Author's note.
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All Characters in the story are 18 years of age and above...
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Chapter Forty One: A selfish Request...
That sly bastard! This was the thought that crossed Greg's mind about the Town-head, when he woke up the next morning to find Shalia standing outside the door to his home. The man had cleverly found a way to keep his daughter attached to Greg for the next three months or so of summer. His thinking was probably that, a boy and girl forced to hang around each other for that long was bound to spark something between them. And even if at worst it didn't, they would at the very least learn to get along, perhaps even become friends. Either way, the man had, in one move, gotten past any objections Greg might have made. Both as Town-head and as a father to Shalia, he had every right to punish her. And since all he had asked was that she become a servant, there was no objection to be raised since it didn't cross any bounds of propriety. As far as he was concerned, all he had said was that she'd become a servant to him. Should anything else happen after that, then he couldn't really be blamed for that.
Of course, Greg could have asked that she be assigned to another house, but that would have been seen as not giving the Town-head any face. He had gone out of his way to punish his daughter on Greg's behalf. If he turned around and snubbed the Town-head, it would have just led to more problems that, in all honesty. Greg didn't want. But while he couldn't outright reject the man, he could set some conditions. He had given three.
"I understand and see the wisdom in humbling your daughter," Greg had begun. "Still, I doubt you'd be willing to see me punish her for disobedience as I would any common servant. A servant that cannot be disciplined has no reason to obey their master. I will take your daughter as my servant, but if she chooses to disrespect or disobey me, I will send her back to you and no longer acknowledge her as my servant. I have no need for the headache of a recalcitrant servant. Secondly, if she insults, disrespects, or threatens any member of my family, I will once again send her back to you and void this arrangement. Just as you protect your family, I have a responsibility to do the same for mine. Lastly, if her service in any way interferes with my training with the healer, I'll have to respectfully send her back to you" he laid out in a tone that left no room for negotiation.
Despite his displeasure at being made to accept conditions just to make his daughter Greg's servant, the man seemed to understand that Greg wouldn't take Shalia as his servant if he didn't. With a nod, he had given his assent. And so, left with no reason to decline the offer, Greg had acquiesced to the Town-head's demand. The girl had risen from the table and ran away crying. Rising from her seat, the Town-head's wife had gone after her daughter, though Greg suspected that she was running away from the table as well to keep her husband from noticing just how flush she was. Olivia hadn't even had to distract the man from anything. The dinner ended shortly after that.
Now, as Greg left his house to go begin his daily lessons with the healer, Shalia was right there at the door waiting for him. Despite her best attempt to keep her expression neutral, Greg could see the deep dislike in her eyes. Greg, however, didn't care in the least. "Walk with me," He commanded and without waiting to see if she would comply, he walked past the girl. For a while, Greg could only hear his own steps before a quicker set of steps resounded as she rushed to catch up to him. They walked in silence for a few seconds before Greg spoke up once again. "Do you want to be here?" He asked.
"What?" The question seemed to catch the girl off guard as she asked more out of surprise than lack of comprehension of what he was asking.
"It's a simple question, do you want to be here, serving as my servant," he posed once again with clarification.
"You know damn well that this is the last place I'd want to be," the girl shot back, unable to keep the venom out of her voice entirely.
"Good," Greg replied nonchalantly, not the least bit bothered by her words or the tone of her voice. "Because I don't want you here either," He calmly revealed. "Sadly for you and I, your father has forced us into this situation. You are forced to do whatever I ask of you, and I am forced to endure your presence for longer than it takes to say good morning," Greg voiced, paying no heed to the darkening expression on the girl's face. "However, just because we've been placed in a situation that we both don't like doesn't mean that we can't somehow make it work for the both of us. I could give you menial tasks around my house to do and take full advantage of the authority your father had given to me over you. But I won't, only on one condition. Fulfill this condition and your only task will be to escort me to the infirmary in the morning and escort me back home in the evening. What you do with the rest of your time will be entirely up to you," He relayed.
There was a bit of silence after his words and glancing at her, Greg could see that she was skeptical of him. She seemed to be expecting some sort of trickery from him. This didn't bother Greg at all as he knew, given a thousand cycles, the girl still wouldn't be able to figure out what he was up to. "What's your condition?" The girl asked, not bothering to hide the distrust in her voice.
"Simple, be nice," Greg answered her. "When we meet in the morning, you will smile and say good morning. I don't care if you don't say anything else right up until we reach the infirmary. I'm perfectly okay with silence. However, if you choose to speak about anything, you will be nice and respectful. Same thing in the evening. You smile, say good evening, and escort me back home. Whether in silence or with some pleasant conversation, I'm okay with either," Greg proposed. "One snide remark, one mean or sarcastic comment out of you, however, and this agreement is off. I'll endeavor to make this experience as miserable as it can possibly get, Do you understand me?" Greg asked.
"So all I have to do is smile and greet you and I can proceed to ignore you for the rest of the time I'm walking with you?" The girl asked.
Greg nodded. "And you get to spend the rest of your day however you want to!" he added.
"And you won't ask anything else of me?" She further prodded, clearly not believing that this was all Greg wanted of her.
"Apart from pretending to your father that I've been giving you tasks to do, nothing," he answered without missing a beat.
"Well then, good morning," Greg turned to find an obviously fake smile on the girl's face as she greeted him.
"Good morning to you," he greeted back with a smile. The smile was gone from the girl's face barely half a second later as she turned to look ahead, completely ignoring him.
With a smile, Greg turned to look ahead as well. Of course, Greg wasn't doing this because he needed a partner to walk with. As far as he was concerned, he'd have been much happier had she not been forced on him. The arrangement he'd just set up was, one part, a way to get rid of her for most of the day and one part an experiment. Seeing as Greg spent most of his day learning under the healer, he didn't need her hanging around the two of them. Not only because the healer had her own secrets to keep but also because Greg would be stymied in his attempts to seduce the healer, seeing as she had an image to uphold.
The experimental part of this arrangement had to do with his innate title AROUSING. Greg never wore any of his title items whenever he went to see the healer. The only item he wore other than his clothes was the wooden mask that the town carpenter had made for him. And while the thing hid most of the damage, it didn't hide the fact that he was disfigured. Without any of the title items to build on the effect of the AROUSING title, he wanted to see how long it would take for the title to work. How long it would take to break through the will of someone who not only thought herself above him but actually hated him? If Shalia managed to make it through the whole season without succumbing to the title, it wouldn't bother Greg in the least. It would just be a data point as to how strong or weak the actual influence of the title is.
In the silence that followed the greeting, Greg finally had the chance to look at his COMPLETED MISSIONS tab. After getting back home the day before, Greg had still gone through his willpower training before once again diving into the dungeon. It's only now that he got the chance to see what he'd managed to obtain from his clandestine indiscretions with the Town-head's wife.
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Ø BASIC - Interact with the Town-head's wife for five minutes.
Lust points: 6
