Book 4: Chapter 34: Patch 6.0: Hard Labor

“Don’t… d-don’t you have any ideas that aren’t so… dangerous?” Azalabulia asks Nell.

“What is wrong with the ideas I have been giving you?” Nell asks back.

“They’re dangerous! Half of them might end up with something seriously bad happening to me!”

Nell waves away Azalabulia’s concerns and says, “But Fenrir will rescue you! Nothing bad will happen if you let some tentacles or beasts get their hands on you for a few minutes.”

“A lot of bad could happen in a few minutes!”

“Surely, you would be able to handle it! You are the powerful and awesome Azalabulia, are you not?”

“I – that may be true, but…”

“So… just let a large, powerful monster get his hands on you and pin you down until Fenrir rescues you!”

“I – I don’t know if I can believe your intentions when you’re about to drool…”

Nell wipes her mouth and clears her throat. “I do not know what you are talking about,” she says.

Azalabulia looks at Nell with suspicious eyes.

“Now then! If you really must insist on a less interesting and erotic plot, then I shall think of something you may find acceptable. I suppose you just could not handle doing what must be done of you,” Nell says.

“I – I can handle it!” Azalabulia declares. She may be nervous, but she’s not going to let somebody imply that there’s something she can’t do! Even if that means giving Nell a reason to sadistically smile.

“Wonderful! Worry not, for this idea is much more tame than the others have been so far, but it will require you to give it your all.”

“I’ll do it!”

Nell’s smile grows even wider before turning her head and spotting Serra listening in on them. “Ah, Serra!”

“I want in,” Serra says.

“Please, do come join us. I am sure that my plan will be even better with your input.”

Azalabulia looks between the two girls giving each other sadistic, knowing smiles and gulps. She’s scared about what they’re going to come up with. But… it’s worth it. She thinks. She hopes.

Worst case scenario, she’ll get out of trouble with an explosion or two.

Best case scenario, she stops being so lonely.

Worth it.

Meanwhile, Corwin comes jogging back over to Oleander and Cassiel. Oleander is already standing behind Cassiel and playing with her hair to figure out what sort of twintails to give her.

Both Azalabulia and Cassiel are planning on giving Fenrir a surprise that will make him fall for them even more, but who will win?

If there is one person not winning right now, it is Fenrir as he stands in waist-deep water holding up some planks in place for Tabitha to look over.

“Yeah, I think that looks good,” Tabitha says to herself.

“Can I stop then?” Fenrir asks.

“Hmm. Let me look at it from another angle.” She takes a couple of steps to her left and nods. “Yep. Still lookin’ good.”

“Now can I stop?”

“Nope. Gotta look at it from the other angles.” Tabitha takes four steps to the right now. “Hmm. Yep. Still good.”

“I’m just going to drop this if you don’t hurry up. I don’t even see how this is helping you.”

“Don’t worry about it, dog boy.”

Then there are Shogun and Rock.

Shogun is stretching out his back since he’s been having to carry people around so much lately, and Rock is trying to make him feel better by kneading it with her paws. It doesn’t work too well, especially since her paws are just made out of rocks, but Shogun appreciates the effort regardless of its efficiency.

Everybody is busy in one way or another. But, despite this, very little work is actually getting done. They are supposed to be going hard at labor to build a city, but three of them are plotting a plan to win Fenrir’s heart, three of them are messing with Cassiel’s hair to also win even more of Fenrir’s heart, three of them are screwing around “building” a dock for The Shoebill, and two of them are lying around in the grass stretching and nuzzling.

By the time that Fenrir is done letting his lower half soak in the river, Oleander and Corwin are done with Cassiel’s hair and have sent her over to him.

They’re both watching from the distance to see Fenrir’s reaction to her hair.

“H-hey,” Cassiel says from behind Fenrir.

“Cass? What’s up?” Fenrir says, not turning around as he tries to dry off his tail by squeezing the water out of it. He just wants to be fluffy and clean, but no. Is that so much to ask for? He’s so disappointed that his ears are lying flat against his head.

