My job list is full of alien girls.

Chapter 96 Let's Talk in Bed?

It's all Aphrodite's fault!

Seemingly sensing Alina's dissatisfaction, Aphrodite, who was leaning on Alina's shoulder, couldn't help but let out a weak laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" Alina couldn't help but frown, thinking that she was being provoked.

"It's nothing, I just never expected," Aphrodite said with a touch of emotion, her eyelids slightly lowered, "that a demon like me would one day be saved by a noble elf."

Ok?

Noble elf?

Is she praising me?

Upon hearing this, Alina was slightly taken aback, and the annoyed expression on her face eased considerably.

This guy looks annoying, but surprisingly he can talk.

Even though she is only a half-elf, half of her bloodline comes from her mother!

No, Alina, you can't be like that idiot Rhodes and get fooled by this cunning demon!

Those succubi are the best at deceiving people!

Sensing her slightly bright and cheerful mood, Aphrodite's expression twisted for a moment, wanting to laugh but forcibly holding it back.

Although this half-elf seems unapproachable, he's surprisingly easy to please.

She's much easier to communicate with than her companion; perhaps we can use her as a starting point.

"Ahem—" Alina coughed lightly, snapping out of her daze. After sounding the alarm bells in her mind, she warned in a firm tone, "Don't think that just because you're flattering me like this, I'll let my guard down."

"Hmm." Aphrodite glanced guiltily to the side, thinking that her little scheme had been discovered.

"Why aren't you saying anything? You're not plotting some evil scheme, are you?" Seeing her silence, Alina's vigilance and suspicion deepened. She frowned slightly. "I'm warning you, if you dare to play any tricks, I'll—"

Abandon her?

Report her?

Or should we kill her?

Alina's threatening words trailed off midway through.

After all, this was Rhodes's request. No matter how much he disliked her, Alina wouldn't cause trouble again after they were out of danger.

If Alina really didn't want to deal with Aphrodite anymore, she could have just dumped her in the sewers.

After racking her brains for ages, Alina still couldn't come up with a suitable threat, and finally could only utter a line that lacked any sense of pressure: "I'll teach you a lesson you won't forget."

Aphrodite fell silent upon hearing this.

In all her years of exile and wandering, even when she encountered so many different kinds of people, she had never heard such a harmless threat.

"You—" Aphrodite sighed softly, her tone somewhat complicated, "Your life must be very happy, right?"

Otherwise, how could one live such a naive and childish life?

"Hmm—I guess I'm doing pretty well. If you're talking about happiness, I guess you could say that?" Alina answered instinctively after hearing Aphrodite's words.

"Although in the eyes of those people, the human blood mixed in my body is a stain on their noble elven bloodline, and they always ostracize me."

"However—" She paused, her gaze lingering on the warm yellow candlelight twinkling in the night above the houses in the distance, her tone softening unconsciously. "My mother didn't listen to them and abandon me. Instead, for my sake, she took the initiative to leave the elven forest where her family had lived for generations and moved with me to a place far away from her kind."

As she spoke, she unconsciously laughed, even using a more affectionate term of endearment in front of Aphrodite: "Mom also said that those old fogies' heads are like wood hollowed out by worms, good for nothing except sounding nice when you tap them—"

"You have a wonderful mother," Aphrodite replied after a long silence.

As a half-demon, she naturally knew how mixed-race children were treated, let alone a proud race like elves.

Most half-elves are abandoned at birth and spend their lives wandering alone.

Why is this half-elf so lucky?

No, she was once just as happy, but those people ruined it all.

Aphrodite's eyes were lowered, a heavy gloom spreading across her crimson pupils, her heart churning with a deep-seated hatred for the Holy Light Church.

If her father hadn't betrayed her mother, and if those damned knights hadn't been so ruthless, her peaceful life wouldn't have been completely shattered, forcing her to hide day after day, unable to find even a moment of peace.

Alina, who was beside her, keenly noticed her sudden drop in mood and felt a little puzzled.

She instinctively slowed down to reduce the jolting: "What's wrong? Did the mark on your body flare up again?"

Aphrodite gently shook her head, suppressing all her surging hatred, before whispering, "It's nothing."

