We should probably stay with Earnest.

Earnest tried his best not to think about what he just witnessed Rosalind doing as he chased after her, but it wasn’t very effective. Morgan’s smiling face and knowing wink after he left didn’t help much either. At the very least, the physical strain of running at full tilt was distracting him somewhat. That temporary reprieve didn’t last long, however, as he spotted fresh tracks from what looked to be Rosalind’s boots. He’d have to slow down to properly trail her without being caught. With any luck, she and the misfit boys would have no idea she was being surveilled.

A brisk, but more cautious pace eventually brought Rosalind into Earnest’s view, and Earnest could only remark on how surreal it was that the completely foreign Rosalind who was masturbating furiously just minutes earlier was now patrolling like the same diligent Rosalind he had known all his life.

As he continued to trail her, however, it was very clear that this was a very different person from the almost infuriatingly proper Rosalind he had known and matched during his childhood.

First was her overall more relaxed attitude. Earnest supposed that some of that was to be chalked up to the overall low-stress environment that Knottori offered, but that trait was also something that was linked back to the boys’ leader, Ricard. Even if she was to relax a little bit, allowing Earnest to follow her more easily due to her overall alertness not being as high as normal, there was no way that she would simply abandon her patrol for an hour and take a nap underneath a tree like she was doing just now. It was so out of character for her that when she lay down on the ground, Earnest got a perverse thrill and shame from the idea that she was going to masturbate out in the open again, for him to see. He wasn’t sure if he felt relieved or disappointed when it was obvious she was just going to be sleeping, instead of anything lewd. Of course, he’d only admit the former, but the thought of the latter got him slightly bothered again as it invoked memories of the most depraved thing he had ever seen Rosalind doing, even if it wasn’t actually Rosalind. It was at times like these that his near-unwavering commitment to the righteous path of a knight backfired, as he felt almost certain that some of the less-strict knights within his regiment, those that bragged about whatever woman they had bedded recently, commoner, prostitute, or otherwise, would not be so distracted by the simple carnal act that he had witnessed his childhood friend engage in. Out of a sense of loyalty to Rosalind and also of duty to his responsibilities as a knight, he had never joined his comrades in the regiment on “recreational” trips to the red light district, and very rarely partook in the rowdy drinking sessions that often led to the displeasure of his superiors. Not that he was rude to his fellow knights about not joining them on such adventures, and certainly never lecturing them about their habits, it was quite clear to anyone that knew Earnest that he was not one to indulge himself with pleasures of the flesh.

Which leads us back to this current predicament, in which the simple act of Rosalind taking a nap excited Earnest in a way that he very rarely interacted with outside of the occasional self-pleasuring session, during which he usually thought of a romantic session of missionary sex with Rosalind. Not the wild race to climax and pure, unadulterated look of lust on Rosalind’s face that he had witnessed. As much as he hated the overall situation, eventually, Earnest had to admit to himself that watching Rosalind do that was thrilling. Perhaps if he had obtained the services of a prostitute, he would have them debase themselves like so in front of him…

What was he thinking? Rosalind was getting up from her nap to continue her patrol and here he was, engaging with lewd desires like a writer of erotica! Only slightly being able to re-focus, he began trailing Rosalind again while attempting to clear his mind of worldly desires. One can only guess as to the success of that.

For all of the weird changes to Rosalind’s behavior that Earnest attributed to the boys, it was comforting to him to see that some things were as he remembered. Her overall walk was the same, a confident yet unarrogant stride that quickly identified her as a knight, with or without armor. This was followed by her again stepping aside into a clearing, but this time to practice magic. Watching as she properly set up targets, he watched as she ran through 5 repetitions of each major element, cating the most basic skill from each element. Fire, water, air, earth, repeat. Fire, water, air, earth, repeat. It was clear, though, that this was a new skill that Rosalind or Barnabas had picked up recently, as the overall discomfort with her form while casting and double, then triple-checking to ensure a proper casting of a spell right out of a textbook contrasted greatly with the quiet confidence that Rosalind approached sword training with. Although, the more that he thought about it, such anxiety with this practice was probably more indicative of Barnabas influence than Rosalind’s natural instincts, if he had to guess. At the very least, however, the fact that she was practicing magic midday meant that there was a good chance that she was still practicing with the blade in the mornings- at least, when she wasn’t possessed. Hopefully the laziness of Ricard or the overindulgence of Thomlin hadn’t caused Rosalind to ignore her martial prowess, although there was no way to really confirm this unless he crossed blades with her. He should probably wake up earlier tomorrow to see if he could observe- or maybe even participate in, one of her morning training sessions.

