Dance with the Nightingale-Chapter 89 - 84: Embarrassed Elista and Doomed Aneles.
"YOU…!", I heard Elista growling behind me.
And I moved, before she could utter another word. Past the counter, breaking into her personal space, I was on Elista, quite literally. I took her hand in mine, letting the other one to slide onto her waist, grabbing it lightly.
Then as her mind registered the fact that our faces were inches apart, and her body jerked back, I grabbed her waist firmly, giving her a light push in my direction that buried her face in my nape.
"Oh, careful there, Eli. I don’t want you to get hurt.", I said as gently as possible, lightly pushing her off me, and bending down a little to see her face.
And her face was red, totally red as even her ears were red, even more so when her eyes meet with mine.
’Did I go overboard?’, I thought, but I didn’t stop, "You’re cute when embarrassed.", I said with a smile.
"Mister, are you, her boyfriend?", the raccoon girl asked innocently.
And, that definitely went overboard.
"You…! You…! You…! Don’t toy with my heart!!!", she screamed, with tears of embarrassment in the corner of her eyes, as she shoved me back.
Okay, what was I doing?
Well, I was going to apologize to her first, but then just like it happened it Cana…I suddenly wanted to see her embarrassed…so following what my real mother in this world said, I was ’enjoying myself to the fullest’…and here was the result…
An Elista with red ears and face, barely being held back the raccoon girl as she kept cursing at me.
"Hahahaha.", I was laughing my ass off at sight, only to be reprimanded by both the raccoon girl and Cana.
"Hey! Stop riling her up Mister and Owner, please calm down, you are scaring the customers!"
"You should really apologize."
Only after laughing for good minute, when Elista had calmed down and was barely holding back her tears, did I straighten up.
"Okay, I am sorry, Eli. Come with me for a moment.", I said as I dragged her in to kitchen.
Then, "Hit me, as hard as you can-", I was saying, but I couldn’t finish as a firm kick on my balls landed before I could.
’Cruel Elista!’, I screamed in my head, but held in my thoughts.
Plus, my body was as strong as a C rank, a normal kick from an F rank couldn’t damage even my balls, but it still hurt...
Well, a few seconds later I spoke to the girl who still looked angry.
"Here, take this as an apology.", I said, as I took out a bracelet shaped artefact from my inventory.
And yes, it was an ulterior motive, one of the reasons I did this. The artefact will protect her from only life threatening attacks, and it also had a tracking function. So, in case someone kidnapped and tortured her, then I could know her location while it will protect her life.
Also, I didn’t want Mark to go berserk after the kidnapping of his ’best friend’.
"You want to buy an apology with money?", Elista raised an eyebrow.
"No! Not at all, it’s just an artefact that will creeps away from you. After all, you are quite cute when embarrassed."
"You…!", she was about to start again.
But, I interjected, "But, you’d rather have Mark say it, right? After all, you love him."
Elista blushed up at the sudden revelation, steam coming off from her head and ears as she looked at me and asked, "H-How?"
"It is quite obvious, and I have a good eye for such things.", I said with a smirk, then continuing, "In fact, if you want I can even help you getting together-"
"Stop! Stop! Here, I wore it. Satisfied? Now go! Get out of here!", she said, pushing me out of the kitchen.
"But you will need my help to get the point in his thick skull!", I said while slowly allowing myself to be pushed.
"JUST GO!!", she screamed and pushed me out, closing the kitchen’s door behind her.
’Phew, that went well. Now I just have to say that I ’forgot’ to give her the key that is used to take it off.’, I thought with a victorious smirk.
"Hey, Mister stop smiling like that, its creepy. Honestly, a waste of your handsome face.", the raccoon girl said as soon as I came out.
"A handsome face is a handsome face, no matter what expression I make!", I declared, on the peak of my narcissism.
"It’s not.", both Cana and the raccoon girl deadpanned.
And before I could fit in a retort, the raccoon girl threatened, "Now, shut up and order something before I double the cost of everything for you."
’What a terrifying threat.’, I half-mocked, as I could literally buy this café hundred times over with my wealth, but still, I stopped my crap.
Then, clearing my throat, I said, "Uhm, I want to use one of the private cabins."
"Okay, Sir customer! Cabin number, two and three are empty. You can use the one you like.", she said, switching into her waitress persona.
"Okay, here we go.", I said, as I hopped past the counter and went into the cabin numbered three.
Our fiasco had taken around five minutes, so by the time Aneles arrived we had already ordered our drinks, namely chocolate shakes.
If I learned one thing in my previous life, then it was that you can never go wrong with a chocolate shake. Even at its worst, it would still be edible.
So, as I was sipping the last of my drink, Aneles arrived, poking his head in as he check the room’s occupants.
Well, I didn’t tell him where I would be in the café…and these private cabins did have a soundproof and vision proof array inscribed in them…so it was kind of obvious why he did that.
"Hi, Aneles. Come in. I was waiting for you.", I said casually as I invited him in.
"Nice to meet you again, Sir Ray!", he jovially replied.
When he settled down, I gestured at the menu, "Order anything you like. It’s my treat."
"Yes, sir!"
"Enough with that sir thing Aneles, you are my friend and I am here to just treat you so that we can get closer to each other.", I said with a sly smirk, while lightly rubbing my hands together. In this world it was a gesture that meant money.
"Haha.", Aneles laughed as he saw my smile. "I knew sir Ray wasn’t an ordinary person! But I didn’t expect you to be this fast!"
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"Oh! You don’t have to worry about that I already have my roots spread in the city."
"Oh, is that so? Splendid! Truly Splendid!", he said before coming to the point, "So, what kind of deal do you want to make sir Ray? Oh! And I must already warn you the security around the gate has been tightened a lot because of today’s incident. So, smuggling anything would be quite difficult."
"But you have a way, right?"
"I am the head gatekeeper, if anyone has a way, then it’s me!"
"Hah, that’s what I expected.", I said with a big smile on my face.
"So, what is it you want to smuggle. The rates differ for each product.", he said while clasping his hands.
"Hmm, why so uptight Aneles?" Let’s have a drink or two, then we will talk about serious matters. As I said, it’s my treat.", I suggested.
"So, I will take upon your generosity!", Aneles replied as he went ahead and ordered a feast for himself.
And after one too many drinks, he finally relaxed, sputtering things like, he knew I was someone of his kind, or that I smelled of money. And it wasn’t a problem as with a single spell he would be somber again.
But then, in his drunken stupor, he asked me a question, "By the way sir Ray, who that lady sitting beside you. I can see that she is pretty, well endowed."
"Ah! I know why you brought her here! But no, sir Ray, it won’t work here. I won’t reduce my prices in exchange of sleeping with her. I had too many bastards blackmailing me after trying the same trick. Not to mention, I am a family man through and through.", he babbled, his eyes leering at Cana’s figure.
And at his behavior, I thought, ’You are doomed.’
So, with a mind link, I asked Cana, ’Consider him bad enough to use your powers?’
-Hmph, that was your plan all along!
’Nope, it wasn’t. I was going to ask him nicely after another meeting or two…but since you volunteered to come with me, I changed my plan.’
-…
Cana didn’t say anything to me instead, rose color swirled in her eyes as she opened her mouth.
**
[Unique Skill: Authoritative Empress]
[Derived Spell: Mind Control]
**
And just like that, I had Aneles spill all the secrets he knew about the goods smuggled in the city, who smuggled them, and what they were smuggling.
A simple task, truly.
