Nothing of particular note.

That good sleep seemed to slip into the next day as well, with everyone showing up in good spirits and properly prepared, despite the obstacles ahead of them. The trio even made it a little bit farther than they had expected by the end of the day, and while it still meant that they would arrive in Knottori at around midday tomorrow, they could take their time and possibly prepare more before entering the village proper. An uneventful night turned into an uneventful morning, however, and with no major changes in the information they had available, the three found themselves just outside Knottori with a rather pressing question.

How exactly were they supposed to introduce Morgan and Alesia? Obviously, they couldn’t be upfront with their intentions, for fear of tipping off the misfits. But what explanation would properly mask their intentions and allow them to move with relative freedom around the area? Introduce themselves individually, without stating their link to Earnest? For Morgan, that was slightly more believable, considering that it wouldn’t be too different from the background she gave to Earnest and Alesia. But for Alesia, there really wasn’t much reason for a potion-maker like her to come out to Knottori. Introducing the two as members of his party probably wouldn’t make much sense either- why would a knight need two non-combatants accompanying him? Such a question just invited further prying.

Morgan had an interesting suggestion that came with a wink and a nudge that Alesia and Earnest were growing somewhat used to. “Why not introduce the lovely Alesia here as your girlfriend, here on vacation with you? That would be a suitable reason for the two of you to spend time together, and I could introduce myself as the wandering witch that I normally am. Such a story seems reasonable enough, no?”

Predictably, Alesia blushed and stuttered, but didn’t put up much resistance to the idea. Maybe a little more hopeful for the idea than she wanted to let on. But Earnest, however, was a lot more resistant. Even though it made sense… he still felt as if he was betraying Rosalind in some way by doing this. At the end of the day, he still loved her, and the thought of pulling a ruse like this in order to save her… well, he’d like to avoid it, if possible. Unfortunately, the more and more he deliberated on the merits of the plan with his two companions, the more he realized that this really might be the most believable cover story available.

And so, somewhat reluctantly, he agreed, and that’s how Earnest and Alesia came to introduce themselves to the tavern, and by extension, Knottori and Rosalind, as lovers coming to Knottori for a vacation. Apparently, they had met during one of Earnest’s missions around Lindow, and started a relationship from there. Tired of the bigger cities and towns, they decided on Knottori as a nice getaway spot after Earnest’s visit to Rosalind earlier. This earned Earnest a couple of claps on the back from the men, who appreciated Alesia’s cute appearance and agreeable, if quirky, personality. It also earned a few swoons from ladies as well, who were very much receptive to the idea of a dashing young knight like Earnest helping a young woman in need, and subsequently becoming lovers.

The buzz from the new “couple” vacationing in Knottori also made Morgan’s introduction incredibly easy, as most of the attention was focused on the dashing young knight and his demure lover- with gossip like that floating around, a wandering witch who just happened to show up on the same day was about as interesting as cow dung.

If that was all that happened upon their arrival in Knottori, Earnest would’ve considered it a complete, if awkward, victory. However, his spirits were certainly dampened when Rosalind came up to him absolutely wasted.

“Wwwwwwow, she’s a reeaaaaal. Realllll looker, ain’t she? Congrats Earnie? Ernie. Earnesto. Ernie boy, you really bagged a cute one. You get to-” she hiccuped here,”-get to sample the goods yet?” A not-so-subtle nudge and poor volume control meant that Alesia heard this too, and she blushed almost immediately. Whereas Earnest was both flustered and somewhat hurt. Even though he knew that this was really Thomlin in Rosalind, or Thomlin’s influence in Rosalind, the thought of him possibly hurting or turning away Rosalind in any shape or form didn’t sit quite right with him.

Well, that, and also the fact that Alesia was a rather cute girl, and that he was not really the most experienced in matters of love, meant that he lit up with a blush in much the same way that Alesia did- which fueled another round of teasing and gossip from the tavern attendees. He was fairly certain he heard a couple of village girls talking about dressing up and changing Alesia’s style to make her more attractive, and a few other men sharing lewd ideas of what the two must be getting into within their spare time. Mercifully, nobody actively discussed the childhood friend of Rosalind showing up, and immediately returning with another woman- although such gossip like that tended to be done out of earshot of those discussed.

