Jake stared at the elf for several seconds as his brain tried to process what she had just said.

“Mistress like the others.”

When the hell had he gotten any mistresses!? Why would she even think he had any to begin with?

Few questions truly stumped him, but this one just didn’t make any sense, as it was rooted in non-existent reasoning. He hadn’t even adequately processed the question as he just muttered out:

“I have mistresses?”

Now it was Meira’s turn to look confused back at him. She stared at his face for several seconds before finally speaking.

“You know… the others.”

“Who?” Jake asked, more confused than ever and genuinely curious.

“I… the ones you talked about,” Meira tried to clarify, only making Jake more confused. Had Eversmile decided to take Jake’s form to fuck with Meira, who would then fuck with Jake in turn?

Jake tried to calm himself down and get to the bottom of this. “Who are these people you think are my… mistresses.”

Just saying the word felt wrong.

“You know… the witch you have mentioned so many times… Miranda…” Meira said nervously.

“She works for me, and our relationship is strictly professional,” Jake said stoically.

“Then… then miss Scarlett, the-“

“Fangirl at most. Definitely not,” Jake shot it down.

“The other alchemist woman…. Reika, she-“ Meira tried

“Is the descendant of a friend, and she too is also just a friend.”

“Irin…?”

“Nothing there,” Jake said. Not yet, at least…

“Syl-“

“No!” Jake practically yelled. Fuck no.

“I-“ Meira said, a bit scared at Jake’s outburst. “Then… then…”

Meira seemed to realize something then. Jake saw the look of realization in her eyes, making Jake feel a sense of relief.

“I apologize; I failed to realize…” Meira began as her head turned red from embarrassment. Jake nodded, happy that she had-

“Draskil?”

Jake just stared at her. His look alone made her shrink in her seat, as she seemed to understand. “I… I don’t…”

“Meira,” Jake said before she began spitballing even more names. “I don’t have any mistresses. Zero. Nada. Of any sex or gender. Which begs the question… why the hell do you think I do?”

It took several seconds with Meira just staring at him before anything happened. Then she seemed almost relieved as she breathed out a huge sigh. Before promptly shifting back to nervous realization. “Does that mean Lord Thayne isn’t interested in-“

“I never said that either,” Jake clarified quickly. “I am just not… interested in that kind of serious thing or any labels. Or to get involved in that entire dynamic. That doesn’t mean I am not interested, and I do have someone I am casually with at times back on Earth, but she would punch my head off if I ever called her a mistress. But this isn’t about that, but the question of why you would think I even had any mistresses at all.”

Meira once more went through some emotions Jake couldn’t quite read, but she at least seemed to have calmed down quite a bit. Still super nervous and embarrassed, but no longer a wreck.

“It’s… I was told…” Meira said as she looked at the ground.

“Told by who?” Jake asked, glaring.

“When… after Izil was here, we stayed friends, right?” Meira began. “She never really asked much about you as she knew it was a secret, but we both called you Lord Thayne at times, so maybe someone heard and told someone. So… Izil and I were approached by a dragonkin who joined us in studying.”

Jake frowned as he hadn’t heard any of this before. Then again, Meira rarely spoke of her everyday life, and Jake hadn’t exactly asked either.

“She was really nice and helped us both a lot, but she talked a lot about heritages and stuff and seemed super interested in Izil and the Altmar Empire, but also asked me some questions. I… mentioned that you were a black token holder called Lord Thayne, and she asked stuff about you. I didn’t say anything, really, but the dragonkin seemed interested still. I… I may have also mentioned the Grand Elder. Not who he is or anything, I just called him teacher, but I think she realized he was strong, and I also said once he taught you some stuff too, so…”

“And what may this dragonkin be called?” Jake asked, even if he already had a good idea.

“Helenstromoz of the Emberflight, she-“

“I know who she is,” Jake said in an annoyed tone. “So, what more happened?”

Meira continued explaining the rather long story with a lot of unnecessary fluff and apologetic over-explanations that really weren’t needed, but Jake still got the gist of it. He also realized part of it was his fault.

When Jake had first come to the Order, he called himself Hunter but stopped bothering rather quickly. Same for hiding his level, actually. He reckoned anyone who cared to find out would know him as Lord Thayne by now, and while they likely couldn’t connect him back to Earth – only the ninety-third universe - much less know he was the Chosen, that still meant they had some real information on him.

A member of the Emberflight must have overheard Meira and Izil talking, and they were apparently also still trying to figure out who his backer was. So they had sent Helen to talk to the two of them to probe for information, potentially even bribe them, to tell her who backed him. The teacher Meira mentioned was then who Helen began to think was also his backer, making her even more curious about Meira.

