NOVEL WEB Chapter 20 – Back to business
Mid-afternoon comes. Nova uncomfortably sits with a pillow under her butt in front of her desk, irritatedly writing down a more straight-to-the-point version of the letter that her orc master effusively dictates.
"...So, to put it short, you guys should come here and give it a try! Their pussies feel amazing and they would treat you very nicely. Sincerely, Orok Stonefist." He finally concludes the invitation to the succubus cave directed at his old mercenary acquaintances. "There, done! Remember to send it tomorrow."
"Yeah, yeah..." Nova grunts, folding the piece of paper into a square and sliding it inside an envelope, then softly licking the upper part to seal it up. "...Ugh, I don't know why you waste time doing this for those annoying little idiots..."
"Ouch, my feelings~." Pink snorts at the girl's comment, relaxing on the sweaty, fluid-drenched bed nearby. "At least we aren't bitchy, lanky snobs with weird ears like you elves are..."
"What did you said!?" Nova angrily grunts, glaring over her shoulder at the succubus.
"Hey. No fighting." Orok says, grabbing one of Nova's pointy ears and giving it a rough yank, making her yelp. "And I do it because succubi are cool and they are my friends." He smirks. "Gahahaha, you would understand if you had friends..."
"For your information, I have lots of friends." The elf frowns.
"Yeah? Like who?"
"W-well, uh... You, I guess... A-and... that girl back in Garro who sells flowers... What was her name?"
"Heh." Pink mockingly chuckles.
"What are you laughing at!?" Nova says with a scowl on her face, standing up from her chair and sternly pointing a finger toward the succubus... Then immediately feeling her knees buckle and her well-used butt ache, ridiculously falling back on her seat. "Ow..."
"Gah, you girls need to get along better." The orc sighs. "I'm going to take a walk around the city, when I come back I want to see both of you being friends. Maybe doing sexy stuff or something, Gahahaha."
"Wait, you are going to leave me alone with her!? She is-" Nova tries to complain, but the orc interrupts her by placing a finger over her lips.
"Shh, I've already made up my mind. Like it or not, you two are going to become best buddies!"
"Sure, why not. If that's what you want..." Pink casually talks, sliding out of bed with a laid-back smile on her lips. "I'll charm this elf with my superior social skills!"
Nova grabs the orc's wrist and makes him remove his thick finger from her pouty lips. "...Ugh, fine, whatever... But instead of just lazing around and scratching your ass, you should do your job."
"Booooooringgggggg." He rolls his eyes. "I'll rather scratch my ass."
The elf assistant ignores the childish display, searching through her pile of organized papers. "You need to find the captain of the military and show her this..." She hands her master a small map of the area around Garro, annotations and circled spots scribbled all around it. "These are the parts of our borders that the elders are looking to reinforce with human soldiers. It would be nice to get her opinions on it... J-just do that and come back here to tell me, okay? Don't negotiate anything, leave that part to me."
"Oh! The captain! That's the hot musclegirl I told you about!" The orc excitedly says to the succubus standing close.
"Well, whatchu waiting for, then?" Pink amusedly shows off a toothy smile. "Go get that musclepussy!"
"Gahahaha, right! See you two in a bit~." Orok hurriedly grabs the map off Nova's hands and darts out of the room. The elf sighs and removes her glasses to tiredly rub her eyes.
"...Soooooooo, we are supposed to socialize... What's your favorite color?" Pink asks after some minutes of awkward silence, just the two of them left in the suite. Nova sighs again.
Captain Juliette sits over one of the many wooden fences surrounding the training grounds, wiping her greatsword with a worn piece of cloth as she supervises the last daily exercises that the soldiers under her command are carrying out.
She slides the rag over the sharp iron until she is able to see her own reflection on it, sighing at the sight of her deep frown, her thick eyebrows... and that ugly scar on her cheek... Since that orc did those l-lewd things to her, she has been so self-conscious about her appearance... Being seen as gruff, mannish, or intimidating never seemed like a problem, they were actually attributes a warrior should be proud of... But... Is it bad wanting to be seen as a woman once in a while...?
After making sure her men aren't looking in her direction, Juliette curiously examines her reflection again, pushing her lips into a girly pout and making her pale blue eyes big and doe-like, imitating an innocent maiden... Ugh, t-that looks grotesque...
"Gahahaha, what were you doing?" Orok suddenly ask, standing in front of her with his head tilted to the side. "You looked cute, though. Do that face again!"
Taken off-guard, the blonde almost falls from the fence. "I-I don't know what you are talking about!" She nervously splutters, pinkness appearing on her cheeks as she lowers herself to the ground and starts trotting away as hurriedly as possible, carrying her greatsword over her shoulder.
"H-hey, where are you going!?" The orc follows behind her. "I just want to talk."
"I'll get in trouble if I'm seen with you. P-please leave me alone."
"Trouble...? What do you mean?"
Juliette halts her escape with a grunt, turning around and cautiously gazing at both of her sides before talking. "T-the princess. She said she would expel me from Malena if she saw me with you, remember? I think-"
"Gaaaaaaaahhhhhh, you are right. That cockblocking little brat!" The orc angrily stomps his foot against the ground, clenching his fists as he decidedly walks back into the direction he came from. "I'll fix this."
"...Huh...?" Juliette confusedly watches him leave.
The orc ambassador frenetically makes his way through the castle, furious expression plastered on his animalistic face. "Oliviaaaaaaa! Oliviaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" He loudly calls for the royal advisor.
"A bit more to the right..." The mature woman says to a worker mounted on a ladder and about to hang a painting on a wall of the cozy common room of the castle. "There! Wonderful. Now you-" She is suddenly interrupted as she finally hears the deep voice insistently calling her name in the hallways outside. "Uh... yes, I'm here."
The door of the room rudely swings open with a slam and the orc quickly enters.
"Ambassador. Good afternoon." The woman softly smiles with a polite nod of her head. "My husband told me what you did. Fabulous work. You effortlessly managed to secure an alliance with-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm really cool. I know." He cuts her short. "Where is the princess?"
"The... princess...?" Oliva's smile gradually drops and her expression turns into a puzzled one. "If you don't mind me asking, what kind of business do you have with her, ambassador?"
"That's private."
"I see..." Olivia silently looks at the orc's eyes for a few seconds... then clasps her hands on her front and serenely smiles yet again. "I won't pry any further, then... Princess Francesca must be in her room right now, you just have to climb the stairs to the very top and go towards the purple door. It's impossible to miss."
"Gahaha, thanks!" He smirks, hurriedly walking away.
"Of course." Olivia says, her fake smile dropping once more as the orc leaves. "...What is he planning...?" She slowly mumbles to herself, rubbing her chin.
"Uh, Madam?" The worker holding the painting against the wall tries to get her attention.
"Oh!" She turns towards the man again. "I apologize for the wait. You can hang it right there."
