Chapter 627: The Elf Wants to be Pampered

The next day, Benjamin woke to the soft, rhythmic sound of someone cleaning.

Dust cloth against wood. The quiet scrape of a shelf being wiped. The faint creak of floorboards under careful footsteps.

When he opened his eyes, the morning light from the single window fell across the guest room in a pale rectangle, and Erica was already moving through it with methodical focus.

Heka clung to Benjamin’s body like a particularly determined flea.

Her arms were locked around his midsection. Her face was pressed against his side.

Her breathing was deep and even in sleep, slow and steady, the rhythm of someone who had been there for hours and had no intention of moving.

Looking closer, Benjamin saw a pout fixed on Erica’s mouth.

The expression was unmistakable even in profile. The lower lip pushed out. The brow furrowed.

The whole face set in an attitude of wounded dignity that would have been funny if it hadn’t been so obviously genuine.

He found it, against all better judgment, adorable.

"Erica, are you angry about something?" his voice was rough with sleep.

The residual drain from the night before still sat lightly behind his eyes, a faint echo of the anemic weight he had carried to bed.

"Hmph. Good morning, Benjamin!" Erica paid him no glance.

She continued dusting the shelf with precise, slightly aggressive strokes, the cloth moving in short, controlled passes as if the wood had personally offended her.

Each swipe was firm, and each pass was deliberate, so the dust didn’t stand a chance.

"Ah, sorry, good morning!" Benjamin scratched his head with his free hand, careful not to disturb Heka too much.

She stirred slightly at the movement but didn’t wake, her grip tightening for a moment before relaxing again.

He lay still, trying to assemble the previous night into something coherent.

Most of it felt distant and soft-edged, the way his memories did after heavy magic use.

Benjamin asked: "Did I... do something wrong yesterday? I feel like I got drunk and passed out."

Erica stopped dusting.

The cloth stilled against the shelf. For a moment, she didn’t move at all; just stood there with her back to Benjamin, her hand frozen mid-swipe.

Then she turned over her shoulder. "Between me and Katana, who do you like more?"

There was no preamble or buildup. No gradual shift in conversation that might have prepared him for it.

Erica stood near the shelf with the dust cloth still in one hand.

The pout from earlier was still faintly present around her mouth, but her eyes had sharpened with something closer to challenge.

Something that had been waiting behind the wounded dignity and was only now stepping forward.

"Eh?" Benjamin was caught completely off guard.

He blinked up from the pillow, his vision still soft at the edges with sleep.

Heka’s warm weight was still locked around his midsection, her arms wrapped tight, her face pressed into his side.

The residual heaviness of last night’s magic drain sat behind his eyes, a dull pressure that made thinking feel like wading through water.

He wondered, with a slow, morning kind of confusion, how he was supposed to answer a question like that before he had even fully woken up.

"I said which of us do you like more?" Erica asked again. The words came out firmer and deliberate the second time.

She would not meet Benjamin’s gaze for more than a second at a stretch, her eyes would touch Benjamin’s face, flick away to the window or the corner of the bed, then drift back again.

[Ugh, a troublesome question emerged] [Ben]

"Which of you...? What are you talking about? I like both of you. You’re both my precious friends." Benjamin answered as evenly as he could manage.

The response felt true. It was true. But it also felt inadequate in the face of the intensity Erica was directing at him — that sharp, focused stare that seemed to be looking for something specific, something Benjamin wasn’t sure he was giving.

He wondered why he had to face this particular conversation so early in the morning. With sunlight only just beginning to strengthen through the single window.

"Then... Then..." Erica turned her face slightly away, her brows furrowed into a tight, determined line. "You have to promise to make me a legendary sword as well. And... d-d-do that last thing too."

The dust cloth in her hand had been forgotten entirely, dangling from loose fingers.

[Hm? What last thing?] [Ben]

The question flickered through Benjamin’s mind without an answer.

He studied Erica’s profile for a moment — the pointed ears, the residual pout, the way the morning light caught the faint blush still coloring her cheeks.

