And so here we are with another chapter. There's a bit of a timeskip, but really there'll have to be some as some of the things I want to do, are gated behind what all was added in the Stormblood Expansion for FFXIV. Another thing is that after looking through the comments some of you left, I won't be going with the idea of giving the girl's job roles. But, the user Deadlocke did give me an interesting idea that I may very well end up following up on at some point in the future. Anyways, I won't take up anymore of your time. Enjoy.
Three months have passed since John's initial arrival into Gensokyo. Things had been going well for John for the most part. After the 'announcement' of his engagement, John had to put up with quite the troublesome response from the villagers. While some congratulated him on landing such a beautiful wife (and on this end he had to agree, Yuuka was quite pretty), others would yell at him and tell him to get out of the village, claiming he was making it into a youkai den. Thankfully though, the village was for more in favor of him than they were against him, and everyone really did believe him to be a youkai tamer who made the girls subservient to him, so there was no issue. To them, Yuuka was but another conquest. And besides, the upside was that Yuuka could help defend the village if need be, and with that possible outcome hovering over them, the villagers kept their misgivings about the female members of Favor Trade to themselves. What was interesting to note is that Yuuka wasn't really a member of Favor Trade, or at least, she was never doing jobs like the others. Instead, Yuuka had opted to be the 'personal housekeeper' for her 'darling hubby'. While the office wasn't particularly dirty, it was indeed still a small shack for the most part and the place could use some livening up at the very least.
At first, John refused, saying that it wasn't so bad. But it all it took was one windy night and a few pieces of wood being ripped off the side of the house to change his mind. To that end, Yuuka began fortifying the office a bit more, while also making the place a lot nicer to look at, adding some flowers inside as well as outside, and promising to personally take care of them. John had to admit that he was plenty thankful, as well as privately admitting to himself, that Yuuka had quite the knack for house duties. It seemed she was indeed intent on playing the 'housewife' role quite a bit. She'd tease and joke with the others, almost as if that melancholy John had seen in his vision was completely erased. On one occasion, one of the villagers had seen the two of them talking while Yuuka watered some of the plants, and when giving congratulations on their impending wedding, Yuuka had told them they were putting it on hold for now, that John had said he wanted to save up some money to treat her well.
While it wasn't the best thing he could have asked for, John was still quite happy with this, as it helped to quell the talks within the village for now.
During all this time, he'd also learned what each member of Favor Trade was good at when it came to jobs. While John himself would bounce around from whatever requests came his way, the girls had all taken to liking certain jobs more than others. Kaguya in particular enjoyed doing guard duty at the local tavern. Curious (and concerned for her safety) John one night, set out to keep an eye on the princess and make sure no harm befell her. What he saw instead as he watched from the outside though, was that Kaguya was doing amazingly well on her own. The night he'd gone there, the patrons were properly behaved, even as they drank and sang some songs, Kaguya herself never once partook in any drinks and it seemed that the sheer presence of her being there was enough to have the men behave themselves. No matter how drunk they got, they never broke out into a fight or caused trouble, instead, they would just marvel at Kaguya while breaking out into song praising her. Any person who did act out (according to the owner when John questioned them) would be softly reprimanded by Kaguya, and yet, that was all she needed to do. She had those people under her thumb, and this made John realize something:
Royalty can be scary.
As for Medicine, she'd actually taken up pest extermination surprisingly. She actually wasn't too fond of rodents or bugs all that much, and because of her mastery over poisons, she was able to kill them quite effectively, making her quite liked by many of the food store owners and farmers around the village. And for Medicine, she actually liked all the praise she had thrown her way such a nice job. To her, the ego stroking was enough of a reward, the food she'd get in return was nothing more than a bonus. Surprisingly, when the month time-limit had been up and Medicine was free to leave, she...never brought it up. John had remembered and was waiting for her to say something...but she never did. Medicine must have come to like the job somewhere along the line, and so John decided to not bring it up, and let the puppet girl continue to enjoy herself.
