“Sincir…? Are you shitting me right now?”

  Sincir groggily opens his eyes, then blinks over the vision of Esme looming above him, with several bnkets in her arms, and an expression of disbelief on her face.

  “I really can’t ever leave you alone with another girl for even a moment, can I?” Esme murmurs exasperatedly, shaking her head once she realizes he is awake.

  Gncing down, Sincir sees that Rez is now fast asleep against his chest, with a peaceful look on her face.

  “Oh… Sorry, I meant to calm her down, but I guess I must’ve have fallen asleep, myself.”

  Esme snorts. “Of course that’s all you wanted… Forget it. Here, I’ve brought these so she’ll have something soft and warm to sleep on top of. You think it’s going to be enough? Or should we bring one of the beds down here?”

  “It’s probably good enough for Rez, at least for tonight… Can you pce them down, so I can put her on top of them?”

  Esme nods, beginning to set up the bnkets as she creates a small, but rather comfortable looking nest with them... Sincir is tired enough to seriously considering sleeping in it himself, after seeing how good of a job Esme did setting the thing up.

  As, he still has much to accomplish tonight.

  “How were the girls?” Sincir asks, causing Esme to gnce at him while smiling somewhat awkwardly.

  “I think I interrupted something… I’m not sure I should tell you.”

  Sincir rises an eyebrow. “You caught them kissing? Damn, that I didn’t expect…”

  Esme’s eyes widen, then she gres at him. “Who the fuck said anything about kissing?! I caught them hugging! Hugging! There was nothing sexual about it…!”

  Sincir smiles at her.

  “…Shit, you pyed me so I’d tell you, didn’t you?”

  He shrugs. “I’m afraid I can’t deny or confirm your accusation, Midy…”

  Esme rolls her eyes. “Forget it... Here, it’s ready. Do you want me to help you with her?”

  “No need.”

  Rez eyes open slightly once Sincir rises with her, princess style, and he smiles at her reassuringly once their eyes meet.

  “Sincir…? What-?”

  “Esme made a bed for you, so I’m moving you to it... Don’t worry.”

  Rez gnces around for a moment, taking in Esme, as well as the small nest of bnkets she built, then blushes.

  “Oh… I-it… Rez fine with sleeping on the ground… Rez really used to it…”

  Paying her no mind, he carefully lowers the half-goblin over the bnkets, then pats her head once, before rising, gncing at Esme as he does so.

  “Rez says she wants a nest companion until she falls asleep again.”

  “What?! No, Rez said no such-!”

  But Esme is already jumping over the half-goblin, interrupting her with Sincir can only describe as a tickling attack.

  “You cute thing! How am I supposed to hold back, when you’re like this, huh?!”

  “W-what?! I-it tickles! S-Sincir, Esme…! Esme is…!”

  Sincir leaves them to it. After all, he shares Esme’s feelings… It really is hard not to hug Rez, after being near her for a bit.

  Tuning out the girls behind him, he heads for a spot more or less in the middle of the basement, scratching his chin as he does so.

  By now, his mana has probably recovered enough for a head start on what he has in mind, but… Out of his many talents, architecture really…

  Sincir hums. Well, he can always tear it down and start again, if he messes up too bad.

  First, Sincir casts an earth spell to connect himself with the ground under his feet; Which really, is about the most basic earth spell in existence. With it, he’s able to feel a lot about the earth beneath, including the insects occupying it, as well as the weight of the things above it.

  Since he’s not particurly proficient with earth magic, his range is small, but it is enough for what he is pnning…

  For Sincir, using earth magic has always felt heavy, almost as though the mana is fighting against him whenever he tries to use it. Still, he perseveres, maintaining the spell active for long enough to form a mental image of four symmetric walls around his position.

  The size… This much should be fine?

  Sincir takes a deep breath, then gnces over his shoulder to check up on the girls; To his surprise, he finds them both already asleep on top of each other… He guesses they must’ve been both exhausted.

  Well, at least now he can focus on building something for Rez.

  Thankfully, earth magic isn’t particurly loud, unless something big is being created, which he wouldn’t be able to do, even if he wanted to.

  Erecting something like a wall is easy, but making it stable enough to st is not, and so, Sincir takes his time with each one, both in order to make sure they’re the same size, as well as making them sturdy and stable.

  He quickly loses notion of how much time has passed, immersing himself in the project, even as he has to take several breaks in order to recover his mana, which he uses to brainstorm the construction of the small building he has in mind... After a while of working, Sincir finds that building something like this is surprisingly fun; He can see now why Sonog would lose himself in his projects of architecture.

