Harlot Hunt and Guilty Embrace
"Harlot, don't regret it. You might get hurt a little," she'd said?
The lady's really ramped up her enthusiasm lately, Chloe thought.
No matter how motivated Marian was, she couldn't catch Chloe darting around this vast grand training hall. And that was a fact.
Ordinary methods won't cut it.
Marian knew it all too well. She knew Chloe was extraordinary, that she was always the dashing prince who protected her. Marian knew it better than anyone. But as sorry as she felt for Chloe, she couldn't give up on that wish ticket either.
Let's play it a little dirty.
Marian pulled an artifact from the pouch at her waist and hurled it at Chloe in a surprise attack.
"Ah, Lady!"
With a sharp crash, the shattered artifact erupted violently, spewing forth...
"Scared of this?"
"Nope!"
It was none other than the Shrimp-Catching Seaweed.
The artifact that had left Chloe with nightmare-like memories. Still, it wasn't quite trauma-inducing, and unlike last time, Marian had precisely calculated its activation range.
Chloe instantly fled beyond the Shrimp-Catching Seaweed's reach, and the moment safety was secured, she launched into the lesson.
"A bunch of seaweed like that? As if I'd be scared. And Lady, alchemy combat is all about..."
"I know—because alchemists rely on artifacts, it's easy to read and analyze them, so you have to overwhelm without giving a breather."
"...!"
But the next instant, two orbs rolled right up to Chloe's feet, flashing with a golden glow.
Thunder Orbs!
Artifacts brimming with thunder and lightning. For Chloe—who always carried daggers and was practically a living lightning rod—they were utterly lethal.
Click.
Confirming the distinctive activation sound of the Thunder Orbs, Chloe immediately flung off her coat.
She didn't keep all her daggers tucked solely in her coat, but shedding some that could absorb the lightning like this...
"Urgh..."
...made it possible to somewhat disperse the bolts pouring from the Thunder Orbs. Of course, it still hurt like hell, enough to grit her teeth through the agony...
That was close.
Going down after just two moves would ruin her dignity as a tutor.
Enduring the pain from the Thunder Orbs, Chloe kept moving to widen the distance.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Marian—in her suit skirt and white blouse, now torn in spots from the recent Thunder Orb—burned with even greater zeal as she chased the fleeing Chloe.
"She really loves this stuff."
"It's the first time I've seen Chloe struggling like that. Just give in quietly this time too."
Marian's choice this round: Shrimp-Catching Seaweed again.
"I had no choice back then, seriously."
Of course, without Marian as a protected target, this artifact posed little real threat to Chloe—just a slightly wide range.
"Hah..."
Chloe drew a dagger hidden in her skirt and sliced through the charging seaweed tendrils in a flash. Seeing Chloe's hand dipping in and out of her skirt, Marian swallowed hard.
Ugh, harlot...
Marian wasn't the fool she used to be anymore. She'd taken all sorts of etiquette lessons under Chloe.
She hadn't gotten proper sex ed yet, of course... But even so, she knew you weren't supposed to let your hand flutter in and out of your skirt in an open space like this.
Ugh...
As those thoughts crossed her mind, memories from the past bubbled up unbidden. The first outing when she'd held Chloe's hand—and come back wearing Chloe's panties. And the glimpse that day of the place she shouldn't have seen...
"Harlot!"
The memory was so vivid that Marian blurted it out before she knew it. She tried to track Chloe's position and throw another artifact, but...
"Who's the harlot here?"
"Mommy drug!"
"Don't freak out. It's me."
"Ku, Chloe! Th-that tickles!"
"That's the point."
"Eek! St-stop!"
"Okay."
In the end, Chloe tickled her relentlessly until Marian surrendered on her knees, throwing her head back to look up at Chloe's face.
"Mm..."
But sadly, she couldn't quite see Chloe's face from this angle. All that filled her view were Chloe's breasts.
"Harlot..."
