'Gods what have I done?' Protector thought while looking at the holes in the walls, the rips in their clothes, and at the two magical beasts that stared at him, demanding their afternoon food.
To his eyes, every one of them turned into a small pile of money equivalent to their respective daily expenses.
'Nalrond wants to leave, I already work a lot, and once Fenrir grows, she'll want her own magical beast. If Selia doesn't kill me first, stress will.'
"Thank the gods you are here, Lith." Nalrond rushed out of his room and Fenrir welcomed him by biting playfully at his foot. "Bad girl! Bad! You ruined another pair of good shoes!"
At that point, Ryman started to cry. He would have to pay for that as well.
"What can I do for you?" Lith turned up the volume of the cartoon to cover the sobbing.
"Friya just set up our date!" Nalrond threw the already chewed shoes along the corridor to get rid of Fenrir before she attacked his pants as well.
She chased them, barking with joy.
"Good for you." Lith shrugged.
"That's not good at all. I mean, what do I do? I already had trouble dating normal women and she's a noble." Fenrir tugged at his leg and offered him the shoe in her mouth.
Nalrond threw it again, making the small Skoll claw deep into the floor to sprint. The thumping of her short but powerful legs on the ground was accompanied by the sound of the wood shaving and Protector crying harder.
"To make matters worse, Friya chose the time, the place, and notified me less than a minute ago."
"I fail to see how any of this is a problem." Lith replied. "She saved you a lot of trouble. Now you don't have to worry about anything but having a good time and getting a pair of shoes without holes in them."
Every time Fenrir returned, the shoe in her mouth looked more and more like something only a war refugee would wear.
"You don't get it. I have no idea what we can talk about or how to behave if she brings me to a fancy restaurant. What if I make a fool of myself?" Nalrond asked.
"Laugh it off." Lith said. "Look, I could tell you that you should have thought about all of this before asking her out, but that wouldn't be of any help. What I'm going to tell you, instead, is to wear something elegant but not too much and to trust Friya.
"She knows you and is aware of your origins so she won't put you in an uncomfortable situation on purpose. Also, she's not the type to bring her dates to five-star restaurants, more like a family diner."
"Any advice?" Nalrond asked.
"Think about the date as if you're just going out with a friend. The more expectations you have the more tense you'll be and the less fun you'll have. At the end of the dinner, offer to pay the tab.
"You make enough money with my mines to afford it and even if Friya chooses to split the bill instead, she'll appreciate the gesture. Just because she's rich doesn't mean that she has to pay for everything.
"Otherwise she'll think that you are dating her wallet, not her." Lith said.
"This sounds more like you than her, but it's still good advice. Here's mine. Always! Use! Protection!" Selia poked at Nalrond's chest with an ice cream-stained spoon.
She was so angry that she would have gladly eaten the whole tub, but then the kids would have asked their share. Then they would have gone on a sugar rush and Selia would have to spend the rest of the week fixing the house.
"Yes, ma'am." Nalrond nodded.
Lith left Selia's house still filled with doubts, with Solus by his side who grumbled for unknown reasons.
"It's hard to believe that someone can be as dumb as Protector. Selia has every right to be angry at him." Lith chuckled, trying to lighten her mood.
"It's not hard to believe at all, but I agree on the rest. Selia's anger is more than justified." Solus snarled, finding the issue far from amusing.
'Judging by her reaction, it seems that Solus took it personally and that she's actually talking about herself.' Lith thought.
"Do you want to come with us or do you want to stay at the tower?" He asked.
Solus stopped abruptly, facepalming with a boom of thunder that startled the members of the Queen's Corps before taking a deep breath.
"No, thanks." She replied with a voice as cold as an ice age. "I'll stay in the tower and work on a breathing technique of my own. Abyssal Gaze is great, but I can't use any of the breathing abilities you are developing because I lack your eyes."
Then she turned around and walked back to the Trawn woods without turning around even to say goodbye.
'I'm sorry, Solus.' He thought as soon as she was out of the range of their mind link. 'I may seem insensitive, but I'm doing this for you. I want to be a part of your life, but as long as you don't have one of your own, I'd be your entire life and that would be toxic for both of us.'
The time of his date was near so Lith wore a dark blue blazer over a white shirt and black pants. He followed his own advice to Nalrond, choosing clothes that would look nice on him without overdressing.
Then he went to pick Faluel up, arriving on her doorstep exactly at seven and a half. He knew that being early would have been rude, arriving on time meant having to wait a lot and that arriving late would have been even ruder.
Much to his surprise, the Hydra walked out of the mystical gate immediately.
In her human form, Faluel looked like a woman in her mid-twenties, about 1.7 meters (5'7") tall. Her face had an oval shape, with multi-colored eyes and long hair that framed her fine features.
Unlike a normal woman, her hair wasn't of a regular color with streaks related to the element she was more attuned with, but bore the six colors of the elements plus the emerald green of mana.
She was wearing a white dress with a colorful flowery pattern that left her arms and shoulders exposed. It was still late winter so the air was quite chilly, making her shiver due to her sensitivity to the cold.
It made her a little paler than usual, emphasizing her rep lipstick and the light makeup around her eyes, making her look even more charming than usual.
"Let's move before I go into hibernation." She said with a chuckle while hugging Lith's arm in search of warmth.
The grace with which her slender body moved along with the warmth of her voice emphasized Faluel as a whole, making the final result much more stunning than the sum of the single parts.
"You look lovely, but if you are that cold, you could have worn something heavier." Lith gave her his blazer which she promptly accepted.
"Thanks, but I'm not so insensitive to look like a bear on a first date." She pouted, pretending to be offended.. "Beauty has its price and I'm willing to pay."
