Today was every bit as paperwork-heavy as I’d come to expect, and most of my guildmates had already left on jobs. All their requests were startlingly dangerous, and though I was of course worried for their wellbeing, I trusted they would be fine. It was my job to have faith in them, and I tried to keep my thoughts purely on my work.
“Master!”
The door to my study flew open, and Laladie trotted inside. The flower in her hair bobbed charmingly, and her smile was nothing short of angelic. Unable to simply sit at my desk and wait, I eagerly approached her and scooped her into the air.
“Ehehe!” she giggled. “Lala’s done her work!”
Yes, I could see that. I praised her as I hugged her tightly, and she began to rub her cheek eagerly against mine, her Crest glowing softly.
As ashamed as I was to admit it, I could clearly feel her distinct lack of curves as I held her. Still, she had a feminine softness to her flesh, which I could feel very distinctly against my face. She seemed to be doing it as a show of affection, much like a cat would, and I had to admit it was quite adorable.
I kept my mind well out of the gutter, as courtesy dictated, but her breathing seemed oddly labored as she rubbed herself against me. I was vaguely aware of an undercurrent of arousal, for whatever reason, so I pulled her face away from mine, smiling politely all the while. It would clearly be best to avoid whatever that was from now on.
Her face dropped slightly. “What a shame.”
Alternatively, if she acted less… adult about it, I supposed, it wouldn’t be an issue. Nonetheless, I was glad to see her home, and she was the first to have finished the day’s work. I expected Leiss or Corine to return first, though.
Her expression lit up. “Wait, Lala’s first? Yay! That means Lala gets to have special alone time with Master, just like you promised!”
The sheer joy on her face was infectious, and I could feel my smile broaden.
“Lala guesses those perverts are caught up in their surveillance work,” Lala mumbled to herself, her grin warping with malice. “Lala’s glad she just has to watch the Hero!”
Surveillance? What surveillance?
Her eyes widened for just a moment in surprise before clamping tightly onto me with an innocent grin. “Master, Master! Lala wants to practice walking more, and she wants you to help!”
Walking practice? It made sense. Her people weren’t skilled at walking by nature, and occasionally I helped her improve her footing. If she wanted to better herself, then I would do whatever I could to support her. I saw myself as her guardian, and besides, I’d nearly finished my paperwork by that point.
“Yesss! Let’s go outside!” she exclaimed giddily as she tugged at my arm.
Outside? I didn’t see why we couldn’t do it inside the guild. We even had a lovely indoor garden.
“It’s about the feel of it. It’s like going on a picnic! Besides,” she considered in a barely-audible mumble, “the others are gonna be back soon. They’re gonna try to disrupt Lala’s special time with Master, Lala knows it! Lala won’t let them!”
I couldn’t completely catch what she said, but her idea of picnicking sounded tempting. I’d barely left the guild at all as of late, and it couldn’t hurt to get some fresh air. I agreed to her suggestion.
“Yay!” she cheered with a grin, and again she began to mutter to herself. “All according to plan. Lala only needs to strengthen her grip on Master, and she’ll become his queen!”
I smiled at her, and she grinned innocently back at me, as though butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. We held hands as we left the guild. I was a little confused, since I could’ve sworn I heard her say something slightly upsetting under her breath, but I decided to forget it. It probably wasn’t important.
As we were leaving, I thought I heard Soulgros’s voice from the guild—something like “Drat! That vixen hath beaten me back!”—but it was probably just my imagination.