  Shame he is so terrible at earth magic, or he might’ve considered doing more of it in the future.

  Now, is a small toilet down here going too far…?

  Should he add a bathtub, while he is at it?

  The basement has the space for a big one, which would be more like a pool, he supposes, and it is a way to use the holes he created, while moving the earth around…

  A bedroom, a kitchen, and a living room… That should be good enough for Rez to live by herself, right?

  Sincir begins to feel his eyelids are about to close on their own once he starts to work on the inside of his small earth house, but he is focused enough to push through his tiredness…

  It’s a good thing he’s still a kid, or he’d have to basically crawl around Rez’s new house, since he built it with her size (as well as his small mana pool) in mind. Still, building furniture with earth magic proves to be a much bigger hurdle than he imagined it…

  Sincir quickly gives up on anything more complicated than the stove he spent almost an hour trying to make. At least he managed to get it right… Though he had to go up a couple of times to check up on the stove they have upstairs, before managing.

  Man, he really isn’t fit to be a builder.

  It’ll be hard to find furniture that’ll fit, so they’ll have to order it built, after taking some measurements… Whatever, he’ll tell Ena to take care of it, since Rez is supposed to be her responsibility, anyway.

  Sincir releases a sigh of relief as he finally finishes the st touches on Rez’s future bed. It looks crude without something soft on top of it, but he wagers it’ll be fine once they bring one of the mattresses down for her.

  And, at long st, before he leaves, Sincir makes a small inspection of his work by casting another basic earth spell, which allows him to check the sturdiness of the pce...

  Once he is done, Sincir nods to himself. Before him, stands the finished product of Rez’s new house, which contains three rooms, plus a small toilet attached to it, and a not so small pool on the outside.

  Unfortunately, building a structure which can sustain doors and such is beyond his ability as an earth mage, so they’ll have to give Rez curtains to hang over the entrances… Still, with the furniture Ena is going to get her, Sincir can see the pce looking pretty cozy.

  …Is it pathetic that he is proud of himself for this? Damn it, what sort of demon is he? He should remember to tell the girls not to talk about this to anybody, or Varzath’s reputation as a Lord might take another hit.

  “Hey, did all three of you guys really spend the whole night down-”

  Sincir gnces over his shoulder, spotting Ena as she freezes midst coming down the stairs, mouth still slightly opened.

  “…Morning,” he greets her, nonchantly pcing his hands into his pockets as he does so, “I heard you guys getting up a while ago. Is breakfast ready? Because I’m starving.”

  Ena blinks. “Oh… Yeah, that’s why I came here, actually… No, that’s not the issue! Since when does our basement has a mini house in the middle of it!?”

  Chuckling, Sincir mimics for her to lower her voice while nodding toward Esme and Rez, who are still fast asleep, shockingly enough. “Surprised? I built it just now. If Rez really wants to stay down here, we can’t have her sleeping on the ground… Though I’ll bother you with getting the furniture I wasn’t able to build. Now that I think on it, since I ended staying up the whole night up for this, lets just take a break today… You can finish getting Rez set up, and I’ll rest.”

  Ena stares at him in disbelief for a moment, then gnces at the house behind him. “…Fuck,” she murmurs.

  “What?”

  “I was determined to hate you for doing Eleanor behind my back, but I’ll look like an idiot if I do it after you spent the whole night doing something like this.”

  Sincir smiles at her. “You could always forgive me.”

  “…Nah, I don’t think I will. Anyway, go on up if you’re hungry, while I’ll wake the girls.”

  Sincir chuckles as he walks past her and heads up the stairs...

  Did he purposefully do something which would make it hard for Ena to stay mad at him, pnning for her talk with Eleanor...? Naw, how could anyone think he, such a pure Soul, has ever been that calcuting and cold.

  It was a coincidence, of course...

  ...Since he wasn’t kidding about being hungry, Sincir is actually gd to see Eleanor setting up the table once he reaches their kitchen.

  “Hey, I heard you made up with your nemesis st night. Good job.”

  Eleanor blinks as he enters the kitchen, quickly pces a small peck against her lips, then begins to fill a pte for himself… She still has a shocked look on her face by the time he sits down to eat.

  “By the way, I told Ena we’re having a day off, so feel free to spend today doing whatever.”

  “…It’s your second day as adventures,” Eleanor murmurs once she finally manages to recover from his surprise attack, “What are you doing?”

  “Well, Rez will need some help getting set up down there, and I told Ena to help her with that. As for me, I’m sleeping, since I haven’t yet…”

  Eleanor blinks, then shakes her head. “…Did you just kiss me?”

  “Did I? Sorry, my head is a bit of mess right now, so I’m not thinking straight.”