Kogasa meanwhile had continued her bout of usual surprises. Making food and taking it to kids, cleaning up someone's home when they didn't expect it, and using her blacksmith skills to mend weapons as well as other things like spoons or ladles. She'd been the one to bring home the most actual money, which John was quite thankful for. But even so Kogasa had seemed a bit more...distant, or rather irritated than usual. Ever since Yuuka had shown up, she'd have the occasional frown on her face whenever the flower youkai showed up, or if Yuuka had decided to be a bit more affectionate (Sometimes ranging from hugs to sitting on his lap if she felt so inclined) Kogasa would leave the room or shoot a furious glare at Yuuka.
This didn't go unnoticed by anyone else.
When questioned about it, Kogasa would just grumble, and even John couldn't get an answer out of her, instead Kogasa would demand that he hold her umbrella for a while to keep the sun out of his eyes or spend some one on one time with her. Sometimes, he'd even pet her head for hours on end, to which Kogasa had come to fully enjoy, letting out small sounds of enjoyment while blushing faintly. These shenanigans continued for a while, that is until Final Fantasy XIV had finally gotten it's last update before the release of Stormblood later in the summer.
Patch 3.5: The Far Edge Of Fate had released and with it, the final part of the warring triad as well as the final part of the relic weapon quest, which would allow him to further strengthen his relic weapon, along with Dun Scaith, a new 24-man raid dungeon that would also give out some high end gear, Though John didn't really need it, as the previous tier of Alexander Savage had given him all ilevel 270 gear, so now he just had to upgrade his relic weapons.
And John did just that. It took him a full month or two of serious grinding, he took some small breaks, for food or water (that Kogasa and the others had to remind of many times), but otherwise, John would stay up all night and all day furiously grinding out his relic weapons. It was an interesting quest line, making him go to numerous dungeons to gather 'light' that would make his weapons stronger, as well as personally customizing the stats so that they were the best for that particular class. So serious was his grinding, Kogasa and the others couldn't pull him away, and when asked, John just gave them an answer that he was 'powering up' and after that, the girls could get no more words out of him. The most they could do was make sure he took care of himself with the aforementioned reminding him of eating, drinking, and bathing. Through toil and hard work when mid-April rolled around, John was now ilevel 270 on all his jobs, and at his absolute peak of power until Stormblood arrived in two months later.
With that done, he promptly fell asleep for the first time in literal months. It took five days for John to reclaim the usual energy he had and when he did awake, it was already the afternoon.
"Well well, look whose finally awake. "Yuuka said with a grin "Welcome back to the land of the living darling~." Without warning Yuuka went and planted a chaste kiss on his lips, causing him to wake up a bit more.
"Please stop doing that Yuuka." John sighed "It'll give people the wrong idea."
"You don't seem to be putting up much of a fight though, and besides, isn't it a wife's duty to help her husband greet the new day?"
"But you aren't my wife."
"Not yet!"
"Please stop kissing me."
"Only if you say you hate it."
Silence. John couldn't bring himself to say it, because no matter what he told himself, getting kissed by a pretty woman was very nice. He'd never have something like that happen to him back home, and he wasn't too keen on having it end just yet.
"I'll take that as a no." Yuuka grinned "Anyway, I've taken care of the plants, and everyone else should be doing their jobs right now. The usual spots for them like always."
"Well that's good I guess...maybe I should get a bath..."
"I had a feeling you'd say that, the one out in the back is already warmed."
"We have an outdoor bath now...since when?" John asked with a raised eyebrow
Yuuka once again let out a chuckle "We got it a few days after you went into that little coma. It'll make it so you don't need to walk all the way to the bathhouse all the time."
"Oh...thanks." John said standing up and stretching a bit, his body felt a bit cramped, probably from all the sitting, but a nice hot soak would be be enough to loosen him up nicely. He walked out to the back, where he could see the smoke from the fire used to warm the bath. It seemed nice, but he needed a towel or something to protect his modesty. It's not like they really had a changing room for the office or anything like that, but as if expecting this, Yuuka appeared beside him.
"Here's your towel, now where would you be without me?"