“Umm, I… I – you should turn around,” Cassiel stammers out.

Fenrir turns around when she tells him to, and those two ears that were lying down against the top of his head now shoot up with excited perkiness. He even lets go of his tail to let it wag around in its damp state.

Before him is a beautiful, perfect sight.

Cassiel is standing there, armored up and looking all tsundere with averted eyes and blushing cheeks, and her long, blonde hair has been pulled up into two twintails hanging off the sides of her head.

“How – how is it?” she asks.

“She looks so pretty! I’m kind of jealous she’s stealing my thing, but she looks so good! You better praise her right this instant you baka onii-chan!” Saya mentally shouts at Fenrir.

“You look amazing,” Fenrir says. “You’re like the perfect tsundere knight now.”

“Don’t say weird things right now,” Cassiel replies. “Just… do – do you like it better like this or how it is in real life now?”

Fenrir freezes.

This is a difficult question that he’s not sure how to answer.

If he says he likes this better, then he knows she’ll regret her haircut and potentially feel even more insecure about it. If he says he likes her hair better short in real life, he might not get to see her with twintails. He also just doesn’t know which he likes better. “I love them both,” he says, trying to get the best of both worlds.

“But which do you like more?” Cassiel asks.

“I like them equally,” he tries answering.

Cassiel sighs and says, “Come on, be honest. I want to know.”

Now it’s Fenrir’s turn to sigh and say, “I’m serious, Cass Cass. I love them both, and neither one is better than the other. I love seeing you with short, super fluffy hair. I also love seeing you with long twintails. Short hair makes me want to cuddle you more and pet your head, and twintails make me want to use them as hand—”

He realizes what he’s saying and stops.

Cassiel already knows what he was about to say, though, so she blushes and says, “You – you can if you want to.”

“You’re way too lucky, onii-chan,” Saya tells him.

“I know,” Fenrir answers her. “Cass Cass,” he says out loud now, “You’re way too perfect.”

Cassiel grabs her twintails and twirls the hair around with her fingers, holding it in front of her now. “You – you always say that,” she says.

“Because it’s true.”

Cassiel discovers that if there’s one major perk of having twintails, it’s being able to pull them around to her front to cover her face with ease. She’s still not comfortable being seen blushing and smiling as much as she is right now.

While Corwin and Oleander high-five each other, there is another trio watching the flirty display between Fenrir and Cassiel.

“Hmm. That new hairstyle is awfully powerful,” Nell says. “We may need to come up with a bigger plan.”

“When – when you say ‘bigger,’ you don’t mean bigger monsters, do you?” Azalabulia asks as she jealously looks on at Fenrir and Cassiel.

“It’s just a game. Bigger won’t kill you,” Serra says.

“Wh-what kind of bigger are you talking about?!”

Serra grins up at Azalabulia.

“No,” Nell says. “We need a real plan. It needs to be able to compete with Cassiel’s work.” She taps her cheek for a few moments before declaring, “I’ve got it! I know the perfect plan – the real perfect plan. There is no way that he will be able to resist you!”

“Are – you… you’re so excited about helping me even though you’re dating him,” Azalabulia says. She appreciates it, but it also just makes her even more suspicious.

“Well, you will be our girlfriend as well, so we must get along! Consider this as strengthening the bond between lovers,” Nell explains.

“Yeah, what she said,” Serra agrees.

“Ri-right, I’d be dating you two, too,” Azalabulia says, looking between them. Both of her future girlfriends are standing there smiling at her. She keeps on forgetting that this is a package deal, and that she’s already being so honest and getting along with two people who want to date her.

Azalabulia starts tearing up.

“What – what is wrong?” Nell asks her.

Azalabulia sniffles and resists the urge to hug them both.

Serra pulls down on Azalabulia’s arm until she can reach her own hand up to pet the taller woman on the head. “There, there. It’s okay,” Serra says.

Azalabulia finally understands how it feels to be wanted.

She thinks.

Even if this isn’t feeling wanted, she feels special enough to be a crybaby.