  Sincir smiles innocently at her while chewing, facing her gaze shamelessly. After a moment, Eleanor just sighs, taking her own pce at the table.

  “Ena asked me to tell you to move your things from her room. Also, that’s she is not speaking with you anymore.”

  Sincir pauses, fork half-way to his mouth, then sighs. “…Did she really? Fuck.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Sincir gnces at Eleanor’s blue eyes, and her expression tell him she means the apology seriously.

  “…It’s fine. I thought something of the sort might happen when I told you to tell her about us, and regardless, we’re both too big to be sleeping together… This is a good chance to end it.”

  “No just that, but for jumping you the way I did, that night… The more I think about it, the more I realize I acted out of line.”

  Sincir shrugs. “I’m a big boy, and I’d have told you to leave me alone if I really wanted you to... Though I admit you were pushing the line of consenting sex for a bit there. Well, since I’m the one who was attacked, and I’m telling you I’m fine with it, just rex and let it go.”

  Eleanor grimaces at him. “Can you stop speaking with your mouth full when I’m trying to have a serious talk with you?”

  “Morning…”

  Both Sincir and Eleanor turn toward the kitchen’s entrance as Esme walks by it, with a groggy expression on her face.

  “…Hey, morning. Where are the girls? Want me fill up a pte for you?”

  Esme drops onto one of the chairs, still with a vacant look on her face, then blinks. Sincir can almost see the gears beginning to turn in her brain as she tries to process what he asked her.

  “…They went to see the house you built. I think? I didn’t imagine the whole thing, did I?”

  Seeing the look on her face as she frowns, Sincir ughs. “No, you didn’t imagine it. Here, eat some of mine... I had the eyes bigger than my stomach, today.”

  “…You built a house down there?” Eleanor asks, incredulously, “Is that why you haven’t slept yet?”

  Sincir smiles at her. “Yeah, a small one, made out of earth magic. Go down to see it you’re curious.”

  She stares at him for a moment, then shakes her head. “Unbelievable.”

  “…It looked nice,” Esme murmurs, “I thought I was still sleeping when I saw it.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I thought Rez’s eyes were about to pop from her head.”

  Shit, he should’ve stayed for long enough to see her reaction… Well, too te for it now.

  “Hey, I just found out I got kicked out of my room... Can I crash with you, for a while?” he asks Esme.

  She shrugs. “This is your house, and I’m a prisoner in here…”

  Sincir sticks his tongue at her. “You drama queen. Don’t think I’ve forgotten your perverted request to let you watch me while I’m asleep… This is the perfect chance.”

  Esme throws Eleanor, who has been watching their exchange, a quick gnce. “Don’t listen to him... There was nothing perverted about it,” she murmurs, while blushing slightly.

  Sincir snorts. “Sure there wasn’t.”

  He snatches some more food from Esme’s pte (previously his) as the girls make small talk between themselves. A while ter, Ena and Rez finally come up from the basement, and Sincir’s eyes widen as the half-goblin immediately runs in his directing, tackling him with a hug.

  “Sincir… Rez grateful,” she murmurs against his shoulder, voice trembling slightly, before quickly pulling away from him.

  She avoids meeting his eyes, and it is obvious she is close from crying, so he chooses not to tease her.

  Ena also doesn’t meet his eyes as she takes her own pce at the table, though her carefully guarded expression makes it clear she has a different reason other than coyness for it.

  Sincir smiles exasperatedly. “You don’t need to be like this, Ena. Eleanor told you everything herself, right? I was a good boy, and she is the one who corrupted my poor, innocent intentions…”

  “Eleanor, can you pass me the sad?” Ena says, pointedly ignoring his words.

  Sincir groans... Fuck, he is too tired to think of a way to deal with the brat, right now.

  Since he’s already done eating, Sincir rises from the table after another moment of awkward silence goes by, excusing himself.

  He still remembers he was supposed to help Esme with her room as well, which ended up never happening in the end, and since it has become their room, he’ll need to get it set up before being able to sleep.

  “You’re being a brat again,” he hears Eleanor saying as he climbs the stairs.

  “Oh, shove it,” Ena retorts, “If I don’t put him in his pce, in between you and Esme, he’ll grow an ego bigger than the house…”

  As their voices fade out of hearing range, Sincir chuckles to himself. If that’s reason she is doing it (which he doubts), she shouldn’t have bothered, since his ego is already big enough to cover the city...

  Thankfully, Sincir is able to find Esme’s room easily, since it has the things he brought for her from Inquiry, in it... On the other hand, moving his things out of Ena’s room is a depressing experience, even if he tells himself it is for the best.

