"Alright, that's enough for today. Let's call it a night."
The sky darkened quickly. Standing before the finest hotel in all of Belobog, Clara offered her "thanks" to Gepard.
"Thank you, Mr. Gepard."
"We appreciate your protection today."
"No need for thanks, it's my duty," Gepard shook his head, completely missing the slight irritation on Clara's face.
"Well then, Mr. Gepard, you may head off. It's getting late, and we're ready to rest."
Clara glanced at the hotel owner's expectant expression behind her and said this to Gepard.
"Very well. Have a good rest, you two. If you need anything tomorrow, you can find me at the Silvermane Guards headquarters."
"I'll be there all day."
Gepard nodded, offered his instruction, and then took his leave.
"Aah~ so annoying. Having him tail us all afternoon meant I couldn't stir up any trouble at all."
Once Gepard was gone, Clara complained to Firefly beside her.
"It was still meant as a kindness on his part, you know."
Hearing Clara's complaint, Firefly just smiled slightly and didn't say anything more.
"Since you didn't like him following us, why didn't you use that… whatchamacallit ability of yours?"
"What whatchamacallit ability?"
"You know… um, that ability of yours that makes people all dumb and dazed."
"Haven't I already used it?"
Hearing this, Clara chuckled and shot back a question.
Firefly: ?
"When did you use it?"
"..."
Faced with Firefly's confusion, Clara didn't speak, just kept smiling at her.
Firefly: …
Alright, Firefly understood. The dumb and dazed one was herself.
Wait, no.
"Why would I be dumb and dazed?"
"I'm not the least bit dumb, and certainly not stupid." Firefly put her hands on her hips, looking down at Clara from her slight height advantage, her tone tinged with displeasure.
"Because I modified your consciousness to make you think you aren't stupid."
Clara gave a light laugh, then stopped paying attention to Firefly and turned to the hotel owner.
"Boss, two rooms for us, please."
"Right away, right away! Please, follow me." The owner bowed his head in acknowledgment, then led Clara and Firefly inside.
"Hey, Clara…"
On the way, a faint blush colored Firefly's cheeks as she leaned close to Clara's ear.
"I was thinking… given how luxurious this hotel seems, the rooms probably won't be small."
"To save money, maybe we should just get one room?"
Clara: …
Hearing this, Clara gave Firefly a thoroughly unimpressed look.
"Cocolia's the one footing the bill. We're not paying a single credit."
"Uh." Firefly was briefly stumped, then quickly regrouped: "Well, since we're using someone else's money, we should be even more frugal and just get one room."
"After all, when it comes down to it, we should leave a good impression for Cocolia, shouldn't we?"
"You know… You could just directly say you want to sleep with me. No need to crank your practically rusted-over gears to come up with reasons that would make a dog shake its head in disbelief."
Clara yawned, waving a hand dismissively as she spoke offhandedly.
Firefly's intentions were obvious; her little schemes were written all over her face.
"Is that okay?"
Ignoring the "rusted-over gears" comment, Firefly heard this and looked at Clara, eyes full of hope.
"Of course…"
"Not okay."
Knowing full well what Firefly was after, how could Clara possibly agree?
Think you can sleep with me? Not a chance.
Firefly: …
…
"The signal in this dump is absolute trash."
Inside her room, Clara lay on her stomach on the bed, her pinkish feet kicking up in the air as she scrolled incessantly through the short-video app she'd just re-downloaded.
Watching the endless loading circles spin on her phone screen, she couldn't help but complain.
"And they call it 'Galaxy-Wide Coverage'… how unscrupulous can the IPC be…"
She remembered what the receptionist at the Interastral Peace Corporation had told her when she went to get a SIM card.
"Just insert this card into your phone, and no matter where you are in the universe, the Corporation's 10G signal will provide full coverage!"
"Unscrupulous, I tell you. Does this signal even qualify as 5G?" Utterly unable to bear the terrible signal any longer, Clara tossed her phone to the side of the bed, pulled up the covers, closed her eyes, and prepared to sleep.
Got a signal? Got signal. 10G? As if.
Knock knock knock.
Just as Clara used her Memory power to set up her dreamscape and was about to drift off, a knocking sound suddenly came at the door.
Hearing the knocks, Clara didn't move a muscle, not even opening her eyes.
At this hour, who else could it be but Firefly?
And since it was Firefly, Clara knew exactly why she was knocking.
Therefore, Clara had no intention of opening the door for her.
Knock knock knock~ Knock knock knock~ Knock knock knock.
And so it went on. After half a system hour, Clara opened her eyes, sat up, got out of bed, stomped angrily to the door, and yanked it open.
She then put her hands on her hips, glaring at the Firefly before her with a thoroughly unfriendly expression.
"You'd better have a decent reason, or else…"
"Um…"
Seeing the furious Clara before her, Firefly flinched back slightly, clearly a bit intimidated.
"That… I, I'm scared… sleeping alone."
Clara: ?
Scared, my foot.
"I want to sleep with you… is that okay?"
"No."
Hearing this, Clara refused without a moment's hesitation and immediately moved to shut the door.
"W-wait!"
Seeing this, Firefly quickly stopped her.
"I don't have to sleep on the bed! Just being in the same room as you is enough. I can sleep on the floor, or on the sofa."
Firefly widened her eyes, looking at Clara with a pitiful, pleading gaze.
"Fine. You sleep on the sofa."
Clara thought for a moment and decided Firefly's proposed arrangement was acceptable.
If she didn't agree, Firefly would probably knock on the door all night.
Not that it would actually disturb her…
"Yay!" The instant she heard this, the pitiful expression vanished from Firefly's face without a trace.
Clara: ?
She knew Firefly had been pretending, but the speed of that face-change was a bit much, wasn't it?
"Ahem."
Sensing Clara's stare, Firefly coughed a few times and hurriedly switched back to her pitiful look.
"…"
…
I have completed the author to TL pipeline, 2 chapters per day. Advanced chapters available on patreon.
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