Gigolo Diaries-Chapter 15: Plastic Glutton

The morning sun cut through the thin fabric of the tent, falling on Eros’ pale face. He shifted uncomfortably, but his mind was still stuck between dream and reality.

It was the sharp burning pain he felt in his hand that finally did the trick, jolting him awake. He winced as he grabbed his hand. After a moment or two, the pain eventually began subsiding. It soon became bearable to the extent that his mind could begin producing coherent thoughts.

The first thing he did was observe his surroundings. He was in a tent. A pretty large one.

There was no one inside, and the outside was eerily quiet. He doubted anyone was there either.

With great difficulty, he managed to lift himself into a sitting position, trying not to aggravate his arm. He still remembered last night and the fight, he had to give himself some credit for putting down an adept.

Still, he was clearly not unscathed from the fight.

The injuries weren’t even the worst of his problems. While he did break a few bones when he used that explosive force that wasn’t what was responsible for his current agony.

The explosion of yang forces had a very low conversion rate due to his low cultivation. This meant that a lot of Yang hadn’t been converted to force and the Yang energy was still in his hand and leg, damaging his tissues.

It was the feeling of uncontrolled yang that was currently making him wince.

This was a temporary situation as all he needed to do was stay in a place abundant in yin and he would naturally heal.

It was early in the morning, meaning there was only one place he could get yin—other than between a jade beauty’s legs.

And that was the depths of a flowing river. The yin from water wasn’t much but it should be enough.

He slowly got up and made his way out of the tent. As expected, there was no one there.

He didn’t pay it any attention as he stretched in the sun. They hadn’t taken their stuff so it was clear they were going to come back.

He was just about to leave in search of a flowing water source when the carriage in the middle of the camp caught his attention. There wasn’t much that had been told to him about what was inside, and he had guessed it was classified info.

With the object staring right at him now. He couldn’t help but feel like exploring. After all, it wouldn’t hurt to just take a look. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

He moved closer to the carriage, and the nearer he was, the more he realised how similar the cart was to a cage. There were no openings at all, although on the side there seemed to be a small square sliding shutter that was closed.

Eros’s hands rubbed against the metallic surfaces of the carriage. There was no one here and the curiosity to know what was behind the layer of metal was eating at him.

There was no door of any kind, so if he had to know he would need to open the shutter.

The curiosity eventually won and just when his hands fell on the slider, something caught his eye. Right under the square shutter, there were a few words crudely carved into the metal of the carriage.

"Cursed object—Plastic Glutton." The words were barely legible but he could make them out.

His hands froze. He knew what a cursed object was. Unlike runed weapons, these objects could not be created and were considered natural phenomena.

He knew this because the yin and yang sect had a cursed object: the original sword of duality.

However, whatever this cursed object—plastic glutton—was, it was clearly inactive. So Eros slowly slid the shutter to the side.

Just one look, then if it was something valuable he might begin considering ’borrowing’ it from the holy knights.

There was only darkness in the box though, and after a moment of silence, he decided to leave it be.

Just as he was about to close the shutter, a creaking sound came from within, like the sound of unlubricated plastic grinding on its hinges.

The grinding continued for a while before halting. Then a small voice came from the box. The voice didn’t sound human.

If he had to describe it, it sounded... plastic

It asked, "Are you food?" Its tone was low and polite like that of a child.

And that was all Eros needed to see to realise that he wanted nothing to do with that sort of thing.

"Nope." He shut the grating, turned around and left. It was too early to be dealing with some mystical horror. He would rather spend his mornings thinking about dual cultivation than whatever that was.

The others still hadn’t returned, so he put everything at the back of his mind and headed out to find a stream. Or a river.

His plans, however, were cut short when the sound of clanking armour began approaching and in less than a minute, Lain and the others revealed themselves from the forest.

They all seemed exhausted and worn out; Sein in particular was limping as he cursed under his breath.

"Okay, everyone gets some rest. We cleared out the nest so everyone is getting extra credits when we get back. Except you, Sein."

The dual sword wielder was on the verge of tears.

"Why? But I took out both the king and queen of the nest."

Lain’s eyes narrowed as her expression turned serious. "Well, you were in a lot of trouble before, now you’re in less trouble. If you get on my nerves then you’ll be in worse trouble."

If it were Elaine, he might have argued, but they knew that the redhead always got what she wanted, so with his head held low he left and went to his tent. Not after flashing Eros a glance filled with grudge.

The others also dispersed into their tents. They all looked spent.

They must have spent the night fighting, Eros concluded.

When they were all gone, Lain turned to Eros with a flicker of concern on her face.

"You shouldn’t be walking around in your current state."

"Hey, I’m pretty much fine now."

"Fine? When Elaine found you, you were half dead; she had to summon me so I could stop the chaotic yang in your body from spreading. If I didn’t, you wouldn’t be waking up right now. What were you even thinking?" She shook her head.

"Well, you were there so I knew it was going to work out either way."

"And if I wasn’t?"

"We’ll never know."

Lain just shook her head in resignation. She was clearly thinking of how hopeless he was.

"I got something for you." She said fishing out an item from her robe.