Book 4: Chapter 78: Patch 13.0: Operation: Operation

Both Rao and Azalabulia have their hair blown back with their eyebrows singed and faces covered in soot.

The rest of the crew onboard The Shoebill are staring dumbfoundedly at the sky.

As beautiful and as amazing as the explosive sight was, they’re just happy that they’re still alive. The last thing that any of them want is to get blown away alongside the boat from some modified firework.

“That was my best explosion ever,” Azalabulia says. “Bahamut would be proud.”

“Sure, but uh… maybe let’s not do that again so close to ourselves,” Rao says.

“But they’re even better when you get to watch them up close!”

“Sure, but I think the shortie and your boyfriend would get pretty mad at us if we accidentally blew ourselves or this boat up.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“I – I guess that makes sense.”

“I’ll help you with more explosions sometime, but it’s got to be safer. Alright?”

“Deal!” Azalabulia says with a bright smile shining contrasting against her soot-covered face.

“Can we kick them overboard?” Tabitha asks Nell and Oleander.

“It might be safer to do that for all of our sakes,” Nell answers.

“They didn’t damage anything other than their eyebrows this time, so I guess they’re fine,” Oleander says.

Meanwhile, Rock and Shogun are below deck and have been there ever since the explosions started. The others above might enjoy fireworks, but these two canids want nothing to do with them.

Back on the serpent, those sitting atop her back are just happy that they didn’t get blown away.

It is not without losses, though.

Fenrir, Serra, and Cassiel have never seen Corwin look so depressed before now that the shockwave from the explosion has freed his catch.

It was the nicest, largest fish that any of them had ever caught before, too.

“I… did not even get to show Olly,” Corwin mumbles.

“It’s alright,” Cassiel says, leaning forward to pat Corwin on the shoulder. “We saw it at and can back you up.”

“Saw what?” Fenrir asks.

“Fe-Fenrir?” Corwin says.

“I didn’t see anything.”

“Did the explosion harm your memory? You – you saw the fish I caught, did you not?”

“Sorry, no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Stop teasing him, Fen,” Cassiel says. “He saw your fish, Corwin. He’s just teasing you about it.”

“A-ah. Right. Of course,” Corwin says. “I am not used to being teased by anybody other than Olly.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a different type of teasing,” Fenrir says.

“Olly does the better version of teasing,” Serra joins in.

“I agree, Serra,” Corwin says.

“Anyways, we should probably head back to the others now. I doubt that our escort here wants us riding around on her back forever, and I think that shockwave loosened up these seats a bit too much. And… I want to drink more since we got all this alcohol, but I don’t trust myself to drink too much while riding around on her,” Fenrir suggests.

“That’s probably smart,” Cassiel says.

“You know, Cass, I’ve still never seen you get drunk around any of us. Want to once we get back onboard?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I’m never going to get drunk around you. End of story.”

Serra asks, “What if I trick you into getting drunk?”

“I know you wouldn’t, and if you did, I – I don’t know but I’d be mad,” Cassiel answers.

“Alright, alright,” Fenrir says. “No tricking Cass Cass into getting drunk. We’ll just have to peer pressure her sometime.”

“Go get Nell drunk. We’ve never seen her drunk, either.”

“Now that you mention it… I wonder what kind of drunk she is.”

“Probably… the kind of drunk who’s going to purposely act way more vulnerable than she actually is to try and get you to do something perverted to her.”

Fenrir, Serra, and even Corwin are all in agreement with Cassiel’s guess.

“Anyways, let’s get back,” Fenrir says.

And that is exactly what they do.

Their serpentine escort takes them right up to the side of The Shoebill and lifts her back high enough so that they can jump right onto the boat’s deck from her.

“Thanks again,” Fenrir tells the serpent, gently running one of his hands against the side of her head.

She responds with a slight nod of her head before diving back into the ocean’s depths.

“Yo, bro,” Rao says. “How’d the saddles hold up?”

“Oh… I forgot to take them off,” Fenrir says. “But uh… the shockwave made them pretty loose, so they’re probably going to come off while she’s swimming.”

“It’s all good. The shortie could probably make even better ones anyways.”

“Speaking of making things better, what was with that firework?”

“Me and sis made it, but she did most of the work.”

“Sis?”

“Yeah,” Rao says, pointing one finger at Azalabulia.

“You’re actually calling somebody something other than bro?” Fenrir asks with a tilted head, genuinely confused at the unbelievable prospect.

“She said she wants an older brother, so I figured she can be my little sister.”

Everybody is looking at Fenrir at this point to see how he’s going to react to another man claiming one of his girlfriends as his little sister.

“Yeah, I can see that,” Fenrir says. “I never would have considered it before, but now that you’ve said it… I can see you two being like that.”

Tabitha sighs and Cassiel leans up on the tips of her toes while tugging down on Fenrir’s shoulder to whisper, “Are you sure you’re alright with that?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Fenrir whispers back.

“You’re not jealous or anything?”

“Pffttt. Why would I be? Is there something to be jealous about?”

“Don’t you want the wincest play to yourself?” Serra asks from the other side of him.

“Gross,” Rao says. “I didn’t mean it like that, and anybody with actual siblings would know that sort of thing is nasty.”

“Yeah, plus I trust them,” Fenrir says. “Besides, I’ve already got a little sister.”

“What? I thought you were a single child?” Cassiel asks.

“I mean my virtual assistant. Remember? I have her act like my tsundere little sister. Though, lately, she’s been acting more like a little sister tsundere puppy.”

“A – a little sister tsundere puppy?” Cassiel asks. “Why would you even admit to that out loud?”

“Because I have no shame,” Fenrir says, using a signature Serra thumbs-up.

“But you got embarrassed when we found your ar—”

Fenrir puts his hand over Cassiel’s mouth.

“We don’t talk about that. I have no shame in my current self, but I do have shame in my past self.”