DD 304 Ch 13 (Patreon)

Another week went by like sand through an hourglass. Before I knew it, we'd all gained another level and the weekend hit which meant a break from classes. But despite no classes, we never quite seemed to get away from school itself. After all, our teacher was always nearby. And Crimson did not believe much in breaks.

"Well now, speak of the devil, and she shall appear," I said, as Crimson appeared. "Crimson, how are you?" I said without looking up from my current project.

"Good. A little lonely, though," she said, and I knew she wanted something, so I glanced up from my task, unimpressed.

"No." I told her.

She scowled at even the possibility of that being the reason she'd shown up.

"Well, if you were bored…" I hedged.

"Not bored," she said a touch too quickly. "I'm here to make sure my A student stays my A student.”

“I've already got the finals in the bag, don't I?" I glanced up.

"Don't get too cocky. It's a bad look." Crimson frowned.

"Kettle, meet pot," I said, holding out both hands, earning a lovely eye roll from Crimson.

"Funny."

"Honestly, I thought it was hilarious," I chuckled. "But if you're not here for my humor, then I have to ask… what are you doing here, Crimson?"

"Alright, fine," she flopped down on the couch. "I'm bored."

I schooled my expression to nothing but absolute patience as I regarded her. "Well, if you're that bored," I said, leaning forward, "there are some of my classmates who need assistance."

Crimson tilted her head and frowned. "The final is kind of a solo activity, Ken. I know you weaseled your way around having to do it with the rest of the class, but it doesn't change how trial abilities work."

I stared at her, and she stared back for a long moment, the two of us locked in an invisible tug-of-war.

"Fine. As long as it's not Harley we're helping."

I grew very quiet.

Crimson leaned forward, lacing her fingers together, with all the patience she could muster, which quite frankly didn't seem to be much. "Ken. It's not that I don't want to help her, but I can’t”

“It's that you don't want to help her."

"I said it's because I can't," Crimson splayed her hands out. "The headmistress tied my hands. If I help one student, everyone would expect help, and that would be too much.” She leaned back. “As you can see, the headmistress has made it impossible."

"Huh. I didn't think you, Mistress Crimson, would ever let the headmistress get the best of you." I pressed.

"Well… no, I don't think she has." Crimson reacted just as I thought she would to that phrasing. She started squirming under that comment.

"She's preventing you from even doing something to help your students. It does seem like she's exerting significant control over you." I prodded.

Crimson set her jaw, her blue eyes boring into me. "This won't work, Ken."

"Of course not. Besides, what won't work? Me just having a calm, rational conversation with my teacher?" I asked.

"No. Manipulation," Crimson clarified.

"Is that what you're going to call my attempt to help one of my classmates?" I said, knowing I was getting the better of her and enjoying it perhaps a touch too much. "Or is it that you haven't been able to find the trial yourself?" I offered, and apparently that pushed Crimson over whatever control she’d had in place. Her attention snapped to me with a dangerous smile.

"You know what? The headmistress was rather upset that you didn't have anything to do for this final. She accused me several times of rampant favoritism," Crimson said. "However, I'm sure if I were to give you something like finding trial abilities for others, she couldn't complain about that."

"So we've gone from 'don't help Harley' to 'help her or else’?” I clarified.

"If that's the way you want to look at it, Ken, yes." She told me.

I smiled, because I was going to help Harley anyway. Crimson had just made it a little more fun. "Fine, I'll do it."

"Perfect," Crimson clapped her hands together and moved in a blur. "And I guess I should kick you out and make you get to work."

"Wait, kick me out?" I said, only to find myself thrown through a portal, landing on my rear, quickly joined by Felin and Misha.

Felin growled back the way we'd come. "What did I do? I was just sleeping on the couch." she shouted. Poor Felin had likely just been an opportune grab.

"Ask Ken," Crimson yelled, and now I had a Nekorian with her arms crossed and a Whalewryn looking very hopeful.

"Sorry, both of you. It seems she's in a bit of a mood today," I scratched the back of my head.