"Thanks Yuuka." John said, ignoring that last bit
"Enjoy your baaaaaath~!" With that, Yuuka walked off to handle who knows what else
Taking a quick look around, John made sure that no one was around so that he could undress without worry. Taking his clothing and setting it near the door, he wrapped the towel around his waist and rounded the corner of the office to the bath. The sight he saw was something that would be etched into his mind forever. Sitting there, in the bath, and splashing some water on herself was Kogasa...who had just turned her eyes and saw him...her body on full display. It was like time stood still as the two stared one another down. John in nothing but a towel, and Kogasa in well...nothing.
"..."
"….."
"…..."
"Uh...hi?" John managed to spit out, this proved to be a mistake as Kogasa's senses finally came back to her.
"J-John! What the hell?!" she screeched
"S-sorry!" John said turning around, "I-I didn't see anything!"
They both knew that was a lie.
"G-get out of here!"
"Yeah, right!"
John quickly retreated into the office redressing himself while his face was completely red from what he saw. That was one hell of a surprise...but he had to admit there was one good thing about seeing Kogasa like that: She was stacked despite her small size.
"Done with your bath already?" Yuuka said popping her head into the room from the door
Immediately John was on his feet with an angry look on his face "What the hell Yuuka? Kogasa was already in the bath!"
"Really…? Oh my, I completely forgot!" She said with a smirk
"I find that somehow hard to believe." John retorted
"Well, it's okay, you got to see something nice right?"
"...Maybe." John said turning his face away
"And that's all that matters! Besides, I'm sure Kogasa isn't too angry!"
"I doubt that."
The two kept talking for a little bit more before Kogasa entered the room, her face still bright red. It was clear that she still wasn't over it, and after a quick glare, Yuuka took that as her sign to leave. She sat down next to John, awkward silence filling the room.
"Look...uh, Kogasa, I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine." She said stopping him "That was totally on Yuuka. I don't blame you."
"...Really?" he asked in disbelief. John was dumbfounded by this reaction, he'd seen enough anime in his lifetime, he knew how this usually went. He'd try to explain, the girl would get mad and slap him or something, and then he'd be doing his best to apologize. But this was something he didn't expect…
"Really… I mean it...just um...ask next time?" Kogasa mumbled
"Yeah sure..."
"Good, I've gotta go, I'm gonna give the kids at the school a good surprise!" With that, the girl left John alone to mull over what had all just happened
"Wait WHAT?!" John exclaimed "Did she just…?" He just got up and went outside, he really needed that bath right now, if only to calm down his increasing nerves if anything else. He undressed once more and sunk himself into the warm water, calming his nerves a bit. Seriously, he'd have to talk about Kogasa and have her watch what she said, those kinds of words can invoke dangerous actions in a man who has less self-control. As he sat there thinking up ways on how to bring the topic up, Yuuka poked her head around the corner.
"Oh darling~a client is here for you~!" she said in a singsong voice "She claims to be from that vampire's mansion!"
From the mansion? John thought, what reason could anyone from Remilia's place want with him? He knew he had the invitation to stop by whenever he wanted, but really, John hadn't gone back simply because he either didn't have time or because he didn't want to be reminded of his imprisonment within the mansion some months prior. Still, for someone to come see him again meant that something must be up. He got out of the water, making sure to dry off and redress before heading into the office. Once inside he saw the familiar head maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
"Hello there John." Sakuya said with a curtsy "It is nice to see you again, and on behalf of my lady, I wish you congratulations on your engagement."
Oh goddammit not her too.
With a sigh, John just ignored her and continued on "So tell me, why are you here Sakuya? Is something wrong at the mansion?"
"Well...at the moment, there is no problem, however, if you do not come with me soon, I am afraid that things could get very much out of hand."
"Man, is it really that bad?"
"It will be, and I honestly do not wish to do more repairs. So please come along will you?"
Looking at Yuuka, John gave her a small nod "Let the others know that I'm away doing a request would you?"
"Of course dear, hurry back so you don't miss dinner!" Yuuka said waving
"Stop doing that!" John hollered back as he slammed the door
"Trouble with the wife?" Sakuya asked smirking
"No, and she's not my wife, please don't buy into what she says."
"Well, I did hear that wedding was postponed until you could save up..."
