Chapter 56: On Relationsheeps (2/2)

“Maybe you can learn to live with it?” she suggested sheepishly. “She’s… kind and loyal, when you get to know her. You learned to live with a dragon; you can survive her eccentricities and learn to enjoy them.”

“She hides a blood-covered knife under my bed.”

”But you still liked her enough to go on a date with, and plan a second one. Maybe you're just getting cold-feet because you are afraid of commitment.”

”She's... she's too intense,” Victor said. ”She scares me to death.”

”Maybe you should just tell her then, and put boundaries. Maybe you're just not ready to go too far for the moment.”

”I don't want to hurt her feelings,” Victor admitted. He had grown attached to her and had no idea how to deal with this. That, and doing so right after they tied the knot would be a major dick move. ”I think she will take it as a rejection and start killing her 'rivals'.”

“There are solutions,” Allison said with a sigh. “But none of them are good.”

“Anything is better than the alternative.”

The terrible noise of the manor’s magical alarm interrupted Allison before she could provide an escape route. “An intruder?” Saved from breeding! Victor immediately glanced at one of his undead servants. “Bring me my bazooka!”

“A bazooka?” Allison blinked.

“Rocket launchers solve everything,” Victor replied, rushing with her and his skeletons into the entrance hall.

They discovered a giant wolf in the middle of the room, surrounded by undead soldiers and trampling the gates beneath his claws. “Where is she?” Croissant growled in his monstrous form. “Where is she?! My sister suddenly vanished from our house, and I followed her smell there!”

“Oh, Croissant…” Tears of relief began to run down Victor’s cheeks. “You have come to save me?”

“You think you can blackmail me?” Croissant snarled back. “I don’t know how you caught on to me, but taking my sister hostage? I’m going to kill you for this!”

“Nobody is killing anyone,” Allison said, putting her hands on her hips. “Croissant, Chocolatine is... Chocolatine is fine. She’s probably the only happy person about the current situation.”

“Thank the gods, Croissant,” Victor said, as one of his skeletons offered him the bazooka. “I take back everything I said about you. I’ve never been so happy to see you!”

“What does this mean?” Croissant suddenly eyed the vizier’s dressing gown. “Wait, what are those bite marks on your neck? And why… why do you have her smell on you?”

Good question. A better one was, why did Victor suddenly hear ominous opera music in the background?

“What have you done?” Croissant showed his fangs. “You half-dragon bastard, what have you done?”

“Croissant, forgive me; I have done your sister.”

The background music suddenly ended, replaced with a tense silence. Croissant stood there, astonished, before glaring at the Vizier with cold fury.

“Enjoy the herpes then.”

...

“What?” Victor blinked.

“Enjoy the herpes,” Croissant repeated with a smug smile.

“You’re lying,” the vizier said. “You’re lying. You’re toying with me!”

“You don’t know where she has been,” Croissant taunted him, clearly delighting at one-upping his rival for once.

Allison tried to reassure him. “Vic, if this is true, I can still cure you both.”

“That is not the point!” the Grand Vizier sighed. Even if it was true, he was immune to disease, but the very thought... ugh... “Croissant, she is upstairs. You can take her back home.”

Much to his frustration, Croissant seemed torn between his brotherly over-protectiveness, and the sheer spite he felt towards Victor. “I dunno,” he said. “You know what they say… what is done cannot be undone.”

Victor grabbed the bazooka and pointing it at the werewolf. “Croissant, you will do your brotherly duty and take her back home, to defend her honor.”

“What?!”

”I have a bazooka and I'm not afraid to use it!”

”Vic, calm down,” Allison tried to defuse the situation.

“The blackmail attempt failed, and you successfully rescued your sister, everybody is happy!” Victor ranted, before frowning. “Wait. Why did you think I would blackmail you with her?”

“You didn’t…” At that moment, Croissant realized he had said too much. “Oh. Nothing.”

“You said Victor was on to you.” Allison’s eyebrows narrowed.

“Because he’s a piece of dragon crap!” Croissant denied it.

The werewolf thought Victor was on to him? For what? What could Croissant have done to warrant the kidnapping of his sister? It must have been something truly serious. Something to do with Charlene, maybe?

“It was you.” Victor’s eyes widened, as he assembled the pieces of the puzzle. “You’re the one who intercepted Charlene’s letters with the adventurer's guild, and gave them to our enemies.”

At this moment, the werewolf realized he had given himself away.

So he tried to bolt out of the room, but Allison cast a spell faster. “[Accelerated Beastbane]!”

The dryad launched a sacred, green beam of light at the werewolf, hitting him in the back as he trampled a skeleton on his way to the outside. The spell immediately propelled him to the ground. “Damn it!” Croissant cursed.

“I have dealt with werewolves during the full moon for months,” Allison said. “You are not going anywhere.”

“Why?” Victor asked. “Why did you betray us?”

“Betray you? I was never on your side!” Croissant’s eyes flashed with anger. “You and that dragon ruined my life! You burned my home, put me through Furibon’s traps for nothing, treated me like crap, and stole my girlfriend! I’m sick of being humiliated all the time!”

“Stole? Charlene dumped you because you wanted to eat her, and you tried to sacrifice me first!” Victor protested.

“Your boss’s guests ate all of my sheep, and two of them mated on my house’s roof!”

“You’re going to the dungeon for your betrayal,” Victor said, crestfallen. “You can’t take her back.”

Congratulations! For arresting a mole in your midst, you earned a level in [Grand Vizier]!

+30 HP, +10 SP, +1 SKI, +1 INT, +2 CHA, +1 LCK.

“Do you have accomplices?” Victor asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” the werewolf replied. “You’re too late. I’m taking solace in the fact that you and the dragon are already BLEEPed.”

“We survived Brandon Maure,” Allison said, firmly on the government’s side. “Whatever your 'friends' have in store, we can beat it.”

“You idiot, they’re already in the city. You let them in.”