“And what do we do now?” John asked his weaponized maid.

“Whatever you wish, Master,” Aclysia responded swiftly, smiling ever so softly while gazing at his face. “My subordinates have been working better than expected on fixing up the island. We may not need help with most of the repairs after all.”

“Gnome will still have to patch the wall though.” John pointed at one of the several holes their brawl with the rebels had caused. “I’ll have her bind to Jack and come over here in the next few days.” He looked around the island. “Might be a worthwhile endeavour to add a bit more landmass to the island while she is at it.”

“A pond would be most appreciated,” Aclysia told him. “A maid should know how to treat and purify water.”

“A maid needs to know a lot of things, in your view.” John gave an amused hum and took a step forward. One leg after the other, he swung over the stone railing, sitting down on the edge. The drop was several tens of metres, yet John felt no dread from it. The human mind was adaptable and such a fall was no longer threatening to him. The excitement of being close to a drop remained, however. “An area for combat training might also be worthwhile.”

“I had no luck in finding a teacher for combat yet,” Aclysia admitted. She followed her Master and soon her own feet were dangling over the railing.

“Maybe Metra can come by once a week? She doesn’t have any official duties, so she should have the time,” John suggested, while putting his left arm around Aclysia’s waist. They inched closer to each other, until their previous snuggling was reinstated.

“Metra could teach them proper form, but I would prefer someone who can teach Martial Arts.” The weaponized maid placed her head on his shoulder. It was a light sensation. Aclysia’s access to the impossible metadermis material, a practically perfect faux-skin that was made entirely from metal, had made it easier for her to manipulate her weight to be in line with humans. Her reshaping was also fast enough that she could spend the majority of her day with bones of a semi-hollow structure, cutting down their weight to expected levels. Only the thick encasing of her hardest available metals around her core was ever-present.

“Hmm, well, proper form is a start at least?”

“I am in contact with Lydia in order to ascertain whether she knows servant-minded individuals that can teach Martial Arts and arcane magic. I would prefer this over Metra spreading her aggressive attitude among my pupils.”

“Metra is very servant-minded,” John countered with a smile playing around his lips.

“Indeed, she is,” Aclysia agreed swiftly. “She does serve you. It is not the specific mindset I appreciate, however.”

John couldn’t argue with that and just silently sat there. The little pulses of magic that travelled through the Artificial Spirit’s body reverberated like heartbeats in John’s own being. Her chest rose and fell with steady breaths. They were unnecessary, all Aclysia needed air for was to push it past her vocal cords. It was just a habit she maintained.

He took a deep breath himself. The air was cold, less so than on the ground, but cold regardless. The limited space of Illusion Barriers and their wind-free state meant that the excess heat did rise to the top. There wasn’t a lot of it, though, and whatever mechanics Gaia employed to keep air within appropriately fresh also kept the heat levels from rising endlessly.

What warmed him up, if he needed to be warmed up at all, was her scent. An adventurous mix of chocolate, raspberry and a note of cinnamon. Those were what she meant to exude, oils that she had drunk and which she now let rise from her skin like normal people would sweat. They were accompanied by the homely smells of grease and meat. Their breakfast had been a rather impressive meatloaf and the fragrance of making it still stuck to her hair. John didn’t mind at all. She smelled like his maid and she smelled like a housewife. A natural combination.

Aclysia responded to his persistent beholding of her beauty with a loving gaze of her own. Her eyes were locked with his, their emerald filled with so much more beauty than his plain brown. That she decided to be with him was the ultimate compliment. Yes, he had made her to serve him. Not in a sexual fashion originally, more as combat support (with the sexual part being wanted later on but not strictly necessary).

As time went by and Aclysia went from being strictly obedient to her programming to intelligent and wise enough to become realized as her own person, that serving became voluntary. Granted, because her base was still grounded in servitude, her being attached to that style of life was predictable. Though serving was ingrained in her, serving him specifically and loving him were not. She was with him of her own free will. John wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. As great as the idea was of creating a guaranteed loyal servant in the moment, the Gamer had long since deepened his understanding of what an individual was. He didn’t want to be served by dolls. He couldn’t love dolls either.

“Master…” There was a twinge of misery in Aclysia’s voice.

“What is it?” John asked immediately alarmed by that tone. “Are you unwell?”

“No, my physical status is flawless,” the weaponized maid responded flatly. “You fell silent. This saddened me.”

“Sorry,” he raised his right hand to her face, “I was just taken in by your beauty.”

Aclysia’s smile bloomed once more, her pink lips spreading wide and showing some of her pearly white teeth. “I hope my sight will please you forever.”

“You don’t need to hope for that, my Aclysia,” he whispered as he leaned in. Their kiss was simple, direct and caring. Lips pressed together, tongues intertwined lovingly, without heat or want for more than the contact they had at that moment. She tasted like the aromas she exuded, making the kiss sweeter than eating any treat in the world.

The quiet, wet sounds of their smooching was all that could be heard. In his arms, the maid quivered with intense happiness. She held onto him. For all the power they had, for all the peculiarities of their bodies and of their relationship, they were a thing that was incredibly straightforward and complicated: in love.