"THAT ISN'T TRUE! Look, let's just go before I lose my mind." John said rubbing his temples
"Very well, follow me." Sakuya said taking to the skies, John followed suit, transforming into his Scholar attire, and following after her. He really had to remember to talk to Patchouli about obtaining flight for his other jobs too, but that could come later after he figured out just what was going on.
The two of them flew towards the mansion at a moderate speed, Sakuya claiming that she didn't want to waste anymore sunlight. Arriving at the mansion the two of them saw Meiling who of course was sleeping at the gate and received a knife to the head to wake her back up.
"Er...is that safe?" John asked as Sakuya walked through the gates without a care in the world
"She'll live." Sakuya replied without turning back to him "Come along now."
Following after her, John was led through the familiar halls of the mansion until he was at the dining room where Remilia sat waiting for him, a small cup of tea in her hand.
"Ah, , a pleasure to see you again. You're quite difficult to get a hold of."
"It's good to see you too Remilia, but Sakuya only came to get me this one time." John said with a chuckle
"Actually, I attempted to contact you several times throughout the last few months, but according to Yuuka, you were too busy increasing your power." Sakuya said plainly "It's because you were so busy that we're in such a dire situation."
"Congratulations on the engagement by the way." Remilia said in between sips of her tea "Truly, I never expected that Kazami woman to end up finding a significant other, let alone a human at that."
"Please...please don't mention that anymore." John said in an exasperated tone
"Hmmm? Very well, it's not important anyway to the current situation."
"Right, so what is this situation that Sakuya was telling me about? It sounds really serious."
At this Remilia sighed, setting down her tea as Sakuya moved to her side, the cup vanished in an instant before Remilia began to explain.
"Well...I don't know how or from whom, but my dear sister has...learned of you."
"You have a sister…?" John asked surprised by the revelation "How come I never met her."
"Lady Flandre is normally within the mansion's basement going about her own business." Sakuya explained
"Wait...the basement? But didn't you tell me that I was never allowed in the basement while I was here?"
"Indeed, that was the case, however, Flandre has specifically requested 'The Favor Man' come and play with her. At first we refused her, but her curiosity has only managed to grow over time, to the point where she's had several tantrums."
"Oh come on, a few tantrums can't be that bad." John deadpanned
"My sister has the ability to cause explosions with her bare hands among the usual powers of a vampire. Do you honestly think her tantrums aren't 'that bad'?"
"Oh dear..."
"Yes, quite. So, the favor I ask of you is to entertain my sister for a while. Do not worry, for she is quite happy to abide by spellcard rules, so your life shouldn't be in danger. However, the stipulation here is that you cannot have the destruction lead out of the basement and into the upper floors."
"Why's that?" John asked
"I really don't want to do anymore repair work...the fairies and goblins can only do so much before losing focus." Sakuya chimed in
"Okay...and what do I get out of trying to not be exploded?"
"We are prepared to pay you a...generous sum for your time, Sakuya if you would?"
The maid is suddenly next to John and in her hand is a rather large sack, which Sakuya opens, showing him the money inside. Which is a lot of money once he gets a proper look at it.
"Really? This much?" John asked "H-how much is even in here?"
"I would say about 2 million yen. This is merely a down payment and you will receive the rest of your money once you have sufficiently entertained Flandre."
"How much do I get after that…?"
"Well, if you keep damage to a minimum and if Flandre feels she has been adequately entertained, then you will receive an additional 8 million yen. A total of 10 million should be fine yes?"
"Uh...yeah! That'll be more than enough actually...so when do I start?"
"If you would be willing, we could send you now. Flandre, is actually awake, albeit still within the mansion's basement."
"I guess I can, I'm officially on the clock now that I'm here anyway."
"Excellent. Sakuya, show him the way would you?"
"At once Milady."
The maid gestured for John to follow her, the young man stowing away the money in his backpack. He was thankful that Patchouli had basically made his backpack able to hold anything, because otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to fit the sack inside of it. He fell into step behind Sakuya, the maid remaining silent as they made their way through the halls, numerous fairy maids stopping to look on, and some of the goblins were busy muttering to each other as the two made their way past them. It took a few turns here and there, but eventually, John and Sakuya were standing in front of a large black wooden door, with a sign that simply read 'DO NOT ENTER IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE.' on it.
