Chapitre 60: Mermaid, Ale, and Jealousy
To a mermaid, finding a body of water was as easy as a cat trying to find its way home. A homing instinct of sorts.
Thus, Gloria led the way through the dense forest while Stefano trailed behind her.
"Come on, Gloria, just tell me how close we are!"
Stefano was starting to get impatient from the thirst. And it's not like he can drink from the river directly, but the sooner they can grab some water from it, the sooner they can filtrate it using druidic magic.
"We close. Just follow behind!" The glee in Gloria's voice was apparent. It's been a while since she was able to take a dip. Bath tubs don't count.
She didn't tell her plan to Stefano. He was a prude, this was a fact she learned as she lived with him. Knowing him, he's probably going to say something like 'We don't have the time, better hurry before it gets dark.' And for the mermaid, it brought absolute joy in pranking the straight laced cleric.
Lo and behold, from beyond the tall forests came a river with a channel as wide as it is deep.
Stefano laid down his pouch and grabbed a plain looking parchment from it. It was a water absorption scroll. While runes are generally regarded as weapons, scrolls would be sometimes used for amenities, that's not to say that they can't be used for the same purpose.
Going by the river's edge, Stefano opened the scroll and faced it towards the river. With miniscule mana channeled into it, the scroll began to vacuum the water inside of it.
As this process was going on, Stefano began to condescend, "I know what you're thinking. You might be tempted to go for a swim, I'm advising against it because it's about to get dark soon. I don't want to deny you, but we need to get back to camp as soon as possible."
Stefano continued vacuuming the river in peace. Which was odd. He received no resistance from Gloria. He quickly rescinded his thoughts. It wasn't odd. It was bad.
The scroll soon turned into a shade of blue, indicating that it had reached its capacity which was about a barrel's worth.
Stefano turned around to confront the mermaid and put a stop to whatever prank she was about to pull.
But he was already too late.
Gloria was already en route to run Stefano over.
His feet glued, Stefano's eyes widened in horror at the sight of a mermaid riding what could be classified as a lethal weapon about to crash into him at high speed, what's even more terrifying was the ecstatic look on Gloria's face as she was about to physically harm their cleric.
Both of them let out a screen. One of joy, and the other was one of panic.
Before her wheelchair slammed into Stefano, Gloria did a full stop using the gravity runes on her wheels. Nonetheless, there was still the matter of momentum. And that momentum was what Gloria depended on to tackle Stefano into the water with her.
Stefano resurfaced, catching his breath while being absolutely livid at the mermaid.
To which, Gloria countered with a smug grin.
He was already in the water, and knowing Gloria, her action wasn't done out of malice. Besides, he can't unwet himself even if he went back to land.
A futile effort, but Stefano splashed water onto Gloria's face. The gesture was similar to giving sunlight to plants. He didn't care, he only wanted to get back at Gloria, no matter how miniscule.
With a smile on their lips, the two splashed each other's faces.
+++
Yulia greeted Stefano with an audible laugh. Then, a question.
"Why hell are you wet?"
"Take a wild guess."
Yulia glanced at the usual suspect next to Stefano, beaming with a mischievous grin.
No divination needed, Stefano's predicament meant that they succeeded in finding a river.
Yulia retrieved two empty barrels from the top of their stagecoach. After Stefano handed her the scroll, she immediately opened and pointed it towards the barrel's opening.
Water gushed forth, filling the barrel in no less than a minute. It was but one of the many conveniences of magical scrolls. Next, Yulia tossed in a small and round crystal pebble into the barrel.
The murkiness of the river water was being absorbed into the crystal itself as it sank to the barrel's bottom. Yulia never questioned the druidic magic at play, what's important is that they now have fresh and safe to drink water.
"What's the other barrel for?" The curious Stefano asked.
Yulia grinned, revealing another scroll, but this time it was yellow in hue.
"No fucking way." The cleric was stupefied, it better not be what Stefano thinks it is.
"Yes way."
Yulia opened the scroll, and did the same procedure as earlier. There is however one major difference, the scroll that Yulia held contained Ale.
"You stored up on Ale, but it didn't cross your mind to do the same with water!?" His mentor's twisted priorities made Stefano lose his cool.
"Pipe down, no need to be upset, you're free to grab some anytime you want."
"How many times have I told you, Mithra forbids alcohol!"
"What, does Mithra forbid fun too? Just try some, I promise you're going to like the taste."
They said that alcohol numbs the senses, and there is nothing that Stefano wanted more than to be numbed out because of his two party companions. Constant headaches, the both of them.
+++
Arriving shortly was Ellamir and Shatter sound. Ellamie effortlessly carried a wild boar enough, its plumpness was more than enough to feed them for the evening.
