Vex giggled. "Hohoho. Looks like you stole another heart, Theo."

"Wait.." Val turned to Vex, unamused by her joke. "You know him, Vex?"

Vex nodded. "I know him." She then glanced Theo. "Very well." She licked her lips, causing Theo to shiver.

"Good, that will make everything go smoothly." Val said, ignoring her innuendo.

Vex sighed. "Fine, fine. Let's return to our tent."

Theo, Vivi, and Lyana entered the Miracle member's tent. Ed returned first to his own tent to rest after the battle. He was exhausted and on the brink of collapsing. Even Val didn't want to push him much further than that.

The Miracle's tent was, of course, much bigger and much better looking than other tents, including Theo's. Inside were two other members of Miracle that doesn't participate in the battle.

One was a ninja, who covered all her skin with a black cloth except the eyes. She was standing next to a table with a map on it. Her blue pupils moved toward Theo and his group as he entered the tent. It was a cold eye without any emotion, as expected from an assassin.

The other member was sleeping on the bed. She was a harpy, which was surprising. Her kind was considered to be a monster and for the most part, that was true. While appearing mostly human, her kind often lacked the intelligence that made them different from mere monsters, but exception did exist.

Her face and torso were that of a human, but her hair was blue feather with yellow on its base, not too dissimilar to that of exotic birds found in the Northern land. A pair of wing sprouted from her back, and instead of human legs, she had talons. There was also some feather growing from the back of her ears.

Seeing her made Theo wonder how would the feather feels like when they were having sex. Would it feel like a beast-kin fur, a blanket, or would it feel different from any of that? He made a note in his mind, but he couldn't make a plan yet because he lacked information about Harpy relationship.

They sat on a table with Vex and her teams on the opposite side. While Theo and Vex knew each other, their team barely knew the other team.

"Okay Theo, to begin, let us formally introduce our team. I am Vex the leader of the Miracle." Said Vex. "This is Kanetsugu Tomoe, but you can call her Tomoe." Tomoe bowed her head as Vex introduced her. She didn't raise her head after that for some reason. "There's Alesi Valera Sanna or Val for short. Then there is Brylia Mjevon, you can call her Bry." A smile appeared on Bry's face and she made a small wave with her hand. "The ninja is Alina Gisele. You can call her anything you want." She looked at the sleeping member. "She's Sistina."

Theo smiled with the most charming smile he got. "Nice to meet you all. I'm Theo. This is Lyana, this is Vivi, and my friends that aren't here is Edmund, or Ed for short."

"So Val. What do you want to talk with him about?" Vex asked.

"I want to talk with him in private. Just the two of us. The rest of you should wait outside the tent."

"Oh. And why is that?" Vex was still trying to tease her.

Valera stared at her with cold eyes, showing that there was no compromise in her terms. Vex sighed and nodded before walking to Sistina and carried the sleeping Harpy outside. Sistina herself didn't seem to be bothered or disturbed at all and slept all the way. "Well, Theo, I'm going out first." She smirked again. "Have fun."

The rest of her party followed suit. Vivi and Lyana looked at Theo. Theo gave a nod in agreement. They left the tent, leaving only Theo and Val inside.

When Lyana and Vivi came out, Vex was already waiting for them with a smirk on her face. The rest of the Miracle was nowhere to be seen. "So, you're Theo's newest addition to his harem?" She asked.

Vivi nodded while Lyana shook her head. "I'm not his woman."

Vex's gaze moved to Lyana and she walked to her. Her lewd smile looked awfully similar to Theo's. "How can that be? I don't think Theo will waste someone as beautiful as you." The closer Vex walked, the more intimidating she seemed, causing Lyana to take a step back.

Vex pushed Lyana to a wooden pole and leaned over her. "Do you... maybe, prefer women?" Vex asked while rubbing Lyana's cheek.

"N-no I, I prefer men over women." Lyana answered.

"Oh. But you don't say you don't like women." Vex leaned closer.

"I-I'm straight."

Vex placed her face right in front of Lyana, almost touching her. "I too once was a straight woman. Women are..... An acquired taste." Lyana turned her face away from Vex and closed her eyes.

"HAHAHAHA!"A laugh erupted from Vex's mouth. When Lyana opened her eyes again, Vex was already walking away from her while laughing. "God damn! Now I know why Theo hasn't claimed you yet." Vex said. She looked at Vivi. "How about you girl? Want to have some fun with me?"

Vivi chuckled. "Thanks. But no, thanks. I don't swing that way."

Vex raised her brows. "Really? What a shame."

