Chapter 4: The Bride of the Dark One

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◇Houghtow City—Fli-o’-Rys General Store◇

Flio was in the store one day, looking over the budget report for Dark Mountain Pudding Pudding Park Uliminas had handed him. “It looks like everything’s going well on their end,” he said, nodding, satisfied.

“The purromotional event was well received,” Uliminas said. “Customer satisfaction’s been high ever since too. Sleip’s demon horses and my shadow demons have been doing a furst-class job handling the guests by meowll accounts. Things are going well.”

“So it seems,” said Flio. “Well, the hard part’s yet to come. Everyone has a lot to do to make this work.”

Uliminas nodded, her tail swishing happily back and forth.

“If that’s all,” Flio said, “then I’ll head home and check on how things are going in the workshop. We’re headed to the park tonight, after all.”

“Understood! Mew can leave things here to us!” Uliminas thumped her chest proudly.

Flio held out his arm and conjured a magic circle, from which a door emerged. He opened it and stepped through to the workshop behind his house, avoiding the short walk it would take him to get from the Fli-o’-Rys General Store through the Houghtow City gates and back to the house. Uliminas waved as Flio stepped through the door. He closed it behind him, and both the door and magic circle vanished.

“Casting Telepurrtation with no incantation...” Uliminas marveled. “It impurresses me every time.”

◇That Night—Dark Mountain Pudding Pudding Park◇

It was past the hours of operation for Dark Mountain Pudding Pudding Park. However, tonight was the preopening for a brand-new bar and restaurant on the premises, Club Outlook. A number of invited guests had gathered here.

Club Outlook was Peguilla’s idea. It occupied the second-story and roof of the Dark Mountain Pudding Pudding Park food hall, facing the sheer cliff on the outskirts of the park. Its location gave it a breathtaking view of the scenery from Dark Mountain. Guests could see far into the distance with no obstruction, all the way to the Dark Citadel itself.

“We should come to these sorts of places more often, my lord husband,” Rys remarked, hanging off her husband’s arm, a look of delight on her face. She was not wearing her usual outfit, but an elegant backless dress she had picked for the occasion. As the manager of the Fli-o’-Rys General Store, official business partners of Dark Mountain Pudding Pudding Park, Flio and his wife were two of the first people to receive an invitation to the preopening.

“They really didn’t need to go through all the trouble for us, though...” said Flio.

The succubus, Phufun, stepped up to Flio and Rys and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose before speaking. “Lord Flio, you and the Fli-o’-Rys General Store have been a tremendous help to us since the days when Lord Calsi’im was Dark Regent,” she said. “I believe this is the least we can do.”

Phufun turned to look out the window, at the Dark Citadel far off in the distance. It had been decorated with beautiful lights that made it shine like a fairy-tale castle. It was lit up specially for tonight so the guests in Club Outlook could see it all the better, to the mild-mannered Flio’s slight chagrin.

“Your store paid the whole expense of lighting up the castle,” Phufun went on, adjusting her glasses again. “And you’ve been more than generous with your monthly donations. We may be the Dark Army, but I see no reason we cannot work with you.”

Flio gave Phufun one of his usual easygoing smiles. “Well, thank you very much,” he said, bowing politely. “Please don’t hesitate to let me know if anything comes up. I’ll be sure to lend you whatever aid I can.”

“I thank you.” Phufun bowed back. “I am very happy to hear it.”

At this point, a number of other customers garnered Flio’s attention, and he and Rys went to the other end of the rooftop club. Phufun watched him go, and then headed for the bar. Usually, Phufun wore a highly suggestive and lascivious outfit—little more than bondage gear—but tonight she was dressed in an elegant and chic black dress. She accepted a glass from one of the shadow demons working at the club and went to stand with her back to the wall, gazing listlessly out of one of the windows.

After some time, she heard a large man’s voice. “Yo! Hope I didn’t keep you waiting,” he said, jogging up to her from across the room. “Lemme tell you, I had an awful trip... The skull dragon working the night gondola said I was too heavy! Can you believe it?! He was flapping uselessly all over the place...”

Phufun held up a single finger to the man’s mouth, silencing him. “The Dark One should not speak ill of the people around him so freely, Master. It will make them think less of you.”

The man, who was in fact the Dark One Dawkson, scratched the back of his head. “R-Right,” he said, lowering his head bashfully. “I forgot. Sorry.”

Phufun let out an amused chuckle at the sight. “Today is the preopening for Club Outlook at Dark Mountain Pudding Pudding Park. We were invited, if you recall.” She gathered up the end of the shawl she wore draped over her shoulders and hips and gave an elegant bow. “Shall we, then? I trust you’ve finished your work at the Dark Citadel.”

“Yeah,” Dawkson answered. “It was no big deal. I got the paperwork all taken care of.”

“And tomorrow’s?”

“Uh-huh. Things should be fine without us at the Dark Citadel for tonight.” Dawkson tried to take a step towards the large buffet table set in the center of the room, only to find that Phufun had wrapped her arm around his. “Something wrong, Phufun?”

“It shames me to say...” Phufun began, looking up at Dawkson with a pitiable expression on her face. “I had a number of drinks before you arrived here, Master. Could I pretty please use your arm for support?”

Dawkson sighed. “Sure, doesn’t bother me,” he said. “But first, let’s get somethin’ to eat. I’m starving—I haven’t had anything since lunch.”

“The mood’s just not right...” Phufun lamented quietly to herself, sighing under her breath. “But Master Dawkson doesn’t put on airs for anyone, does he? It’s one of the things I like about him...”

“Huh? You say something?”

“N-No, nothing! Let’s go get some food, shall we?”

“Don’t need to tell me twice!”

The Dark One Dawkson made his way towards the food, Phufun clinging to his arm. He ate plate after plate that night, keeping the shadow demons in the kitchen very busy indeed.