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Rosen Flame B1 — 7. Denial
🕑 Added 2024-11-03 22:27:43 +0000 UTCPoV:
1. Malik (Our MC and Humanity's Hero!)
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Malik took a moment to collect himself, Tabia helping him sit back down. He assured her that he was fine and that the message was just not something he expected.
The Panthera Cleric showed a compassionate smile and knelt beside him to meditate. It was comforting having someone nearby who wanted nothing more than to support him. He enjoyed the serenity Clerics brought; sadly, it was perhaps the rarest of the potential healing classes, followed by Sage, due to how brutal the leveling system was.
As it stood, Malik definitely did not want any kind of help for this mission; he was still trying to wrap his head around it himself.
After a minute, he found his legs, thanked the kind oracle, and left the shrine, offering one last backward glance at the illuminated tree. Titania’s message was slowly beginning to make sense to him the further he thought about it.
On his path back to Main Street, he laughed at himself for taking all of this at face value; fae didn’t operate like that. He’d been so stupid; Titania’s message was certainly a slap across the face to set him straight.
Hands resting in his pockets, he let his wild emotions regarding Rose’s panic-inducing action drift away in the bustling back alley environment. Memories about his childhood floated to the surface, the face of the little girl he walked through the streets of their homeland and lower-class Section 12 housing district. Despite the hunger and search for ways to help his struggling foster mother and all the other kids she brought under her roof, it had been such a more peaceful and simpler time.
He returned to those memories when the stress was getting too much, and he couldn’t just grind what followed that horrific day away in some dungeon or wash away the pain by saving others.
All of these hard-working Beastkin somehow saved him; he would often walk some of the worst places of cities or towns to clear his mind and reorient himself. Yeah, it was bad, but there was always some ray of hope to be found in the shadows and downtrodden to re-spark that heat in his heart and settle his unruly stomach.
He could see the effort they put in to keep the place clean and presentable, which was a big deal with Beast Tribe villages to curb sicknesses. Still, as was usual when on these reflective journeys, something would typically hook and draw him in a new direction; maybe it was Titania or maybe just his subconscious, noticing something small he knew he should address, but in his experience, it gave him a critical piece of a greater puzzle he couldn’t see but what nagged at him from the darkness.
Malik’s mind drifted away from his childhood to the odd demographic representation of more beastly women and more human men; it brought him back to his time amongst some of the Beast Tribes and how few half-bloods he’d seen in them. It did make some sense; the tribes rarely mingled with humans other than for trade, but war against each other wasn’t uncommon and did pull in support from primarily human nations, such as the Salven Theocracy.
Emotions setting, Malik let the tension go in a slow sigh, mind returning to what he’d been avoiding.
Titania has been trying to get me to settle down. Instead, I ignored it and kept pushing on. It just never really works out, which is apparently my fault… She didn’t try to force me into anything and kept giving me opportunities, but even she has her stopping point, I suppose. I have asked for breaks, only to find some other conflict I can enter.
I’ve been so busy saving the world, going from conflict to conflict, that this is her way of telling me to hit the breaks. Apparently, I’ve got some problems to work out, and Rose is a brick wall I can’t cut in half, so… Message received. It’s a pretty hard-hitting message for Titania, though, which I guess is more of a reflection on me than her.
He chuckled to himself, a melancholy shadow coming over his face as he turned inward, remembering the dozens of girls from many races, cultures, and ages across half the world that he’d partied with, saved, or protected due to some kind of high-tier threat against their life. Ten years, and he’d barely gone a day without some conflict finding him, being guided to problems needing to be solved, or inserting himself into a big crisis.
“Haaa. Maybe I am some kind of battle junkie,” he whispered.
He backtracked and took the time to really study this town; again, memories of his vivid childhood surfaced in the Republic of Rashguard, Laura’s hand in his as he proclaimed himself as her sworn knight, defending her against the rat monsters. It was no joke; rats could be huge in this world, which only further brought on a smile.
The memories as a reincarnator weren’t so fuzzy as they were on Earth. A lot of them were very fresh and visceral since, at the age of ten, all reincarnators had their previous life and their ten years of experience on this planet smashed and reorganized together, practically burned into their souls. It meant the last ten years were, to some degree, less sharp than the ingrained experience they all went through at ten.
Malik lingered for a moment when he turned a corner, spotting a few children playing a skipping game and neglecting their chores, no doubt. His throat caught, not finding it that difficult to imagine a red tint overshadowing the sky and a gateway to the First Circle of Hell splitting above the town. Would one of these kids try to save the others, or would they all panic and run for their own lives? Would they hide while someone they promised to protect protected them?
Rubbing his forehead, Malik redirected his thoughts to something he could face now, shaking his head and reflecting on the last few hours that had brought his continual grind to a screeching halt. Out of all the women in his life, only one had circled back; it couldn’t be a coincidence with Titania’s smack to his forehead. All the comments and hints were now lining up.