"Y-you!" Lyana called her. "What is your relation with Theo?"

Vex turned and looked at Lyana, then she smirked. "Jealous?"

"No! It's just..." Lyana gaze wandered. The thing Vex did was the exact same trick Theo used on her when they were in the forest.

Vex sighed. She has seen the expression on Lyana 's face countless time on countless other women. She knew that telling her to be honest with her feeling wouldn't do any good. "I met with Theo six years ago." Vex said. She sat on the ground and signaled Lyana and Vivi to sit too. "Back then, I was a mercenary wandering around the Free Cities near the forbidden forest to the north."

Lyana and Vivi sat in front of Vex. Theo always avoided telling stories about his mercenary years, so hearing about it was something they wouldn't want to miss.

"I was camping alone next to the woods after a job. It was....during the night, I think. I don't really remember the detail. Theo suddenly appeared from the forbidden forest. He was limping to my camp. His whole body full of wounds, his armor was full of holes, and his eyes were blank, he had lost his will to live. He was a really different person than He is now." Vex smiled. "Part of it is because of me, of course. No need to thank."

Vex looked to the sky and to Mount Etna. "Yeah, that was during the night. Starless night, just like this one. With a streak of red in the distance that I even mistook for the dawn. Anyway, he passed out when he reached my camp. I don't have any obligation to help him, but he is handsome as hell and his dick is huge." Vex chuckled. "So I saved his life. But... like I said before, he already lost his will to live. When he woke up, he just sat there in silence. He didn't eat, he didn't speak. He didn't answer any question. But I am a stubborn person. I force fed him and I ask him questions, even when he's not answering. Until I hit the right question. 'Where is your family? Your mother? Your father?'. He cried after that. God, his face is so cute that time. After that, he started speaking to me, he started answering my question. I thought that the problem was solved. But it was not. He tried to kill himself a few days after that."

"Wait, if you are someone so important in his life. How come he never tells anyone about you?" Lyana asked.

Vex's eyes went wide. "What?! He never tells anyone?"

"No. As far as I know."

Vex stood up. "That ungrateful bastard! I will fucking punish him."

Lyana grabbed her. "Wait! What happened next?"

Vex looked at her and sat down again. "Well, I stopped him. Then he tried again. I stopped him again. I asked him, why? He said that he has no reason to live anymore, he has no purpose. He has his father last will, but after thinking for some time, he couldn't understand what his father last will was. And even if he did understand, what good would it do? His mother was dead, his father too, and he has no friend that was still alive. The only thing he has left was a little sister. Far away and better without him."

"Wait, what?" Lyana and Vivi asked at the same time. "He has a little sister?"

"He never told you?" Vex asked. "Wow... Yes, he has a little sister, but he rarely talked about her except that he missed her, and that he thought she would be better without him in her life. So, after he told me that I gave him a new.... Things to enjoy in life. I gave him the taste of ... me."

"You're his first?" Vivi asked.

"First? No. But he was not the sex maniac before he met me. After doing it with me a few times, he got addicted to it. So yeah, I gave him a new goal in life. Women, power, and some other things" Her face turned solemn. "I thought that it was what he wanted, what he needed, but it wasn't. It was only a distraction so that he didn't kill himself. At the same time, I sent him on a path that leads to many troubles. "Vex looked down." I'm glad that he finally found a new purpose in the Mary girl. He truly has changed, for the better." She sighed and looked at Lyana and Vivi. "I don't know why I'm telling you all this. I never tell it to anyone."

Vex stood up and cleaned her legs. "Well, I still have to punish him for not telling about me to anyone."

"Wait." Lyana stopped her once more. "Do you-" She looked away, her cheek red. "uh...Love him?"

"Love?" Vex chuckled. "I don't know. I definitely care for him and I see him as more than just a friend. But love? I don't know." Vex walked to her tent. "Val! Stop kissing him, I'm coming in!"

---------

A few minutes earlier.

"And what do you want with me, Val?" He asked. He didn't expect for any sudden development to happen, but if she somehow confesses her love with him then there was no complain. He laughed internally at the impossible thought.

"Don't act all familiar with me. What are you?"

Theo raised his brows. "What am I? I'm a human."

She stood up and slammed her fist on the table. "Bullshit! There's no way a normal human could have those kinds of people in his party."

"Isn't Vex a human?"

She climbed on the table and pointed her finger at him. "Don't try to change the subject! What does she have to do with anything?"

"She has a dark elf, a rare species on the continent. Then she has an intelligent harpy in her team. What makes her so different than me?"

