Maids VS Apocalypse

[

Would you like to convert MP to G?

+5MP = 175G

>YES NO

]

Mark pressed the A button on his imaginary controller and the screen before him disappeared. A chaotic symphony of drums, electric guitars, and enraged screams blasted in his ears and cleared the storm inside his mind. Unlike the usual, however, it amplified the thoughts he wanted to avoid thinking about.

He tried keeping his eyes on the road ahead, but as if to defy his will they kept drifting to the passenger seat beside him. His silver-haired maid was there, leaning to the right as she gazed out of the window. She seemed to have returned to her usual expressionless self, but something told him that wasn’t the case.

Her blushing face surfaced in his mind and he quickly looked away. He could’ve sworn that his body had lost all weight, prompting him to tighten his hold on the steering wheel and check his seatbelt again to ensure he wasn’t floating in the air.

It was his first time doing something as bold as directly telling a girl he wanted to do something intimate with her. With the whole matter being a result of his tongue slipping he expected it to blow up in his face, but Lara’s reaction left him as confused as he was elated.

Mark failed to grasp the range of Lara’s emotional reaction. She barely reacted to him resting his head on her lap or when he praised her looks yet mentioning the bite turned her beet red. It would’ve made more sense for her to turn cold instead.

’Should I consider it a win?’ He thought. ’Does this mean I’m one step closer?’

With only a day having passed since the incident it was illogical for the maid to experience such a drastic change, especially seeing that nothing major had happened since.

Unless she had somehow developed an infatuation with pathetic losers in that short time, Mark found it difficult to believe that her feelings toward him and her stance on their relationship had changed.

’It might just be that she felt embarrassed.’ He told himself. ’I man, who said people blush for only one reason?’

After stressing over it for a while Mark finally arrived at an acceptable conclusion.

Lara who was already struggling with the dilemma of having to bite him on a regular basis was suddenly told that he wanted her to do it. Knowing that he would enjoy it every time made the act feel all the more sensual, leading to her feeling more ashamed by the prospect.

’What am I supposed to do?’

The butterflies returned to his stomach. It wasn’t that there was no backlash to what he said earlier; it was simply delayed and would become far more severe later on.

His fears that Lara would hate him magnified and he began desperately searching for another solution. Nevertheless, the longer his search went on the more convinced that there was only one solution to their problem: he had to change the way Lara felt about the bite.

’Talk about the impossible...’

For Lara to get over the apprehension she feels toward the bite, he has to entirely remove the unpleasantness from the action, turning it into something she doesn’t mind doing with him. Changing the way she feels about the act can only be done by changing the way she feels about him.

In other words, the only solution is to make Lara fall in love with him.

’How the hell am I supposed to do that?’

The thought crossed his mind and his eyes drifted to the right again. Lara happened to be looking his way at that moment. His first reaction was to turn away, but a thought flashed in his mind and he forced himself to meet her gaze.

’There won’t be any progress if I keep acting embarrassed.’

After a few seconds, the maid frowned slightly and returned to staring out of the window. Mark faced the road as well and did his best to calm his beating heart.

’So much for saving the romance until later...’

With how things were going, the last thing that should be on his mind was how to romance his maid. A battle awaited them in Hope’s End. He should be making preparations for it.

’I want to warn Kobayashi, but...’

Mark had no doubt that his phone was being monitored by the Peace Keepers. It was clearly the reason "Friend" had opted to send him a new phone instead of contacting him through normal means like sending him a message through social media.

He also guessed that the reason behind the fake phone being a nearly identical copy was because he himself was being monitored.

With that being said, Mark couldn’t just warn his friend that the war was about to resume. He wasn’t supposed to know anything about it right now.

’Well, he’s in one of the shelters.’ Mark reminded himself. ’He should be safe for now...’

The digital clock on the truck’s dashboard showed that fifteen minutes had passed. Noticing that, Mark opened the System Shop and focused on the Gold counter in the upper right corner of the screen. Once the MP conversion screen appeared, he raised the number to five and pressed A.

After doing it multiple times in a short while he began to discern the subtle sensation caused by his MP decreasing. With another 175 added his Gold reserves have increased to 12305.

There were another three hours left until they arrived at their destination. By then he would have another 2100 Gold after which he would have to stop so he wouldn’t risk getting a debuff in the middle of the battle.

The items in the shop entered his sight at that moment and his mood soured even more. The only things he could afford were a few consumables, most of which he had no use for with the exception of the HP and MP potions.

There were a number of enchantment scrolls, but he was hesitant to get them before buying a new weapon.

’I can augment Lara’s spear, but...’

Mark had lived a relatively comfortable life, but ever since he received his maid summoning system he couldn’t escape the weight of poverty. He continued looking through the items in the Shop while considering what he might need. Eventually, his eyes fell on a certain weapon, and Ramsay’s lessons resurfaced. Stepping on his heart, he pressed A on the "Buy" option and watched the Gold counter drop.