So… all of this crap with Rose is to force me to realize Ena and the wood elf courting process. Hah. There’s no way Titania would want me to get together with a dragon; she’s just the challenge I have to overcome to prepare myself for the real courtship of being with Ena. Crafty fae. Ena talking about our age difference and their courting process while inserting herself…
It all lines up. Plus, I’ve stopped aging, as she mentioned, so when this business with Rose wraps up, Ena and I would have already started getting to know each other better through this quest. Well played, Titania. Well played. I see your plot, sitting up there, eating popcorn, watching me fumble around with Rose. I just have to set boundaries and ease into it; a new challenge. I can do this.
Rubbing his nose, he felt more free than he had in a long time. Rose was just here for the challenge. Sure, he could teach her a bit about humanity, and maybe he could get her to see ‘lesser beings’ in a more positive light; that would serve the greater good. Yeah, the sex part would be hard. It’s not like it meant anything, though; she was a dragon, for Titania’s sake, and didn’t understand love.
This was just another job: make the dragon’s life a challenge and figure out how to have a relationship by making Rose understand the human concept of courtship. Was it going to be easy? Hell no. He’d never failed a quest, though. And he wasn’t going to give up now!
His lightened heart stumbled a little when he made it to the bakery to find Rose standing outside of it, an hour after he’d stormed off. Holding her arm and looking somewhat lost, her sky-blue eyes lifted to him as he exited the alley.
Malik swiftly took account of the environment in case things got heated. It seemed like a few women had loitered back and been waiting for him to return by their expressions; they clustered to whisper to one another as Rose went on the move. He was in a clear part of the road, so casualties would be fewer if she kept herself to his strength; he could react.
And suddenly, his tactical mind hit the snag of why she hadn’t just teleported to him to demand an explanation or forced some kind of ultimatum like the all-powerful dragon she was.
Rose’s tone was quieter than he’d come to expect as she quickly engaged him. “I do understand that I did something… wrong, involving our courtship, but I am left unaware of what that was. Your rage, fear, and excitement during our pastry exchange have… confused me.”
Malik swallowed, all plans of battle slapped right out of his head as she brushed back her bangs behind her ears, sincerity in every word while glancing toward the gossiping thirty-year-old housewives.
“I… enjoyed the taste, the human women enjoyed it, you enjoyed it, yet it was wrong, and I upset you. How does that work?”
Her hand pressed into her breast, not giving him time to respond as she spoke thoughts that she’d likely gone over hundreds of times in the past hour, and making him realize she had personally felt his discomfort and flash of emotions when he’d stormed off. All of that was likely very new to her far less stimulated physiology.
“All of the talk from the other mortals is also quite contradictory and nonsensical. What did I do that upset you so much?”
Spontaneously, Malik found himself comparing Ena and Rose. Sucking a man’s finger in public was certainly not something the wood elf would do, and it had come so far out of left field, felt so new, and was so stimulating that he’d panicked and ran. Now, he felt a tad embarrassed at his actions; she was a dragon and didn’t mean anything by it other than tasting more pasties and mirroring some guy.
“Haaa. It’s… okay; it’s not your fault.” He showed a sad smile and nudged his head back toward the docks before holding his hand out for her to take. “It’s good we can have this talk now. C’mon. Sorry for making you worry. Let’s walk, and I’ll explain it. I just needed to clear my head and talk with Titania.”
Rose’s tension melted away, and it was almost a physical reaction because part of the weight against his own chest vanished; their pact was not only one way.
Her tail swayed again as she returned his smile and took his hand; they were back. “I would like an explanation.”
He couldn’t help internally cursing at the kick in his pulse at her touch, but he bore with it. Fingers intertwining, they resumed their date. He wanted to keep their path visible; it was best if the townsfolk saw them as a couple now rather than later.
Plus, having a public fight was always good in anime to spark discussion; that was hit-and-miss, though. And if they were going to be staying here for at least the foreseeable future, not to mention purchasing a small plot of land here, then he had to make his presence known.
“Listen, Rose,” he started, taking her toward the docks to observe the ships and see what kind of vessels were making their port at the town. “Physical contact is… very stimulating, and human customs can get stepped on if you do it wrong and in the wrong place. For now, let’s just leave the public touching to hand-holding. Okay?”
“Hmm…” She glanced back at the bakery and touched her lips. “The mouth does seem to be a rather stimulating area. I am having sensations I have not felt before in my original form… I am not sure if I like them or not yet.”
Emptying his lungs in a very long stream of air, Malik sucked in and forced a chuckle. “Well, tell me what you eventually decide. In the meantime, let’s stick to the basics of courtship. Okay?”
“…As you wish,” she mumbled, studious stare drifting to a group of bankers on break, seemingly following them by their shifty eyes.
Today was going to be a long day. However, looking at this like the quest it was for the true reward—courtship with Ena—was so much more liberating and approachable than actually wifing up a demigod dragon; she was just LARPing anyway, but there was no reason he couldn’t take it as serious as all his other quests.
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