I picked up the ring and slipped it back deep into my pocket. "Yeah, I have Chistera in my pocket…However, it's not the first time I have her…"
"Not the first time, what?" she asked, her voice close to hysterical. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, the first time Lilith came here, she gave me this exact ring."
"Then why did she give it back to you? If you already have it."
"Uhhhh… I released her…." I rubbed the back of my neck…
Orla stared at me with confusion on her face. "You… released… the Vampire Lord Chistera?"
"Sort of…But back then, I didn't know if she was the vampire lord… Varania just told me to heat the ring, and poof, Chistera released…"
"Varania…You mean the dragon beside the Demon Lord?"
"Yes… she told me that… After that, she left Chistera to me… What a moron…"
"Wait…wait…wait." Orla's eyes widened in disbelief. "So you're telling me that you accidentally released the Vampire Lord Chistera because a dragon told you to heat a ring?"
I nodded.
"And this Vampire Lord lives with you?"
"Yes…"
"FOR HOW LONG?" She practically yelled.
"It was just a day," I said calmly. "Yet she was annoying. I think because of her, the Saintess marked this place. Because at that time, Chistera showed her own status screen to the Saintess' party."
Orla's jaw dropped in shock.
"After that, Varania came back again and brought Chistera back to Lilith again… And now, she was trapped in the ring again… I don't know how Lilith thinks, and Chistera thinks…"
I saw she still has her cake. "Eat your cake," I suggested. "It helps to freshen your mind."
She looked at the cake, then at me. Finally took a small bite, swallowed it, as the sweetness seemed to bring a tiny bit of colour back to her face.
"You are… impossible, Darya," she muttered, though her hostility was gone; it was just replaced by pure exhaustion."
"Well, I get that a lot," Since I live in this world, I said. "Come on. I will close the shop. You need sleep, and I need to wash these dishes."
She suddenly sped up her eating as I took the dishes and washed the table.
As she finished the last bite, she let out a contented sigh and stood up slowly.
"Thank you, Darya,".
I led her upstairs to my room. As we were in the room, she sat on the edge of the bed.
"I cannot sleep," she admitted, her voice tight. "My mind… it races. The Divine One spoke of your 'foreign soi'. She said you do not burn, yet you live. She said I don't understand the sense that guides you."
She looked up at me, desperate for logic. "If there is no furnace… what keeps you alive, Darya? If you do not burn mana to move your blood… what pushes it?"
As my room had a bookshelf of my books, I paused and looked at the bookshelf. I tried to find a book for her. Since, child, my mother always taught me about arranging books. Believe it or not, my notebook when I was in first grade was still on the bookshelf. My mother always kept everything about the school, my notebook, and even my old textbooks. She preserved everything as history to tell, maybe to my own kid, or maybe as evidence to tell her grandchildren about me.
However, at school, I had a bad habit; I never studied. Even in the midterm exam or final exam, I never studied. I always relied on my memory and intuition to pass exams. Surprisingly, I managed to pass the school.
I remembered, the circulatory system and the respiratory system were being taught in fifth grade. I tried to search the section of my elementary school, as all the books were about the elementary school's subject.
Finally, I got it… my old textbook. IPA (Ilmu Pengetahuan Alam), which was in English, Natural Science. I flipped through the pages and found the chapter on the circulatory system and the respiratory system. For fifth graders, or children, the diagrams and images were simple, colourful, and direct. It was perfect for Orla to learn it for the first time.
I walked back over to Orla. "I can't explain the magic you're used to." I handed her the book. "But with this, maybe you can see it."
She took it, her fingers brushing the smoothness of the paper.
"What is this?" she asked.
"It's a book," I said. "It will tell you what I had said and tell about inside my body, or maybe your body too.."
As her book was in both her hands, I opened it to the chapter on the circulatory system and respiratory system. There was a detailed, full-colour diagram of the lungs, the heart, and the bloodstream. It was a fifth-grade book, so the details focused on the principle of the system, not the organs. So she would learn the system and the main focus organs in the system.
"This…is the representation of the inside of the human body?" Orla asked, pointing at the diagram of the lungs and heart.
"Yes," I said. "You can read it. Study it. If you really can't sleep, as the question is haunting you…"
I walked to the door. "With that, goodnight…"
I closed the door, leaving Orla sitting on the bed, learning about the human biological system.
I walked downstairs and immediately went to the kitchen to wash the dishes.
As I was washing the dishes, the ring was immediately in my head. Should I set free Chistera? Or should I just let her inside? However, without Chistera, I couldn't contact Lilith and tell her about the meeting. Yet, if I released her, I didn't have any room for her to live. She would sleep beside me downstairs, in the no-shoe area. Even the area was big enough for 4-6 people if we rearranged the table for people to sleep.