  Well, it’s not his first time getting dumped, so he’s used to it (not that they were actually dating, or fucking, but it feels simir enough)...

  Esme comes by when he is almost done with moving his things, and is about to start cleaning their room.

  “…You’re still up? Just leave the cleaning to me,” she says, crossing her arms and leaning against the room’s entrance.

  “It’s fine. Can you light the firepce? I’m a feeling a bit cold…”

  Esme sighs, but she does move toward the firepce. Since this is the only room with one, Sincir wonders if that’s why she chose it…

  It doesn’t take long for him and Esme to have the room in a usable state, and the fire does a good job of warming it up. With the curtain blocking the window, he can even pretend the sun hasn’t just come up…

  Hum, cozy.

  “H-hey! What are you doing?!”

  Sincir ignores Esme’s protest as he grabs her hand and drops against the bed, having her fall on top of him.

  Then, before she can say anything else, he presses his lips against hers, turning her objection into a muffled moan.

  “…I p-promised Ena-”

  Again, he interrupts her, running his hand up her leg, and bringing the hem of her dress up as he does so.

  “…That I’d do some housework today!” Esme finishes breathlessly, once their second kiss is finally over, brown eyes gleaming with obvious desire as they remain locked against his.

  Continuing to slowly run his fingers through her now naked thigh, Sincir smiles at her. “I was thinking we could go out together ter… Just the two of us. We could have a picnic, and you can watch me napping…”

  Esme bites her lower lip. “That… sounds awesome. Are you being serious?”

  “Of course. I promised you yesterday I was going to pn something just for the two of us, didn’t I?”

  She frowns. “If that’s the only reason you’re doing it, then I’d rather stay-”

  Sincir kisses her again, this time turning her over as he does; Now on top of her, he easily opens her legs and presses his erection against her slightly wet, hot underwear, causing Esme to moan against his mouth.

  “…I’m doing it because I like you, dumbass,” Sincir murmurs, slightly breathlessly, once he pulls away from her again, “Not just because of the promise. I know things developed a bit too fast between us, but I never meant for you to lose your job, or feel like a prisoner… Is it a bad thing, that I’m trying to make it up to you?”

  Eyes still locked against his, Esme groans. “I hate it when you do this.”

  Sincir chuckles. “What?”

  “Puppy eyes. You know I can’t resist them…”

  “Sorry. I’ll try not to take advantage of you too much, from now on...” he murmurs with another chuckle, rubbing himself against her again and causing Esme to arch her back slightly, her eyes widening.

  “Ah… Fucking hell!” she murmurs exasperatedly, “Never mind, w-whatever you’re d-doing, you better n-not stop n-now…”

  Knowing a victory when he sees one, Sincir smiles. “You know, I’m so tired I can barely keep my eyes open right now… You wouldn’t allow your poor, hardworking boyfriend to sleep on his lonesome, would you?”

  Esme moans once he kisses her neck, then shudders once he licks it; Meanwhile, as he continues to rub his member against her sex through their clothes, she begins to remove his shirt, her movements clumsy yet eager.

  “F-fuck, you’re so irredeemable, it’s not even funny…” she murmurs breathlessly midst their caresses and kisses, “I should’ve known to run away, from the moment we met…”

  They climb up the bed while undressing, carelessly throwing pieces of clothing around, eagerly feeling each other’s body...

  Sincir is gd Esme seems to be over her reticence about touching him, though he doesn’t comment on it, for fear of ruining the moment. Instead, he watches her expression attentively once her hands finally find his erection, causing the both of them to shudder slightly.

  “Careful…” Sincir murmurs, “At the moment, I’m barely thinking straight, and I don’t want us to do something you might regret ter, love…”

  As she begins to slowly jerk his member, Esme smiles teasingly. “I don’t understand you... You cim to be a bad guy, but even when you probably know I’d be hard pressed to refuse you in this situation, you warn me, instead of pushing for it…”

  Sincir sighs, not bothering to hide his frustration from her. “If your first time was all I wanted, it is true I could’ve pushed for it a long time ago; And if I thought I could get away with it, maybe I’d have… But you’re so skittish, I thought you might really run away, if I pushed things too fast.”

  Esme grimaces. “Sorry for not being the easy prey you’re used to.”

  Sincir snorts. “Last time I went after easy prey was so long ago most countries existing today in Itera were named differently, or had yet to exist; No, the reason you’ve managed to maintain my attention this whole time is precisely for being who you are, Esme.”

  Esme bites her lower lip. “Does that mean… Does that mean you love me?”

  Sincir pauses.

