Legacy World 4.7 Innkeeper's Misunderstanding

Not long after they disappeared, five angels came from the direction Vlad had stared at.

Once they flew above the area where Vlad and Vanora had been at, the black mark from before appeared and all the angels lost the ability to fly. Their wings folded in and refused to open as if they lost control over their bodies. Spikes made of earth sprouted out from the ground. The angels panicked and flailed helplessly as they descended from the sky.

An angel with long honey blonde hair and kind brown eyes remained calm. His lips moved rapidly but not a sound left his mouth. He had been chanting a prayer from the moment the mark appeared. The more he chanted, the more the black rose on the ground withered. Eventually, the black mark dissipated as black smoke. The spikes returned to being flat earth. The angels regained the control of their wings, but only the angel who chanted reacted fast enough to prevent a crash landing. 

Magnificent white wings unraveled themselves and flapped gently but strongly to keep him hovered above the area. /A black rose.../

He took stock of the damage done in the area. Not a single life could be found. His eyes filled with sadness over the lives of fauna and flora that were lost. He gently landed then placed his palm flat on the barren land. He closed his eyes, said a silent prayer, and the entire land began glowing in a bright white light. When the light dissipated, the area was covered in greenery once again. However, there was still a forlorn look on the angel's face. /What a pity that the animals could not return to their state. May their souls live on freely and peacefully for eternity./

He stood and flew off. The others quickly dusted themselves off then awkwardly followed the angel. The angel frowned in calm determination. /So it really was you. I will find you and end this war./

Vanora felt like it took longer for the fog to dissipate this time. She started feeling uncomfortable about being held in his arms. His hands on her shoulders. His arms against her back. Her front and cheek pressed firmly against his front. Just as she thought of asking him about the mechanics of his power, the fog lifted. An inaudible sigh of relief escaped her.

Vanora slowly spun in a circle to look around her. They stood in the middle of a very large room. The entire place was made of wood. Most of the furniture and the beams were mahogany in colour. The floor was light brown and felt cold against the soles of her feet. The empty view beyond the open window piqued her curiosity. So, she headed towards it. A treacherous and menacing looking canyon extended as far out as the eye could see. The sky was pitch black with no stars nor moon. She began to have an inkling of where they got teleported to.

"Where exactly have you brought me to? Your home?"

He frowned slightly as if it was an insult to call this place his home. "My home's much better than this place. But the bath here is supposed to be great. It's an inn I frequent to try and get better sleep. It sometimes gets stifling and lonely back at home."

"Better sleep? You have trouble sleeping?"

Vlad nodded then walked to the right side of the room to slide open a door that revealed a small section of the room leading into the bath. "There's a shower here and a hot spring deeper in. Feel free to use it until you're satisfied." He said with a smile.

"What're you going to do in the meantime?" She was not about to trust this lustful demon here to behave himself.

"I'll handle the administrative matters. Oh! Come to think of it, we do not know each other's names yet! You can call me Derek. What's yours?"

"Call me Vanora." She replied while walking to the bath.

"Vanora..." He smiled to himself with satisfaction. 

"I'll leave now and... come... back..." His voice trailed off as he followed her line of sight. She turned out to be staring at the clean set of clothes on the shelf. It was a pair of male and female robes nicely folded and presented. Too nicely. The male robes were black and nothing too out of the ordinary. The female robes looked more like bright red strips of cloth meant for seduction.

/BaoBao, do you think he would have a history of women?/

[Considering that he's well-loved and respected and a demon... I'd say that it'd be perfectly normal if he had some history, at least before he met Angela?]

/Nice deduction./

Suddenly, she felt her hands taken in a firm grasp. She looked at Vlad in surprise.

"It's never been used before! I don't know why they never give up putting a female's robe in here."

Vanora blinked and gave a noncommittal nonchalant reply, "Mm."

"Please trust me. I have never felt any sexual desire for anyone before I met you."

With his declaration, Vanora's face now went full-blown red. "Okaaay, but seriously, what has that got to do with me? Just go do what you have to do."

Vlad blinked innocently. He had not intentionally teased her but she still gave such a cute response that made him feel like teasing her more. A mischievous grin appeared on his face. Vanora recognised his expressions by now and resolutely pushed him out of the bath area and closed the door on him. He stared at the closed door for a while with the grin still on his face. /She's so shy about such things. How cute./

Her red face resurfaced in his mind. /Ahhh... I really want to kiss her.../

He groaned as he walked away from the door and left the room to do what he has to. 

Just as he closed the door to the room and turned to walk down the dark and empty aisle, someone appeared around the corner at the end of the aisle with cleaning equipment in his hands. The person had all the demonic features and his skin still had the rough and tough texture of a demon, but he has achieved maintaining a humanoid form. This told Vlad that he was a young demon.

