“Close the gates! Don’t go outside!” Jamka’s angry shout reverberated through the quiet castle.
“Seriously? The sun’s not even up yet, Jamka!”
Al’s head was pounding. For the first time in his life, he was experiencing the hell that was a hangover. As he sluggishly sat up, he heard a familiar voice coming from nearby.
“He really is discourteous. Al, I will wake you up by whispering sweet nothings into your ear, so go back to sleep.”
“Oh, that’d be great... Wait, what the hell are you doing here again!?” He was surprised how much he’d gotten used to seeing Feena first thing in the morning.
“It was cold last night. Are you mad?” She looked up at Al with pleading eyes while snuggling her sheets. Not only had the way she phrased things changed since their campaign to save Eshantel, but her personality had as well. She’d become much more cutesy and clingy. She stopped making excuses and became much more honest in her desire to be pampered by Al.
She did tell me she wants me to stay by her side...
Feena sneaking into his room was an issue, but now that Al had gotten a glance at her past, he couldn’t be so blunt with her. He crossed his arms and went deep into thought.
“Al, why don’t you get startled anymore?” she asked while peeking out from under the sheets.
“I mean, you get used to things if they happen every single day.” He told the boring truth, but Feena seemed to have read more into it, as she jumped up from her bed.
“Got used to it. It lost all its flavor. It got boring. Annoying. Despised.” She incoherently chained some words together while slowly approaching Al. Only then did he finally realize what she was wearing.
“Feena, are you...”
“Ah! Shoot!” Flustered, she tried to hide herself with her arms, but his eyes were glued to her. He’d seen her body countless times lately, so he figured it wouldn’t have such a huge effect on him, but it did.
She was wearing a baggy pullover that covered even the tip of her fingers and had a few tiny food stains. Her thick pants were pulled up neatly, making sure that even her waist wouldn’t feel cold. Indeed, she was, for the first time since they’d gotten to know each other, wearing proper—albeit a bit oversized—pajamas.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Why are you wearing...”
Her cheeks were completely flushed and her eyes were restlessly darting all over the room.
“Someone stole the clothes I wanted to bewitch you with last night, so I had no other choice.”
She hung her head, as if Al seeing her pajamas was somehow humiliating.
Why is she always teasing me with those skimpy clothes, anyway!? She has a great figure, so wearing something cute like this makes her a thousand times more adorable! I have to do something about this.
“Well, y’know, it’s refreshing to see you wearing normal pajamas for once. And you look really cute in them.” He decided to share his honest thoughts about the situation.
“For real?” His strategy was super effective; Feena’s face lit up with excitement. “In that case, I’ll make myself comfy in my pajamas!”
Al was relieved. At long last, he could be sure his mornings wouldn’t start with the birds chirping outside, the gentle sunlight shining through his window, and a half-naked girl terrorizing him.
“But I have to avoid being dull. I’ll only wear them occasionally.”
Or not. But at the very least, this morning would be—
Knock, knock, knock!
“Al, are you okay!? Answer the door if you’re fine!”
Things had been rowdy outside since earlier, and now Kanon was bashing on the door. Something didn’t sit right with Al.
Wait, I don’t think I locked the door last night...
It was certainly careless of him, but he hadn’t had the mental fortitude to do so.
“I did! With three spells, nonetheless! Your door is completely unbreakable now!” Feena answered his inner conundrum in an almost bragging tone.
“Thanks, I guess, but why did you go to such lengths?”
“I didn’t want anyone to disturb us if you fancied some more time in bed.”
“What do you—”
Bwham!
He was interrupted by a loud roar.
“Ahaha! Al, are you okay?”
Kanon, the Inquisitor of Eshantel and a Diva, was peeking into the room through a massive hole in the wall.
“Ahhh. You know, no matter what I tried, I couldn’t cut through the spell on the door. Lucky for me, the wall was fair ga— Whoa!” She pulled her head back to the other side of the wall just in time to avoid the fireball aiming right at her head.
“Stop disturbing me, Boing-Boing!”
The source of it was, of course, Feena.
“Hey, tone it down! She could’ve gotten hurt...”
“Don’t worry—Ouchie!” Feena sat proudly, surrounded by countless magic circles, until Al gave her a whack to the head.
“I do worry! You’re destroying my room!”
“Are you taking Kanon’s side?”
“I’m not taking sides! I just don’t want my room blown to smithereens!”
There was already a hole in the wall with burn marks around it.
“Kanon! She won’t attack you again, so come out! Or, come in?”
“Hmph!” Feena pouted, and Kanon carefully peeked inside.
“It’s unruly out there... Did something happen?” Al asked, ignoring the unruliness in his own room.
“Ah, right!” she said while climbing through the hole. “An intruder was discovered at the treasury! Jamka closed the castle off and is now patrolling the area with the guards. I was close by, so I came to make sure you were safe!”
“There’s a thief!? What are the damages!?”
“Dunno. I didn’t ask,” she shrugged.
“I’m going to meet up with Jamka. You two...”
“It’s a wife’s duty to stay by her husband’s side.”
“Ahaha, I want to go too!”
“We don’t need weaklings!”
“‘Weakling’? That hurts more than Boing-Boing.”
Naturally, they completely ignored Al, who was in a much tighter bind than they realized. Even though they were close, Feena and Kanon were guests of the state. If all possible, he would’ve preferred that they didn’t see his nation getting robbed, but he couldn’t afford to waste time, either.
“All right, you can come, but promise me you’ll stay calm.” He gave a probably pointless warning before leaving the room through the destroyed wall.