"Wow...you guys were serious about this basement..."
"Indeed, now then, as a reminder, you are to engage in play with the young mistress within the confines of the basement only. She is not permitted to leave, and if any damages happen outside of the basement, you'll forfeit your payment afterwards." She said this all in an extremely businesslike and professional manner, that all John could do was simply nod at her.
"Oh and one more thing, After about an hour of play, I will bring some refreshments for the both of you. Do try to not be too injured would you?"
"S-sure…"
"Very well, you are on your own from here."
With that, Sakuya opened the door, letting John step through it. It was dark down here and one could barely see anything. So dark was it, that he had to transform into his Black Mage attire and use a fire spell to make a makeshift lantern. It was amazing to see the basement, it was large, huge even. The walls were a lot wider, the roof was so high, John couldn't even see it and there were several cells along the way, all of them empty.
"Forget basement...this seems more like a dungeon or jail than anything else." he muttered as he continued his walk. It wasn't until he'd gotten to the end of the hall that he noticed another black door. This one had a sign on it as well 'Flandre's room, only enter if necessary.'
"Well...guess this is the place..." John muttered to himself as he gripped the lock, pushing the door open. As he stepped inside, he saw a small girl hunched over a broken toy. Sensing his presence she turned towards him, giving John a full view of her. She was young, looking to be no older than 10 or so, wearing a red dress and vest with a pink shirt and pink mob cap as well similar to her sister. On her feet were some plain white socks and brown shoes, nothing too special there. However, what really caught John's attention aside from her terrifying red eyes, would be the multicolored crystals hanging off of her wings. It was almost like John was looking at a set of Christmas lights, and not a part of some girl's body.
"Who are you?" She asked standing up, her eyes showed her curiousness, and yet, even within that curiousness, John could feel a bit of danger? Foreboding? Whatever it was, he could feel some part of his mind telling him to turn tail and run. But he couldn't, he was in way too deep now.
"I'm John Graham...uh, you probably know me as the 'Favor Man' though, who told you about me?"
At the revelation of who John was exactly, Flandre's eyes lit up.
"You're the favor man?! Oh uh...Patchouli kept talking about you, saying you're this amazing guy, so I really wanted to meet you! Oh, I'm Flandre, Flandre Scarlet!"
"Well, hello Flandre, how are you today? I heard you really wanted to meet me?"
"Yeah! I want to play with you John! Come on, can we?"
"I don't see why not."
While Flandre let out a small cheer, John sighed inwardly, he knew what she meant by 'play'. Remilia had made it clear as day that Flandre's idea of 'play' was getting into a fight, and so with resignation, he began to ready himself mentally.
However, what happened surprised him, as Flandre bounded over to a dresser and pulled out a box. With the top showing that...it was a dungeons and dragons board game set?!
"What the...Flandre, where did you get this?!" John exclaimed
"One day, I went into Patchy's library and found this. She said it was a "meaningless fictional depiction of monsters and demons and it wasn't worth reading."
John couldn't help but feel a tad bit insulted at that, as he enjoyed DnD quite a bit (when he wasn't playing FFXIV anyway).
"You like it?" he asked
"Yeah, I sat down and read it and the system seems pretty fun! I want someone to play with me, but my sister is busy, so is Sakuya, Patchouli isn't interested at all, and Meiling spends all day guarding the front gate."
"So that left me then?"
"Well, I could have asked for Marisa, but she's been unable to get into the mansion for a while now, I kinda wish Meiling would just let her in. Still, when I heard about you, you sounded so interesting!"
"Oh...well thanks. Come on, we'll roll you up a character and see what happens?"
"Yeah!"
And so the two got to work. Flandre was clearly excited and although she found interest in the game system, the girl couldn't help but make a vampire who was also a princess and was also a max level monk right off the bat. Well, it was just a little one on one game, so having Flan be ridiculously overpowered wasn't such a bad thing, all John had to do was make the encounters equally insane to go against her. Somehow after nearly an hour of playing, Flan had gone on a grand quest to save the tortilla king, fighting several slime spitting owlbears and had successfully infiltrated and blown up an enemy fort. It was quite something, and the sheer insanity of it all brought a smile to his face. The focus the two had on the game was broken up when Sakuya entered the room with a small tray of snacks, and a shocked look on her face.
