Chapter 98 – Side Effects

'Seriously though, what has she been up to?'

Arriving back into the hot spring's settlement, I'm greeted to a packed-out town market all witnessing one of the many buildings that surround this area in pitch black flame. Obviously, there's only one person who could've done such a thing, I'm also pretty sure that's the building this island's Lord lives in. Give it a few minute or so, I can see that building turning into debris.

Without even giving it a second thought, I barge through the crowd and rush into the burning building in search of her, strongly doubt Petra's in extreme danger but there has to be a reason she's taken this approach, this was supposed to be a peaceful mundane task so something must've gone terribly on.

Traversing the endless burning hallways and stairways, I eventually find myself at the top floor of the building, wasn't exactly difficult to get through all these flames considering the perfect fire resistance after all. Finding it a little more difficult to breathe but still have enough time and have just arrived where Petra is at.

(Petra) "*Cough cough*... fucking vampires"

"To actually think they were such mythical creatures, can't believe the entire council were hiding such a secret"

In the Lord's business or meeting room stands a battle worn Petra alongside a well-dressed man, he doesn't exactly look like a noble but might be the fanciest looking person in this town. Should also mention the flames are a lot less frequent in this area, there is a lot of thick smoke and on the floor lies several corpses that look completely black and charred, no need to ask whose handiwork that is. Also a little surprised she had to use her magic to kill them instead of her blade but this might be a pretty serious situation for her to go against how she normally does things.

"Petra, what's happened?"

"Ah, I'll explain a little more in detail later... that damn succubus within the group decided to enact her accursed magic on me, you mind giving me a hand Ikaru? Don't bother with any potion though, it won't help"

Petra almost looks like she's struggling to stand right now so I rush on over to give her a neck to lean herself on. She seriously looks exhausted right now, even the other guy gives her his neck for her other arm.

"So that's your friend Ikarus I presume?"

"Not the time right now, this building needs to fully burn or those cockroaches may revive, they need to turn to ash"

I know Petra's experienced killing vampires before but damn, she really knows too much about killing vampires. I've heard rumours on how difficult they can be to kill but she might as well write a book on it. I guess they did kill her ex though, she does have an extreme agenda against them even if she can control herself against friendly ones like when we finished that undead dungeon.

(Ikaurs) "*Cough cough*, let's just get out of here then..."

__________

"You don't need to worry so much Ikarus, the effect is only temporary and is mostly harmless, vampires and succubi do have draining abilities that can cause things like this"

"But still... as long as you say you're fine... what happened anyways?"

Sitting on a bench in the market watching the building slowly turn to debris, I'm currently fixated on Petra who seems to be refusing help while that Lord whoever he may be is next to us. Getting out of the burning building wasn't all that difficult really, all we had to do was absorb the fire in the way for the human and hold our breathe for a while.

I'm a little worried cause Petra has a slight red tint to her, I guess you could say it's similar to blushing but seems to affect her entire body, almost similar to a rash. As for the wounds she's received, I can see roughly two slight cuts on her arm, I'm guessing her exhaustion was from herself though? Ah, yeah, forgot to mention her eyes seemed to be fading back into normal when I arrived in there, I'm guessing she had to use black eye mode for a little bit. Whoever those vampires are, they must've caused Petra problems.

"Detected those blood leeches in this place a while ago but gave them the benefit of the doubt... that's until I visited the council and found every person on it was undead, except him of course"

"I honestly feel like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders, was I seriously enslaved my them?"

"No, it's not enslavement, some of the more powerful ones have an effect that is a lot stronger and can cause complete mind control if they so desire, being a vampire's thrall is a tad different. Enslavement is child's play compared to what a master vampire can do though... In all honesty, they must've been planning to take over this place if such a large amount of them has gathered like this"

So vampires and or succubis have a mind control ability as well? I can see why she needed to act rapidly if they were trying something here, Petra's never been one for acting unless she feels she must. The saviour Petra has done another heroic task while I was off massacring pirates, you'd think in a different world we'd be villain and hero, that could still happen but we'd always be aligned in our goals regardless. It's a stupid cliché but love does conquer all, I'm going to change it to a lot though since love can't stop a nuke going off. Actually, it kinda can since I'd refuse to use it if it might hurt her.