"I don't mind," Misha said in a hurry. "Though Des is probably going to be mad. I know she was hoping to look for you soon. Something about the ritual being finished and now it's about timing. But… why exactly are we here again?" Misha asked.

"Honestly, because I sent Crimson on a rampage," I said, not daring to hide the fact. This was absolutely my fault.

"Oh, so it's your fault," Felin let out a put-upon sigh. "Honestly, I should have known. What are we doing?"

"We're going to go find Harley's trial ability," I said, and Felin did a double take.

"Crimson sending us to go help Harley? Ken, what are you doing? That's obviously fake. There's no way that's the real Crimson. Quick, let's go back. She must be a clone that's captured the real Crimson." Felin nodded emphatically.

Misha stared with wide eyes and gasped.

"No, that's the real Crimson," I said with certainty. "It's not like a clone would be able to use a portal. And second…have you been watching a lot of TV, Felin?”

“Sometimes Crimson leaves it on in the living room, and I sleep on the couch. It’s just there and then I end up watching whatever horror movie she got bored of." Felin crossed her arms, determined to assert it was in no way, shape, or form was it her fault that she was watching TV.

"Well, either way, we're here now. Crimson isn’t some fake and we were going to help Harley anyway,” I said.

"Right," Misha said. "Is this one of those situations where we should be worried, or—?"

"No. Technically I did already promise Harley I'd help her, so I don't think it's that big a deal for us to carry on. I'm just sorry I'm dragging both of you into this with me." I told them.

"Oh, please don't be sorry," Misha said in a hurry.

"I appreciate it, but this is less than professional of Crimson, and also largely my fault." I bowed to both of them.

"Then I guess the only answer is to fix it," Felin said. "We just have to go find this White Dove."

"Right." I agreed. “The White Dove is supposedly both the easiest and hardest of the trials. Easiest in that there was no combat; hardest because finding it was like a needle in a haystack.”

Misha tilted her head one way, Felin the other. "What's a needle?" Felin asked.

"What's a haystack?" Misha asked.

I opened my mouth, then closed my eyes and let out a heavy sigh. "You know what? Let's just go with the fact that it'll be difficult to find."

"But you have Eyes of Wisdom," Felin pointed at her own blue eyes. I thought they were beautiful the way they matched the blue stripes in her hair and face.

"Of course, which is why it's even possible to ask for my help. But I have no idea how this is going to go. I just wanted to warn you before we got anywhere and expectations cause issues."

"No expectations here," Misha saluted. "Just a Whalewyrn ready to put in the work."

"You could learn something from her," I said to Felin, only to find the Nekorian checking her nails.

"Yes, yes, she seems lovely," Felin said, pretending not to pay attention to Misha, though I could tell she was watching her the entire time out of the corner of her eye. I wasn't entirely sure what that was about.

With nothing better to do, we simply got to work, moving through the dungeon as quickly as we could, following the signals from [Eyes of Wisdom]. Misha matched my pace.

"So, after talking to Des, I made some improvements. Look! I got a weapon," she held up a pair of spiked gauntlets. "Des said something like this might be the most familiar.”

“You know what? I take back anything bad I've ever said about Des." I smiled.

"Well, you don't have to do that," Felin said quickly, "because I doubt you've ever said anything bad about Des," she said, leaning into her words.

"Right, of course not," I chuckled, meeting Felin's eyes. The two of us came to an immediate, and dare I say perfect, understanding of each other in that moment, the kind that only two people on the same wavelength could ever share.

Misha laughed. "Well, regardless of Des's eccentricities, I think it's worth giving these a shot." She put the gauntlets on as we ran, sidestepping off the path only to give a passing group of monsters a test that sent them flying into the distance. She charged them, and I could tell she flinched away from her initial reaction before leaning into trying something different. Rather than using an ability, she doubled up on her prior attack and began a beatdown on the monsters the likes of which they were unlikely to recover.

"Good work," I said as both of them puffed into black smoke and she pivoted, activating an ability to fly forward and catch back up with me.

"Why haven't you used weapons before?" I asked.

"Because I really wasn't supposed to be the one dealing damage?" she said, though the words came off like a question. "It's strange to me to do it, as much as it is to you for me not to."

