"Miss Lina!" Sylphiel pouted as she and the others made their way back to the inn. "It's not fair!" She couldn't believe that Lina had just told them that they had to serve food that night. She was a shrine priestess, not a serving girl! Especially not a serving girl in such a... Revealing outfit!
"What isn't fair?" Lina asked and mentally grinned as she remembered the way all those men had been practically falling over themselves to get a taste of her treats. It made her feel pretty good about things. Especially since she promised that there would be more treats at the Inn that night.
"Making us serve those... Those..." Oh, she just couldn't think of the right word at this moment, she was just too flustered.
"Perverts." Amelia and Filia said at the same time, causing Sylphiel to nod as she glared as Lina, who shrugged at them.
"What are you going to do about it? People are naturally perverted, using some sex appeal to get their attention never hurt anyone."
Amelia slumped as she gave Lina a flat stare. "The miss Lina I remember would have blown them all up."
Lina rolled her eyes and spun around to look at the three of them. "Look, there's a big difference between looking and touching. If someone wants to look, I say let them. That just means that you're attractive to them. If they touch you, feel free to blow them up."
"You really have changed, Miss Lina." Amelia said softly as she looked at the older woman in a bit of awe and confusion. "I... Does having children change you this much?"
Lina put an arm around Amelia and smiled softly. "It makes you learn patience, especially since children are going to screw up a lot."
Even with the perverts?" Amelia asked as she looked at Lina with a disturbed expression on her face.
Lina let go of Amelia and shrugged as they got back to the inn. "Like I said before, if they're looking at me like that, then it means I'm still attractive and that's a good feeling. Besides, like I said before, if boys want to see your goods, there's not much that you can do to stop them." Then again, girls were the same way, they just covered up their tracks better. She smirked at the way the three of them blushed. "Now, come on, I've got to get dessert ready for dinner tonight."
"You know..." Amelia spoke up softly as they walked into the inn. "I didn't think that she was serious about running a bakery. But it seems that Miss Lina really has settled down a lot since I last saw her."
(---)
Lyos groaned as he slumped against a tree and panted hard, Banisher was in by his side as Shiro called for a training break. He looked at Fate, who had several bruises on her body due to strikes from him, but she had still won their little sparring match. "You're fast." Not to mention really tough, but he really couldn't mention to a little slip of a girl that she was tougher than he was.
At least unless he started using his power, then he could take anything she could dish out and then some.
Not that Shiro would let them use much of their power at all when they were sparring. It was meant to increase their skills, not prove which one had the easier time beating the tar out of other one with raw power.
"You're pretty good." Fate smiled softly at him, before stretching slightly. "Shiro-papa works us hard." Though, she did see the point that her sword style quite frankly left a lot to be desired. As fast as she was, it normally wasn't a deal, but she had to stop to attack sometime, and her attacks were kind of choppy as well.
He nodded and shook his head as Zelgadis called Fate over to practice some spell or something. "Ugh..."
"Rough day?" A female voice spoke up and he found himself nodding.
"Yeah..." He groaned and stood up slowly, before blinking as he saw who it was. "Milady... What are..."
She held a finger up to her lips and smiled at him gently. "Oh, just checking on how my Knight was doing, that's all." She saw the confused look on his face and she laughed softly. "You don't think that I couldn't come out here to see you, do you? I mean, I did give you the item you needed to get here."
Lyos chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, you did. But, hey! I can actually use my power now."
Her eyes seemed to widen in anticipation at that. "Really? Well, that's interesting then, my Knight." She patted his arm, before turning and walking away. "Do keep getting stronger, Lyos. I promise you, it won't be for naught."
"Of course not." Lyos grinned and turned as Gourry called to him. "Just you wait." He grabbed Banisher and made his way to the blond swordsman. "I'll get even stronger."
Unseen to him, Huraker just chuckled as she smiled at his retreating back. "Oh, I'm sure you will... I'm sure you will..."
(---)
Hours later...
Chrono blinked as he and the others, after getting back to their rooms and getting washed up, walked out into the Inn's dining area. "What the heck?" The place was full! He couldn't see a single table open to sit down at and eat, and he was starving.
"Wow, guess Lina wasn't kidding when she said that she could get business." Zelgadis chuckled and Shiro nodded and excused himself as Lina called him down to the kitchen.
"So, do we have to wait outside?" Gourry asked. He was starving and he wasn't sure he could wait that long to eat.
"Hey! It's Miss Lindy!" Nanoha pointed as she spotted Lindy and Amy in a corner table. "Hey! They see us!"
"Looks like they're wanting us to join them." Zelgadis nodded as the group went down the stairs over to the table.
"Chrono, why don't you sit here between Amy and myself?" Lindy asked with a pleasant smile on her face.
Amy, on the other hand, had a dark aura surrounding her. Even though she wasn't a mage, Chrono found himself reeling slightly, before Gourry slapped him on the back and made him get between them.