She seemed to have fully integrated with Izil and Meira, at least for a while, and the two of them had no reason not to keep her around. Meira said she also happily shared things about her Dragonflight, so neither of them thought it weird that someone so obsessed with background would ask others about it.

Anyway, the three of them had become friends and even shared some classes, and with Helen being so good at all of them – likely because she was a peak D-grade who was probably far older than both Izil and Meira – the two of them liked her even more. That is also where the trouble started.

“So where does this entire mistress thing come in?”

“Well… Helen said that all powerful people have mistresses if they so desire. Izil agreed,” Meira said, her embarrassment back in full. “I didn’t know… but then they asked, and you had mentioned a lot of people, so I thought that…”

To summarize, it was all bloody girl gossip that led to this entire misunderstanding. Izil and Helen had convinced Meira that any female name Jake mentioned in a positive light was actually his mistress, and the worst part is Jake wasn’t even sure they did it maliciously. It was annoying, but Jake knew they weren’t wrong and that other “young masters” tended to be quite frivolous.

What he did see as shady was Helen approaching Meira to begin with. It was clearly done with an agenda and to find out who backed Jake. That, too, was probably something ordered by her superiors. By Villy, did Jake hate stupid politics.

Meira, seemingly also realizing by now that Jake was being serious and truly didn’t have anything going on slightly in the vein of having mistresses, making her fall deep into thought. After being silent for a moment, leaving Jake to also consider his next steps with that damn dragonkin, she spoke.

“Why does Lord Thayne not have any mistresses?” she asked in a small voice.

“Call it personal values. I grew up in a place where having mistresses wasn’t a thing, and I still don’t really see it as a thing. I don’t really care if others decide to build a harem, but to me, it seems utterly exhausting,” Jake answered honestly.

Meira was about to speak when Jake cut her off.

“Also, mixing relationships and imbalanced power dynamics seems unhealthy. I, at least, wouldn’t be able to do it with good conscience. I do realize that with being a Chosen and all, it is hard to not have some imbalance in power in nearly all circumstances, but… never mind. I am just not interested in anything right now,” Jake said, shaking his head.

He was about to say he didn’t want anyone around him who just wanted to be there to benefit from who he was and what he could offer them, but he knew that wasn’t entirely true. Jake was a Chosen, someone with a potent Bloodline, and he was relatively powerful. All of these things were part of who he was, and he knew some of the people around him were only there due to who he was. Miranda would not be around if he wasn’t the Chosen with a city, Sylphie and Sandy not without his Bloodline, and Villy would not even have looked at Jake twice if not due to the Bloodline and what it allowed Jake to do.

I guess the point is I don’t want those to be the only reasons, Jake thought to himself. Damn, did Jake hate these annoying introspective moments that forced him to consider complicated emotions and complex interpersonal relationship dynamics.

Meira also looked to be dealing with some complex emotions as she sat there silently. Jake didn’t want to break the silence as he let her think. Nearly a full minute passed before she spoke.

“If I join the Order… can I stay here even if I have somewhere else to go?” she asked.

“Pretty sure I already told you that you could,” Jake confirmed.

“Can I also keep working for Lord Thayne?”

“That would be ideal. Not having some kind of assistant in the Order would be a hassle, and I don’t plan on getting any other slaves or trying to hire someone, so I would be more than happy to have you,” Jake said with a smile.

“How about the lessons and stuff?” she inquired further.

“As I said, nothing much has to change besides your status,” Jake made clear once more. “What will change is that you will work for me out of your own free will, which also means you can quit at any time and leave if you so desire. We will also need to change some other minor things, but all in due time. Once you have joined the Order, we will draw up a proper employment contract. One with far more equal terms.”

“Okay,” Meira nodded, thinking a bit more. “I will make sure to do the test to join before C-grade for sure.”

“Great,” Jake said, giving her a thumbs-up as he felt a sense of victory. However, he quickly got a bad feeling as she turned slightly red and twitched a bit.

“If I am working here… without being a slave… would that make us… friends?” Meira then asked her nervousness back in full force.

“I already consider us friends,” Jake said with a shrug, not seeing the big deal.

“When I am free, would I also be able to do some things… outside, the Order?” Meira asked, but Jake got the sense she wasn’t just asking for permission.

“You will be free to do whatever you want,” Jake answered. “And as I said, we are friends, so if you need help, just ask. I can’t promise anything, but I will at least lend an ear and consider it.”

