dirk_grey

Accidental Villainy 67

When I returned to the basement, Emily had put on a shirt, working on the devices, but she was distracted.

“What was that, I heard gunshots?” Emily asked when I arrived.

“It’s not a safe neighborhood,” I said. She was tense, but not tense enough to realize what had happened was so close. She must have misjudged the distance.

“So, there’s no risk to here. Good,” she said.

“Yeah, we’re mostly safe here. We’re defended by a super,” I said.

Accidental Villainy 66

“What’s going on?” Emily asked, curious, not showing any sign of panic.

Understandable, as she had no idea about the difference between the two warnings. I didn’t give any outward sign of my panic. I didn’t want to ruin everything after I led her here. “It’s a bar emergency. She probably broke another tap. I’ll go and handle it first. Meanwhile, why don’t you start working on setting the devices,” I said, giving her a deliberately middling excuse, which I could esca...

Wild Dragon of Rome 24

I had decided not to ask her ‘help’ again until we could reach the shore, but it was hard not to change my mind as I watched Lillian dress. The desire was dancing in my chest, begging me for another release.

Her shy, inviting glances didn’t make the decision any easier.

I refused the call, not just because I wanted to pay attention to our surroundings, but because I wanted to control my surprisingly intense instincts. I wasn’t completely inexperienced when it came to mat...

Wild Dragon of Rome 23B

“Oh, you want to help me,” I said even as I continued to row, my smile naughty.

She avoided my gaze shyly, but that didn’t stop her from removing her shirt, once again revealing her ragged dress underneath, which, even after I repaired it, covered nowhere near as it was supposed to be. Not that it mattered much, when she got rid of it as well, leaving only her transparent silk undershirt, the view beautiful.

She turned her back, but this time, it was nothing to do with shy...

Wild Dragon of Rome 23

“I can’t believe we got away—” she started, her face flushed, excited with her success as the adrenaline filled her body.

I pressed my finger against her lips, silencing her.

“Don’t tempt fate,” I warned her. “We’re not away yet. Get in the boat.”

She followed me as we waded through the sea. I arrived first, and pulled her into the boat. “Should I cast a spell?” she asked.

“No. We don’t want them to notice us,” I said even as grabbed a...

Wild Dragon of Rome 22

“ … Now, we have the last stage of our plan,” I said as I returned to Lillian’s side. I had circled around the island for the last hour, and searched for any sentries they might have placed. Luckily, there was no sentry. They assumed that they were safe after driving the pirates away.

That, or they chose to keep their forces together, assuming Lillian had no chance of escaping even if she was alive.

Our destination was their sole camp, and if most of the mages were as ex...

Accidental Villainy 65

“Are you feeling comfortable?” I asked Emily as we walked through the mostly abandoned streets of the slums.

“Not particularly, no,” Emily answered with a frustrated growl as she tugged her large work jacket. “When you said a disguise, it wasn’t what I expected. This jacket is so uncomfortable.”

“As uncomfortable as the fake beard?” I asked, earning a poke to my side.

“I hate you,” she growled. “Couldn’t I disguised as anything but a homeless old...

Accidental Villainy 64

As I chatted with Emily, enjoying our drinks while waiting for our food, I was doing my best to give signals of distress I was trying to suppress. I wanted Emily to take the initiative to prompt me about the reason for the urgent meeting.

Asking about my distress first would give me the chance to exaggerate the situation as much as I wished without looking absurd. By asking first and ‘ruining’ the mood of the dinner I had ‘worked’ so hard to set, she would feel obligated to hel...

Immortal Freeloader 93

When Aisnam returned, it was already noon, and she was once again in her servant's disguise. Physically, she looked fine, which didn’t surprise me.

Cultivators had far bigger explosive potential, but one thing they lagged behind was endurance. It took a lot of time to absorb Qi, and even longer to actually subdue it enough that it could be used for their techniques, limiting the amount of fighting they could do under limited circumstances. On the contrary, martial arts essence was fa...