What was really worrying, however, was when she returned to misfit boys’ base. Earnest, now having infiltrated this area twice, was able to get in and observe the proceedings without any problem, after waiting for a little to ensure that he could sneak in safely. Inside, he witnessed Rosalind hitting her head against Barnabas- then Thomlin hitting his head against her. Ricard was noticeably absent throughout this transfer of bodies. It was a lot more evident that Thomlin was inside Rosalind than the somewhat convincing Barnabas, as even the way she walked was overwritten by the almost brutish way that Thomlin walked. Now that the novelty of witnessing Rosalind be possessed and de-possessed was gone, Earnest could feel the anger beginning to come back. They were quite literally passing her body around as they wished, masturbating in it as they pleased, changing and ruining her routines, habits- her life as they saw fit. Earnest could only grit his teeth, though. As much as he’d love to indulge in the fantasy of going solo and saving Rosalind right at this moment, he didn’t have the ability to “expel” whoever was possessing her from her body, and with Ricard unaccounted for, things could get quite messy in a hurry. Too many things could go wrong if he acted rashly now, and so he settled for sneaking back out of the base and following Rosalind as she lumbered over to the tavern, obviously intending to drink as much **** as possible with her money.

Ugh. It was probably impossible to keep an eye on her while she was getting drunk without making his presence known to an extent, and at the same time, how much could he really learn from Thomlin acting like an idiot that he didn’t learn during his first encounter with her? And he also didn’t know if he could hold his temper if he directly confronted her right now… it was probably best to just return to his room and check in on Morgan and Alesia. Maybe taking stock of the situation with his companions would help with the building rage. Putting on his best “everything is normal” face, he entered the tavern, waved at the bartender, saw Rosalind beginning to order a mug of beer, and went upstairs, returning to his room to check in on Alesia.

When he re-entered the room he was sharing with Alesia, he was glad to see that Alesia was dressed, albeit slightly flushed. He supposed it was due to him barging in like so- he wasn’t really thinking about the fact that he could have interrupted Alesia in a sensitive moment until he was already halfway through the door. At least some things were going his way today. Giving a friendly wave and genuine smile to her, he asked about her progress on the day, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that her fortification potions were ready for mixing. Apparently, Morgan had returned to the inn and helped her with preparing the potions. He wasn’t quite sure while she was blushing and refusing to look her in the eye while she said this, though- perhaps her pride in potion-making was hurt by accepting the help of a stranger like Morgan? Not his place to pry, regardless. With this, Alesia was essentially “done” with her work until Morgan completed her research into the spell. To that end, the two of them made their way over to Morgan’s room to check in on her progress. This time, Earnest knocked, and Morgan’s voice rang through the door, giving the two of them permission to enter.

Earnest wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting as he walked in, but at the very least it looked like she was doing some sort of work. On a large piece of parchment, there were symbols Morgan had written that looked somewhat similar to those found in the book, and across from it was a couple of pieces of paper that Morgan had used to “take notes” on the possession spell. Morgan, however, was on the bed, and stood to greet them with the same smile and coquettish tone that she had throughout the last two or so days. This status report wasn’t quite as heartening as Alesia’s, however, as Morgan apparently needed more time to study the spell. Understanding but slightly frustrated, all Earnest could do was nod and provide support, along with Alesia, who could now help her with studying the spell in any way possible due to her potions being completed. The three of them then decided on their tasks for tomorrow- Morgan would continue studying the spell with the help of Alesia, while Earnest would wake up early in order to see if Rosalind’s sword training routine and mastery of it was affected. Alesia and Earnest gave their goodnights to Morgan, before returning to their room.

Once inside, Alesia requested that Earnest turn around so she could change into her sleepwear, and Earnest requested the same in kind afterwards. At the very least, it wasn’t as humiliatingly awkward as last night, likely due to the toll of the day's events exhausting Earnest past the point of caring. He noticed a slightly weird smell coming from his sleepwear as he put it on, but that was probably just due to being re-used, and so he didn’t pay it much mind as he drifted into a short rest leading into tomorrow.