"Hmph, if it's nothing, it's nothing." Seeing that she was unwilling to say more, Alina immediately tensed up, then put on a cold and distant look, and stubbornly added, "I was just asking casually, don't look so pitiful and try to gain my sympathy. I won't be bewitched by you like that idiot."

Aphrodite chuckled softly, unable to resist teasing, "Since you're so averse to me and despise demons like me from the bottom of your heart, you could have easily escaped alone in the sewers. Why bother carrying me all the way, even risking capture by the Holy See to save me?"

"Do you think I wanted to save you? If it weren't for that bastard's request, I would have left you here long ago!" Alina said without thinking.

"Just because of that human?" Aphrodite raised an eyebrow, then pressed on, "I'm curious, what kind of charm does he possess that makes you so devoted to him? Even to the point of setting aside your prejudice to help me?"

The topic suddenly shifted to Rhodes, and Alina immediately became wary, unwilling to say more: "This is between him and me, it has nothing to do with you, you don't need to ask."

"Really?" Aphrodite asked with a hint of amusement. "About you and him? It seems you two have a pretty good relationship?"

"No way!" Alina instantly bristled. "Who has anything to do with him?! Our relationship is just casual, okay?!"

Knowing she couldn't explain herself, Alina, without waiting for Aphrodite to press further, decided to take the initiative and regain control of the conversation: "Then why do you keep bothering us?"

"That guy has neither top-tier strength nor extraordinary wealth, and his appearance is just average—well, passable, I suppose." Alina paused, racking her brains to dig out the flaws in Rhodes in her memory, "His head is full of weird and wonderful things, and he always likes to say strange things, making him very difficult to communicate with—"

After pointing out a bunch of flaws in Rhode that were hard to categorize, Alina couldn't help but ask, "What exactly do you see in him?"

"You've mentioned so many of his good points, of course I like them all~" Aphrodite said slyly.

"You!" Alina was so angry she gritted her teeth, but there was nothing she could do.

She had promised Rod to save the person, so she could only swallow her pride and accept it.

Just as the two were bickering back and forth, a figure in gray cloth silently stood in the shadows ahead of the alley, only a few steps away from them.

"Who?"

Alina's nerves tensed instantly upon realizing what was happening, and she almost let out a scream.

Aphrodite on her back was also startled. Her fingertips subconsciously gathered a faint light of magic, and she was about to attack when Alina stopped her.

"Rhodes?" Alina asked in surprise and doubt as she sensed that familiar presence.

"Hmm." Rhodes nodded and stepped out of the shadows.

"What's going on? At least give me a heads-up! You just popped up out of nowhere and scared me to death!"

Alina breathed a sigh of relief and complained subconsciously. The weight that had been hanging over her chest finally lifted, and her tense shoulders slowly relaxed.

"But you're faster than us?"

"Yes, I ran into them not long after I parted ways with you guys," Rhodes nodded.

"Huh? They didn't give you any trouble, did they?" Alina was surprised that Rhodes, with his strength, had been brought here so quickly, and couldn't help but ask him with concern.

"No," Rhodes said with a strange expression, perhaps recalling Lucius's reasoning. He looked at Aphrodite, who was weak and half-hanging on Alina. "Lucius assumed I was an ordinary person being coerced and controlled by her, so he didn't make things difficult for me."

"That's good," Alina breathed a sigh of relief. "You were just lucky this time. Don't do anything so dangerous on your own next time."

"Yeah, it won't happen again," Rhodes said, still shaken by the sudden exhaustion he felt when he disintegrated. "How about you? Did anything happen on the way?"

Although Elina didn't appear to have any injuries, the continuous travel over the past two days, coupled with tonight's escape, had taken its toll on her, even for a half-elf like her.

The thought of the intense weakness that would follow disintegration made Rod worry that similar side effects might occur in her as well.

"Hmph, if you're alright, how could I possibly be?" Alina retorted instinctively. "Underestimating me?"

"Hey, are you two really going to stand here and chat forever?" Listening to their back-and-forth exchange, the weakened Aphrodite couldn't help but interject. "Why don't you two find somewhere else to talk?"

