As a noble lady who likely had many servants tending to her needs, Elyra had expected Seraphina's room to be a mess. She had also heard that alchemists and other intellectuals were often notoriously untidy. The more brilliant the mind, the messier the workspace, or so the saying went. Given Seraphina's brilliance as an alchemist, Elyra quietly dreaded what she might find and had even prepared herself to offer help with cleaning, after asking for permission of course.
However, upon entering, she was met with the sight of a surprisingly well-kept room. While not perfectly dusted or immaculately polished, it was more than acceptable by her maid standards. Unknowingly, Seraphina had just barely passed Elyra's unofficial test as a newly minted apprentice maid.
That was when Elyra remembered that both Bastion and Seraphina were heroes from another world. Any assumptions based on traditional noble upbringing simply did not apply. Just as she had been convinced of Bastion's brilliance and maturity despite his young age, she now saw Seraphina in a new light.
"Lady Seraphina, I hope I am not disturbing you. Master sent me to deliver five golems to assist you with your chores and alchemy," Elyra said, entering with proper decorum.
"You can relax when we're alone, Elyra. I'm not really cut out for all that nobility stuff like Bastion," Seraphina said without looking up from her concoction.
"Master once said the same about himself," Elyra replied as she stepped into the living room, where Seraphina was already engrossed in her work, rapidly mixing vials with practiced ease.
Sensing Seraphina's concentration, Elyra quieted herself and observed without interruption.
Seraphina stood over her makeshift alchemy station, her focus razor sharp. In front of her were three ingredients: powdered luminite crystal, crystallized aether spores, and storm lotus nectar, each volatile and mana rich.
She measured out a small portion of luminite dust and sprinkled it into a rune inscribed crucible filled with an unknown liquid. As she infused it with her mana, the powder ignited in a pale flame. The reaction needed to remain stable, so she adjusted the mana flow, steady and even.
Next, she added the aether spores, suspended in an arcane gel to prevent spontaneous discharge. The moment they touched the luminite flame, the fire shifted to violet. Seraphina stirred gently with a silver stirring rod, maintaining a figure eight motion to bind the unstable mana threads.
Finally, she added three drops of storm lotus nectar. The concoction hissed and boiled, collapsing into a thick, luminous fluid. Liquid mana, volatile, condensed, and highly reactive, was forming. She held her breath and whispered a short incantation, weaving a personal mana imprint into the solution. It shimmered, then settled.
The entire process had taken under five minutes but demanded perfect control. One mistake and the entire thing would detonate.
Satisfied, Seraphina sealed the glowing fluid inside a dark glass vial and tucked it into her spatial bag.
"Golems, right? Let's see them then," Seraphina said, removing her protective mask and thick alchemy robe.
Elyra presented five goblin-sized golems and briefly explained the activation method.
"Impressive. I knew it was a good idea to bring Bastion with me to that place. He's always so obsessed with his machines," Seraphina remarked as she began imbuing one of the golems with her mana, focused on the intent to clean.
As soon as it was fully infused, the small golem stood upright, marched into the bedroom, and began cleaning every corner, including the bathroom, with the same thoroughness Seraphina herself would apply.
"Not bad. This would free up so much of my time," Seraphina remarked.
"Why not bring a maid of your own?" Elyra asked casually, as instructed.
She had grown used to the way Bastion acted without formality and had learned from it.
"Trust issues," Seraphina replied. "Before coming here, I had trouble talking to people, let alone trusting them with my things. Normally, I'd be a quivering mess with you in the room right now."
Seraphina lay lazily sprawled across the couch, resting in comfort, and offered Elyra the seat opposite her. Elyra accepted and sat down.
"I had a horrible time when I was first born into this world, until I slowly got used to being Seraphina. I was just a commoner among commoners before... no, I was even less than that," Seraphina said, her voice tinged with quiet sadness.
"Now I'm beautiful, confident, and incredibly hot. I'm an accomplished alchemist with a promising future. I can make more money in a day than I can spend. I've since learned that none of this mattered from the very beginning and have improved my mentality over the years."
"I cannot imagine," Elyra replied in a perfunctory manner.
"It was hell. A different kind of hell than torture but with remarkably similar effects."
"I can now somewhat imagine," she said genuinely.
