Secret Agent Chapter 094 - Unexpected Damage (Patreon)

Zack got down from his own stool and stretched.

Yep, there it was.

The muscle soreness.

The dinner special of sausages and potatoes had really hit the spot, and if he was working out, he would need to eat a bit more than usual, especially protein.

More food and good sleep: the other two parts of the weightlifting triangle.

The third part was lifting.

The restaurant was somehow even more packed than before, and even as he finished stretching, a man and a woman pushed past him to claim the two open spots at the bar.

But there was one seat in the restaurant conspicuously open.

The table with three [Disguised Actresses] who had been spying on him and Cori the entire time.

Zack pushed on his [Calm Down] and [Poison Resistance] skills once more, but he felt only the slightest effect.

He just wanted to make sure he was mostly sober when he made this decision.

So he feigned more drunkenness than he truly felt and swaggered his way over to the open table. The women had been pretending not to watch him when he stood up, but as he approached, all their eyes locked onto him.

“Well, well, well,” he said, lowering his voice an octave, trying to sound like someone trying to sound cool and manly. “Three lovely ladies out by themselves? How’s about I buy you a drink, beautiful?” He turned and made his offer to Millie, the most easily identified of them given her plump body shape.

“Oh, really? I have expensive tastes, you know?” Millie flirted back at him. Zack grinned flirtatiously.

The woman next to her at the table squawked in outrage, too angry to even form words. Roxy, then.

The last woman revealed herself to be Sandra, for she made no attempt to disguise her voice nor to play along with the ruse any longer.

“Failing marks, Jack. Have you even been practicing this last week?”

Millie shifted slightly, and although Zack couldn’t see, she launched a kick at Sandra under the table, which Sandra nimbly dodged.

“Hey! Do you know how long it’s been since someone bought me a drink like that? You could have waited a minute!” Millie seemed honestly upset. Roxy was a step beyond even that and was frowning at him furiously.

A quick scan of the table revealed almost half a dozen empty glasses, most of which were in front of Roxy.

Zack straightened up, bowed slightly the way the Knights in the Castle did, and studiously avoided Roxy’s gaze and turned to Millie.

“My lady, would you do me the honor of permitting me to join your table and buy everyone a round of drinks?”

“See? See? This is what I was talking about!” Millie exclaimed to the other two women. “Back in my day, men had proper manners!” She turned to Zack. “Ahem, yes, good sir, you may.”

Despite what Millie said about having expensive tastes, she ordered relatively inexpensive wine, as did Sandra. Millie ordered some more expensive wine, perhaps a bit vindictively, but she only went as high as six lindra for the glass, not even close to what Cori had been spending.

Zack pulled out the lindra coins and stacked them neatly in the center of the table, for when the women closed their tab. Then, he turned to Sandra.

“So, failing marks, huh? When?”

She sipped her wine coolly. “As soon as you entered and spotted us.”

Zack had matched her sip with his own glass of water, and felt himself flush involuntarily, even beyond what he could [Stifle].

“Your expression gave it away,” she continued. “And then you were too obvious about trying not to be overheard. Not that it worked.” She set her glass down and narrowed her eyes. “Failing marks all around. As an [Understudy], you’ll need to practice more.” Her gaze swept across his armor. “I suppose you’ve been busy playing at adventurer?”

Zack sighed and set his glass down as well. It made a slight thunk as it collided with the wooden table. “Well, yes. This and that, I suppose.”

“Oh Sandra, dear, you’re being too harsh on the young lad!” Millie interjected on his behalf. “That approach was…” But then she trailed off. “Well, it was flattering, certainly!”

Zack sighed again. “So even the approach was no good?”

“Of course it was no good!” Roxy exploded, her voice rising above the background din of the restaurant. “How could you do that, on the very same day…!”

Zack raised and eyebrow and gave her a look. “And how could you come here to spy on me?”

Roxy huffed and whipped her head to the side, refusing to meet his gaze. “I did not! I just wanted to… go out with some friends!”

Sandra sighed and Millie immediately undercut Roxy’s lie. “We were absolutely spying on you, Jack, teehee.” She giggled elegantly behind her hand.

“Are you at least being sensible in your adventuring?” Sandra asked, her face now a mask of concern. “Not trying to hunt thurgenrats with a knife, anymore?”

“No, no.” Zack raised his hands, palm out, defensively. Millie had looked like she was going to scold him, too. “I borrowed a spear from the Guild and went out in a party, and it was all very safe.”

“But still no gambeson,” Millie noted, eyeing his armor.

“Not yet,” Zack stressed. “I’ve got a lead on a cheap one.”

Millie frowned at him sternly. “You’ll do no such thing, young man! I’m making you a proper one. Come by my apartment tomorrow morning for the final adjustments.”

Zack blinked.

“Wait, really?” he asked.

Millie snorted. “Of course!” Then her expression fell, becoming sad and somewhat grave. “Adventuring is so dangerous… If I had known you were seriously going to start taking quests… but after you joined, you stayed focused on [Acting], so I didn’t think…”

“You made Millie worried!” Roxy scolded.

Sandra pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed heavily. “Boys.”

Zack let his shoulders slump. “Well, I didn’t plan on it, but the thurgenrats…”

A somber silence fell over the table, and the din of the restaurant felt far away for a moment.

Zack broke that silence. “Well, I decided I needed to be a bit more proactive, and get stronger.”

Sandra caught Millie’s eye across the table. “Boys,” she repeated.

Roxy was blushing and made a poor attempt to hide it by sipping her wine, not quite as elegantly as Cori did.

They chatted for a few more minutes before Zack felt a yawn coming on, and he let it out without any attempt to [Stifle] it.

