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Arc 2 Part 3

　For the next few days Pearluna tutored Vil on the basics of magic. She particularly focused on how to activate enchanted objects and how to deactivate them, as he requested. They still practiced on the heat stone and Pearluna had him practice on a glow stone and frost stone to give some variety.

　Vil was a good student, he may have been slow at first but with time he was grasping the concepts that Pearluna taught at a speed she found reasonable. The exercises did their job and Vil was almost performing the activations at the same speed she does. This pastime for the pair continued until one day when they were eating lunch at a cafe.

　As they were eating, a familiar landlord walked up to them. “There you two are.” He exclaimed. “I was looking for you both to tell you that the house is ready.”

　“Can we go see it?” Vil asked.

　“That’s why I’m here.” The naiad beckoned with his blue hand.

　The vampire and blacksmith immediately stood up and joined Reef on the walk to their new home. First, they returned to the inn to get their things, that being Vil’s large pack and Pearluna’s bag. When they got to their new house they could see the noticeable improvements. The windows were no longer cracked and the white paint was recoated. As they approached the front door was clearly replaced.

　“Go ahead.” Reef gestured for one of them to open the door. Vil took the invitation and opened it.

　What greeted them was an air of comfort now that the house was redone. The wooden floor was smooth with no splinters. The broken furniture were replaced. The couch and chairs in the living room were a dark green with no pattern.

　Pearluna immediately crouched to the floor and put her finger on it. When she lifted it, there was no dirt. “Your men even cleaned the place after putting in everything.” She commented.

　“Gotta be sanitary in your home.” Reef said proudly. “Made sure that there was no dirt anywhere once we finished. But I’m assuming the forge won’t be as clean once our blacksmith gets to work.” He teased Vil.

　Vil laughed. “I’ll try my best to not have your efforts go to waste.” Forges naturally get all kinds of things on the floor from the smoke and metal amongst other things.

　The group first went to the bedrooms upstairs to drop off their bags. Afterwards they found themselves in the kitchen. “So we stocked the kitchen with rice, eggs, and dried meat. It should last enough for you both to get acclimated and to buy your own food.” Reef opened the cabinets showing the food in question before turning to Vil. “The Mining Guild will be delivering the smelter, coal, and firewood tomorrow.”

　Vil nodded. “Thank you and please send our thanks to the crew that did a good job to the house.”

　“I’ll be sure to tell them.” The naiad bowed to the pair. “I got to get going. Enjoy your new home.” He let himself out after the last sentence.

　Now alone together, Pearluna looked at where the lamps in the house were. “I’m going to put glow stones in the lamps while we still have sunlight.” She started to move to the stairs and saw Vil following. “What about you?”

　“I’m going to setup my tools in the forge. I also have an idea for dinner.” Vil reached his bedroom door. “You need any help with the lamps in hard to reach places?”

　Vil saw himself glow blue and started to float a few centimeters off the floor. “You’re not the only one that can levitate objects you know.” Pearluna smiled softly at him before letting him down.

　Vil entered the forge with the tools he kept in his pack. Upon inspection the interior was cleaned up nicely. The forge itself had the cracks he mentioned fixed and the forge fan was next to it.

　Vil went over to where the tongs were. They were on a workbench with other tools. The blacksmith put his hammer alongside them with some measuring tools. He turned to the back door and saw that it was bigger so that pallets could be brought in and out.

　In a corner was what looked like large water heater with room under it for fire, a pipe that would lead the smoke outside, and water pipes leading in and out of the tank. ‘Must be where the hot water storage for the house is.’ Vil thought. ‘I should get some heat stones from Pearluna later. Don’t want to have a cold shower, especially in winter.’

　Before leaving the forge Vil placed his leather apron on the workbench to finalize the placement of his things. As he reached the door to the walkway to the house, He saw all the space for the shop part of the forge at the front. It was a lot of empty space for displaying. Satisfied with what he saw, Vil then pressed on to the house.

　As he entered the house, Vil saw Pearluna, without her witch hat levitating a glow stone into the last lamp in the kitchen. “You’re back. I just finished the downstairs.” The witch smiled at him. “I was thinking of taking a shower after I do the upstairs. You don’t have a problem with me entering your room, do you?” She waved a hand at the lamp and the stone inside started to glow.

　Vil shook his head. “I haven’t completely unpacked yet. Besides I have nothing to hide from you.”

　With a nod Pearluna made her way to the stairs before Vil called out. “Can you first pass me some heat stones? The water heater needs them along with the stove.”

　“One second.” The witch called back and went up the stairs. Moments later she returned with a bag of stones. She had been making more heat stones ever since Vil told her that he wanted to use them for the smelter.

　“Here and remember what I taught you.” She smiled softly before heading back upstairs to place more glow stones.

　Vil wasted no time heading back to the forge to start heating the water heater. He placed the stones where a fire should be and then stuck his hand out. His hand glowed red as he concentrated to activate the stones. The stones started to give off heat and began to glow red hot. Satisfied with his work, the blacksmith made his way back to the kitchen.

　In the kitchen, Vil placed heat stones where the flames would be for the stove. He got a pan and placed it on the stove and turned on the stones.

　As the pan was warming up, Vil got some eggs, dried meat, and rice out and placed them on the table. The dried meat were sausages.

　“This egg fried rice will be on the simpler side and I have no vegetables to use on it. I hope Pearluna likes it.” Vil muttered to himself. As he got to work, he heard the shower in Pearluna’s bathroom turn on.

　Pearluna had just finished putting glow stones in all of the lamps as she made her way to her bedroom, the master bedroom. She first unpacked more of her things such as cloths, skincare oils, bathroom supplies, and some small magical objects she has held onto.