"Young Mistress...you...what are you two doing?"
"Playing DnD, I just killed a level 13 evil magus of Asmodeus!" Flandre exclaimed happily
"A what…? Er...I see you two haven't been playing Danmaku. Well, that's fine, I've brought some snacks for the both of you.
"Thanks Sakuya...actually, that's a good idea, I wanna play Danmaku with you John, is that okay?"
"Oh uh...sure! I can't really use danmaku myself though." John replied, shooting Sakuya an angry look
"You don't know? Well that's okay, it'll still be fun!" Flan said with a dangerous looking smile
The two of them continued eating, while Sakuya gave John an extremely apologetic look. She realized she'd slipped up and would have to apologize to him later. When she closed the door behind her, Flan finished up the final cookie from the snack cart before turning to John.
"Come on John, show me what the favor man can do!"
"D-do we really have to? What about the game?" John asked meekly
"It can wait till later, I need a good work out! Don't worry, I won't kill you! You're too fun for that!"
"Oh...uh...thanks?"
Though he was somewhat relieved by that, it still didn't squash all the fears he had of going up against Flandre. The small vampire floated into the air, a long black clock needle like object materializing in her hands.
"Come on John, keep me entertained!"
"I was really hoping it didn't have to come to this!"
"I'm starting first! Pandora's Pyxis!"
Like so many fights he'd gotten into, Flandre's use of danmaku was quite the sight. Small shots flew out in a box like pattern as bigger orbs shot towards him. While they were big and took up space, John was still in the perfect position to get off a perfect Fire III (Or better known as Firaga in many other games) with the aid of swiftcast. It felt good to get off a powerful spell like that that without having to worry about any problems.
"Y-yowch! T-that hurt!" Flan whined
"S-sorry?" John called back
"It's okay~! I'll just have to try harder! Ragnarok Nova!"
Another spell card, another wave of danmaku came towards John. This time though, he was forced to move out of the middle as numerous bullets and lasers came his way. It was hard to get a spell off, and the minute he stopped he felt himself pelted by some danmaku, which forced him back to the middle, only, for him to be knocked around some more by attacks coming from the middle.
"You've got to try harder than that John~!" She teased
Feeling a bit annoyed at her tone, John let out a rather sadistic grin "Fine then, what about this? Flare!" raising his staff high, he focused as a large blast of magic erupted directly on top on Flandre, sending the young vampire flying back. So powerful was it, John actually got pushed back a few inches himself.
"Kyah~! Ow! John, that one really hurt, are you trying to kill me?!"
"No, but I guess I shouldn't have used such a strong spell, but hey, you're a vampire, you can take it right?" He replied
"One more slip up like that and I'll get serious!"
To demonstrate her point, Flan, held out her hand and began searching for John's 'eye'. All she had to do was find that and...wait...she couldn't find it. She focused on every part of his body and yet she couldn't find it.
"What...what are you?!" She screamed terrified at what she couldn't find.
"Uh...I'm a human? Not much more to it than that."
"No...that's not true, that isn't true, you don't have an eye..."
"I have two of them!"
"Not those eyes! G-get away, don't come any closer!" Flan said backing away from him
"C-calm down Flan, I'm not gonna eat you or anything." John said moving a bit closer
"T-Taboo! Four of a kind!" Flandre shouted
With those words, the young vampire split herself into three identical copies, There were now four of her and they all rose into the air, hovering slightly before firing off danmaku from all directions. It was hectic (and somewhat blinding) as John did his best to try and dodge the incoming attacks. It was taking all he could to not get seriously hurt, but even so, he was still taking some bad hits all the same, as he outfit became torn and ripped in several areas.
"Flan calm down, CALM DOWN!" he shouted, but this only served to push her into attacking him more. The shots coming out even more erratically than before, which made dodging even more difficult. So wild was she that John couldn't find a safe spot to begin casting a spell...but it was then that he had an idea. All he had to do was keep dodging her for just a little bit longer.
