- Mavis -
She had thought that at her age and with her life experiences, there would be very few things in life which could shock her. She was right to think that, even the news of Zeref finding a cure for the 'Curse of Contradiction' was just happy news for her, not a massive surprise. She had known the man better than anyone else. He was her husband after all and thus she trusted him and his talents more than anyone. She knew that he would one day find a cure for the curse. She was just thankful that he hadn't fallen into madness before he did so.
But… never in her life had she imagined this to be the reason for her surprise.
She was a mother.
Her child…
Was this the punishment for taking away young Makarov's mother, Rita's life with her curse? She was separated from her child as well.
Pain, Sorrow, Anger, she couldn't even understand which emotion she was feeling at the moment or at whom the feelings were aimed at, Precht, the god who cursed them, or even this world. Perhaps the only thought that was keeping her from breaking down at this point was the fact that Zeref must be having it much harder at this point. To stay by his own child's side but not recognise him. The guilt must be killing him. Especially Zeref. For someone like him who had loved and wanted nothing more than a family… this was probably worse than all the centuries he had suffered under the 'Curse of Contradiction'.
Not to mention what her child had been through… to remain and act like a servant to his own father just to avoid the 'Curse of Contradiction' and stay by his side.
"W-what is your name?" She stuttered as she faced him hesitantly. The others had given the three of them some room alone and she was grateful for their consideration.
"I… my name is August. His Maj…" He paused looking at the pained look on Zeref's face and changed his words. "Father named me after the month he spent with you."
"August… hmm, a good name, a very great name." Words were failing her and she looked at Zeref for support but August interrupted before Zeref could say anything.
"Would you come with us, Mother? We have found a way to remove the curse. We… we could live together." He kneeled.
"I…" Her words finally failed her as tears came to her eyes and she could barely nod. She looked at Zeref and he came by her side as the two of them embraced August as tears fell from each of their eyes. "I would love to go with you two."
She didn't pay any attention to what happened or what was discussed. Something about Dragon Slayers, Acnologia and Eclipse. All she did was sit with August and tried to make up for the time they had lost together.
As for Precht, he was taken away for interrogation by the lady who could turn into a dragon. The reason he was attacked was because he had been taking her daughter as a hostage and making them work for something and despite their previous friendship, she didn't have it in her to spare any kindness for him at this point.
God knows the feeling she was experiencing right now. It was only the lack of a body which prevented her from jumping at Percht and punching his head off.
She wouldn't stop the woman who was probably experiencing a similar emotion at this moment. If anything, she would consider her actions to be the extension of her own.
- Silas -
"Still, last night's party was awesome."
"Hmm… did you see the girls who had come after Cid? There were elves among them, you know, real elves!" Rimuru said, still surprised.
It was honestly surprising.
I knew that Cid-kun had several girls among his friends but I wasn't expecting so many.
They called themselves the Shadow Garden, a group headed by Cid-kun or rather Shadow himself. At first, I thought they were part of his School's Roleplay Club or something but it turns out that they had their lives saved by Cid-kun years ago.
Alpha, the blonde elf, the leader of the group told us about their past. Cid-kun was apparently the son of a noble and helped them when they were abandoned due to some kind of illness, almost on the verge of death, to get on their feet when they were alone and they in turn followed Cid-kun.
Their crush on him was obvious to see when they spoke of him, although the guy's reaction was confusing for several of us when Rimuru asked him about it.
He had just smiled and said nothing.
Rimuru thought he was being smug.
I personally thought he was absolutely clueless.
Ainz however was silent and just looked at the guy with a gaze… which can be described as a mixture of understanding and pity.
"Didn't your world have elves too? I think Ainz has elves too."
"Aura and Mare are Dark Elves." Ainz corrected.
"It's not like that… but elves…"
We shook our heads, knowing quite well of Rimuru's secret elf fetish.
"Eh, enough talking about him. Let's talk about you." I said, smirking as I remembered about last night.
"Hmm?" He asked, quite confused.
"So… how was your night?" I asked with a smirk.
"W-what do you mean by that?" Rimuru asked, defensively.
"Oh… you know… how was your night? After all, Shizuka-san stayed in Tempest last night." I threw in the bait and sure enough.
My words got the attention of Ainz, who immediately zoned on to Rimuru, taking the slime by surprise.
"Hoh! This is new. Why didn't I hear of it before?"
"Because you went back early. Seriously, how do Skeletons even get drunk?" I asked.
"How would I know? Magic, I guess." He shrugged before looking at Rimuru, expectantly. "So, what's up with that?"
"Nothing. Nothing happened. She slept in the guest room." He quickly denied.
"Oh… and Shion?" I smirked, not letting the guy get out of this so easily.
