Chapter 32: Logging Back In

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Fantasy Story Online: The Crippled Vampire Prince Walks The Heavenly Demon Path

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After everything that happened, Paul walked back home and decided to clean the place, washing the plates, cleaning the couch from... well, any stains, and then moving back to his room. He was still sleepy, so he took a nap for around half an hour before his mother arrived.

If she had only arrived around an hour ago, she could have caught her cuddling with Chris on the couch, a dreadful scenario, as Paul couldn't really imagine how he would explain to his mother what she could have seen without making it very awkward. 

Even less with Chris there, he simply couldn't imagine it!

"I'm home~" his mother said. "Paul! Is your friend with you? I brought pizza and garlic bread sticks!"

"Oh, mom! Ah, no, Chris just went back home; you took a bit too long, haha…" Paul walked out of his room and then went to wash his sleepy face.

"You don't say… What a pity! I would have loved to meet your new friend!" His mother seemed rather upset. "Oh well! Want to have dinner while watching a movie?"

"There's a new Z-Men series; want to watch it?" wondered Paul.

"Oh, the one with the mutants and that guy with the metal claws? I loved those; there's a new one?!" His mother was happy. "Sure, let's watch!"

Because she had been the only person in the house for many years, Paul had forged a strong bond with his mother, one that made them almost act as if they were friends. They watched movies and series together all the time and would go eat outside as well.

But as Paul grew older, he began to think it was still a bit awkward to only go out with his mother. He started to think they would make fun of him if someone he knew would ever know this was what he often did. So he thought he needed a girlfriend and more friends.

He had friends from high school, three at that, but they were all busy with their own lives, so they rarely met, at most twice a month, so they had been growing distant over the year, making him feel rather lonely.

But Chris just happened in his life, and now things have escalated to a level he never imagined but that he was rather happy about. Although he wanted to talk about this with his mother, he was slightly afraid of the consequences—whether his mother would approve of it or if she would get upset.

There are many old-fashioned parents out there; a lone mother with only a son would often expect her son to get a girl and then bring her many grandchildren to make their house livelier, so telling him he was in love with… another man was a bit difficult.

Therefore, Paul… decided to simply bury these feelings for now, and perhaps also his urge to tell her, deep down. As tall and tough as he looked outside, Paul had a rather frail heart, one that was prone to being broken too.

"Hahh…"

He sighed slightly as he looked at the series with his mother. Although he was happy about what happened with Chris, the other things that worried him made him feel slightly, well, concerned.

"Hm? What's wrong, honey? Are you okay?"

"Ah! No, nothing; I'm fine. Just tired."

"Really? Alright…"

After they finished watching the series, Paul went to take a bath and went to his capsule. It was around eight PM when he was able to finally log back in, and after receiving some messages from Chris having done the same, he was excited about meeting him again, especially in his Incubus Avatar.

FLASH!

Once he opened his eyes again, he found himself inside his room. It seemed that this was his "spawning zone" if he were to not leave one set beforehand.

In Fantasy Story Online, players can be given choices of where they want their characters to reappear after logging back into the game.

Usually, by setting a type of flag, you can make it so your character can appear within the area they're stepping into.

It can be anywhere except Instance Dungeons, if you log out there and log back in, you'll appear outside the dungeon.

However, everywhere else, it can be done like this.

Nonetheless, there was also the very convenient option of being able to log back in inside your "house," a feature that every player has.

The reason? Every player has a background, meaning they usually have a house to come back to. If they ever wanted to return there, they could use this method.

Well, there are still some players with different circumstances. Chris, for example, has no house because he was kicked out of the brothel his mother raised him in.

After the death of his mother, or well, of Alitheus Lilithie's mother, the workers of the brothel raised them as their own children, but once he grew into an adult, they quickly kicked him out.

It was harsh, but at least they raised the kid for the woman. It was already way more than anybody would have expected from people living in these conditions, who often had harsh lives.

Nonetheless, Paul, like Vlad, was thinking that he should invite Alitheus to live inside his manor so he could log back in whenever he wanted.

If Vlad's mother approved, he could even become a "paid servant" of sorts, although after she saw them kissing, she might be expecting Alitheus to become Vlad's future concubine or something along those lines.

"I don't know why, but this already feels more familiar than before... And it has only been a week." Paul looked around the not-so-dusty-anymore room, smiling lightly as he saw the three moons shining above the sky.

This was the ultimate escapism fantasy, and he knew it. All his worries just faded away, as he felt he was walking in another world entirely.

"Wait, is the room cleaner than I remember?" He looked around. "Yeah, there's no more dust around."

As he noticed someone had suddenly begun cleansing the whole house, he quickly looked at the bed and was slightly startled for a moment, only to realize Chris was resting over there.

"Hey~"

"Ah, Chris… Did Teressa let you rest over the bed?"

"Nah, I sneaked~ Haha."

He was as carefree as ever.

And then…

Ding!

[Congratulations! You have fully completed the Raid of the {Unending Crimson}, completing one of the World Quest Events in the process!]

[The Raid has officially ended. Raid Score Points have been distributed to all parties involved.]

[Your total Raid Score Points: 360.000]

[You can exchange Raid Score Points in the Raid Shop to obtain Unique Items, Materials, and Equipment.]

[Simply invoke the Shop by saying its name out loud for it to appear before you. Once you run out of Score Points, you won't be able to access the shop anymore.]

"Right, this…"

Paul noticed the message about the Raid Score Points, which had been distributed to all participants in the raid. Even those that killed a single monster got some of them.

