asked. "Are we going to the castle up there?"
I nodded.
"Is that your home?"
I nodded again.
"So, you are a noble."
"No. I'm not. That's just my home."
Sal and Sam stared at me strangely and dismissed it off as if it was nothing. I got the feeling that they still think of me as a noble instead of a commoner.
We finally made it to the entrance of the castle. A large metal door opened, drawing down its gates. Entering in, blue lights flickered on, showing the interior of the castle. How was there even a castle entrance in the first place? I cocked my head confused. The time I was living here, I was confident that there was no entrance, but now there was one. I really did not understand this magic castle.
"This way, young mistress." Coco waved me in, and we continued through the hallway.
"Wow, you live in quite a fancy castle." Terry's eyes sparkled at the sight of everything around her. "It's like you're a princess."
"Pfft." Sol coughed and laughed. "There, she goes again. Our Terry in her fantastical dream about princes and princesses."
"You're our princess Terry." Sam quietly replied. He fiddled his fingers, embarrassed at what he said.
Oh! Young love! I could see that Sam had a thing for Terry. His quick glances towards her were apparent for everyone to see except Terry herself.
"Young love is truly a bliss." Coco chuckled under her breath. I swear that she is probably cooking up something dangerous for both Sam and Terry. I was actually worried about them now.
"Is that what I think it is?" Terry ran around, looking at the Greek marble statues that were on display. "They have fantastic muscular proportions.
Which artist did this?" She asked, turning towards me for an answer.
"I'm not sure. It's been here for so long that I don't even know."
"Oh?" Terry looked down and saw a white handkerchief like thing covering a private area of the statue.
"That's!" I fumbled and desperately reached over towards Terry, but instead fell forward towards her. Her hands reached out to stop me from the fall and caught me just in time before I did a faceplant.
"Are you okay?" Terry helped me up.
"Thanks," I replied with a sigh.
"That could have been a nasty fall. Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yes. I was just not watching where I was step-" I stopped and turned. Geh- Turning red, I use my body to hide the naked statue from Terry.
"Please go ahead." I nonchalantly replied, trying my best to keep my voice from cracking in a high pitch. "Coco, take them to take a bath, will you?"
"Yes, young mistress." Coco bowed. "This way, please."
The rest followed behind her.
"Why are you standing there so stiffly?" Don peeked over behind me, trying to see what I was covering.
"It's nothing. Please go on ahead."
Damn it, where is the magic stone that I have created a while back? I rummaged through my pocket, furiously. I did not want Don to come any closer.
"You're acting strangely." He walked closer.
For crying out loud, does he not get it that I don't want him to be near me right this moment?
"Nothing. Just go. I'll catch up with you, okay?"
"Really?"
"Yea." I shifted side-to-side uncomfortably. "Activate Censor," I mumbled
underneath my breath quickly.
With a snap of his hands, he pulled me forward towards his body. My heart thumped for a split second as I folded into his arms. The kiss with Phil went through my head, replaying continuously.
"Pfft!" Don held back a laugh, "Hahahahahahah!" He was reeling back, laughing so hard at what he saw in front of him. I peered over my shoulders and noticed a large black circle with the word in red Censored.
Even the naked female statue a couple of feet away was censored the same way but in three places.
I burned red. My virgin mind was about to explode from complete embarrassment. This was the worst time for Don to see this, and at the same time, I was glad that the Censor Magic Stone actually worked.
"What the hell is this? Are you for real?" Don tried his best to hold back his laugh. "This is so like those rated R comics, but it's done in real life." He reeled over bursting into a fit.
I couldn't help but lightly chuckle at the ridiculous situation before us. "Um, if you don't mind." I coughed to get his attention.
Don glanced down and noticed that I was literally in his arms. "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that."
"It's fine."
He let go, allowing me to take a couple steps backs. "Well, I should be going."
"Yea." I awkwardly stated.
Don left, still laughing hard. I watched him go. Honestly, this was not my day at all.
Quickly I went to my room and grabbed a towel. If I remember correctly, the towels in the bathroom were not all there the last time I took a shower. I hope Coco did not wash every single one of them at the same time.
With a towel in hand, I headed towards the bathroom, where the spring water was at. I couldn't help but cringe from the awful smell my hair was giving off. The stench was putrid since it dried up. The thought of clean water made me excited, it has been three long days since we went on a straight hellish march to come here.
My body was aching all over from the fight, making it difficult to move. It's been a while since my body hurt so much.
Phil stepped out of the bathroom, partially wet with only shorts and flip flops. He stopped and turned towards me with dangerous gleaming eyes.
What? Did I do something wrong? I stepped backward in fright and was stopped short by a wall.
His figure towered over me as he glanced down towards me. His hands reached over my shoulder above my head. He pinned me against the wall, making it difficult to move.
"Yes?" I squeaked.
Slowly, he began to lean closer. I froze like a deer staring at the oncoming car. This was exactly like those romance novels. What the hell am I thinking?
No, it can't be, right?
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone