Welldark B1 Ch. 02

I nodded and only stopped to offer Arlethia a helping hand with her stuff. Now that we were all heading back at the same time, helping her was a courtesy I could afford again. 'Helping hand' was a bit misleading though, as I used my Artefact to manifest a trolley. That made the entire luggage situation a lot easier.

That little talk aside, I spent the majority of the way back trying to entangle Esther in a lasting conversation. I really tried, with all my charm and all my wit. The success was rather limited.

For all my attempts, I didn't know enough about her to properly engage her. I didn't know any topics she was passionate about. All I knew for sure we could talk about was our common history up to that point. That was a list quickly exhausted. Her tendency to keep conversations short and to the point did not help.

I assured her how sorry I was for striking her face, she stated it was fine. I assured her that I was impressed by her swordplay, she stated that she liked my fighting style herself. I assured her that I found her confidence sexy, she stated she felt similarly. I assured this or that and the pattern repeated itself.

I got one or two chuckles out of her, for sure, but no single topic held for longer than a few sentences, most of which came from me. Not wanting to seem pushy or, worse, annoy her with constant chatter, I eventually dropped my attempts and we just walked side by side. Silence was better than a forced conversation, especially if it was this neutral kind of silence.

"Can you slow down?!" I heard Arlethia complain. Despite me pulling along most of her stuff, she and her boyfriend had continuously been falling back and now the gap was large enough for her to justify shouting. I did stay in place, but Esther kept walking at the previous pace

She must have heard but, for whatever reason, decided not to oblige. Not a nice gesture, but given her military character, I just guessed that she saw no reason to wait. Torn between wanting to stay next to her and helping the stragglers, I took the spur of the moment decision to do the latter. Again, I didn't want to seem pushy and even if I was extremely interested in her, Arlethia and Willt were still my friends.

"Fucking Anti-Christ, can you cut half your legs off and give them to me?" the red-skinned succubus groaned when she reached me.

"I'd rather you didn't," her boyfriend immediately chimed in and gave me a thankful glance when I took one of his bags as well. I was now carrying more than five times my own luggage, but I could do with it. "You being short has its perks for me."

"I was about to say," I added in a gleeful tone. "Smaller women have so many advantages. Turning you over and smashing you into the cushions must be incredibly satisfying!" I could see it before me already. "Yes, a short and stacked woman, turned on her stomach. A unification by night. Breasts spilling under the small frame of her torso, the ass raised and the light of the stars playing on her exposed back before..."

I stopped dead in my monologue, when I realized that Esther had stopped for us after all and was now giving me a persistent glare. One whose emotional content or target I couldn't decipher, but knew was on the negative side of things. This gorgeous, at least somewhat perverted, woman had shown in some capacity when she was happy with me before. Now she turned away with a blank face and continued leading the way.

"Very smooth," Arlethia whispered towards me while I looked after the raven-haired beauty, too distracted by what I could have done wrong to even admire her ass. "Talk about how much you like small girls while trying to woo a girl with legs for days."

"I... you..." I sighed deeply. "I got nothing..."

"Yes, victory for Arlethia!"

"Congratulations honey, you came out on top this round," Willt's amused comment was cut short by him groaning under the weight of his remaining stuff. He buckled far enough that his girlfriend could kiss him on the cheek.

"Not the only thing I'll be on top of today," she unashamedly sighed into her boyfriend's ear. Pretty sure they were both blushing but the young warlock looked way more uncomfortable with me having heard that.

"Get your act together man," I laughed. I would have slapped him on the back in a brotherly gesture, but I was afraid he would fall over if I touched him in any way. Instead, I just made a gesture with my head for us to keep moving. It wasn't much further. "It's just me. You think I'll care knowing about your sex life?"

"He currently has more of it than you," Arlethia kept coming at me before Willt could answer.

"Give it a few weeks," I retorted, quietly this time, careful that Esther didn't hear me.

"You think she is that easy?" Willt had an eyebrow doubtfully raised far past the frame of his red tinged glasses.

I didn't agree that women that took a couple of weeks to be courted into the bedroom could be described as easy. Especially not with how much effort I would be putting in whenever I got the chance. Then again, I was talking to the guy who had needed twenty years to get together with a succubus who had liked him from their baby days. His perception was obviously rather skewed. Lecturing him on that would have been a bit of a waste of time.

"No, but there is just something that fits between the two of us. The kind of chemistry where you just feel it is right, you know?" I tried that angle instead, while we walked up to the mansion we were going to live in.

"That's just your stupid brain telling you hopeful bullshit," Arlethia mocked me. "You got struck by the 'this girl is super hot' effect and now you're instinctively exaggerating every positive signal you receive. If you stop pestering her every ten seconds, she'll show no interest in you."

Before I could return to any of that mean-worded but well-meaning berating, I heard the sensual voice of Esther call out to me. "Karitas," I looked over to see her standing before the front gate of the mansion, "would you accompany me inside? I would appreciate a tour, rather than having to explore everything on my lonesome."

"Of course!" I shouted back and gave Arlethia a triumphant glare.

"That doesn't prove anything, she just doesn't have the key function yet," the succubus stated, only to witness Esther using her Ashod to unlock the gate.

"Like I wouldn't already have done that," I managed to say, before I had to speed up my steps.

"She is just being nice!"

"And I am going to be the gentleman she asks for," I made it perfectly clear and was soon at Esther's side. "After you, my lady," I said in my most suave tone. Without wanting to brag, that was very suave. Regardless of the skilled delivery, Esther gave me a militaristic, short nod as answer and we entered the grounds. I wasn't yet sure if my efforts to be smooth were wasted or she simply kept most reactions to herself.

"I prefer the placement and architecture of this mansion greatly over the one assigned to me," the angelic beauty stated, brushing a strand of her ever rebellious, wavy hair behind her ear. I found myself strangely attracted to them. I had never thought I could be sexually attracted to ears, but I noticed how nicely round and well placed hers were at that moment.

I forced myself to concentrate on what I was saying instead. This was the first time she had started a conversation since approaching the table. "It's nice that it's the closest to the train station and all that," I agreed. "What about the architecture do you prefer though?" Rule number one of getting to know people was to ask them things that allowed them to talk about themselves. One miniscule information given could quickly cascade into a long talk about whatever.

"The tower," Esther pointed up to the octangular roof that rose above the ceiling of the remaining mansion. "The mansion I was given has many smaller spires, but they are decorative in nature."

"I think there was a room close to the stairs. Maybe that would be ideal for you?" I smirked and gave her a wink, "Unless you prefer to stay in my room?"

Esther gave this joke nothing more than a weak-smiled denial. "You may show it to me, but I require my own room." I heard an implied 'for now' there. Could have been just wishful thinking. We headed inside, I left Willt's and Arlethia's bags for them to unpack and store away, and then started showing Esther around.

As was reasonable, we started on the base floor first, including my bedroom. "I respect how openly you display your ambitions beyond words," Esther commented when she saw it. Given that it was basically just one large mattress, it was very easy to interpret what I intended to do in that room.

"I like to wear my heart on my sleeve," I shrugged as I closed that door. From there, I continued with the kitchen, bathrooms, unused areas and whatever else was around. Since she had already seen her own, exceedingly similar mansion, she wasn't overly impressed with the luxurious designs. As a matter of fact, she didn't seem impressed at all, as if this amount of space was something normal for her. I suspected she came from a wealthy background.

We were busy looking at the kitchen in greater detail, when Esther remarked, "I struggle to decide whether you deserve to be called shallow or not. Your constant and open displays make me lean towards it." Even as she hit me with something like that, she went after a practical activity. Opening a drawer, she checked what kind of utensils had been given to us for use and nodded approvingly once she had scanned through.

"That seems rather uncharitable," I playfully pouted. "A lake's depth can be quite deceptive. Light breaks on the surface and even if the upper layers might be translucent, the bed might be hidden in a muddy cloud. It's unwise to make guesses about depth while only swimming on the surface."

"Esoteric but correct," Esther agreed and gave me another long glance. We were both trying to figure the other out. I wondered what she had learned about me from that little exchange. I wondered what she had hoped to learn. "Escort me to the tower now," she demanded.

I nodded and we went to find the staircase. Although I had not been up there earlier, I was already aware that the way up the tower was separate from the other staircases in the mansion. Instead, there was a door at the corner of the central hallway that was entirely filled with a winding staircase. "After you," I offered once more and gestured for her to get on the stairs first.