"I think talking in bed would be quite nice. There should be a hotel around here, right?" she said with a smile.

"Ah, I forgot we're not in the consciousness space anymore—" Alina, reminded, finally realized what was happening. Hearing Aphrodite's suggestive words, she was utterly shocked. "What did you mean by that last sentence?!"

This demon woman is truly—truly has a head full of filth!

Evil, so very evil!

"Yes, I did find a hotel nearby. Let's go." Rhodes didn't react to this at all, just said calmly.

Alina couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, while Aphrodite remained silent.

Could it be that this kid didn't understand what she meant?

Could it be that he and this half-elf really don't have that kind of relationship?

But judging from the half-elf's reaction, it seems he's not quite so innocent after all.

"This way."

Rod pointed ahead, turned to the side to signal Alina to follow, and led them around the main street, back to the hotel building by following the shadows of the building walls.

The first floor of the inn was still filled with the noise of adventurers. Rhode led the two of them, avoiding the possible gazes from inside the windows, and followed the protruding wooden edge of the outer wall, through the window he had just climbed down, into his room on the second floor.

After landing, Rod tightened the wooden window latch with his backhand, then pulled over an old wooden table to brace against the window sill, confirming that the door lock was secure and that it would block out external noise and sight.

"Phew—finally free! I need to get some rest."

Alina had just helped Aphrodite sit on the bed, and before she could even catch her breath, Rhodes suddenly pulled a bundle of thick hemp from under the bed.

Rope, quickly walked up to Aphrodite.

Before the two could react, he moved swiftly and decisively, wrapping his arms around Aphrodite's wrists and waist, quickly binding her tightly to the bed. The knots were securely locked, making it impossible for her to break free easily.

? !

The whole process happened in the blink of an eye. Alina froze on the spot, her eyes wide open, completely caught off guard by Rhodes's sudden action.

"What are you doing?!"

Aphrodite froze, her previously weak and unfocused crimson pupils suddenly converging with a fierce light. In her heart, she immediately concluded that Rhodes had changed his mind at the last minute and intended to hand her over to the Holy See in exchange for benefits.

She subconsciously mobilized the remaining meager demonic energy within her body, and a faint current surged at her fingertips. Even though her hands and feet were bound by ropes and it was inconvenient for her to cast spells, she was confident that she could activate her magic to tear the ropes apart or even directly counterattack and escape. A faint aura of danger and evil instantly enveloped her body.

"Rhode, what are you doing?!" Alina was the first to snap out of her daze, quickly stepping forward to stand between the two. She looked at Rhode with a bewildered expression, her tone full of astonishment. "We finally managed to shake off our pursuers and reunite, and now you've tied her up?"

Aphrodite pressed her lips together, her eyes filled with intense wariness, quietly waiting for Rhodes to give an explanation. If he showed even the slightest intention to betray her, she would immediately break free of her restraints and fight him to the death.

Rod put away the remaining rope, looked at the two of them calmly, and said frankly, "I'm afraid she'll sneak away while we're resting."

Alina was taken aback by what he said, but after thinking about it, she realized that he was right.

But turning to look at Aphrodite, who was tied to the stool and tense all over, he instantly understood Rod's intention. However, seeing Aphrodite's aggrieved and wary look, he couldn't help but add in a low voice, "But she's so weak right now, she can't even stand up properly, she doesn't have the strength to run around at all."

"Succubi are quick-witted; even when they're physically exhausted, they can always come up with all sorts of ways to bewitch or escape," Rhodes said, recalling Lucius's words.

Aphrodite's tense demonic energy slowly dissipated, the fierce light in her eyes faded considerably, leaving only speechless frustration. Her long tail drooped limply to the ground as she muttered, "So all that effort you put into covering my escape was for not trusting me in the end?"

"It's better to be safe than sorry," Rod said, sitting down on the wooden bed beside her, his gaze calmly fixed on her. "Just stay put and don't cause any trouble. We'll talk about everything when it's light."

"But he has already given you his life, why don't you still trust him?!"

Aphrodite looked at him with a wronged expression, her long, heart-shaped tail swaying slightly as it gently brushed against Rhodes's wrist, as if pleading with him to be gentler and not so rough.

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