This guy had made me throw a party with a two hundred million budget for getting two girlfriends… As if I would let him shrug this off so easily.
"Heh! Shion? The purple haired Oni who was with Shuna-chan?" Ainz asked, a smirk… or at least I assumed that's what it was, on his bony face.
"What about Shion? I don't know what you are talking about."
"Hmm, well, it looked like Shion was quite reluctant to leave you alone last night… so I was wondering if she followed you to your bed too."
"Really? Such a thing happened?" Ainz asked.
"Oh yeah. You should have seen him. Shizuka-san on one side and Shion on the other… and he calls me a Harem Protagonist."
"Well… he isn't wrong…"
"Concentrate Ainz."
"Ah yes."
"Hah! And what about you? I have come to hear something very interesting about a certain someone called Albedo and a certain Shalltear both fighting over Ainz-sama…" Rimuru bit back, making the skeleton flustered all of a sudden. He wasn't expecting a counter attack.
"Eh, who are these Albedo and Shalltear?" I asked, interested suddenly.
"You didn't know because you were talking with others but Shion told me that she was talking with the Maids of Nazarick and found out that two of the Floor Guardians, a Succubus called Albedo and a vampire called Shalltear both fight over who will have their precious Ainz-sama's babies first."
I looked at Ainz in surprise. I do remember him telling us about some floor guardian but I had forgotten who it was.
"A succubus, you know. A real succubus. You know what kind of demons they are, right? And this bastard is teasing us." Rimuru complained.
"Seriously?" I asked, in wonder.
This time it wasn't to tease him, just genuine curiosity.
"I-i-it's not like that. We don't…" Ainz waved his hands rapidly as a green light shone over him and he calmed down… thrice…
Seeing the two being so flustered I finally burst into a laugh. "Don't worry. I am just teasing you guys. I know you won't do anything like that." Then my smile turned savage. "After all… doing that needs you to have… a certain something."
…
It took them a moment to recover from the blow but when they did, they immediately reacted quickly. "Bastard! You wanna fight, huh!" Rimuru shouted while another flash of green covered Ainz.
"Hmph, you talk as if you have a lot of experience? Big words from someone who doesn't even have the balls to confess to Sakura-chan yet." Ainz retorted.
Even Rimuru who was expectedly agitated paused and zoned back in. "Yeah, pot calling kettle black."
The words caught me off guard. Normally, I would have just shrugged it off but the dance from yesterday came to my mind and I hesitated slightly… a mistake which wouldn't escape from these absurdly high level monsters.
It was as if they were bloodhounds who had caught the scent of blood.
I knew that they would absolutely not let it go if I stayed here so I quickly opened the door to the private room where they always stayed and stepped out… crashing into something soft face first directly…
…
"Oh my!" I recognised the voice and stepped back quickly.
"Lucoa-san. I am sorry, I wasn't watching when I opened the door."
"No no it's nothing. I just wanted to apologise for last night. I… behaved in an unsightly manner…"
"It was nothing. You had too much to drink. I didn't know some drinks were too strong."
"Oh, they were amazing. It has been centuries, perhaps even millennia since I have had such delicious alcohol."
"I am glad you liked it. I hope you didn't have any problems sleeping last night."
"Oh yes. I slept very well. I am just worried that Shuna-chan would be troubled since Tohru and I took her room last night but she said that Lavinia and she were fine in your room, so that's good." She smiled good naturedly.
Her words however made two others in the room freeze.
"Ah… yes. They were slightly tired yesterday so sleeping was no problem."
"Great! Then I must leave now. Thank you for inviting me to such a great party."
"It was my pleasure hosting you. Please have some breakfast before going."
"Oh my, such a sweet guy. Thank you very much." She smiled and walked back.
I was about to leave with her, taking advantage of the situation but unfortunately that was just wishful thinking. I suddenly found a string grabbing my hand.
Looking back, I saw that the string was Rimuru's Steel Thread Skill and on the other end, both the slime and the Lich were staring at me with a blank face.
"Silas… w-what did she mean by Lavinia and Shuna… sleeping in your room. Did you sleep on the couch?" Rimuru asked, slowly. And while Ainz was not speaking anything, the red in his eyes flashed dangerously, making his question clear too.
I snapped my finger, freezing and snapping the thread and just smirked at them.
"What's that smirk about, bastard?" Rimuru asked, taken aback by my smirk.
I didn't say anything, only my smirk widened.
"W-what… what happened"
"Nothing… nothing happened." I smiled back and opened the door of the private room.
I was pretty sure I heard the sound of some glasses crashing in the room.
Phew, that was close.
Thankfully Lucoa arrived at the right time or those two would absolutely not let me go.