Chapter 149: Intrusive
As her name—Xendalah of Great Qing—implied, Xendalah was born to a tribe of Zoroark that inhabited one of Great Qing’s many hidden valleys. Her people lived alongside high-ranking human nobles from birth, taking the form of the infants they were paired with and growing alongside them as if they were born from the same womb.
In essence, the members of Xendalah’s tribe were expected to serve as body doubles or doppelgangers, serving and protecting their charges, no matter the cost. Many took advantage of this, but the boy whom Xendalah had been paired with—the fourth son of the previous Qing Emperor—had been a kind, understanding, and forward-thinking youth. He wanted Great Qing to follow the League’s example and bring an end to the thousands of years of war that had plagued their nation since its founding, but when his father suddenly grew ill, it sparked a power struggle between his first and second brothers for control.
By choosing not to fight, Xendalah’s partner, the fourth prince, was one of the first casualties in a succession war that lasted years. She initially tried to side with the second prince to kill the first, who was responsible for the fourth’s death, but their efforts were futile. The first prince was somehow able to convince the Guardian Deity of Great Qing to take his side, even though it wasn’t supposed to intervene in succession disputes. After that, no one could stop the first prince from murdering his remaining siblings to install himself as Emperor.
Believing that the first prince had employed a nefarious method to gain the support—or possibly even control—of Great Qing’s Guardian Deity, Huangli, Xendalah was unable to accept the outcome of the succession dispute. Her clan was honor-bound to serve the new Emperor, but she decided to flee and disclose her suspicions to the League—leading to a decades-long investigation. Jenni was Xendalah’s third partner, but, given how secure the Imperial Palace was, she was no closer to eliminating the current Emperor or discovering how he had convinced Huangli to become his enforcer…
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“And that’s my story…” Xendalah hummed, holding Jason’s gaze with a narrow-eyed, nostalgia-tinged smile. She still harbored a great deal of enmity towards the current Emperor of Great Qing, but after years of little to no progress, the fury that had once blazed within her as an inferno had long been reduced to embers. It could be rekindled, but she would need a continuous source of fuel to keep her burning…
“You’ve been through a lot…” Jason acknowledged solemnly, feeling the burden upon Xendalah’s heart as clearly as the weight and heat that had been warming his lower body for nearly half an hour. He thought of having her remove herself several times, but the moment she started recounting her past, he felt compelled to let her finish.
“I have…” Xendalah affirmed with a nod, her ghostly blue eyes regaining a bit of her long-diminished fervor as she stated, “But, with your assistance, my vengeance has suddenly become achievable. Vest me with power, and in turn, I will serve you as loyally as I did my first master…”
[The 3-Star Entity, [Xendalah of Great Qing], is offering to become your subordinate in a Master/Servant relationship. If you accept, they will be bound to you for as long as the terms of the contract dictate.]
‘This is a first…’ Jason noted, his eyes lowering to stare at the notification that had appeared before him. From Xandalah’s perspective, this made it appear as if he were staring at her breasts, causing her eyes to narrow as she readily affirmed, “If you would have my body in exchange for your aid, it is yours to do with as you please…”
Blinking back to awareness, Jason didn’t hesitate to assert, “I don’t have sex with Pokémon, irrespective of whether they’re capable of looking like or taking the form of a human…”
Returning his gaze to the system notification, Jason toggled its visibility by mentally checking a tiny box. Then, reversing it so that Xendalah could read what it said, he appended, “I was looking at this.”
“Ahhh…I see…” Xendalah hummed, her eyes narrowing further and a sly smile adorning her face as she subtly shifted her weight. Despite Jason’s words, he couldn’t prevent his body from having at least a slight reaction to her presence atop him. And as she subtly adjusted her position so that a certain part of her was directly atop Jason’s bulge, Xendalah could feel his reaction exacerbate.
Pretending that she didn’t notice the change, Xendalah confirmed, “I do not mind becoming your Servant if it will allow me to pursue my revenge. Whether I succeed need not concern you. I will be content so long as you grant me the power to pursue it.”
“What about Jenni and the IPPF…?” Jason asked, similarly pretending he didn’t notice his body’s physiological reaction.
“I am ultimately a free agent,” Xendalah revealed. “And due to my ability to speak and appear as a human, I have been granted the same rights as a League native. Even if I were to separate from the IPPF, I could sustain and provide for myself without being a burden.”
“I wasn’t concerned with you becoming a burden to my finances…” Jason sighed, exhaling exasperatedly through his nose.
“Jenni is aware of my situation. She will understand…” Xendalah asserted confidently, her mischievous smile broadening. She had understood what Jason was asking her, but it was the nature of Zorua and Zoroark to mess with people. And with Jason being uniquely accommodating, she couldn’t suppress her instinct to prank and tease him.