"Tell me about yourself, Elyra. I only know you as Bastion's quiet shadow and nothing else. Bastion I can read like an open book. It feels like I've known him my whole life. But you've always just been his shadow," Seraphina said, coaxing her with genuine curiosity.
She loved having the opportunity to truly get to know one of her favorite characters from the game.
"I was raised in the Shadow Wolfkin village until I turned five, when Master was born. My father, the village chief, nominated me as a shadow trainee. Since then, I've been trained at Diamondhart Castle until I met Master five years later."
Seraphina listened with rapt attention. These were the juicy details the game never revealed.
"He was attacked by an assassin that night, and with his help, I killed the attacker. He comforted me afterward, and he smelled nice, so I marked him. From that day on, I trained even harder, hoping to become his shadow. Ten years later, he chose me because of my devotion. I've been by his side ever since."
"That's so romantic," Seraphina swooned.
Elyra blushed at the compliment. She had never shared anything from her personal life with anyone other than Bastion. Technically, she shouldn't even be sharing now according to the rules of shadows, but given Bastion's trust in Seraphina, she decided to trust her as well.
"What is it that you see in Master?" Elyra asked, changing the subject. "I know you have future knowledge about us, but what specifically do you like about him?"
"Apart from the sexy voice, hot body, and the knight in shining armor package? He's considerate, protective, driven, decisive, intelligent. I could go on. But most of all, he's reliable, and he's not an asshole," Seraphina said with a hint of melancholy. "He's boring, truthful to a fault yet worthy of trust, and only assertive when he needs to be."
"You know him quite well," Elyra agreed.
"I may not have spent much time with him here, but I know him in ways even he doesn't realize. Benefits of future knowledge. I just worry he's not as attracted to me as I am to him," Seraphina admitted, sounding a little down.
She understood that Bastion likely saw her as a benefit, a convenience. He didn't know her the way she knew him. And unfortunately, she didn't have the time to appeal to him properly, not with her busy schedule.
"Master knows you well enough, from what I've seen. He knows you carry burdens from your past life and that you need your space. He also knows how difficult it is to be the hero. That's why he's pouring so much energy into his projects."
"He's always been like that," Seraphina interjected.
"No, he's even more focused than usual. He's been increasing the difficulty of our dungeon dives, researching golems and how to turn them into an army, and finding ways to take down Rank 4 threats. He's more focused than I've ever seen him."
A flutter of warmth stirred in Seraphina's chest, her heart swelling with quiet joy at the thought.
Thinking back, Bastion was still the same as she remembered, but she had noticed a change in the topics he researched. He should have been spending most of his time at the War Council Chamber. Only now did she realize that back then, he was likely trying to build a computer.
Now, he was spending all that time to help her take down the Demon Lord instead. As unnecessary as the gesture was, she appreciated it nonetheless.
"When it comes to relationships and combat, Master always takes the same—"
"Wait-and-see approach," they both said at the same time before chuckling.
"I know. That's why I'm taking my time focusing on this Demon Lord problem and putting off my relationship with Bastion. I just hope he won't be too disappointed when we finally have the chance to get to know each other," Seraphina explained.
"Master will love you, Lady Seraphina," Elyra reassured her.
"Just call me Seraphina. I don't like that stuffy noble talk. Not Sera though, Bastion called me that once, and I'm still dreaming about it," Seraphina said, her cheeks flushing at the intimate memory.
"So… Eli, I can call you that, right?"
"Yes, Seraphina."
"What, um… positions and things have you done with Bastion?"
Elyra smiled before sharing intimate details about her time with Bastion, much to Seraphina's delight. They talked late into the afternoon until Elyra had to leave and prepare dinner for Bastion.
-----
I recently finished writing the end of the current academy arc, which takes place 30 chapters from now.
Unfortunately, I plan to stagger the release rate to 1 chapter every 3 days. This is so I can afford the time to heavily edit this volume into a complete e-book for self-publishing. It will likely stay this way for the next 30 chapters, which will take 3 months to release. I apologize for the delay.
Regarding the editing process for the book, I'm aiming for a fantasy harem with explicit sexual scenes of the tasteful variety, which means, as you can probably tell, it will require quite a bit of effort to comb through and edit.
I plan on adding more erotic scenes compared to the 2 that were released. It should be about 5–10 in total. I also plan on adding AI-generated images of the main characters to the book, so look forward to it on at least KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). Who knows? There might even be an audiobook afterward.