"You're finally here, I was waiting for so long," walking down the stairs of the tavern, Moriyana dressed in a casual nightgown, called out to Haruki and his harem.
Rubbing her eyes from drowsiness, she hadn't noticed what was happening and had no clue about the wasteful display of wealth from her master. Finally, as her eyes adjusted to the light again, she squinted at her master with a childish pout.
'I almost forgot that I sent her to vet this place first.' With the responsibility of holding the illusion pushed onto puppets created by Fay's experiments, Moriyana was once again free to roam about and so Haruki wanted to include her in the vacation as well.
Walking towards Haruki with his eyes fixed on Moriyana, the short-bearded owner of the establishment broke the awkward silence.
"Oh, miss Moriyana, you should've mentioned that your friend who was arriving is royalty! We could've made some special preparations!" Not shy to hide his excitement, the owner seemed more than willing to put some extra effort to secure Freya as a patron.
"We're not just friends," Haruki mumbled.
The owner glanced up at his frame and was seemingly confused by his words.
"Anyways, where is my booze, mister?" Turning her gaze to the owner, Moriyana reminded him of a request she'd made before taking a nap. "I said I wanted it as soon as my friend was here."
Having been asked for booze by two guests, both of whom were at least acquaintances, the owner decided to quickly go out and bring it out of them.
"Madam…" Although he wanted to ask Haruki about the quantity he needed, not knowing his name made his mind freeze mid-sentence.
"Freya, Freya thunderbird," Haruki let him know.
"Okay Miss Freya, how much booze do you need?" Watching him smile at his question, the owner didn't know what to expect.
"Enough to fill the largest bath in this city," at first he couldn't believe his ear, but turning his head to see the kind of procession she'd just had, the owner simply nodded and rushed off to the brewer.
In the meantime, a pair of workers had Haruki wait at the reception while they made special preparations for him and his servants. Trying to pass the time, Moriyana began everything he'd pulled after entering the city so far. And even though it made her a bit rageful that he was wasting so much gold, she couldn't really get mad since he was still technically here to work.
"I wish Fay and Rose would've joined us too, but both of them are busy taking care of their children," with that final exchange between Moriyana and him, the workers came downstairs to take Haruki to his special room.
Brought to a somewhat dainty yet decently sized room, he was shown the hastily installed luxuries, From a massive queen bed to the dressing table with loads of cosmetics which were definitely left behind by other patrons, there was more than enough for everyone to squeeze around each other and get some comfortable shut-eye.
Impressed by the place, Freya handed the two workers each a pouch filled with gold so they would quickly leave them alone. A brief moment after they were gone, Asuka shut the door closed on Haruki's demand while the others threw themselves on the bed.
Haruki himself on the other hand, went straight to the dressing table and began undoing the tight feminine clothes. Drenched in sweat from the layers of cloth, leather, and ornaments, he undid them one by one before throwing them into a portal pocket.
"Who's idea was to make me wear these earrings?" Taking the earnings off, he was reminded of Michael for a moment. "Is it a status symbol or something? I saw Michael wearing them too."
Putting the earring away, Haruki stripped off all his clothes to feel less warm. Hearing a knock on the door by one of the demon servants who'd carried the carriage, Asuka opened up the room and took their luggage out of his hands.
"You're all free to head back into master's land, don't cause any trouble!" Shutting the door in his face, she turned around to see Haruki laying on the bed with the other women surrounding him from all sides.
Although a bit jealous, Asuka took out a nightgown for them all so they could head to the bath without driving any suspicion toward Freya's true identity.
"Master, wear this," holding a long nightgown with intricate floral patterns, Asuka urged Haruki to put it on.
"Really?" He mumbled, his eyes shut tight from drowsiness.
"Yeah, we can't let anyone know about your identity, especially when we're out of the demon kingdom," not listening to any excuse, Asuka snapped her fingers and made Lulu spring out from the bedsheets and slide all the women out of the bed.
"Ouch!"
"What was that for?"
"I wasn't flirting with him, I'm just waiting for my booze dammit!"
Ignoring their cries, Asuka had Lulu pull her master up on his feet so she could dress him herself.
"Just so you know," opening his tired eyes, Haruki mumbled. "If it wasn't so fucking funny to fool these idiots about who I am, I wouldn't never in a thousand years wear these clothes."
Even saying that statement made him chuckle. Asuka on the other hand was stern fully determined to get him dressed quickly. From her uptight attitude, it was no surprise that she was somewhat frustrated by having to share her master with other women. And yet given her strong affection for her master, she couldn't burden him with her emotional insecurities.
"Asuka…" Finally picking up on her tense body language, Haruki grabbed her by the arms and pulled her up. "Relax a little, we won't have many chances like this in the future I'm sure."
Tired of the constant chaos that had plagued her master's life, she pressed her head against Haruki. With her face buried in his chest, she wrapped her hands around his body to just let off all the steam straining her mind. Watching it all unfold, Athena and Alice for once felt some amount of true compassion reflecting out of their new master. It made them feel hopeful for their people's treatment under his reign even if he was a disguised demon under that human mask.
"I love you master," and those words spoken by Asuka, a demi-human just like them, assured them of that future.
"I love you all, but maybe I do have a favorite," He replied with a warm smile.
"That's not fair," said Margarette from the back.
"Yeahhh…You're stealing my master from me," added Riley.
Moriyana simply jumped the two as a rebuttal, making them fall over Asuka's back.
"You always forget about me!" Complaining while sitting on top of the two, Moriyana complained.
'I've…made a mistake.' Thought Haruki, and he was right.
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