It was Chistera, I didn't know what would happen if she slept in the same area with me…
Bad thinking was always in my head, and it just told me to let Christera sleep in the same area. There was the pot and the stove, which I needed to just heat the ring.
The devil whispered and kept going on in my ear…
Come on, remember her body… her beauty… and her personality…
..
.
Wait, forget the last one; just remember her body… and her beauty…
The words kept haunting my head, body and beauty… kept repeating…
However, I knew I had to resist those thoughts and focus on being a respectful and responsible person. The release of Chistera wasn't for me, but it was for the greater good.
I grabbed the smallest pot and placed it on the stove. I filled it with just a tiny amount of water. I didn't need it boiling. I just needed it warm enough to break the seal.
I pulled the ring out of my pocket.
I placed the ring carefully in the pot. The water was lukewarm.
As the water kept heating, I looked at the ring on the bottom, and all five colours on the ring started to glow. It started.
The water instantly vaporised into a dense, oily black smoke. I immediately put the pot on the floor.
The smoke instantly vanished, revealing Chistera.
Suddenly, Chistera jumped towards me and hugged me tightly…
"I know, you will miss me…" Chistera whispered in my ear, but she suddenly sniffed my neck to my hair…
Well, the devil whisper is actually right…HOWEVER…
I immediately tensed and pushed her away, using my forearms to brace against her shoulders.
"Ah…" She suddenly moaned, which made me uncomfortable. "You don't need to be afraid,"
"Opened your eyes, Chistera!" I yelled at her.
She opened her eyes, and immediately her eyebrow went downhill, frowning towards me. "Oh, it's you…" she said with a low tone like disappointment. Immediately, she pushed my hands.
"Yeah, it's me…" I said while rubbing my neck. "Lilith gave the ring again…"
"Bring me to the ring again, then!"
"Huh?"
"You ruin the play…"
The play… don't tell me…
"What do you mean by that?"
"In the play, where Lilith seals me in the ring, I wait inside the ring. As for the waiting time, the sensation of it makes me bla bla bla bla *redacted"" Her mouth drooled, and her eyes were filled with excitement, looking cross-eyed sometimes as she tried to recall the sensations.
Relax your mind, Darya… seeing that…
Hearing that, my heart sank… This moron was hopeless…
A few seconds later, she finished telling her imagination of 'play' and just said, "Bring me back to the ring again!"
Her beauty and her body are actually a waste if she is a moron like that…
"Well, I can't do that…" I explained to her. "The reason Lilith gave me the ring is to make you a direct link or connection to Lilith."
"What do you mean?"
"It means you will become my direct link to Lilith if I need to bring news or something from her. You are the one who contacts her."
"WHAT!" Chistera scoffed, tossing her hair. "Do you mean I just become your mere messenger pigeon?"
"Well…"
…
..
.
I realised, before Lilith had said 'Or perhaps thou couldst just make her be inside a ring.'
"About you getting back in the ring…" I said. "Lilith told me that I could just make her be inside a ring…" Her eyes suddenly sparkled with renewed, perverse excitement.
"YES!" she hissed, stepping closer, as if ready to resume her 'play'.
"But she didn't tell me how…"
She frowned, her golden eyes clouding with confusion… "What do you mean by that?"
"She just didn't tell me, but she told me you can summon your own portal to your own chamber," I explained. "As I didn't have any room for you to live in here… So you need to sleep or rest in your own chamber."
"You have a ro—" Suddenly, her head snapped upward, following the sightlines to the second floor, to my room. Immediately, she walked closer to me as her face was in front of mine. "I don't know, you have a woman in here…" She leaned back and kept looking at my room.
Suddenly, she said something that shocked my spine. "Ah, you still didn't do anything to her… She is still v—"
"AHHHH!" I yelled and cut her sentences. "STOP DISCUSSING THAT!" I continued. "It's already late, so you need to summon your portal and rest in your own chamber."
"Wait, how about you? Your room is being occupied by a maiden…"
"Well, I will sleep in there." I pointed at the no-shoe area.
She looked at it and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "That area can hold enough for four people, and you have the big pillow… Why do I need to sleep in my own chamber?"
"Ah, about that…"
Suddenly, her tone changed, becoming softer and lustful. "~You know…I could stay here…~" Her face was in front of mine, her soft hand reaching for my cheek. "~Keep you company overnight…~" she whispered, her eyes locking onto mine with a mischievous glint, as her lips curled into a seductive smile.
WELL, I WILL NOT SLEEP TONIGHT AS THIS MORON IS IN HERE… I WILL KEEP MY EYES OPEN AND STAY AWAY FROM HER.