"Did you get the Raid Score thingy?" Chris wondered while reading a magic book. 

"Y-Yeah, I did; I earned over three hundred thousand, and you?" Paul wondered.

"Wait, that much?!" asked Chris with a loud gasp. "That's not fair! I only got a hundred thousand!"

"That little? Pfff…" Paul laughed a bit. "All that flashy performance from back then, and you only got that much..."

"It was the total reward of defeating the big giant thing with my magic lasers!" Chris cried. "Don't make fun of me, you crippled vampire!" 

Chris started flying over Paul and hitting him in the head with the magic tome he had.

"Haha, ouch, hey, that hurts! Don't be so aggressive with this crippled man, please…"

Paul quickly grabbed Chris while he flew around him and pulled him towards his body.

"Eep!"

Chris panicked a bit due to the sudden pull, and then he found himself being carried by Paul's arms. The two locked eyes for a moment.

"So what do we do now?" Vlad smiled; his charming vampiric beauty made Chris skip a beat.

It was as if he had two handsome men after him now! A hot and handsome Latino stud and a sickly and beautiful vampire.

"Um…" Chris gulped saliva. "W-What do you mean…? Like, I told you we have to date…"

"I know, I'm talking about in-game relationships," said Paul. "I was thinking of inviting you to live here, so you can set the manor as your house. Is that alright with you?"

"Sure! …I-I mean, well, if you insist… It can't be helped!" Chris was very enthusiastic, but quickly thought that it wouldn't be like him to agree to everything so easily. "I guess you're too madly in love with me, so you've got to have me around, huh? Don't worry, I can heal, so I'll become your nurse~"

Chris touched Paul's nose, and then his lips kissed the vampire's beautiful nose.

Paul skipped a beat, feeling like he was dying at that moment.

"He's too cute!"

IRL, Chris was already adorable, but Alitheus?! He was perhaps on another level!

"Ahem…!" Paul coughed a bit. "A-Ah, yeah, that's actually a pretty good idea. A nurse… It would be a good excuse to keep you around without hurting Mother's vampiric family pride or whatever."

"Oh yeah! See? You just can't live without me!" laughed Chris.

Before, Paul might have gotten slightly tired, but right now he was allowing Chris to be as bratty and teasing as he wanted.

He just found anything he did adorable.

"I guess I really need you, yeah…" Paul smiled.

"A-Ah…" Chris felt the pressure of a man in love, feeling nervous. "Anyways!"

He flew away from his arms before things escalated quickly into yet another make-out session; they couldn't waste their time just kissing.

"We have to do something about the city, right? Elderbridge got all destroyed... I tried to help repair some things for the people, but I couldn't do everything completely," said Chris. "And I bet a lot of people died, and... Ugh, it's a huge disaster! If you're really the son of the duchess of this place, then you're a noble who should take care of their territory, right?"

"I guess? Yeah, I hadn't considered that," nodded Paul. "You're right. Let's go talk with Teressa; I'm sure we'll learn what to do."

"Aight~ she was in the kitchen cooking something." Said Chris.

"Huh? Vampires cook food?" Paul raised an eyebrow.

Since he started playing, the only thing vampires ever "ate" was blood; it was their only food and drink; they didn't even need to drink water at all. They were an incredibly durable race; as long as they drank blood once a week, they could go on without any other necessities. 

Aside from their long naps from time to time, they are said to be part of a curse from the Evil God of Sloth into their bloodlines because they had offended her in the past, or something.

"Mother? Camilla?"

Vlad walked downstairs with Chris right behind him, finding Teressa and Camilla in the kitchen.

"Oh dear, you're finally back! I know Players must go somewhere else, but were you alright in that place? I was dead worried…" Teressa greeted them; she was wearing a white apron and holding a big silver-colored spoon. 

"Uh, yeah, it's fine," said Vlad. "What are you doing? You're cooking?"

"Why yes, I am cooking my family's blood sausage stew!" said Teressa. "You know, your mother was never always a noble; I came from a humble family of vampires that lived in the countryside! Sometimes we couldn't just drink blood alone, so we also ate meat and a few vegetables. Stew and soup were our favorite meals!"

"I-I had no idea…" Vlad muttered. "It smells… quite good. Can I have some?"

"Of course, I'm making for everyone, even your little incubus," nodded Teressa. 

"Mama's cooking, big brother!" said Camilla. "She's really cooking; I never saw her doing that!"

"Yeah…" Paul was surprised.

He had thought Teressa was a rather tyrannical mother who wouldn't do such menial things, but he was wrong.

"I know I've been a terrible mother... So I am now trying to reconnect if you would let me, my son," sighed Teressa. "Let's have dinner together, alright? Like... like a family."

"Okay… Sure," Vlad nodded with a smile.

Teressa was changing, perhaps for the better.

"Oh, I'm also invited? Nice, thank you! Anyways, I was thinking that I could start living here, yeah?" Chris suddenly interrupted the nice moment between mother and son. "Kind of like… Vlad's doctor! I can heal him and stuff."

The trio of vampires remained silent; Vlad smiled a bit, but Teressa and Camilla were going to take a little while to get used to having such an energetic little gremlin around.

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Can't wait to see what's next? You can join my Patreon: 

https://www.patreon.com/pancakeswitch 

and gain access to all these Advanced Chapters:

53 Advanced Chapters of

The Protagonist's Sister Is Actually The Strongest

31 Advanced Chapters of

The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns

17 Advanced Chapters of

Fantasy Story Online: The Crippled Vampire Prince Walks The Heavenly Demon Path