"You've been mumbling that since earlier. Lady."
"Chloe's a harlot... I thought at first she did it all for me, but now I think I get it..."
The scriptures said it: one with breasts and hips as vast as her head, a cinched waist, hips flaring wide, unconcerned with modesty—that one is called a harlot.
Chloe was definitely a harlot. Even now, she flaunted those breasts as if inviting the world to look.
"Pardon?"
From Chloe's perspective, it was utterly bewildering. Calling her a harlot out of the blue? What kind of adorable nonsense was this?
"Are you mad because you lost?"
"I'm not mad!"
"That's weird. You fought as an alchemist, Lady, but unfortunately, you lost. You got distracted tracking me and let me circle behind."
And yet.
"Calling me a harlot out of nowhere—doesn't that sound like mockery?"
"It's not mockery..."
Really, truly—Marian had meant Chloe acted like a seductive succubus from the scriptures...
But she swallowed those words, stood up, and hugged Chloe tightly instead.
"Sorry."
"Suddenly?"
Chloe assumed Marian was upset about being snuck up on and calling her a harlot...
Chloe's a harlot, so she wouldn't be offended by the word itself. She must be pissed because the Thunder Orb hurt too much.
On the flip side, Marian figured Chloe was angry because the Thunder Orb had stung.
In Marian's mind, Chloe was already a harlot—so of course she wouldn't take offense at the term.
"Should I tone down the Thunder Orb's power? Did it hurt a lot, Chloe?"
"No. Absolutely don't weaken it."
"Why? Weren't you mad because it hurt when it hit you?"
"No way."
"Really?"
The two women traded slightly off-kilter banter as they headed to the bath.
"You need to crank up the intensity from here."
"Why?"
"I told you, right? Catch me, and you'll get the wish ticket."
"Ah..."
"You think you can catch me with this much?"
"Got it... I'll try harder."
By now, they bathed together every other day, so close that heading to the bath felt utterly natural, without a hint of reluctance.
"Sigh..."
Even Viola—who'd initially advised just indulging Marian's whims—had given up trying to stop them.
"Time to go draw."
Having abandoned persuasion altogether, she headed off to sketch today as well.
#
"Lady, the tub's full now."
"Yeah."
The two naked women pressed close, easing the fatigue built up from their brief spar. Well, Marian had barely broken a sweat. This bath was really for Chloe—to recover from dodging Marian and inspect the injury from the Thunder Orb.
"No scars, right? Sorry, Chloe..."
"It won't scar. I applied ointment in time."
"Hng..."
Marian pressed Chloe's hand—the one that had taken a direct lightning hit from the Thunder Orb—to her cheek, pouting sadly.
She'd done it for the wish ticket, but she didn't want to hurt Chloe. Especially not with permanent scars.
I should make a healing artifact too.
Not just ones to hunt Chloe, but to heal her after.
Am I a genius or what?
Marian marveled at her own brilliance, rubbing Chloe's hand—reeking of ointment and faint scorch—against her cheek over and over.
She'd used artifacts on Chloe plenty of times before, but this was only the second time she'd actually wounded her. The first was with the initial Shrimp-Catching Seaweed, when Chloe had been ravaged so badly she could barely breathe. This time, her pretty hand had nearly scarred.
Both unacceptable. She vowed to develop a dedicated healing artifact just for Chloe.
"Chloe."
"Yes, Lady?"
With that resolve, Marian spun around in the tub to face Chloe's languid expression.
She hadn't shown it, but up close like this, it was clear. Marian's Thunder Orb could definitely hurt Chloe. Otherwise, why would Chloe look so utterly relaxed after taking the hit?
"I promise I won't let you get hurt again."
Marian never wanted to see Chloe struggling.
She pulled Chloe into a fierce hug in the tub. Their differently sized breasts squished together in the embrace, forming an erotic silhouette... but the two involved paid no mind to such things.
"Let's head to bed now—you look sleepy."
"Yeah, shall we?"