Immortal Freeloader 92

As I watched Aisman fight, I was making notes about the way to use the Palm of Verdant cleansing in combat situations. I might have the perfect understanding of the skill itself, but that didn’t automatically come with contextual understanding.

Also, watching someone with higher cultivation use the technique was a different thing. She was able to use some of the more advanced moves in a way I couldn’t do with just two active gates, which helped me a lot.

Of course, that was ...

Immortal Freeloader 91

Three days.

It took a week after I had helped Pearyin move to Markas before things at the capital had come ahead. A week that I had mostly spent in Capital, only occasionally leaving to check with Pearyin and develop the formation further whenever I went out to ‘facilitate the trade’.

It all came ahead in the middle of the night. We were … studying when the interruption arrived in the form of four Connate Realm artists approaching the Spring Palace. I noticed them the momen...

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Wild Dragon of Rome 21

“D-did you finish fixing my dress?” Lillian asked as she shuffled cutely, pulling her shirt down.

“Almost,” I said as I did my best to turn her dress into something wearable with a needle out of stone and coarse sewing thread I had managed to fashion out of plant fiber that I picked when I went out for scouting.

I didn’t tease her about her consciousness about nudity being a bit late after what we had just done, but it was difficult.

“How do you know how to ma...

Wild Dragon of Rome 20B

As Lillian faced me, her beauty was captivating. She was wearing nothing but drenched and scrapped remains of her fancy dress, but as it gathered around her waist, somehow, it looked on her. Her arms were at her chest, trying to cover her breasts shyly, but not entirely succeeding. The droplets that remained of her magical bath made it look even more spectacular.

She was certainly blessed on the subject of curves.

Yet, the sexiest part of her looks was her smile. Eager yet shy ...

Wild Dragon of Rome 20

I was somewhat afraid as I looked out of the cave. While moving toward the tunnel, I had already realized that my eyes were more sensitive, which allowed me to see despite the low-light conditions. It had been useful … but I had hunted too many nocturnal beasts not to know that such sensitivity often came with a weakness for bright lights.

I put my head out of the cave, trying to prepare myself for a painful stab of pain as I squinted my eyes … but nothing. I opened my eyes fully, ...

Wild Dragon of Rome 19

“How are we going to get out?” Lillian asked as she looked at the collapsed entrance. “I can probably cut through the rocks to reopen the entrance, but it would take too long. My kidnappers will catch up soon.”

“Probably,” I said. “The island is too small, and they are too professional to miss such an opportunity,” I said as I looked at the tunnel. They probably had scouts, already waiting. I performed shockingly well against the colony of moles, but a bunch of second-o...

Accidental Villainy 63

Emily’s lips were just wrapping around my girth when the waitress had returned with our drinks, and looked around. “Oh, your date is gone already?” she asked, her tone seductive as her hips started to dance even more. She looked beautiful with her curves stuffed in already-revealing exercise clothing that was purchased by someone leaner.

“Just visiting the bathroom,” I said.

“Oh, a pity,” she said, neither her tone nor her expression agreeing with the sentiment. I ...

Accidental Villainy 62

“Hello, sir. It’s time to order,” the waitress said with a raspy voice that was surprisingly flawless. I had a feeling it was less about her seduction experience, and more about her skills as a musician.

Emily looked at me in shock, silently begging me not to abandon her, showing the extent of her fragility. I could see that, as she sat on her comfortable chair, her shoulders slouching, she didn’t know how to handle a direct provocation.

Once again, I was glad for my pow...

Dominating the Boss 62

Charlie tried to catch Umi’s gaze as she stood up to take her seat once more. He succeeded for a moment. “T-try to p-play along,” he said. “The game is almost over.”

Umi gave him a dismissive nod, not even bothering to look at him, her gaze firmly on Tiffany, whose success had annoyed her immensely. It didn’t surprise me. Charlie wasn’t doing particularly well in the respect department earlier, but his actions during the game had ruined any hope she might have for the aim...