Meira smiled and nodded. Neither of them said anything for a while until Meira got up and bowed. “I apologize for the misunderstanding and will make sure to clarify to Izil and make sure no rumors are spread. I will also talk to Hel-“

“I will handle her,” Jake cut in.

“Okay,” Meira said with a relieved nod. “I shall take my leave now and return to my studies… and look into including classes on how to join the Order proper. I want to pass whatever tests everyone else does to join.”

“Best of luck. And don’t feel too bad about this entire thing, okay?” Jake said with a grin. “At the very least, I can see the humor in it.”

Meira nodded once more and smiled as she went towards the door. She stopped in the doorway for a moment as Jake saw her hesitate.

“Will… has Lord Thayne ever considered taking any mistresses?” she finally asked after a long pause, her back still turned to hide her beet-red face. Didn’t help much when the redness extended all the way to her long ears.

Jake knew it was a leading question and shook his head.

“No, not really,” he said honestly.

“Does that mean you will never have any?”

Jake was about to answer but stopped himself. Forever was a long time. A very long time. Potentially forever would mean literally forever if Jake managed to reach godhood. So…

“In a multiverse of infinite possibilities, I wouldn’t say never… just not now,” he finally answered. Even he couldn’t know what the future would bring or if his outlook on things would change. Feelings were also annoyingly unpredictable, and he couldn’t promise he wouldn’t ever make any spontaneous emotional decisions. If someone had asked him if he and Carmen would have ever done the deed before they headed off on their trip with Sylphie, he would have laughed at them… but here we are.

He saw Meira breathe out a sigh of relief but quickly caught herself as she scurried out the door and towards her own residence without saying another word. Jake saw her through his sphere as she walked with hasty steps, as he just stayed sitting on the couch. He stopped looking when she reached her residence and jumped onto her bed, screaming into a pillow.

Smiling, he shook his head. He had other things to deal with, things he had put off for too long. So long they had now come back to bite him in the ass. Plus, they had committed a cardinal sin in Jake’s eyes: they had gone after those close to him.

Jake took out a token he had hidden in his storage for quite a while. It depicted a red dragon and was what Helen had given him during their one and only meeting. It represented a standing invitation for a more formal chat, and by now, Jake believed it was time to have a chat about boundaries.

“I say he should have gone for it,” Vilastromoz said with a grin as he took another chip from the bowl. He had naturally watched the entire thing, and it did not disappoint. Who didn’t like some good relationship drama? Ah, to be young again.

“We both knew this would be the outcome, though I do find it regrettable,” Duskleaf agreed as he also looked at the large screen showing what had just gone down in the living room of Jake’s mansion.

“Oh? You do like that elf girl, don’t you?” the Viper turned to his dear disciple.

“Meira has grown on me, yes,” Duskleaf didn’t deny. “She is hard-working and determined, and her loyalty to Jake goes beyond anything stated in a contract. Overall, she is a good student, and if her talent keeps growing, she may even be able to form a proper Path.”

“You could bless her, you know?”

“We both know that wouldn’t be wise,” Duskleaf shook his head. “I have not given out any Blessings for a long time, so if I do give her any, it will no doubt lead back to Jake and risk exposing him as your Chosen.”

“You could just decide to bless a whole bunch at once like I did. Muddy the water, so to say,” Vilastromoz proposed.

Duskleaf just looked at the Viper, the glare alone saying enough. His disciple really hated doing that kind of stuff.

“Fine, your choice,” he shrugged. “You can always do it after Jake makes his identity as my Chosen public knowledge. Shouldn’t be that long.”

“That was the plan,” Duskleaf agreed. “Though I will have to instill some more confidence in the girl. She will need it if she wants to make her hopes a reality..”

“You really do want it to be a thing, don’t you?” Vilastromoz asked with a smirk.

“Jake is still stuck with a mindset from before the system arrived in his universe, and I doubt that ingrained thought process can be changed quickly. What I do know is that a closer relationship would make Meira happier and help her future tremendously. If that means she will have to learn to disarm Jake, then as a good master, is it not my job to help guide her?” Duskleaf argued with a raised eyebrow.

Vilastromoz just smiled and shook his head. His disciple was usually a lost cause when it came to anything that wasn’t alchemy, and yet he seemed to have a grasp on these kinds of things even the Viper sometimes couldn’t compare to. If Duskleaf decided to guide the elf girl… Jake had a tough challenge ahead of him.

“Whatever you do, I believe it will be sufficiently entertaining,” the Viper said as he emptied the bowl of chips into his mouth while watching Jake stare at the token from the Emberflight.