"Hi!" Filia smiled, though everyone could see her skin glistening in sweat, as she came up to the table. "Here are some menus, we're serving some brownies, cakes and other fine desserts with dinner tonight."
"Lina has you working hard, huh?" Zelgadis said flatly, getting a nod from Filia. It wasn't too hard to guess, the way that the blonde was panting slightly, which was doing some... Interesting things to her chest.
"I'll be back to get your order soon." She smiled and bowed, revealing far too much cleavage, before she turned and left.
Amy was twitching and turned to Chrono, who was staring at the spot that Filia was at a moment ago. "C..H...R...O...N...O... You weren't... Ogling her... Were you?" The practically visible black aura of doom tripled as Chrono didn't react to her speaking to him.
Lindy put a hand on Chrono's shoulder, causing him to yelp and jump back. "Really, Chrono, I know that she's pretty, but you really shouldn't be trying anything with her."
"But, I'm..."
Fate pouted as she looked at Chrono. "And I thought he was a nice boy." She sniffled and grabbed Nanoha, who was sitting right next to her. "Waaah! He just wants to see me naked."
"There, there, Fate-chan." Nanoha smiled as she hugged Fate. "I'm sure that the naughty pervert won't do anything while we're looking." Her eyes went blank white as a thought came to her. "But then again..." She held up a finger to her cheek. "He has all those binds, he could just bind you up and do naughty things to you when you can't fight back."
"I wouldn't do that." Chrono hissed and Amy twitched as she looked at him.
"No, you were just undressing her with your eyes, weren't you?" Not that it was hard, Filia was practically in her underwear and showing everything off. It didn't help matters any that even Amy could see that she was incredibly beautiful when she was a human. Not that she was interested in girls, but she knew when there was a woman who was good looking.
And Filia made her feel a touch insecure about her own looks.
One really couldn't blame Amy for feeling like that. Chrono's own teachers were very pretty, his mother was drop dead gorgeous, Nanoha and Fate were far too cute for their own good, Hayate and her knights ranged from cute to incredibly sexy and now Filia was making passes at Chrono.
What chance did she have unless he kept his attention on her?
Lindy just smiled at Chrono. "Chrono, when we're done eating, you and I need to have a talk about a few things." The way he blanched was quite... Enjoyable.
Lyos and Gourry just blinked in confusion while Yuuno's face was red at the mental images that came to his head, thanks to the way Nanoha and Fate were talking.
(---)
"Ugh..." Filia groaned as she, Amelia and Sylphiel all slumped forward onto the tables after all the customers had left. "I swear, I think my butt's going to be red." She couldn't believe that Lina had forbidden them, on punishment of doing horrible things to them, to hurting any of the customers. It was even worse, since she KNEW that the men were grabbing at her butt when they could and she couldn't turn back to yell at them.
"You all did a really good job." Lina smiled as she sat down, her body was covered in various cooking powders and sauces, but she had a tired smile on her face. "Sorry about making you all suffer through that. I forgot how grabby some men can be."
"We've got to do this again tomorrow, don't we?" Amelia asked, getting a nod from Lina. "Why..?"
"It's just for three days, Amelia." Lina smiled at her. "Well, actually, just tomorrow if we get enough sales in here."
The three girls perked up at that. "Really?"
"Yep." Shiro said as he sat down next to Lina, before pulling his wife onto his lap and causing all three girls to blush heavily as they saw the way that he grabbed Lina and the way that she relaxed and sighed into his embrace. "If we make as much tomorrow as we did today, then we'll get free room and board for as long as we stay here."
"Considering how much we can all eat..." Amelia trailed off as her stomach, Filia's stomach and Sylphiel's stomach all started growling and demanding food. "Um..."
Lina laughed and got out of Shiro's embrace, before going back to the kitchen and coming out with some food and setting it in front of them. "Always make sure that your employees and co-workers go home happy." Lina smiled as she saw the three dig into the food in front of them. "Even got you some dessert as well."
She walked over to Shiro and leaned down, whispering to his ear.
"That's... Not a bad idea." Shiro grinned as the two waved the group a good night and went to check up on their kids before going to their own room.
It was always fun in the bedroom after a long night of hard work.
(---)
As he lay in the room he was sharing with Lyos and Yuuno, Chrono couldn't help but stare at the ceiling, completely red faced, after the "talk" his mother gave him. "I... I... The banana and the bagel... And..." It was impossible that his mother could talk like that, especially with a completely straight face.
He didn't know if he could look at anyone, especially Filia and Amy, the same way again.
"Wait, why..." A sudden mental image of Amy and Filia, both naked, came to his mind's eye, before he shuddered. "Why me?" He couldn't take it anymore as his eyes rolled back into his head as he passed out, his face practically lighting the room up.
The pleasurable sensory overload was too much for him.