The Rules: The Complete Series : A LitRPG Epic, page 82
When the door to their room swung open, Sam had to fight not to let his mouth hang open. He thought he’d experienced luxury by the resort, but this room – if it could even be called that – made the resort look like a joke.
“Welcome to the King Suite,” a smartly dressed butler greeted them. “My name is Albert, and I will be your butler during your stay.”
He had a faint European accent, was dressed in the smartest and shiniest pair of shoes Sam had ever seen and was holding a domed tray containing hot towels. Despite the walking cliché, Sam was honestly too tired to care. He gratefully accepted the towel, washing his face and hands and enjoying the sensation.
“Is there anything I can do for you, and is there anything you wish to do or see during your stay with us?”
“Well, for starters, I’d love a bath and change of clothes,” Emma said.
“Same,” Sam replied. “My clothes could use a good washing as well.”
They’d managed to get themselves somewhat clean by washing up in a nearby stream, but that hardly did the same job as a proper bath.
“Then I shall draw a bath and have new clothes brought immediately.”
“Um, if you wouldn’t mind getting separate baths, that would be great,” Sam quickly interjected before the butler left.
“I can, of course, have another tub brought in and installed…” the man began.
“No need!” Sam said quickly. “Just a different bath in a different bathroom.”
“Very good, sir,” Albert said, bowing at the waist and rushing off to get the baths started.
“Wow. He was seriously going to bring another entire bathtub in,” Emma said, sounding a bit shocked.
“I guess this is how the rich live,” Sam yawned. “I just want to be clean and not have mud caked everywhere that isn’t visible. Once we’re done, can we please leave this room? I don’t think I can look at a bed in this place and not want to go to sleep.”
Right now, they were in the entryway, which was open to reveal a room full of sofas and plush chairs, through which a dining area could be seen. To their left, an open hall revealed an entertainment area, and off that, Sam assumed were the bedrooms. Looking around, he could see that this place was probably as large, if not more so, than advertised, which once again made him wonder how it was possible.
“How exactly does this room fit into such a small-looking building?” he asked when Albert returned.
“A special brand of magic discovered by our proprietor, Hay Deez,” Albert replied.
“Wow, he really sounds like something,” Sam said. “You think we’ll get to meet him?”
“But, of course, sir. Hay Deez meets with all of his distinguished guests.”
Sam took that to mean that he met with everyone who dropped buckets-full of money, just to sleep in a fancy room.
“Now, if you will both follow me, your baths are ready.”
***
“Well, I still feel like shit, but at least I’m clean,” Sam groaned, stretching his arms overhead and yawning wide.
He and Emma were currently seated in the living area, both sprawled on overstuffed yet elegant couches and dressed in the softest bathrobes Sam had ever felt. The bath had been the best of his entire life, with the tub being so large, it could comfortably fit five people. There were functioning jets as well, which he found astonishing, seeing as this world didn’t have electricity.
The only part of the whole experience that had disturbed him was when a woman, dressed so scantily that she was practically naked, came in to ask if he needed any ‘help.’ When he’d blatantly refused, they had sent a man in next. He was going to have nightmares for weeks after that experience, but the bath had been so amazing that it had been worth a little mental scarring.
“So, what are your plans for the rest of the night?” Emma asked, stretching luxuriously and letting out a sigh. “It’s nearly eight, which means the main area will be opening up any minute. Should we go?”
“Honestly, I think we should just wait until tomorrow night,” Sam replied, rubbing at his eyes. “I can’t see myself fighting, not in my current condition.”
“Smart call,” Emma said. “Do you think you’re up for anything else?” she asked, giving him a sly grin and tugging at the lapel of her robes.
It was very obvious that she was wearing nothing underneath, but he was used to this by now, so it was fairly easy to brush her off.
“If you want it so bad, I’m sure one of the lovely people here can help you out.”
“Do you think I’d give it up to just anyone?” Emma asked, releasing her lapel and quirking a brow. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’ve never done it either, and despite what you might think, I want my first time to be with someone special.”
“I honestly have no idea what you see in me,” he replied, covering another yawn. “It’s not like I’m a great catch or anything.”
Emma sighed, then leaned back into the sofa and stared up at the ceiling.
“You wouldn’t understand, even if I tried explaining it again.”
“Nope,” he said, rubbing at his eyes.
This wasn’t good. He was starting to fall asleep, and the last thing he wanted was another kick in the balls.
“I’ll keep waiting for you, you know,” she said. “No matter how long it takes, I will break down those walls of yours. I always get what I want, Sam, and right now, I want you.”
“That doesn’t sound creepy or stalkery at all,” he said in a flat tone. “And once again, you’ve proven how weird this world is.”
“Then stop acting like some anime douche who has millions of girls throwing themselves at him, yet won’t act on any of it!”
“But I don’t have millions of girls throwing themselves at me. Just you.”
“Am I not enough?” she asked, sounding a bit offended. “Do you need more?”
“No, that’s not it at all,” he replied, covering yet another yawn. “I just don’t see why you’re so insistent. Wait, is your rule to try and seduce someone again?”