  It is not surprising Esme would ask such a thing, especially when she already confessed her feelings for him, herself.

  But, does he love her?

  After Ig'droren, he swore to never love again, and if he was still Varzath, the Demon Lord, he’d have no problem staring into her eyes and shattering her delusions… It’d have been the truth.

  However, since reincarnating as a human, much has changed about him, and Sincir is no longer as certain of his feelings as he once was.

  Does he love Esme?

  Does he love Eleanor?

  Does he love Ena?

  It is scary to admit as much, but he doesn’t know what to think anymore, and his vague memories of his time as a demon seem to do little to help him, in this case…

  “S-Sincir?”

  “…I don’t know,” Sincir murmurs at st, averting his eyes from Esme’s expecting ones as he does so, “I’m sorry, but demons aren’t supposed to feel that sort of emotion. I can promise you that I like you, and that I find you attractive, but the word love is all but a cursed word, for my people…”

  Having released his member at this point, Esme runs her hands through his chest softly, attracting his gaze to rest against hers once more... The pain and disappointment in her clear brown eyes are evident in virtue of his answer, though she doesn’t seem exactly surprised.

  “Well… I guess I can understand your point of view, to some extent. I’ve been thinking, since the girls told me about your real identity, on what it all means… You being a demon, having lived for so long, and what your purpose here might be… Do you mind if we stop the horny stuff, for now?”

  Sincir sighs softly, but he doesn’t bme her for being turned off by his answer, and so he doesn’t push for it, moving off of her and falling against the pillow instead.

  “Sorry for turning you off… Now that I think on it, this is the first time we’ve had a chance to talk, since then. I can’t promise I’ll be able to stay awake for long, but I’ll answer your questions ,if I can…” he murmurs.

  To Sincir’s surprise, Esme moves and presses herself against his back, hugging his body and sighing as she does so. “Have you ever loved anyone before? Even once, during these past... Two thousand years? Fuck, is that really the number?”

  Should he tell her the truth…? Well, why not?

  “Yes… Only once. Her name was Ig'droren, and suffice to say, it was far from a pleasant experience.”

  “…Do you mind if I ask you what happened?”

  “No, it was long time ago… She ensved me, as well as many others, and in the end, I had to kill her with my own hands to free myself.”

  Esme shudders. “Shit... I’d ask how you came to love someone like that, but I know firsthand how impossible it is to control who you fall in love with… Case in point,” she says, while softly running her fingers against his naked thigh.

  Sincir grimaces. “I’ve killed for far less than being compared to that bitch, Esme… Though I suppose I do agree with you about love, however misguided your example might’ve been.”

  Esme cringes, then ughs. “Noted… How was it? Living in Hell?”

  “Hot. Harsh. Boring, more often than not, except for the sex.”

  Esme hums. “It’s hard to imagine a completely different reality... Well, from the things you say, I can tell you’ve done bad things before, but you don’t seem such a bad guy now, Sincir. What made you change your ways?”

  “Time, and introspection, I suppose… Killing enough of my enemies to realize there would never be an end to them, for as long as I continued to shed blood, and seeing enough of my friends die to grow used to it.”

  “…You’re not giving yourself much credit, but that’s really hard to do, isn’t it? Admitting you’ve done bad things, and changing for the better… Very few people get there after going down the wrong path… I’m sorry, do I sound conceited, saying these things when I’m barely a baby from your point of view?”

  “No… You’re wise, Esme. Wiser than you give yourself credit for…”

  “...Is it creepy to say I like your smell?” she murmurs, after a moment of silence.

  ...Should he tell her he doesn’t like to sleep while cuddling, like this…?

  No... Ig'droren is long dead, isn’t she? She cannot hurt him anymore, and it is about time he freed himself from her shackles.

  “…Esme?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I think… I think I might love you… Maybe?”

  Although he cannot see her, Sincir can all but feel her eyes rolling behind him. “Gee, thanks.”

  Sincir smiles, albeit tiredly. “Would you be mad if I said I also love Eleanor and Ena?”

  “Annoyed? Yes. Surprised? No.”

  “I guessed as much… Does that mean our date is canceled, now?”

  “Don’t you dare. I have a feeling it’ll become harder and harder to have you just for myself from now on, so I’ll take what I can.”

  “You’re amazing…”

  “I’m a pushover girlfriend, you mean…”

  As Sincir watches the crackling firepce, feeling Esme’s warmth against his body, his eyelids slowly begin to close… From her breathing, he can tell Esme is also not far from falling asleep.

  “…Sin?”

  “…Yes?”

  “...T-thank you.”

  Stupid girl... Is there a reason to cry over a bit of cuddling?