The young demon dropped his equipment onto the ground in shock. /Who's that? Father told me that no one should be here but Lord Vlad./ He rubbed his eyes to check if he was seeing an illusion. When he took a proper look again, he saw a person approaching with a frosty expression. His heart pounded in fear and excitement at the same time. He dropped to one knee and lowered his head. "Lord Vlad! When did you arrive? I apologise for not receiving you properly."

He did not dare to look up for he felt an intimidating pressure coming from Vlad.

"Your father has passed down the inn to you?"

"Not yet, my Lord. I'm still learning the ropes."

"Did you see anything strange earlier?"

The man looked up in surprise. "As expected from Lord Vlad!" He recalled what he saw with a puzzled expression. "For a moment earlier, I thought I saw a different person with black hair and red eyes at the end of the aisle before you appeared. Is there something wrong?"

"There was?"

"Just now... ... ..." The demon's voice trailed off as his eyes glazed over like he was spacing out in the middle of a conversation. After a short while, clarity returned to his eyes. "May I know how long will you be staying this time?"

"An indefinite amount of time. Make sure no one enters this side of the establishment. I'll call if I need anything."

"Complete privacy! Understood!"

Vlad disappeared into thin air in front of the young demon and the young demon breathed a sigh of relief. He would have recklessly bragged to others about being up close and personal with the demon lord but his father has warned him against it several times. Not only would they not be able to deal with the crowd that would result in a lack of privacy that Lord Vlad had came here for, Lord Vlad would probably take their lives for his loose mouth.

The demon picked up his cleaning equipment from the floor and scurried off to inform his father who was at the front desk. 

When his father heard the news, he reminded his son of the standard protocols for housing Lord Vlad once more. Once he was done, his father wondered to himself. /This is the first time he has asked for this much privacy. Could it be... a girl? Will we finally have a Lady?/ 

The older demon cackled which baffled the young demon. /How lucky that I never gave up placing the female's robes in his room. I'm sure that would be to Lord Vlad's taste./

On the other side of the door, Vanora was taking a few deep breaths while lightly patting her chest to help herself calm down. /He's really so hard to handle./

When her heart finally settled, she asked BaoBao to check if he had left.

[He left the room since awhile ago, ran into someone in the corridor, exchanged a few words, then disappeared into thin air. Now, I don't know where he is.]

/It doesn't matter. Seeing how he is, he'll likely be back soon./

Vanora spared no time in stripping down then went to take a proper shower. 

She entered the shower and found the most scenic bathroom she has ever been in. It was open air with high walls made of bamboo. The floor was covered with black pebbles everywhere. Large flat stones formed a path to the shower which base is a smooth dark grey stone platform. Vanora stopped herself from further ogling at the beauty of the place and immediately showered.

After showering, she decided to soak in the hot spring to plan her next course of action instead of returning back into the room where Vlad would be at. She felt that she could not get much thinking done whenever he was around to mess with her. 

She stepped out of the shower on the other side from where she entered and walked towards the bamboo door. Upon swinging the bamboo door open, a simple and spacious room that consisted only of a hot spring and the open sky above it greeted her. It was truly ideal for pure relaxation. 

Just as she settled inside the hot spring, BaoBao exclaimed loudly in her mind. [Ah! Vlad appeared in the section before the bathroom!]

/Just keep watching him./ Vanora calmly instructed BaoBao.

[Oh. He left. ... He just replaced the red strips of cloth with some black garments and accessories.]

/Alright, let's get to work. The "spiritual energy" of the previous worlds seems to appear as hellfire in this world. Also, it doesn't seem like I'm able to cultivate. When I was absorbing the flames back into me, my control is not perfect. I simply imagined as if I was cultivating. Even so, I only felt the hellfire return to me, nothing else was being absorbed./

[Seems like everything is innate in this world?]

BaoBao speculated.

/That's right. My normal training by cultivation would be ineffective in a world without spiritual energy in it. I wonder how I should train to increase my power then.../

[Since you feed on wrath-related emotions to grow stronger...]

/I will have to start with learning to see people's aura. Only then can I learn to absorb it./

[Who would you target? Humans? Demons?]

/Whichever is available. As long as I do it when the situation's right, they won't lose their lives just because I feed off their emotions./

[Won't lose their lives? Why would you care if they do? Isn't it harder and less efficient when you need to account for the situation? How does this benefit you?]

/From where you come from, would you sacrifice another just to get stronger?/

[If it makes perfect sense to do so, I'm pretty sure we would. As long as it's effective and efficient, we don't see why not. It's all for the sake of faster progress as a whole.]

/Well... I have to say that some humans probably would have no qualms about it too. But it's a different case for me. It feels... less cannibalistic for me./

BaoBao added this discussion to his now growing database on emotions before continuing to assess if there was another way for Vanora to get stronger.