-----

  After everything that happened, Paul walked bae and decided to the pce, washing the ptes, ing the couch from... well, any stains, and then moving back to his room. He was still sleepy, so he took a nap for around half an hour before his mother arrived.

  If she had only arrived around an ho, she could have caught her cuddling with Chris on the couch, a dreadful sario, as Paul couldn’t really imagine how he would expin to his mother what she could have seen without making it very awkward.

  Even less with Chris there, he simply couldn’t imagi!

  “I’m home~” his mother said. “Paul! Is your friend with you? I brought pizza and garlic bread sticks!”

  “Oh, mom! Ah, no, Chris just went bae; you took a bit too long, haha…” Paul walked out of his room and theo wash his sleepy face.

  “You don’t say… What a pity! I would have loved to meet your new friend!” His mother seemed rather upset. “Oh well! Want to have dinner while watg a movie?”

  “There’s a new Z-Men series; want to watch it?” wondered Paul.

  “Oh, the oh the mutants and that guy with the metal cws? I loved those; there’s a new one?!” His mother was happy. “Sure, let’s watch!”

  Because she had been the only person in the house for many years, Paul had fed a strong bond with his mother, ohat made them almost act as if they were friends. They watched movies and series together all the time and would go eat outside as well.

  But as Paul grew older, he began to think it was still a bit awkward to only go out with his mother. He started to think they would make fun of him if someone he knew would ever know this was what he often did. So he thought he needed a girlfriend and more friends.

  He had friends from high school, three at that, but they were all busy with their own lives, so they rarely met, at most twice a month, so they had been growing distant over the year, making him feel rather lonely.

  But Chris just happened in his life, and now things have escated to a level he never imagined but that he was rather happy about. Although he wao talk about this with his mother, he was slightly afraid of the sequences—whether his mother would approve of it or if she would get upset.

  There are many old-fashioned parents out there; a loher with only a son would often expect her son to get a girl and then bring her many grandchildren to make their house livelier, so telling him he was in love with… another man was a bit difficult.

  Therefore, Paul… decided to simply bury these feelings for noerhaps also his urge to tell her, deep down. As tall and tough as he looked outside, Paul had a rather frail heart, ohat roo being broken too.

  “Hahh…”

  He sighed slightly as he looked at the series with his mother. Although he was happy about what happened with Chris, the other things that worried him made him feel slightly, well, ed.

  “Hm? What’s wrong, honey? Are you okay?”

  “Ah! No, nothing; I’m fine. Just tired.”

  “Really? Alright…”

  After they finished watg the series, Paul went to take a bath ao his capsule. It was arou PM when he was able to finally log ba, and after receiving some messages from Chris having dohe same, he was excited about meeting him again, especially in his Incubus Avatar.

  FLASH!

  Once he opened his eyes again, he found himself inside his room. It seemed that this was his “spawning zone” if he were to not leave o beforehand.

  In Fantasy Story Online, pyers be given choices of where they want their characters to reappear after logging bato the game.

  Usually, by setting a type of fg, you make it so your character appear within the area they’re stepping into.

  It be anywhere except Instance Dungeons, if you log out there and log ba, you’ll appear outside the dungeon.

  However, everywhere else, it be done like this.

  heless, there was also the very ve option of being able to log ba inside your "house,” a feature that every pyer has.

  The reason? Every pyer has a background, meaning they usually have a house to e back to. If they ever wao return there, they could use this method.

  Well, there are still some pyers with different circumstances. Chris, for example, has no house because he was kicked out of the brothel his mother raised him in.

  After the death of his mother, or well, of Alitheus Lilithie's mother, the workers of the brothel raised them as their own children, but once he grew into an adult, they quickly kicked him out.

  It was harsh, but at least they raised the kid for the woman. It was already way more than anybody would have expected from people living in these ditions, who often had harsh lives.

  heless, Paul, like Vd, was thinking that he should invite Alitheus to live inside his manor so he could log ba whenever he wanted.

  If Vd's mother approved, he could even bee a “paid servant” of sorts, although after she saw them kissing, she might be expeg Alitheus to bee Vd’s future e or something along those lines.

  “I don’t know why, but this already feels more familiar than before... And it has only been a week.” Paul looked around the not-so-dusty-anymore room, smiling lightly as he saw the three moons shining above the sky.

  This was the ultimate escapism fantasy, and he k. All his worries just faded away, as he felt he was walking in another world entirely.

  “Wait, is the room er than I remember?” He looked around. “Yeah, there’s no more dust around.”

  As he noticed someone had suddenly begun sing the whole house, he quickly looked at the bed and was slightly startled for a moment, only to realize Chris was resting over there.

  “Hey~”

  “Ah, Chris… Did Teressa let you rest over the bed?”

  "Nah, I sneaked~ Haha.”

  He was as carefree as ever.

  And then…

  Ding!

  [gratutions! You have fully pleted the Raid of the {Unending Crimson}, pleting one of the World Quest Events in the process!]

  [The Raid has officially ended. Raid Score Points have been distributed to all parties involved.]

  [Your total Raid Score Points: 360.000]

  [You exge Raid Score Points in the Raid Shop to obtain Uems, Materials, and Equipment.]

  [Simply ihe Shop by saying its loud for it to appear before you. Once you run out of Score Points, you won’t be able to access the shop anymore.]