This question wasn’t entirely unfounded. The last time Emma had pushed this hard was because her rule of the day had demanded as much.
“Not this time,” she replied, shifting a bit on the couch and allowing the front of her robes to open a bit more. “Right now, I’m just really in the mood.”
While he didn’t visibly gulp, Sam felt his heart rate increase, and along with that, came the shoulder people to make his decision all the more difficult. As the two idiots began arguing, Emma continued talking, pulling the front of her robes ever-more open.
“Come on, Sam, I know you want it,” she continued, her voice lowering to a sultry purr. “I already know how hot I am, so unless you’re secretly playing for the other team, you want me. Just give in and stop resisting the temptation. I promise it’ll feel good, and once you get over your weird need to be celibate or whatever, you’ll want to do it over and over again. I can even make it easy for you. All you need to do is just sit there and let it happen.”
Emma rose from her seat, pulling at the tie keeping her robes closed and swaying over to him. Her eyes were half-lidded, her lips slightly parted, and her long, black hair shone in the dim lighting of the room. As more and more of her skin became visible, Sam found it harder and harder to resist, especially seeing as Emma seemed to have picked up some sort of seduce skill – or so he assumed. No one was that hot in real life, right?
The devil-Sam was standing upright and panting like a dog, while the angel-Sam was screaming about the righteous ways of Virgonius Simp, neither of which were helping right now.
Emma stopped right in front of him, releasing the ties on her robes and leaving them hanging wide open. Currently, the lapels were still partially concealing her chest, while his legs were hiding everything below her navel due to their proximity. She gave him a sultry smile as she reached up, grabbing both lapels of her robes and clearly getting ready to drop it completely.
In his current state, Sam knew that he wouldn’t be making good choices, especially seeing as his thinking was impaired. So, he did what most smart people in his situation would do.
Sam ran away.
26
“Dude! What the actual fuck?” the devil-Sam yelled as he dashed into the hallway, slamming the door behind him. “We were so close to bone-town, and you wimped out!”
“The path of the righteous will be upheld!” the angel crowed, holding the book aloft. “Samuel will remain pure and unsullied by the evil magic of the witch! You have resisted the vile temptress once again, and in the eyes of our glorious…”
“Women aren’t witches, asshole!” the devil yelled. “They’re bitches, with a ‘B!’ And she has to be the finest tail around! Why do you keep ruining this for us?”
“Me? You’re the one who…!”
Sam covered his ears with his hands, though seeing as the argument was happening in his mind, it didn’t do much to block out the noise. He needed to get out of here and go somewhere where he could distract himself. It wasn’t like this was the first time Emma had done something like this, but it became harder each and every time. Once again, he wondered why he insisted on remaining the virtuous anime prude, and again, he reminded himself of what this would mean to him.
“I need a freaking distraction,” he muttered.
“Distraction, you say?”
Sam jumped as a butler seemed to materialize at his side. The woman was dressed much the same as the others, was about as hot as every other woman in Somerset, and had the professional air that he was quickly growing used to. But seeing as he was still dressed only in a bathrobe and nothing else, he was quickly growing embarrassed.
“Um, yeah,” he said, trying to look anywhere but at her. “I would…um…like to see a bit more of the area. But I’m afraid I left my clothes in the room.”
“No need to explain,” the butler said. “We understand that couples don’t always get along, and in our line of work, discretion is our priority. If you follow me, I can fetch you a new set of clothes and give you some privacy to change. Would that be to your liking?”
“Yes,” Sam said, the relief evident in his voice.
The butler gave him a brusque nod, then headed off down the hall, with Sam following along behind her. As he walked, he received an unexpected notification.
SKILL RANK UP!
Congratulations! Your Mind Over All skill has advanced from Master to Sage!
Mind Over All: You are stronger than your base urges and can spot deception a mile away. Nothing scares you!
Level: Sage 51 (0%)
Effect: Immunity against psychic based attacks, +150% chance to spot deceit, or deceptive actions, +100% chance to become aware of psychic based skills, +40% chance to completely ignore mental based skills
Master Skill Perk: Immunity to Fear, Terror, and Dread Debuffs
Sage Skill Perk: Immunity to Mental Manipulation and Intimidation-based skills and abilities
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have attained your first Sage skill!
As a Sage, you can now impart the knowledge of your skill to others with a 99% success rate!
Reaching a Sage rank in a Skill or Ability comes with some great Perks, doesn’t it?
+75,000 XP!
Holy shit! Sam thought, trying not to show the shock and excitement on his face.
It seemed that his latest refusal of Emma’s advances had finally pushed his Mind Over All to the Sage ranks. From here, it wouldn’t increase again until it hit level 100, and judging by how hard it had been to get it to this point, getting to 100 would take a long time. Still, the perks and increases were amazing, and the huge XP boost for reaching his first Sage rank was a pretty sweet bonus on top of that.
Plus, he was now immune to psychic-based attacks, as well as being manipulated or intimidated.
I really need to get more skills and abilities to Sage, he thought as the butler came to a stop before a small door set into the side of the hallway.
“If you would just wait in here for me, sir, I will be right back with some clothes for you.”
Sam nodded, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. It was a nice space, and oddly enough, looked much like the changing rooms back home, with the added bonus of being extremely luxurious and quite a bit roomier. He wondered just how often people found themselves in the hallway without any clothes that would deem a room like this to be necessary.
Must happen a lot, he thought, remembering the butler’s words.
A knock came at the door a few moments later, and only once he gave permission to enter did the butler come in.
“For this evening, I took the liberty of choosing something functional, as I was made aware that you and your wife were the adventuring type.”
“She’s not my…” Sam began, but the butler just kept on talking.
“They should fit quite well as your personal butler selected them. Would you like me to help you change?”
“No, thanks,” he said, quickly snatching the clothes from her arms.
“Very well. I shall await you in the hall.”
“Uh, thanks,” Sam said. “What’s your name, by the way?” he asked.
He figured that if she were going to be showing him around, it would be a bit rude not to know her name.
“Beatrice,” she replied. “But you may call me whatever you’d like.”
“Well, that is definitely one I haven’t heard before,” Sam said, smiling at her. “Thanks.”
He closed the door then so that he could dress in privacy. As it turned out, the clothing did indeed fit perfectly, which made him wonder how exactly Albert had known. Then he remembered that he’d handed his dirty clothes over to be washed. It would have been pretty easy to get the correct sizing.
“Are you ready to depart, sir?” Beatrice asked as he exited the room.
“Yeah,” he replied, blinking rapidly to try and clear the exhaustion from his eyes.
It was getting worse as night fell, and he knew the longer he’d be awake, the harder it would become.
“I cannot help but notice that you seem to be quite tired,” Beatrice said. “Would you like for me to procure a bed so that you may sleep?”
“I can’t,” Sam replied, trying to think up a plausible excuse.
Seeing as the locals of this world didn’t have to deal with any dumbass rules, he needed another reason.
“I was hit by a debuff in my last battle,” he said, quickly thinking up a story. “If I go to sleep before noon tomorrow, my health will be badly affected.”
That much was true. Being repeatedly kicked in the balls couldn’t be good for one’s health — at least, not as far as he knew.
“Very well, sir. Then I will do my best to assure you remain awake throughout the night. You are fortunate that you decided to come here, as all our perks and amenities run 24 hours a day. This way, our visitors can always have what they need, no matter the time. Now, do you have a preference of where you would like to begin?”
“Yes. I would really like to get some food.”
“Very well. If you wait just a moment, I can fetch a ride.”
“I can walk,” he replied, quickly getting ahead of that idea.
Beatrice nodded, then began striding down the hallway, Sam trailing behind.
“You know, that girl has some seriously amazing assets, too. If you won’t do Emma, maybe take her for a nice ride.”
“Fiend! Do not corrupt our dear, innocent, and pure Sam…!”
***
Sam sat back with a sigh, dropping his fork and letting out a belch that would have made a dwarf envious. Despite being in one of the fanciest places he’d ever been – okay, the fanciest – Sam didn’t feel out of place. He was in the main dining room of the massive Underworld lodge, but since he was of King Status, as the waitresses had been referring to him all night, he had his own private balcony, overlooking the main floor.
That wasn’t to say the main floor wasn’t fancy either. In fact, it probably would have put just about every restaurant from back home to shame, and even if he could only eat stew – this place was no different than the others – at least he could do it in a place that could offer up a little variety.
The show wasn’t too bad either, as, at the moment, there was a gremlin band playing on stage, accompanied by some dancers that seemed to be way too good at their jobs. It was definitely enjoyable to watch, though Sam did notice some strange light trailing off the women and men, gyrating up there and spreading throughout the room. He caught a whiff of something flowery, and as soon as the latest song was over, he finally began to understand what was happening.
It was nothing bad, at least, not in the sense of anyone being in danger. But, judging by the way men and women at the tables were pulling the dancers to them, it was clear what was going on. He had his suspicions confirmed just a moment later as a woman came sauntering into his private area, her skin practically oozing with pink mist.
“Care for some company, big boy?” she asked in a sultry voice, leaning down to run a finger over his chest.
“No, thanks,” Sam replied, stopping the hand from traveling any further.
He’d already been made wise to this tactic long ago, and with his Mind Over All skill as high as it was, he wasn’t going to be falling for any of that.
“Oh. Do you prefer a more manly touch?” the woman asked.
“Why is that always the first thing people here assume when I say no?” Sam asked with an eye roll.
“Look, I’m just not in the mood,” he said. “All I want is to finish my meal and go have a nice evening. I’m sure you can find someone far more willing and get more out of them.”
“Huh?” the woman asked, sounding genuinely confused. “It’s not working on you. Is my game off or something…?”
Before Sam could say anything, Beatrice returned, holding a small tray of tiny loaves of bread – hopefully, some type of desert – and set them before him.
