The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 270 - For My First Trick Tonight: A Disappearing Act! My Second...

Chapter 270: Chapter 270 - For My First Trick Tonight: A Disappearing Act! My Second...

The bored patrol guards had no chance of noticing two figures walking directly past them. Even if their spiritual sense was higher than typical for the region, they would find nothing visually amiss - because that sixth sense also refused to perceive anything out of place.

Qat found it all quite unsettling.

Strolling through a security checkpoint while her wife’s illusions made them utterly imperceptible felt criminal... because it technically was! There had been a few times she knew of that they were made invisible to hide things here and there, but this was a different concept of use beyond just momentary ’privacy’.

The fact that she could reach out and tap someone on the shoulder without them sensing anything, because Elua would erase the ’touch’... felt almost terribly wrong. Like she had an undue amount of power over them. Something that her cute but troubled wife lived with constantly.

"I’ve never felt this close to being a ghost."

Her softly whispered observation made Elua’s eyes crinkle with amusement. The brunette turned and gestured dramatically at the guards conversing about what they had for dinner. Her satin, dark mauve dress rustled as her voice projected fearlessly like she was presenting a play on stage.

"Behold, my love~ They could try staring directly at us while we dance a jig - and their minds would refuse to process it. Even the strong spirits would tie themselves in knots finding reasons to look elsewhere."

Qat’s startled spiritual tendrils wrapped tighter around the heiress as if to restrain the sound. It was easy for the swordswoman to see she was being made fun of for whispering... especially when the pleased ’giggle’ tore out. The illusionist skipped forward and grabbed her hand to approach the lift mechanism at the tower’s base.

"And what about this thing moving by itself? Won’t someone notice?"

"Oh, they’ll know it moved. It’s too much trouble to entirely remove that. But the nearer watchers will have a suggestion of maintenance checks or an officer using it. Humans are wonderfully creative at explaining away the inexplicable."

The ancient cultivator’s voice was filled with the complex ’assured’ tone of someone who had centuries of amusement watching mortals and cultivators alike rationalize the impossible after providing minimal push. She pulled Qat up toward the platform while her spirit tightened playfully around her wife’s tendrils. She had already considered the mechanics of their upward ascent, but...

"I’ll need to stay here to operate this for you. Unless you’d like to ride up clinging to my back as I use Adhesion to sprint to the peak?"

The teasing suggestion drew an immediate head shake from the taller teen. Even in the darkness, her expression clearly conveyed plenty of exasperation at the thought of her petite wife trying to carry her straight up the tower’s face. Whether she could do it or not wasn’t the point!

The heiress curled her mouth into a daring smile as she stretched up on her toes.

"No? Such a shame. I suppose you’ll have to wait for me at the top then."

While pressing a soft kiss to the corner of her husband-wife’s mouth, the blonde’s hands settled on her waist. She turned the brief intended contact into a proper kiss that made Elua’s heart flutter with delight. When they separated, the small cultivator’s mint eyes gained a dreamy quality as she stared at the tall warrior’s lantern lit blues.

"Don’t take too long."

"As if I could bear to."

After the breathy lilt, Qat reluctantly unwound the distracting tendrils from around her wife. Improving her control and acknowledgment of where her sensing energy was at all times had made the Yecine notice... how it caused her El to shift a lot of her own sense in those directions.

’Like the more I try to instinctively seek her to protect, the less attention she pays to her surroundings...’

The brunette turned away and her hands moved in knowledgeable ways as she began working the lift mechanism. The Goltbred had studied it in use and had managed similar inventions before in her past life, though this was technically her first use of this one. Her Astralism billowing out would keep anyone from worrying about its movement - but getting it to run smoothly still took its own focus.

’Don’t get too excited and crush the controls. Don’t get-’

Once the paired platform landed on the ground, Elua rallied the essence close to her form. Then she ’simply’ approached and took a step up the tower’s vertical face. Her musculature enhanced by physical energy easily counteracted the gravity while the pull of essence provided just enough adhesion for each sure-footed step.

’I wonder if she’d be impressed or horrified to see me doing this so casually...’

The short length demonstration the time they went to her estate’s roof was a whole different matter. Like a mortal holding their breath for a few seconds versus diving underwater for many minutes. Nonetheless, she quickly made all the competitors *climbing* seem pointless.

The night breeze on the plains flapped at her short hair but the sounds of activity from the festival site grew less sharp as Elua made it to the last ledge. She got onto it and hopped straight up to the flat peak. Qat stood waiting for her just off the lift platform... the girl’s tall form posed against the star-filled sky behind.

Even knowing it was a distraction, her tendrils immediately reached out to wrap around the brunette as she landed. The spiritualist lazily melted into the ’embrace’ with a contented sigh as she drifted closer as if pulled along until the Yecine ’heir’ hugged her close physically. A mischievous surge of intent rose up before her sugary voice called out.

"Miss me already?"

"Hush. Let me just... hold you for a moment."

The ancient cultivator had no complaints. She was still seeking the deeper touch in her spirit she’d been craving all day, but not so much to pass up cuddling that her beloved initiated first. After a while, the swordswoman let go and they sat down near one of the edges.

From this height, the lantern-lit grounds spread out below them as though a sea of fireflies. A mint gaze drifted toward a particular spot that held a good memory.

"You know, that maintenance shed down there might have been a good spot to sneak into again. The way you swept me away after I scared your brothers..."

"You mean after you terrorized my whole family."

"Mmm. Of course, of course."

She nodded with mock severity.

"And then despite that, my protective fortress carried me off to have her way with me. Well, as much as decorum allowed~"

Her teasing accusation drew a soft huff from her wife, even as Qat’s spiritual presence pressed deeper into her own. The taller teen reached her arm out and pulled her in closer. Giggles and ’complaints’ followed as small fingers incessantly poked appreciative patterns on her spouse’s abdomen.

"You know that I was more concerned with getting you away from the situation before you did something worse."

"Of course you were, love. It had nothing to do with wanting me all to yourself."

"...This and that can both be true."

Qatrand expressed quietly while adjusting her grip to let Elua settle more comfortably against her side. If she were asked, the blonde would admit some surprise that the brunette wasn’t rushing things now that they were alone. In fact... she seemed calmer about the skinship than usual.

’Accepting it, but not... seeking it so much. Interesting.’

"What are you thinking about?"

"You."

"Heheh, is it only because I’m right here that you can say such lovely words?"

Pigeon blues turned their focus down on the top of her wife’s head.

"No. I had plenty of time to think about you during the team events today, too."

The heiress tilted upward to express interest and she actually stilled her teasing hand.

"Oh? Tell me how those went while I was away."

"The fortress defense rounds were... eye-opening."

A small tilt and smile persuaded her to go on, but it also made a set of calloused fingers curl up to the side. The urge to cup that soft cheek was strong! But for once, it felt like she was the only one with such a particular set of urges. Even with their spirits entwined, she felt none of that ’hunger’.

"Some of the more independent cultivators kept breaking formation during assaults and getting taken out too quickly. It was nothing like how the Army describes Voidling waves - they’re supposed to crash against defenders in tighter formations than we were doing."

As she recalled the early exchanges, the fingers of her hand tapped a rhythm on the surface at her side.

"But even then, in each round some of the assaulters made it through and took out defenders. It made me appreciate the Yecine combat doctrines a little more."

The slight ’annoyance’ out of the Goltbred wasn’t hidden - and neither was the ’jealousy’. Qat took it to mean that her wife wished she could have been more involved back then. It wouldn’t be the first time she said as much.

"When I was stationed that year with the Army, we spent weeks drilling the kind of defensive rotations I’d been learning all my life. Today just reinforced how vital that coordination will be for all of us. It was... informative."

"My practical fortress, always learning."

The ’older’ teen couldn’t help that the corner of her lips raised at the praise. She finally gave in and brushed the side of the cute girl’s face lovingly.

"I have a role model. My wife knows so much. How can I take care of her if I stop growing just because she was too busy to watch me do it?"

Her low voice was steady and sure, but the way she narrowed her eyes then pinched and tugged at Elua’s cheek could do only one thing for the reincarnator.

’Hnng~ Adorable!’