Antani greeted them with a jovial smile, "Oh, you two are back…" which eventually faded.
The two appeared to be on good terms, which is a good thing means that Ellamir made true of her promise.
Antani's forehead creased. Why the fuck was Shatter sound naked? What's more, why is she wearing Ellamir's jacket as her makeshift skirt?
They couldn't have!
If Antani had to hazard a guess, they must have fought. Yeah, that was it. The tightness in her chest would accept NO OTHER explanation.
But just to make sure, Antani forced a smile towards Shatter sound and excused Ellamir, she dragged her lover by the wrist somewhere deep into the woods where they could straighten things out.
Confused, Shatter sound went on ahead to skin the boar. She was absolutely starving.
+++
"Do you mind telling why was Shatter sound naked?"
Under the evening sky, somewhere far enough where the rest of the party won't hear their bickering, Antani began to grill Ellamir.
Antani might have already figured out that an altercation happened between them, based on the state of Shatter sound's clothing, or the lack thereof. Ellamir decided to give it to Antani straight.
"We got into a bit of a fight before I was able to apologize. Her fault, really. But as you can see, I followed through on my promise."
"That better be all that you got into."
Ellamir didn't appreciate her lover's sharp tone. Ellamir did what Antani asked her to do.
What is Antani being pissed off about? Hell, now even Ellamir was starting to get mad.
"What's that supposed to mean!? You're the one who wanted me to get along with the woman!"
It was precisely because of that reason why Antani can't just accuse Ellamir. Antani knew how petty it was. Not only would it show that she was lacking in trust towards her partner, but she might appear disingenuous to Shatter sound.
"It meant nothing! You know what, let's just go back!"
But right before Antani could go back to camp, Ellamir caught her wrist. There was no force behind, just enough applied to let Antani know that Ellamir doesn't want to return until they have hashed things out.
As she caught on, Ellamir chuckled, "You think I fucked Shatter sound?"
With the cat out of the bag, Antani sighed before confessing.
"Don't laugh. Look at it from perspective, won't you? She came back with nothing except your jacket around her waist."
Ellamir had plenty of words to assuage Antani, but instead of telling, how about she showed it instead?
Suddenly, Antani found herself drawn in with Ellamir's arms around her waist, their lips met. Time seemed to have stopped for them both as their kiss was bathed in moonlight.
But no matter how much Ellamir enjoyed the eternal moment, she's the one who broke free first. Actions did indeed speak louder than words, Antani softening up from their kiss was proof, but what if Ellamir combined them? To let Antani know that she was a fool to be jealous in the first place.
Straight in the eyes, Ellamir stared at her lover, "You have something far better than my jacket, you have me. Don't you agree?"
At that moment Antani wanted to be taken, taken by the woman who had set the fire of passion inside her chest alight.
Antani lunged in again at Ellamir for a different kind of kiss. The fire in Antani's chest overflowed into Ellamir. They shared in a kiss so torrid, their tongues were like magma slugs mating, twisting and turning each other with fiery vigor.
The heat of the moment overtaking her, it only took a second for Ellamir to unbuckle her pants and free her member inflamed with lust.
Ellamir raised Antani's right leg, while her left hand wrapped around Antani's back. The way Ellamir slightly bent Antani made it seem like she was leaning in to kiss Antani, in truth, she was leaning in to give Antani a sweet pounding.
Easily parting her undergarment to the side, Antani gasped in pleasure as Ellamir's engorged rod slowly cleaved her nether.
Antani's hands found their way on the back of Ellamir's head as she reveled in the ecstasy of her pussy was being tenderly decimated. Those very same hands soon made Ellamir focus on Antani's eyes, as if Antani was saying, 'Look at me, and only me'.
Ellamir's hips swayed with a gentle fire, a gentle fire that consumed both of them, as they both burned in love and lust.
Minutes have passed.
Antani soon climaxed, letting off a shrief of lust as the overwhelming pleasure grasped her entire body. Ellamir followed soon after, silencing Antani with a kiss as her member pulsed while being finished by Antani's wet and soft insides.
+++
"And where have you two been?"
Sitting by the campfire's log, a few mugs in made Yulia shameless in her teasing. The tiefling already had a general idea of where the two had been. I mean, come on. They were in the middle of a dense forest, and the two were gone for half an hour? What were they doing, playing jump rope?
Ellamir, filled with pride that she engorged in the most beautiful woman she knew, was about to answer in the most straightforward manner.
"Isn't it obvious? We…"
With a conspicuous smile, Antani covered her lover's hand with her mouth. It's a situation they had been in before. While their sex life was nothing to be ashamed of, she didn't appreciate Ellamir boasting it in front of everyone.
Thus, the party had spent the night with ale and roasted wild boar. Exchanging tales around the campfire.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone