My Servant Is An Elf Knight From Another World

Chapter 1009: Not So Cordially Invited

"Hey, so... you wanted to talk to me about something?"

Took ringing Dad a couple of times before I finally got somewhere. My initial assumption was that he was fast asleep before I came chiming. Which would be pretty audacious of him to insist I call before I go to bed only to wind up hitting the hay yourself the instant I do.

"Yes. Thanks for calling," Dad’s voice blared from the other end. "I would have messaged instead, but I prefer to talk. Typing takes too long."

There was a commotion as he spoke, his voice fighting to space in the crammed, narrow space of my speaker grilles with the sound of multiple somethings making multiple landings onto something very wet. My original assumption quickly shifted.

"Are you at a pool?"

"We are," he affirmed. "The hotel we’re in has one. Your mother wanted to go for a swim, so we’re swimming."

"This late? Aren’t hotels supposed to close their pools for the night?"

"An hour ago here, yes," Dad said, barely discernable over what sounded like a perfect-form cannonball from a ten-foot springboard. "But your mother managed to convince management to remain open for a little longer. The other guests seem to appreciate it."

Definitely sounds like it.

"And Sammy?" I asked.

"In the room. She’s on timeout for the night."

"Oh, like, she’s grounded or something? What happened? What’d she do?"

"I caught her trying to duplicate her allowance with magic," Dad sounded, words reverberating low with dismay. "I knew something was going on when she hadn’t been asking me for money for sometime."

Nice going there, Sammy. What an ingenious little magician you’re turning out to be.

"Alright, so what did you need to talk to me about?" I spun around and plopped myself on the now-vacant sofa, relishing a little in the residual warmth in the cushions that Ash had left in her place. "You don’t need me to help you talk to someone else, do you?"

I heard Dad splashing and rippling himself to a side of the pool that was far from the commotion. "Firstly, I want to apologize and thank you for your help with Irene."

"Sure, no problem," I said, not knowing what else to say. "I hoped you at least got whatever you wanted from that."

"Yes, well... you can also tell her she doesn’t have to worry about running into me anymore. It’s clear she wants nothing to do with me."

"Actually, it’s probably better if I don’t mention you at all in any context."

Dad grunted in response, another distant cannonball landing in the short silence. "Before I left you guys, I was going to invite you to go somewhere with me tomorrow. I didn’t want to upset Irene with my presence any longer, so I decided on telling you later. Which is now."

"Invite me out?" I echoed back to him. "For, like, my birthday or something? You wanna celebrate?"

"No. Well, yes, I do want to celebrate your birthday. But this isn’t for that. I met up with an old friend when we first arrived in town. Dave. I’m sure you know him. Maybe not in the way I do, but you know him."

Dave again. Seriously he was like an omen that simply refused to be purged. An omen that haunts and pesters with a limp and a cane.

"He’s hosting a function at his home tomorrow," Dad continued. "A party of some kind. I’m not sure what. It starts at three. He’s invited me... and he’s invited you too, if you want to follow along, of course."

"Uh..." I croaked, kept croaking until I was out of breath, too dumbfounded to say anything else. "I don’t see how I should be involved with this party of his. I got nothing to do with his kind of business, so... what exactly am I there for?"

"As his guest, that’s all. Nothing more. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. But he told me to pass the message along so there you go. What do you say?"

What do I say, indeed. I don’t even know myself. I thought for sure I’d be in immediate denial of the prospect. This kind of thing wasn’t something that generally interested me. Plus, after a long shift at work, I’d rather just stay home and chill. So, with all that being said, just why haven’t I declined the offer yet?

Because as lazy and slothful as I was, the one thing I was more of than that was curious. Ever since my family got here, Dad seemed to be on some invisible bus taking him from stop to stop down memory lane.

More than once, I’ve sat a passenger with him on some of these stops. First with Amanda, then with Irene... now this bus was headed for another stop in this seemingly never-ending journey. So, come once more we’re back to that same question... am I getting on or getting off?

