Release That Succubus

Chapter 143 143 Bedtime Story

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Zach was so happy looking at the weapon description that he unconsciously pulled Diana into his embrace and kissed her forehead with enough force to penetrate into her head. His joy was untamable like a bull that successfully managed to break out of a fighting arena.

Diana couldn't understand what was happening. One moment she was talking to Clara and listening to her words of thanks and the next moment she was in Zach's embrace being showered with kisses that felt like bullets striking the base of her head. Despite the sudden invasion of her privacy, she didn't feel anything but happiness from Zach's actions. Her whole face turned crimson as she tried to remove the dirty thoughts that popped up into her head one by one without relenting.

The crimson hue on her skin made her ephemeral beauty escape the confines of mortal chains and helped it ascend towards godhood because only gods had the right to look so enchanting and unapproachable at the same time.

The reason for Zach's happiness was obviously the description of the Primary lightsaber that he had read. It had explosive penetration power that could get past any kind of defense. Even though the probability of getting past the enemy's defenses wasn't very high, Zach could pull off a miracle if he could last long enough against an enemy with overwhelmingly high defense. All he had to do to win a battle against an enemy like the Panther they had encountered earlier was to keep attacking until the activation of the piercing effect of the weapon.

Even though Zach was now lacking in terms of the weapons in his arsenal, the addition of a single Lightsaber was a significant boost to his waning confidence. Even though he didn't want to admit it, the battle with the panther had rattled his self-confidence because Luna had had to sacrifice herself in order to save him. It made him feel incompetent and unable to protect those he wanted to protect. This was also the reason why he had been taking detours in order to avoid the battles in their path for the past month. 

Thankfully, he didn't have to act as cautiously now that he had a weapon that he could rely on in tough situations. The weapon was enough to deal a killing blow to any kind of enemy as long as it wasn't overpowered enough to kill Zach in one blow.

He could stop worrying as much as he did in the past and focus on healing Luna who was still unconscious and unresponsive like a vegetable.

Clara might have looked like a young girl but her sense of observation was sharper than the mages relying on sensory magic. She had a penchant for noticing anything out of the odd in any situation, even on the battlefields which made her a challenging opponent for anyone.

Clara noticed the unusual reaction of Diana who had almost jumped like a scared cat upon being hugged and kissed by her husband. This coupled with how enthusiastic she sounded when she introduced herself as Zach's wife made her think of only two possibilities. First was that the two were only recently married which would explain why Diana wanted to show off her marriage in front of strangers and was not as used to her husband's touch as a wife should be. And the only other possibility in her mind was that the two were lying to her either because they had some kind of hidden agenda for approaching and saving her or they were being cautions since Clara and the others were strangers they had encountered in the middle of nowhere.

No matter what the truth might have been, Clara wasn't interested in delving into the details since she didn't plan on sticking around these people for very long. Since they had saved her and her people, she needed to show them enough respect until the moment she left.

Therefore, Clara didn't comment on Diana's odd reaction and maintained her silence as if she hadn't noticed anything. Even her expressions didn't betray her innermost feelings.

Time passed quickly as Bruce's people and Clara's men got busy trying to set up a temporary camp to rest for a while and make preparations for dinner. 

Some of Clara's men went out to find some food. Since they were more familiar with the terrain as compared to the men of Luther family, they were given the task to collect food while the remaining people were tasked with gathering firewood and for setting up the camp. 

Clara's men came back with some fresh game in a while and some fruits that appeared to be freshly picked.

When the food was ready, everyone from the Luther family sat around the campfire with their food in their hands and ate as they prepared to listen to Zach's stories. It was one of the activities in their new routine that they looked forward to the most considering how monotonous their lives had become after leaving the shelter of the Luther family estate.

Clara and her people followed suit and sat along with their new found friends. They could tell that the people seemed to be visibly excited about something but couldn't figure out what it could be.

"What is it? Did something good happen that we missed?" One of Clara's men asked curiously from a soldier who looked extremely excited as he stared at Zach like an extremely hungry wolf looking at a chunk of delicious meat.

"It is time." the Luther family soldier barely replied before he returned his focus to Zach as if not willing to miss the first word that came out of his mouth.

"Time for what?"

The soldier felt annoyed at being disturbed thinking, "Can't he wait a bit? He will find out in a bit anyway." Of course he didn't actually say it out loud because the other party was just genuinely curious.

"Every day during meal times, our lord tells us a story. Since we have been travelling a lot, there isn't much to do in between. This is the best part of our day. You will see in a bit once everyone settles down."

The man couldn't understand how a simple story could make these people feel so excited. In the place where he came from, storytellers had to beg others to listen to their stories. Still he didn't act rude by stating what he was thinking in words and decided to wait and see for himself.

When everyone settled down around the fire, Zach continued the story of the boy wizard from where he left off. He had already reached the midway point of the overall story. He was sure that even though the newcomers wouldn't understand what was going on, they would nevertheless be interested in the story at the very least. From where he came from, this story had captivated the hearts and souls of countless individuals. He was sure that there wouldn't be many people who could dislike such a story.

As he had expected, even those listening to the story for the first time were captivated and were swayed by the various incidents narrated by Zach. The fact that this world truly had magic made the story feel more realistic. It appealed to even those who liked to differentiate between fiction and reality and avoided fiction and fantasy stories like the plague. Therefore, this story was the perfect hit amongst his listeners.

Even an hour after Zach had stopped narrating the story, the discussions regarding what would happen next were still ongoing amongst the listeners who were by then preparing to go to sleep. Zach was not at all surprised to see the newcomers pestering the people of the Luther family to narrate the previous parts of the story to satisfy their curiosity.

One of the people who were extremely interested in the story of the boy mage but was unable to understand it in its entirety due to the lack of context was Clara. Fortunately for her, she had Diana to accompany her. She not only gave her small tidbits to help her understand the story during the narration but also offered to narrate to her the previous parts of the story as she invited her to sleep with her on her bed at bedtime.

Zach only smiled when he notice the increase in morale of his people. It seemed that the arrival of new people had allowed them to get out of their previously morbid routine that had sent them into depression and dissatisfaction.

Clara asked Diana several questions as the latter narrated the previous parts of the story that she had missed. Diana already knew what she was getting into when she offered to provide this service for Clara. After all she had seen Zach being surrounded by people with similar questions on several questions. Had Zach not made the rule about discussing the story only during meal times, he would have been pestered to death by the curious people who had nothing else to do.

Therefore, Diana patiently answered all her questions as she tried to imitate Zach's style of storytelling which she found to be quite attractive.

While listening to the exciting story, Clara didn't know when she fell asleep. She had been too tired after suffering from the pursuit of the fierce Iron Mantises and the escape that followed with the help of Diana. She not only had to fight the battles but also had to lead her people which increased the weight of the responsibility she felt on her shoulders. As a result she slept like a little baby once she let go of her worries and felt safe in this temporary camp.