‘She’s doing it on purpose…’ Jason noted, unable to ignore how Xendalah shifted her position in subtle but effective ways to stop his reaction from settling. Her outwardly enchanting human guise and skimpy attire weren’t doing him any favors…
In an effort to bring the exchange to an amicable end, Jason affirmed, “I agree to help you obtain the power you think you need, but I don’t need a Servant. As long as you don’t conspire against me to cause harm to those I care about, that’s enough…”
“And what if I choose to follow you, regardless…?” Xendalah questioned, leaving Jason at a loss as she abruptly leaned forward and lay flat against him, reverting to her Zoroark form and relaxing the tension in her body as she revealed, “The effort you make to understand others…you remind me of my first master. He, too, was irredeemably naive…”
Realizing that Xendalah was seeking comfort in him, not overtly trying to seduce him, Jason, after several seconds of deliberation, began caressing her thick and spiky mane, his voice calm and soothing as he responded, “I don’t consider myself naive…but I can understand why you might view me as one…”
“Kindness is a weakness…” Xendalah muttered, rubbing her cheek against Jason’s chest as she acknowledged, “But it’s also warm…reassuring…and fills people with hope that tomorrow might be better. That is all my master ever wanted…to guide the divided peoples of Great Qing toward a destiny where they didn’t need to kill, steal, or worse to survive. He sought to give people and Pokémon alike hope, only to die to a man who has lived his life taking from everyone and everything…”
Though he couldn’t help but notice that his Bond Level with Xendalah had skyrocketed the moment she was finished speaking, Jason disregarded it in favor of giving the warm and extraordinarily fluffy Pokémon in his arms a reassuring hug. He didn’t know what to say in response to her somber, melancholy-tinged words, so instead of speaking, he cupped the back of her head through her thick and spiky mane and gently scratched near the base of her ears.
krr-rrr-rrrrr…. krr-rrr-rrrrr….
Catching Jason off guard, Xendalah abruptly started purring, transmitting a surprisingly powerful vibration through his chest. She, too, had nothing else to say. So, knowing that prolonged contact was an effective method to bolster her and Jason’s Bond Level, Xendalah closed her eyes, and, for the first time in decades, enjoyed the sensation and warmth of being held and comforted by another…
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[Twenty Minutes Later]
“It appears that our time together has come to an end. We should do this again…” Xendalah remarked, rising to a seated position and disappearing from view just as Lillie, Ren, and Runa, carried by the former, entered the gym. Jason could still feel her weight atop him, but only briefly before she dismounted him and soundlessly retreated to somewhere that couldn’t be seen with the naked eye.
Though he was tempted to look for Xendalah with his Faux Third Eye, Jason stood up and turned toward the trio approaching him, smiling in kind as Lillie happily disclosed, “Everyone has finished their bath and is waiting for us near the exit. But if you wish to remain here and continue training, I can return to them and have them leave ahead of us.”
“I would like to work up more of a sweat before spending some time soaking in the hot spring…” Jason affirmed, nodding. His encounter with Xendalah had not only derailed his train of thought but given him more to think about.
“Then, shall I send everyone away and return here? Or would you prefer to stay here with Ren alone…?” Lillie questioned, sensing Jason’s need to have more time to collect his thoughts through their Pactio.
Similarly sensing Lillie’s desire to stay with him, Jason smiled, raised his left hand to caress the side of her face, and responded, “There’s actually much I need to discuss with you, so if you could return after sending the others away, I would greatly appreciate it…”
“But of course~” Lillie responded happily, briefly settling her cheek into Jason’s palm before promptly departing with a notable pep in her steps. When she returned, Jason apprised her of everything that had happened between him and Xendalah. He had promised in the past that he wouldn’t keep secrets from Lillie, so while Xendalah may have wanted to keep their encounter to themselves, Jason was obliged to inform her. After all, from the moment they agreed to marry, they were no longer strictly individuals. They may have two hearts and bodies, but they were joined as one—even before their Pactio formed a literal link between them…
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Following his, Lillie, Ren’s, and Runa’s lengthy stay in his Sanctum, Jason was relieved to learn that Lusamine had retired to a separate room for the evening. Their encounter that morning had left a very deep impression on him, but he was still of the mind that it was better for their relationship to remain professional than intimate.
Fortunately, as Lillie chose to spend the evening in the guest room with her mother, Jason wasn’t left alone in their oversized bed. He could have slept in Maeve’s and Nanahoshi’s room, but since she was included in the Quarantine due to choosing to join everyone in the hot spring, Jason had the privilege of spending the evening with Iris.
“Ta-dan! How do I look? Is your heart about to beat out of your chest~?” Iris questioned, performing a graceful spin before settling into a dynamic pose with his arms spread wide. She had spent the past fifteen minutes in the attached bathroom. And when she returned, she was wearing a dainty pink negligee that tapered toward her belly, exposing pink panties with an intricate, flower pattern that was conspicuously sheer in places where the fabric should have been thicker.
“Did the Aether Foundation manufacture those…?” Jason questioned, his expression moderately incredulous.
“Why are you trying to change the topic? I asked you how I looked, and I expect an answer,” Iris asserted, posing with her hands on her hips and a slightly annoyed expression marring her face.
Shaking his head, Jason calmly retorted, “Someone like you would look great, no matter the clothes they chose to wear. But if you really need me to state the obvious, you look amazing…”
“Hmph! Of course I do…!” Iris chimed, crossing her arms, raising her chin, and puffing out her chest. She wasn’t even a little ashamed by her vanity, and as a reward for his honesty, she permitted Jason to make out with her before they went to bed with her sleeping comfortably atop him…