"Alright, count me in," I said with a gulp, feeling like one of those cannonball splashes in the background, diving into depths unknown. "Three, right. I’ll be there after work. Gonna have to change first though. Do I need to wear a suit or...?"

"Wear whatever," Dad simply said. "You can bring other people with you if you want. The more the merrier, he said."

The more the merrier, huh? Well, fat chance Irene would even entertain the offer, and I doubt Amanda has the time with the mystifying way she’s been spending all of it lately. Leaving just Ash, Adalia and Sera to consider.

Let’s see who dares.

"Got it," I said. "See you tomorrow, I suppose."

Dad grunted back. "See you."

And that was the end of that. I put my phone back in my pocket and spent a little while simply sinking into the cushions. I thought I’d stew there, thinking about what I just signed myself up for, but ultimately I decided nah—plenty of time to brew some paranoid thoughts in the morning.

Right now, it was time for bed.

I climbed up the stairs and made a beeline for my bedroom, only to discover the sheets of my bed already occupied and burrowed into its soft embrace by a small, slender outline of a person. Little strands of grass were scattered around where her feet rested as well as stray petals from various flowers staked and stuck to the tip of her claws.

Much like I did with Ash, I kept myself as meek as a mouse to avoid pestering the sleeping entity. I got as far as getting out of my clothes and jumping into the bathroom before I realized I was about to make some loud splashes of my own.

I washed up, got changed, and fortunately, it doesn’t seem I made much of a ruckus—I got out of the bathroom and everything remained much the same, no slumber disrupted. That was until I climbed into bed myself, carefully carving a small space of my own, then I realized there hadn’t been a slumber to disrupt the whole time.

"You are... going... to a party...?"

Faint as a whisper, her voice seeped into my ears. I turned over, and just a short distance away, the hypnotic swirl of Adalia’s gaze hovered before mine.

I sighed. "If you were already awake, why didn’t you say anything?"

"You... did not... ask..."

Yeah, that’s fair enough, I suppose.

"It’s just some event my dad’s invited to," I explained to her. "Only going ’cause of him. Otherwise I wouldn’t even bother."

"I... see..."

"I’m allowed to bring other guests though, so that’s one thing," I gave her a look. "Well? What say you? Irene did say you could take tomorrow in her place. Sure, it’ll probably be crowded and noisy, but..."

"I... cannot..."

Adalia slowly squirmed toward me, the bundle of sheets atop her like a wriggling lump steadily making its way closer to my own bundle. She then leaned her face in an inch below mine, and already quite accustomed to this nightly tradition, I let her sink her fangs into me to quench her hunger.

I wanted until she was done before looking for clarification.

"Worn yourself out too much already from today?" I asked.

"Plans... made..." she said between deep, satisfied heaves, rearing her lips and fangs back from my neck. "...tomorrow... Amanda needs... me... for something..."

"What? Amanda?"

This was getting ridiculous. That’s the third time now that that woman has somehow wormed her name into things completely unrelated to her. What is she planning?

"Wait, how’d she even contact you?" I asked. "You were with us the whole day!"

"Ash... told me... before you... came home..." Adalia said, sharing not a sliver of my burning confusion in her barren expression. "She said to... meet Amanda... at her house... tomorrow..."

"For the whole day?"

"Yes..."

"What for, though?"

"Because... she is my... friend..." she stated simply. "...and she wants... my help..."

"No, yeah, I get that, Adalia," I said, quickly attempting to rephrase. "What I meant was, like—can you tell what she needs you for?"

Alas, Instead of an answer, I got only silence. Silence... and then eventually, another stir of movement as Adalia slowly rolled in place, veering her misty eyes to the other side of the bed where I have no opportunity of ever scouring their murky depths for answers.

Only afterward, did she speak again. One last statement before slumber would take her away in its embrace... safe from any more curious queries of mine.

"Se...cret..."