"I'm not doubting you but why wouldn't they have activated mind control already? I feel different but I'm sure I did appoint them under my own free will"

The Lord of this place does have a fair question, problem is Petra is starting to get impatient now due to tiredness.

"They did, you just so happened to have a pretty strong resistance to the whole thing and the process wasn't fast enough... we're going to have to cut this conversation short, need a serious rest now"

To sum everything up, most vampires are mind controlling fanatics and this group were eyeing up this settlement for cattle. If they had fully controlled this guy, I dread to think what would've happened but looks like we're in the clear, at least for now.

"Are you sure you're okay though? Did they try that mind control thing on you?"

Of course I'm still going to worry even if she tells me it's okay, for some reason I don't think she's just tired, maybe there is pain hidden underneath that she doesn't want me to worry me about. Despite all this, her smile seems to tell a different story.

"Heh, yeah Ikarus but we're resistant to those types of things, remember?... can you do me a favour and carry me to the inn though? May be resistant but it still has a draining effect... haven't felt this way for a while time, unsure if I can make it"

"Sure sure"

Whoever those vampires were must've been extremely powerful for her to end up in this tired state, this is literally Petra, the woman famous for barely ever sleeping. Despite all this, she doesn't seem depressed or anything like that in the slightest, I'm still worried but her reaction to the whole thing is filling me with confidence though.

Doing as she requested, I go to lift her up onto my shoulders and swiftly get rejected.

"Nope, pick me up the other way"

Wait... she actually wants me to princess carry her? It's not like I'm opposed, just that I'm unsure if I even have the body strength for even attempting it.

"You're pretty picky for someone who's apparently tired though"

"Heh, you say that but it's not exactly gentlemanly to pick up someone like that, is it?"

Even when she seems half asleep, she can still come out with things like that? I'm too open with her at times, pretty certain I have said something about being a gentleman to her before. It's pretty dumb but there's got to remain some dude in me, however deep down and little that may be at this point.

"I was going for practicality over style but let's give this a try... oh, you're lighter than I thought"

I'm sure that got a tiny pout from Petra there, she must've thought I was calling her fat but now she's stopped pouting so I don't know what's going on inside her head right now.

Honestly, princess carrying Petra despite us being the same height and build may look a little odd but really... I kinda like this. For like one of the first times ever, I'm actually on the other side of these types of things! Sure, it does happen but normally it takes her leading with me copying her after she's done such a thing. If she ever holds me like this, it'll be her copying me! It also says a lot about me that I wouldn't mind be carried by her like this as well though...

Of course, we're both just ignoring the Lord during this, Petra comes before everything even if words need to be spoken with the leader of this place, that was the main point of her coming here in the first place. I'm actually unsure if it was the vampires or him sending for us but whoever it was, paying tribute still sucks arse.

(Petra) "We'll obviously talk later"

(Ikarus) "Yeah... we'll have to put this on hold for now"

Clearly the 'talk' about paying taxes has been delayed down to the damn bloodsuckers not knowing how to keep themselves hidden enough around Petra whatever the reason. If she wasn't here to detect what they had done, this place could've ended up being a vampire's cattle ranch.

"No worries, thanks again Miss Petra for breaking me free from their hold"

At least this guy seems alright about having his home burn down in front of his eyes and vampires trying to control him like a puppet on a string. The crowd also seem to be looking a little strange towards me and the carried Petra but unsure why though. Is what we're doing weird like a same sex thing? Or is it because we look like we just saved the Lord from the burning building? Whatever the reason for their looks, I couldn't give two shits.