"GO AWAY, GO AWAY, GO AWAY!" The four Flandres screamed in unison, each of them hurling their black weapons at John
"Tabbo! Lavatein!" They shouted in a haunting chorus as the thrown weapons exploded into more danmaku, the bullets flying every which way, and dodging becoming next to impossible, with that being the case, John had to do the one thing he knew would work...or at least he hoped it would, because if it didn't, he was screwed. He could feel his swiftcast having come off cooldown, and with it, there was one spell he could use that would stop Flan in her tracks.
"I'm sorry I have to do this Flan!" he shouted "Now go the fuck to sleep!"
With that, despite the hits he took, with the aid of swiftcast, John was able to instantly cast the sleep spell. In XIV proper, it was a useful early game spell that Black Mages could use to put a target (and later on an entire group) of enemies to sleep for a period of time. Fortunately, the spell worked perfectly on the Flans putting them all to sleep instantly. The clones disappeared as Flandre began to plummet to the ground.
"Oh Crap!" John exclaimed running over to her. His body was in searing pain from all the hits he'd taken from the danmaku, but even so he just barely managed to catch the snoozing vampire in his arms. The spell wouldn't last too long, but already John could feel his consciousness fading. He'd taken way too many hits in that fight. The upside to all of this was that he'd kept the destruction contained in the allowed area, so if he didn't die he'd have a ton of cash to bring home! That singular thought placated him as his vision faded finally.
"Ugh...god...what the hell...I feel like I got hit by a truck." John muttered as he sat up, looking around, he could see that he was in of the mansions guest rooms. It was still just as lavish as always, so much so that John was still in awe of it a bit.
"Ah, you're awake finally." Sakuya said appearing in front of him instantly
"AAAAAAAAAH! S-Sakuya can you not?!"
"My apologies, it's just nice to see that you're awake. Your coworkers were getting quite rowdy when they stopped by today."
"What brought them here? It's only been a few hours."
"John...it's been five days."
"FIVE DAYS?!"
"Settle down, you're still hurt. The young mistress played a bit too rough with you...and well we found you knocked out. The young mistress seemed...scared of you, too afraid to even try to harm you in your sleep."
"She's still scared…?"
"So it seems, what did you do to her exactly?"
"I'm not even sure. She said she couldn't find 'my eye'."
At this Sakuya raised an eyebrow, clearly interested, but quickly returned to a more neutral expression "I...see, if you are willing, my lady would be quite happy to speak to you. She's been quite concerned about your health...especially with your fiance nearly blowing the door down."
"She's not my-ugh, okay, whatever, let's go."
The two made their way down to the dining room, with Remilia and the other inhabitants of the SDM sitting on one side, while John's allies sat the other. It was a tense stand off, and everyone looked rather uncomfortable. Flandre especially had several cruel glares shot at her from Kogasa, while Yuuka had the same sweet smile on her face, but look at her eyes showed that she was waiting for someone to make a move. Kaguya and Patchouli were staring one another down as if playing some sort of mental mind game. As for Medicine and Meiling...well the two of them were actually talking, albeit rather quietly.
"Hey everybody, sorry to keep you waiting." John said limping into the room. As soon as he did, Kogassa was the first to break her glare on Flan, and run over to him, jumping into his arms and nearly knocking him over.
"John! Are you okay? Did she hurt you? Do you need something eat? Drink? I can go get some water, let me go get some water!" She babbled on
"Kogasa, it's alright...I'm okay. Sorry for being comatose for a few days though...didn't expect that to happen."
"That's my John, always considerate of others. Perhaps I should repay you when we get back home." Yuuka said with a wink, to which Kogasa let out a small hiss
"Hello John, it's quite good to see you up and about." Kaguya said in her same regal tone "I was...most upset to hear that you were hurt...and that you still are for that matter. Perhaps we can have some tea once we return to the village?"
"Hey Boss...you look like crap." Medicine said bluntly "You should go rest some more."
"Let's get out of here first. Come on John lets go." Kogasa said tugging on his arm
"Just a moment." Remilia interrupted "John did as I required and as such, I aim to make sure he receives the rest of his money...plus a bit extra. Think of it as an apology from both my sister and myself, I didn't think things would get that bad...especially involving one with a reputation like yours."