"Oh, so it was all about the sword? Erica, so you can feel envy? That’s a relief." Benjamin snickered, the sound low and warm.

Some of the tension in his shoulders eased.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Erica snapped. "So are you doing it?"

"It’s not a problem. I can do it for you." Benjamin smiled. The expression was genuine and a little tired, the corners of his mouth curving up in a way that softened his whole face. "But of course, I can’t make the sword right now. It is actually an exhausting task."

Erica watched him for a long second.

The cloth finally left her hand. It dropped onto the shelf with a soft sound, landing in a small heap of fabric.

Then she began moving toward the bed, her steps measured and careful, as if she were approaching something that might startle if she moved too quickly.

Her eyes stayed on Benjamin the whole way. "Fine. We will revisit the sword at another time... B... But the second thing...?"

[Again, what second thing is she talking about? I only made the sword yesterday.] Benjamin’s brow furrowed.

He could not find a clear reply.

Heka shifted slightly in her sleep, tightening her hold for a moment before settling again, her breath warm against his tunic.

"I... If I am truly the same as Katana, you would not mind doing it for me as well, yes?"

[...If I ask her what she means by "doing it" she might think I’m a pervert and take it the wrong way, right?]

The caution was automatic. Years of social missteps had taught him that much.

But Benjamin more or less understood when Erica sat on the edge of the bed.

The mattress dipped under the new weight, then Erica gazed at Benjamin’s blue eyes, and quickly looked away. Then looked back again, with the cycle repeating.

She shifted closer by small degrees, the space between them shrinking with each careful movement.

The tips of her ears had gone faintly pink, the color spreading slowly and creeping down toward her jaw.

Seeing this, Benjamin decided to be bold.

He reached out, caught Erica by the waist, and pulled.

The simple, direct action of someone who had decided what he wanted and was taking it.

Erica came with it easily — too easily, as if she had been waiting to be pulled — until their bodies pressed together along one side.

Warm fabric. The faint scent of dusting cloth and morning skin. The solid reality of another person sharing the narrow guest-room bed.

Heka made a small sound of protest at the disruption but did not wake.

Benjamin leaned in and delivered a warm, long kiss to Erica’s cheek.

He felt the soft, smooth skin under his mouth. The faint warmth of the blush. And he lingered there a moment longer than strictly necessary, letting the contact stretch, then pressed a second, lighter one just beside it.

"Eh...?" Erica’s voice came out small, tiny and barely a sound at all.

A deeper blush flooded her face all at once.

Her eyes were wide, fixed on Benjamin’s with something between shock and suspension — caught mid-motion, unable to look away.

"Geez, Erica." Benjamin licked his lips once, tasting the faint residual warmth of the contact, his voice low and fond. "If you wanted to be pampered, you didn’t need to lie about some ’second thing.’ You’re doing great and you deserve to be spoiled."

He adjusted his hold and squeezed Erica into a proper, warm hug.

One hand came up to pat the back of Erica’s head in slow, steady passes. His fingers moved through the light hair with easy affection, the motion repetitive and soothing.

The embrace was solid. For a few breaths, the only sound in the room was Heka’s quiet sleeping breaths.

Somewhere outside, a bird called once and fell silent.

"Thanks again, for being good to me... Hm? Erica?" Benjamin pulled back just enough to look at Erica’s face.

The wide eyes were still open, but they were no longer focused.

The blush remained high across the cheeks and the tips of the ears, still bright, still warm. Yet the rest of the expression had gone slack.

The mouth had relaxed, and the brows had smoothed. Erica had gone completely unconscious in his arms, limp and warm and entirely out.

"What happened? If she was sleepy, she shouldn’t have started working so early." Benjamin carefully adjusted their positions so Erica would stay in the middle of the bed.

His observation was mild and bemused.

Heka, still trying to cling like a parasite, simply shifted to accommodate the extra body without fully waking.

Within moments, the three of them occupied the mattress in a tangled, quiet heap.

The sheets were a disordered mess around all of them. The single window let in a pale rectangle of light that fell across the floor and didn’t quite reach the bed.