　She locked her door and then threw off her clothing before entering the bathroom. As she walked onto the smooth tiles, she reached into the shower and turned it on. ‘Good, Vil was able to heat the water in time.’ She thought to herself as the water warmed up.

　Satisfied with the temperature she stepped in and enjoyed the hot shower as a reward for training Vil properly. The water felt very nice as it massaged her smooth skin and got into her long white hair.

　It didn’t take long before she stepped out of the shower, releasing a satisfied sigh. The vampire dried herself and applied some oils to her skin before entering her bedroom. Left on the bed was her kimono from her home in the Vampire Territories. An outfit that she wore when she was at home or in a place she was comfortable to call home.

　It was a simple night blue with no patterns. As the witch put it on, the smooth fabric slide on her skin. When she was finished putting it on, the kimono stopped above her knees.

　Pearluna fell back onto her bed. She hadn’t felt this comfortable in a while. Yes, she liked her witch outfit she made but that was for the outdoors. She hadn’t been able to hug herself like she does now and feel like she was under a blanket.

　The vampire then started to smell the cooking that Vil mentioned earlier. “I wonder what he came up with.” She opened a drawer and pulled out a heartfruit juice vial. With it in hand, Pearluna made her way downstairs to greet Vil.

　Vil was mixing the scrambled eggs, rice, and chopped sausage meat. The pan sizzled as the ingredients were cooks. As the smell got strong enough and the food looked cooked, Vil lifted the pan off the stove.

　Using his affin, two bowls and two spoons floated to the table he approached. Once he reached the table he started to fill the bowls with the egg fried rice he made. Scrapping the last of the food out of the pan, moved to place the pan into the sink.

　“So egg fried rice.” Vil turned to see Pearluna in a dark blue kimono. “I like that, it’s a good home feeling food.”

　Vil heard her words but failed to respond. He was taking in the sight the vampire in the kimono. His eyes traveled from her bare feet and legs up to meeting her eyes. He saw her smile teasingly and then she spun around and then stopped. “You like what you see?”

　The blacksmith could feel his cheeks turning red. Doing his best to keep a calm smiling face he replied. “You look great.” He then gestured to the food on the table. “Shall we?”

　The pair sat across from each other and dug into the food. The egg fried rice was good to both of them. However, they were both eating in silence.

　Pearluna saw that Vil’s ember colored eyes were looking anywhere but her. But the red on his cheeks did not disappear. ‘He likes me that way.’ She thought to herself. ‘He’s nice and if he asked I am willing to try. What’s stopping him?’

　Not wanting the silence to continue, the vampire decided to take initiative and hopefully encourage the young man. She swallowed and put her spoon in her bowl. “You find me attractive.” It was a statement not a question.

　Vil froze as he just put a scoop of food into his mouth. He slowly put he spoon back into his bowl as he chewed. Eventually he swallowed. “Yes, I do.” He sounded like he was admitting to committing a crime.

　Pearluna smiled softly at him, trying to make him not feel embarrassed. “Is it wrong for you too?”

　Vil took a drink of water from his cup. “We are now living together and we are working together. After the two times we had to share a bed, I wanted to do my best to not make things awkward between us. I don’t want it to look like I approached you only because you were pretty.”

　“But you still want to try dating me.” The vampire opened her heartfruit juice vial and drank the contents. “My mother told me that she was nervous to pursue my father. But a friend told her that it’s better to at least try because it would be worse to live with the regret of not trying at all.”

　Vil got the message she was conveying. Just give it an attempt and if it doesn’t work out between them, no hard feelings. He took a deep breath and made eye contact with the witch. “Pearluna, would you like to be in a relationship with me?” He bowed his head at the end.

　He heard a soft giggle from her. Then he felt her arms wrap around him from behind. Her head rested on his right shoulder. “All you had to do was ask.” She said softly.

　After she let go, Vil noticed that they both finished eating. “So what happens now?”

　Pearluna then picked up the dirty dishes and utensils. “I’ll clean these and then meet you on the couch.”

　Vil let her do as she pleased. When he sat on the couch he placed his pen and paper on a clipboard on the coffee table. He then used his affin to have the quill float and start drawing on the paper.

　He then felt Pearluna sit next to him. “That was fast. How did…” His question died as he saw her make sparks fly from her hand to light the fireplace. “Right magic. Didn’t know you could use it to clean.”

　“You learn a lot of things at the academy. Most students however focus on combat than utility.” The vampire smiled.

　She then started to reposition from sitting to laying back on the couch. She then gestured to her chest. “Come on, lie down.” She invited.

　Vil let her take the lead. First he had the quill be placed down next to the paper. Then he slowly leaned back towards Pearluna. His head found itself on her chest. Her kimono felt very nice. It was soft to the touch. He could even feel her breasts and did his best to not make any sudden moves to hopefully not offend her.

　“People in relationships just need to enjoy the presence of one another.” Pearluna explained. She reached her hand out and a book that was on the table glowed blue before floating to her hand. “Just enjoy moments like these.” She opened her book and started silently reading. She was reading a spell book.

　Vil gently turned to the side and made the quill float again. He continued drawing a blueprint for something he had in mind to help him in the forge. It had wooden gears and had a solid steel cylinder that looked like it could only go up and down.

　As the pair lay like this with their own activities, Pearluna eventually let out a yawn. Vil could see a window and saw that it was already night. He moved to sit up.

　“See that wasn’t so bad now, was it?” Pearluna smiled at him. She was right. Just being in that position with her felt amazing. He didn’t realize that he could feel so comfortable laying on a couch just because he was with her.

　“No it wasn’t.” He replied to her. After she got up from the couch she hugged him.

　“See nothing to be afraid of.” She said before they released each other from the embrace.

　The pair went upstairs to their own bedrooms after bidding each other good night.