  “Right, this…”

  Paul noticed the message about the Raid Score Points, which had been distributed to all partits in the raid. Even those that killed a single monster got some of them.

  “Did you get the Raid Score thingy?” Chris wondered while reading a magic book.

  “Y-Yeah, I did; I earned over three huhousand, and you?” Paul wondered.

  “Wait, that much?!” asked Chris with a loud gasp. “That’s not fair! I only got a huhousand!”

  “That little? Pfff…” Paul ughed a bit. “All that fshy performance from back then, and you only got that much...”

  “It was the total reward of defeating the big giant thing with my magic sers!” Chris cried. “Don’t make fun of me, you crippled vampire!”

  Chris started flying over Paul and hitting him in the head with the magie he had.

  “Haha, ouch, hey, that hurts! Don’t be so aggressive with this crippled man, please…”

  Paul quickly grabbed Chris while he flew around him and pulled him towards his body.

  “Eep!”

  Chris panicked a bit due to the sudden pull, and then he found himself being carried by Paul’s arms. The two locked eyes for a moment.

  “So what do we do now?” Vd smiled; his charming vampiric beauty made Chris skip a beat.

  It was as if he had two handsome men after him now! A hot and handsome Latino stud and a sickly aiful vampire.

  “Um…” Chris gulped saliva. “W-What do you mean…? Like, I told you we have to date…”

  “I know, I’m talking about in-game retionships,” said Paul. “I was thinking of inviting you to live here, so you set the manor as your house. Is that alright with you?”

  “Sure! …I-I mean, well, if you insist… It ’t be helped!” Chris was very enthusiastic, but quickly thought that it wouldn’t be like him to agree to everything so easily. “I guess you’re too madly in love with me, so you've got to have me around, huh? Don’t worry, I heal, so I’ll bee your nurse~”

  Chris touched Paul’s nose, and then his lips kissed the vampire’s beautiful nose.

  Paul skipped a beat, feeling like he was dying at that moment.

  “He’s too cute!”

  IRL, Chris was already adorable, but Alitheus?! He erhaps on another level!

  “Ahem…!” Paul coughed a bit. “A-Ah, yeah, that’s actually a pretty good idea. A would be a good excuse to keep you around without hurting Mother’s vampiric family pride or whatever.”

  “Oh yeah! See? You just ’t live without me!” ughed Chris.

  Before, Paul might have gotten slightly tired, but right now he was allowing Chris to be as bratty and teasing as he wanted.

  He just found anything he did adorable.

  “I guess I really need you, yeah…” Paul smiled.

  “A-Ah…” Chris felt the pressure of a man in love, feeling nervous. “Anyways!”

  He flew away from his arms before thied quickly into yet another make-out session; they couldn’t waste their time just kissing.

  “We have to do something about the city, right? Elderbridge got all destroyed... I tried to help repair some things for the people, but I couldn’t do everything pletely,” said Chris. “And I bet a lot of people died, and... Ugh, it’s a huge disaster! If you’re really the son of the duchess of this pce, then you’re a noble who should take care of their territory, right?”

  “I guess? Yeah, I hadn’t sidered that,” nodded Paul. “You’re right. Let’s go talk with Teressa; I’m sure we’ll learn what to do.”

  “Aight~ she was i cooking something.” Said Chris.

  “Huh? Vampires cook food?” Paul raised an eyebrow.

  Since he started pying, the only thing vampires ever “ate” was blood; it was their only food and drink; they didn’t eveo drink water at all. They were an incredibly durable race; as long as they drank blood once a week, they could go on without any other ies.

  Aside from their long naps from time to time, they are said to be part of a curse from the Evil God of Sloth into their bloodlines because they had offended her in the past, or something.

  “Mother? Camil?”

  Vd walked downstairs with Chris right behind him, finding Teressa and Camil i.

  “Oh dear, you’re finally back! I know Pyers must go somewhere else, but were you alright in that pce? I was dead worried…” Teressa greeted them; she was wearing a white apron and holding a big silver-colored spoon.

  “Uh, yeah, it’s fine,” said Vd. “What are you doing? You’re cooking?”

  “Why yes, I am cooking my family’s blood sausage stew!” said Teressa. “You know, your mother was never always a noble; I came from a humble family of vampires that lived in the tryside! Sometimes we couldn’t just drink blood alone, so we also ate meat and a few vegetables. Stew and soup were our favorite meals!”

  “I-I had no idea…” Vd muttered. “It smells… quite good. I have some?”

  “Of course, I’m making for everyone, even your little incubus,” eressa.

  “Mama’s cooking, big brother!” said Camil. “She’s really cooking; I never saw her doing that!”

  “Yeah…” Paul was surprised.

  He had thought Teressa was a rather tyrannical mother who wouldn’t do such menial things, but he was wrong.

  “I know I’ve been a terrible mother... So I am n to reect if you would let me, my son,” sighed Teressa. “Let’s have diogether, alright? Like... like a family.”

  “Okay… Sure,” Vd nodded with a smile.

  Teressa was ging, perhaps for the better.

  “Oh, I’m also invited? hank you! Anyways, I was thinking that I could start living here, yeah?” Chris suddenly interrupted the nieween mother and son. “Kind of like… Vd’s doctor! I heal him and stuff.”

  The trio of vampires remained silent; Paul smiled a bit, but Teressa and Camil were going to take a little while to get used to having su eic little gremlin around.

  -----

  Pach