“Well, I’m going to head home. Unless you three need an escort?”

“Hmph!” Roxy huffed and looked away again.

Sandra let the corners of her mouth rise in a small grin. “No, that’s alright, Jack.”

“See! Manners! Someone raised this boy right!” Millie said.

It felt like an ice-cold dagger through the man’s heart. Instantly, he was fully sober.

“But that’s quite alright, dear, you go on home now and tell Vlad we all said hi.”

“Of course,” the man forced a smile and nodded and stood. “Good night,” he bade them farewell and left.

He felt Sandra’s judging gaze on his back as he left, making as much use of his [Acting] skills as he had when he had bluffed his way past Rosimund after the Training Day.

[Pose]

[Acting]

[Soft Step]

[Calm Down]

He pushed on all his skills as he exited the restaurant and made his way back to Vlad’s. It wasn’t a long walk, and in that time, he recovered his composure.

Zack Adder. The former secret agent. Jack Werdruf. The Earth God’s spy on Goddess Arianna’s realm. Sienna’s Saa.

[CALM DOWN].

He pushed the [Skill] hard and felt his heartbeat settle back down to normal.

He was Zack Adder. He was fine. He was normal. Everyone had secrets. Everyone had their own traumas. He was fine.

He took a deep breath, held it, and let it out. He was standing in front of the staircase that led up to Vlad’s apartment.

He was Zack Adder. He was Jack, [Understudy] of the Rose Theater Troupe and Adventurer and [Tamer] of the cutest and smartest and most deadly snake in the world.

His parents were dead.

They’d been dead for over five years now.

He’d grown beyond their influence, and he had molded himself into the man he was today.

He was the master of his own destiny.

Zack Adder climbed the steps and opened the door and found Vlad practically vibrating with excitement and energy, seated in his armchair in the living room. Nerezza was in the kitchen, cleaning up dishes and cookware from Vlad’s supper, and she sighed heavily as Zack entered.

“Welcome home, Master J—”

“Jack! You’re back! Finally! Hurry now, go change out of that armor and into something comfortable! No need to bathe, I’ve already spoken with Madame Azriel, and I’ve booked us for the full course!”

Zack paused and blinked with confusion. Then he furrowed his brows. “‘The full course?’” he repeated.

“Yes, yes!" Vlad rose on slender, almost spindly legs from the armchair. “The full course! A wash, a soak, a massage, and then some recreation!”

He then shook a finger at Zack, as though he were scolding him, but without any weight at all behind it.

“You’ve been working too hard, Jack, my friend! When is the last time you relaxed, rested, engaged in some leisure? You’ll dull your spirit, at this rate. No, no, tonight, I will ensure you relax.”

Nerezza sighed heavily and loudly, off to the side. It was clear she had already lost this battle.

Vlad continued. “And no need to worry about your makeup or [Disguise]. Madame Azriel’s practices the utmost discretion. We’ll have a nice private soak and Delilah will put you back to rights after our massages, and then the rest of the night will be ours.”

It seemed like Vlad had put a lot of thought into the plans and the logistics of Zack’s disguise, so he smiled gratefully.

“Thanks, Vlad. I’ll get changed then.”

Sienna was snoozing in her cave when he entered his room, and as he took off his armor and got changed into some loose trousers and a loose, billowy shirt, he thought about what Vlad had said.

When was the last time he had taken a break?

Had he taken a break since coming to this world?

He’d gone out with the rest of the Troupe, but that had been more like work parties.

He could never quite relax at those parties back on Earth, knowing bosses and coworkers were watching each other, and the weeks after would be filled with gossip about who did what and how scandalous it was.

Those had just been a trap.

No, almost every waking moment since he had arrived in this world had been work, and most of that work under threat. In the Castle, in the Theater, as an Adventurer…

He couldn’t relax fully.

But Vlad was right.

He needed a break.

And so Vlad led the way excitedly through the streets, only a few blocks to one of the entrances of the red light district which Zack now realized also included public baths. Here and there men and women walked in robes carrying wicker baskets with a change of clothes, and combs and soap and other bathing supplies.

“Worry not, Jack,” Vlad preempted him. “The full course includes everything we’ll need, and they’ll wash our clothes for us while we bathe. It’s all included.”

“Right…”

A moment later they arrived in front of a large building, four stories tall with steam billowing from windows cracked slightly open at the very top. There were several steps up from street level to large double doors, wide open to the public. Light and humidity poured into the street from the entrance way, and there was a barefoot girl wearing simple, yet formal looking robes tied at the waist with a sash.

“Welcome, Master Vlad.” She bowed her head, hands clasped at her waist.

Zack caught sight of another young woman, though older, lurking near the back, keeping an eye on things.

“Kynea, this is Jack Werdruf, the newest [Actor] in our troupe! Jack, this is Kynea.” Vlad introduced them.

“Right this way, Master Vlad, Master Jack. The Madame will see you now.”

The interior of the bathhouse was richly decorated with painted tile and carved ceramic ornamentation, and as they walked inside, more serving girls followed behind them, cleaning the tile floor where they had stepped.

Zack almost wanted to stop and ask if he should take off his shoes, but Nerezza was following close behind them, so he held his tongue as they made their way to an office not too far from the entranceway. Kynea bowed her head once more and gestured with one hand, and the door opened on silent hinges, without anyone touching it.

Magic? Or some kind of contraption hidden out of sight?

Vlad stepped inside confidently and gestured for Jack to follow. Once Jack and Nerezza stepped inside, the door closed silently behind them.

Wearing brilliantly patterned silk robes with long, hanging sleeves like a kimono, there was a surprisingly tall woman with her hair in an elegantly styled up-do that only added to her height, and revealed long, pointed ears nearly eight inches long.