This was, to be honest, not entirely motivated by gentlemanly education. Well, unless the idea to let ladies go first had been created in order to allow men to look at their asses while keeping up appearances. Given the sight that was created when women with bubble butts ascended the stairs, I found that to be a quite likely scenario.

The dark pants, as much as they had been cut with manoeuvrability in mind, had failed to entirely conceal the fullness of her bottom in the first place. It was the wonder of the female backside that the cotton could be stretched that way. That a waist as narrow as hers smoothly curved into such an ass was proof that nature did not allocate resources evenly. Then again, I was pretty sure that a lot of squats went into perfecting what had already been there.

Every step she took up the stairs was a sensation. One side went taut, firm and defined and the other jiggly, soft and round. A smooth movement later, the sides exchanged. Each time, I had to make the decision which side to follow. As tantalizing as the sight was, it would have been better with a little bit less clothing.

I let my thoughts be known, "I've been wondering, why aren't you wearing a skirt like the other girls? Not that I'm judging, I like the sight of yoga pants and up skirts equally." We went past the door that would give access to the staircase on the first floor. Esther simply continued walking, unfazed by my confession.

"Skirts are part of the category of clothes that flutter and can get stuck. I find such impractical articles bothersome," Esther made it very clear as her marching boots clacked on the stone floor over and over again. "The only skirts that are not in danger of this are either so short I may as well not wear them or too tight; therefore, they are one of my least favourite articles."

"Does that extend to dresses?" I wondered.

"Depends on the dress," the woman of my interest responded. "I'm unwilling to wear something that is more of a fashion statement than clothing. If it is such a dress, I will be more reluctant to wear it than a skirt, even. In general, I'm not fond of them."

"Shame, I really like seeing girls in those things," I sighed.

"...I may be convinced otherwise, given certain assurances," Esther conceded in a hesitant tone, as if she wasn't sure herself she wanted to say that.

"Such as?" I was interested in both the statement and the little vulnerability she showed.

"A series of details." Her voice seemed to compensate for the earlier hesitation by suddenly becoming so hard that I did not chase the topic further. We emerged in the room on top of the tower at that moment anyway.

Each of the eight sides had an individual window. Silver frames separated them into four rows of two panels, the top curving in something between a V and a U. The windowsills underneath were plates of black marble, white veins cutting through decoratively. The walls around were the usual mixture of grey and dark purple. An ebon, circular table stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by nine chairs, covered with burgundy red cushions. That bit of furniture filled almost all the space the room had to offer. There was just enough around the edge to effortlessly manoeuvre around the table. All in all, it was a comfy room.

My hand departed with the railing that framed the hole we ascended from. The view from inside the tower was spectacular. West was the isolated island of the Golden Eagles with the giant palace on top, south the singular mountain on Welldark, east the skyscraper of the other first years, all three of those peeking out behind the large forest. North may have been my personal favourite direction to gaze at. There were no structures in that direction. Only forest, ocean and the sky. Although I knew the water was limited and the sky far from endless, the blue layers invoked the impression of a vast world.

Esther was also focusing on that perceived infinity. Even if it was artificial, it was beautiful. With a content expression on her face, she folded her hands behind her back and just looked. Among all the fantastic sights that had been erected in Welldark, I still found that viewing the natural swing of her cheekbones enticed me more than any part of the landscape.

For a little while, I nonchalantly stood next to her, my hands in my pockets. I weighed my options and then made my decision. My arm wandered around her back. Putting it around her shoulder would have been wrong for a romantic interest and the butt a bit too daring, even with what happened earlier. I aimed for her waist and soon felt the warmth of her body under my palm. Her breasts were more erotic, but the way we now stood, close together, was intimate in a different way.

I was met with no complaints, no struggles, not even a prolonged tensing of her body. There was only an initial reaction that relaxed the moment my hand came to a still. We just stood there. My shoulder brushed against her. A faint smell of citrus reached my nostrils. She took a tiny step closer and I felt more of her against me. It wasn't quite an embrace, but it was very close.

"It is nice here," I said, not feeling the need to spin any great philosophical formulation.

"Indeed," she agreed. The fact that we were wasting time didn't seem to bother her now.

And we continued to gaze at the world and each other.