Chapter 436: Loyal follower
Idan watched in complete amazement as the two girls chatted.
He was particularly struck by Hailey's behavior. As soon as she saw Arabel, she immediately started praising her like a loyal follower. Idan also noticed how she addressed Arabel, calling her Miss.
Then Hailey's gaze settled on Idan again, and instead of the previous strange expression, he saw admiration and even some worship in her eyes.
"What's going on here?" asked Idan.
"I'll explain everything on the way," Arabel said, watching his reaction with a smile.
"Hailey, we want to return to the capital," Arabel addressed the girl.
"Yes, I already know, — Hayley replied. "Our plane is ready and waiting at the airport."
"A plane?" wondered Idan. "The Jet?"
"Yeah, that's the one," Hailey nodded, then hesitantly looked at Arabel. "The girls will also join us; I hope the Miss doesn't mind?"
"No, I don't mind," Arabel said bluntly, without showing the slightest displeasure.
"Okay, then let's hit the road," Hailey suggested, opening the backseat door. Arabel nodded and got into the SUV without any questions, and Idan followed her.
As soon as the couple took their seats in the car, Hayley closed the door behind them. Then she got behind the wheel, started the SUV and drove smoothly towards the airport.
"Well, don't you want to explain yourself now?" Idan asked Arabel, using their mental link.
"You can ask openly, Dan," Arabel said aloud. "Hailey, even if she hears something that doesn't concern her, she won't betray us. She is our most loyal follower."
"Since when?" wondered Idan.
"Ever since you tricked me into getting into a jet by switching places with me," Arabel said with a grin.
"In such a short time, were you able to make Hailey your follower?"— Idan could not hide his surprise and admiration. It hadn't even been ten minutes since they switched places, and she had already returned to him along with the rest of the girls from the Red Fox Guild.
"Wait a minute, is that why she wasn't with the others then? Did you do something to her?" guessed Idan.
"Well, Hailey and I didn't have a good conversation right away, — Arabel began. "She immediately introduced herself to me as your girlfriend, although I think I'm your girlfriend, right?"
"Ahem, — Hailey cleared her throat awkwardly as she drove after hearing Arabel's words.
Idan and Arabel looked at Hailey for a moment, then turned their attention back to each other, and Arabel continued:
"I had to subdue her and punish her a little for her audacity."
"Hehe, — Hailey laughed sheepishly.
"I used my newfound strength, tied her up with my hair, and spanked her hard, just like Big Sister Sierra taught me."
"Cough cough," Idan almost choked on his saliva after hearing Arabel's confession, while Hailey blushed with embarrassment.
"No matter how hard Hailey tried, she couldn't resist, and eventually burst into tears," Arabel continued. "And thus, I may have accidentally destroyed her pride."
"You have to understand me, Dan. I was a little on edge then, and I know I went a little overboard," Arabel admitted, but Idan did not see any remorse in her words.
"And? How come she became your follower after that?" asked Idan with some doubts. Idan couldn't imagine how a girl like Hailey could lower her head and acknowledge someone as her boss.
"Well, I realized that I was behaving incorrectly, and as soon as she stopped crying, I let her go."
Arabel then paused to look at Hailey.
"After that, I do not know exactly what happened. It was as if something had switched in Hailey's head. Instead of hostility, she started looking at me with admiration," Arabel said. "I felt a little uneasy, and I even wondered if she was a masochist."
Hayley, driving the SUV, was shaking all over, didn't know what to do.
"Damn the System, you made me look like a masochist!" Hailey mentally resented, turning to her System.
"While I was at a loss, she offered to become my follower. And before I could say anything, she had already said the oath of loyalty," Arabel recalled that very moment. "Following that, I received a notification from the System that the Dragon System had pledged allegiance to our System, becoming its loyal follower."
"The Dragon system?" — Idan's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"Yes, imagine, Hailey has just such a System," Arabel replied with a smile. "That's why she has such an unusual proud personality, and one of her eyes resembles the eye of a dragon."
"Are you saying that..." Idan began, roughly understanding what Arabel was talking about, but before he could ask a question, Arabel interrupted him.
"Yes, Hailey is slowly turning into a dragon," Arabel nodded. "I asked the System back then and found out that bloodline potions can be used not only by us, but also by other System Hosts."
"Simply put, I received confirmation that we can help Hailey transform into a dragon painlessly and quickly," Arabel shared, and this solved Idan's question about when and how Arabel found out about it.
"And so, when Hailey said the oath of loyalty, and her System became a follower of our System, she screamed in pain, clutched her head, fell and lost consciousness, convulsing," Arabel continued.
"You should have seen how the other five girls looked at me in horror, thinking that I was the one who did this to Hailey, when in fact it was her own System that almost fried her brains," Arabel said with a cheerful laugh. "Just like our System did to us."
"Why did her System do this to her?" wondered Idan, finding Hailey's System's action strange.
"Because of our System, Dan," Arabel confessed, sharing what she had been keeping secret, waiting for this exact moment.
"Thanks to this incident, I learned that the System that chose the two of us as its Hosts, although we don't know much about it ourselves, seems to be quite well-known among other Systems."
"Our System is so famous that Hailey's System, after it took the oath of loyalty and established contact with our System, having learned her name, title and uniqueness, lost control of herself for a moment, issued an error and went to reboot," Arabel continued to share the amazing discovery of their own System.
"Because Hailey had a deep connection to her System, which had already begun to change her race, she was hit back by her own System."