She grabbed his collar and put her face right in front of him. "What so different?! Are you stupid or blind? A demon! A human from another world! And a fucking Dragon! Dark Elf and Harpy can't be compared to that!"

"I'm a human. Nothing more, and that dragon is not A dragon. He's a human, though he is THE Dragon." Theo said, purposefully making his answer confusing.

Valera gritted her teeth, hard. Such that Theo could hear it grinding against each other. "Are taking me for a fool?!"

"He has the Blood of Dragon."

"B-blood of what?!"

"Dragon blood. A human born with the power of Dragon, and he also has a class 5 [Magic]."

Look of confusion became more apparent on Valera's face. It was a face of disbelief and denial. "I-Impossible! A human body couldn't possibly contain a dragon power, even the owner of Class 5 [magic]. If someone like that exists, I would have known it!"

No matter how hard Theo tried to make it easier for her to understand, the fact was, it was not easy to understand. More so considering how experienced and knowledgeable she seemed. She denied and refused to believe anything Theo said that didn't match up with what she knew.

'Damn elf. Why won't you believe anything I said?'

"Could you calm down for a second?!" Theo had run out of patience.

"No Way! Not until you explain everything t-" A message interrupted Val.

[Heartbeat: Deus Ex Machina]

Her eyes opened wide in shock. Her heart stopped beating, then in the next second, it beated so hard and rapid that it almost exploded. Every drop of blood in her veins flowed upward to her face, causing it to light like a stove.

While her head was boiling, her mind froze. 'What is happening?' That thought appeared in her mind a hundred thousand times.

Theo was surprised when Val stopped moving. He didn't know what was happening. "Val, are you alright?" He asked.

Theo's voice brought Val back to reality. A reality, so much different than the previous one. The man sitting in front of her, who she thought was annoying and untrustworthy, has changed so much.

His eyes, his nose, his cheekbone, his hair, his lips, his face, his body, his worried expression. Everything was too much for Val's heart to bear.

The gear on Val's head moved again. She jumped back, trying to get away from Theo. But she miscalculated her jump and fell to the floor. She bit her thumb, trying to make her mind clear. While it worked, all the blood rushing to her brain made it clouded and fuzzy.

There was only one explanation for all the symptoms she was having. She was hit with charm spell, or a miracle, or a curse that worked like.

"W-what should I do?!" She shouted. She was panicking. The entirety of her mind was filled with Theo and everything good about him, leaving no room for her to think. "A-A-Ah, S- [Check Status]" She cast it on herself, hoping to find the cause of her strange condition. Yet, there was nothing strange. She couldn't find anything wrong with herself. She wasn't charmed, or tricked, or cursed. She was perfectly fine.

"Val!" Theo shouted while he approached her.

Val panicked again. While she didn't know what caused it, she knew that it has something to do with Theo. "N-no! G-get aw-...." She stopped the moment Theo came into her field of vision. Despite her mind telling her that she should get away from him, her heart told her the opposite. She didn't want him to go. She wanted to look him, admire his whole being.

Drool started to drip from the edge of her opened mouth, blood from her nose, and tears from her eyes.

She covered her gaping mouth. 'So handsome~' She thought. She knew that her mind wasn't right. She was scared. In her long life, she has never felt anything like this before.

"Val." Theo called and reached his hand out. His voice was heavenly for her. A calm and soothing voice that washed away all doubt and fear from her heart.

The moment Theo's finger touched her skin, a shock of electricity ran from her skin to her brain. It was a blissful feeling she has never felt before in her life, an ecstasy.

It was the last push needed to push her over the edge. Her eyes rolled back and her mind went dark. She fainted.

"What the fuck?!" Theo said when Val's body fell to the ground.

He stood up and rubbed his chin. He recognized the look in Val's eyes, it was the look of a maiden mad in love. Though the circumstance was too bizarre for him to just accept it. He was happy of course, but she turned from annoyed to madly in love in just a three seconds. How and why?

Theo remembered about his new Charm skill. One that randomly made someone fall in love with him. When he first saw it, He thought the process would be gradual and slow, but the truth was different. The skill was so sudden and explosive. No wonder Val fainted.

Theo looked at the unconscious Val. She has a pretty face with her dark brown skin. Not to mention that her white hair gave a nice contrast to her skin. His gaze moved towards her body. Her breast was small, and her butt and hips weren't anything special.

'Not bad.' Theo thought. Even though her appearance wasn't special, her power was another matter entirely. She was the strongest member of the Miracle and was many considered her to be among top 20 strongest mages on the continent.

Theo smiled a lecherous smile.