"Fair enough," I held my hands up before I caused any more trouble. "Well, as long as you're working hard at it, I suppose there's not much I should say."

"It's fine. Sorry for being a little prickly," Misha was quick to apologize as we rushed through the dungeon together.

"You're still getting used to this," I offered, pointing between the two of us.

"If anything, the date the other day has only made me more nervous." She grumbled.

"Well, then, that's a bit of a failure of the date," I said, and she hurried to correct me, waving her hands.

"No! Don't say that. It wasn't a failure. A lot of this is just new and different…in a good way, but also a way I need to adjust to."

I tilted my head slightly, confused, but decided to take her at face value. "Well, then, shall we continue? At least while we're here, we should get plenty of experience with your new weapon."

"Yes," Misha nodded sharply.

"We can kind of make a party," Felin said, and I turned to her, waiting for more. "Well, you know. She's not exactly a tank, but she's decently tough. And in the worst case scenario she can just hold them off with some crowd control. At least that way she won't take that much damage," Felin explained.

I could at least admit the logic. "Well, if we did that, we could probably take on a few sets of monsters while we're at it. Definitely wouldn't hurt to try a few bosses if we see them," I said, checking with the two of them, and both nodded along.

***

Des stretched, blinking her eyes open, hoping to see Ken after she’d fallen asleep on the couch. Instead it was just Crimson, sipping coffee and making whatever it was she counted as food with five different pans, most likely filling up her CID.

"Where's Ken?" Des asked, getting up and heading over to enjoy some juice while she waited for Crimson to finish her total takeover of the kitchen.

Crimson, however, froze mid-flip of the food, pausing and glancing at Des. "He's somewhere," she answered suspiciously.

"'Somewhere,'" Des repeated, in disbelief. "Why do I have the sudden feeling that this particular 'somewhere' has something to do with you?"

"Because it probably does," Crimson said, wincing.

Des ran a palm down her face. "What did you do?"

"I might have… you know… kicked him out for a little bit. To get some fresh air." Crimson was obviously lying.

Des placed her head in her hands. "Am I going to get him back anytime soon?" she asked, her tone sharper than she'd meant, given the plans she'd had that were now ruined.

"Maybe," Crimson said, sounding unsure.

"I hope that is a pretty solid maybe," Des insisted. Her plans were almost ready and she could finally have Ken inside her again.

"Moderate, I'd say," Crimson waffled a hand. "But the good news is that he's with Misha," she added, and Des paused. That was actually fairly decent news, if she was honest.

"Did he choose to go with her?"

"No," Crimson said, realizing as she said it that it was unlikely to be the right answer, "but Misha was pretty happy to go with him."

"Of course she was happy. The woman is smitten. But I guess that doesn't matter right now, just that they're at least somewhere and getting along," Des said, leaning back. "I mean, really, how hard do we have to try to get Ken to expand his harem? The power he could get if he made seventy-four wives a reality," Des said, leaning forward, a sparkle in her eyes. "He'd become so incredibly powerful." She hugged herself. "Think about it, Crimson."

"Oh, I'm certain few people have thought about it as much as you, Des," Crimson said, "but if Ken really does add a bunch of people to the harem, our time will become so much more limited." She pointed between the two of them, and Des opened her mouth to refute it, only to clack it closed.

“I'd be able to keep Ken's attention,” Des said after a moment.

“Sure, from a few," Crimson said, "but if there were seventy-four, well, Ken would almost certainly be trying his best to split his attention evenly. He might be able to love seventy-four women at the same time, but do you really think he could maintain a relationship with that many?"

Des winced. "Maybe we could find some dumb bimbos who he could just incubate for stats?" she said hopefully, and Crimson shook her head.

"I think perhaps you need to slow down your plans for world domination, and recognize that while there's definitely potential within Ken, there's also the very real possibility that it could be too much." Crimson told her.

Des paused, genuinely considering those words, glancing up at Crimson out of the corner of her eye. "Fine. You might be a little right," Des conceded, pinching her fingers together. Still she wanted Ken back so she could have him again. Oh and finish her transformation.