Immortal Freeloader 90

I was whistling happily as I buried the formation stones around the valley. It was far more fun to set up formations without carefully calculating every scrap of Qi that needed to be spent to attain maximum efficiency.

Yesterday, I had to be very careful, as I had been wasting my subdued Qi, which could be the distinction between survival and death in case of an emergency. Meanwhile, spirit stones had no value for me.

Even the ones that were shaped like small bricks, holding a h...

Immortal Freeloader 89

[Cultivation Difference Bonus - 50; Pampering Bonus - 75 (Capped)]

[125x Return - Calligraphy Lesson - Major Immersion]

[125x Return - Verdant Brush Talisman Technique Lesson - Minor Immersion]

[125x Return - Nataba Formation Technique Lesson - Major Familiarity, Minor Accomplishment]

[125x Return - 429 Qi Strands]

As I left the palace, I was used to having a set of notifications to accompany me, but this time, I had two more gifts. One was my new sword in an ord...

Immortal Freeloader 88

I watched Aisnam leave the palace with her puppet, still decisively maintaining the illusion that she was a mere servant of the Queen.

I was tempted to follow her, particularly since the being locked in the tomb was still sleeping after its earlier exertion and the observation was unnecessary. Unfortunately, she was also a cultivator of the Eight Stage of Qi Gathering, and I wasn’t entirely confident I could stay hidden. I was confident doing so if she treated the outing casually, bu...

The Stay 18

Immortal Freeloader 87

As I left the old lady Helnam behind, there was only one detail that prevented my good mood from reaching the level of elation. 

That, unless I was willing to face a small army of martial artists to transport savage beasts endlessly, I had to set the formation on Markas, which would link me to the proxy war that was going on there even deeper. 

Unfortunately, arranging the delivery of that many savage beasts would probably be more problematic. At least, large swathes of ...

Immortal Freeloader 86

“I’m really glad that I could bypass sleep so easily,” I muttered as I once again used the cursed tunnel to leave, this time not collecting any of the Cursed Qi. With its flow stopping, taking any of it would be too noticeable, and under the circumstances, it was better to play safe. 

I still remembered the commotion that awakening my first Major Immersion skill had caused, enough to scare me despite being in a cave. Therefore, I actually made sure to move out of Zaim complet...

Immortal Freeloader 85

“You’re late, again. I was worried—” Aisnam started the moment I arrived, but I silenced her with a kiss. 

“Sorry, sweetie, but the chaos in the capital had complicated things a bit, so the trade had been delayed,” I said. “But it was worth the wait.” 

“I have to see to —” she started as she unfurled the fabric, only for her eyes to widen. “Is that…” 

“A complete book on formations, yes,” I said, my arms still around her waist. ...

Immortal Freeloader 84

It was almost midnight when I managed to step into the tunnel that led to the Spring Palace. I would have loved to say it was the Tiger Fist army surrounding the palace that delayed me — my little trick with the Imperial Sword proving even more effective than I hoped — but that would be wrong. 

It was Pearyin, doing her best to thank me for my patience while she was feeling distressed. 

Naturally, Aisnam wouldn’t learn that particular nugget. For her, it would be t...

Accidental Villainy 61

“Why so surprised —” she started, which was all she was able to say before I grabbed her wrist and pulled her to my lap, delivering a short yet searing kiss. 

“W-wow,” she stammered with a beautiful expression of shock, though hers was more interesting than mine. As she sat on my lap, I enjoyed her smell. 

“Looks like I’m not the only one that’s shocked,” I answered. It was fun to reverse the situation after letting her get one victory. “But, I can al...

Accidental Villainy 60

Once I decided to get Emily’s help to secure my bar, I started working on how to expand those plans. 

I spent most of the day shopping for cameras and other detection equipment under various disguises. Not just cameras, but also thermal detection equipment, noise detectors, movement sensors, the whole kit, enough to cover the whole neighborhood. Also, I bought three computers, one to stay in my office and act as a dummy, and the other two for the basement we dug, to create a real...