When their lips finally parted, they didn’t pull away from each other further than a few centimetres. In unison, they lowered their heads, their foreheads touching as they sat there. “It is on you to decide how we proceed, Master. Do you wish for my body?”

“Not right now,” John whispered back. “Right now, I just want you.” The hand that had rested on her face slowly brushed over her neck, felt the smoothness of her skin. “I want to be next to you. I want to see you smile. I want to hear your loving voice.” He moved the second arm around her and now they hugged as deeply as they could while still losing themselves in each other’s eyes. “I want you to call me by my name, Aclysia.”

“John,” she obliged so eagerly. “My John.”

“Your John, for now and forever,” the Gamer confirmed. “You can call me that regularly.”

“I could,” Aclysia confirmed that she knew as much, but left the rest of her explanation silent. If she didn’t enjoy calling him ‘Master’, she wouldn’t keep doing it. That John enjoyed being called such went without saying. It only made her possessive little outbursts more adorable, that she usually referred to him in such a reverent fashion. “For today, I will oblige, John.”

“A good servant should be rewarded for their obedience,” the Gamer hummed and went in for another kiss. That one only lasted shortly, as he continued to talk. “And my second wish is the usual,” he presented in a joking tone, “tell me what you want, Aclysia.”

“I want you to talk to me,” the weaponized maid confessed willingly. Despite their mental connection being deliberately weak at that time, he could feel the swelling intensity of her emotions. “I want you to be all I feel, John. I want your aroma to fill my lungs. I want your warmth all around me. I want to lose myself in your eyes.” A radiant sun of love and, to a noticeable degree, obsession basked his mind in its glorious rays. “I want your voice in my ears and nothing else.”

“You’re so dangerous to me,” John whispered, the intensity of her adoration swelling his ego. “I love you.”

“I love you too, John. I love that you are mine and I love that I am yours and I love that we will be together for all eternity. Side by side, you and I, forever,” there was a hint of craze in her eyes. She hid it so well, usually, his first maid, just how deeply she had fallen for him. How much she clamoured for his recognition.

When had she turned into an addict for their love? It certainly was something she had developed later on. After they had been separated for several months, perhaps? Maybe because she thought Momo didn’t love him enough? Or was that feeling that she didn’t appreciate him itself an early sign of these tendencies?

Wherever her honest obsession had come from, John didn’t mind it. Yes, it was, in all due honesty, a flaw and sometimes he wondered if it would make her do something incredibly stupid at some point. That was alright though. He didn’t need the perfect woman. He was already blessed that he got a harem of such beautiful and brilliant ladies. That they loved him and each other, that was all that counted.

“You’re so dangerous to me,” John repeated and pulled her into his lap. Her back faced the drop, her face to him, and her thighs pressed softly into his sides. “I care for you too much to let this high opinion that you have of me not get to my head.”

“I could only hope to love you less if you were to become a lesser man,” the weaponized maid was quick to respond, her arms wrapped around his neck. “Do you think I could be anything less than truly, deeply desiring to be with you, my wonderful John? When you work this hard to better yourself? I served who you were and I keep falling for who you become. It was not always a clear thing, if that is what you need to hear.”

“It is,” John confirmed. “Tell me that you could lose faith in me.”

“…I don’t want to…” Aclysia whispered back. “It hurts to think about it. That you could disappoint me, it pains my soul.”

“I need to hear it, Aclysia,” the Gamer insisted with a little smile. “You are not my doll, you are my Aclysia. That you love me is one of the greatest treasures in my life. That this love is not mindless is the source of my success. You are the sturdy pillar that I can lean on, but you are also the demanding force that keeps spurring me to greater heights. As a good woman, I need you to be committed to both, even if you are more comfortable with one than the other.”

“My John.” Aclysia took a quivering breath, having great difficulty formulating what he hated and desired to hear. “If you were to turn cruel, if you were to turn loveless, if you were to turn narcissistic, then you’d be unworthy of my diligence,” she hastened those words out and then lowered her head on his chest. “Never do.”

“I will do what is necessary to stay worthy of you, Aclysia,” he promised and kissed the top of her head. The silky strands felt pleasant under his lips. “Thank you. You are my foundation. All of my ladies help me stand up to the expectations of the world. Each of you makes me love life in a different way that I just wouldn’t be able to see if I was just taking care of myself. You are the one that will make sure that, no matter how dark the times may get, that I will stay who I am.”

“My John.”

“Your John,” the Gamer hummed and stroked through her hair to calm her down. “I’m sorry to make you think of such dark potentials. Would you like me to tell you another dream?”

“No,” Aclysia whispered back, raising her head again. The obsession in her green eyes had diminished, although it didn’t vanish completely. She was so honest right now, so vulnerable and beautiful. There was as little of a mask on her expression as there was a barrier between their souls. “No, I do not want to lose myself right now. I only want you.”

“Only me, hmm?” John laughed a little bit. “I could talk about a lot of things. I don’t think all of them will be interesting though.”

“It doesn’t matter, John” she swooned. “I don’t care much what it is. Your voice, you being passionate, that’s all I want to hear.”