Chapter 205

205 Don’t date the crazy one, please! part It was Athela’s turn now, but she didn’t know what to wear or how to even use make up. Of course she was used to dressing properly, wearing parfum and make up was also part of her daily life, but she never knew how to use them because she had always had a maid by her side.

Living in the goblin village had its perks, all her needs were satisfied, but it was impossible to buy human goods. Those were unnecessary to goblins, but Athela was completely hopeless.

“Uh... Athela, why are you wearing your plate mail to a date?”

Mia said to her friend, she had long dropped the ‘miss’ after they spent so much time together, besides, her status of nobility didn’t matter in the slightest in here.

“It’s the only thing I can wear, I don’t even know how to put on make up... I’d look like a clown!”

“Why didn’t you ask Anne for help then?”

“It’s obvious isn’t it? why would she help me when she wants mister Ryu to herself”

“I don’t think thats true, they came back late last night, but nothing else happened”

“What, are you sure Mia?”

.....

Athela’s eyes were brimming with hope after hearing her words.

“If anyone can notice, it’s me”

Mia pointed her thumb at her puffed chest declaring the obvious, she was a succubus after all and if she missed the obvious signs of people having a physical relationship she would be even more of a shame to her race.

“Mia, please help me”

Athela was really nervous, the fate of her house was on her shoulders and unfortunately for her the only way she could get what she needed was accomplishing something that was way beyond her area of expertise. She needed to seduce a man.

A knock on the door ended whatever hope Athela had of getting ready in time.

“Hang on a minute, I’m comming! Please Mia do something, help me here”

The first part she said loudly but in a sweet voice towards the door, the last she whispered to Mia in utter despair.

“Alright, take off your armor, I’ll entertain master in the meantime”

Mia went in and opened the door to let Ryu inside.

“She’s not ready, right?”

Mia replied by nodding.

“Should I come back later?”

“No, I’ll have her ready in less than ten minutes!”

Mia rushed towards the other room and she kept to her word, she came back with a stunningly beautiful Athela that for the first time in months actually looked like she was part of the nobility.

“You look beautiful today, lady Athela”

Ryu said with a fresh smile on his face. needless to say, he was putting to practice what was taught to him by Anne just the day before.

“Thanks, you too- eh, I mean, you look handsome”

Still a little nervous, Athela stepped near Ryu who quickly offered his arm to her. After feeling his steadyness, she finally let out a sigh and calmed herself.

What followed was an uneventful stroll through the streets. Even still, uneventful didn’t mean it was boring in the slightest.

Ryu made sure to take Athela to the most beautiful places in the whole goblin village, he knew about some that were already there and others he asked to be made just for the occasion. They visited an arch made of flowers, a pond of clear water, a small grassy hill where they had a snack and a drink of wine and then she took her to a specially old tree that was twisted and hollow on the inside.

The tree didn’t look like much to her, it wasn’t even that imposing since it wasn’t that big and the only noticeable thing about it were their deep red leaves. But Ryu, who was able to see mana thanks to his mana sense skill, was able to see the full scale of that apparently regular tree. It was majestic, it’s deep roots seemed to raise from the very core of the planet and it manated several strains of deep condensed mana into the air.

“So, mister Ryu, why did you bring me to this place?”

“I’m not even sure myself, I like this place because it’s peaceful, yet at the same time a lot of things are going on if you know where to look”

Athela took notice of his words and spinned slowly on her heels, only then did she stop worrying about how to bring Ryu over to her side and actually enjoyed herself.

Human cities could be big, modern, offer a lot of commodities and beautiful buildings, but the beauty of the goblin village relied on the fact that they didn’t chop down the trees, they actually lived in them. It was a ver dynamic place, it wasn’t surrounded in nature it was made of it.

All the time she had been held captive, her only thought was how she had made a mistake by attempting to cross the west forest on her own, then how much she missed the city and even after her release, she never took even a minute to actually see what was right in front of her eyes.

The goblin village wasn’t a primitive odd looking place, it was chaotic, but there was an order to it.

Flowers, bushes, ferns, trees, goblins made use of everything to create a living breathing environment. They didn’t tend to submit nature to their will, they simply worked around it.

The only exception being the breach they made to separate themselves from the forest. Although they didn’t have the tendency to take such drastic meassures, Bardun himself commanded them to chop down those trees to avoid falling victims to the ill intentioned use of fire. After all, humans weren’t the only creatures to weaponize it, there were other creatures adept at hunting using fire to draw out their prey.

Athela couldn’t believe she spent so much time in the goblin village and only now she was able to realize just how beautiful it was. She felt so small and suddenly, even goblins looked like kind creatures in her eye.

“I think i get it now”

She sighed as she accidentally touched Ryu’s hand with her own. He mistakenly thought she was offering him her hand and she followed Anne’s previous advice and grabbed her hand as if it was the most natural thing to do.