How to make an aphrodisiac?

''I thought you were going to sleep?'' The fox said.

I looked at Miran's face looked like a sleeping angel. She had fallen asleep right after I untied her. ''I can't sleep with someone else in bed.''

The fox sighed, ''You know you are a troublemaker, don't you?''

''It's just something I'm not used to liking. You know you are an annoying little fox, don't you?'' I looked at the fox currently levitating and flying around the room like an annoying bug.

''Actually... you can pretend to be a pet since you have only one tail now,'' I said to the fox to annoy it.

The fox stopped levitating and descended on the bed. ''I can if necessary. Still, you have to level up me to get away from your body for a long time. When will you complete the level-up quest?'' it asked.

I sat cross-legged to start meditating, ''Tomorrow I'm going to stroll around town and look for a place to rent a room. I don't want to do anything that requires demonic energy so high that Cleric Roen or someone else will feel it while I'm in the temple.''

A shiver passed through the fox's body, ''Don't mention him, he gave me goosebumps.''

As I have always done in the last nights, I put my body in a state of rest and wakefulness without closing my consciousness completely. ''Yeah, he seems like a pretty skilled cleric,'' I said and closed my eyes until the sun came up.

The first problem of the next day was how to be sure of the loyalty of my dear prey Miran. ''If you still don't understand, this is why you have that mind-banging skill, honey,'' the fox said reading my mind.

I thought a little bit and decided the Miran wasn't a big deal. After all, she seemed more satisfied with the situation than I was, and even she wasn't, what would she do? Was she going to go tell Roen that we had made love last night?

Besides, what would happen even if she went and delate us? Would they condemn us and expel us from the temple? Well, no problems for me. Miran had more reasons to keep quiet than I did.

Still, just to be sure, I woke her up and said what to say if someone asks about me. I was trying to play as little as possible with her mind for two reasons. First, if I broke her will accidentally and she starts to act awkward I could attract more attention than I wanted.

Second, I didn't want either to kill her or make a move to hold someone I didn't know yet for the rest of my life if she got addicted. According to the fox, when someone was addicted, there was no turning back. An abandoned love slave that searching everywhere for her master as the body and mind were tearing apart day by day.

''Are you planning to move out of the temple completely?'' the fox said in a sad voice. ''It is full of delicious preys.''

It was an early hour of the day that no one would wake up yet, but I was still trying to be as quiet as possible to avoid getting caught by anyone. ''All the sacred symbols, blessings, and prayers give me a headache,'' I said.

''Also, I can't keep meditating instead of sleeping. I need a place where I can sleep alone,'' I said after taking the last step to the garden of the temple. I sighed in relief when I'm finally got out of the temple. Unfortunately, my joy did not last long.

''Sister, what's got you up so early?'' Cleric Roen said in his usual calm voice.

''I always get up with the sun,'' I said.

He raised his eyebrows, ''Oh, are you studying the morning light like me?'' he raised his palm and formed a small sphere of light. When my father realized that I was gifted with the light element, he bought all the techniques that could be bought with money.

Greeting the Sun was one of the most common and gentle guides about the light element. The light was a picky element when it comes to choosing who would be able to use it, but for some reason, I wasn't surprised that Cleric Roen was capable of it.

I greeted him properly with my own sphere of light. The temple of light believed that nothing bad can shelter in the light, and it wouldn't hurt to increase my credibility.

I always claimed that evil could hide in the light, but arguing with the temple was useless. ''Greetings and goodbye cleric, thank you for your hospitality.''

''It's too early to say goodbye. Please feel free to say hello whenever you want and come to ask whenever you need it,'' he said. I thanked him and used all my will to walk slowly instead of run in screams out of the garden of the temple.

I did not realize the mental burden that the holy place was putting on me until I got rid of it. It was as if there had been a burden on my back that I hadn't noticed all this time and now it was gone. I breathed deeply and searched Snowflake Town in the Snowflake forest online.

''What are you searching for?'' The fox asked.

''Hostels. I'm looking for somewhere that isn't totally shitty but that can ignore a few things when needed,'' I said.

''Why don't you pick up the best?'' It asked. It really seemed curious.

''Well, a good security system makes my job difficult probably. Also, I don't want to come face to face with big fishes this soon and lastly, I have no enough money.''

''So what kind of place are you looking for?''

I patted my chin, ''A place where there are no gossip grannies to wonder what I'm doing out at two at night and devotees walking around with blessed items. But also a place where the innkeeper won't rob me. Ah, I think this place will do good,'' I selected one of the hostels from the web to read the details.

***

Three hours later, I was breathing rapidly on a sheet wet from my sweat. There were no notifications from the Web yet. ''I can't believe you really aren't able to do it.''

''Shut up. Just shut your damn mouth, okay? It's harder than it seems. Many women have issues with this.''

''Don't be angry now. I'm here to help,'' the fox said. I didn't answer, I was tired and annoyed by its mockings already. When it saw I'm not answering, it added, ''Why don't you check Succubus' Handbook for an aphrodisiac recipe?''

I didn't have any other idea what to do so I did as it said. There was more than one recipe; a recipe with oysters, another one with a rare type of ginseng... finally, I found a recipe with the main ingredient that I can obtain, frozen saffron root.

{Easy aphrodisiac recipe for beginners, frozen saffron root. Please prepare the ingredients and utensils before you start cooking.

Ingredients:

1. Frozen saffron root

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