After a painfully awkward night of drinking and eating to welcome their three new arrivals, thankfully everyone returned to the inn to sleep. In order to maintain their story, Alesia and Earnest shared a room, whereas Morgan got a room close to Rosalind. Meeting in Earnest’s room, they prepped for tomorrow. Awkward public interaction aside, everything that happened was expected and managed reasonably well. There were suitable cover stories for all three of them to move around the village as necessary, so it was decided that Earnest and Morgan would travel to the boys’ base in order to better understand the spell used for possession, while Alesia worked on crafting base potions that they might need. After getting Morgan whatever she needed to start studying the spell, Earnest would go and start tailing Rosalind, while Morgan would return and meet up with Alesia to start preparing a counter-spell and/or a potion that would achieve similar effects. With the tasks divided up, the team went to sleep…

Or rather, Morgan got a good sleep, while Earnest and Alesia awkwardly shared a bed. It wasn’t as if Earnest or Alesia actively said anything, but the understanding that there was a member of the opposite sex in the same bed as them that they found attractive unsettled both of them. Neither had much experience with the opposite sex and relationships to begin with, and both couldn’t help but have lewd thoughts despite their best efforts to suppress them.They both slept eventually, but both were more aroused then they would admit by the whole situation.

The next morning was better- for Earnest, at least. Waking up early due to his knight training, he immediately got changed into a lighter set of clothes for sneaking into the misfit boys’ base and obtaining whatever Morgan needed to study the spell. Alesia would normally be asleep through this, but his shifting woke her up, and she couldn’t help but stare at the sight of him changing out of the clothes that he slept into the clothes that he would use for the day.

When he finally left to go meet up with Morgan on the outskirts of the village, Alesia breathed a sigh of relief, before turning her attention to his used clothes from yesterday. He WAS going to be out all day, after all, and the potion brewing process wasn’t going to take that much time…

While Alesia was furiously finger blasting herself to the smell of Earnest’s used clothes, Earnest himself found Morgan already up and waiting at the meeting place. He motioned for her to follow him, and she did so, beginning the rather short walk to the misfit boys’ base.

Thankfully, the early time in which they left for the base meant that no one was currently there, and after ensuring that was the case, Earnest went about showing the spellbook and the box to her. For better or for worse, she didn’t seem all too impressed, instead keeping a slight smile that stayed steady whether she was holding and analyzing the burnt wicked branch used to draw the magic circle, or reading through the spells that boys were using.

Eventually, she appeared satisfied by her appraisal of the spells and items used, and told Earnest as such. Earnest carefully replaced all the items she moved around, but as the two of them were preparing to leave- footsteps entered earshot, growing ever closer. This was quite the snag, but Earnest ended up finding a suitable hiding spot near the edge of the base with poor visibility and nothing of note nearby. As the footsteps grew even closer, Earnest could recognize the sound of Rosalind’s boots, and as she came into view Earnest could only gasp.

She was half-naked, and after a very half-hearted glance at the room, she began to masturbate, kneading her breasts with one hand and fingering herself with the other. Earnest could only watch in a painful mix of shame and arousal as he felt himself grow hard as she continued to bring herself closer and closer to climax. It was a good thing that Morgan was nearby and that he was aware of that, because the sight of Rosalind pleasuring herself was at both times the most arousing and unsettling thing Earnest had seen. He was sure that she would never masturbate like this by herself, moaning without regard for anyone nearby, spanking her own ass and getting off to the sight of herself debasing herself in front of a full-body mirror that seemed to be here for the sole purpose of letting Rosalind see herself while she masturbated. The thought that this was almost certainly due to the influence of the misfit boys infuriated him.

And yet. And yet he was still aroused all the same. Of course, he loved Rosalind- he always had- but there was also an element of physical attraction in play, and watching her furiously masturbate just reiterated that he found her completely irresistible. This image of Rosalind, devoid of context, was sure to dominate his fantasies for the foreseeable future.

Eventually, though, she reached an ear-shattering orgasm, with her crying out as she collapsed to the ground from the pleasure, a lewd smile on her face as she basked in the afterglow. Was she currently possessed? Or was this another effect of the misfit boys’ influence via possession on her? Either way, she eventually recovered, and got herself dressed, and then left, leaving Earnest painfully aroused. Earnest waited a couple of minutes after she left before daring to move, both to calm his own arousal and also ensure that she didn’t return to get something she might have forgotten during her masturbation session. Looking back at Morgan, who appeared to be…somewhat flushed herself, surprisingly, he motioned for her to follow him, and the two hurried outside.

Thankfully, Morgan decided to break the incredible awkward silence born out of their accidental voyeur experience by completely ignoring that it happened.

“Anyway, I think I have a good idea of how the spell works, and how they pulled it off. I’ll have to head back to my room to, uh, consult with my books on how to start devising a counter-spell. But, er, you should probably go and start trailing Rosalind, yeah?”

Earnest wanted to slap himself. The sight of Rosalind had completely side-tracked him from the fact that he was to be trailing her directly after guiding Morgan to the base to appraise the situation. Running towards the direction he saw Rosalind heading, he gave an embarrassed apology to a smiling Morgan, whose mood seemed to be getting even better with every passing moment.