Passing through the crowd towards the inn, the place is already in sight but Petra seems to have something to whisper to me. Still looking pretty red, it's almost like an embarrassed confession even if she doesn't really get embarrassed.

"Ikarus... there's something else I forgot to mention to you, succubi's don't just have a draining effect... it's something a little closer to home"

I'd want to laugh but I can already see where this is going, what else would a succubus do? I should've predicted it might be something like that, I'd want to tease her about her 'tiredness' but I still doubt I'd win that battle.

"Let me guess, it has a similar effect to a love potion... at least that explains the redness"

She just gives a nod for a response; I've never actually seen her look this flustered nor this 'exhausted' so to speak, this must be even stronger than a normal love potion.

Arriving at the inn, I carry her towards the bedroom she has been renting out, we do prefer to book out rooms for a long time simply because it just saves time and also saves money since most innkeepers prefer the lump sum which also ends up in a discount as well. Also, we've shared this one before when we first slept together but like I already said, nothing happened.

As I'm placing her down on the bed, I was waiting for this but she really can't help but try her luck.

"Heh... fancy a little playfight Ikarus?"

A playfight? Seriously Petra? That's mockable but I love her too much to do something like that.

"I'll come wake you after you've slept this off"

"You... you're seriously not going to stay with me?"

This time around, I have a very good reason for NOT wanting to share a bed with her. I don't even need to read her mind right now; it's guaranteed to be filled with filth. Sometimes you've just got to take the high road.

Even just looking at her beautiful face... no, that's not right. Despite thinking about taking things up a huge step for a little while now, I could never while she's in a state like this even if I'm very close to being ready. It might be comparable to when someone's drunk, I'd feel a little exploitative even if I could see her not caring in the slightest.

"Sorry Petra, you know I can't"

It doesn't take a genius to understand she's going to be a little stubborn on this, both of us can be pretty similar when it comes to certain things. Normally in her case, she basically always wins.

"Ikarus... I'm more in control than you'd think... please stay"

Urgh, even my ability is telling me that's not necessarily a lie but I can't believe that's completely true, she seems even more forward today.

Seriously though, the way she's on the bed, I've never seen her sitting on her knees like that learning forward looking at me with hungry eyes, even if the paleness of her blindness can make it difficult to tell. She can't be in complete control, right? Fucking succubi's, it's a good thing priestess has no such foul intentions if this is a side effect of fighting against one. She must definitely have a similar thing to this, I'd say the knight's in for a treat if they both weren't so tame.

"Petra, that's not happening"

"Hmph... fine"

And like that, she faces the wall, lies down on the bed and crosses her arms away from me, is she actually sulking!? I've actually somehow managed to make Petra grumpy with me, there's no chance I'm leaving it like this since conflict with her is something I just cannot allow by any means.

"How about I stay by the door then? That's fine, right?"

Sleeping up against a door, not the best of experiences but I'd do it for her if it helped and it is starting to get really late now. Unfortunately, that's not going to work either.

"That's still not even close to being good enough but whatever"

Still facing away from me sulking, is this actually our first falling out? Just because I won't share a bed with her while she's under the influence of a succubus? I'm unsure whether to laugh or be seriously concerned, this is the most forward she's actually ever been, it least it seems that way so this is kinda difficult. I know she does have a playful side to her but for the six hundred plus year old Petra to be acting like this? It's stupid really that I find this pretty cute...

"Petra... if you can promise you'll try nothing, then I'll stay"

She says she's in control, I've trusted her up to this point so why would she lie now? Actually, I could see her lying about but it's not exactly like she'll force me to do anything... right?

"Ikarus... can we at least hug? And a goodnight kiss?"

How in the hell can she even do puppy dogs eyes? Urgh, forget it, hopefully that'll be enough, it's not like I dislike those types of things but hopefully she can sleep this off.

"Okay..."

At least we get to sleep together once again, even if this time around I may have to fight her off the entire night... remind me to never fight against a succubus...