"Oh well...thanks. I appreciate it, I'll put this money to good use!"
As the other members of Favor Trade began pushing John towards the door, the young man quickly broke free of them and moved closer to Flandre, who had her head down in shame the entire time. Feeling bad for the small vampire, John placed a hand on top of her head.
"Hey there Flan...sorry for scaring you. Drop by my office sometime, we'll play another game together alright?"
"You won't hurt me…?" She whimpered
"Nope, scout's honor, I had fun playing doing a little campaign with you, maybe we can rope the others into it. A game is more fun with more than player after all."
"Really…? Could I be like you? A Favor Man? You're not mad at me?"
"But you're a girl. And no, I'm not mad, you didn't do anything wrong. I mean it hurt, but you were scared, If someone scared me, I'd maybe do the same thing."
"A Favor Girl!"
"Heh, that's right! Flandre the Favor Girl!"
"Hmmm, an interesting idea. So John you're saying you'd like for my sister to join you in your work?" Remilia asked with a raised eyebrow
The others all shook their head no (save for Yuuka), but John payed them no mind.
"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to have her visit every now and then, if she happens to come around when there's work, then she can join in or something like that."
"Splendid! Now then, if there are no other matters to attend to, you may all go. Sakuya, if you would?"
"Of course my lady."
The next moment, the group were all outside the mansion gates, in the middle of the night.
"How rude of them." Kaguya snorted "To so suddenly put us out."
"It's too be expected, we forced our way through the mansion each time." Yuuka sighed
"Yeah, that magician has some nasty spells...thanks a lot Kogasa." Medicine said with a irritated glare at Kogasa
"W-well, I just wanted to make sure John was alright? I mean, not coming back after coming this place? And we didn't get any message from him, what was I suppose to do?"
"She does have a point..." Yuuka said "I can't deny that I was worried about my dear darling John as well."
"Stop calling him that!" Kogasa shouted angrily
"No." Yuuka said simply, sticking her tongue out "Let's go home, it's about time for dinner, I'm cooking~!"
That shut everyone up rather quick. Yuuka was the best cook the group had, and they weren't about to ruin the chance of having a meal made by her. The group all took the sky, leaving the Scarlet Devil Mansion behind.
Meanwhile at the Scarlet Devil Mansion…
Sakuya looked out of one of the few windows as the members of Favor Trade left. Flandre, in her excitement, had rushed off somewhere, claiming she needed 'provisions' for her first day on the job. As such the maid was now alone in the room with her mistress, who quietly sipped some tea.
"Is something the matter Sakuya?" Remilia asked suddenly
"Well...if I must be honest my lady...do you believe it is wise to let the young mistress go along with that man? Letting her out of the mansion at all?"
"I understand your worries, truthfully, I'm a tad bit worried myself. But that young man is interesting no? From what you told me, he has no 'eye'?"
"That's correct...or at least, that's what he claimed the young mistress said."
"Then in that case, it should be fine. You and I both know that Flan can throw quite the tantrum when she's upset. But if there's someone who has no 'eye', she can't simply blow up her problem."
"So...you're saying he'd make a good babysitter…?"
"To be blunt: Yes. Flan has never seen the outside world, save for maybe a few trips to the shrine for a party. It'd be interesting to see how she'll interact with humans."
"But if they see her power and try to attack her?
"Then we simply whisk her away back here. I doubt anyone would be foolhardy enough to lay a finger on her."
"As you say my lady...I just hope you're right...should I keep tabs on them?"
"It never hurts to be too careful, just be discreet about it, make sure you are not seen."
"As you wish my lady."
And there you have it. The next member of the group! It may seem a bit expected, but I've always liked Flandre, and I think it could be fun having her interact with the other members. That said, don't expect Flan to be jumping off the wall crazy and creepy all the time. If I must be frank, I've grown rather tired of that portrayal of her (Just like Yuuka being portrayed as a sadistic monster a lot of the time). That being said, I still want to show that Flan does in fact have some bits of an unhinged mind, such as how quickly she jumped to a danmaku match. I won't blather on any longer, leave any comments and so on, I always love reading them.